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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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NASA NTRS1994

Luminous blue variables at quiescence: The zone of avoidance in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

Two phases of dynamical instability are theoretically predicted to exist during the evolution of supergiants of normal metallicity that are initially more massive than approximately 60 solar mass. One phase occurs briefly in the yellow or red region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for stars in the early stages of core helium burning, and the other phase occurs for a longer time in the blue or blue-white region for stars exhausting their core helium. Probably only the second phase exists in the case of supergiants with initial masses between approximately 60 solar mass and approximately 30 solar mass or with low metallicities The cause of instability is the partial ionization of hydrogen and helium in a quasi-isolated outer region of the stellar envelope, above the layer where the iron opacity attains a large local maximum. Predicted luminosities, effective temperatures, ejected nebular masses, remnant masses, eruption recurrence times, and lifetimes, though very approximate, are generally consistent with available observational data for the important class of unstable supergiants known as luminous blue variables.

Stothers, Richard B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Coupled-Cluster Theory Employing Approximate Integrals: An Approach to Avoid the Input/Output and Storage Bottlenecks

By representing orbital products in an expansion basis, certain classes of two-electron integrals are approximated for use in CCSD(T) calculations (singles and doubles coupled-cluster plus a perturbational estimate of the effects of connected triple excitations). This leads to a very large reduction in disk storage and input/output requirements, with usually only a modest increase in computational effort. The new procedure will allow very large CCSD(T) calculations to be undertaken, limited only by available processor time. Using the molecular basis as the expansion basis, explicit numerical comparisons of equilibrium geometries, harmonic frequencies, and energy differences indicate that the error due to the use of approximate integrals is less than the error associated with truncation of the molecular basis set.

Rendell, Alistair P.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Regular Topologies for Gigabit Wide-Area Networks: Congestion Avoidance Testbed Experiments

This document is Volume 3 of the final technical report on the work performed by SRI International (SRI) on SRI Project 8600. The document includes source listings for all software developed by SRI under this effort. Since some of our work involved the use of ST-II and the Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun) High-Speed Serial Interface (HSI/S) driver, we have included some of the source developed by LBL and BBN as well. In most cases, our decision to include source developed by other contractors depended on whether it was necessary to modify the original code. If we have modified the software in any way, it is included in this document. In the case of the Traffic Generator (TG), however, we have included all the ST-II software, even though BBN performed the integration, because the ST-II software is part of the standard TG release. It is important to note that all the code developed by other contractors is in the public domain, so that all software developed under this effort can be re-created from the source included here.

Denny, Barbara A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Congestion Avoidance Testbed Experiments

DARTnet provides an excellent environment for executing networking experiments. Since the network is private and spans the continental United States, it gives researchers a great opportunity to test network behavior under controlled conditions. However, this opportunity is not available very often, and therefore a support environment for such testing is lacking. To help remedy this situation, part of SRI's effort in this project was devoted to advancing the state of the art in the techniques used for benchmarking network performance. The second objective of SRI's effort in this project was to advance networking technology in the area of traffic control, and to test our ideas on DARTnet, using the tools we developed to improve benchmarking networks. Networks are becoming more common and are being used by more and more people. The applications, such as multimedia conferencing and distributed simulations, are also placing greater demand on the resources the networks provide. Hence, new mechanisms for traffic control must be created to enable their networks to serve the needs of their users. SRI's objective, therefore, was to investigate a new queueing and scheduling approach that will help to meet the needs of a large, diverse user population in a "fair" way.

Denny, Barbara A.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Technology Assessment of High Capacity Data Storage Systems: Can We Avoid a Data Survivability Crisis?

