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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 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

Evolutionary optimization of a Genetically Refined Truss

Structural optimization is a field of research that has experienced noteworthy growth for many years. Researchers in this area have developed optimization tools to successfully design and model structures, typically minimizing mass while maintaining certain deflection and stress constraints. Numerous optimization studies have been performed to minimize mass, deflection and stress on a benchmark cantilever truss problem. Predominantly traditional optimization theory is applied to this problem. The cross-sectional area of each member is optimized to minimize the aforementioned objectives. This paper will present a structural optimization technique that has been previously applied to compliant mechanism design. This technique demonstrates a method that combines topology optimization, geometric refinement, finite element analysis, and two forms of evolutionary computation: Genetic Algorithms and Differential Evolution to successfully optimize a benchmark structural optimization problem. An non-traditional solution to the benchmark problem is presented in this paper, specifically a geometrically refined topological solution. The design process begins with an alternate control mesh formulation, multilevel geometric smoothing operation, and an elastostatic structural analysis. The design process is wrapped in an evolutionary computing optimization toolset.

Hull, Patrick V.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Re-analysis procedure based on the mixed formulation

An analysis procedure is presented for large-scale structural systems, with large numbers of degrees of freedom and design variables. The procedure uses a mixed formulation with the fundamental unknowns consisting of both stress and displacement parameters. Other elements of the procedure include: (1) lumping the design variables into a single tracing parameter; (2) operator splitting or additive decomposition of different arrays in the finite element equations into the corresponding arrays of the original structure plus correction terms; and (3) application of a reduction method through the use of the finite element method and the classical Bubnov-Galerkin technique. The re-analysis procedure is applied to the linear static and free vibration problems of plate and shell structures.

Noor, Ahmed K.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Sample Preparation of Si(1-x)Gex in c-Plane Sapphire Substrate

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration-invented X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods, including the total defect density measurement method and the spatial wafer mapping method, have confirmed super hetero epitaxy growth for rhombohedral single crystalline silicon germanium (Si1-xGex) on a c-plane sapphire substrate. However, the XRD method cannot observe the surface morphology or roughness because of the method s limited resolution. Therefore the authors used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with samples prepared in two ways, the focused ion beam (FIB) method and the tripod method to study the structure between Si1-xGex and sapphire substrate and Si1?xGex itself. The sample preparation for TEM should be as fast as possible so that the sample should contain few or no artifacts induced by the preparation. The standard sample preparation method of mechanical polishing often requires a relatively long ion milling time (several hours), which increases the probability of inducing defects into the sample. The TEM sampling of the Si1-xGex on sapphire is also difficult because of the sapphire s high hardness and mechanical instability. The FIB method and the tripod method eliminate both problems when performing a cross-section TEM sampling of Si1-xGex on c-plane sapphire, which shows the surface morphology, the interface between film and substrate, and the crystal structure of the film. This paper explains the FIB sampling method and the tripod sampling method, and why sampling Si1-xGex, on a sapphire substrate with TEM, is necessary.

Kim, Hyun Jung↗
NASA NTRS2007

Evolutionary Optimization of a Geometrically Refined Truss

Structural optimization is a field of research that has experienced noteworthy growth for many years. Researchers in this area have developed optimization tools to successfully design and model structures, typically minimizing mass while maintaining certain deflection and stress constraints. Numerous optimization studies have been performed to minimize mass, deflection, and stress on a benchmark cantilever truss problem. Predominantly traditional optimization theory is applied to this problem. The cross-sectional area of each member is optimized to minimize the aforementioned objectives. This Technical Publication (TP) presents a structural optimization technique that has been previously applied to compliant mechanism design. This technique demonstrates a method that combines topology optimization, geometric refinement, finite element analysis, and two forms of evolutionary computation: genetic algorithms and differential evolution to successfully optimize a benchmark structural optimization problem. A nontraditional solution to the benchmark problem is presented in this TP, specifically a geometrically refined topological solution. The design process begins with an alternate control mesh formulation, multilevel geometric smoothing operation, and an elastostatic structural analysis. The design process is wrapped in an evolutionary computing optimization toolset.

