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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Off-surface infrared flow visualization

A method for visualizing off-surface flows is provided. The method consists of releasing a gas with infrared absorbing and emitting characteristics into a fluid flow and imaging the flow with an infrared imaging system. This method allows for visualization of off-surface fluid flow in-flight. The novelty of this method is found in providing an apparatus for flow visualization which is contained within the aircraft so as not to disrupt the airflow around the aircraft, is effective at various speeds and altitudes, and is longer-lasting than previous methods of flow visualization.

Manuel, Gregory S.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Numerical simulation of electrophoresis separation processes

A new Petrov-Galerkin finite element formulation has been proposed for transient convection-diffusion problems. Most Petrov-Galerkin formulations take into account the spatial discretization, and the weighting functions so developed give satisfactory solutions for steady state problems. Though these schemes can be used for transient problems, there is scope for improvement. The schemes proposed here, which consider temporal as well as spatial discretization, provide improved solutions. Electrophoresis, which involves the motion of charged entities under the influence of an applied electric field, is governed by equations similiar to those encountered in fluid flow problems, i.e., transient convection-diffusion equations. Test problems are solved in electrophoresis and fluid flow. The results obtained are satisfactory. It is also expected that these schemes, suitably adapted, will improve the numerical solutions of the compressible Euler and the Navier-Stokes equations.

Ganjoo, D. K.↗
NASA NTRS1943

Experimental Investigation of Entrance-region Heat-transfer Coefficients

Experimental results of tests made at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory are presented to show how heat-transfer coefficients can he increased by a method utilizing the high rate of heat transfer known to exist on any heat-transfer surface in the region adjacent to the edge on which the cooling or heating fluid impinges. The results show that, for the same pressure drop, the average surface heat-transfer.coefficient can be increased 50 to 100 percent when a cooling surface having a length of four inches in the direction of fluid flow is cut to form twenty fins with a length of 0.2 inch in the direction of fluid flow and the fins are sharpened and staggered in the air stream. The percentage of increase in the surface heat-transfer coefficient obtained as a result of shortening the length of the cooling surface varies with the pressure drop of the cooling fluid in passing the surface, the increase being largest when small pressure drop is used and smallest when high pressure drop is used.

HEAT EXCHANGERS - PRESSURE DROP↗
NASA NTRS1999

Control of Meridional Flow by a Non-Uniform Rotational Magnetic Field

The diffusive mass transfer of species during crystal growth in vertical ampoules is significantly affected by fluid flow in the liquid mother phase (melt). For electrically conductive melts, an elegant way of remotely inducing and controlling this flow is by utilizing a uniform rotational magnetic field (RMF) in the transverse direction. It induces an azimuthal flow which tends to homogenize the thermal and solutal fields. The rotating field also reduces the diffusion boundary layer, stabilizes temperature fluctuations, and promotes better overall crystal growth. For moderate strengths of the applied magnetic field (2-20 m Tesla) with frequencies of up to 400 Hz, the induced secondary meridional flow becomes significant. It typically consists of one roll at the bottom of the liquid column and a second roll (vortex) at the top. The flow along the centerline (ampoule axis) is directed from the growing solid (interface) towards the liquid (melt). In case of convex interfaces (e.g. in floating zone crystal growth) such flow behavior is beneficial since it suppresses diffusion at the center. However, for concave interfaces (e.g. vertical Bridgman crystal growth) such a flow tends to exacerbate the situation in making the interface shape more concave. It would be beneficial to have some control of this meridional flow- for example, a single recirculating cell with controllable direction and flow magnitude will make this technique even more attractive for crystal growth. Such flow control is a possibility if a non-uniform PNE field is utilized for this purpose. Although this idea has been proposed earlier, it has not been conclusively demonstrated so far. In this work, we derive the governing equations for the fluid dynamics for such a system and obtain solutions for a few important cases. Results from parallel experimental measurements of fluid flow in a mercury column subjected to non-uniform RMF will also be presented.

Mazuruk, Konstantin↗
NASA NTRS1977

The direct observation of solidification as a function of gravity level

A saturated solution of NH4Cl was solidified on earth at 1 g and in a suborbital rocket flight at .00001 g. In the 1 g experiments, macrosegregation caused by the gravitational acceleration was marked. Nucleation started at the cold walls after which dendrites and dendritic debris were swept into the center of the cuvette by convective fluid flow. Secondary dendrite arms were oriented toward the cold wall. When solidified in low g, only four nuclei grew to form the complete casting. There were no free floating crystals or visible dendrite remelting. The lack of fluid flow allowed symmetrical dendrite growth into the fluid.

Johnston, M. H.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Dual mode laser velocimeter

Described is a laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) which is capable of operating with a small focus diameter for analyzing fluid flows at low velocity with high spatial resolution, or with a larger focus diameter to measure fluid flows at higher velocities accurately. More particularly, this is an LDV in which a simple reversal of a lens pair will allow it to operate in the two focus diameter modes.

