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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 55 records · Page 3

Water Collection, Recovery, and Bag Containment Analysis of Trash Models of the Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS)

The Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS) aims to reduce volume, biologically safen, physically stabilize, manage effluents, and recover resources from astronaut trash in the International Space Station (ISS). The Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) serves as a test system that supports TCPS development by conducting risk reduction activities associated with an ISS flight demonstration. One of the resources desired to be recovered is water from the trash. The HMC Gen 3 has undergone several tests of different trash models and cases in which a containment bag is used or not. This paper will analyze the water collected and recovered from these tests and analyze the effect of specific trash containment bags.

Janine Criselda Young↗

Subsonic flight test evaluation of a propulsion system parameter estimation process for the F100 engine

An adaptive-performance-seeking control system which optimizes the quasi-steady-state performance of the F-15 propulsion system is discussed. This paper presents flight- and ground-test evaluations of the propulsion system parameter-estimation process used by the performance seeking control system. The estimator consists of a compact propulsion system model and an extended Kalman filter. The extended Kalman filter estimates five engine component deviation parameters from measured inputs. The compact model uses measurements and Kalman-filter estimates as inputs to predict unmeasured propulsion parameters such as net propulsive force and fan stall margin. The ability to track trends and estimate absolute values of propulsion system parameters was demonstrated. For example, thrust stand results show a good correlation especially in trends between the performance seeking control estimated and measured thrust.

Orme, John S.↗

Subsonic flight test evaluation of a propulsion system parameter estimation process for the F100 engine

Integrated engine-airframe optimal control technology may significantly improve aircraft performance. This technology requires a reliable and accurate parameter estimator to predict unmeasured variables. To develop this technology base, NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility (Edwards, CA), McDonnell Aircraft Company (St. Louis, MO), and Pratt & Whitney (West Palm Beach, FL) have developed and flight-tested an adaptive performance seeking control system which optimizes the quasi-steady-state performance of the F-15 propulsion system. This paper presents flight and ground test evaluations of the propulsion system parameter estimation process used by the performance seeking control system. The estimator consists of a compact propulsion system model and an extended Kalman filter. The extended Laman filter estimates five engine component deviation parameters from measured inputs. The compact model uses measurements and Kalman-filter estimates as inputs to predict unmeasured propulsion parameters such as net propulsive force and fan stall margin. The ability to track trends and estimate absolute values of propulsion system parameters was demonstrated. For example, thrust stand results show a good correlation, especially in trends, between the performance seeking control estimated and measured thrust.

Orme, John S.↗

COMPACT KNN V2: Analogy-Based Cost Estimation Model for CubeSats

The CubeSat Or Microsat Probabilistic and AnalogiesCost Tool, or COMPACT, is a NASA Headquarters fundedeffort to fill the gap in cost estimating capabilities for CubeSats,as well as other microsat spacecraft. The COMPACT team hasfocused mainly on CubeSats to date, and has collected technical,programmatic and cost data on dozens of flown CubeSatsmissions led by NASA, research labs, and universities. In late2019, the team released the first tool prototype which uses a nonparametricregression technique, k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN),on actual data from historical CubeSat missions to produceearly ballpark analogy-based cost estimates for new CubeSatconcepts. Since the KNN prototype was first released, theCOMPACT team has normalized 17 new missions to be addedto the model in COMPACT V2. COMPACT V2 also featureschanges to the KNN tool algorithm including the introduction ofPrincipal Component Analysis (PCA) to the model developmentprocess and changes to the input parameters which have madethe analogy results more intuitive and have improved modelperformance. This paper describes the current COMPACTKNN dataset, improvements made to the model in COMPACTV2, an assessment of current model performance, and a forwardlook at COMPACT’s planned future enhancements.

Hooke, Melissa↗

Soft gamma-ray repeaters: Black holes in giant molecular clouds?

