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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 73 records · Page 4

Machine learning of fault characteristics from rocket engine simulation data

Transformation of data into knowledge through conceptual induction has been the focus of our research described in this paper. We have developed a Machine Learning System (MLS) to analyze the rocket engine simulation data. MLS can provide to its users fault analysis, characteristics, and conceptual descriptions of faults, and the relationships of attributes and sensors. All the results are critically important in identifying faults.

Ke, Min↗

Analysis of Aurora's Performance Simulation Engine for Three Systems

Aurora Solar Inc. is building a cloud-based optimization platform to automate the design, engineering, and permit generation process of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. They requested that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) validate the performance of the PV system performance simulation engine of Aurora Solar’s solar design platform, Aurora. In previous work, NREL performed a validation of multiple other PV modeling tools 1, so this study builds upon that work by examining all of the same fixed-tilt systems with available module datasheets that NREL selected and used in the aforementioned study. Aurora Solar set up these three operating PV systems in their modeling platform using NREL-provided system specifications and concurrent weather data. NREL then verified the setup of these systems, ran the simulations, and compared the Aurora-predicted performance data to measured performance data for those three systems, as well as to performance data predicted by other PV modeling tools.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

The role of the Shuttle Engineering Simulator in the Solar Max rescue mission

Background information concerning the makeup of the SES, the role it traditionally plays in support of the Shuttle Program, its capabilities and the specific work performed on the simulator during the sixteen months proceedings the Solar Max repair mission is presented. The SES plays a significant role in the preparations for the STS 41-C Solar Max repair mission and during the mission in the development of the plan and procedures to retrieve the satellite after the MMU docking attempts failed. The development of the on orbit simulation capabilities required to support this mission is to a very large extent simply an expansion of the capabilities designed into the SES to support previous engineering simulation requirements for the Space Shuttle program.

St.john, R. H.↗

Engineering simulation evaluation of the two-segment noise abatement approach in the Douglas DC-8-61

The development and operational evaluation are discussed of a noise abatement two-segment approach which is safe and operationally acceptable for routine use in air carrier service. An engineering simulation evaluation was conducted; it was found that the entry speed and initial configuration are more important in the DC-8-61 than in the 727 because of the DC-8's aerodynamic cleanliness and drag programming constraints. It was also found that the altitude required for the DC-8 upper and lower transitions is less than the 727 transitions principally due to the pitching moment from the underslung DC-8 engines as compared to the 727 engines which produce no pitching moment with a change in thrust. The 727 approach was a reduced flaps (30 degrees) procedure with a 10-knot airspeed bleed in the lower transition; the DC-8 approach is a full flaps (50 degrees) procedure with constant airspeed established as soon as possible after upper segment transition.

Nylen, W. E.↗

DYGABCD: A program for calculating linear A, B, C, and D matrices from a nonlinear dynamic engine simulation

A digital computer program, DYGABCD, was developed that generates linearized, dynamic models of simulated turbofan and turbojet engines. DYGABCD is based on an earlier computer program, DYNGEN, that is capable of calculating simulated nonlinear steady-state and transient performance of one- and two-spool turbojet engines or two- and three-spool turbofan engines. Most control design techniques require linear system descriptions. For multiple-input/multiple-output systems such as turbine engines, state space matrix descriptions of the system are often desirable. DYGABCD computes the state space matrices commonly referred to as the A, B, C, and D matrices required for a linear system description. The report discusses the analytical approach and provides a users manual, FORTRAN listings, and a sample case.

Geyser, L. C.↗

In-Depth Analysis of Simulation Engine Codes for Comparison with DOE's Roof Savings Calculator and Measured Data

