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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
DOE OSTI2022

Experimental Setup for Grid Control Device Software Updates in Supply Chain Cyber-Security

Supply chain cyberattacks that exploit insecure third-party software are a growing concern for the security of the electric power grid. These attacks seek to deploy malicious software in grid control devices during the fabrication, shipment, installation, and maintenance stages, or as part of routine software updates. Malicious software on grid control devices may inject bad data or execute bad commands, which can cause blackouts and damage power equipment. This paper describes an experimental setup to simulate the software update process of a commercial power relay as part of a hardware-in-the-loop simulation for grid supply chain cyber-security assessment. The laboratory setup was successfully utilized to study three supply chain cyber-security use cases.

Keller, Joseph↗
DOE OSTI2023

MJO in Different Orbital Regimes: Role of the Mean State in the MJO’s Amplitude during Boreal Winter

Abstract The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) exhibits pronounced seasonality, with one of the key unanswered questions being the following: what controls the maximum in MJO precipitation variance in the Southern Hemisphere during boreal winter? In this study, we examine a set of global climate model simulations in which the eccentricity and precession of Earth’s orbit are altered to change the boreal winter mean state in an attempt to reveal the processes that are responsible for the MJO’s amplitude in the boreal winter. In response to the forced insolation changes, the north–south asymmetry in sea surface temperature is amplified in boreal fall, which intensifies the Hadley circulation in boreal winter. The stronger Hadley circulation yields higher mean precipitation and stronger mean lower-tropospheric westerlies in the southern part of the Indo-Pacific warm pool. The MJO precipitation variability increases significantly where the mean precipitation and lower-tropospheric westerlies strengthen. In the column-integrated moisture budget of the simulated MJO, only surface latent heat flux feedback shows a trend that is consistent with the MJO’s amplitude, suggesting an important role for the surface latent heat flux feedback in the MJO’s amplitude during the boreal winter. An analysis of the moisture–precipitation relationship in the simulations shows that the increase in the mean precipitation lowers the convective moisture adjustment time scale, leading to the increase in precipitation variance. Our results suggest that the mean-state precipitation plays a critical role in the maintenance mechanism of the MJO.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2020

On the Parameterization of Convective Downdrafts for Marine Stratocumulus Clouds

The role of nonlocal transport on the development and maintenance of marine stratocumulus (Sc) clouds in coarse-resolution models is investigated, with a special emphasis on the downdraft contribution. A new parameterization of cloud-top-triggered downdrafts is proposed and validated against large-eddy simulation (LES) for two Sc cases. The applied nonlocal mass-flux scheme is part of the stochastic multiplume eddy-diffusivity/mass-flux (EDMF) framework decomposing the turbulent transport into local and nonlocal contributions. The complementary local turbulent transport is represented with the Mellor–Yamada–Nakanishi–Niino (MYNN) scheme. This EDMF version has been implemented in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) single-column model (SCM) and tested for three model versions: without mass flux, with updrafts only, and with both updrafts and downdrafts. In the LES, the downdraft and updraft contributions to the total heat and moisture transport are comparable and significant. The WRF SCM results show a good agreement between the parameterized downdraft turbulent transport and LES. While including updrafts greatly improves the modeling of Sc clouds over the simulation without mass flux, the addition of downdrafts is less significant, although it helps improve the moisture profile in the planetary boundary layer.

Wu, Elynn↗
NASA NTRS1985

FINDS: A fault inferring nonlinear detection system programmers manual, version 3.0

Detailed software documentation of the digital computer program FINDS (Fault Inferring Nonlinear Detection System) Version 3.0 is provided. FINDS is a highly modular and extensible computer program designed to monitor and detect sensor failures, while at the same time providing reliable state estimates. In this version of the program the FINDS methodology is used to detect, isolate, and compensate for failures in simulated avionics sensors used by the Advanced Transport Operating Systems (ATOPS) Transport System Research Vehicle (TSRV) in a Microwave Landing System (MLS) environment. It is intended that this report serve as a programmers guide to aid in the maintenance, modification, and revision of the FINDS software.