The BATSE discovery of the near-simultaneous turnon of a soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) source, located to apporximately 5 deg and possibly SGR 1900+14, and a new hard X-ray transient GRS 1915+105 (discovered by Granat), suggests they may be associated. Published positions for both the SGR and GRS sources do not preclude spatial coincidence for the two sources, or the GRS transient may be associated with another SGR source. We outline a model for SGR sources as due to thermal instabilities in spherical accretion onto black holes in giant molecular clouds. We show that the SIGMA position for the GRS 1915 source is consistent with it being in a giant molecular cloud and compare this possible identification with that suggested for the `1E' source in the Galactic center region. Our model would predict a strong concentration of SGR sources toward the Galactic plane (consistent with both SGR 1900+14 and SGR 1806-20) and so would require the only other known 'SGR,' the GRB 790305 superburst source apparently in the Large Magellanic Cloud, to be fundamentally different. We note that the recently discovered radio/infrared counterpart for the SGR 1806-20 may be consistent with this model, rather than the compact suprernova remnant/pulsar model suggested by Kulkarni and Frail.

Grindlay, Jonathan E.↗

Trash Compaction and Processing System Trash Models and Evolved Gas Analysis of Trash Components

As part of the NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS) program, the Generation 2 (Gen 2) Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) tests a variety of trash models (nominal, high liquid, and high cloth) in order to evaluate the technical risk associated with processing spacecraft trash. The trash components used in the trash models not only impacts the final solid trash disk quality, but also the water and gas effluent compositions. In order to better design an auxiliary system to treat the effluent streams, both the input trash components and the effluent must be characterized. Evolved gas analysis (EGA) methods are used to characterize the input trash components. The EGA results will be used to determine various HMC operational parameters, as well as to determine the optimal operation for the TCPS system.

Heat Melt Compactor↗

A Physical Model for a Slim Convective Dusty Disk in AGN

An accretion disk in an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) harbors and shields dust from external illumination. Our model shows that at the mid-plane of the disk around a MBH = 107M black hole, dust can exist at 0:1pc from the black hole, compared to 0.5pc outside of the disk where such self-shielding is constrained. We construct a physical model of a disk region approximately located between the radius of dust sublimation at the disk mid-plane and the radius at which dust sublimes at the disk surface. Our main conclusion is that for a wide range of model parameters such as local accretion rate and/or opacity, the accretion disk’s own radiation pressure on dust significantly influences its vertical structure. In this region convection plays important role in the vertical transport of energy. When the local accretion rate exceeds 2:5M yr the 10􀀀2pc-scale disk is super-critical with respect to dust opacity. Such a disk puffs up and transforms from geometrically thin to slim. Our model fits into the narrative of a "failed wind" scenario of Czerny & Hryniewicz (2011) and the "compact torus" model of Baskin & Laor (2018), incorporating them as variations of the radiative dusty disk model.

A Dorodnitsyn↗

Time-Varying Ice Sheet Mask: Implications on Ice-Sheet Mass Balance and Crustal Uplift

Mass-balance estimates of the polar ice sheets presently rely on static ice masks to identify the area under investigation. However, the vintage of available ice masks can differ by more than a decade and the resolution of the imagery used to delineate ice extent can differ by an order of magnitude, despite evidence of ongoing ice-sheet retreat. We show that using a fine resolution, time-varying ice mask significantly improves mass-balance estimates of the northwestern sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet and affects interpretation of local crustal uplift. Accounting for ice margin retreat using a time-varying ice mask between 2003–2015 results in 1.0–6.8% less ice-sheet mass loss relative to assuming one of several existing static ice masks. This indicates that mass-balance estimates that use a static ice mask will progressively overestimate mass loss where the ice sheet is predominantly retreating, meaning a negative bias on mass-balance. This trend is anticipated to be amplified in a future warming scenario unless updated ice masks are incorporated. For altimetry-derived mass-balance estimates, this ice-mask induced bias approaches the magnitude of the ice-sheet-wide uncertainty presently associated with spatiotemporal variability in modeled firn compaction. Further, at five GNET stations, the ice-mask-induced bias is equivalent to 5–15% of the modeled uplift due to elastic deformation. Given present and projected negative trends in Greenland Ice Sheet mass-balance and areal extent, we conclude that studies of its mass-balance should begin incorporating dynamic, periodically updated, fine-resolution ice masks. This methodological refinement will reduce bias in estimates of both ice-sheet mass-balance and crustal uplift.