The Roof Savings Calculator (RSC) was developed through collaborations among Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), White Box Technologies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the Environmental Protection Agency in the context of a California Energy Commission Public Interest Energy Research project to make cool-color roofing materials a market reality. The RSC website and a simulation engine validated against demonstration homes were developed to replace the liberal DOE Cool Roof Calculator and the conservative EPA Energy Star Roofing Calculator, which reported different roof savings estimates. A preliminary analysis arrived at a tentative explanation for why RSC results differed from previous LBNL studies and provided guidance for future analysis in the comparison of four simulation programs (doe2attic, DOE-2.1E, EnergyPlus, and MicroPas), including heat exchange between the attic surfaces (principally the roof and ceiling) and the resulting heat flows through the ceiling to the building below. The results were consolidated in an ORNL technical report, ORNL/TM-2013/501. This report is an in-depth inter-comparison of four programs with detailed measured data from an experimental facility operated by ORNL in South Carolina in which different segments of the attic had different roof and attic systems.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Securing Sensitive Flight and Engine Simulation Data Using Smart Card Technology

NASA Glenn Research Center has developed a smart card prototype capable of encrypting and decrypting disk files required to run a distributed aerospace propulsion simulation. Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES) encryption is used to secure the sensitive intellectual property on disk pre, during, and post simulation execution. The prototype operates as a secure system and maintains its authorized state by safely storing and permanently retaining the encryption keys only on the smart card. The prototype is capable of authenticating a single smart card user and includes pre simulation and post simulation tools for analysis and training purposes. The prototype's design is highly generic and can be used to protect any sensitive disk files with growth capability to urn multiple simulations. The NASA computer engineer developed the prototype on an interoperable programming environment to enable porting to other Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) capable operating system environments.

Blaser, Tammy M.↗

Evaluation of an F100 multivariable control using a real-time engine simulation

A multivariable control design for the F100 turbofan engine was evaluated, as part of the F100 multivariable control synthesis (MVCS) program. The evaluation utilized a real-time, hybrid computer simulation of the engine and a digital computer implementation of the control. Significant results of the evaluation are presented and recommendations concerning future engine testing of the control are made.

Szuch, J. R.↗

Preignition Characteristics of Several Fuels Under Simulated Engine Conditions

The preignition characteristics of a number of fuels have been studied under conditions similar to those encountered in an engine. These conditions were simulated by suddenly compressing a fuel-air mixture in contact with an electrically heated hot spot in the cylinder head of the NACA combustion apparatus. Schlieren photographs and indicator cards were taken of the burning, and the hot-spot temperatures necessary to cause ignition under various conditions were determined.

Spencer, R C↗

Parallelization of Rocket Engine Simulator Software (P.R.E.S.S.)

Parallelization of Rocket Engine System Software (PRESS) project is part of a collaborative effort with Southern University at Baton Rouge (SUBR), University of West Florida (UWF), and Jackson State University (JSU). The project has started on October 19, 1995, and after a three-year period corresponding to project phases and fiscal-year funding by NASA Lewis Research Center (now Glenn Research Center), has ended on October 18, 1998. The one-year no-cost extension period was granted on June 7, 1998, until October 19, 1999. The aim of this one year no-cost extension period was to carry out further research to complete the work and lay the groundwork for subsequent research in the area of aerospace engine design optimization software tools. The previous progress for the research has been reported in great detail in respective interim and final research progress reports, seven of them, in all. While the purpose of this report is to be a final summary and an valuative view of the entire work since the first year funding, the following is a quick recap of the most important sections of the interim report dated April 30, 1999.

