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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 469 records · Page 26

System modeling and optimal design of a Mars-roving vehicle.

The problem of systematically determining the optimal design for an unmanned Mars-roving vehicle is considered. A system model, identifying all feasible designs, is generated by consideration of the physical constraints on the design parameters, and the requirement that the system be deliverable to the Mars surface. An expression which evaluates system performance relative to mission goals is developed. The model and objective function together allow simulation of the effects of design trade-offs upon system performance for all feasible designs. Nonlinear programming techniques are utilized to identify the optimal design.

Smith, E. J.↗

Simulated Evaluation of Strategic Conflict Management Capabilities for Urban Air Mobility Operations

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new air transportation service concept to carry passengers or cargo in metropolitan areas, leveraged by innovative aircraft and automation technologies. NASA has conducted a series of simulations to evaluate the UAM concept of operations and inform the development of airspace procedures and services for UAM operations. The latest set of simulations called “X5” were conducted to test a Provider of Services for UAM (PSU) prototype that NASA developed for UAM flight planning, strategic conflict management support, and data exchange between UAM operators. In these simulations, two strategic conflict management capabilities, Demand-Capacity Balancing (DCB) and Sequencing and Scheduling (S&S), were further investigated. This paper describes the system architecture designed for the X5 simulation activities, the sequence diagram for strategic conflict management, and the simulation environment in the Dallas/Fort Worth urban area. The simulation results based on several system performance metrics for evaluation show that a sequential application of DCB and S&S effectively works to distribute traffic demand and meet sequencing and spacing criteria by assigning ground delays, compared to the DCB only and S&S only cases.

Simulation↗

A decoupled control system for improved flight performance in wind shear

A fixed-base simulation study has been made to compare the approach and landing performance of a decoupled longitudinal control system and the velocity-vector control-wheel steering (VCWS) system that currently exists on the NASA Terminal Configured Vehicle (TCV). The decoupled control system employed constant prefilter and feedback gains to provide steady-state decoupling of flight-path angle, pitch angle, and forward velocity using symmetric spoilers, throttle, and elevator as active control elements. In severe wind shear, of the Kennedy-type, the decoupled control system improved both approach performance and touchdown performance even when the spoiler deflection was limited to 16 deg. On a 10-point rating scale, three research pilots rated the approach and landing task with decoupled controls as much as 3 to 4 increments better than the use of the VCWS system in severe winds

Miller, G. K., Jr.↗

Aviation Safety Modeling and Simulation (ASMM) Propulsion Fleet Modeling: A Tool for Semi-Automatic Construction of CORBA-based Applications from Legacy Fortran Programs

Within NASA's Aviation Safety Program, NASA GRC participates in the Modeling and Simulation Project called ASMM. NASA GRC s focus is to characterize the propulsion systems performance from a fleet management and maintenance perspective by modeling and through simulation predict the characteristics of two classes of commercial engines (CFM56 and GE90). In prior years, the High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) program funded, NASA Glenn in developing a large scale, detailed simulations for the analysis and design of aircraft engines called the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS). Three major aspects of this modeling included the integration of different engine components, coupling of multiple disciplines, and engine component zooming at appropriate level fidelity, require relatively tight coupling of different analysis codes. Most of these codes in aerodynamics and solid mechanics are written in Fortran. Refitting these legacy Fortran codes with distributed objects can increase these codes reusability. Aviation Safety s modeling and simulation use in characterizing fleet management has similar needs. The modeling and simulation of these propulsion systems use existing Fortran and C codes that are instrumental in determining the performance of the fleet. The research centers on building a CORBA-based development environment for programmers to easily wrap and couple legacy Fortran codes. This environment consists of a C++ wrapper library to hide the details of CORBA and an efficient remote variable scheme to facilitate data exchange between the client and the server model. Additionally, a Web Service model should also be constructed for evaluation of this technology s use over the next two- three years.

