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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

AOD Distributions and Trends of Major Aerosol Species over a Selection of the World's Most Populated Cities Based on the 1st Version of NASA's MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis

NASA recently extended the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) with an atmospheric aerosol reanalysis which includes five particulate species: sulfate, organic matter, black carbon, mineral dust and sea salt. The MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) is an innovative tool to study air quality issues around the world for its global and constant coverage and its distinction of aerosol speciation expressed in the form of aerosol optical depth (AOD). The purpose of this manuscript is to apply MERRAero to the study of urban air pollution at the global scale by analyzing the AOD over a period of 13 years (2003-2015) and over a selection of 200 of the world's most populated cities in order to assess the impacts of urbanization, industrialization, air quality regulations and regional transport which affect urban aerosol load. Environmental regulations and the recent global economic recession have helped to decrease the AOD and sulfate aerosols in most cities in North America, Europe and Japan. Rapid industrialization in China over the last two decades resulted in Chinese cities having the highest AOD values in the world. China has nevertheless recently implemented emission control measures which are showing early signs of success in many cities of Southern China where AOD has decreased substantially over the last 13 years. The AOD over South American cities, which is dominated by carbonaceous aerosols, has also decreased over the last decade due to an increase in commodity prices which slowed deforestation activities in the Amazon rainforest. At the opposite, recent urbanization and industrialization in India and Bangladesh resulted in a strong increase of AOD, sulfate and carbonaceous aerosols in most cities of these two countries. The AOD over most cities in Northern Africa and Western Asia changed little over the last decade. Emissions of natural aerosols, which cities in these two regions tend to be mostly composed of, don't tend to fluctuate significantly on an annual basis.

Urban air pollution↗

Present capabilities and future requirements for computer-aided geometric modeling in the design and manufacture of gas turbine

Gas turbine engine design requires the ability to rapidly develop complex structures which are subject to severe thermal and mechanical operating loads. As in all facets of the aerospace industry, engine designs are constantly driving towards increased performance, higher temperatures, higher speeds, and lower weight. The ability to address such requirements in a relatively short time frame has resulted in a major thrust towards integrated design/analysis/manufacturing systems. These computer driven graphics systems represent a unique challenge, with major payback opportunities if properly conceived, implemented, and applied.

Caille, E.↗

A new stochastic systems approach to structural integrity

This paper develops improved stochastic models for the description of a large variety of fatigue crack growth phenomena that occur in components of considerable importance to the functionality and reliability of complex engineering structures. In essence, the models are based on the McGill-Markov and Closure-Lognormal stochastic processes. Not only do these models have the capability of predicting the statistical dispersion of crack growth rates, they also, by incorporating the concept of crack closure, have the capability of transferring stochastic crack growth properties measured under ideal laboratory conditions to situations of industrial significance, such as those occurring under adverse loading and/or environmental conditions. The primary data required in order to be in a position to estimate the pertinent parameters of these stochastic models are obtained from a statistically significant number of replicate tests. In this paper, both the theory and the experimental technique are illustrated using a Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Finally, important structural integrity, reliability, availability and maintainability concepts are developed and illustrated.

Provan, James W.↗

Voltage Controller

Power Efficiency Corporation, specifically formed to manufacture and develop products from NASA technology, has a license to a three-phase power factor controller originally developed by Frank Nola, an engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center. Power Efficiency and two major distributors, Performance Control and Edison Power Technologies, use the electronic control boards to assemble three different motor controllers: Power Commander, Performance Controller, and Energy Master. The company Power Factor Controller reduces excessive energy waste in AC induction motors. It is used in industries and applications where motors operate under variable loads, including elevators and escalators, machine tools, intake and exhaust fans, oil wells, conveyors, pumps, die casting, and compressors. Customer lists include companies such as May Department Stores, Caesars Atlantic City, Ford Motors, and American Axle.

Source record↗

Vibration and acoustic testing of spacecraft

Spacecraft are subjected to a variety of dynamics environments, which may include: quasi-static, vibration and acoustic loads at launch: pyrotechnic shocks generated by separation mechanisms; on orbit jitter; and sometimes, planetary landing loads. There is a trend in the aerospace industry to rely more on structural analyses and less on testing to simulate these environments, because dynamics testing of spacecraft is time consuming, risky and expensive.

vibration acoustics spacecraft↗

Large Scale Flutter Data for Design of Rotating Blades Using Navier-Stokes Equations

A procedure to compute flutter boundaries of rotating blades is presented; a) Navier-Stokes equations. b) Frequency domain method compatible with industry practice. Procedure is initially validated: a) Unsteady loads with flapping wing experiment. b) Flutter boundary with fixed wing experiment. Large scale flutter computation is demonstrated for rotating blade: a) Single job submission script. b) Flutter boundary in 24 hour wall clock time with 100 cores. c) Linearly scalable with number of cores. Tested with 1000 cores that produced data in 25 hrs for 10 flutter boundaries. Further wall-clock speed-up is possible by performing parallel computations within each case.

