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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 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

Second derivatives of the flutter velocity and the optimization of aircraft structures.

Equations for the second partial derivatives of the eigenvalues of the flutter equation along with the equations for finding the second partial derivatives of the flutter velocity of an aircraft structure with respect to the structural parameters are derived. These partial derivatives are used to develop expressions for the step size in a projected gradient search along a constant mass hyperlane. A projected gradient search along with a gradient mass and a gradient velocity search is used to minimize the mass of a box beam which supports a lifting surface.

Rudisill, C. S.↗
NASA NTRS1975

High efficiency graded band-gap Al/x/Ga/1-x/As-GaAs p-on-n solar cell

A theoretical analysis of p-on-n (p/n) graded band-gap Al/x/Ga/1-x/As-GaAs solar cells including all practical energy loss mechanisms predicts air mass zero efficiencies of 17.3%. The energy losses include those due to spectral reflection, surface, bulk and junction recombination currents, and series resistance. The device consists of a layer of p-type Al/x/Ga/1-x/As 3.5-micron thick on top of an n-type GaAs substrate. The graded band-gap is achieved by decreasing x from 0.35 at the surface to zero at the junction. The same structure without the graded Al concentration, no longer an optimum device, has an efficiency of 10.4%. The primary function of the graded band-gap material is the reduction of surface and bulk recombination losses in the surface layer by a built-in electric field. A comparison of the p/n structure with an optimized n/p structure indicates that the latter has a slightly higher efficiency (17.7%) for assumed minority carrier diffusion lengths and surface recombination velocity.

Hutchby, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Optimization of space structures

Computational methods for the design of structures for specified transient response, truss beam units with specified attached vibration absorbers, and laminates for structural components of large space structures are examined. Equations for the measurement of structural stiffness that are maximized for a specific total mass and that will reduce the structural weight are presented. A model for a cantilevered space truss beam of a specific mass and with a specified tip vibration absorber is explained. Design criteria of the laminates include minimizing the weight as well as frequency, buckling, and global stiffness constraints. Other variables include orientation of the lamina and the thickness of each layer.

Reiss, R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Optimization of the structural and control system for LSS with reduced-order model

The objective is the simultaneous design of the structural and control system for space structures. The minimum weight of the structure is the objective function, and the constraints are placed on the closed loop distribution of the frequencies and the damping parameters. The controls approach used is linear quadratic regulator with constant feedback. A reduced-order control system is used. The effect of uncontrolled modes is taken into consideration by the model error sensitivity suppression (MESS) technique which modified the weighting parameters for the control forces. For illustration, an ACOSS-FOUR structure is designed for a different number of controlled modes with specified values for the closed loop damping parameters and frequencies. The dynamic response of the optimum designs for an initial disturbance is compared.

Khot, N. S.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Making Activated Carbon for Storing Gas

Solid disks of microporous activated carbon, produced by a method that enables optimization of pore structure, have been investigated as means of storing gas (especially hydrogen for use as a fuel) at relatively low pressure through adsorption on pore surfaces. For hydrogen and other gases of practical interest, a narrow distribution of pore sizes <2 nm is preferable. The present method is a variant of a previously patented method of cyclic chemisorption and desorption in which a piece of carbon is alternately (1) heated to the lower of two elevated temperatures in air or other oxidizing gas, causing the formation of stable carbon/oxygen surface complexes; then (2) heated to the higher of the two elevated temperatures in flowing helium or other inert gas, causing the desorption of the surface complexes in the form of carbon monoxide. In the present method, pore structure is optimized partly by heating to a temperature of 1,100 C during carbonization. Another aspect of the method exploits the finding that for each gas-storage pressure, gas-storage capacity can be maximized by burning off a specific proportion (typically between 10 and 20 weight percent) of the carbon during the cyclic chemisorption/desorption process.

Wojtowicz, Marek A.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Weight optimization of ultra large space structures

The paper describes the optimization of a solar power satellite structure for minimum mass and system cost. The solar power satellite is an ultra large low frequency and lightly damped space structure; derivation of its structural design requirements required accommodation of gravity gradient torques which impose primary loads, life up to 100 years in the rigorous geosynchronous orbit radiation environment, and prevention of continuous wave motion in a solar array blanket suspended from a huge, lightly damped structure subject to periodic excitations. The satellite structural design required a parametric study of structural configurations and consideration of the fabrication and assembly techniques, which resulted in a final structure which met all requirements at a structural mass fraction of 10%.

