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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 631 records · Page 35
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NASA NTRS1988

Fully-coupled analysis of jet mixing problems. Three-dimensional PNS model, SCIP3D

Numerical procedures formulated for the analysis of 3D jet mixing problems, as incorporated in the computer model, SCIP3D, are described. The overall methodology closely parallels that developed in the earlier 2D axisymmetric jet mixing model, SCIPVIS. SCIP3D integrates the 3D parabolized Navier-Stokes (PNS) jet mixing equations, cast in mapped cartesian or cylindrical coordinates, employing the explicit MacCormack Algorithm. A pressure split variant of this algorithm is employed in subsonic regions with a sublayer approximation utilized for treating the streamwise pressure component. SCIP3D contains both the ks and kW turbulence models, and employs a two component mixture approach to treat jet exhausts of arbitrary composition. Specialized grid procedures are used to adjust the grid growth in accordance with the growth of the jet, including a hybrid cartesian/cylindrical grid procedure for rectangular jets which moves the hybrid coordinate origin towards the flow origin as the jet transitions from a rectangular to circular shape. Numerous calculations are presented for rectangular mixing problems, as well as for a variety of basic unit problems exhibiting overall capabilities of SCIP3D.

Wolf, D. E.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Sizing and Optimization Language, (SOL): Computer language for design problems

The Sizing and Optimization Language, (SOL), a new high level, special purpose computer language was developed to expedite application of numerical optimization to design problems and to make the process less error prone. SOL utilizes the ADS optimization software and provides a clear, concise syntax for describing an optimization problem, the OPTIMIZE description, which closely parallels the mathematical description of the problem. SOL offers language statements which can be used to model a design mathematically, with subroutines or code logic, and with existing FORTRAN routines. In addition, SOL provides error checking and clear output of the optimization results. Because of these language features, SOL is best suited to model and optimize a design concept when the model consits of mathematical expressions written in SOL. For such cases, SOL's unique syntax and error checking can be fully utilized. SOL is presently available for DEC VAX/VMS systems. A SOL package is available which includes the SOL compiler, runtime library routines, and a SOL reference manual.

Lucas, Stephen H.↗
NASA NTRS1988

AI tools in computer based problem solving

The use of computers to solve value oriented, deterministic, algorithmic problems, has evolved a structured life cycle model of the software process. The symbolic processing techniques used, primarily in research, for solving nondeterministic problems, and those for which an algorithmic solution is unknown, have evolved a different model, much less structured. Traditionally, the two approaches have been used completely independently. With the advent of low cost, high performance 32 bit workstations executing identical software with large minicomputers and mainframes, it became possible to begin to merge both models into a single extended model of computer problem solving. The implementation of such an extended model on a VAX family of micro/mini/mainframe systems is described. Examples in both development and deployment of applications involving a blending of AI and traditional techniques are given.

Beane, Arthur J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Stability of semidiscrete approximations for hyperbolic initial-boundary-value problems: Stationary modes

Spatially discrete difference approximations for hyperbolic initial-boundary-value problems (IBVPs) require numerical boundary conditions in addition to the analytical boundary conditions specified for the differential equations. Improper treatment of a numerical boundary condition can cause instability of the discrete IBVP even though the approximation is stable for the pure initial-value or Cauchy problem. In the discrete IBVP stability literature there exists a small class of discrete approximations called borderline cases. For nondissipative approximations, borderline cases are unstable according to the theory of the Gustafsson, Kreiss, and Sundstrom (GKS) but they may be Lax-Richtmyer stable or unstable in the L sub 2 norm on a finite domain. It is shown that borderline approximation can be characterized by the presence of a stationary mode for the finite-domain problem. A stationary mode has the property that it does not decay with time and a nontrivial stationary mode leads to algebraic growth of the solution norm with mesh refinement. An analytical condition is given which makes it easy to detect a stationary mode; several examples of numerical boundary conditions are investigated corresponding to borderline cases.

