Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “cavity methods”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3

Astrochemistry: Recent Advances in the Study of Carbon Molecules in Space

Carbon molecules and ions play an important role in space. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the best-known candidates to account for the infrared emission bands (UIR bands) and PAH spectral features are now being used as probes of the interstellar medium in Galactic and extra-galactic environments. PAHs are also thought to be among the carriers of the diffuse interstellar absorption bands (DIBs). In the model dealing with the interstellar spectral features, PAHs are present as a mixture of radicals, ions and neutral species. PAH ionization states reflect the ionization balance of the medium while PAH size, composition, and structure reflect the energetic and chemical history of the medium. A major challenge for laboratory Astrochemistry is to reproduce (in a realistic way) the physical conditions that exist in the emission and absorption interstellar zones. An extensive laboratory program has been developed in various laboratories to characterize the physical and chemical properties of PAHs in astrophysical environments and to describe how they influence the radiation and energy balance in space and the interstellar chemistry. In particular, laboratory experiments provide measurements of the spectral characteristics of interstellar PAH analogs from the ultraviolet and visible range to the infrared range for comparison with astronomical data. The harsh physical conditions of the interstellar medium - characterized by a low temperature, an absence of collisions and strong ultraviolet radiation fields - are simulated in the laboratory by associating a molecular beam with an ionizing discharge to generate a cold plasma expansion. PAH ions are formed from the neutral precursors in an isolated environment at low temperature (of the order of 100 K). The spectra of neutral and ionized PAHs are measured using the high sensitivity methods of cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS). These experiments provide unique information on the spectra of free, cold large carbon molecules and ions in the gas phase.

Salama, Farid↗

Comparison of Computational Predictions of the Mach 0.80 Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration with Experimental Data

The NASA Langley and Ames Research Centers have teamed together for comparisons of computational predictions of the Boeing Mach 0.80Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration with a high-speed experimental dataset. The Mach 0.80 TTBW vehicle is a high wing, high aspect ratio configuration, designed for a high lift-to-drag ratio. System studies have predicted significant fuel burn and emissions benefits with the TTBW technology moving toward meeting NASA Subsonic Transport Systems-Level-Metrics. A 4.5% scale Mach 0.80 design TTBW model was recently tested at the NASA Ames Research Center 11-by 11-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel(11-Ft TWT),providing a valuable dataset to validate computational tools and investigate best practices as risk reduction efforts continue for the development of the advanced TTBW vehicle. The NASA Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) team has computed free-air flow solutions on the Mach 0.80 design flight configuration and two wind tunnel configuration variants using the USM3D and LAVA flow solvers. Accurate modeling of the configuration tested in the wind tunnel environment is critical to validating the CFD tools, thus the team has included the internal cavity region and sting in their modeling of the configuration, similar to that tested in the 11-Ft TWT. Overall, the CFD simulations compared well and show similar trends as the corrected experimental data for lift and drag polars. The CFD predicted lift curve is shifted in angle of attack from what was observed in the experiment. The shift in lift also was seen in the pitching moment comparison plots. CFD solutions were computed at constant CL test point values and showed overall very good agreement when comparing constant spanwise cuts of pressure coefficient data on the wing and strut with experimental data. CFD cavity corrections were also investigated using the 11-Ft TWT cavity correction method, similar to that used to correct the wind tunnel data. Results showed some improvement in pitching moment coefficient predictions, and an increase in drag, shifting the data to the right in drag polars, further from the experimental data at lower lift conditions, good agreement near the design CL, and slight improvement at the higher lift conditions.

