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At least 469 records · Page 26

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NASA NTRS1982

Equivalent damage: A critical assessment

Concepts in equivalent damage were evaluated to determine their applicability to the life prediction of hot path components of aircraft gas turbine engines. Equivalent damage was defined as being those effects which influence the crack initiation life-time beyond the damage that is measured in uniaxial, fully-reversed sinusoidal and isothermal experiments at low homologous temperatures. Three areas of equivalent damage were examined: mean stress, cumulative damage, and multiaxiality. For each area, a literature survey was conducted to aid in selecting the most appropriate theories. Where possible, data correlations were also used in the evaluation process. A set of criteria was developed for ranking the theories in each equivalent damage regime. These criteria considered aspects of engine utilization as well as the theoretical basis and correlative ability of each theory. In addition, consideration was given to the complex nature of the loading cycle at fatigue critical locations of hot path components; this loading includes non-proportional multiaxial stressing, combined temperature and strain fluctuations, and general creep-fatigue interactions. Through applications of selected equivalent damage theories to some suitable data sets it was found that there is insufficient data to allow specific recommendations of preferred theories for general applications. A series of experiments and areas of further investigations were identified.

Laflen, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Rocket combustion chamber life-enhancing design concepts

NASA continues to pursue technologies which can lead to an increase in life and reduce the costs of fabrication of the Space Shuttle Main Engine. The joint NASA/Air Force Advanced Launch System Program has set its prime objectives to be high reliability and low cost for their new advanced booster engine. In order to meet these objectives, NASA will utilize the results of several ongoing programs to provide the required technologies. An overview is presented of those programs which address life enhancing design concepts for the combustion chamber. Seven different design concepts, which reduce the thermal strain and/or increase the material strength of the combustion chamber liner wall are discussed. Subscale rocket test results are presented, where available, for life enhancing design concepts. Two techniques for reducing chamber fabrication costs are discussed, as well as issues relating to hydrocarbon fuels/combustion chamber liner materials compatibility.

Quentmeyer, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Rocket combustion chamber life-enhancing design concepts

Quentmeyer, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Examining the accuracy of the space shuttle support loads using probabilistic analysis techniques

In order to understand unexpectedly erratic load measurements in the launch-pad supports for the space shuttle, the sensitivities of the load cells in the supports were analyzed using simple probabilistic techniques. NASA engineers use the loads in the shuttle's supports to calculate critical stresses in the shuttle vehicle just before lift-off. The support loads are measured with 'load cells' which are actually structural components of the mobile launch platform (MLP) which have been instrumented with strain gauges. Although these load cells adequately measure vertical loads, the horizontal load measurements have been erratic. The load measurements were simulated in this study using Monte Carlo simulation procedures. The simulation studies showed that the support loads are sensitive to small deviations in strain and calibration. In their current configuration, the load cells will not measure loads with sufficient accuracy to reliably calculate stresses in the shuttle vehicle.

Richardson, J.↗

NASA NTRS2011

An In-Depth Tutorial on Constitutive Equations for Elastic Anisotropic Materials

An in-depth tutorial on the constitutive equations for elastic, anisotropic materials is presented. Basic concepts are introduced that are used to characterize materials, and notions about how anisotropic material deform are presented. Hooke s law and the Duhamel-Neuman law for isotropic materials are presented and discussed. Then, the most general form of Hooke s law for elastic anisotropic materials is presented and symmetry requirements are given. A similar presentation is also given for the generalized Duhamel-Neuman law for elastic, anisotropic materials that includes thermal effects. Transformation equations for stress and strains are presented and the most general form of the transformation equations for the constitutive matrices are given. Then, specialized transformation equations are presented for dextral rotations about the coordinate axes. Next, concepts of material symmetry are introduced and criteria for material symmetries are presented. Additionally, engineering constants of fully anisotropic, elastic materials are derived from first principles and the specialized to several cases of practical importance.