Kristian K. Kjeldsen↗

A Model of Reduced Kinetics for Alkane Oxidation Using Constituents and Species for N-Heptane

The reduction of elementary or skeletal oxidation kinetics to a subgroup of tractable reactions for inclusion in turbulent combustion codes has been the subject of numerous studies. The skeletal mechanism is obtained from the elementary mechanism by removing from it reactions that are considered negligible for the intent of the specific study considered. As of now, there are many chemical reduction methodologies. A methodology for deriving a reduced kinetic mechanism for alkane oxidation is described and applied to n-heptane. The model is based on partitioning the species of the skeletal kinetic mechanism into lights, defined as those having a carbon number smaller than 3, and heavies, which are the complement of the species ensemble. For modeling purposes, the heavy species are mathematically decomposed into constituents, which are similar but not identical to groups in the group additivity theory. From analysis of the LLNL (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) skeletal mechanism in conjunction with CHEMKIN II, it is shown that a similarity variable can be formed such that the appropriately non-dimensionalized global constituent molar density exhibits a self-similar behavior over a very wide range of equivalence ratios, initial pressures and initial temperatures that is of interest for predicting n-heptane oxidation. Furthermore, the oxygen and water molar densities are shown to display a quasi-linear behavior with respect to the similarity variable. The light species ensemble is partitioned into quasi-steady and unsteady species. The reduced model is based on concepts consistent with those of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) in which functional forms are used to replace the small scales eliminated through filtering of the governing equations; in LES, these small scales are unimportant as far as the overwhelming part of dynamic energy is concerned. Here, the scales thought unimportant for recovering the thermodynamic energy are removed. The concept is tested by using tabular information from the LLNL skeletal mechanism in conjunction with CHEMKIN II utilized as surrogate ideal functions replacing the necessary functional forms. The test reveals that the similarity concept is indeed justified and that the combustion temperature is well predicted, but that the ignition time is over-predicted, a fact traced to neglecting a detailed description of the processes leading to the heavies chemical decomposition. To palliate this deficiency, functional modeling is incorporated into this conceptual reduction in addition to the modeling the evolution of the global constituent molar density, the enthalpy evolution of the heavies, the contribution to the reaction rate of the unsteady lights from other light species and from the heavies, the molar density evolution of oxygen and water, and the mole fractions of the quasisteady light species. The model is compact in that there are only nine species-related progress variables. Results are presented showing the performance of the model for predicting the temperature and species evolution. The model reproduces the ignition time over a wide range of equivalence ratios, initial pressure, and initial temperature.

Harstad, Kenneth G.↗

Greedy Sampling and Incremental Surrogate Model-Based Tailoring of Aeroservoelastic Model Database for Flexible Aircraft

This paper presents a data analysis and modeling framework to tailor and develop linear parameter-varying (LPV) aeroservoelastic (ASE) model database for flexible aircrafts in broad 2D flight parameter space. The Kriging surrogate model is constructed using ASE models at a fraction of grid points within the original model database, and then the ASE model at any flight condition can be obtained simply through surrogate model interpolation. The greedy sampling algorithm is developed to select the next sample point that carries the worst relative error between the surrogate model prediction and the benchmark model in the frequency domain among all input-output channels. The process is iterated to incrementally improve surrogate model accuracy till a pre-determined tolerance or iteration budget is met. The methodology is applied to the ASE model database of a flexible aircraft currently being tested at NASA/AFRC for flutter suppression and gust load alleviation. Our studies indicate that the proposed method can reduce the number of models in the original database by 67%. Even so the ASE models obtained through Kriging interpolation match the model in the original database constructed directly from the physics-based tool with the worst relative error far below 1%. The interpolated ASE model exhibits continuously-varying gains along a set of prescribed flight conditions. More importantly, the selected grid points are distributed non-uniformly in the parameter space, a) capturing the distinctly different dynamic behavior and its dependence on flight parameters, and b) reiterating the need and utility for adaptive space sampling techniques for ASE model database compaction. The present framework is directly extendible to high-dimensional flight parameter space, and can be used to guide the ASE model development, model order reduction, robust control synthesis and novel vehicle design of flexible aircraft.

numerical analysi↗

Segmentation, modeling and classification of the compact objects in a pile

The problem of interpreting dense range images obtained from the scene of a heap of man-made objects is discussed. A range image interpretation system consisting of segmentation, modeling, verification, and classification procedures is described. First, the range image is segmented into regions and reasoning is done about the physical support of these regions. Second, for each region several possible three-dimensional interpretations are made based on various scenarios of the objects physical support. Finally each interpretation is tested against the data for its consistency. The superquadric model is selected as the three-dimensional shape descriptor, plus tapering deformations along the major axis. Experimental results obtained from some complex range images of mail pieces are reported to demonstrate the soundness and the robustness of our approach.

