Results for “discrete surface” — Page 40

NASA NTRS1985

Formation of metallic and metallic-glass hollow spheres and their solidification characteristics

Various metals and metallic glass systems have bene processed into hollow spheres with sizes ranging from 3 mm to 440 microns in diameter. The technique for the formation of the large hollow spheres, in general, is based on the fluid-dynamic instability of a hollow annular jet. A refined technique has also been developed for microshell formation, in which discrete bubbles are injected into the stream of the molten material and individually 'flushed' out at a frequency related to the Rayleigh jet instability. The surfaces of those spheres of all sizes exhibit a range of contrasting solidification behaviors and characteristics. Metal shells of varying materials, sizes, aspect ratios, sphericity and concentricity have many useful and novel applications.

Lee, M. C.↗

NASA NTRS1989

One-dimensional analysis of plane and radial thin film flows including solid-body rotation

The flow of a thin liquid film with a free surface along a horizontal plate which emanates from a pressurized vessel is examined by integrating the equations of motion across the thin liquid layer and discretizing the integrated equations using finite difference techniques. The effects of 0-g and solid-body rotation will be discussed. The two cases of interest are plane flow and radial flow. In plane flow, the liquid is considered to be flowing along a channel with no change in the width of the channel, whereas in radial flow the liquid spreads out radially over a disk, so that the area changes along the radius. It is desired to determine the height of the liquid film at any location along the plate of disk, so that the heat transfer from the plate or disk can be found. The possibility that the flow could encounter a hydraulic jump is accounted for.

Thomas, S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Cockpit weather information needs

The primary objective is to develop an advanced pilot weather interface for the flight deck and to measure its utilization and effectiveness in pilot reroute decision processes, weather situation awareness, and weather monitoring. Identical graphical weather displays for the dispatcher, air traffic control (ATC), and pilot crew should also enhance the dialogue capabilities for reroute decisions. By utilizing a broadcast data link for surface observations, forecasts, radar summaries, lightning strikes, and weather alerts, onboard weather computing facilities construct graphical displays, historical weather displays, color textual displays, and other tools to assist the pilot crew. Since the weather data is continually being received and stored by the airborne system, the pilot crew has instantaneous access to the latest information. This information is color coded to distinguish degrees of category for surface observations, ceiling and visibilities, and ground radar summaries. Automatic weather monitoring and pilot crew alerting is accomplished by the airborne computing facilities. When a new weather information is received, the displays are instantaneously changed to reflect the new information. Also, when a new surface or special observation for the intended destination is received, the pilot crew is informed so that information can be studied at the pilot's discretion. The pilot crew is also immediately alerted when a severe weather notice, AIRMET or SIGMET, is received. The cockpit weather display shares a multicolor eight inch cathode ray tube and overlaid touch panel with a pilot crew data link interface. Touch sensitive buttons and areas are used for pilot selection of graphical and data link displays. Time critical ATC messages are presented in a small window that overlays other displays so that immediate pilot alerting and action can be taken. Predeparture and reroute clearances are displayed on the graphical weather system so pilot review of weather along the route can be accomplished prior to pilot acceptance of the clearance. An ongoing multiphase test series is planned for testing and modifying the graphical weather system. Preliminary data shows that the nine test subjects considered the graphical presentation to be much better than their current weather information source for situation awareness, flight safety, and reroute decision making.

Scanlon, Charles H.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Joint Acceptance Attenuation Factor of Integrated Pressure with Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint Measurements

The Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) is widely used to measure the surface pressure of scaled models in wind tunnel tests. Compared to the conventional pressure transducers, uPSP has the advantage of high spatial resolution. With multiple high-speed Complementary Metal Oxide Superconductor (CMOS) cameras, the uPSP data collected with the camera pixels are mapped to the surface grid of the scaled model and converted to pressure. The shot noise is the dominant component of the noise in the uPSP measurement. The integrated pressure is usually computed on the grid nodes of a user-defined patch. The effect of shot noise is reduced in the integrated pressure on the patch; however, the measurement of the aerodynamic pressure may also be attenuated by the decorrelation of the flow pressure field being measured. This paper discusses the Joint Acceptance Attenuation Factor (JAAF) of the integrated pressure with uPSP measurements. The JAAF, a function of frequency, is defined as the ratio of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the integrated aerodynamic pressure on the patch to the average PSD of the aerodynamic pressure on the grid nodes of the patch. In this paper, the JAAF is investigated for the integrated pressure on rectangular patches, whose edges are defined in the direction along the streamline or across the streamline. Based on the assumption that the surface pressure field can be described by the Corcos model, the closed-form formulas to compute the JAAFs of the integrated pressure on the discrete grid nodes of a rectangular patch and over the continuous area of a rectangular patch are derived respectively. It is shown that the JAAF of the integrated pressure over the continuous area of a rectangular patch is the limit of that on discrete nodes of the rectangular patch when the number of nodes in each row or column goes to infinity. The closed-form formulas of the JAAF derived in this paper, with estimated parameters of the model, are verified with the measurements of the uPSP and the conventional pressure transducer collected in the Space Launch System Ascent Unsteady Aerodynamics Test at NASA Ames Research Center in November 2017. The closed-form formulas of the JAAF of the integrated pressure on the rectangular patches, based on the Corcos model, provide an efficient method to estimate the attenuation of integration by the decorrelation of the flow pressure field and set references for the comparison of the spectrum of the integrated uPSP measurements and the conventional pressure transducer measurements. The work described in this paper is a part of NASA’s development of a new state-of-the-art uPSP capability in production wind tunnels. Funding was provided by the NASA Aerosciences Evaluation and Test Capabilities Portfolio Office.

acoustics↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Joint Acceptance Attenuation Factor of Integrated Pressure with Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint Measurements

The Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) is widely used to measure the surface pressure of scaled models in wind tunnel tests. Compared to the conventional pressure transducers, uPSP has the advantage of high spatial resolution. With multiple high-speed Complementary Metal Oxide Superconductor (CMOS) cameras, the uPSP data collected with the camera pixels are mapped to the surface grid of the scaled model and converted to pressure. The shot noise is the dominant component of the noise in the uPSP measurement. The integrated pressure is usually computed on the grid nodes of a user-defined patch. The effect of shot noise is reduced in the integrated pressure on the patch; however, the measurement of the aerodynamic pressure may also be attenuated by the decorrelation of the flow pressure field being measured. This paper discusses the Joint Acceptance Attenuation Factor (JAAF) of the integrated pressure with uPSP measurements. The JAAF, a function of frequency, is defined as the ratio of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the integrated aerodynamic pressure on the patch to the average PSD of the aerodynamic pressure on the grid nodes of the patch. In this paper, the JAAF is investigated for the integrated pressure on rectangular patches, whose edges are defined in the direction along the streamline or across the streamline. Based on the assumption that the surface pressure field can be described by the Corcos model, the closed-form formulas to compute the JAAFs of the integrated pressure on the discrete grid nodes of a rectangular patch and over the continuous area of a rectangular patch are derived respectively. It is shown that the JAAF of the integrated pressure over the continuous area of a rectangular patch is the limit of that on discrete nodes of the rectangular patch when the number of nodes in each row or column goes to infinity. The closed-form formulas of the JAAF derived in this paper, with estimated parameters of the model, are verified with the measurements of the uPSP and the conventional pressure transducer collected in the Space Launch System Ascent Unsteady Aerodynamics Test at NASA Ames Research Center in November 2017. The closed-form formulas of the JAAF of the integrated pressure on the rectangular patches, based on the Corcos model, provide an efficient method to estimate the attenuation of integration by the decorrelation of the flow pressure field and set references for the comparison of the spectrum of the integrated uPSP measurements and the conventional pressure transducer measurements. The work described in this paper is a part of NASA’s development of a new state-of-the-art uPSP capability in production wind tunnels. Funding was provided by the NASA Aerosciences Evaluation and Test Capabilities Portfolio Office.

acoustics↗

NASA NTRS1977

Production of a water quality map of Saginaw Bay by computer processing of LANDSAT-2 data

Surface truth and LANDSAT measurements collected July 31, 1975, for Saginaw Bay were used to demonstrate a technique for producing a color coded water quality map. On this map, color was used as a code to quantify five discrete ranges in the following water quality parameters: (1) temperature, (2) Secchi depth, (3) chloride, (4) conductivity, (5) total Kjeldahl nitrogen, (6) total phosphorous, (7)chlorophyll a, (8) total solids and (9) suspended solids. The LANDSAT and water quality relationship was established through the use of a set of linear regression equations where the water quality parameters are the dependent variables and LANDSAT measurements are the independent variables. Although the procedure is scene and surface truth dependent, it provides both a basis for extrapolating water quality parameters from point samples to unsampled areas and a synoptic view of water mass boundaries over the 3000 sq. km bay area made from one day's ship data that is superior, in many ways, to the traditional machine contoured maps made from three day's ship data.