Warming, Robert F.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Steady and transient least square solvers for thermal problems

This paper develops a hierarchical least square solution algorithm for highly nonlinear heat transfer problems. The methodology's capability is such that both steady and transient implicit formulations can be handled. This includes problems arising from highly nonlinear heat transfer systems modeled by either finite-element or finite-difference schemes. The overall procedure developed enables localized updating, iteration, and convergence checking as well as constraint application. The localized updating can be performed at a variety of hierarchical levels, i.e., degree of freedom, substructural, material-nonlinear groups, and/or boundary groups. The choice of such partitions can be made via energy partitioning or nonlinearity levels as well as by user selection. Overall, this leads to extremely robust computational characteristics. To demonstrate the methodology, problems are drawn from nonlinear heat conduction. These are used to quantify the robust capabilities of the hierarchical least square scheme.

Padovan, Joe↗
NASA NTRS1988

On the application of pseudo-spectral FFT technique to non-periodic problems

The reduction-to-periodicity method using the pseudo-spectral Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique is applied to the solution of nonperiodic problems including the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by calculating derivatives of given functions, one- and two-dimensional convective-diffusive problems, and by comparing the relative errors due to the FFT method with seocnd order Finite Difference Methods (FDM). Finally, the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations are solved by a fractional step procedure using both the FFT and the FDM methods for the driven cavity flow and the backward facing step problems. Comparisons of these solutions provide a realistic assessment of the FFT method indicating its range of applicability.

Biringen, S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Time-dependent approximation schemes for some problems of parameter estimation in distributed systems

A parameter estimation method that can be used to estimate functional parameters in delay differential equations and moving boundary problems is discussed. In either problem, the original model equation (which is infinite-dimensional) is approximated by a system of ordinary differential equations that can be solved numerically in an efficient way. The approximation scheme is based on time-dependent spline elements. For the delay equation with time-varying delay, convergence results are presented that indicate the estimates obtained using the approximating system. Numerical test examples converge in some sense to a best-fit parameter for the original system are included by means of which time-varying and state-dependent delays and a time-varying diffusion coefficient in a one-phase, one-dimensional Stefan problem are estimated.

Murphy, K. A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Thermo-elasto-viscoplastic analysis of problems in extension and shear

The problems of extension and shear behavior of structural elements made of carbon steel and subjected to large thermomechanical loads are investigated. The analysis is based on nonlinear geometric and constitutive relations, and is expressed in a rate form. The material constitutive equations are capable of reproducing all nonisothermal, elasto-viscoplastic characteristics. The results of the test problems show that: (1) the formulation can accommodate very large strains and rotations; (2) the model incorporates the simplification associated with rate-insensitive elastic response without losing the ability to model a rate-temperature dependent yield strength and plasticity; and (3) the formulation does not display oscillatory behavior in the stresses for the simple shear problem.

Riff, R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Fault-tolerance of a neural network solving the traveling salesman problem

This study presents the results of a fault-injection experiment that stimulates a neural network solving the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). The network is based on a modified version of Hopfield's and Tank's original method. We define a performance characteristic for the TSP that allows an overall assessment of the solution quality for different city-distributions and problem sizes. Five different 10-, 20-, and 30- city cases are sued for the injection of up to 13 simultaneous stuck-at-0 and stuck-at-1 faults. The results of more than 4000 simulation-runs show the extreme fault-tolerance of the network, especially with respect to stuck-at-0 faults. One possible explanation for the overall surprising result is the redundancy of the problem representation.

Protzel, P.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Crustal growth: Some major problems

Fundamental problems with models currently used to explain the genesis and evolution of continental crust were raised. These problems focus around the difficulty of generating the upper continental crust from a lower crustal or mantle protolith without leaving a very large, and so far undetected, volume of restite. No conclusive resolution to the problems was achieved.

Arculus, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Least-squares finite elements for Stokes problem

A least-squares method based on the first-order velocity-pressure-vorticity formulation for the Stokes problem is proposed. This method leads to a minimization problem rather than to a saddle-point problem. The choice of the combinations of elements is thus not subject to the Ladyzhenskaya-Babuska-Brezzi (LBB) condition. Numerical results are given for the optimal rate of convergence for equal-order interpolations.