Reinert, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Computer implementation of analysis and optimization procedures for control-structure interaction problems

Implementation aspects of control-structure interaction analysis and optimization by the staggered use of single-discipline analysis modules are discussed. The single-discipline modules include structural analysis, controller synthesis and optimization. The software modularity is maintained by employing a partitioned control-structure interaction analysis procedure, thus avoiding the need for embedding the single-discipline modules into a monolithic program. A software testbed has been constructed as a stand-alone analysis and optimization program and tested for its versatility and software modularity by applying it to the dynamic analysis and preliminary design of a prototype Earth Pointing Satellite. Experience with the in-core testbed program so far demonstrates that the testbed is efficient, preserves software modularity, and enables the analyst to choose a different set of algorithms, control strategies and design parameters via user software interfaces. Thus, the present software architecture is recommended for adoption by control-structure interaction analysts as a preliminary analysis and design tool.

Belvin, W. Keith↗
NASA NTRS1993

Optimization for efficient structure-control systems

The efficiency of a structure-control system is a nondimensional parameter which indicates the fraction of the total control power expended usefully in controlling a finite-dimensional system. The balance of control power is wasted on the truncated dynamics serving no useful purpose towards the control objectives. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the concept of efficiency can be used to address a number of control issues encountered in the control of dynamic systems such as the spillover effects, selection of a good input configuration and obtaining reduced order control models. Reference (1) introduced the concept and presented analyses of several Linear Quadratic Regulator designs on the basis of their efficiencies. Encouraged by the results of Ref. (1), Ref. (2) introduces an efficiency modal analysis of a structure-control system which gives an internal characterization of the controller design and establishes the link between the control design and the initial disturbances to affect efficient structure-control system designs. The efficiency modal analysis leads to identification of principal controller directions (or controller modes) distinct from the structural natural modes. Thus ultimately, many issues of the structure-control system revolve around the idea of insuring compatibility of the structural modes and the controller modes with each other, the better the match the higher the efficiency. A key feature in controlling a reduced order model of a high dimensional (or infinity-dimensional distributed parameter system) structural dynamic system must be to achieve high efficiency of the control system while satisfying the control objectives and/or constraints. Formally, this can be achieved by designing the control system and structural parameters simultaneously within an optimization framework. The subject of this paper is to present such a design procedure.

Oz, Hayrani↗
NASA NTRS1991

Multidisciplinary optimization of controlled space structures with global sensitivity equations

A new method for the preliminary design of controlled space structures is presented. The method coordinates standard finite element structural analysis, multivariable controls, and nonlinear programming codes and allows simultaneous optimization of the structures and control systems of a spacecraft. Global sensitivity equations are a key feature of this method. The preliminary design of a generic geostationary platform is used to demonstrate the multidisciplinary optimization method. Fifteen design variables are used to optimize truss member sizes and feedback gain values. The goal is to reduce the total mass of the structure and the vibration control system while satisfying constraints on vibration decay rate. Incorporating the nonnegligible mass of actuators causes an essential coupling between structural design variables and control design variables. The solution of the demonstration problem is an important step toward a comprehensive preliminary design capability for structures and control systems. Use of global sensitivity equations helps solve optimization problems that have a large number of design variables and a high degree of coupling between disciplines.

Padula, Sharon L.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Efficient optimization of integrated aerodynamic-structural design

The introduction of composite materials is having a profound effect on the design process. Because these materials permit the designer to tailor material properties to improve structural, aerodynamic and acoustic performance, they require a more integrated multidisciplinary design process. Because of the complexity of the design process numerical optimization methods are required. The present paper is focused on a major difficulty associated with the multidisciplinary design optimization process - its enormous computational cost. We consider two approaches for reducing this computational burden: (1) development of efficient methods for cross-sensitivity calculation using perturbation methods; and (2) the use of approximate numerical optimization procedures. Our efforts are concentrated upon combined aerodynamic-structural optimization. Results are presented for the integrated design of a sailplane wing. The impact of our computational procedures on the computational costs of integrated costs of integrated designs are discussed.

