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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 NTRS1974

A wind model for an elevated STOL-port configuration

Measurements of mean velocity magnitude and direction as well as three-dimensional turbulence intensity were made in the flow over a model of an elevated STOL-port. A 1:300 scale model was placed in a wind tunnel flow simulating the mean velocity profile and turbulence characteristics of atmospheric winds over a typical city environment excluding detailed wake structures of possible nearby buildings. Hot-wire anemometer measurements of velocity and turbulence were made along approach and departure paths of aircraft operating on the runway centerline and at specified lateral distances from the centerline. Approach flow directions simulated were 0 and 30 degrees to the runway centerline.

Peterka, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Acoustic tests of duct-burning turbofan jet noise simulation

The results of a static acoustic and aerodynamic performance, model-scale test program on coannular unsuppressed and multielement fan suppressed nozzle configurations are summarized. The results of the static acoustic tests show a very beneficial interaction effect. When the measured noise levels were compared with the predicted noise levels of two independent but equivalent conical nozzle flow streams, noise reductions for the unsuppressed coannular nozzles were of the order of 10 PNdB; high levels of suppression (8 PNdB) were still maintained even when only a small amount of core stream flow was used. The multielement fan suppressed coannular nozzle tests showed 15 PNdB noise reductions and up to 18 PNdB noise reductions when a treated ejector was added. The static aerodynamic performance tests showed that the unsuppressed coannular plug nozzles obtained gross thrust coefficients of 0.972, with 1.2 to 1.7 percent lower levels for the multielement fan-suppressed coannular flow nozzles. For the first time anywhere, laser velocimeter velocity profile measurements were made on these types of nozzle configurations and with supersonic heated flow conditions. Measurements showed that a very rapid decay in the mean velocity occurs for the nozzle tested.

Knott, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS1979

First results of a study on turbulent boundary layers in oscillating flow with a mean adverse pressure gradient

The development of a turbulent unsteady boundary layer with a mean pressure gradient strong enough to induce separation, in order to complete the extend results obtained for the flat plate configuration is presented. The longitudinal component of the velocity is measured using constant temperature hot wire anemometer. The region where negative velocities exist is investigated with a laser Doppler velocimeter system with BRAGG cells. The boundary layer responds by forced pulsation to the perturbation of potential flow. The unsteady effects observed are very important. The average location of the zero skin friction point moves periodically at the perturbation frequency. Average velocity profiles from different instants in the cycle are compared. The existence of a logarithmic region enables a simple calculation of the maximum phase shift of the velocity in the boundary layer. An attempt of calculation by an integral method of boundary layer development is presented, up to the point where reverse flow starts appearing.

Houdeville, R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Small rocket flowfield diagnostic chambers

Instrumented and optically-accessible rocket chambers are being developed to be used for diagnostics of small rocket (less than 440 N thrust level) flowfields. These chambers are being tested to gather local fluid dynamic and thermodynamic flowfield data over a range of test conditions. This flowfield database is being used to better understand mixing and heat transfer phenomena in small rockets, influence the numerical modeling of small rocket flowfields, and characterize small rocket components. The diagnostic chamber designs include: a chamber design for gathering wall temperature profiles to be used as boundary conditions in a finite element heat flux model; a chamber design for gathering inner wall temperature and static pressure profiles; and optically-accessible chamber designs, to be used with a suite of laser-based diagnostics for gathering local species concentration, temperature, density, and velocity profiles. These chambers were run with gaseous hydrogen/gaseous oxygen (GH2/GO2) propellants, while subsequent versions will be run on liquid oxygen/hydrocarbon (LOX/HC) propellants. The purpose, design, and initial test results of these small rocket flowfield diagnostic chambers are summarized.

Morren, Sybil↗
NASA NTRS2016

Hybrid Reynolds-Averaged/Large Eddy Simulation of the Flow in a Model SCRamjet Cavity Flameholder

Steady-state and scale-resolving simulations have been performed for flow in and around a model scramjet combustor flameholder. Experimental data available for this configuration include velocity statistics obtained from particle image velocimetry. Several turbulence models were used for the steady-state Reynolds-averaged simulations which included both linear and non-linear eddy viscosity models. The scale-resolving simulations used a hybrid Reynolds-averaged/large eddy simulation strategy that is designed to be a large eddy simulation everywhere except in the inner portion (log layer and below) of the boundary layer. Hence, this formulation can be regarded as a wall-modeled large eddy simulation. This e ort was undertaken to not only assess the performance of the hybrid Reynolds-averaged / large eddy simulation modeling approach in a flowfield of interest to the scramjet research community, but to also begin to understand how this capability can best be used to augment standard Reynolds-averaged simulations. The numerical errors were quantified for the steady-state simulations, and at least qualitatively assessed for the scale-resolving simulations prior to making any claims of predictive accuracy relative to the measurements. The steady-state Reynolds-averaged results displayed a high degree of variability when comparing the flameholder fuel distributions obtained from each turbulence model. This prompted the consideration of applying the higher-fidelity scale-resolving simulations as a surrogate "truth" model to calibrate the Reynolds-averaged closures in a non-reacting setting prior to their use for the combusting simulations. In general, the Reynolds-averaged velocity profile predictions at the lowest fueling level matched the particle imaging measurements almost as well as was observed for the non-reacting condition. However, the velocity field predictions proved to be more sensitive to the flameholder fueling rate than was indicated in the measurements.