Cezzar, Ruknet↗

Turbofan Engine Simulated in a Graphical Simulation Environment

Recently, there has been an increase in the development of intelligent engine technology with advanced active component control. The computer engine models used in these control studies are component-level models (CLM), models that link individual component models of state space and nonlinear algebraic equations, written in a computer language such as Fortran. The difficulty faced in performing control studies on Fortran-based models is that Fortran is not supported with control design and analysis tools, so there is no means for implementing real-time control. It is desirable to have a simulation environment that is straightforward, has modular graphical components, and allows easy access to health, control, and engine parameters through a graphical user interface. Such a tool should also provide the ability to convert a control design into real-time code, helping to make it an extremely powerful tool in control and diagnostic system development. Simulation time management is shown: Mach number versus time, power level angle versus time, altitude versus time, ambient temperature change versus time, afterburner fuel flow versus time, controller and actuator dynamics, collect initial conditions, CAD output, and component-level model: CLM sensor, CAD input, and model output. The Controls and Dynamics Technologies Branch at the NASA Glenn Research Center has developed and demonstrated a flexible, generic turbofan engine simulation platform that can meet these objectives, known as the Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation (MAPSS). MAPSS is a Simulink-based implementation of a Fortran-based, modern high pressure ratio, dual-spool, low-bypass, military-type variable-cycle engine with a digital controller. Simulink (The Mathworks, Natick, MA) is a computer-aided control design and simulation package allows the graphical representation of dynamic systems in a block diagram form. MAPSS is a nonlinear, non-real-time system composed of controller and actuator dynamics (CAD) and component-level model (CLM) modules. The controller in the CAD module emulates the functionality of a digital controller, which has a typical update rate of 50 Hz. The CLM module simulates the dynamics of the engine components and uses an update rate of 2500 Hz, which is needed to iterate to balance mass and energy among system components. The actuators in the CAD module use the same sampling rate as those in the CLM. Two graphs of normalized spool speed versus time in seconds and one graph of normalized average metal temperature versus time in seconds is shown. MAPSS was validated via open-loop and closed-loop comparisons with the Fortran simulation. The preceding plots show the normalized results of a closed-loop comparison looking at three states of the model: low-pressure spool speed, high-pressure spool speed, and the average metal temperature measured from the combustor to the high-pressure turbine. In steady state, the error between the simulations is less than 1 percent. During a transient, the difference between the simulations is due to a correction in MAPSS that prevents the gas flow in the bypass duct inlet from flowing forward instead of toward the aft end, which occurs in the Fortran simulation. A comparison between MAPSS and the Fortran model of the bypass duct inlet flow for power lever angles greater than 35 degrees is shown.

Parker, Khary I.↗

Flow of GE90 Turbofan Engine Simulated

The objective of this task was to create and validate a three-dimensional model of the GE90 turbofan engine (General Electric) using the APNASA (average passage) flow code. This was a joint effort between GE Aircraft Engines and the NASA Lewis Research Center. The goal was to perform an aerodynamic analysis of the engine primary flow path, in under 24 hours of CPU time, on a parallel distributed workstation system. Enhancements were made to the APNASA Navier-Stokes code to make it faster and more robust and to allow for the analysis of more arbitrary geometry. The resulting simulation exploited the use of parallel computations by using two levels of parallelism, with extremely high efficiency.The primary flow path of the GE90 turbofan consists of a nacelle and inlet, 49 blade rows of turbomachinery, and an exhaust nozzle. Secondary flows entering and exiting the primary flow path-such as bleed, purge, and cooling flows-were modeled macroscopically as source terms to accurately simulate the engine. The information on these source terms came from detailed descriptions of the cooling flow and from thermodynamic cycle system simulations. These provided boundary condition data to the three-dimensional analysis. A simplified combustor was used to feed boundary conditions to the turbomachinery. Flow simulations of the fan, high-pressure compressor, and high- and low-pressure turbines were completed with the APNASA code.

Veres, Joseph P.↗

Laser-Doppler velocimetry measurements in a motored IC engine simulator

A measurement technique and experimental results are presented for mean velocity and velocity fluctuations in a motored, axisymmetric engine chamber simulation. Three valve configurations are considered: open orifice, open valve, and operating valve. Measurements of axial and tangential velocity components have been taken at various axial and radial positions for one compression ratio (7:1) and one rpm level (31). The measurements show that the intake stroke (in both two and four stroke operations) result in a recirculating flow with substantial turbulence generation even at the low rpm value. The four-stroke results in an axisymmetric design are novel and especially significant since the ability exists to make comparisons with theoretical, axisymmetric, turbulent results.