Transonic Truss-Braced Wing↗

Dispersion compensation in whispering gallery modes

We show that manipulation by a spatial profile of refractive index of a circularly symmetric dielectric cavity results in a novel way of fine tuning frequency separations as well as spatial localizations of high-Q whispering gallery modes excited in the cavity. The method enables dispersion compensation in the modes (spectrum equalization), diminishes the quality-factor limitation by surface roughness and contamination, and enables critical coupling to ultra-high-Q modes without maintaining an air-gap with evanescent couplers.

photonic↗

High Temperature Dielectric Properties and Differential Scanning Calorimetry of Lunar Simulants

To guide development of microwave process technology that could be used during in situ construction on the Moon, we measured the high-temperature basic dielectric properties (εʹ and εʺ) of 17 lunar simulants and related materials. In order to confidently use these data one needs to understand the data’s strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, a goal of this publication is to provide insights into the comparative effects of sample composition, pre-treatments, experimental variables, high temperatures, and other factors on the measured response. The dielectric measurements were performed using the cavity perturbation method over a temperature range between room temperature to 1000 °C, or higher, and provided the real and imaginary components of permittivity at six frequencies. The utility of the original values was limited by the varying density of the pellets used in the measurement. Therefore, all of the εʹ and εʺ measurements at the frequency of 2466 MHz have been scaled to a constant density, 1.75 g/cm 3 . Here the data are presented as graphs chosen to aid analysis within and across simulant groups. To gain additional insight into the processes happening at the elevated temperatures in the dielectric measurements, heat capacity data was obtained using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on several of the simulant materials. Our data show that over the frequency range 397 MHz – 2985 MHz a material’s behavior does not greatly change, as compared to the scale of differences observed between lunar mare and highland simulants at high temperatures. For example at 1000 °C, the mare simulant JSC-1A absorbs 10 times more power than the highland simulant NUW-LHT-5M. We observe that as melting temperatures are reached both permittivity and dielectric loss rise non-linearly, helping to explain thermal runaway during microware heating. Our data show that even less than a few weight % of many non-lunar minerals, and the use of mixtures in simulants can affect the dielectric behavior at higher temperatures. A comparison of our results with published dielectric data for Apollo samples and with remote sensing of the Moon supports the conclusion the simulants and lunar material at room temperature have very similar dielectric values.

Differential Scanning Calorimetry↗

Electromagnetic scattering and radiation from microstrip patch antennas and spirals residing in a cavity

A new hybrid method is presented for the analysis of the scattering and radiation by conformal antennas and arrays comprised of circular or rectangular elements. In addition, calculations for cavity-backed spiral antennas are given. The method employs a finite element formulation within the cavity and the boundary integral (exact boundary condition) for terminating the mesh. By virtue of the finite element discretization, the method has no restrictions on the geometry and composition of the cavity or its termination. Furthermore, because of the convolutional nature of the boundary integral and the inherent sparseness of the finite element matrix, the storage requirement is kept very low at O(n). These unique features of the method have already been exploited in other scattering applications and have permitted the analysis of large-size structures with remarkable efficiency. In this report, we describe the method's formulation and implementation for circular and rectangular patch antennas in different superstrate and substrate configurations which may also include the presence of lumped loads and resistive sheets/cards. Also, various modelling approaches are investigated and implemented for characterizing a variety of feed structures to permit the computation of the input impedance and radiation pattern. Many computational examples for rectangular and circular patch configurations are presented which demonstrate the method's versatility, modeling capability and accuracy.

Volakis, J. L.↗

Scattering and radiation analysis of three-dimensional cavity arrays via a hybrid finite element method

A hybrid numerical technique is presented for a characterization of the scattering and radiation properties of three-dimensional cavity arrays recessed in a ground plane. The technique combines the finite element and boundary integral methods and invokes Floquet's representation to formulate a system of equations for the fields at the apertures and those inside the cavities. The system is solved via the conjugate gradient method in conjunction with the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) thus achieving an O(N) storage requirement. By virtue of the finite element method, the proposed technique is applicable to periodic arrays comprised of cavities having arbitrary shape and filled with inhomogeneous dielectrics. Several numerical results are presented, along with new measured data, which demonstrate the validity, efficiency, and capability of the technique.