Gupta, Alok↗

Absorption models for low-frequency variability in compact radio sources

The consequences of the most plausible version of the absorption model for low-frequency variability in compact extragalactic radio sources are considered. The general restrictions placed on such a model are determined, and observational tests are suggested that can be used either to support the model or to discriminate among its various versions. It is shown that low-frequency variability in compact radio sources can be successfully explained by a class of models in which the flux is modulated by changes in free-free optical depth within an intervening ionized medium. Two versions of such a model are distinguished, one involving large changes in optical depth and the other, small changes. It is noted that while absorption effects are capable of causing rapid flux and structural variations at centimetric wavelengths, the models predict detailed behavior that is in direct conflict with observational data.

Marscher, A. P.↗

X-ray binaries in globular clusters

X-ray and optical studies of compact binaries and globular clusters are reviewed. Topics covered include, the formation of compact binaries by three-body interactions and by tidal capture, studies of the 11 minute binary in NGC 6624 and the 8.5 hour binary in M 15 (AC211), and an evolutionary model for compact binary formation. Optical searches for X-ray binaries in globular clusters are examined including CCD surveys and studies of NGC 6712. In addition, globular clusters with central cusps in their surface brightness profiles, questions concerning the blue color of binaries, diffuse line emission from CVs, and the possibility that X-ray burst sources in the galactic bulge were formed by tidal capture in globular clusters which have since been disrupted are discussed.

Grindlay, Jonathan E.↗

A Generic Nonlinear Aerodynamic Model for Aircraft

A generic model of the aerodynamic coefficients was developed using wind tunnel databases for eight different aircraft and multivariate orthogonal functions. For each database and each coefficient, models were determined using polynomials expanded about the state and control variables, and an othgonalization procedure. A predicted squared-error criterion was used to automatically select the model terms. Modeling terms picked in at least half of the analyses, which totalled 45 terms, were retained to form the generic nonlinear aerodynamic (GNA) model. Least squares was then used to estimate the model parameters and associated uncertainty that best fit the GNA model to each database. Nonlinear flight simulations were used to demonstrate that the GNA model produces accurate trim solutions, local behavior (modal frequencies and damping ratios), and global dynamic behavior (91% accurate state histories and 80% accurate aerodynamic coefficient histories) under large-amplitude excitation. This compact aerodynamics model can be used to decrease on-board memory storage requirements, quickly change conceptual aircraft models, provide smooth analytical functions for control and optimization applications, and facilitate real-time parametric system identification.

Grauer, Jared A.↗

Computations of Combustion-Powered Actuation for Dynamic Stall Suppression

A computational framework for the simulation of dynamic stall suppression with combustion-powered actuation (COMPACT) is validated against wind tunnel experimental results on a VR-12 airfoil. COMPACT slots are located at 10% chord from the leading edge of the airfoil and directed tangentially along the suction-side surface. Helicopter rotor-relevant flow conditions are used in the study. A computationally efficient two-dimensional approach, based on unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS), is compared in detail against the baseline and the modified airfoil with COMPACT, using aerodynamic forces, pressure profiles, and flow-field data. The two-dimensional RANS approach predicts baseline static and dynamic stall very well. Most of the differences between the computational and experimental results are within two standard deviations of the experimental data. The current framework demonstrates an ability to predict COMPACT efficacy across the experimental dataset. Enhanced aerodynamic lift on the downstroke of the pitching cycle due to COMPACT is well predicted, and the cycleaveraged lift enhancement computed is within 3% of the test data. Differences with experimental data are discussed with a focus on three-dimensional features not included in the simulations and the limited computational model for COMPACT.

Jee, Solkeun↗