Gany, A.↗

ADVANCING TURBULENT SPRAY AND COMBUSTION MODELS FOR COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINE SIMULATIONS

This thesis seeks to investigate the turbulent mixing influence on spray atomization and combustion processes encountered in compression ignition diesel engines. Despite greater thermal efficiency of diesel engine than spark ignition engine, the nature of stratified air-fuel mixture and non-premixed flame gives rise to unacceptable levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM), thus the use of diesel engines has often been limited to heavy-duty vehicle and industrial power sources. However, recent advancement in diesel engine combustion strategies, e.g. low temperature combustion (LTC), has demonstrated promising pathways towards improvement in the engine-out pollutants. Therefore, particularly in the effort of computer-aided engine design tasks, such a new engine design concept requires more accurate modeling techniques applicable over a broader range of engine operating conditions than those of conventional engine strategies. In the notion of challenges in new engine operating conditions, this thesis aims to present successful implementation of improvement in numerical modeling techniques in high-pressure spray atomization and resulting turbulent spray flame of interest. Three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in in-cylinder turbulent combustion is considered an integral part of engine design progress, but rather a cost-prohibitive to apply over a broad range of engine relevant conditions. In spite of successful use of existing spray atomization modeling, prior researchers have pointed out some degree of failure in LTC targeted injection strategies. Furthermore, finite rate and strong nonlinearity of chemistry influenced by local turbulent mixing still remain in challenges to account for in cost-efficient CFD analysis. In this context, a new attempt of hybrid spray primary breakup modeling is presented and demonstrated in successful application aimed at LTC technique. In addition, the Representative Interactive Flamelets (RIF) model with aid of multi-flamelets approach is extensively assessed in terms of predictive capability against classical combustion model. The combustion model employed in this study are fully examined in the general diesel combustion metric, e.g., ignition delay and flame lift-off length as well as newly suggested test metric, combustion recession. The combustion recession has been recently idenfied, but still remain largely unknown. Since the governing physics of this phenomenon is characterized by turbulent mixing coupled with finite rate chemistry, this can be considered as a relevant test metric for turbulent combustion models. In addition, very recent experimental studies have introduced a new non-sooting diesel combustion technique by manipulating direct injection method. The ducted fuel injection (DFI) has thus been demonstrated with its potential of low soot emissions. Knowing that the duct equipped ahead of injector nozzle was identifed to enhance turbulent mixing, investigations of DFI combustion may prove the effectiveness of turbulece-chemistry interaction modeling. This thesis presents comprehensive understandings of aformentioned diesel combustion techniques in terms of several important physics keywords, e.g., turbulent mixing and detailed chemistry.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Quiet Clean Short-haul Experimental Engine (QCSEE) under-the-wing engine simulation report

Hybrid computer simulations of the under-the-wing engine were constructed to develop the dynamic design of the controls. The engine and control system includes a variable pitch fan and a digital electronic control. Simulation results for throttle bursts from 62 to 100 percent net thrust predict that the engine will accelerate 62 to 95 percent net thrust in one second.

Source record↗

A physics-driven Σ-Y atomization model for heavy-duty engine simulations

The atomization of a liquid jet is a multi-scale and multi-physics problem of interest for many engineering applications. Particularly, it drives the fuel-oxidizer mixing and dictates the efficiency of combustion engines. High-fidelity multi-phase simulations remain challenging due to the excessive computational cost required to capture all the atomization scales. Thus, atomization models are necessary to represent sub-grid liquid structures. Here, in this work, a modified Σ-Y model in the context of Eulerian-Lagrangian Spray Atomization (ELSA) is used to transport the surface area density of the spray. The model's predictive performance is assessed under various operating conditions relevant to heavy-duty engines using the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) Spray C and Spray D research-grade injectors. The classic droplet collision formulation of the Σ-Y model alone does not replicate the response of the measured spray surface area to changes in injector, ambient pressure, and injection pressure, requiring individual tuning of the model's parameters. Instead, a transition between dense and dilute spray breakup mechanisms is proposed in terms of the average droplet spacing. The collision breakup mechanism represents the dilute spray, whereas the droplet size in the dense spray is driven by a competition between the integral scale of turbulence and the balance between the turbulent kinetic energy and the surface energy of the droplets. Such an approach minimizes the requirements for model tuning. Moreover, the role of the constants of a compressible standard k-ε RANS model is assessed in the injector's internal flow and external spray simulation framework, and an updated set is proposed. The results are validated against x-ray radiography and Ultra-Small Angle X-ray Scattering (USAXS) data and highlight the predictive capabilities of the proposed physics-driven Σ-Y model, which is compatible with engine simulation turnaround times.

42 ENGINEERING↗