Mckeon, J. B.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) [SWR-16-18]

The Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) is used to compute cloudy irradiance. Radiative transfer (RT) models simulating broadband solar radiation have been widely used by atmospheric scientists to model solar resources for various energy applications such as operational forecasting. Due to the complexity of solving the RT equation, the computation under cloudy conditions can be extremely time consuming though many approximations (e.g. two-stream approach and delta-M truncation scheme) have been utilized. Thus, a more efficient RT model is crucial for model developers as a new option for approximating solar radiation at the land surface with minimal loss of accuracy. We have developed a fast all-sky radiation model for solar applications (FARMS) using the simplified clear-sky RT model, REST2, and simulated cloud transmittances and reflectances from the Rapid Radiation Transfer Model (RRTM) with a sixteen-stream Discrete Ordinates Radiative Transfer (DISORT). Simulated lookup tables (LUTs) of cloud transmittances and reflectances were created by varying cloud optical thicknesses, cloud particle sizes, and solar zenith angles. Equations with optimized parameters were fitted to the cloud transmittances and reflectances to develop the model. Using this model the all-sky solar irradiance at the land surface can be computed rapidly by combining REST2 with the cloud transmittances and reflectances. This new RT model is more than 1000 times faster than those currently utilized in solar resource assessment and forecasting since it does not explicitly solve the RT equation for each individual cloud condition. Our results indicate the accuracy of the fast radiative transfer model is comparable to or better than two-stream approximation in term of computing cloud transmittance and solar radiation.

Xie, Yu↗

DOE OSTI2023

Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) 2023 [SWR-16-18]

The Fast All-sky Radiation Model for Solar applications (FARMS) is used to compute cloudy irradiance. Radiative transfer (RT) models simulating broadband solar radiation have been widely used by atmospheric scientists to model solar resources for various energy applications such as operational forecasting. Due to the complexity of solving the RT equation, the computation under cloudy conditions can be extremely time consuming though many approximations (e.g. two-stream approach and delta-M truncation scheme) have been utilized. Thus, a more efficient RT model is crucial for model developers as a new option for approximating solar radiation at the land surface with minimal loss of accuracy. We have developed a fast all-sky radiation model for solar applications (FARMS) using the simplified clear-sky RT model, REST2, and simulated cloud transmittances and reflectances from the Rapid Radiation Transfer Model (RRTM) with a sixteen-stream Discrete Ordinates Radiative Transfer (DISORT). Simulated lookup tables (LUTs) of cloud transmittances and reflectances were created by varying cloud optical thicknesses, cloud particle sizes, and solar zenith angles. Equations with optimized parameters were fitted to the cloud transmittances and reflectances to develop the model. Using this model the all-sky solar irradiance at the land surface can be computed rapidly by combining REST2 with the cloud transmittances and reflectances. This new RT model is more than 1000 times faster than those currently utilized in solar resource assessment and forecasting since it does not explicitly solve the RT equation for each individual cloud condition. Our results indicate the accuracy of the fast radiative transfer model is comparable to or better than two-stream approximation in term of computing cloud transmittance and solar radiation.

Xie, Yu↗

NASA NTRS1990

Scattering of impact wave by a crack in composite plate

The surface responses due to impact load on an infinite uniaxial graphite/epoxy plate with and without delamination cracks are investigated both in time and frequency domain by using a hybrid method combining the finite element discretization of the near-field with boundary integral representation of the field outside a contour enclosing completely the crack. This combined method leads to a set of linear unsymmetric complex matrix equations which are solved to obtain the response in the frequency domain by biconjugate gradient method. The time domain response is then obtained by using an FFT. In order to capture the time-domain characteristics accurately, high order finite elements have been used. Also, both the six node singular elements and eight node transition elements are used around the crack tips to model the crack-tip singularity. It is shown that from the numerical results for surface responses both depth and length of this crack can be identified.