Jiang, Bo-Nan↗
NASA NTRS1988

The crack problem in bonded nonhomogeneous materials

The plane elasticity problem for two bonded half planes containing a crack perpendicular to the interface was considered. The effect of very steep variations in the material properties near the diffusion plane on the singular behavior of the stresses and stress intensity factors were studied. The two materials were thus, assumed to have the shear moduli mu(o) and mu(o) exp (Beta x), x=0 being the diffusion plane. Of particular interest was the examination of the nature of stress singularity near a crack tip terminating at the interface where the shear modulus has a discontinuous derivative. The results show that, unlike the crack problem in piecewise homogeneous materials for which the singularity is of the form r/alpha, 0 less than alpha less than 1, in this problem the stresses have a standard square-root singularity regardless of the location of the crack tip. The nonhomogeneity constant Beta has, however, considerable influence on the stress intensity factors.

Erdogan, Fazil↗
NASA NTRS1988

Efficient parallel algorithms for string editing and related problems

The string editing problem for input strings x and y consists of transforming x into y by performing a series of weighted edit operations on x of overall minimum cost. An edit operation on x can be the deletion of a symbol from x, the insertion of a symbol in x or the substitution of a symbol x with another symbol. This problem has a well known O((absolute value of x)(absolute value of y)) time sequential solution (25). The efficient Program Requirements Analysis Methods (PRAM) parallel algorithms for the string editing problem are given. If m = ((absolute value of x),(absolute value of y)) and n = max((absolute value of x),(absolute value of y)), then the CREW bound is O (log m log n) time with O (mn/log m) processors. In all algorithms, space is O (mn).

Apostolico, Alberto↗
NASA NTRS1988

Line spring model and its applications to part-through crack problems in plates and shells

The line spring model is described and extended to cover the problem of interaction of multiple internal and surface cracks in plates and shells. The shape functions for various related crack geometries obtained from the plane strain solution and the results of some multiple crack problems are presented. The problems considered include coplanar surface cracks on the same or opposite sides of a plate, nonsymmetrically located coplanar internal elliptic cracks, and in a very limited way the surface and corner cracks in a plate of finite width and a surface crack in a cylindrical shell with fixed end.

Erdogan, Fazil↗
NASA NTRS1988

Higher order sensitivity of solutions to convex programming problems without strict complementarity

Consideration is given to a family of convex programming problems which depend on a vector parameter. It is shown that the solutions of the problems and the associated Lagrange multipliers are arbitrarily many times directionally differentiable functions of the parameter, provided that the data of the problems are sufficiently regular. The characterizations of the respective derivatives are given.

Malanowski, Kazimierz↗
NASA NTRS1988

Surface and through crack problems in orthotropic plates

The present treatment of the general mode I crack problem in bending- and membrane-loaded orthotropic plates proceeds by formulating the bending problem for a series of planar and through-cracks; by independently varying the six independent constants, the effect of material orthotropy on the stress intensity factor is determined. The surface-crack problem is then formulated by means of the line-spring model, using a transverse-shear theory of plate bending. Attention is given to composite laminates with through-cracks or semielliptic surface cracks. A significant effect is noted for material orthotropy.

Erdogan, F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A finite element solution algorithm for nonlinear thermal problems with severe gradients

An implicit enthalpy - flux component finite element algorithm is presented for nonlinear thermal problems with severe gradients. The algorithm is formulated to permit efficient solution of nonlinear heat transfer problems for unstructured meshes with a large range of element sizes. Two transient conduction examples illustrate the effectiveness of the approach for problems with high temperatures and steep gradients.

Thornton, Earl A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Stability of semi-discrete approximations for hyperbolic initial-boundary-value problems. II - Asymptotic estimates

The stability of semi-discrete approximations for hyperbolic initial-boundary-value problems is considered. Asymptotic estimates of the eigenvalues of the finite-domain problem are given. These estimates are used to examine questions relating the normal mode analysis of the finite-domain problem and the normal mode quarter-plane analysis of the Gustafsson, Kreiss, and Sundstroem theory.

Warming, Robert F.↗