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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 541 records · Page 30
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NASA NTRS1997

Euler/Navier-Stokes Solvers Applied to Ducted Fan Configurations

Due to noise considerations, ultra high bypass ducted fans have become a more viable design. These ducted fans typically consist of a rotor stage containing a wide chord fan and a stator stage. One of the concerns for this design is the classical flutter that keeps occurring in various unducted fan blade designs. These flutter are catastrophic and are to be avoided in the flight envelope of the engine. Some numerical investigations by Williams, Cho and Dalton, have suggested that a duct around a propeller makes it more unstable. This needs to be further investigated. In order to design an engine to safely perform a set of desired tasks, accurate information of the stresses on the blade during the entire cycle of blade motion is required. This requirement in turn demands that accurate knowledge of steady and unsteady blade loading be available. Aerodynamic solvers based on unsteady three-dimensional analysis will provide accurate and fast solutions and are best suited for aeroelastic analysis. The Euler solvers capture significant physics of the flowfield and are reasonably fast. An aerodynamic solver Ref. based on Euler equations had been developed under a separate grant from NASA Lewis in the past. Under the current grant, this solver has been modified to calculate the aeroelastic characteristics of unducted and ducted rotors. Even though, the aeroelastic solver based on three-dimensional Euler equations is computationally efficient, it is still very expensive to investigate the effects of multiple stages on the aeroelastic characteristics. In order to investigate the effects of multiple stages, a two-dimensional multi stage aeroelastic solver was also developed under this task, in collaboration with Dr. T. S. R. Reddy of the University of Toledo. Both of these solvers were applied to several test cases and validated against experimental data, where available.

Keith, Theo G., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Radiation Transport and Shielding for Space Exploration and High Speed Flight Transportation

Transportation of ions and neutrons in matter is of direct interest in several technologically important and scientific areas, including space radiation, cosmic ray propagation studies in galactic medium, nuclear power plants and radiological effects that impact industrial and public health. For the proper assessment of radiation exposure, both reliable transport codes and accurate data are needed. Nuclear cross section data is one of the essential inputs into the transport codes. In order to obtain an accurate parametrization of cross section data, theoretical input is indispensable especially for processes where there is little or no experimental data available. In this grant period work has been done on the studies of the use of relativistic equations and their one-body limits. The results will be useful in choosing appropriate effective one-body equation for reaction calculations. Work has also been done to improve upon the data base needed for the transport codes used in the studies of radiation transport and shielding for space exploration and high speed flight transportation. A phenomenological model was developed for the total absorption cross sections valid for any system of charged and/or uncharged collision pairs for the entire energy range. The success of the model is gratifying. It is being used by other federal agencies, national labs and universities. A list of publications based on the work during the grant period is given below and copies are enclosed with this report.

Maung, Khin Maung↗
NASA NTRS1997

Local and Global Studies of Ion Outflow From the High Latitude Ionosphere

Ion outflow from the ionosphere plays a fundamental but poorly defined role in magnetospheric processes. The purpose of the research is to better understand the mass coupling between the Earth's ionosphere and Magnetosphere. The work performed under this grant falls in three areas: (1) event studies using archived data from the DE-1/2 satellites; (2) investigations using Data from the ISTP satellites; and (3) work supporting a Space Physics Educational Outreach (SPEO) grant supplement.

Petersen, W. K.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Application of Global Positioning Measurements to Continental Collision in the Pamir-Tien Shan Region, Central Asia and GPS Survey of the Western Tien Shan

In this report, we summarize what we have accomplished with five years of funding from NASA under its DOSE program, and with a comparable level of funding from NSF. We describe the development of a GPS network in the Tien Shan of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan of the former Soviet Union, the analysis of data, and the main results. This discussion presents the state of the current network, which has grown significantly since the termination of our DOSE grants, with continued support both from NSF through its continental dynamics program and from NASA's SENH program. Although grants from NASA's DOSE program did not support this growth not directly, it did so indirectly by building the infrastructure that has enabled further expansion in an area where otherwise there would be only a small GPS presence. We note how the network has grown over time, but the emphasis of this discussion is on the quantity and quality of measurements that we have made.