Ju, T. H.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Detection of surface water temperature variations of Mongolian lakes benefiting from the spatially and temporally gap-filled MODIS data

Lakes provide critical water resources for human activities and ecosystems, particularly in the Mongolian Plateau (MP), which is characterized by a dry climate and a harsh environment. As a region that is sensitive to anthropogenic warming, tracking lake surface water temperature (LSWT) changes in Mongolian lakes is crucial for understanding the consequences of a warming climate on lake ecosystems. However, the long-term monitoring of LSWT is restricted by the spatiotemporal gaps in the raw imagery of remote sensing-based land surface temperature (LST), e.g., the commonly used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST products. This study applied an improved gap-filling method by utilizing the discrete cosine transform-based penalized least squares (DCT-PLS) strategy in the spatial domain combined with the linear interpolation (LI) algorithm in the temporal domain. The method was applied to fill gaps in the LSWT imagery of 12 representative lakes across MP. The randomly sampled high-quality MODIS LSWT values in the spatial and temporal domains were excavated as false data gaps and considered “virtual true” validation datasets. The spatial validation results showed that the estimated LSWT for all the lake cases were comparable with the “virtual true” LSWT values, with the average values of the coefficient of determination, mean absolute error, mean square error, and root mean square error being 0.98, 0.38 °C, 0.45 °C, and 0.59 °C, respectively. Meanwhile, the error of nighttime LSWT results was relatively lower than that of daytime LSWT. For temporal interpolation validation, the LI algorithm exhibited relatively better performance and could more objectively indicate the variation in LSWT. Benefiting from the spatially and temporally well-constrained data, we analyzed the interannual and intra-annual change characteristics of the LSWTs of the 12 lakes. The long-term variations of annual and seasonal mean LSWTs in the 12 selected lakes exhibited no evident trends in 2000–2020, while presented apparent interannual fluctuations. The slight changes in the average LSWTs of the 12 selected lakes were in excellent synchronization with the surrounding LST derived from the reanalysis datasets, confirming the widely reported phenomenon of “global warming hiatus” that occurred in the early 21st century. This study improves the understanding of the LSWT variations in Mongolian lakes in response to global climate change. It has the potential to provide an effective approach for monitoring LSWT changes in other large-scale studies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1974

Lateral conduction effects on heat-transfer data obtained with the phase-change paint technique

A computerized tool, CAPE, (Conduction Analysis Program using Eigenvalues) has been developed to account for lateral heat conduction in wind tunnel models in the data reduction of the phase-change paint technique. The tool also accounts for the effects of finite thickness (thin wings) and surface curvature. A special reduction procedure using just one time of melt is also possible on leading edges. A novel iterative numerical scheme was used, with discretized spatial coordinates but analytic integration in time, to solve the inverse conduction problem involved in the data reduction. A yes-no chart is provided which tells the test engineer when various corrections are large enough so that CAPE should be used. The accuracy of the phase-change paint technique in the presence of finite thickness and lateral conduction is also investigated.

Maise, G.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Acoustic pressures emanating from a turbomachine stage

A knowledge of the acoustic energy emission of each blade row of a turbomachine is useful for estimating the overall noise level of the machine and for determining its discrete frequency noise content. Because of the close spacing between the rotor and stator of a compressor stage, the strong aerodynamic interactions between them have to be included in obtaining the resultant flow field. A three dimensional theory for determining the discrete frequency noise content of an axial compressor consisting of a rotor and a stator each with a finite number of blades are outlined. The lifting surface theory and the linearized equation of an ideal, nonsteady compressible fluid motion are used for thin blades of arbitrary cross section. The combined pressure field at a point of the fluid is constructed by linear addition of the rotor and stator solutions together with an interference factor obtained by matching them for net zero vorticity behind the stage.

Ramachandra, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Finite element techniques for the Navier-Stokes equations in the primitive variable formulation and the vorticity stream-function formulation

Finite element procedures for the Navier-Stokes equations in the primitive variable formulation and the vorticity stream-function formulation have been implemented. For both formulations, streamline-upwind/Petrov-Galerkin techniques are used for the discretization of the transport equations. The main problem associated with the vorticity stream-function formulation is the lack of boundary conditions for vorticity at solid surfaces. Here an implicit treatment of the vorticity at no-slip boundaries is incorporated in a predictor-multicorrector time integration scheme. For the primitive variable formulation, mixed finite-element approximations are used. A nine-node element and a four-node + bubble element have been implemented. The latter is shown to exhibit a checkerboard pressure mode and a numerical treatment for this spurious pressure mode is proposed. The two methods are compared from the points of view of simulating internal and external flows and the possibilities of extensions to three dimensions.

