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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 847 records · Page 47
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NASA NTRS2014

Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research: Phase II- Volume III-Truss Braced Wing Aeroelastic Test Report

This Test Report summarizes the Truss Braced Wing (TBW) Aeroelastic Test (Task 3.1) work accomplished by the Boeing Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) team, which includes the time period of February 2012 through June 2014. The team consisted of Boeing Research and Technology, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Virginia Tech, and NextGen Aeronautics. The model was fabricated by NextGen Aeronautics and designed to meet dynamically scaled requirements from the sized full scale TBW FEM. The test of the dynamically scaled SUGAR TBW half model was broken up into open loop testing in December 2013 and closed loop testing from January 2014 to April 2014. Results showed the flutter mechanism to primarily be a coalescence of 2nd bending mode and 1st torsion mode around 10 Hz, as predicted by analysis. Results also showed significant change in flutter speed as angle of attack was varied. This nonlinear behavior can be explained by including preload and large displacement changes to the structural stiffness and mass matrices in the flutter analysis. Control laws derived from both test system ID and FEM19 state space models were successful in suppressing flutter. The control laws were robust and suppressed flutter for a variety of Mach, dynamic pressures, and angle of attacks investigated.

Bradley, Marty K.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Flight Services and Aircraft Access: Active Flow Control Vertical Tail and Insect Accretion and Mitigation Flight Test

This document serves as the final report for the Flight Services and Aircraft Access task order NNL14AA57T as part of NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project ITD12A+. It includes descriptions of flight test preparations and execution for the Active Flow Control (AFC) Vertical Tail and Insect Accretion and Mitigation (IAM) experiments conducted on the 757 ecoDemonstrator. For the AFC Vertical Tail, this is the culmination of efforts under two task orders. The task order was managed by Boeing Research & Technology and executed by an enterprise-wide Boeing team that included Boeing Research & Technology, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Defense and Space and Boeing Test and Evaluation. Boeing BR&T in St. Louis was responsible for overall Boeing project management and coordination with NASA. The 757 flight test asset was provided and managed by the BCA ecoDemonstrator Program, in partnership with Stifel Aircraft Leasing and the TUI Group. With this report, all of the required deliverables related to management of this task order have been met and delivered to NASA as summarized in Table 1. In addition, this task order is part of a broader collaboration between NASA and Boeing.

Whalen, Edward A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Computational Aeroelastic Analyses of a Low-Boom Supersonic Configuration

An overview of NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology (CST) Aeroservoelasticity (ASE) element is provided with a focus on recent computational aeroelastic analyses of a low-boom supersonic configuration developed by Lockheed-Martin and referred to as the N+2 configuration. The overview includes details of the computational models developed to date including a linear finite element model (FEM), linear unsteady aerodynamic models, unstructured CFD grids, and CFD-based aeroelastic analyses. In addition, a summary of the work involving the development of aeroelastic reduced-order models (ROMs) and the development of an aero-propulso-servo-elastic (APSE) model is provided.

Silva, Walter A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Development of Stitched Composite Structure for Advanced Aircraft

NASA has created the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project to develop technologies which will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. A critical aspect of this pursuit is the development of a lighter, more robust airframe that will enable the introduction of unconventional aircraft configurations. NASA and The Boeing Company are working together to develop a structural concept that is lightweight and an advancement beyond state-of-the-art composites. The Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) is an integrally stiffened panel design where elements are stitched together and designed to maintain residual load-carrying capabilities under a variety of damage scenarios. With the PRSEUS concept, through-the-thickness stitches are applied through dry fabric prior to resin infusion, and replace fasteners throughout each integral panel. Through-the-thickness reinforcement at discontinuities, such as along flange edges, has been shown to suppress delamination and turn cracks, which expands the design space and leads to lighter designs. The pultruded rod provides stiffening away from the more vulnerable skin surface and improves bending stiffness. A series of building blocks were evaluated to explore the fundamental assumptions related to the capability and advantages of PRSEUS panels. These building blocks addressed tension, compression, and pressure loading conditions. The emphasis of the development work has been to assess the loading capability, damage arrestment features, repairability, post-buckling behavior, and response of PRSEUS flat panels to out-of plane pressure loading. The results of this building-block program from coupons through an 80%-scale pressure box have demonstrated the viability of a PRSEUS center body for the Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) transport aircraft. This development program shows that the PRSEUS benefits are also applicable to traditional tube-andwing aircraft, those of advanced configurations, and other structures where weight and through-the-thickness strength are design considerations. An overview of the development of PRSEUS technology for commercial transport aircraft is the subject of this paper.