Jin, Jian-Ming↗

Control of cavity noise

Experiments have been conducted on axisymmetric shallow cavity flows with the aim of investigating methods to modify cavity shear flows such that cavity noise may be reduced. The experiments indicate the presence of large gross lateral motion of the shear layer close to the downstream cavity corner which, on interaction with it, results in production of cavity flow noise. Results also show that the continuous injection of a fluid mass at the base of the cavity has a stabilizing effect on cavity shear flows. This stability is believed to have been achieved by supplying the mass required for cavity shear layer entrainment externally. This was also accompanied by a delay in large periodic lateral motion of the cavity shear layer close to the downstream cavity corner as observed without the mass injection. Thus the addition of a continuous fluid mass appears to be an effective means of suppressing cavity flow noise.

Sarohia, V.↗

A Fourier-Chebyshev pseudospectral method for solving steady 3-D Navier-Stokes and heat equations in cylindrical cavities

A Fourier-Chebyshev pseudospectral method for solving steady 3D Navier-Stokes equations in cylindrical cavities is presented and discussed. The general method is pseudo-unsteady and uses a semi-implicit finite difference scheme for the time discretization. The generalized ADI (Alternating Direction Implicit) procedure is then applied to reduce the problem to a successive solution of one-dimensional problems. The spatial approximation uses a Fourier-Galerkin approximation in the periodic direction and a Chebyshev-collocation approximation in the other directions. Difficulties related to the pressure are surmounted by using the artifical compressibility method. A suitable variable change was chosen to avoid the problem of singularity at the axis generated by cylindrical coordinates. The method is first tested on an advection-diffusion equation and then on the Navier-Stokes equations. Finally, the method is illustrated by a convection problem of a differentially heated fluid.

Pulicani, J. P.↗

Measuring Q And f(sub r) Of A Microwave Cavity: Part II

Frequency maintained at f(sub r), and Q determined from decay-rate measurement. Like "Measuring Q and f(sub r) of a Microwave Cavity: Part I" (NPO-19101), method used with microwave cavity in which sample of lossy dielectric material heated to specified high temperature by microwave power at resonant frequency. Methods contribute to accurate measurement of Q and f(sub r) for enhanced monitoring and control in contactless high-temperature processing of materials. Present method more effective in maintaining constant temperature. Also implemented more simply and at lower cost.

Iny, Ofer↗

High-temperature earth-storable propellant acoustic cavity technology

Design criteria, methods and data, were developed to permit effective design of acoustic cavities for use in regeneratively cooled OME-type engines. This information was developed experimentally from two series of motor firings with high-temperature fuel during which the engine stability was evaluated under various conditions and with various cavity configurations. Supplementary analyses and acoustic model testing were used to aid cavity design and interpretation of results. Results from this program clearly indicate that dynamic stability in regeneratively cooled OME-type engines can be ensured through the use of acoustic cavities. Moreover, multiple modes of instability were successfully suppressed with the cavity.

Oberg, C. L.↗

Mounting system for optical frequency reference cavities

A technique for reducing the vibration sensitivity of laser-stabilizing optical reference cavities is based upon an improved design and mounting method for the cavity, wherein the cavity is mounted vertically. It is suspended at one plane, around the spacer cylinder, equidistant from the mirror ends of the cavity. The suspension element is a collar of an extremely low thermal expansion coefficient material, which surrounds the spacer cylinder and contacts it uniformly. Once the collar has been properly located, it is cemented in place so that the spacer cylinder is uniformly supported and does not have to be squeezed at all. The collar also includes a number of cavities partially bored into its lower flat surface, around the axial bore. These cavities are support points, into which mounting base pins will be inserted. Hence the collar is supported at a minimum of three points.