Lancraft, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Design of an orbital debris radar ground demonstration

A breadboard radar system is being designed and tested at NASA Johnson for dealing with the space debris problem that could present a growing threat to Space Station Freedom. The major design problems are due to the small radar cross section of such debris (below -30 dBm2), the high closing velocities of the particles with respect to the Space Station (10 km/sec and higher), and the stringent weight, power-consumption, maintenance, and reliability constraints on spaceborne systems. Consideration is given to the preliminary implementation of a ground demonstration radar for testing concepts, technologies, and performance envelopes for application to the space-borne debris detection and tracking radar. Simulation results and techniques developed for predicting system performance and for evaluating antenna parameters are given. The design process of the electronically steered phased array antenna is briefly described, and block diagrams for the implementation of the radar system are given.

Paz, I.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Configuring the Orion Guidance, Navigation, and Control Flight Software for Automated Sequencing

The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle is being designed with greater automation capabilities than any other crewed spacecraft in NASA s history. The Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) flight software architecture is designed to provide a flexible and evolvable framework that accommodates increasing levels of automation over time. Within the GN&C flight software, a data-driven approach is used to configure software. This approach allows data reconfiguration and updates to automated sequences without requiring recompilation of the software. Because of the great dependency of the automation and the flight software on the configuration data, the data management is a vital component of the processes for software certification, mission design, and flight operations. To enable the automated sequencing and data configuration of the GN&C subsystem on Orion, a desktop database configuration tool has been developed. The database tool allows the specification of the GN&C activity sequences, the automated transitions in the software, and the corresponding parameter reconfigurations. These aspects of the GN&C automation on Orion are all coordinated via data management, and the database tool provides the ability to test the automation capabilities during the development of the GN&C software. In addition to providing the infrastructure to manage the GN&C automation, the database tool has been designed with capabilities to import and export artifacts for simulation analysis and documentation purposes. Furthermore, the database configuration tool, currently used to manage simulation data, is envisioned to evolve into a mission planning tool for generating and testing GN&C software sequences and configurations. A key enabler of the GN&C automation design, the database tool allows both the creation and maintenance of the data artifacts, as well as serving the critical role of helping to manage, visualize, and understand the data-driven parameters both during software development and throughout the life of the Orion project.

Odegard, Ryan G.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Detection and Mitigation of Transient Instabilities in Multi-Agent Systems and Swarms

We first introduce the novel concept of transient instabilities in multi-agent systems and swarms, i.e., a small disturbance leads to increasing-amplitude oscillations throughout the swarm, which results in a large number of inter-agent collisions. This instability is dominant in the transient phase of the system and it does not appear in the steady-state behavior of the system, as each agent uses Lyapunov-stable feedback control laws. We present a rigorous definition of transient instability in swarms, and discuss its key properties. We also present a sufficient condition to check if a swarm will be transient stable. We study the behaviour of different control laws under this condition. We also show how transient instability phenomenon could impact the dynamics of deployable structures. Next, we present a novel control architecture that augments the baseline formation maintenance controller to mitigate transient instabilities. At its heart, the proposed architecture consists of a projection operator based estimator disguised as a reference model that generates collision-free trajectories for the agents to follow. We present numerical simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approaches.

Quadrelli, Marco B.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Automation, robotics, and inflight training for manned Mars missions

The automation, robotics, and inflight training requirements of manned Mars missions will be supported by similar capabilities developed for the space station program. Evolutionary space station onboard training facilities will allow the crewmembers to minimize the amount of training received on the ground by providing extensive onboard access to system and experiment malfunction procedures, maintenance procedures, repair procedures, and associated video sequences. Considerable on-the-job training will also be conducted for space station management, mobile remote manipulator operations, proximity operations with the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (and later the Orbit Transfer Vehicle), and telerobotics and mobile robots. A similar approach could be used for manned Mars mission training with significant additions such as high fidelity image generation and simulation systems such as holographic projection systems for Mars landing, ascent, and rendezvous training. In addition, a substantial increase in the use of automation and robotics for hazardous and tedious tasks would be expected for Mars mission. Mobile robots may be used to assist in the assembly, test and checkout of the Mars spacecraft, in the handling of nuclear components and hazardous chemical propellent transfer operations, in major spacecraft repair tasks which might be needed (repair of a micrometeroid penetration, for example), in the construction of a Mars base, and for routine maintenance of the base when unmanned.