Guruswamy, Guru P.↗

Some Interesting Applications of Probabilistic Techiques in Structural Dynamic Analysis of Rocket Engines

Numerical and Analytical methods developed to determine damage accumulation in specific engine components when speed variation included. Dither Life Ratio shown to be well over factor of 2 for specific example. Steady‐State assumption shown to be accurate for most turbopump cases, allowing rapid calculation of DLR. If hot‐fire speed data unknown, Monte Carlo method developed that uses speed statistics for similar engines. Application of techniques allow analyst to reduce both uncertainty and excess conservatism. High values of DLR could allow previously unacceptable part to pass HCF criteria without redesign. Given benefit and ease of implementation, recommend that any finite life turbomachine component analysis adopt these techniques. Probability Values calculated, compared, and evaluated for several industry‐proposed methods for combining random and harmonic loads. Two new excel macros written to calculate combined load for any specific probability level. Closed form Curve fits generated for widely used 3(sigma) and 2(sigma) probability levels. For design of lightweight aerospace components, obtaining accurate, reproducible, statistically meaningful answer critical.

Brown, Andrew M.↗

Shuttle payload bay dynamic environments: Summary and conclusion report for STS flights 1-5 and 9

The vibration, acoustic and low frequency loads data from the first 5 shuttle flights are presented. The engineering analysis of that data is also presented. Vibroacoustic data from STS-9 are also presented because they represent the only data taken on a large payload. Payload dynamic environment predictions developed by the participation of various NASA and industrial centers are presented along with a comparison of analytical loads methodology predictions with flight data, including a brief description of the methodologies employed in developing those predictions for payloads. The review of prediction methodologies illustrates how different centers have approached the problems of developing shuttle dynamic environmental predictions and criteria. Ongoing research activities related to the shuttle dynamic environments are also described. Analytical software recently developed for the prediction of payload acoustic and vibration environments are also described.

Oconnell, M.↗

Space Shuttle Cargo Integration Coupled Loads Analysis Lessons Learned

When a system experiences a loading environment characterized by rapidly varying forces, such as a rocket launch, a transient analysis is used to analyze the response of the system. The most common transient analysis methodology is the Coupled Loads Analysis(CLA). CLAs are used by the automotive and aerospace industry to analyze cars, trucks,planes, helicopters, spacecraft, etc. The Space Shuttle program used the CLA methodology to assess the compatibility of the payload with the Orbiter and the flight environment. The Space Shuttle Verification Loads Analysis (VLA) was a standardized CLA process that started between ten and thirteen months prior to launch, and included several meetings as well as analysis by both the Space Shuttle Program and the payload developers to verify that the payloads were compatible with the flight loads environment and would not interact negatively with the vehicle. Over the course of the Space Shuttle Program, many improvements were made to the process, which reduced cycle time and improved manifest flexibility. There were several issues which were never fully addressed, but work-arounds were developed to keep the process flowing. The lessons learned included automation of some processes and standardization of others, early assessments, improved documentation and better coordination with all stakeholders in the process. Lessons learned also included the limitations in the current process, and what to do to avoid the same issues.

ERICA E. BRUNO↗

Space Shuttle Cargo Integration Coupled Loads Analysis Lessons Learned

When a system experiences a loading environment characterized by rapidly varying forces, such as a rocket launch, a transient analysis is used to analyze the response of the system. The most common transient analysis methodology is the Coupled Loads Analysis (CLA). CLAs are used by the automotive and aerospace industry to analyze cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, spacecraft, etc. The Space Shuttle program used the CLA methodology to assess the compatibility of the payload with the Orbiter and the flight environment. The Space Shuttle Verification Loads Analysis (VLA) was a standardized CLA process that started between ten and thirteen months prior to launch, and included several meetings as well as analysis by both the Space Shuttle Program and the payload developers to verify that the payloads were compatible with the flight loads environment and would not interact negatively with the vehicle. Over the course of the Space Shuttle Program, many improvements were made to the process, which reduced cycle time and improved manifest flexibility. There were several issues which were never fully addressed, but workarounds were developed to keep the process flowing. The lessons learned included automation of some processes and standardization of others, early assessments, improved documentation and better coordination with all stakeholders in the process. Lessons learned also included the limitations in the current process, and what to do to avoid the same issues in the future.