Hamburger, Michael W.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Poling of Microwave Electro-Optic Devices

The desire to transmit high frequency, microwave RF signals over fiber optic cables has necessitated the need for electro-optic modulation devices. However, in order to reap these potential benefits, it is necessary to develop the devices and their associated fabrication processes, particularly those processes associated with the poling of the devices. To this end, we entered into a cooperative research agreement with Richard Kunath of NASA LeRC. A graduate student in my group, Tony Kowalczyk, worked closely with the group at NASA to develop processes for construction of a microwave frequency electro-optic modulator. Materials were commercially obtained from Amoco Chemical and in collaboration with Lockheed-Martin. The photolithography processes were developed at NASA LeRC and the electric-field poling process was carried out in our laboratory at CWRU. During the grant period, the poling process conditions were investigated for these multilayer devices. Samples were poled and the resulting nonlinear optical properties were evaluated in our laboratory. Following the grant period, Kowalczyk went to NASA under a NRC fellowship, and I continued to collaborate as a consultant. Publications listed at the end of this report came out of this work. Another manuscript is in preparation and will be submitted shortly.

Singer, Kenneth D.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Remote Sensing of Surficial Process Responses to Extreme Meteorological Events

Changes in the frequency and magnitude of extreme meteorological events are associated with changing environmental means. Such events are important in human affairs, and can also be investigated by orbital remote sensing. During the course of this project, we applied ERS-1, ERS-2, Radarsat, and an airborne sensor (AIRSAR-TOPSAR) to measure flood extents, flood water surface profiles, and flood depths. We established a World Wide Web site (the Dartmouth Flood Observatory) for publishing remote sensing-based maps of contemporary floods worldwide; this is also an online "active archive" that presently constitutes the only global compilation of extreme flood events. We prepared an article for EOS concerning SAR imaging of the Mississippi Valley flood; an article for the International Journal of Remote Sensing on measurement of a river flood wave using ERS-2, began work on an article (since completed and published) on the Flood Observatory for a Geoscience Information Society Proceedings volume, and presented lectures at several Geol. Soc. of America Natl. Meetings, an Assoc. of Amer. Geographers Natl. Meeting, and a Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium (all on SAR remote sensing of the Mississippi Valley flood). We expanded in-house modeling capabilities by installing the latest version of the Army Corps of Engineers RMA two-dimensional hydraulics software and BYU Engineering Graphics Lab's Surface Water Modeling System (finite elements based pre- and post-processors for RMA work) and also added watershed modeling software. We are presently comparing the results of the 2-d flow models with SAR image data. The grant also supported several important upgrades of pc-based remote sensing infrastructure at Dartmouth. During work on this grant, we collaborated with several workers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Remote Sensing/GIS laboratory (for flood inundation mapping and modeling; particularly of the Illinois River using the AIRSAR/TOPSAR/ERS-2 combined data), with Dr. Karen Prestegaard at the University of Maryland (geomorphological responses to the extreme 1993 flood along the Raccoon drainage in central Iowa), and with Mr Tim Scrom of the Albany National Weather Service River Forecast Center (initial planning for the use of Radarsat and ERS-2 for flood warning). The work thus initiated with this proposal is continuing.

Brakenridge, G. Robert↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Deep Imaging Survey of NGC 6475 and a Deep Survey of the Young Open Cluster Alpha Persei

We have published three papers directly related to the x-ray data (see below), and one other paper directly related to the optical photometry obtained in connection to the ROSAT data analysis (also listed below). In addition, we have used the x-ray data in combination with the optical photometry and with high resolution optical spectra that we have obtained (to derive spectroscopic rotational velocities) to address questions related to the dependence of coronal activity on the rotation rate, mass, and other characteristics of the target stars. The overall goal of our ROSAT projects has been to determine the time evolution of coronal activity in low mass stars, and from that behavior place constraints on the physical processes involved in generating coronal activity. NGC 6475 and Alpha Persei are important parts of that process. We are now beginning to address how these data constrain theoretical models of angular momentum evolution and dynamo magnetic field generation (see paper by Stauffer et al. and Krishnamurthi et al. listed below in the "related papers" section). We are still working on two papers pertaining to this grant (rotational velocities and chromospheric activity of Alpha Persei x-ray sources and rotational velocities and lithium abundances of NGC 6475 sources), but we will publish those papers using funds from other grants.

