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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

Ambulation During Periods of Supersaturation Increase Decompression Stress in Spacewalk Simulations

Musculoskeletal activity accelerates inert gas elimination during oxygen breathing prior to decompression (prebreathe), but may also promote bubble formation (nucleation) and increase the risk of decompression sickness (DCS). The timing, pattern and intensity of musculoskeletal activity and the level of tissue supersaturation are likely critical to the net effect. Understanding the relationships is important to evaluate exercise prebreathe protocols and quantify decompression risk in gravity and microgravity environments. The NASA Prebreathe Reduction Program (PRP) combined oxygen prebreathe and exercise preceding a low pressure (4.3 psia; altitude equivalent of 30,300 ft [9,235 m]) simulation exposure of non-ambulatory subjects (a microgravity analog) to produce two protocols now used by astronauts preparing for extravehicular activity. One protocol included both upright cycling and non-cycling exercise (CEVIS: 'cycle ergometer vibration isolation system') and one protocol relied on non-cycling exercise only (ISLE: 'in-suit light exercise'). CEVIS trial data serve as control data for the current study to investigate the influence of ambulation exercise in 1G environments on bubble formation and the subsequent risk of DCS.

Pollock, N. W.↗

Frequency response studies for a wedge probe in viscoelastic fluids.

Investigation of a hot-film wedge probe in viscoelastic fluids by imposing on the probe a sinusoidal vibration of known amplitude and frequency. Root-mean-square (rms) velocities calculated from the displacement of the probe are compared to rms velocities obtained with a constant temperature anemometer. The tests were performed under turbulent flow conditions and also at flow rates where viscoelastic effects, i.e., decrease of heat transfer rates from the probe to the fluid and drag reduction, were observed. The experimental technique was established by measuring the response of the probe in mineral oil.

Rodriguez, J. M.↗

A NASTRAN correlation study for vibrations of a cross-stiffened ship's deck

To evaluate the effectiveness of NASTRAN for predicting the vibration modes of panels with bending-membrane coupling, a cross-stiffened ship deck was analyzed. In correlation with experimental data, one NASTRAN finite element representation gave results slightly more accurate than a previous analytical solution. Computational time was excessively long, due to the Guyan method of reducing the eigenvalue problem. It is recommended that a more efficient method of matrix reduction be implemented for the lumped mass formulation.

Thornton, E. A.↗

Design of an Indoor Sonic Boom Simulator at NASA Langley Research Center

Construction of a simulator to recreate the soundscape inside residential buildings exposed to sonic booms is scheduled to start during the summer of 2008 at NASA Langley Research Center. The new facility should be complete by the end of the year. The design of the simulator allows independent control of several factors that create the indoor soundscape. Variables that will be isolated include such factors as boom duration, overpressure, rise time, spectral shape, level of rattle, level of squeak, source of rattle and squeak, level of vibration and source of vibration. Test subjects inside the simulator will be asked to judge the simulated soundscape, which will represent realistic indoor boom exposure. Ultimately, this simulator will be used to develop a functional relationship between human response and the sound characteristics creating the indoor soundscape. A conceptual design has been developed by NASA personnel, and is currently being vetted through small-scale risk reduction tests that are being performed in-house. The purpose of this document is to introduce the conceptual design, identify how the indoor response will be simulated, briefly outline some of the risk reduction tests that have been completed to vet the design, and discuss the impact of these tests on the simulator design.

Klos, Jacob↗

Advanced Laser Based Measurements in Porous Media Combustion

We present measurements using dual-pump dual-broadband coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy (DP-DBB-CARS) inside a porous media burner. This work continues our previous measurements in such combustion systems. The existing setup was significantly modified with the aim of providing improved data quality and data rate, reduction of interferences and additional species information. These changes are presented and discussed in detail. The CARS technique was expanded to a dual-pump dual-broadband CARS system which in principle enables acquisition of temperatures together with relative H2/N2- and O2/N2- species concentrations. Experimental complexity was reduced by the use of a modified spectrometer enabling the detection of both signals, vibrational and rotational CARS, with only one detection system.

Tedder, Sarah A.↗

Statistical discrete particle simulation studies

A particle simulation code was developed that is suited to Multiple Instruction Multiple Data multiprocessor computers. The resulting code is designed to be portable between a large class of multiprocessor computer architectures, including hypercubes (e.g., Intel iPSC/860), shared memory machines (e.g., Cray, SGI, DASH), and simple uniprocessors (e.g., SUN, VAX, IBM PC). This code provides a powerful general framework that can be adapted to specific applications, such as thermomechanical modeling, general 3-D geometry support, or visualization support via a codeveloped CPlot data reduction and visualization system. Chemistry models were implemented and validated with comparison to continuum solutions of thermochemically relaxing gas mixtures and with experimental results from the high speed flow about a circular cylinder. Furthermore, the exchange of energy between translational and internal modes was modeled. New models were developed, combining greater efficiency than earlier phenomenological models. They offer greater physical detail by addressing vibrational energy as a discretely distributed quantity.