Baurle, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Turbulent atmospheric flow over a backward-facing step

The phenomenon of atmospheric shear layer separation over a man-made structure such as a building (modeled as a backward-facing step) has been analyzed theoretically by (1) solving the two-dimensional equations of motion in the two variables, stream function and vorticity, and by (2) employing an approximate integral technique. Boundary conditions for the undisturbed flow are that of the turbulent atmospheric shear flow over a rough terrain. In the first approach a two-equation model of turbulence was used. In the second approach an approximate technique was utilized in an attempt to describe the details of the flow in the recirculation zone behind the step. The results predict velocity profiles in sufficient detail that the presence of the corner eddy in the region of negative surface pressure gradient is evident. The magnitude of the reversed flow velocity in the recirculation eddy has been found to agree with that found from experiments. Also, a surface eddy viscosity distribution has been an outgrowth of the method which realistically follows the magnitude of the surface pressure gradient distribution as found experimentally.

Kaul, U. K.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Turbulent solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for an inhomogenous developing shear layer

To study the nonlinear physics of inhomogeneous turbulent shear flow, the unaveraged Navier-Stokes equations are solved numerically. For initial conditions a three-dimensional cosine velocity fluctuation and a mean-velocity profile with a step are used. Although the initial conditions are nonrandom. The flow soon becomes turbulent. Concentrated turbulent energy develops near the plane where the mean velocity gradient is initially infinite. The terms in the one-point correlation equation for turbulent energy, including those for the diffusion and production of turbulence, are calculated, the diffusion terms tend to make the turbulence more homogeneous.

Deissler, R. G.↗
NASA NTRS1952

Discussion of Boundary-Layer Characteristics Near the Wall of an Axial-Flow Compressor

The boundary-layer velocity profiles in the tip region of an axial-flow compressor downstream of the guide vanes and downstream of the rotor were measured by use of total-pressure and claw-type yaw probes. These velocities were resolved into two components: one along the streamline of the flow outside the boundary layer, and the other perpendicular to it. The affinity among all profiles was thus demonstrated with the boundary-layer thickness and the deflection of the boundary layer at the wall as the generalizing parameters. By use of these results and the momentum-integral equations, boundary-layer characteristics on the walls of an axial-flow compressor were qualitatively evaluated.

Mager, Artur↗
NASA NTRS1995

Emission line signatures of anisotropic turbulence in accretion disks

We investigate observable effects of anisotropic turbulence on the velocity profiles and eclipse behavior of emission lines from accretion disks. Turbulence expands the local line broadening profile, enhancing the surface brightness of saturated emission lines. Anisotropic turbulence produces anisotropic emission in such lines. The effects become observable when the turbulence exceeds the thermal velocity. Each term in the velocity-velocity correlation matrix produces a distinctive azimuthal pattern of enhanced emission-line surface brightness on the face of the accretion disk. These patterns express themselves as changes in the observable shapes of the disk's emission lines. The best place to look for turbulence effects is in saturated emission lines of heavy elements such as Ca, Mg, and Fe, which have a smaller thermal velocity at a given sound speed and at moderate inclination (60-70 degrees), since the Keplerian shear broadening dominates at higher inclinations.

Horne, Keith↗
DOE OSTI2024

Particle Image Velocimetry and Total Temperature Characterization of Arc-Heated Mach 4.5 Free Jet

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were conducted in the Arc-Heated Combustion Tunnel (ACT-II) on a high-enthalpy Mach 4.5 nozzle flow. The primary motivation for the current work is to establish the feasibility of PIV as a high-quality flow diagnostic technique in hypersonic arc-heated flows and produce a high-resolution hypersonic nozzle flow characterization, including nozzle free jet shear layer velocity profiles. Due to the uncertain nature of the gas composition in the flowfield of interest, PIV measurements of a supersonic wedge flow were used to couple the flow velocities to the oblique shock relations. This enabled a PIV-derived total temperature calculation that does not require a priori assumptions of the exact gas composition. A PIV expansion module was developed for this study, and proper seed sizing and material were selected for the present flow. An analysis of the seed particle response from the PIV measurements provided an initial validation of the seed performance while revealing potential issues with consistent seed sizing. These measurements and derived conditions represent a means of acquiring high-resolution velocimetry and temperature datasets that consider uncertainties in the experimental generation of hypersonic high-enthalpy flows.