Sang, Janche↗

3D multi-system Bayesian calibration with energy conservation to study rapidity-dependent dynamics of nuclear collisions

Considerable information about the early-stage dynamics of heavy ion collisions is encoded in the rapidity dependence of measurements. To leverage the large amount of experimental data, we perform a systematic analysis using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of multiple collision systems — large and small, symmetric and asymmetric. Specifically, we perform fully 3D multi-stage hydrodynamic simulations initialized by a parameterized model for rapidity-dependent energy deposition, which we calibrate on the hadron multiplicity and anisotropic flow coefficients. We utilize Bayesian inference to constrain properties of the early- and late-time dynamics of the system, and highlight the impact of enforcing global energy conservation in our 3D model.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Simulated Evaluation of Strategic Conflict Management Capabilities for Urban Air Mobility Operations

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new air transportation service concept to carry passengers or cargo in metropolitan areas, leveraged by innovative aircraft and automation technologies. NASA has conducted a series of simulations to evaluate the UAM concept of operations and inform the development of airspace procedures and services for UAM operations. The latest set of simulations called “X5” were conducted to test a Provider of Services for UAM (PSU) prototype that NASA developed for UAM flight planning, strategic conflict management support, and data exchange between UAM operators. In these simulations, two strategic conflict management capabilities, Demand-Capacity Balancing (DCB) and Sequencing and Scheduling (S&S), were further investigated. This paper describes the system architecture designed for the X5 simulation activities, the sequence diagram for strategic conflict management, and the simulation environment in the Dallas/Fort Worth urban area. The simulation results based on several system performance metrics for evaluation show that a sequential application of DCB and S&S effectively works to distribute traffic demand and meet sequencing and spacing criteria by assigning ground delays, compared to the DCB only and S&S only cases.

Urban Air Mobility, Strategic Conflict Management,↗

Preparation and Integration of ALHAT Precision Landing Technology for Morpheus Flight Testing

The Autonomous precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project has developed a suite of prototype sensors for enabling autonomous and safe precision land- ing of robotic or crewed vehicles on solid solar bodies under varying terrain lighting condi- tions. The sensors include a Lidar-based Hazard Detection System (HDS), a multipurpose Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), and a long-range Laser Altimeter (LAlt). Preparation for terrestrial ight testing of ALHAT onboard the Morpheus free- ying, rocket-propelled ight test vehicle has been in progress since 2012, with ight tests over a lunar-like ter- rain eld occurring in Spring 2014. Signi cant work e orts within both the ALHAT and Morpheus projects has been required in the preparation of the sensors, vehicle, and test facilities for interfacing, integrating and verifying overall system performance to ensure readiness for ight testing. The ALHAT sensors have undergone numerous stand-alone sensor tests, simulations, and calibrations, along with integrated-system tests in special- ized gantries, trucks, helicopters and xed-wing aircraft. A lunar-like terrain environment was constructed for ALHAT system testing during Morpheus ights, and vibration and thermal testing of the ALHAT sensors was performed based on Morpheus ights prior to ALHAT integration. High- delity simulations were implemented to gain insight into integrated ALHAT sensors and Morpheus GN&C system performance, and command and telemetry interfacing and functional testing was conducted once the ALHAT sensors and electronics were integrated onto Morpheus. This paper captures some of the details and lessons learned in the planning, preparation and integration of the individual ALHAT sen- sors, the vehicle, and the test environment that led up to the joint ight tests.

Carson, John M., III↗

Cryo Cooler Induced Micro-Vibration Disturbances to the Hubble Space Telescope

This paper presents an overview of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Cryo Cooler (MCC) system, a description of the micro-vibration characterization testing performed, and a discussion of the simulated performance. The NCC is a reverse Brayton cycle system that employs micro turbo-machinery to provide cooling to the NICMOS instrument. Extensive testing was conducted to quantify the expected on-orbit disturbances caused by the micro turbo-machinery and provide input to a flexible-body dynamic simulation to demonstrate compliance with the HST 7 milli-arcsecond root mean square jitter requirement.