Stauffer, John R.↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Study of Time Dependent Response of Ceramic Materials

The research accomplishments under this grant were very extensive in the areas of the development of computer software for the design of ceramic materials. Rather than try to summarize all this research I have enclosed research papers and reports which were completed with the funding provided by the grant. These papers and reports are listed below. Additionally a large amount of technology transfer occurred in this project and a significant number of national awards were received.

Hemann, John↗
NASA NTRS1996

[Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in protostellar jets]

NASA grant NAG 5 2866, funded by the Astrophysics Theory Program, enabled the study the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in protostellar jets. In collaboration with co-investigator Philip Hardee, the PI derived the analytic dispersion relation for the instability in including a cooling term in the energy equation which was modeled as one of two different power laws. Numerical solutions to this dispersion relation over a wide range of perturbation frequencies, and for a variety of parameter values characterizing the jet (such as Mach number, and density ratio) were found It was found that the growth rates and wavelengths associated with unstable roots of the dispersion relation in cooling jets are significantly different than those associated with adiabatic jets, which have been studied previously. In collaboration with graduate student Jianjun Xu (funded as a research associate under this grant), hydrodynamical simulations were used to follow the growth of the instability into the nonlinear regime. It was found that asymmetric surface waves lead to large amplitude, sinusoidal distortions of the jet, and ultimately to disruption Asymmetric body waves, on the other hand, result in the formation of shocks in the jet beam in the nonlinear regime. In cooling jets, these shocks lead to the formation of dense knots and filaments of gas within the jet. For sufficiently high perturbation frequencies, however, the jet cannot respond and it remains symmetric. Applying these results to observed systems, such as the Herbig-Haro jets HH34, HH111 and HH47 which have been observed with the Hubble Space Telescope, we predicted that some of the asymmetric structures observed in these systems could be attributed to the K-H modes, but that perturbations on timescales associated with the inner disk (about 1 year) would be too rapid to cause disruption. Moreover, it was discovered that weak shock 'spurs' in the ambient gas produced by ripples in the jet surface due to nonlinear, modes of surface and/or body waves could accelerate the ambient gas to low velocity. This latter effect represents a new mechanism by which supersonic jets can accelerate low velocity outflows.

Stone, James↗
NASA NTRS1997

Space-Borne Infrared Astronomy

The objective of this grant is to develop the Far IR Photometer (FIRP), one of four focal plane instruments on the IR Telescope in Space (IRTS). The IRTS was successfully launched in March 18, 1995 aboard the Japanese SFU platform. It surveyed the IR sky for approximately 40 days, and was eventually retrieved by NASA's STS. The FIRP succeeded in surveying approximately 5% of the sky in four bands centered at 150, 250, 400 and 700 microns. Several new technologies were developed using the funds from this grant, including: (1) a high performance gas-gap heat-switch, (2) a He-3 sorption refrigerator that is, to date, the only refrigerator to achieve sub-Kelvin temperatures in orbit, (3) high-sensitivity bolometric detectors with NEP less than 10-16 W(Hz(exp l/2)exp 1/2) when operated from a 300 mK heat sink, (4) readout electronics capable of providing DC stability for the bolometric detectors. Excess noise of unknown origin significantly reduced the sensitivity of the FIRP on orbit. Nevertheless, scientifically significant observations of the spectrum and temperature of the interstellar dust were made, and have been reported.

Lange, Andrew E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Systematic Study of Explosions in Core Collapse Supernovae

This report covers the research conducted from September 1996 to August 1997 (eighteen months into the three year grant). We have obtained a number of significant findings based on the on the work that we have conducted under this grant during the past year. As we stated in our original proposal the work has focused on multi-dimensional models of the convective epoch in core collapse supernovae. During the past year we have developed a large number of models of the convective epoch in 2-D under two levels of neutrino transport approximation and we are currently working on 3-D models. In the following pages will endeavor to give brief descriptions of our results.