Gunter, William D., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2018

TPSAS-NF1676L-30451-DND

The fundamental laws of the physics of fluid flow in the continuum regime are embedded in a somewhat "simple" set of partial differential equations describing the transport of mass, momentum, energy, and/orentropy. These basic equations can be manipulated to construct other important physical quantities such as vorticity that help further elucidate flow physics. Additionally, these equations can be nondimensionalized to identify important nondimensional groups governing compressible, reacting fluid flows, most prominently Reynolds, Mach, Froude, Prandtl, Lewis, Schmidt, Damkohler, and Zeldovich numbers. In this lecture, we present these governing equations and discuss the significance of the different terms and nondimensional groups. Furthermore, since these equations cannot be solved directly on current supercomputers for turbulent flows at Reynolds numbers of engineering interest, a scale reduction by averaging or filtering is introduced, which leads to a "closure" problem. The closure is then provided by introducing some common models. The current introduction is by no means complete, but it and the references herein may serve as a good starting point for learning about the most common approaches to turbulent reacting flows.

Tomasz (Tom) G Drozda↗
NASA NTRS1966

Concept of planetary gear system to control fluid mixture ratio

Mechanical device senses and corrects for fluid flow departures from the selected flow ratio of two fluids. This system has been considered for control of rocket engine propellant mixture control but could find use wherever control of the flow ratio of any two fluids is desired.

Mc~groarty, J. D.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Focused Laser Differential Interferometry: Recent Developments and Applications for Flow Measurements

Focused laser differential interferometry (FLDI), first introduced in the 1970s, has developed into a powerful tool for the analysis of turbulent dynamics and fluctuations in fluid flows ranging from subsonic to hypersonic. This paper provides a review of recent FLDI developments and applications, including discussions on the basic theory of the instrument, various forms of FLDI, multi-point techniques, utilization in fluid flow measurements, quantitative measurement capabilities, and more.

Elizabeth K Benitez↗
NASA NTRS1982

Numerical solution of viscous flow in unbounded fluid

Incompressible viscous flow fields induced by initial vorticity distributions with bounded support or exponential decay in the far field are investigated. A numerical scheme for the solution of the vorticity distribution and the velocity field is presented with special emphasis on the treatment of the boundary data. The efficiency of the scheme is demonstrated. The present method has been applied to the study of the merging and collision of vortex rings.

Liu, C. H.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Anomaly Detection in Test Equipment via Sliding Mode Observers

Nonlinear observers were originally developed based on the ideas of variable structure control, and for the purpose of detecting disturbances in complex systems. In this anomaly detection application, these observers were designed for estimating the distributed state of fluid flow in a pipe described by a class of advection equations. The observer algorithm uses collected data in a piping system to estimate the distributed system state (pressure and velocity along a pipe containing liquid gas propellant flow) using only boundary measurements. These estimates are then used to further estimate and localize possible anomalies such as leaks or foreign objects, and instrumentation metering problems such as incorrect flow meter orifice plate size. The observer algorithm has the following parts: a mathematical model of the fluid flow, observer control algorithm, and an anomaly identification algorithm. The main functional operation of the algorithm is in creating the sliding mode in the observer system implemented as software. Once the sliding mode starts in the system, the equivalent value of the discontinuous function in sliding mode can be obtained by filtering out the high-frequency chattering component. In control theory, "observers" are dynamic algorithms for the online estimation of the current state of a dynamic system by measurements of an output of the system. Classical linear observers can provide optimal estimates of a system state in case of uncertainty modeled by white noise. For nonlinear cases, the theory of nonlinear observers has been developed and its success is mainly due to the sliding mode approach. Using the mathematical theory of variable structure systems with sliding modes, the observer algorithm is designed in such a way that it steers the output of the model to the output of the system obtained via a variety of sensors, in spite of possible mismatches between the assumed model and actual system. The unique properties of sliding mode control allow not only control of the model internal states to the states of the real-life system, but also identification of the disturbance or anomaly that may occur.

Solano, Wanda M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Two-Photon Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique for obtaining quantitative information from fluorescence in cells. Quantitation is achieved by assuring a high degree of uniformity in the optical excitation and detection, generally by using a highly controlled flow such as is obtained via hydrodynamic focusing. In this work, we demonstrate a two-beam, two- channel detection and two-photon excitation flow cytometry (T(sup 3)FC) system that enables multi-dye analysis to be performed very simply, with greatly relaxed requirements on the fluid flow. Two-photon excitation using a femtosecond near-infrared (NIR) laser has the advantages that it enables simultaneous excitation of multiple dyes and achieves very high signal-to-noise ratio through simplified filtering and fluorescence background reduction. By matching the excitation volume to the size of a cell, single-cell detection is ensured. Labeling of cells by targeted nanoparticles with multiple fluorophores enables normalization of the fluorescence signal and thus ratiometric measurements under nonuniform excitation. Quantitative size measurements can also be done even under conditions of nonuniform flow via a two-beam layout. This innovative detection scheme not only considerably simplifies the fluid flow system and the excitation and collection optics, it opens the way to quantitative cytometry in simple and compact microfluidics systems, or in vivo. Real-time detection of fluorescent microbeads in the vasculature of mouse ear demonstrates the ability to do flow cytometry in vivo. The conditions required to perform quantitative in vivo cytometry on labeled cells will be presented.