Erica E. Bruno↗

Lessons Learned from Shuttle Payload Verification Loads Analysis

When a system experiences a loading environment characterized by rapidly varying forces, such as a rocket launch, a transient analysis is used to analyze the response of the system. The most common transient analysis methodology is the Coupled Loads Analysis (CLA). CLAs are used by the automotive and aerospace industry to analyze cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, spacecraft, etc. The Space Shuttle program also uses the CLA methodology to assess the compatibility of the payload with the Orbiter and the flight environment. The Space Shuttle Verification Loads Analysis (VLA) was a standardized process that started between ten and thirteen months prior to launch, and included several meetings as well as analysis by both the Shuttle Program and the payload developers. Over the course of the Space Shuttle Program, many improvements were made to the process which helped to reduce cycle time and improve manifest flexibility. There were also several issues which were never properly addressed, but a work-around would be developed to keep the process flowing. The lessons learned included automation of some processes and standardization of others, early assessments, improved documentation and better coordination with all stakeholders in the process. Lessons learned also included the limitations in the current process, and what needs to be planned for in the future to avoid the same issues.

Bruno, Erica↗

Engine System Loads Development for the Fastrac 60K Flight Engine

Early implementation of structural dynamics finite element analyses for calculation of design loads is considered common design practice for high volume manufacturing industries such as automotive and aeronautical industries. However, with the rarity of rocket engine development programs starts, these tools are relatively new to the design of rocket engines. In the new Fastrac engine program, the focus has been to reduce the cost to weight ratio; current structural dynamics analysis practices were tailored in order to meet both production and structural design goals. Perturbation of rocket engine design parameters resulted in a number of Fastrac load cycles necessary to characterize the impact due to mass and stiffness changes. Evolution of loads and load extraction methodologies, parametric considerations and a discussion of load path sensitivities are discussed.

Frady, Greg↗

Engine System Loads Analysis Compared to Hot-Fire Data

Early implementation of structural dynamics finite element analyses for calculation of design loads is considered common design practice for high volume manufacturing industries such as automotive and aeronautical industries. However with the rarity of rocket engine development programs starts, these tools are relatively new to the design of rocket engines. In the NASA MC-1 engine program, the focus was to reduce the cost-to-weight ratio. The techniques for structural dynamics analysis practices, were tailored in this program to meet both production and structural design goals. Perturbation of rocket engine design parameters resulted in a number of MC-1 load cycles necessary to characterize the impact due to mass and stiffness changes. Evolution of loads and load extraction methodologies, parametric considerations and a discussion of load path sensitivities are important during the design and integration of a new engine system. During the final stages of development, it is important to verify the results of an engine system model to determine the validity of the results. During the final stages of the MC-1 program, hot-fire test results were obtained and compared to the structural design loads calculated by the engine system model. These comparisons are presented in this paper.

Frady, Gregory P.↗

Problems of Excess Capacity

The problems of excess capacity in the airline industry are discussed with focus on the following topics: load factors; fair rate of return on investment; service-quality rivalry among airlines; pricing (fare) policies; aircraft production; and the impacts of excess capacity on operating costs. Also included is a discussion of the interrelationships among these topics.

Douglas, G.↗

Protecting Helmets And Visors From Chemicals

Thin layer of polysulfone on polycarbonate safety helmets and visors protects them from attack by chemicals. Useful in industrial safety helmets. Highly resistant to creep under tension load. Retains dimensional stability when exposed to moisture. Does not adversely affect optical properties of polycarbonate visors. Configuration varied to accommodate such special requirements as high impact strength or protection against moving particles and debris.

Kosmo, Joseph J.↗

Prosthetic elbow joint

An artificial, manually positionable elbow joint for use in an upper extremity, above-elbow, prosthetic is described. The prosthesis provides a locking feature that is easily controlled by the wearer. The instant elbow joint is very strong and durable enough to withstand the repeated heavy loadings encountered by a wearer who works in an industrial, construction, farming, or similar environment. The elbow joint of the present invention comprises a turntable, a frame, a forearm, and a locking assembly. The frame generally includes a housing for the locking assembly and two protruding ears. The forearm includes an elongated beam having a cup-shaped cylindrical member at one end and a locking wheel having a plurality of holes along a circular arc on its other end with a central bore for pivotal attachment to the protruding ears of the frame. The locking assembly includes a collar having a central opening with a plurality of internal grooves, a plurality of internal cam members each having a chamfered surface at one end and a V-shaped slot at its other end; an elongated locking pin having a crown wheel with cam surfaces and locking lugs secured thereto; two coiled compression springs; and a flexible filament attached to one end of the elongated locking pin and extending from the locking assembly for extending and retracting the locking pin into the holes in the locking wheel to permit selective adjustment of the forearm relative to the frame. In use, the turntable is affixed to the upper arm part of the prosthetic in the conventional manner, and the cup-shaped cylindrical member on one end of the forearm is affixed to the forearm piece of the prosthetic in the conventional manner. The elbow joint is easily adjusted and locked between maximum flex and extended positions.