Mcdonald, Jeffrey D.↗

Nonequilibrium radiative heating of a Jovian entry body

The influence of nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) radiative transfer on radiative and convective heating of a Jovian entry body is investigated. The flow in the shock layer is assumed to be axisymmetric, viscous, and in chemical equilibrium. The chemical species considered for the collisional deactivation processes are H2, H, H+. The NLTE radiative transfer equations are derived for multilevel energy transitions. The rotational and vibrational energy modes are assumed to be in local thermodynamic equilibrium. The results indicate that higher-level energy transitions have little influence on the overall NLTE results. The NLTE results, however, are found to be greatly influenced by the temperature distributions in the shock layer. The convective and radiative heating to the entry body are reduced significantly because of the NLTE conditions; the reduction in convective heating, however, is relatively small. The influence of NLTE is found to be greater at higher entry altitudes.

Tiwari, S. N.↗

Fiberoptic characteristics for extreme operating environments

Fiberoptics could offer several major benefits for cryogenic liquid-fueled rocket engines, including lightning immunity, weight reduction, and the possibility of implementing a number of new measurements for engine condition monitoring. The technical feasibility of using fiberoptics in the severe environments posed by cryogenic liquid-fueled rocket engines was determined. The issues of importance and subsequent requirements for this use of fiberoptics were compiled. These included temperature ranges, moisture embrittlement succeptability, and the ability to withstand extreme shock and vibration levels. Different types of optical fibers were evaluated and several types of optical fibers' ability to withstand use in cryogenic liquid-fueled rocket engines was demonstrated through environmental testing of samples. This testing included: cold-bend testing, moisture embrittlement testing, temperature cycling, temperature extremes testing, vibration testing, and shock testing. Three of five fiber samples withstood the tests to a level proving feasibility, and two of these remained intact in all six of the tests. A fiberoptic bundle was also tested, and completed testing without breakage. Preliminary cabling and harnessing for fiber protection was also demonstrated. According to cable manufacturers, the successful -300 F cold bend, vibration, and shock tests are the first instance of any major fiberoptic cable testing below roughly -55 F. This program has demonstrated the basic technical feasibility of implementing optical fibers on cryogenic liquid-fueled rocket engines, and a development plan is included highlighting requirements and issues for such an implementation.

Delcher, R. C.↗

Synthesis of a modern/classical controller for large space structures

The paper is concerned with wide-sense stationary random vibrations of a representative large space structure subject to nonwhite excitations, and with synthesis of its controller amid modeling uncertainties due to truncated modes. Dynamics is analyzed by residue calculus in frequency domain. Steady state variance of a modal coordinate is shown to depend on, among other things, power spectral density of excitation at the modal frequency. Modal cost analysis is performed for an order reduction with a performance objective of attitude, attitude rate and energy control. Optimal and suboptimal output feedback controllers are compared. By treating deleted modes as an additive and a multiplicative perturbation in an idealized transfer function, the low frequency modes omitted according to modal cost analysis are found to cause instability. Finally, the size of the idealized model is shown to be governed by light damping and stringency in performance and stability specifications.

Hablani, H. B.↗

DC-10 winglet flight evaluation

The results of a flight evaluation of winglets on a DC-10 Series 10 aircraft are presented. For sensitive areas of comparison, effects of winglets were determined back to back with and without winglets. Basic and reduced span winglet configurations were tested. After initial encounter with low speed buffet, a number of acceptable configurations were developed. For maximum drag reduction at both cruise and low speeds, lower winglets were required, having leading edge devices on upper and lower winglets for the latter regime. The cruise benefits were enhanced by adding outboard aileron droop to the reduced span winglet aircraft. Winglets had no significant impact on stall speeds, high speed buffet boundary, and stability and control characteristics. Flutter test results agreed with predictions and ground vibration data. Flight loads measurement also agreed with predictions.

Source record↗

Evaluation of piezoceramic actuators for control of aircraft interior noise

Results of an experiment to evaluate piezoceramic actuators as the control actuator for active control of interior noise in a large-scale fuselage model are presented. Control was demonstrated for tonal excitation using a time domain least mean squares algorithm. A maximum of four actuator channels and six error signals were used. The actuators were employed for control of noise at frequencies where interior cavity modes were the dominant response and for driven acoustic responses where a structure resonance was dominant. Global reductions of 9 to 12 dB were obtained for the cases examined. The most effective configuration of skin-mounted actuators was found to be a pure in-plane forcing function as opposed to a bending excitation. The frame-mounted actuators were found to be equally effective as the skin-mounted actuators. However, both configurations resulted in local regions of unacceptably high vibration response in the structure.

