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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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A mechanical pump for use with the Pioneer-Venus probe mass spectrometer inlet system was obtained, and a limited performance testing program, including ultimate/compression ratio tests and throughput tests at three different pump speeds, was performed. Considerable operating experience with the pump was obtained over approximately 200 hours of running. The test results show general agreement with pump specifications.
Modern memory systems are composed of levels of cache memories, a virtual memory system, and a backing store. Varying more than a few design parameters and measuring the performance of such systems has traditionally be constrained by the high cost of simulation. Models of cache performance recently introduced reduce the cost simulation but at the expense of accuracy of performance prediction. Stack-based methods predict performance accurately using one pass over the trace for all cache sizes, but these techniques have been limited to fully-associative organizations. This paper presents a stack-based method of evaluating the performance of cache memories using a recurrence/conflict model for the miss ratio. Unlike previous work, the performance of realistic cache designs, such as direct-mapped caches, are predicted by the method. The method also includes a new approach to the problem of the effects of multiprogramming. This new technique separates the characteristics of the individual program from that of the workload. The recurrence/conflict method is shown to be practical, general, and powerful by comparing its performance to that of a popular traditional cache simulator. The authors expect that the availability of such a tool will have a large impact on future architectural studies of memory systems.
An investigation to determine the performance of eight NACA 1-series inlets at massflow ratios near 1.0 was conducted in the Langley 16-foot transonic tunnel. The inlet diameter ratios (ratio of inlet diameter to maximum diameter) were 0.85 and 0.89 for an inlet length ratio (ratio of inlet length to maximum diameter) of 1.0. Inlet lip radius varied from 0.061 cm to 0.251 cm, and internal contraction area ratio (ratio of inlet area to throat area) varied from 1.006 to 1.201. Reynolds number based on model maximum diameter ranged from 3,600,000 at a Mach number of 400,000 to 5,900,000 at a Mach number of 1.29. The results indicate that nearly uniform pressure distributions on a given inlet were obtained over a limited range of mass-flow ratios and Mach numbers. When inlet lip thickness was increased by means of lip radius or contraction ratio, the inlet critical Mach number decreased. Drag-divergence Mach number inferred from forebody pressure integrations was above 0.94 for most of the inlets tested.
This paper investigates the effect of nonlinear large deflection bending on the aerodynamic performance of a high aspect ratio flexible wing. A set of nonlinear static aeroelastic equations are derived for the large bending deflection of a high aspect ratio wing structure. An analysis is conducted to compare the nonlinear bending theory with the linear bending theory. The results show that the nonlinear bending theory is length-preserving whereas the linear bending theory causes a non-physical effect of lengthening the wing structure under the no axial load condition. A modified lifting line theory is developed to compute the lift and drag coefficients of a wing structure undergoing a large bending deflection. The lift and drag coefficients are more accurately estimated by the nonlinear bending theory due to its length-preserving property. The nonlinear bending theory yields lower lift and span efficiency than the linear bending theory. A coupled aerodynamic-nonlinear finite element model is developed to implement the nonlinear bending theory for a Common Research Model (CRM) flexible wing wind tunnel model to be tested in the University of Washington Aeronautical Laboratory (UWAL). The structural stiffness of the model is designed to give about 10% wing tip deflection which is large enough that could cause the nonlinear deflection effect to become significant. The computational results show that the nonlinear bending theory yields slightly less lift than the linear bending theory for this wind tunnel model. As a result, the linear bending theory is deemed adequate for the CRM wind tunnel model.