Nemeth, Michael P.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Application of High Speed Digital Image Correlation in Rocket Engine Hot Fire Testing

Hot fire testing of rocket engine components and rocket engine systems is a critical aspect of the development process to understand performance, reliability and system interactions. Ground testing provides the opportunity for highly instrumented development testing to validate analytical model predictions and determine necessary design changes and process improvements. To properly obtain discrete measurements for model validation, instrumentation must survive in the highly dynamic and extreme temperature application of hot fire testing. Digital Image Correlation has been investigated and being evaluated as a technique to augment traditional instrumentation during component and engine testing providing further data for additional performance improvements and cost savings. The feasibility of digital image correlation techniques were demonstrated in subscale and full scale hotfire testing. This incorporated a pair of high speed cameras to measure three-dimensional, real-time displacements and strains installed and operated under the extreme environments present on the test stand. The development process, setup and calibrations, data collection, hotfire test data collection and post-test analysis and results are presented in this paper.

Gradl, Paul R.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Space Shuttle Main Engine structural analysis and data reduction/evaluation. Volume 1: Aft Skirt analysis

Using the ANSYS finite element program, a global model of the aft skirt and a detailed nonlinear model of the failure region was made. The analysis confirmed the area of failure in both STA-2B and STA-3 tests as the forging heat affected zone (HAZ) at the aft ring centerline. The highest hoop strain in the HAZ occurs in this area. However, the analysis does not predict failure as defined by ultimate elongation of the material equal to 3.5 percent total strain. The analysis correlates well with the strain gage data from both the Wyle influence test of the original design aft sjirt and the STA-3 test of the redesigned aft skirt. it is suggested that the sensitivity of the failure area material strength and stress/strain state to material properties and therefore to small manufacturing or processing variables is the most likely cause of failure below the expected material ultimate properties.

Berry, David M.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Notch Sensitivity of Woven Ceramic Matrix Composites Under Tensile Loading: An Experimental, Analytical, and Finite Element Study

The stress concentrations associated with circular notches and subjected to uniform tensile loading in woven ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) have been investigated for high-efficient turbine engine applications. The CMC's were composed of Nicalon silicon carbide woven fabric in SiNC matrix manufactured through polymer impregnation process (PIP). Several combinations of hole diameter/plate width ratios and ply orientations were considered in this study. In the first part, the stress concentrations were calculated measuring strain distributions surrounding the hole using strain gages at different locations of the specimens during the initial portion of the stress-strain curve before any microdamage developed. The stress concentration was also calculated analytically using Lekhnitskii's solution for orthotropic plates. A finite-width correction factor for anisotropic and orthotropic composite plate was considered. The stress distributions surrounding the circular hole of a CMC's plate were further studied using finite element analysis. Both solid and shell elements were considered. The experimental results were compared with both the analytical and finite element solutions. Extensive optical and scanning electron microscopic examinations were carried out for identifying the fracture behavior and failure mechanisms of both the notched and notched specimens. The stress concentration factors (SCF) determined by analytical method overpredicted the experimental results. But the numerical solution underpredicted the experimental SCF. Stress concentration factors are shown to increase with enlarged hole size and the effects of ply orientations on stress concentration factors are observed to be negligible. In all the cases, the crack initiated at the notch edge and propagated along the width towards the edge of the specimens.

Haque, A.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Spin Testing for Durability Began on a Self-Tuning Impact Damper for Turbomachinery Blades

NASA and Pratt & Whitney will collaborate under a Space Act Agreement to perform spin testing of the impact damper to verify damping effectiveness and durability. Pratt & Whitney will provide the turbine blade and damper hardware for the tests. NASA will provide the facility and perform the tests. Effectiveness and durability will be investigated during and after sustained sweeps of rotor speed through resonance. Tests of a platform wedge damper are also planned to compare its effectiveness with that of the impact damper. Results from baseline tests without dampers will be used to measure damping effectiveness. The self-tuning impact damper combines two damping methods-the tuned mass damper and the impact damper. It consists of a ball located within a cavity in the blade. This ball rolls back and forth on a spherical trough under centrifugal load (tuned mass damper) and can strike the walls of the cavity (impact damper). The ball s rolling natural frequency is proportional to the rotor speed and can be designed to follow an engine-order line (integer multiple of rotor speed). Aerodynamic forcing frequencies typically follow these engineorder lines, and a damper tuned to the engine order will most effectively reduce blade vibrations when the resonant frequency equals the engine-order forcing frequency. This damper has been tested in flat plates and turbine blades in the Dynamic Spin Facility. During testing, a pair of plates or blades rotates in vacuum. Excitation is provided by one of three methods--eddy-current engine-order excitation (ECE), electromechanical shakers, and magnetic bearing excitation. The eddy-current system consists of magnets located circumferentially around the rotor. As a blade passes a magnet, a force is imparted on the blade. The number of magnets used can be varied to change the desired engine order of the excitation. The magnets are remotely raised or lowered to change the magnitude of the force on the blades. The other two methods apply force to the rotating shaft itself at frequencies independent of the rotor speed. During testing, blade vibration is monitored with strain gauges and laser displacement probes.