Swesty, F. Douglas↗
NASA NTRS1997

Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of Disordered Bladed-Disk Assemblies

In a effort to address current needs for efficient, air propulsion systems, we have developed some new analytical predictive tools for understanding and alleviating aircraft engine instabilities which have led to accelerated high cycle fatigue and catastrophic failures of these machines during flight. A frequent cause of failure in Jets engines is excessive resonant vibrations and stall flutter instabilities. The likelihood of these phenomena is reduced when designers employ the analytical models we have developed. These prediction models will ultimately increase the nation's competitiveness in producing high performance Jets engines with enhanced operability, energy economy, and safety. The objectives of our current threads of research in the final year are directed along two lines. First, we want to improve the current state of blade stress and aeromechanical reduced-ordered modeling of high bypass engine fans, Specifically, a new reduced-order iterative redesign tool for passively controlling the mechanical authority of shroudless, wide chord, laminated composite transonic bypass engine fans has been developed. Second, we aim to advance current understanding of aeromechanical feedback control of dynamic flow instabilities in axial flow compressors. A systematic theoretical evaluation of several approaches to aeromechanical feedback control of rotating stall in axial compressors has been conducted. Attached are abstracts of two .papers under preparation for the 1998 ASME Turbo Expo in Stockholm, Sweden sponsored under Grant No. NAG3-1571. Our goals during the final year under Grant No. NAG3-1571 is to enhance NASA's capabilities of forced response of turbomachines (such as NASA FREPS). We with continue our development of the reduced-ordered, three-dimensional component synthesis models for aeromechanical evaluation of integrated bladeddisk assemblies (i.e., the disk, non-identical bladeing etc.). We will complete our development of component systems design optimization strategies for specified vibratory stresses and increased fatigue life prediction of assembly components, and for specified frequency margins on the Campbell diagrams of turbomachines. Finally, we will integrate the developed codes with NASA's turbomachinery aeromechanics prediction capability (such as NASA FREPS).

McGee, Oliver G., III↗
NASA NTRS1996

High Temperature Mechanical Behavior of Ceramic Matrix Composites

The research accomplishments under this grant were very extensive in the areas of the high temperature behavior of ceramics, ceramic composites and testing standards for these materials. Rather than try to summarize all this research I have enclosed research papers and reports which were completed with the funding provided by the grant.

Hemann, John↗
NASA NTRS1997

Alt-Az Spacewatch Telescope

This grant funded about one third of the cost of the construction of a telescope with an aperture 1.8 meters in diameter to discover asteroids and comets and investigate the statistics of their populations and orbital distributions. This telescope has been built to the PI's specifications and installed in a dome on Kitt Peak mountain in Arizona. Funds for the dome and building were provided entirely by private sources. The dome building and telescope were dedicated in a ceremony at the site on June 7, 1997. The attached abstract describes the parameters of the telescope. The telescope is a new item of capital property. It is permanently located in University of Arizona building number 910 in the Steward Observatory compound on Kitt Peak mountain in the Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona. fts property tag number is A252107. This grant did not include funds for the coma corrector lens, instrument derotator, CCD detector, detector electronics, or computers to acquire or process the data. It also did not include funds to operate the telescope or conduct research with it. Funds for these items and efforts are pending from NASA and other sources.

Gehrels, Tom↗
NASA NTRS1997

Planetary Habitability

This grant was entitled 'Planetary Habitability' and the work performed under it related to elucidating the conditions that lead to habitable, i.e. Earth-like, planets. Below are listed publications for the past two and a half years that came out of this work. The main thrusts of the research involved: (1) showing under what conditions atmospheric O2 and O3 can be considered as evidence for life on a planet's surface; (2) determining whether CH4 may have played a role in warming early Mars; (3) studying the effect of varying UV levels on Earth-like planets around different types of stars to see whether this would pose a threat to habitability; and (4) studying the effect of chaotic obliquity variations on planetary climates and determining whether planets that experienced such variations might still be habitable. Several of these topics involve ongoing research that has been carried out under a new grant number, but which continues to be funded by NASA's Exobiology program.