This technology assessment of long-term high capacity data storage systems identifies an emerging crisis of severe proportions related to preserving important historical data in science, healthcare, manufacturing, finance and other fields. For the last 50 years, the information revolution, which has engulfed all major institutions of modem society, centered itself on data-their collection, storage, retrieval, transmission, analysis and presentation. The transformation of long term historical data records into information concepts, according to Drucker, is the next stage in this revolution towards building the new information based scientific and business foundations. For this to occur, data survivability, reliability and evolvability of long term storage media and systems pose formidable technological challenges. Unlike the Y2K problem, where the clock is ticking and a crisis is set to go off at a specific time, large capacity data storage repositories face a crisis similar to the social security system in that the seriousness of the problem emerges after a decade or two. The essence of the storage crisis is as follows: since it could take a decade to migrate a peta-byte of data to a new media for preservation, and the life expectancy of the storage media itself is only a decade, then it may not be possible to complete the transfer before an irrecoverable data loss occurs. Over the last two decades, a number of anecdotal crises have occurred where vital scientific and business data were lost or would have been lost if not for major expenditures of resources and funds to save this data, much like what is happening today to solve the Y2K problem. A pr-ime example was the joint NASA/NSF/NOAA effort to rescue eight years worth of TOVS/AVHRR data from an obsolete system, which otherwise would have not resulted in the valuable 20-year long satellite record of global warming. Current storage systems solutions to long-term data survivability rest on scalable architectures having parallel paths for data migration.

Halem, M.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Technology Assessment of High Capacity Data Storage Systems: Can We Avoid a Data Survivability Crisis

The density of digital storage media in our information-intensive society increases by a factor of four every three years, while the rate at which this data can be migrated to viable long-term storage has been increasing by a factor of only four every nine years. Meanwhile, older data stored on increasingly obsolete media, are at considerable risk. When the systems for which the media were designed are no longer serviced by their manufacturers (many of whom are out of business), the data will no longer be accessible. In some cases, older media suffer from a physical breakdown of components - tapes simply lose their magnetic properties after a long time in storage. The scale of the crisis is compatible to that facing the Social Security System. Greater financial and intellectual resources to the development and refinement of new storage media and migration technologies in order to preserve as much data as possible.

Halem, M.↗
NASA NTRS1997

The Use of a Lidar Forward-Looking Turbulence Sensor for Mixed-Compression Inlet Unstart Avoidance and Gross Weight Reduction on a High Speed Civil Transport

Inlet unstart causes a disturbance akin to severe turbulence for a supersonic commercial airplane. Consequently, the current goal for the frequency of unstarts is a few times per fleet lifetime. For a mixed-compression inlet, there is a tradeoff between propulsion system efficiency and unstart margin. As the unstart margin decreases, propulsion system efficiency increases, but so does the unstart rate. This paper intends to first, quantify that tradeoff for the High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) and second, to examine the benefits of using a sensor to detect turbulence ahead of the airplane. When the presence of turbulence is known with sufficient lead time to allow the propulsion system to adjust the unstart margin, then inlet un,starts can be minimized while overall efficiency is maximized. The NASA Airborne Coherent Lidar for Advanced In-Flight Measurements program is developing a lidar system to serve as a prototype of the forward-looking sensor. This paper reports on the progress of this development program and its application to the prevention of inlet unstart in a mixed-compression supersonic inlet. Quantified benefits include significantly reduced takeoff gross weight (TOGW), which could increase payload, reduce direct operating costs, or increase range for the HSCT.

Soreide, David↗
NASA NTRS1999

Turbomachinery Design Quality Checks to Avoid Friction Induced Structural Failure

A unique configuration of the P&W SSME Alternate Fuel Turbopump turbine disk/blade assembly, combined with a severe thermal environment, resulted in several structural anomalies that were driven by frictional contact forces. Understanding the mechanics of these problems provides new quality checks for future turbo machinery designs. During development testing in 1997 of the SSME alternate fuel turbopump at Stennis Space Center, several potentially serious problems surfaced with the turbine disk/blade assembly that had not been experienced in extensive earlier testing. Changes to the operational thermal environment were noted based on analytical prediction of modifications that affected performance and on stationary thermal measurements adjacent to the rotor assembly. A detailed structural investigation was required to reveal the mechanism of distress induced by the change. The turbine disk experienced cracking in several locations due to increased thermal gradient induced stress during start and shutdown transients. This was easily predictable using standard analysis procedures and expected once the thermal environment was characterized. What was not expected was the curling of a piston ring used for blade axial retention in the disk, indentation of the axial face of the blade attachment by a spacer separating the first and second stage blades, and most significantly, galling and cracking of the blade root attachment that could have resulted in blade release. Past experience, in gas turbine environments, set a precedent of never relying on friction for help and to evaluate it only in specific instances where it was obvious that it would degrade capability. In each of the three cases above, friction proved to be a determining factor that pushed the components into an unsatisfactory mode of operation. The higher than expected temperatures and rapid thermal transients combined with friction to move beyond past experience. The turbine disk/blade assembly configuration contributed to the potential for these problems to occur by limiting the radial deflection from thermals and centrifugal loading. The cooled solid bore configuration was chosen to improve rotordynamic stability by limiting the length of rotor overhang while still protecting the roller bearing by maintaining zero slope under the inner race. During a start transient, the rim area of the disk heats rapidly and expands axially and circumferentially and requires corresponding radial and axial growth of the disk to maintain relative positioning of the disk, blades, spacers and retainer rings. The stiffness, large thermal mass, and bore cooling flow combine to severely limit the disk rim radial growth which results in the potential for relative movement between these parts. Friction then becomes a player in the determination of component stress.