Jedrich, Nick↗

CHP-PRA Proof-of-Concept [Simulation] Sensitivity Assessment

An effort is underway to establish a Crew Health and Performance system (CHP) tradespace tool using a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) modeling and simulation system. The goal of the CHP-PRA effort is to provide a means of quantifying the integrated influence of CHP functions and capabilities on risk outcome metrics associated with health, performance, and long-term health. These metrics can then be used to establish potential risk-based trades on CHP system designed functionality and capabilities. Previously, our team demonstrated a proof-of-concept PRA approach that estimated the integrated influence of exercise countermeasures on 8 human system risks (Figure 1a) with outcomes associated with health and medical risk metrics. We reported that the change in the integrated relative health risk was small (Figure 1b) and that the small change in overall risk resulted from compounding and competing contribution levels of the individual risks. This interesting observation illustrates the emergent complexity of even straightforward representations of the human health and performance risk space and the ability of PRA models to capture this balance of global risk concerns. A key question that is not addressed in the initial analysis is “even though the global risk is relatively nominal, do any of the local risks become unacceptable?” In essence, we seek to determine what relative change in the human system risks are contributing to the relatively muted sensitivity of the proof-of-concept model combined risk assessments. Evaluations at the component risk level should elucidate if any individual risk reaches a high level that is subsequentially balanced by reductions in other areas. To further understand the relative changes in the component risks in the proof-of-concept model, and to elucidate how future refinements can be targeted, a means of establishing the contributions of the robustness of the proof-of-concept approach will be demonstrated.

astronaut health↗

Spacecraft attitude determination using a second-order nonlinear filter

The stringent attitude determination accuracy and faster slew maneuver requirements demanded by present-day spacecraft control systems motivate the development of recursive nonlinear filters for attitude estimation. This paper presents the second-order filter development for the estimation of attitude quaternion using three-axis gyro and star tracker measurement data. Performance comparisons have been made by computer simulation of system models and filter mechanization. It is shown that the second-order filter consistently performs better than the extended Kalman filter when the performance index of the root sum square estimation error of the quaternion vector is compared. The second-order filter identifies the gyro drift rates faster than the extended Kalman filter. The uniqueness of this algorithm is the online generation of the time-varying process and measurement noise covariance matrices, derived as a function or the process and measurement nonlinearity, respectively.

Vathsal, S.↗

Advanced Air Traffic Management Research (Human Factors and Automation): NASA Research Initiatives in Human-Centered Automation Design in Airspace Management

NASA has initiated a significant thrust of research and development focused on providing the flight crew and air traffic managers automation aids to increase capacity in en route and terminal area operations through the use of flexible, more fuel-efficient routing, while improving the level of safety in commercial carrier operations. In that system development, definition of cognitive requirements for integrated multi-operator dynamic aiding systems is fundamental. The core processes of control and the distribution of decision making in that control are undergoing extensive analysis. From our perspective, the human operators and the procedures by which they interact are the fundamental determinants of the safe, efficient, and flexible operation of the system. In that perspective, we have begun to explore what our experience has taught will be the most challenging aspects of designing and integrating human-centered automation in the advanced system. We have performed a full mission simulation looking at the role shift to self-separation on board the aircraft with the rules of the air guiding behavior and the provision of a cockpit display of traffic information and an on-board traffic alert system that seamlessly integrates into the TCAS operations. We have performed and initial investigation of the operational impact of "Dynamic Density" metrics on controller relinquishing and reestablishing full separation authority. (We follow the assumption that responsibility at all times resides with the controller.) This presentation will describe those efforts as well as describe the process by which we will guide the development of error tolerant systems that are sensitive to shifts in operator work load levels and dynamic shifts in the operating point of air traffic management.

Corker, Kevin M.↗

A Post-Flight Comparison Between GPS Signal Generator and On-Orbit Testing Results from the STS-101 and STS-106 SOAR Shuttle Flight Experiment

The use of a GPS Signal Generator (GPSSG) prior to launch for verification of a GPS subsystem and GN&C system on a spacecraft is becoming a very common practice. The level of confidence in the verification created by running a receiver with a GPSSG can greatly impact both schedule and cost of spacecraft development. This paper addresses the comparison of the Space Shuttle STS-101 and STS-106 Space Integrated GPS/INS (SIGI) Orbital Attitude Readiness (SOAR) flight experiments on-orbit performance with the performance from the same receiver on a Global Simulation Systems (GSS) GPSSG. The SOAR flight experiment was designed to demonstrate on-orbit performance of the International Space Station Force-19 GPS receiver. This paper discusses the process involved in getting the post-flight Best Estimate of Trajectory and Best Estimate of Attitude into the GPSSG such that the Force-19 receiver will experience the same trajectory and environmental conditions as observed during the SOAR flight experiment. Results of the comparison conclude with recommendations of how better to construct and interpret results from receiver tests using a GSS GPSSG.