A 1.294 pressure ratio, 725 ft/sec tip speed, variable pitch low noise fan was designed and tested in the NASA Glenn 9- by 15-foot Wind Tunnel. The design included a casing treatment that used recirculation to extend the fan stall line and provide an acceptable operating range. Overall aerodynamic experimental results are presented for this low tip speed, low noise fan without casing treatment as well as using several variants of the casing treatment that moved the air extraction and insertion axial locations. Measurements were made to assess effects on performance, operability, and noise. An unusual instability was discovered near the design operating line and is documented in the fan operating range. Measurements were made to compare stall margin improvements as well as measure the performance impact of the casing treatments. Experimental results in the presence of simulated inlet distortion, via screens, are presented for the baseline and recirculation casing treatment configurations. Estimates are made for the quantity of recirculation weight flow based on limited instrumentation in the recirculation system along with discussion of results and conclusions
Performance characteristics of conical jet nozzles were determined in an investigation covering a range of pressure ratios from 1.0 to 2.8, cone half-angles from 5 degrees to 90 degrees, and outlet-inlet diameter ratios from 0.50 to 0.91. All nozzles investigated had an inlet diameter of 5 inches. The flow coefficients of the conical nozzles investigated were dependent on the cone half-angle, outlet-inlet diameter ratio, and pressure ratio. The velocity coefficients were essentially constant at pressure ratios below the critical. For increasing pressures above critical pressure ratio, there was a small decrease in velocity coefficient that was dependent on pressure ratio and independent of cone half-angle and outlet-inlet diameter ratio. Therefore the variation in performance (air flow and thrust) of several nozzles, selected for the same performance at a particular design condition, was proportional to the ratio of their flow coefficients.
The performance of code division multiple-access (CDMA) systems is determined using direct sequence spectral spreading. Under relatively ideal conditions, the degradation in system performance as a function of the number of users is shown to have a threshold effect. This basic limitation in the number of users of the system is further limited if the powers are unequal. For two users, system performance as a function of their power ratio also has a threshold effect. System performance as a function of the amount of spectral spreading is determined. The performance of both coded and uncoded systems is predicted.
Report describes performance measurements on elements of low-concentrationratio solar arrays (LCRSA's) employing silicon and gallium arsenide photovoltaic cells. Measurements intended to verify predictions of performance based on mathematical models. Measured and predicted values found to agree closely for both normal and off-normal pointing of array toward Sun.
Heat exchangers are used in many industries to transfer thermal energy between two or more objects with an associated thermal and hydraulic performance indicated by thermal effectiveness and pressure drop respectively. Many investigations have aimed to enhance the thermal effectiveness of heat exchangers by introducing turbulent flow inducers that increase the heat transfer rate at the expense of increasing pressure drop. Flow inducers like surface roughness can be controlled with advanced manufacturing methods like additive manufacturing for heat exchanger production. Selecting and manufacturing an optimal surface roughness for heat exchangers requires a more comprehensive approach that accounts for the surface roughness effect on the thermal and hydraulic performance of a sample. Since fabricating samples with additive manufacturing to a desired surface roughness can be an extensive experimental process, this study will fundamentally investigate the effect of surface roughness on the thermal and velocity boundary layers for various surface roughness profiles with physics-based computational modeling. To accurately model the surface roughness effect on thermohydraulic performance, correlations like roughness ratio, friction factor, and Nusselt number are investigated. This study expects to indicate correlations for different flow regimes which can successfully predict the effect of surface roughness on thermohydraulic performance. Results generated from modeling surface roughness effect with unique correlations are then compared to experimental data obtained from literature for validation. The results of this study will provide insight to understand the thermal fluid physics associated with surface roughness and design guidelines for heat exchangers produced with additive manufacturing.
Hub-tip radius ratio transonic turbine for secondary flow - stator configurations designed to eliminate blade wakes and secondary-flow effects
The microwave-absorbing and catalytic properties of iron-based alumina (FeAl x O y ) materials have enabled their use as catalysts for the microwave-assisted generation of hydrogen and carbon via pyrolysis of hydrocarbons. Solution combustion synthesis (SCS) is a promising method to fabricate these materials, but the pyrolysis performance still needs to be improved. The present work investigated how altering the SCS parameters affects the pyrolysis of diesel fuel, gasoline, and crude oil. Two fuels (citric acid and glycine), four Fe:Al molar ratios, and two heating modes (hotplate and furnace) were tested. Fe/γ-Al 2 O 3 and Fe/β-SiC catalysts were prepared via incipient wetness impregnation for comparison. Among the three fossil fuels tested, diesel fuel yielded the highest amounts of H 2 and least amounts of CO x . The choice of fuel for the SCS process and the Fe/Al ratio strongly affected pyrolysis performance as they influence properties important for both catalysis and microwave absorption. The use of glycine resulted in catalysts that exhibited high H 2 yield and low CO 2 generation, which is explained by the revealed structural differences. The increase in the Fe:Al molar ratio accelerated microwave heating by adding more magnetic loss but also increased the amount of CO x . When the optimal SCS parameters were used, FeAl x O y catalysts outperformed Fe/γ-Al 2 O 3 and Fe/β-SiC. The high H 2 generation efficiency of the SCS catalysts is explained by their enhanced microwave-absorption properties. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed the formation of large-diameter CNTs via the tip-growth mechanism. The regeneration of SCS catalysts was demonstrated via the Boudouard reaction.
The NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is currently under development and will provide global L-band radar observations that will be helpful for various soil moisture applications. The final NISAR soil moisture product will have 200m spatial resolution with 12-day exact revisit time. A time-series ratio algorithm was implemented using NISAR simulated UAVSAR data collected during the SMAPVEX12 field experiment. In this paper, the performance of the time series ratio algorithm was assessed using in situ observations. Performance of the soil moisture retrieval algorithm was also assessed for dual polarization and quad-polarization observations modes.
Static loads testing was performed on a 39-foot, high-aspect-ratio wingbox comprising carbon fiber tow-steered wing skins that were tailored for aircraft fuel efficiency under aeroelastic loads. The test article was designated the Passive Aeroelastic Tailored (PAT) wing. To date, the PAT wing, which has an aspect ratio of 13.5, is the largest wingbox designed and built to employ variably oriented carbon fibers along the span of the wing. During testing, distributed point loads were applied to the wingbox to simulate both -1g and 2.5g maneuver loads. To determine the wingbox’s flexural axis location, individual point loads were applied. The global response of the wing (displacement and rotation measurements) showed similar trends compared to the finite element model predictions, though discrepancies of up to 17% were observed when comparing actual values between model and test. It was concluded that the boundary conditions and nonstructural features of the wingbox were the likely cause of the inconsistencies. The local response of the wingbox (strain measurements), which was much less affected by factors unrelated to tow-steering, exhibited good agreement with the model predictions, validating the modelling techniques employed for tow-steered composites.
Multi‑gear transmission systems are commonly used in electric traction drives for medium and heavy‑duty vehicles, while most passenger‑vehicle electric drivetrains rely on a single fixed ratio to reduce cost, weight, and complexity. Using multiple gear ratios can enable downsizing of the motor and inverter while still meeting performance requirements. Additionally, appropriately chosen ratios allow the motor to operate more frequently in high‑efficiency regions, improving overall energy usage and reducing operating costs over the drive cycle. This paper presents a systematic approach for selecting optimal gear ratios for electric drive systems. A neural‑network model is first developed to represent motor losses across the full torque–speed range using data generated from finite element analysis. This model enables fast, accurate evaluation of motor efficiency under varying operating conditions. A genetic‑algorithm‑based optimization framework is then applied to identify gear ratios that maximize energy cost savings over the drive cycle, with the resulting optimal ratios stored for real‑time implementation.
A program was conducted to evaluate the effects of scaling, tip clearance, and IGV reset on the performance of a low aspect ratio compressor stage. Stage design was obtained by scaling an existing single stage compressor by a linear factor of 0.304. The design objective was to maintain the meanline velocity field of the base machine in the smaller size. Adjustments were made to account for predicted blockage differences and to chord lengths and airfoil edge radii to obtain reasonable blade geometries. Meanline velocity diagrams of the base stage were not maintained at the scaled size. At design speed and flowrate the scaled stage achieved a pressure ratio of 1.423, adiabatic efficiency of 0.822, and surge margin of 18.5%. The corresponding performance parameters for the base stage were 1.480, 0.872, and 25.2%, respectively. The base stage demonstrated a peak efficiency at design speed of 0.872; the scaled stage achieved a level of 0.838. When the scaled stage rotor and stator tip clearances were doubled, the stage achieved a pressure ratio of 1.413, efficiency of 0.799, and surge margin of 16.0% at the design flowrate. The peak stage efficiency at design speed was 0.825 with the increased clearance. Increased prewhirl lowered the stage pressure ratio as expected. Stage efficiency was maintained with ten degrees of increased prewhirl and then decreased substantially with ten additional degrees of reset.