Moore, Jerry H.↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Mars Project: Avoiding Decompression Sickness on a Distant Planet

A cost-effective approach for Mars exploration is to use available resources, such as water and atmospheric gases. Nitrogen (N2) and argon (Ar) are available and could form the inert gas component of a habitat atmosphere at 8.0, 9.0, or 10.0 pounds per square inch (psia). The habitat and space suit are designed as an integrated system: a comfortable living environment about 85% of the time and a safe working environment about 15% of the time. A goal is to provide a system that permits unrestricted exploration of Mars, but the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) during the extravehicular activity in a 3.75-psia suit, after exposure to any of the three habitat conditions, may limit unrestricted exploration. I evaluate here the risk of DCS since a significant proportion of a trinary breathing gas in the habitat might contain Ar. I draw on past experience and published information to extrapolate into untested, multivariable conditions to evaluate risk. A rigorous assessment of risk as a probability of DCS for each habitat condition is not yet possible. Based on many assumptions about Ar in hypobaric decompressions, I conclude that the presence of Ar significantly increases the risk of DCS. The risk is significant even with the best habitat option: 2.56 psia oxygen, 3.41 psia N2, and 2.20 psia Ar. Several hours of prebreathing 100% 02, a higher suit pressure, or a combination of other important variables such as limited exposure time on the surface or exercise during prebreathe would be necessary to reduce the risk of DCS to an acceptable level. The acceptable level for DCS risk on Mars has not yet been determined. Mars is a great distance from Earth and therefore from primary medical care. The acceptable risk would necessarily be defined by the capability to treat DCS in the Rover vehicle, in the habitat, or both.

Conkin, Johnny↗
NASA NTRS2000

Performance Evaluation of Evasion Maneuvers for Parallel Approach Collision Avoidance

Current plans for independent instrument approaches to closely spaced parallel runways call for an automated pilot alerting system to ensure separation of aircraft in the case of a "blunder," or unexpected deviation from the a normal approach path. Resolution advisories by this system would require the pilot of an endangered aircraft to perform a trained evasion maneuver. The potential performance of two evasion maneuvers, referred to as the "turn-climb" and "climb-only," was estimated using an experimental NASA alerting logic (AILS) and a computer simulation of relative trajectory scenarios between two aircraft. One aircraft was equipped with the NASA alerting system, and maneuvered accordingly. Observation of the rates of different types of alerting failure allowed judgement of evasion maneuver performance. System Operating Characteristic (SOC) curves were used to assess the benefit of alerting with each maneuver.

Winder, Lee F.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Minimum-Time and Vibration Avoidance Attitude Maneuver for Spacecraft with Torque and Momentum Limit Constraints in Redundant Reaction Wheel Configuration