Duffy, Kirsten↗

NASA NTRS2011

Overview of Experimental Investigations for Ares I Launch Vehicle Development

Another concern for the vehicle during its design trajectory was the separation of the first stage solid rocket booster from the upper stage component after it had depleted its solid fuel propellant. There has been some concern about the interstage of the first stage from clearing the nozzle of the J2-X engine. A detailed separation aerodynamic wind tunnel investigation was conducted in the AEDC VKF Tunnel A to help to investigate the interaction aerodynamic effects5. A comparison of the separation plane details between the Ares I architecture and the Ares I-X demonstration flight architecture is shown in figure 12. The Ares I design requires a more complex separation sequence and requires better control in order to avoid contact with the nozzle of the upper stage engine. The interstage, which houses the J2-X engine for the Ares I vehicle, must be able to separate cleanly to avoid contact of the J2-X engine. There is only about approximately 18 inches of buffer inside the interstage on each size of the nozzle so this is a challenging controlled separation event. This complex experimental investigation required two separate Ares I models (upper stage and first stage with interstage attached) with independent strain gauge balances installed in each model. It also required the Captive Trajectory System (CTS) that was needed to precisely locate the components in space relative to each other to fill out the planned test matrix. The model setup in the AEDC VKF Tunnel A is shown in figure 13. The CTS remotely positioned the first stage at the required x, y, and z positions and was able to provide interactions within 0.2" of the upper stage. A sample of the axial force on the first stage booster is shown in figure 14. These results, as a function of separation distance between the two stages, are compared to pre-test CFD results. Since this is a very challenging, highly unsteady flow field for CFD to correctly model, the experimental results have been utilized by GN&C discipline to more accurately represent the interaction aerodynamics. In addition to the integrated forces and moments obtained from the test, flow visualization data was obtained from this test in the form of Schlieren photographs, as shown in figure 15, which show the shock structure and interaction effects after the two stages separate during flight. This separation test was crucial in the successful flight test of the Ares I-X vehicle and provided the GN&C discipline with the unpowered proximity aerodynamic effect for a separation of the Ares I vehicle.

Tomek, William G.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thin Film Physical Sensors for High Temperature Applications

For the advanced engines in the future, knowledge of the physical parameters of aerospace components is necessary on the test stand and in flight. NASA GRC is leveraging expertise in thin films and high temperature materials to measure hot section gas and surface temperature, heat flux and static and dynamic strain. The current challenges of instrumentation technology are to further develop systems packaging and component testing of specialized sensors, further develop instrumentation techniques on complex surfaces, improve sensor durability, and to address needs for extreme temperature applications. Applications of thin film ceramic sensors as replacement for noble metals are being investigated. Technologies demonstrated in aeronautics and space applications are outlined.

thin films↗

NASA NTRS2004

Prototype Morphing Fan Nozzle Demonstrated

Ongoing research in NASA Glenn Research Center's Structural Mechanics and Dynamics Branch to develop smart materials technologies for aeropropulsion structural components has resulted in the design of the prototype morphing fan nozzle shown in the photograph. This prototype exploits the potential of smart materials to significantly improve the performance of existing aircraft engines by introducing new inherent capabilities for shape control, vibration damping, noise reduction, health monitoring, and flow manipulation. The novel design employs two different smart materials, a shape-memory alloy and magnetorheological fluids, to reduce the nozzle area by up to 30 percent. The prototype of the variable-area fan nozzle implements an overlapping spring leaf assembly to simplify the initial design and to provide ease of structural control. A single bundle of shape memory alloy wire actuators is used to reduce the nozzle geometry. The nozzle is subsequently held in the reduced-area configuration by using magnetorheological fluid brakes. This prototype uses the inherent advantages of shape memory alloys in providing large induced strains and of magnetorheological fluids in generating large resistive forces. In addition, the spring leaf design also functions as a return spring, once the magnetorheological fluid brakes are released, to help force the shape memory alloy wires to return to their original position. A computerized real-time control system uses the derivative-gain and proportional-gain algorithms to operate the system. This design represents a novel approach to the active control of high-bypass-ratio turbofan engines. Researchers have estimated that such engines will reduce thrust specific fuel consumption by 9 percent over that of fixed-geometry fan nozzles. This research was conducted under a cooperative agreement (NCC3-839) at the University of Akron.