Silcox, Richard J.↗

X-15 hydraulic-system development

Despite the exacting requirements and conditions of the X-15 including much higher temperature, high horsepower, and extreme vibration and duty cycles, the hydraulic flight control systems compare favorably, weightwise, with preceding models. Although some items, such as the pumps, are heavier, the total system, excluding actuators, weighs approximately 195 pounds as compared with 196 pounds for the F-107A airplane. Use of the new piggy-back pump, with its low flow during most of the operating time, also permitted a reduction in fluid capacity of the hydraulic reservoirs and the total systems, even though the volume of some of the actuators is quite large. This effected a considerable saving in fluid weight. Complete ground-support equipment is available and this equipment, as well as the airplane systems, contains means for complete 5- to 15- micron filtration under controlled temperature conditions. By use of advanced engineering techniques and extensive laboratory testing, it has been possible to provide a sound, lightweight hydraulic system for this advanced, high-performance airplane. (author)

Culleton, R J↗

Finite Element Analysis and Test Correlation of a 10-Meter Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail

Under the direction of the NASA In-Space Propulsion Technology Office, the team of L Garde, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace, and NASA Langley Research Center has been developing a scalable solar sail configuration to address NASA's future space propulsion needs. Prior to a flight experiment of a full-scale solar sail, a comprehensive phased test plan is currently being implemented to advance the technology readiness level of the solar sail design. These tests consist of solar sail component, subsystem, and sub-scale system ground tests that simulate the vacuum and thermal conditions of the space environment. Recently, two solar sail test articles, a 7.4-m beam assembly subsystem test article and a 10-m four-quadrant solar sail system test article, were tested in vacuum conditions with a gravity-offload system to mitigate the effects of gravity. This paper presents the structural analyses simulating the ground tests and the correlation of the analyses with the test results. For programmatic risk reduction, a two-prong analysis approach was undertaken in which two separate teams independently developed computational models of the solar sail test articles using the finite element analysis software packages: NEiNastran and ABAQUS. This paper compares the pre-test and post-test analysis predictions from both software packages with the test data including load-deflection curves from static load tests, and vibration frequencies and mode shapes from vibration tests. The analysis predictions were in reasonable agreement with the test data. Factors that precluded better correlation of the analyses and the tests were uncertainties in the material properties, test conditions, and modeling assumptions used in the analyses.

Sleight, David W.↗

Structural Analysis of an Inflation-Deployed Solar Sail With Experimental Validation

Under the direction of the NASA In-Space Propulsion Technology Office, the team of L Garde, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace, and NASA Langley Research Center has been developing a scalable solar sail configuration to address NASA s future space propulsion needs. Prior to a flight experiment of a full-scale solar sail, a comprehensive phased test plan is currently being implemented to advance the technology readiness level of the solar sail design. These tests consist of solar sail component, subsystem, and sub-scale system ground tests that simulate the vacuum and thermal conditions of the space environment. Recently, two solar sail test articles, a 7.4-m beam assembly subsystem test article and a 10-m four-quadrant solar sail system test article, were tested in vacuum conditions with a gravity-offload system to mitigate the effects of gravity. This paper presents the structural analyses simulating the ground tests and the correlation of the analyses with the test results. For programmatic risk reduction, a two-prong analysis approach was undertaken in which two separate teams independently developed computational models of the solar sail test articles using the finite element analysis software packages: NEiNastran and ABAQUS. This paper compares the pre-test and post-test analysis predictions from both software packages with the test data including load-deflection curves from static load tests, and vibration frequencies and mode shapes from structural dynamics tests. The analysis predictions were in reasonable agreement with the test data. Factors that precluded better correlation of the analyses and the tests were uncertainties in the material properties, test conditions, and modeling assumptions used in the analyses.