Notcutt, Mark↗

Experimental Feedback Control of Flow Induced Cavity Tones

An experimental study of the application of discrete-time, linear quadratic control design methods to the cavity tone problem is described. State space models of the dynamics from a synthetic jet actuator at the leading edge of the cavity to two pressure sensors in the cavity were computed from experimental data. Variations in model order, control order, control bandwidth, and properties of a Kalman state estimator were studied. Feedback control reduced the levels of multiple cavity tones at Mach 0.275, 0.35, and 0.45. Closed loop performance was often limited by excitation of sidebands of cavity tones, and creation of new tones in the spectrum. State space models were useful for explaining some of these limitations, but were not able to account for non-linear dynamics, such as interactions between tones at different frequencies.

Cabell, Randolph H.↗

Method of fabricating an article with cavities

An article having a cavity with a thin bottom wall is provided by assembling a thin sheet, for example, a metal sheet, adjacent to the surface of a member having one or more apertures. A bonding adhesive is interposed between the thin sheet and the subadjacent member, and the thin sheet is subjected to a high fluid pressure. In order to prevent the differential pressure from being exerted against the thin sheet, the aperture is filled with a plug of solid material having a linear coefficient of thermal expansion higher than that of the member. When the assembly is subjected to pressure, the material is heated to a temperature such that its expansion exerts a pressure against the thin sheet thus reducing the differential pressure.

Dale, W. J.↗

The study of flow pattern and phase-change problem in die casting process

The flow pattern and solidification phenomena in die casting process have been investigated in the first phase study. The flow pattern in filling process is predicted by using a VOF (volume of fluid) method. A good agreement with experimental observation is obtained for filling the water into a die cavity with different gate geometry and with an obstacle in the cavity. An enthalpy method has been applied to solve the solidification problem. By treating the latent heat implicitly into the enthalpy instead of explicitly into the source term, the CPU time can be reduced at least 20 times. The effect of material properties on solidification fronts is tested. It concludes that the dependence of properties on temperature is significant. The influence of the natural convection over the diffusion has also been studied. The result shows that the liquid metal solidification phenomena is diffusion dominant, and the natural convection can affect the shape of the interface. In the second phase study, the filling and solidification processes will be considered simultaneously.

Wang, T. S.↗

Interactive method for computation of viscous flow with recirculation

An interactive method is proposed for the solution of two-dimensional, laminar flow fields with identifiable regions of recirculation, such as the shear-layer-driven cavity flow. The method treats the flow field as composed of two regions, with an appropriate mathematical model adopted for each region. The shear layer is computed by the compressible boundary layer equations, and the slowly recirculating flow by the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. The flow field is solved iteratively by matching the local solutions in the two regions. For this purpose a new matching method utilizing an overlap between the two computational regions is developed, and shown to be most satisfactory. Matching of the two velocity components, as well as the change in velocity with respect to depth is amply accomplished using the present approach, and the stagnation points corresponding to separation and reattachment of the dividing streamline are computed as part of the interactive solution. The interactive method is applied to the test problem of a shear layer driven cavity. The computational results are used to show the validity and applicability of the present approach.

Brandeis, J.↗

International Conference on Numerical Methods in Fluid Dynamics, 11th, Williamsburg, VA, June 27-July 1, 1988, Proceedings

Recent advances in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) are discussed in reviews and reports. Topics addressed include CFD models in plasma dynamics, parallel computation for simulation studies, CFD for hypersonic airbreathing aircraft, multigrid methods for the steady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, upwind differencing techniques, TV stable schemes for shock-interacting flows, Euler models of hypersonic vortex flows, parallel multilevel adaptive methods, and vortex methods for slightly viscous three-dimensional flows. Consideration is given to the accuracy of node-based solutions on irregular meshes, multigrid calculations for cascades, a finite-volume-element method for planar cavity flow, parallel heterogeneous mesh refinement for advection-diffusion equations, the convergence of the spectral-viscosity method for nonlinear conservation laws, and numerical simulations of Taylor vortices in a spherical gap.

Dwoyer, D. L.↗