Zhog, Cheng Frank↗
NASA NTRS1990

Coupled effects of conduction in the crystal and thermo-solutal convection in a rectangular inclined enclosure

To date modeling of crystal growth of optoelectronic materials using Physical Vapor Transport has been limited to the study of the fluid phase. To achieve it, the equations of coupled heat, mass and momentum transfer in the gas have to be solved. The first objective of this study is to examine the effect of heat conduction in the crystal on the fluid flow in the neighborhood of the interface. Heat transfer boundary conditions on both interfaces were modified to take into account the additional heat flux between gas and solid. It is proved that heat conduction does not affect the fluid flow. In the presence of gravity, density gradients in the fluid phase generate convection responsible for the problem of a nonplanar growth of the interface. The second objective is to study systematically under one-g the different possible flows in order to solve this problem. Depending on the parameters, a diffusive mode and three convective modes (thermal, solutal and thermo-solutal) are observed. The competition between thermal and solutal convections leads to a mathematical condition which can be used to achieve a planar growth. It is proven that, under the physical conditions chosen, this mathematical condition cannot be thermodynamically satisfied.

Mennetrier, Christophe↗
NASA NTRS1985

Influence of Melt Convection on Solid-Liquid Interface Under Terrestrial and Reduced Gravity Environments

Solidification and crystal growth processes involve thermal and solutal gradients within a molten phase. In the presence of gravity, such gradients result in convective flows which interact with diffusion fields at the solid-liquid interface. Dendritic growth kinetics was studied in transparent model systems which freeze similarily to most metals. Succinonitrile shows a strong influence of convection at supercoolings below about 1K. Fluid flows adjacent to solid-liquid interfaces and the behavior of shear flows in vertical annular geometries are studied. Novel low-frequency eigenstates were discovered and classified as coupled modes, for their involvement with interfacial deformation coupled to the fluid flow, and are unknown in systems without deformable interfaces. The dependence of coupled convection modes on interfacial geometry, gravity, fluid properties, and transformation characteristics studied for several annual flow arrangements with nominally pure solid-liquid systems.

Glicksman, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1985

A study on inclusion formation mechanism in alpha-LiIO sub 3 crystals

The spatial distribution of inclusions in alpha-LiIO3 crystals by means of an argon laser beam scanning technique is studied. The effects of crystal dimensions and solution fluid flow on the inclusion formation in the alpha-LiIO3 crystals were observed. It was further shown that the fluid flow plays an important role in the formation of inclusions. The results obtained were further applied and verified by growing a perfect alpha-LiIO3 single crystal. An experimental foundation for further theoretical studies on the causes of inclusions may be provided.

Chen, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Solutal convection during directional solidification

During directional solidification of a binary alloy at constant velocity, buoyancy-driven fluid flow may occur due to the solute gradients generated by the solidification process. Numerical calculations of the solute and fluid flow fields in the melt have been carried out using finite differences in a two-dimensional, time-dependent model that assumes a planar crystal-melt interface and allows time-dependent gravitational accelerations. The container walls are rigid and perfectly insulating for solute. For constant vertical gravitational accelerations, as the solutal Rayleigh number is varied, multiple steady states and time-dependent states may occur. The bifurcation from the quiescent state may be subcritical or transcritical, depending on the aspect ratio of the container. Calculations have also been performed for a gravitational acceleration that is assumed to be uniform in magnitude with its direction rotating uniformly. Numerical results have been obtained for a Schmidt number of 10 and a gravitational acceleration of 0.0001 G. The maximum variation in the solute concentration at the crystal-melt interface is calculated for various values of the rotation rate of the gravitational acceleration.

Mcfadden, G. B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Numerical comparison of convective heat transfer augmentation devices used in cooling channels of hypersonic vehicles

Hypersonic vehicles are exposed to extreme thermal conditions compared to subsonic aircraft; therefore, some level of thermal management is required to protect the materials used. Normally, hypersonic vehicles experience the highest temperatures in the nozzle throat, and aircraft and propulsion system leading edges. Convective heat transfer augmentation techniques can be used in the thermal management system to increase heat transfer of the cooling channels in those areas. The techniques studied in this report are pin-fin, offset-fin, ribbed and straight roughened channel. A smooth straight channel is used as the baseline for comparing the techniques. SINDA '85, a lumped parameter finite difference thermal analyzer, is used to model the channels. Subroutines are added to model the fluid flow assuming steady one dimensional compressible flow with heat addition and friction. Correlations for convective heat transfer and friction are used in conjunction with the fluid flow analysis mentioned. As expected, the pin-fin arrangement has the highest heat transfer coefficient and the largest pressure drop. All the other devices fall in between the pin-fin and smooth straight channel. The selection of the best heat augmentation method depends on the design requirements. A good approach may be a channel using a combination of the techniques. For instance, several rows of pin-fins may be located at the region of highest heat flux, surrounded by some of the other techniques. Thus, the heat transfer coefficient is maximized at the region of highest heat flux while the pressure drop is not excessive.

Maldonado, Jaime J.↗