In this paper, we present an optimal open-loop slew trajectory algorithm developed at GSFC for the so-called "Yardstick design" of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). JWST is an orbiting infrared observatory featuring a lightweight, segmented primary mirror approximately 6 meters in diameter and a sunshield approximately the size of a tennis court. This large, flexible structure will have significant number of lightly damped, dominant flexible modes. With very stringent requirements on pointing accuracy and image quality, it is important that slewing be done within the required time constraint and with minimal induced vibration in order to maximize observing efficiency. With reaction wheels as control actuators, initial wheel speeds as well as individual wheel torque and momentum limits become dominant constraints in slew performance. These constraints must be taken into account when performing slews to ensure that unexpected reaction wheel saturation does not occur, since such saturation leads to control failure in accurately tracking commanded motion and produces high frequency torque components capable of exciting structural modes. A minimum-time constraint is also included and coupled with reaction wheel limit constraints in the optimization to minimize both the effect of the control torque on the flexible body motion and the maneuver time. The optimization is on slew command parameters, such as maximum slew velocity and acceleration, for a given redundant reaction wheel configuration and is based on the dynamic interaction between the spacecraft and reaction wheel motion. Analytical development of the slew algorithm to generate desired slew position, rate, and acceleration profiles to command a feedback/feed forward control system is described. High-fidelity simulation and experimental results are presented to show that the developed slew law achieves the objectives.

Ha, Kong Q.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Use of Individual Flight Corridors to Avoid Vortex Wakes

Vortex wakes of aircraft pose a hazard to following aircraft until the energetic parts of their flow fields have decayed to a harmless level. It is suggested here that in-trail spacings between aircraft can be significantly and safely reduced by designing an individual, vortex-free flight corridor for each aircraft. Because each aircraft will then have its own flight corridor, which is free of vortex wakes while in use by the assigned aircraft, the time intervals between aircraft operations can be safely reduced to the order of seconds. The productivity of airports can then be substantially increased. How large the offset distances between operational corridors need to be to have them vortex free, and how airports need to be changed to accommodate an individual flight-corridor process for landing and takeoff operations, are explored. Estimates are then made of the productivity of an individual flight-corridor system as a function of the in-trail time interval between operations for various values of wake decay time, runway width, and the velocity of a sidewind. The results confirm the need for short time intervals between aircraft operations if smaller offset distances and increased productivity are to be achieved.

Rossow, Vernon J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Simulating Virtual Terminal Area Weather Data Bases for Use in the Wake Vortex Avoidance System (Wake VAS) Prediction Algorithm

During the research project, sounding datasets were generated for the region surrounding 9 major airports, including Dallas, TX, Boston, MA, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, Atlanta, GA, Miami, FL, San Francico, CA, and Los Angeles, CA. The numerical simulation of winter and summer environments during which no instrument flight rule impact was occurring at these 9 terminals was performed using the most contemporary version of the Terminal Area PBL Prediction System (TAPPS) model nested from 36 km to 6 km to 1 km horizontal resolution and very detailed vertical resolution in the planetary boundary layer. The soundings from the 1 km model were archived at 30 minute time intervals for a 24 hour period and the vertical dependent variables as well as derived quantities, i.e., 3-dimensional wind components, temperatures, pressures, mixing ratios, turbulence kinetic energy and eddy dissipation rates were then interpolated to 5 m vertical resolution up to 1000 m elevation above ground level. After partial validation against field experiment datasets for Dallas as well as larger scale and much coarser resolution observations at the other 8 airports, these sounding datasets were sent to NASA for use in the Virtual Air Space and Modeling program. The application of these datasets being to determine representative airport weather environments to diagnose the response of simulated wake vortices to realistic atmospheric environments. These virtual datasets are based on large scale observed atmospheric initial conditions that are dynamically interpolated in space and time. The 1 km nested-grid simulated datasets providing a very coarse and highly smoothed representation of airport environment meteorological conditions. Details concerning the airport surface forcing are virtually absent from these simulated datasets although the observed background atmospheric processes have been compared to the simulated fields and the fields were found to accurately replicate the flows surrounding the airport where coarse verification data were available as well as where airport scale datasets were available.

Kaplan, Michael L.↗
NASA NTRS2000

2MASS extended sources in the zone of avoidance

A new high-resolution near-infrared mapping effort, the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), is now underway and will provide a complete census of galaxies as faint as 13.5 mag (3 mJy) at 2.2 mu m for most of the sky, and similar to 12.1 mag (10 mJy) for regions veiled by the Milky Way.

Large scale structures redshift-survey velocity-fi↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Lessons Learned Process: An Effective Countermeasure Against Avoidable Risk

The potential for errors in engineering judgement arguably present the highest level of risk when applied to interplanetary spaceflight. JPL has been refining its lessons learned process to optimize the collection and transfer of critical success factors applicable to current and future spaceflight projects.

lessons learned information system process improve↗