Lee, Ho-Jun↗

NASA NTRS2006

Lower-Conductivity Ceramic Materials for Thermal-Barrier Coatings

Doped pyrochlore oxides of a type described below are under consideration as alternative materials for high-temperature thermal-barrier coatings (TBCs). In comparison with partially-yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), which is the state-of-the-art TBC material now in commercial use, these doped pyrochlore oxides exhibit lower thermal conductivities, which could be exploited to obtain the following advantages: For a given difference in temperature between an outer coating surface and the coating/substrate interface, the coating could be thinner. Reductions in coating thicknesses could translate to reductions in weight of hot-section components of turbine engines (e.g., combustor liners, blades, and vanes) to which TBCs are typically applied. For a given coating thickness, the difference in temperature between the outer coating surface and the coating/substrate interface could be greater. For turbine engines, this could translate to higher operating temperatures, with consequent increases in efficiency and reductions in polluting emissions. TBCs are needed because the temperatures in some turbine-engine hot sections exceed the maximum temperatures that the substrate materials (superalloys, Si-based ceramics, and others) can withstand. YSZ TBCs are applied to engine components as thin layers by plasma spraying or electron-beam physical vapor deposition. During operation at higher temperatures, YSZ layers undergo sintering, which increases their thermal conductivities and thereby renders them less effective as TBCs. Moreover, the sintered YSZ TBCs are less tolerant of stress and strain and, hence, are less durable.

Bansal, Narottam P.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Creep Life of Ceramic Components Using a Finite-Element-Based Integrated Design Program (CARES/CREEP)

The desirable properties of ceramics at high temperatures have generated interest in their use for structural application such as in advanced turbine engine systems. Design lives for such systems can exceed 10,000 hours. The long life requirement necessitates subjecting the components to relatively low stresses. The combination of high temperatures and low stresses typically places failure for monolithic ceramics in the creep regime. The objective of this paper is to present a design methodology for predicting the lifetimes of structural components subjected to creep rupture conditions. This methodology utilizes commercially available finite element packages and takes into account the time-varying creep strain distributions (stress relaxation). The creep life, of a component is discretized into short time steps, during which the stress and strain distributions are assumed constant. The damage is calculated for each time step based on a modified Monkman-Grant creep rupture criterion. Failure is assumed to occur when the normalized accumulated damage at any point in the component is greater than or equal to unity. The corresponding time will be the creep rupture life for that component. Examples are chosen to demonstrate the Ceramics Analysis and Reliability Evaluation of Structures/CREEP (CARES/CREEP) integrated design program, which is written for the ANSYS finite element package. Depending on the component size and loading conditions, it was found that in real structures one of two competing failure modes (creep or slow crack growth) will dominate. Applications to benchmark problems and engine components are included.

Powers, L. M.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Creep-rupture and fractographic analysis of Stirling engine superalloys tested in air and 15 MPa hydrogen

A brief comparative analytical and microstructural evaluation of creep-rupture performance of two iron-base superalloys in air and 15 MPa of hydrogen, is presented. Creep rupture data are presented for the sheet alloy 19-9DL and the cast alloy XF-818, including temperature, initial stress, rupture life, minimum creep rate, time to reach one percent creep strain, and total elongation. In 19-9DL, both rupture life and minimum creep rate are more sharply dependent on small stress changes than in XF-818 in the given environment, and 19-9DL appears to become a more creep-resistant material with increasing Q (apparent activation energy) while the opposite is noted for XF-818. There appears to be no environmental effect on minimum creep rate for 19-9DL, whereas Q becomes less negative for XF-818 for 15 MPa of H2. Multiple cracks leading to rupture are observed on the fracture surfaces, with sheet specimens showing many more cracks close to the fracture surface than cast specimens.