Glaisner, F.↗

NASA NTRS1991

An application specific integrated circuit based multi-anode microchannel array readout system

Size reduction of two new multi-anode microchannel array (MAMA) readout systems is described. The systems are based on two analog and one digital application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The new readout systems reduce volume over previous discrete designs by 80 percent while improving electrical performance on virtually every significant parameter. Emphasis is made on the packaging used to achieve the volume reduction. Surface mount technology (SMT) is combined with modular construction for the analog portion of the readout. SMT reliability concerns and the board area impact of MIL SPEC SMT components is addressed. Package selection for the analog ASIC is discussed. Future sytems will require even denser packaging and the volume reduction progression is shown.

Smeins, Larry G.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Stress Recovery and Error Estimation for Shell Structures

The Penalized Discrete Least-Squares (PDLS) stress recovery (smoothing) technique developed for two dimensional linear elliptic problems is adapted here to three-dimensional shell structures. The surfaces are restricted to those which have a 2-D parametric representation, or which can be built-up of such surfaces. The proposed strategy involves mapping the finite element results to the 2-D parametric space which describes the geometry, and smoothing is carried out in the parametric space using the PDLS-based Smoothing Element Analysis (SEA). Numerical results for two well-known shell problems are presented to illustrate the performance of SEA/PDLS for these problems. The recovered stresses are used in the Zienkiewicz-Zhu a posteriori error estimator. The estimated errors are used to demonstrate the performance of SEA-recovered stresses in automated adaptive mesh refinement of shell structures. The numerical results are encouraging. Further testing involving more complex, practical structures is necessary.

Yazdani, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Complex Volume Grid Generation Through the Use of Grid Reusability

This paper presents a set of surface and volume grid generation techniques which reuse existing surface and volume grids. These methods use combinations of data manipulations to reduce grid generation time, improve grid characteristics, and increase the capabilities of existing domain discretization software. The manipulation techniques utilize physical and computational domains to produce basis function on which to operate and modify grid character and smooth grids using Trans-Finite Interpolation, a vector interpolation method and parametric re-mapping technique. With these new techniques, inviscid grids can be converted to viscous grids, multiple zone grid adaption can be performed to improve CFD solver efficiency, and topological changes to improve modeling of flow fields can be done simply and quickly. Examples of these capabilities are illustrated as applied to various configurations.

Alter, Stephen J.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Towards Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Using an Immersed Boundary Overset Grid Method

Traditional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes grid methods applied to aerodynamic shapeoptimization can struggle with the deformation of surface and volume grids at componentintersections, such as at wing-fuselage junctions. To overcome this, we propose an approachwhich utilizes curvilinear overset grids for the discretization of the domain, with the presenceof the body modeled using an immersed boundary method. This approach handles complexgeometries without the need for their explicit integration into the grid. The goal of this approachis to reduce grid generation time and allow for greater geometric freedom for component-basedaerodynamic shape optimization. Two different methods are presented: a source-term-basedand a ghost-node-based immersed boundary method. Flow analyses and adjoint solutionsobtained using the proposed methods show promising comparisons with standard body-fittedgrid methods. Preliminary aerodynamic shape optimization results obtained using one of theimmersed boundary methods are also presented.

TTT↗

DOE OSTI2025

Stokes-dependent droplet collection efficiency on a NACA 0012 airfoil from droplet-informed simulations with statistical overloading

Accurate modelling of ice accretion on aircraft wings requires analysing droplet impingement on the surface to optimize the design of ice-protection systems. We perform Euler–Lagrange simulations of a droplet-laden flow impinging on a NACA 0012 airfoil. Our study includes water droplets with eight discrete sizes ranging from 1 to 160 microns. We vary the free-stream velocity of the incoming airflow in the range 60 ≤ U ≤ 240 m s −1 and the chord length of the airfoil in the range 0.5 ≤ c ≤ 2 m. Due to the dilute nature of supercooled clouds, one-way coupling is used in the simulations. The effects of droplet breakup and collision are also neglected. To reduce the computational cost, we employ statistical overloading of droplets, allowing us to simulate millions of impinging droplets in a time span on the order of milliseconds. Our results show that the droplet collection efficiency, which measures the likelihood of droplet impingement on the airfoil surface, increases with droplet size and free-stream velocity but decreases with airfoil size. We demonstrate that collection efficiency, impingement velocity and impingement angle are primarily dictated by a single non-dimensional parameter, the droplet Stokes number. We also identify a critical stagnation-streamline Stokes number below which impingements do not occur and use it to estimate the minimum droplet size for impingement. In addition, we observe droplet behaviour to become Stokes number independent at large values of the Stokes number. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Heat and mass transfer in frost and ice’.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