Haftka, R. T.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Application of a Rapid Design Tool to a 3D Woven Structural Joint

The optimization of composite structural joints is an iterative process and a multiscale problem. High fidelity finite element modeling of joints with 3D woven and laminated materials can become computationally expensive. The aim of this paper is to establish a reliable analysis process for the optimization of a composite Y-joint (curved Pi-joint), to be used in an aircraft fuselage, using commercial rapid joint design, analysis, and optimization software. The rapid joint design tool was investigated as a substitute and/or complement to a finite element analysis software. A composite Pi-joint and a composite Y-joint were evaluated using the rapid joint design tool to determine the applicability and limits of the software. Furthermore, three main preliminary parametric studies were performed to better understand the capability of the tool in predicting the stress distributions and trends in the Y-joint. The parameters investigated were the joint curvature, the laminated skin thickness, the adhesive systems, and the ply composition. Lastly, trends in predicted failure load were produced as a function of skin thickness (16ply, 24ply and 32ply). Failure loads were found with varying joint curvature and skin thickness using stress-based adherend failure criterion. The rapid joint design tool was also validated against existing experimental results.

Bonded Joints↗
DOE OSTI2023

NbTaV_BCC_SolidSolution_128atoms_VASP6

We performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations for body-centered-cubic (BCC) structures with 128 lattices sites of solid solution ternary alloys niobium-tantalum-vanadium (Nb-Ta-V). The first-principle code that has been used to run the calculations is the closed-source Vienna Ab-Initio Simulation Package (VASP). The calculations have been collected by sampling chemical compositions across the entire compositional range. The chemical compositions have been sampled by progressively changing the number of atoms per constituent by 8. For each chemical composition of binaries and ternaries, the first-principle calculations have been run for 100 randomized arrangements of the constituents on the BCC lattice sites. We collected data for a total of 10,500 randomized atomic structures over 105 chemical compositions. The calculations have been collected on NERSC-Perlmutter using the VASP 6.3.2. The VASP calculations for every atomic structure have been performed in 2 main steps: 1. Starting from an ideal body-centered-cubic (BCC) structure, geometry optimization with low precision has been executed to perform a preliminary optimization of the atomic structure. The output for this calculations is available in the files 0.CONTCAR, 0.OUTCAR, rlx1.out. 2. Using the atomic structure resulting from the preliminary geometry optimization, a second geometry optimization has been performed using normal precision. The output for this calculations is available in the files CONTCAR, OUTCAR, rlx2.out, vaspout.h5, and vasprun.xml. Every chemical composition sampled across the composition range in the dataset has its own directory. The convention used to name the directories for ternary alloys is AXBYCZ, where A, B, and C refer to the constituents, and X, Y, and Z are positive integers that represent the number of atoms for each constituent and their values still sum up to 128. Each atomic structure associated with a specific chemical composition has its own sub-directory within the directory of the corresponding chemical composition. The sub-directories for each atomic structure for each chemical composition are named 'case-*', where * is a positive integer that spans all the values from 1 through 100, extremes included. The files contained in each sub-directory 'case-*' for each atomic structure are as follows: 1. INCAR: input file that contains various parameters and settings for controlling the behavior of the electronic structure calculations 2. 0.POSCAR: input file that defines the atomic structure of a system 3. 0.CONTCAR: output file that provides the atomic positions and cell parameters after the first geometry optimization has been run with the precision variable set to PREC=Low in the INCAR file 4. 0.OUTCAR: output file that contains detailed information about the progress of a calculation after the first geometry optimization has been run with the precision variable set to PREC=Low in the INCAR file 5. rlx1.out: file with diagnostic information about the execution of the first geometry optimization with precision variable set to PREC=Low in the INCAR file 6. POSCAR: input file that defines the atomic structure of a system after the first geometry optimization has been run at low precision. This represents the input for the second geometry optimization run with the precision variable set to PREC=Normal in the INCAR file 7. CONTCAR: output file that provides the atomic positions and cell parameters after the second geometry optimization has been run with the precision variable set to PREC=Normal in the INCAR file 8. OUTCARL: output file that contains detailed information about the progress of a calculation after the second geometry optimization has been run with the precision variable set to PREC=Normal in the INCAR file 9. rlx2.out: file with diagnostic information about the execution of the second geometry optimization with precision variable set to PREC=Normal in the INCAR file 10. vaspout.h5: hierarchical HDF5 file containing the inputs and outputs of a VASP calculation. To analyze the data in this file we recommend using py4vasp. This file is only produced if the VASP version used is compiled with HDF5 support 11. vasprun.xml: contains similar information to OUTCAR, but in an xml format. This research is sponsored by the Artificial Intelligence Initiative as part of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. This work used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725, under Directorate Discretionary awards MAT025 (Materials Science) and LRN026 (Machine Learning), and INCITE award MAT201. This work also used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, under award ERCAP0025216.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