Bhattacharyya, S.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Vibration-Based Data Used to Detect Cracks in Rotating Disks

Rotor health monitoring and online damage detection are increasingly gaining the interest of aircraft engine manufacturers. This is primarily due to the fact that there is a necessity for improved safety during operation as well as a need for lower maintenance costs. Applied techniques for the damage detection and health monitoring of rotors are essential for engine safety, reliability, and life prediction. Recently, the United States set the ambitious goal of reducing the fatal accident rate for commercial aviation by 80 percent within 10 years. In turn, NASA, in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration, other Federal agencies, universities, and the airline and aircraft industries, responded by developing the Aviation Safety Program. This program provides research and technology products needed to help the aerospace industry achieve their aviation safety goal. The Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Group of the Optical Instrumentation Technology Branch at the NASA Glenn Research Center is currently developing propulsion-system-specific technologies to detect damage prior to catastrophe under the propulsion health management task. Currently, the NDE group is assessing the feasibility of utilizing real-time vibration data to detect cracks in turbine disks. The data are obtained from radial blade-tip clearance and shaft-clearance measurements made using capacitive or eddy-current probes. The concept is based on the fact that disk cracks distort the strain field within the component. This, in turn, causes a small deformation in the disk's geometry as well as a possible change in the system's center of mass. The geometric change and the center of mass shift can be indirectly characterized by monitoring the amplitude and phase of the first harmonic (i.e., the 1 component) of the vibration data. Spin pit experiments and full-scale engine tests have been conducted while monitoring for crack growth with this detection methodology. Even so, published data are extremely limited, and the basic foundation of the methodology has not been fully studied. The NDE group is working on developing this foundation on the basis of theoretical modeling as well as experimental data by using the newly constructed subscale spin system shown in the preceding photograph. This, in turn, involved designing an optimal sub-scale disk that was meant to represent a full-scale turbine disk; conducting finite element analyses of undamaged and damaged disks to define the disk's deformation and the resulting shift in center of mass; and creating a rotordynamic model of the complete disk and shaft assembly to confirm operation beyond the first critical concerning the subscale experimental setup. The finite element analysis data, defining the center of mass shift due to disk damage, are shown. As an example, the change in the center of mass for a disk spinning at 8000 rpm with a 0.963-in. notch was 1.3 x 10(exp -4) in. The actual vibration response of an undamaged disk as well as the theoretical response of a cracked disk is shown. Experiments with cracked disks are continuing, and new approaches for analyzing the captured vibration data are being developed to better detect damage in a rotor. In addition, the subscale spin system is being used to test the durability and sensitivity of new NDE sensors that focus on detecting localized damage. This is designed to supplement the global response of the crack-detection methodology described here.

Gyekenyesi, Andrew L.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Unified constitutive materials model development and evaluation for high-temperature structural analysis applications

Unified constitutive material models were developed for structural analyses of aircraft gas turbine engine hot section components with particular application to an isotropic material used for combustor liners. Differential forms of models independently developed were considered in this study. These models combine the interactions of time-dependent (creep) and time-independent (plasticity) inelastic behavior of a material. Predicted stress-strain responses from these models were evaluated against cyclic isothermal and nonisothermal test results for uniaxial specimens of a nickel-base superalloy. The unified models were implemented in a nonlinear structural analysis code. Two unique NASA Lewis test facilities were used in the evaluation of the models for complex geometry specimens and evaluation of advanced temperature and high-temperature strain measurement instrumentation. Predicted nonlinear structural responses from one of the models for a flat plate and a segment of a conventional combustor liner are presented.

Thompson, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Life prediction and constitutive models for engine hot section

The purpose of this program is to develop life prediction models for coated anisotropic materials used in gas turbine airfoils. In the program, two single crystal alloys and two coatings are being tested. These include PWA 1480, Alloy 185, overlay coating (PWA 286), and aluminide coating (PWA 273). Constitutive models are also being developed for these materials to predict the time independent (plastic) and time dependent (creep) strain histories of the materials in the lab tests and for actual design conditions. This nonlinear material behavior is particularly important for high temperature gas turbine applications and is basic to any life prediction system. Some of the accomplishments of the program are highlighted.

Swanson, G. A.↗