Sleight, David W.↗

Residual acceleration data on IML-1: Development of a data reduction and dissemination plan

The need to record some measure of the low-gravity environment of an orbiting space vehicle was recognized at an early stage of the U.S. Space Program. Such information was considered important for both the assessment of an astronaut's physical condition during and after space missions and the analysis of the fluid physics, materials processing, and biological sciences experiments run in space. Various measurement systems were developed and flown on space platforms beginning in the early 1970's. Similar in concept to land based seismometers that measure vibrations caused by earthquakes and explosions, accelerometers mounted on orbiting space vehicles measure vibrations in and of the vehicle due to internal and external sources, as well as vibrations in a sensor's relative acceleration with respect to the vehicle to which it is attached. The data collected over the years have helped to alter the perception of gravity on-board a space vehicle from the public's early concept of zero-gravity to the science community's evolution of thought from microgravity to milligravity to g-jitter or vibrational environment. Since the advent of the Shuttle Orbiter Program, especially since the start of Spacelab flights dedicated to scientific investigations, the interest in measuring the low-gravity environment in which experiments are run has increased. This interest led to the development and flight of numerous accelerometer systems dedicated to specific experiments. It also prompted the development of the NASA MSAD-sponsored Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS). The first SAMS units flew in the Spacelab on STS-40 in June 1991 in support of the first Spacelab Life Sciences mission (SLS-1). SAMS is currently manifested to fly on all future Spacelab missions.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗

Silicon Photonic Transceiver for Spacecraft Navigational Lidar

NASA is developing an entry, descent, and landing (EDL) lidar system, the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), for high-precision landing on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The current flight NDL systems use 1550 nm fiber-optic components for frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) ranging beyond 5 km, but have reduced performance under vibrational and thermal stresses during EDL. Here we describe recent efforts to develop a breadboard silicon photonic optical transceiver for integration into NDL to reduce instrument size and improve robustness to environment and demonstrate the optical balanced receiver performance during testing with the breadboard NDL unit. Initial testing shows improved suppression of common mode noise by 25 dB over the current receiver, but a 10 dB reduction in signal to noise ratio (SNR) resulting from coupling losses from fiber to the on-chip waveguides. Future work will target reduced coupling loss, hermetic packaging, and co-integration of a single sideband suppressed carrier modulator into the same chip.

Photonic Integrated Circuits↗

Skeletal Adaptation to Daily Activity: A Biochemical Perspective

Musculoskeletal forces generated by normal daily activity on Earth maintain the functional and structural properties of muscle and bone throughout most of one's adult life. A reduction in the level of cumulative daily loading caused by space flight, bed rest or spinal cord injury induces rapid muscle atrophy, functional changes in muscle, and bone resorption in regions subjected to the reduced loading. Bone cells in culture and bone tissue reportedly respond to a wide variety of non-mechanical and mechanical stimuli ranging, from electromagnetic fields, and hormones to small amplitude, high frequency vibrations, fluid flow, strain rate, and stress/strain magnitude. However, neither the transduction mechanism that transforms the mechanical input into a muscle or bone metabolic response nor the characteristics, of the loading history that directly or indirectly stimulates the cell is known. Identifying the factors contributing to the input stimulus will have a major impact on the design of effective countermeasures for long duration space flight. This talk will present a brief overview of current theories of bone remodeling and functional adaptation to mechanical loading. Work from our lab will be presented from the perspective of daily cumulative loading on Earth and its relationship to bone density and structure. Our objective is to use the tibia and calcaneus as model bone sites of cortical and cancellous bone adaptation, loaded daily by musculoskeletal forces in equilibrium with the ground reaction force. All materials that will be discussed are in the open scientific literature.

Whalen, Robert T.↗

Large-Scale Boundary Layer Ingesting Propulsor Research

NASA’s Advanced Air Transport Technology (AATT) project is investigating boundary layer ingesting (BLI) propulsors for advanced subsonic commercial vehicle concepts to enable the reduction of fuel burn. A multidisciplinary team of researchers from NASA, United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), Virginia Polytechnic University, and the Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Complex developed and tested an embedded BLI inlet and distortion-tolerant fan (BLI2DTF) system in the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) 8- foot by 6-foot (8x6) transonic wind tunnel. The test demonstrated the component performance goals necessary for an overall fuel burn reduction of 3 to 5 percent on a large hybrid wing body (HWB) aircraft. Special test equipment, including a raised floor with flow effectors and a bleed system, was developed for use in the 8x6 to produce the appropriate incoming boundary layer representative of an HWB application. Detailed measurements were made to determine the inlet total pressure loss and distortion, fan stage efficiency, and aeromechanic performance including blade vibration stress and displacement response. Results from this test were used as input to a vehicle-level system study performed by the AATT project to assess the impact of BLI on an alternative advanced concept aircraft referred to as the NASA D8 (ND8), which is somewhat similar to the HWB in its integration of the propulsor. This paper will provide an overview of the project timeline, special test equipment needed in the wind tunnel to develop the appropriate incoming boundary layer, and the difficulties in designing a propulsor for the test. The paper will conclude with some representative aerodynamic and aeromechanic data from the test itself and conclude with how this data was used in the ND8 system study.

Aerodynamic performance↗