As the size of turbulent flow simulations continues to grow, in situ data compression is becoming increasingly important for visualization, analysis, and restart checkpointing. For these applications, single-pass compression techniques with low computational and communication overhead are crucial. In this paper we present a deep-learning approach to in situ compression using an autoencoder architecture that is customized for three-dimensional turbulent flows and is well suited for contemporary heterogeneous computing resources. The autoencoder is compared against a recently introduced randomized single-pass singular value decomposition (SVD) for three different canonical turbulent flows: decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence, a Taylor-Green vortex, and turbulent channel flow. Our proposed fully convolutional autoencoder architecture compresses turbulent flow snapshots by a factor of 64 with a single pass, allows for arbitrarily sized input fields, is cheaper to compute than the randomized single-pass SVD for typical simulation sizes, performs well on unseen flow configurations, and has been made publicly available. The results reported here show that the autoencoder dramatically outperforms a randomized single-pass SVD with similar compression ratio and yields comparable performance to a higher-rank decomposition with an order of magnitude less compression in regard to preserving a number of important statistical quantities such as turbulent kinetic energy, enstrophy, and Reynolds stresses.
As the size of turbulent flow simulations continues to grow, in situ data compression is becoming increasingly important for visualization, analysis, and restart checkpointing. For these applications, single-pass compression techniques with low computational and communication overhead are crucial. In this paper we present a deep-learning approach to in situ compression using an autoencoder architecture that is customized for three-dimensional turbulent flows and is well suited for contemporary heterogeneous computing resources. The autoencoder is compared against a recently introduced randomized single-pass singular value decomposition (SVD) for three different canonical turbulent flows: decaying homogeneous isotropic turbulence, a Taylor-Green vortex, and turbulent channel flow. Our proposed fully convolutional autoencoder architecture compresses turbulent flow snapshots by a factor of 64 with a single pass, allows for arbitrarily sized input fields, is cheaper to compute than the randomized single-pass SVD for typical simulation sizes, performs well on unseen flow configurations, and has been made publicly available. The results reported here show that the autoencoder dramatically outperforms a randomized single-pass SVD with similar compression ratio and yields comparable performance to a higher-rank decomposition with an order of magnitude less compression in regard to preserving a number of important statistical quantities such as turbulent kinetic energy, enstrophy, and Reynolds stresses.
A Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) engine system is designed to combine the high thrust to weight ratio of a rocket along with the high specific impulse of a ramjet in a single, integrated propulsion system. This integrated, combined cycle propulsion system is designed to provide higher vehicle performance than that achievable with a separate rocket and ramjet. The RBCC engine system studied in the current program is the Aerojet strutjet engine concept, which is being developed jointly by a government-industry team as part of the Air Force HyTech program pre-PRDA activity. The strutjet is an ejector-ramjet engine in which small rocket chambers are embedded into the trailing edges of the inlet compression struts. The engine operates as an ejector-ramjet from take-off to slightly above Mach 3. Above Mach 3 the engine operates as a ramjet and transitions to a scramjet at high Mach numbers. For space launch applications the rockets would be re-ignited at a Mach number or altitude beyond which air-breathing propulsion alone becomes impractical. The focus of the present study is to develop and demonstrate a strutjet flowpath using hydrocarbon fuel at up to Mach 7 conditions. Freejet tests of a candidate flowpath for this RBCC engine were conducted at the NASA Lewis Research Center's Hypersonic Tunnel Facility between July and September 1996. This paper describes the engine flowpath and installation, outlines the primary objectives of the program, and describes the overall results of this activity. Through this program 15 full duration tests, including 13 fueled tests were made. The first major achievement was the further demonstration of the HTF capability. The facility operated at conditions up to 1950 K and 7.34 MPa, simulating approximately Mach 6.6 flight. The initial tests were unfueled and focused on verifying both facility and engine starting. During these runs additional aerodynamic appliances were incorporated onto the facility diffuser to enhance starting. Both facility and engine starting were achieved. Further, the static pressure distributions compared well with the results previously obtained in a 40% subscale flowpath study conducted in the LERC 1X1 supersonic wind tunnel (SWT), as well as the results of CFD analysis. Fueled performance results were obtained for the engine at both simulated Mach 6 (1670 K) and Mach 6.6 (1950 K) conditions. For all these tests the primary fuel was liquid JP-10 with gaseous silane (a mixture of 20% SiH4 and 80% H2 by volume) as an ignitor/pilot. These tests verified performance of this engine flowpath in a freejet mode. High combustor pressures were reached and significant changes in axial force were achieved due to combustion. Future test plans include redistributing the fuel to improve mixing, and consequently performance, at higher equivalence ratios.