Weddendorf, Bruce C.↗

Combining Acceleration and Displacement Dependent Modal Frequency Responses Using an MSC/NASTRAN DMAP Alter

Solving for dynamic responses of free-free launch vehicle/spacecraft systems acted upon by buffeting winds is commonly performed throughout the aerospace industry. Due to the unpredictable nature of this wind loading event, these problems are typically solved using frequency response random analysis techniques. To generate dynamic responses for spacecraft with statically-indeterminate interfaces, spacecraft contractors prefer to develop models which have response transformation matrices developed for mode acceleration data recovery. This method transforms spacecraft boundary accelerations and displacements into internal responses. Unfortunately, standard MSC/NASTRAN modal frequency response solution sequences cannot be used to combine acceleration- and displacement-dependent responses required for spacecraft mode acceleration data recovery. External user-written computer codes can be used with MSC/NASTRAN output to perform such combinations, but these methods can be labor and computer resource intensive. Taking advantage of the analytical and computer resource efficiencies inherent within MS C/NASTRAN, a DMAP Alter has been developed to combine acceleration- and displacement-dependent modal frequency responses for performing spacecraft mode acceleration data recovery. The Alter has been used successfully to efficiently solve a common aerospace buffeting wind analysis.

Barnett, Alan R.↗

Dynamic Characterization of Galfenol (Fe81.6Ga18.4)

Galfenol has the potential to transform the smart materials industry by allowing for the development of multifunctional, load-bearing devices. One of the primary technical challenges faced by this development is the very limited experimental data on Galfenol's frequency-dependent response to dynamic stress, which is critically important for the design of such devices. This report details a novel and precise characterization of the constitutive behavior of polycrystalline Galfenol (Fe81.6Ga18.4) under quasi-static (1 Hz) and dynamic (4 to 1000 Hz) stress loadings. Mechanical loads are applied using a high-frequency load frame. Quasi-static minor and major hysteresis loop measurements of magnetic flux density and strain are presented for constant electromagnet currents (0 to 1.1 A) and constant magnetic fields 0 to 14 kA/m (0 to 180 Oe). The dynamic stress amplitude for minor and major loops is 2.88 and 31.4 MPa (418 and 4550 psi), respectively. Quasi-static material properties closely match published values for similar Galfenol materials. Quasi-static actuation responses are also measured and compared to quasi-static sensing responses; the high degree of reversibility seen in the comparison is consistent with published measurements and modeling results. Dynamic major and minor loops are measured for dynamic stresses up to 31 MPa (4496 psi) and 1 kHz, and the bias condition resulting in maximum, quasi-static sensitivity. Eddy current effects are quantified by considering solid and laminated Galfenol rods. Three key sources of error in the dynamic measurements are accounted for: (1) electromagnetic noise in strain signals due to Galfenol's magnetic response, (2) error in load signals due to the inertial force of fixturing, and (3) phase misalignment between signals due to conditioning electronics. For dynamic characterization, strain error is kept below 1.2 percent of full scale by wiring two collocated gauges in series (noise cancellation) and through leadwire weaving. Inertial force error is kept below 0.41 percent by measuring the dynamic force in the specimen using a nearly collocated piezoelectric load washer. The phase response of all conditioning electronics is explicitly measured and corrected for. In general, as frequency is increased, the sensing response becomes more linear because of an increase in eddy currents. As frequency increases above approximately 100 Hz, the elbow in the strain-versus-stress response disappears as the active (soft) regime stiffens toward the passive (hard) regime. Under constant-field conditions, the loss factors of the solid rod peak between 200 and 600 Hz, rather than exhibiting a monotonic increase. Compared to the solid rod, the laminated rod exhibits much slower increases in hysteresis with frequency, and its quasi-static behavior extends to higher frequencies. The elastic modulus of the laminated rod decreases between 100 and 300 Hz; this trend is currently unexplained.

Dynamic sensing↗