Kasting, James F.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Design Protocols and Analytical Strategies that Incorporate Structural Reliability Models

Ceramic matrix composites (CMC) and intermetallic materials (e.g., single crystal nickel aluminide) are high performance materials that exhibit attractive mechanical, thermal and chemical properties. These materials are critically important in advancing certain performance aspects of gas turbine engines. From an aerospace engineer's perspective the new generation of ceramic composites and intermetallics offers a significant potential for raising the thrust/weight ratio and reducing NO(x) emissions of gas turbine engines. These aspects have increased interest in utilizing these materials in the hot sections of turbine engines. However, as these materials evolve and their performance characteristics improve a persistent need exists for state-of-the-art analytical methods that predict the response of components fabricated from CMC and intermetallic material systems. This need provided the motivation for the technology developed under this research effort. Continuous ceramic fiber composites exhibit an increase in work of fracture, which allows for "graceful" rather than catastrophic failure. When loaded in the fiber direction, these composites retain substantial strength capacity beyond the initiation of transverse matrix cracking despite the fact that neither of its constituents would exhibit such behavior if tested alone. As additional load is applied beyond first matrix cracking, the matrix tends to break in a series of cracks bridged by the ceramic fibers. Any additional load is born increasingly by the fibers until the ultimate strength of the composite is reached. Thus modeling efforts supported under this research effort have focused on predicting this sort of behavior. For single crystal intermetallics the issues that motivated the technology development involved questions relating to material behavior and component design. Thus the research effort supported by this grant had to determine the statistical nature and source of fracture in a high strength, NiAl single crystal turbine blade material; map a simplistic failure strength envelope of the material; develop a statistically based reliability computer algorithm, verify the reliability model and computer algorithm, and model stator vanes for rig tests. Thus establishing design protocols that enable the engineer to analyze and predict the mechanical behavior of ceramic composites and intermetallics would mitigate the prototype (trial and error) approach currently used by the engineering community. The primary objective of the research effort supported by this short term grant is the continued creation of enabling technologies for the macroanalysis of components fabricated from ceramic composites and intermetallic material systems. The creation of enabling technologies aids in shortening the product development cycle of components fabricated from the new high technology materials.

Duffy, Stephen F.↗
NASA NTRS1998

A Long-Term Space Astrophysics Research Program. The Evolution of the Quasar Continuum

The grant "The Evolution of the Quasar Continuum" resulted in over 53 published referred papers and conference proceedings. The more significant of these papers are listed below, and abstracts are attached. The papers address a wide range of issues involving the evolution of quasars, their electromagnetic emissions, and their environment, from nearby low luminosity Seyfert galaxies to quasars at the highest redshifts. Primarily observational in content the work nonetheless included theoretical studies of quasar accretion disks that attempt to explain the observed time variability of quasars, and the overall 'demographics' of the quasar population. The work carried out under this grant has laid a strong foundation for ongoing and future research with AXAF, HST and other new facilities.

Elvis, M.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Continued Development and Application of Circulation Control Pneumatic Technology to Advanced Transport Aircraft

Personnel of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) Aerospace and Transportation Lab have completed a four-year grant program to develop and evaluate the pneumatic aerodynamic technology known as Circulation Control (CC) or Circulation Control Wing (CCW) for advanced transport aircraft. This pneumatic technology, which employs low-level blowing from tangential slots over round or near-round trailing edges of airfoils, greatly augments the circulation around a lifting or control surface and thus enhances the aerodynamic forces and moments generated by that surface. Two-dimensional force augmentations as high as 80 times the input blowing momentum coefficient have been recorded experimentally for these blown devices, thus providing returns of 8000% on the jet momentum expended. A further benefit is the absence of moving parts such as mechanical flaps, slats, spoilers, ailerons, elevators and rudders from these pneumatic surfaces, or the use of only very small, simple, blown aerodynamic surfaces on synergistic designs which integrate the lift, drag and control surfaces. The application of these devices to advanced aircraft can offer significant benefits in their performance, efficiency, simplicity, reliability, economic cost of operation, noise reduction, and safety of flight. To further develop and evaluate this potential, this research effort was conducted by GTRI under grant for the NASA Langley Research Center, Applied Aerodynamics Division, Subsonic Aerodynamics Branch, between June 14, 1993 and May 31, 1997.

Englar, Robert J.↗