Holt, Alan C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Sensor Fault Detection and Diagnosis Simulation of a Helicopter Engine in an Intelligent Control Framework

This paper presents an application of a fault detection and diagnosis scheme for the sensor faults of a helicopter engine. The scheme utilizes a model-based approach with real time identification and hypothesis testing which can provide early detection, isolation, and diagnosis of failures. It is an integral part of a proposed intelligent control system with health monitoring capabilities. The intelligent control system will allow for accommodation of faults, reduce maintenance cost, and increase system availability. The scheme compares the measured outputs of the engine with the expected outputs of an engine whose sensor suite is functioning normally. If the differences between the real and expected outputs exceed threshold values, a fault is detected. The isolation of sensor failures is accomplished through a fault parameter isolation technique where parameters which model the faulty process are calculated on-line with a real-time multivariable parameter estimation algorithm. The fault parameters and their patterns can then be analyzed for diagnostic and accommodation purposes. The scheme is applied to the detection and diagnosis of sensor faults of a T700 turboshaft engine. Sensor failures are induced in a T700 nonlinear performance simulation and data obtained are used with the scheme to detect, isolate, and estimate the magnitude of the faults.

Litt, Jonathan↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Simulated Evaluation of Powder Flowability Through a Partially Obstructed Consumable in Blown Powder Directed Energy Deposition Systems

Abstract In the interest of continued industrialization of metal additive manufacturing in modern production environments, cost is often referenced as a primary deterrent to new adopters. Conventional economic models for additive systems, processes, and supply chains often focus on specific process applications with little generalizability, or they neglect significant costs associated with production such as machine maintenance and consumable part replacement. Compounding the latter issue are substantial knowledge gaps in consumable part wear characterization for additive and other convergent manufacturing systems. In coaxial blown powder directed energy deposition systems, gas atomized metal powder is wasted during material deposition at a rate that is partly dependent on present wear phenomena in a consumable nozzle housed in the cladding head assembly. The price and lead time required to replace the nozzle incentivizes its reuse even when visibly worn. Often this initiates a process quality decline in the form of underbuilt geometry and internal defects due to losses in powder catchment efficiency. While depositing H13 steel using a hybrid manufacturing machine tool equipped with such a deposition system, a unique partial clog with a bridge-like structure formed at the consumable nozzle exit when supporting argon gas flows failed mid-process. To further understand coaxial multi-phase powder flow in the event of support gas failure, a computational fluid dynamics simulation is tailored to relevant process parameters, H13 powder material profile, and machine operator observations collected after the incident. The resulting differences in powder flow compared to control gas flow parameters is presented and discussed. The powder flowability and performance of the clogged nozzle is then assessed by using an optical profilometer to extract the profile of the clog and recreate the clog geometry within the simulation environment. In past work this simulation has been experimentally validated for a 316L steel powder material profile and used specifically for analyzing powder stream geometry and catchment efficiency. After the initial powder flow characterization, the clog is removed, and the nozzle is reprofiled. After removing the obstructing clog, the newly unobstructed nozzle geometry, the original off the shelf nozzle geometry, and additional nozzle profiles exploring different consumable refurbishment strategies are reevaluated in the simulation. Powder catchment efficiency for all variant nozzle geometries and relevant flow variables are compared and discussed, along with potential mitigation strategies for optimizing powder flowability with worn consumables. This work expands on the known morphology of blown powder obstructions and wear defects present in consumable coaxial nozzles while discussing pragmatic simulation driven responses to unanticipated subsystem failure in hybrid manufacturing machining platforms.