Engineering↗
NASA NTRS2021

Assimilation of Lidar Planetary Boundary Layer Height Observations

Lidar backscatter and wind retrievals of the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) are assimilated into 22 hourly forecasts from the NASA Unified - Weather and Research Forecast (NU-WRF) model during the Plains Elevated Convection Convection at Night (PECAN) campaign on July 11, 2015 in Greensburg, Kansas, using error statistics collected from the model profiles to compute the necessary covariance matrices. Two separate forecast runs using different PBL physics schemes were employed, and comparisons with 6 independent radiosonde profiles were made for each run. Both of the forecast runs accurately predicted the PBLH and the state variable profiles within the planetary boundary layer during the early morning, and the assimilation had a small impact during this time. In the late afternoon, the forecast runs showed decreased accuracy as the convective boundary layer developed. However, assimilation of the Doppler lidar PBLH observations were found to improve the temperature and V velocity profiles relative to independent radiosonde profiles. Water vapor was overcorrected, leading to increased differences with independent data. Errors in the U velocity were made slightly larger. The computed forecast error covariances between the PBLH and state variables were found to rise in the late afternoon, leading to the larger improvements in the afternoon. This work represents the first effort to assimilate PBLH into forecast states using ensemble methods.

Andrew Tangborn↗
NASA NTRS2017

Development of a Molecular Tagging Velocimetry Technique for Non-Intrusive Velocity Measurements in Low-Speed Gas Flows

N2O molecular tagging velocimetry (N2O-MTV) is developed for use in very-high-temperature reactor environments. Tests were carried out to determine the optimum excitation wavelength, tracer concentration, and timing parameters for the laser system. Using NO tracers obtained from photo-dissociation of N2O, velocity profiles are successfully obtained in air, nitrogen, and helium for a large range of parameters: temperature from 295 to 781 K, pressure from 1 to 3 bars, with a velocity precision of 0.01 m/s. Furthermore, by using two read pulses at adjustable time delays, the velocity dynamic range can be increased. An unprecedented dynamic range of 5,000 has been obtained to successfully resolve the flow during a helium blowdown from 1000 m/s down to 0.2 m/s. This technique is also applied to the high-temperature test facility (HTTF) at Oregon State University (OSU) during a depressurized condition cooldown (DCC) event. Details of these measurements are presented in a companion paper. This technique shows a strong potential for fundamental understanding of gas flows in nuclear reactors and to provide benchmark experimental data to validate numerical simulations.

Andre, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Anode heat transfer for a flowing argon plasma at elevated electron temperature.

Theoretical investigation of heat transfer from a preionized gaseous plasma flowing over an anode surface at an elevated electron temperature in the presence of an electric field normal to the surface. A laminar boundary layer is considered in which only the velocity profile is locally similar and fluid properties are assumed to change uniformly in the gas flow direction. Results obtained by an approximation method show that for moderate current densities, the velocity and temperature distributions are insensitive to current. In addition, the effect of elevated electron temperature is negligible on convective heat transfer, but is significant for the overall heat transfer due to the enthalpy transport by current. Total heat flux to the anode is obtained by evaluating the Nusselt number and adding terms due to the potential drop in the sheath and the surface work function.

Bose, T. K.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Lunar near-surface structure

Seismic refraction data obtained at the Apollo 14, 16, and 17 landing sites permit a compressional wave velocity profile of the lunar near surface to be derived. Beneath the regolith at the Apollo 14 Fra Mauro site and the Apollo 16 Descartes site is material with a seismic velocity of about 300 m/sec, believed to be brecciated material or impact-derived debris. Considerable detail is known about the velocity structure at the Apollo 17 Taurus-Littrow site. Seismic velocities of 100, 327, 495, 960, and 4700 m/sec are observed. The depth to the top of the 4700-m/sec material is 1385 m, compatible with gravity estimates for the thickness of mare basaltic flows, which fill the Taurus-Littrow valley. The observed magnitude of the velocity change with depth and the implied steep velocity-depth gradient of more than 2 km/sec/km are much larger than have been observed on compaction experiments on granular materials and preclude simple cold compaction of a fine-grained rock powder to thicknesses of the order of kilometers.

Cooper, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Martian atmospheric lee waves

Mariner 9 television pictures of Mars extensive mountain lee wave phenomenon in the northern mid-latitudes during winter were evaluated. The characteristic wave length of the lee waves is readily observable, and in a few cases the boundaries of the wave patterns, as well as the wave length, are observed. The cloud patterns resulting from the waves generated by the flow across a mountain or crater are shown to be dependent upon the velocity profile of the air stream and the vertical stability of the atmosphere. Using the stability as inferred by the temperature structure obtained from the infrared spectrometer data, a two layer velocity model of the air stream is used in calculations based on the theory of mountain lee waves. Results yield magnitudes generally in agreement with various other circulation models.

Pirraglia, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Turbulent wall jet in a coflowing stream

A theoretical investigation was undertaken to develop a relatively simple model of a two-dimensional, turbulent wall jet in a coflowing stream. The incompressible jet flow was modeled by using an integral method which includes turbulent shear stress, entrainment, and heat transfer. The method solves the conservation equations for the average jet flow properties and uses the velocity profile suggested by Escudier and Nicoll to obtain detailed characteristics of the jet on a flat plate. The analytical results compare favorably with experimental data for a range of injection velocities, which demonstrates the usefulness of the theory for estimating jet growth, velocity decay, and wall skin friction. The theory, which was applied to a Coanda jet on a circular cylinder, provided estimates of suction pressures aft of the jet exit that were in close agreement with experimental values.

Campbell, J. F.↗