Hull, P. V.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Navier-Stokes simulations of unsteady transonic flow phenomena

Numerical simulations of two classes of unsteady flows are obtained via the Navier-Stokes equations: a blast-wave/target interaction problem class and a transonic cavity flow problem class. The method developed for the viscous blast-wave/target interaction problem assumes a laminar, perfect gas implemented in a structured finite-volume framework. The approximately factored implicit scheme uses Newton subiterations to obtain the spatially and temporally second-order accurate time history of the blast-waves with stationary targets. The inviscid flux is evaluated using either of two upwind techniques, while the full viscous terms are computed by central differencing. Comparisons of unsteady numerical, analytical, and experimental results are made in two- and three-dimensions for Couette flows, a starting shock-tunnel, and a shock-tube blockage study. The results show accurate wave speed resolution and nonoscillatory discontinuity capturing of the predominantly inviscid flows. Viscous effects were increasingly significant at large post-interaction times. While the blast-wave/target interaction problem benefits from high-resolution methods applied to the Euler terms, the transonic cavity flow problem requires the use of an efficient scheme implemented in a geometrically flexible overset mesh environment. Hence, the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations implemented in a diagonal form are applied to the cavity flow class of problems. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results are made in two-dimensions for free shear layers and both rectangular and quieted cavities, and in three-dimensions for Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) geometries. The acoustic behavior of the rectangular and three-dimensional cavity flows compare well with experiment in terms of frequency, magnitude, and quieting trends. However, there is a more rapid decrease in computed acoustic energy with frequency than observed experimentally owing to numerical dissipation. In addition, optical phase distortion due to the time-varying density field is modelled using geometrical constructs. The computed optical distortion trends compare with the experimentally inferred result, but underpredicts the fluctuating phase difference magnitude.

Atwood, C. A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Optimal Angle of Attack Control for Aerocapture Maneuvers

Recent investigations of aerocapture maneuvers have considered direct force control as a promising alternative to bank angle control. By modulating the angle of attack and sideslip angle independently, the longitudinal and lateral channels can be decoupled and thus solved separately. However, the optimal angle of attack profile for minimizing post-atmospheric propellant expenditure was previously unknown. This research applies principles of optimal control theory to numerically solve for the optimal angle of attack profile for control of the longitudinal channel. Direct methods are first employed to discretize the angle of attack profile and show that an optimal solution follows a nearly bang-bang (full lift up then full lift down) structure under a variety of conditions along the flight path angle corridor. To corroborate these results, indirect methods were also applied to scope the Optimal Control Problem (OCP) as a Two Point Boundary Value Problem (2P-BVP) which could then be solved numerically. The indirect optimization results aligned closely with the direct results, providing further evidence that a bang-bang structure provides a good approximation for the optimal angle of attack profile for aerocapture maneuvers using direct force control.

aerocapture↗
NASA NTRS1987

A processing method and results of meteor shower radar observations

Studies of meteor showers permit the solving of some principal problems of meteor astronomy: to obtain the structure of a stream in cross section and along its orbits; to retrace the evolution of particle orbits of the stream taking into account gravitational and nongravitational forces and to discover the orbital elements of its parent body; to find out the total mass of solid particles ejected from the parent body taking into account physical and chemical evolution of meteor bodies; and to use meteor streams as natural probes for investigation of the average characteristics of the meteor complex in the solar system. A simple and effective method of determining the flux density and mass exponent parameter was worked out. This method and its results are discussed.

Belkovich, O. I.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Isogeometric Bézier dual mortaring: The Kirchhoff–Love shell problem

Here in this paper we develop an isogeometric Bézier dual mortar method for coupling multi-patch Kirchhoff–Love shell structures. The proposed approach weakly enforces the continuity of the solution at patch interfaces through a dual mortar method and can be applied to both conforming and non-conforming discretizations. As the employed dual basis functions have local supports and satisfy the biorthogonality property, the resulting stiffness matrix is sparse. In addition, the coupling accuracy is optimal because the dual basis possesses the polynomial reproduction property. We also formulate the continuity constraints through the Rodrigues’ rotation operator which gives a unified framework for coupling patches that are intersected with G 1 continuity as well as patches that meet at a kink. Several linear and nonlinear examples demonstrated the performance and robustness of the proposed coupling techniques.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

TurboRVB: A many-body toolkit for ab initio electronic simulations by quantum Monte Carlo