DeWitte, Lisa↗
NASA NTRS1983

Launch processing for Spacelab 1

The final integration of Spacelab payloads with the Shuttle is described. Attention is given to launch processing planning, schedules, quality control, and problem reports and configuration maintenance. Also covered are the integration and checkout of individual and combined experiments, mounting the end cones, attachment of the transfer tunnel, and inclusion of an extra experiments pallet. The entire Spacelab module was subjected to a full systems simulation before deliverance to the Orbiter bay. Modular parts that were transferred from building-to-building were placed in sealed containers filled with a purged atmosphere during transport.

Mcbrayer, R. O.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Lunar Dust Characterization for Exploration Life Support Systems

Lunar dust effects can have a significant impact on the performance and maintenance of future exploration life support systems. Filtration systems will be challenged by the additional loading from lunar dust, and mitigation technology and strategies have to be adapted to protect sensitive equipment. An initial characterization of lunar dust and simulants was undertaken. The data emphasize the irregular morphology of the dust particles and the frequency dependence of lunar dust layer detachment from shaken surfaces.

Agui, Juan H.↗
DOE OSTI2026

The Myth of Fungible FTE: A Quantitative Assessment of Matrixed Resource Allocation

Matrix organizations allow scientific facilities to share specialized personnel across projects, operations, maintenance, and strategic initiatives. Nominal staffing allocations, however, may not capture the schedule consequences of fragmented individual commitments, limited access to specialist groups, and intermittent availability of key decision makers. We developed a stochas- tic, daily-time-step simulation of a hypothetical medium-sized accelerator-facility project com- prising sequential phases and parallel tasks. Each task requires role-specific work measured in FTE-days. Ordinary personnel may be unavailable because they contribute concurrently to other institutional activities, while designated key roles have independently specified daily un- availability probabilities. An organization-wide priority factor scales the number of people from each functional group who can effectively contribute to the project. It is interpreted as a composite proxy for project access and workforce fragmentation across competing commit- ments. We examined project completion time as a function of this factor and Project Lead unavailability using 100 Monte Carlo runs per condition. Increasing priority factor from 0.1 to 1.0 reduced median completion time from 1708.5 days (interquartile range 1681.5–1735.25) to 390 days (interquartile range 379–399). At priority factor = 0.1, increasing Project Lead unavailability from 0.5 to 0.9 increased median completion time from 1713.5 days (interquartile range 1691–1733.25) to 4,417 days (interquartile range 4271.75–4550.5). The model quantifies the commonly expected sensitivity of project schedules to fragmented resource commitments and limited coordination availability. Within this model, the results also indicate a possible threshold regime in which small increases in workforce availability yield only modest sched- ule improvements until sufficient capacity becomes accessible, after which project performance improves sharply. With further validation and calibration, this quantitative framework could support resource-allocation decisions during initial project planning and subsequent schedule rebaselining.

Bai, Mei [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SL↗
DOE OSTI2024

Robust Disturbance Rejection Rotor Current Control of Doubly-Fed Induction Generators

This article proposes a robust transient disturbance rejection current controller (TDRCC) to improve the transient performance of doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs) in wind turbines during grid disturbances, such as short circuits. Here, the proposed robust TDRCC replaces the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) current controllers conventionally used in the vector control scheme of the DFIG rotor side converter (RSC). The TDRCC estimates the transient disturbances caused by grid faults or other external disturbances and provides compensation to the DFIG rotor voltage in the current control loops of the RSC to improve the robustness of the controller to disturbance. A sliding-mode current controller (SMCC) is also designed to highlight the transient performance improvement of the DFIG using the TDRCC over the state-of-the-art control methods during grid short circuit faults. Simulation studies are conducted in PSCAD/EMTDC for a 3.6-MW DFIG wind turbine with the proposed TDRCC, the conventional PI controller, and the SMCC, respectively during the most severe balanced three-phase grid short circuit fault specified by the U.S. grid code as well as an unbalance single-phase grid short circuit fault. Hardware experiments are conducted on a 200-W DFIG wind turbine emulator with the three different controllers for the same three-phase short circuit fault. Simulation and hardware experiment results show that the TDRCC reduces the peak rotor current significantly when compared with the PI and SMCC controlled DFIG system and, therefore, would help prolong the lifespan of the DFIG's power electronics and reduce maintenance costs.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1991