Simpson, James↗

Afterglows from Binary Neutron Star Postmerger Systems Embedded in Active Galactic Nuclei Disks

Abstract The observability of afterglows from binary neutron star mergers occurring within active galactic nuclei (AGN) disks is investigated. We perform 3D GRMHD simulations of a postmerger system and follow the jet launched from the compact object. We use semianalytic techniques to study the propagation of the blast wave powered by the jet through an AGN disk-like external environment, extending to distances beyond the disk scale height. The synchrotron emission produced by the jet-driven forward shock is calculated to obtain the afterglow emission. The observability of this emission at different frequencies is assessed by comparing it to the quiescent AGN emission. In the scenarios where the afterglow could temporarily outshine the AGN, we find that detection will be more feasible at higher frequencies (≳10 14 Hz) and the electromagnetic counterpart could manifest as a fast variability in the AGN emission, on timescales less than a day.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Multi-physics Modeling of Radiative Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow for the Reactor Cavity Cooling System

High-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) are notable for their high thermal efficiency and potential for combined heat and power applications. These reactors are particularly appealing due to their advanced passive safety features. HTGRs utilize passive safety systems that function without requiring active components like pumps or compressors during emergencies. These reactor designs depend on a Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) to manage decay heat removal from the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) during accident conditions. The RCCS consists of vertical rectangular channels known as "risers" or riser ducts positioned around the RPV. These risers receive heat from the RPV through both convective and radiative heat transfer mechanisms. Understanding the interplay of multiple physical phenomena, such as fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and neutron interactions, is essential for the effective design and operation of nuclear reactors, particularly for systems like the RCCS. Multi-physics simulations provide a comprehensive approach to studying these interactions, offering detailed insights and enhancing accuracy. They are especially important in RCCS designs, where the interaction between radiative and convective heat transfer can significantly impact system performance. By leveraging multi-physics simulations, complex reactor behaviors can be modeled without compromising the fidelity of the underlying physical processes. This work aims to establish a robust methodology for coupling multiple physical processes in an air-cooled RCCS. By focusing on validating this multi-physics approach, the study involves designing test cases that simulate various conditions to verify the numerical models employed. The outcomes of this research will provide critical insights for accurately modeling and optimizing complex nuclear systems like the RCCS.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Modifications to the NASA Ames Space Station Proximity Operations (PROX OPS) Simulator

As the United States is approaching an operational space station era, flight simulators are required to investigate human design and performance aspects associated with orbital operations. Among these are proximity operations (PROX OPS), those activities occurring within a 1-km sphere of Space Station including rendezvous, docking, rescue, and repair. The Space Station Proximity Operations Simulator at NASA Ames Research Center was modified to provide the capability for investigations into human performance aspects of proximity operations. Accurate flight equations of motion were installed to provide the appropriate visual scene to test subjects performing simulated missions. Also, the flight control system was enhanced by enabling pilot control over thruster acceleration values. Currently, research is under way to examine human performance in a variety of mission scenarios.

Brody, Adam↗

Annoyance to Noise Produced by a Distributed Electric Propulsion High-Lift System

A psychoacoustic test was performed using simulated sounds from a distributed electric propulsion aircraft concept to help understand factors associated with human annoyance. A design space spanning the number of high-lift leading edge propellers and their relative operating speeds, inclusive of time varying effects associated with motor controller error and atmospheric turbulence, was considered. It was found that the mean annoyance response varies in a statistically significant manner with the number of propellers and with the inclusion of time varying effects, but does not differ significantly with the relative RPM between propellers. An annoyance model was developed, inclusive of confidence intervals, using the noise metrics of loudness, roughness, and tonality as predictors.

Rizzi, Stephen A.↗

Probabilistic Resource Adequacy Suite (PRAS)

Powered By PRAS features the Probabilistic Resource Adequacy Suite (PRAS), an open-source, research-oriented collection of tools for analyzing the resource adequacy of bulk power systems. PRAS performs low-fidelity, high-speed simulations of multi-region power system operations, considering hundreds of thousands of years of unplanned resource outages to quantify the risk and potential nature of energy supply shortfalls in probabilistic terms.

demand↗