TurboRVB is a computational package for ab initio Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations of both molecular and bulk electronic systems. The code implements two types of well established QMC algorithms: Variational Monte Carlo (VMC) and diffusion Monte Carlo in its robust and efficient lattice regularized variant. A key feature of the code is the possibility of using strongly correlated many-body wave functions (WFs), capable of describing several materials with very high accuracy, even when standard mean-field approaches [e.g., density functional theory (DFT)] fail. The electronic WF is obtained by applying a Jastrow factor, which takes into account dynamical correlations, to the most general mean-field ground state, written either as an antisymmetrized geminal power with spin-singlet pairing or as a Pfaffian, including both singlet and triplet correlations. This WF can be viewed as an efficient implementation of the so-called resonating valence bond (RVB) Ansatz, first proposed by Pauling and Anderson in quantum chemistry [L. Pauling, The Nature of the Chemical Bond (Cornell University Press, 1960)] and condensed matter physics [P.W. Anderson, Mat. Res. Bull 8, 153 (1973)], respectively. The RVB Ansatz implemented in TurboRVB has a large variational freedom, including the Jastrow correlated Slater determinant as its simplest, but nontrivial case. Moreover, it has the remarkable advantage of remaining with an affordable computational cost, proportional to the one spent for the evaluation of a single Slater determinant. Therefore, its application to large systems is computationally feasible. The WF is expanded in a localized basis set. Several basis set functions are implemented, such as Gaussian, Slater, and mixed types, with no restriction on the choice of their contraction. The code implements the adjoint algorithmic differentiation that enables a very efficient evaluation of energy derivatives, comprising the ionic forces. Thus, one can perform structural optimizations and molecular dynamics in the canonical NVT ensemble at the VMC level. For the electronic part, a full WF optimization (Jastrow and antisymmetric parts together) is made possible, thanks to state-of-the-art stochastic algorithms for energy minimization. In the optimization procedure, the first guess can be obtained at the mean-field level by a built-in DFT driver. The code was efficiently parallelized by using a hybrid MPI-OpenMP protocol, which is also an ideal environment for exploiting the computational power of modern Graphics Processing Unit accelerators.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Quasielastic least-squares reverse time migration of PS reflections

Conventional analysis of amplitude variation with offset for elastic PS reflections is based on analytical reflection coefficients in a layered medium, and wave-equation-based PS migration is mainly used to produce a structural image. To overcome this problem, we have developed a least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM) method for elastic PS reflections based on a quasielastic wave equation. Here, the quasielastic wave equation can accurately model PS reflections with elastic amplitudes under the first-order Born approximation. Our LSRTM method inverts for perturbations of the S-wave velocity and density by minimizing the L 2 norm of the difference between recorded and predicted PS reflections modeled using a quasielastic wave equation. We refer to our new method as quasielastic LSRTM of PS reflections. Numerical tests on synthetic and field data indicate that our method can properly handle the amplitudes of elastic PS reflections and provides an accurate estimate of the perturbations of S-wave velocity and density. Extending the method to the 3D case is not straightforward and might require incorporating certain PS data processing techniques into the inversion itself.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Introduction to Finite Element Analysis: Abaqus Tutorial [Slides]

Abaqus is a suite of powerful engineering simulation programs, based on the finite element method, that can solve a variety of problems, ranging from simple to complex, including the fields of: Structural mechanics, Structural dynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat transfer, and more

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1991

Comparing direct and iterative equation solvers in a large structural analysis software system

Two direct Choleski equation solvers and two iterative preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) equation solvers used in a large structural analysis software system are described. The two direct solvers are implementations of the Choleski method for variable-band matrix storage and sparse matrix storage. The two iterative PCG solvers include the Jacobi conjugate gradient method and an incomplete Choleski conjugate gradient method. The performance of the direct and iterative solvers is compared by solving several representative structural analysis problems. Some key factors affecting the performance of the iterative solvers relative to the direct solvers are identified.

Poole, E. L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Adaptive methods in computational fluid dynamics

A review is conducted of the basic components of adaptive methods applicable to very complex problems in fluid dynamics. Attention is given to ways of changing the structure of an approximation to reduce error, techniques for estimating the evolution of error in a CFD calculation, and the range of algorithms that are currently available for mesh-changing functions. Available numerical results which demonstrate the viability of these approaches are discussed.

Oden, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1938

Approximate Stress Analysis of Multistringer Beams with Shear Deformation of the Flanges

The problem of the skin-stringer combinations used as axially loaded panels or as covers for box beams is considered from the point of view of the practical stress analyst. By a simple substitution the problem is reduced to the problem of the single-stringer structure, which has been treated in NACA Report no. 608. The method of making this substitution is essentially empirical; in order to justify it, comparisons are shown between calculations and strain-gage tests of three beams tested by the author and of one compression panel and three beams tested and reported elsewhere.

Kuhn, Paul↗
NASA NTRS1998

Aerodynamic Parameters of High Performance Aircraft Estimated from Wind Tunnel and Flight Test Data

A concept of system identification applied to high performance aircraft is introduced followed by a discussion on the identification methodology. Special emphasis is given to model postulation using time invariant and time dependent aerodynamic parameters, model structure determination and parameter estimation using ordinary least squares an mixed estimation methods, At the same time problems of data collinearity detection and its assessment are discussed. These parts of methodology are demonstrated in examples using flight data of the X-29A and X-31A aircraft. In the third example wind tunnel oscillatory data of the F-16XL model are used. A strong dependence of these data on frequency led to the development of models with unsteady aerodynamic terms in the form of indicial functions. The paper is completed by concluding remarks.

Klein, Vladislav↗