Fluid handling 2: Surgical applications

The methods proposed for managing fluids and particulate debris during minor surgery on Space Station Freedom (SSF) were investigated and demonstrated. A KC-135 parabolic flight test was performed, in which the flight followed the standard 40 parabola profile with 20 to 25 seconds in near-zero gravity in each parabola. The equipment (suction and laminar flow device) was evaluated. While this equipment performed satisfactorily previously in the dental simulation, the purpose of the current flight was to reconfigure the equipment in support of a minor surgical situation in order to evaluate its efficacy and establish clear requirements for the actual flight hardware. To accomplish the study the Health Maintenance Facility medical restraint system was deployed as for surgical use and mannequin suture arm was restrained to its surface. The surgical area was established as for performing minor surgery with standard tray and suture instruments employed.

Billica, Roger↗
NASA NTRS1999

Spares Management : Optimizing Hardware Usage for the Space Shuttle Main Engine

The complexity of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), combined with mounting requirements to reduce operations costs have increased demands for accurate tracking, maintenance, and projections of SSME assets. The SSME Logistics Team is developing an integrated asset management process. This PC-based tool provides a user-friendly asset database for daily decision making, plus a variable-input hardware usage simulation with complex logic yielding output that addresses essential asset management issues. Cycle times on critical tasks are significantly reduced. Associated costs have decreased as asset data quality and decision-making capability has increased.

Gulbrandsen, K. A.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Evolution of Bromoform in a Global Chemistry and Transport Model

It is well known that many chlorine and bromine compounds that are inert in the troposphere are destroyed in the stratosphere and contribute to the stratospheric burden of reactive chlorine and bromine species. But the contribution from those chlorine and bromine compounds which are reactive in the troposphere is less certain because it is not known whether convection can transport these gases to the upper troposphere rapidly enough to overcome their short tropospheric lifetimes. We examine this issue using a three-dimensional chemistry and transport model to simulate the evolution of three gases which have surface sources, bromoform (CHBr3), methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3), and carbon dioxide (CO2). Our objective is to determine if CHBr3 might enhance the lower stratospheric burden of reactive bromine. The other two gases provide tests of the quality of the simulation. Both CHBr3 and CH3CCl3 are destroyed in the troposphere by reaction with hydroxyl (OH), whose latitudinal and monthly variation is provided by a two-dimensional model and upon which a diurnal variation is imposed. Comparison of the lifetime of CH3CCl3 computed from observations (5 years) with the lifetime computed from the simulation provides an integrated test of the model's transport and photochemistry. Observations also show that CO2 exhibits a strong seasonal cycle in the northern hemisphere troposphere that is not propagated directly across the tropopause into the lower stratosphere. Thus, maintenance of the observed troposphere-stratosphere distinctness of CO2 in the presence of convection is a critical benchmark for meeting our objective.

Douglass, Anne R.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Behavioral Health Program Element

The project goal is to develop behavioral health prevention and maintenance system for continued crew health, safety, and performance for exploration missions. The basic scope includes a) Operationally-relevant research related to clinical cognitive and behavioral health of crewmembers; b) Ground-based studies using analog environments (Antarctic, NEEMO, simulations, and other testbeds; c) ISS studies (ISSMP) focusing on operational issues related to behavioral health outcomes and standards; d) Technology development activities for monitoring and diagnostic tools; and e) Cross-disciplinary research (e.g., human factors and habitability research, skeletal muscle, radiation).

Leveton, Lauren B.↗