Jegley, Dawn↗
NASA NTRS2015

Influence of Chair Vibrations on Indoor Sonic Boom Annoyance

One goal of NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project is to identify candidate noise metrics suitable for regulating quiet sonic boom aircraft. A suitable metric must consider the short duration and pronounced low frequency content of sonic booms. For indoor listeners, rattle and creaking sounds and floor and chair vibrations may also be important. The current study examined the effect of such vibrations on the annoyance of test subjects seated indoors. The study involved two chairs exposed to nearly identical acoustic levels: one placed directly on the floor, and the other isolated from floor vibrations by pneumatic elastomeric mounts. All subjects experienced both chairs, sitting in one chair for the first half of the experiment and the other chair for the remaining half. Each half of the experiment consisted of 80 impulsive noises played at the exterior of the sonic boom simulator. When all annoyance ratings were analyzed together there appeared to be no difference in mean annoyance with isolation condition. When the apparent effect of transfer bias was removed, a subtle but measurable effect of vibration on annoyance was identified.

Rathsam, Jonathan↗
NASA NTRS2017

Design and Development of a 200-kW Turbo-Electric Distributed Propulsion Testbed

There a few NASA funded electric and hybrid electric projects from different NASA Centers, including the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) (Edwards, California). Each project identifies a specific technology gap that is currently inhibiting the growth and proliferation of relevant technologies in commercial aviation. This paper describes the design and development of a turbo-electric distributed propulsion (TeDP) hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation bench, which is a test bed for discovering turbo-electric control, distributed electric control, power management control, and integration competencies while providing risk mitigation for future turbo-electric flying demonstrators.

propulsion↗
NASA NTRS2017

Top-Mounted Propulsion Test Plans (TMP17)

NASA recently completed a study of propulsion cycles and nozzle types applicable to a 70-passenger, M1.6 supersonic airliner, paying especial attention to the noise produced during landing and take-off. The results of the study were validated in a model-scale test at NASA Glenn last summer. The findings of that study and test, along with other studies, have resulted in a new strategy for achieving the Commercial Supersonic Technologys goals for noise and performance. Key to that strategy is moving the propulsion to the top-side of the vehicle and modifying the nozzle and inlet to maximally shield the propulsion noise while maintaining efficient operation. Installed exhaust configurations have been designed to minimize the exhaust noise using new acoustic design tools. A test planned for the fall of 2017 will validate both the new design tools and the low-noise concept using a new translating phased array. During the test, questions regarding modifications of convected waves in the jet near-field that are key to new understandings of aft jet noise will be addressed. Also, to better tie rig results to real-world measurements, a model-scale version of a nozzle that was flight tested by Glenn Research Center in 2001 will be tested.

Jet noise↗
NASA NTRS2018

Analysis of Impact of RTC Errors on CTOP Performance

Adoption of CTOPs in airspace has been hampered by a lack of willingness of a majority of airlines to participate in CTOP as there is significant cost in changing workflows and upgrading technology. No commercial vendors are currently offering TOS generation capability. Simpler, cheaper TOS generators may have more errors in RTC specification as compared to sophisticated TOS generators. This study investigates the impact of RTC errors on CTOP performance.

CTOP↗
NASA NTRS2018

Nozzle Plume/Shock Interaction Experimental and Computational Sonic Boom Analyses from the NASA Ames 9- by 7-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel

A wind tunnel test and a computational study were conducted to investigate the complex interactions between a supersonic nozzle plume and shock waves of differing strengths generated from various aft surfaces typical of supersonic aircraft. These analytically-defined aft surfaces were representative of horizontal tails of various sizes, and an aft deck. CFD simulations of many proposed model configurations allowed for assessments of the detailed flow interactions of components in close proximity to the nozzle, as well as assessments of the nozzle jet flow itself. The evaluation of the computational results for many candidate configurations guided the design of model components. The interactions of the waveforms from these surfaces with the jet exhaust plume can have significant adverse effects on the loudness of the sonic boom if the surfaces are not carefully integrated into an aircraft design. The greatest discrepancy in estimating sonic boom loudness for low-boom flight vehicles is currently in predicting the signatures from the aft part of an aircraft, including the interactions with the plume flow. The objectives of this test were to gain a better understanding of these interactions, and to provide a detailed experimental database from multiple sources for use as validation cases for CFD tool development. The subject test was run in the NASA Ames 9- by 7-Ft Supersonic Wind Tunnel in February 2016 at Mach numbers of 1.6 and 2.0, and was funded by the NASA Commercial Supersonics Technology (CST) Project. The nozzle flow was provided by high-pressure air (HPA) pumped through the model, and pressure signature data were acquired with the NASA 14-inch sonic boom pressure rail. The rail measured the locations of the shocks and expansions at various distances and off-track angles from the model. This enabled the impact of the nozzle plume/shock interactions on the near- and mid-field sonic boom pressure waveforms to be quantified. Schlieren images of the flow field around and behind the model were obtained with an RBOS (Retroreflective Background-Oriented Schlieren) technique to determine the origins of the shock and expansion waves, to identify the shape and boundaries of the plume, and to determine the changes in incoming and exiting waveforms within the plume. A total pressure rake was positioned closely behind the model nozzle in order to measure the total pressure profiles of the flow above, within, and below the nozzle exhaust. Model angles and positions in the tunnel were measured by photogrammetry using two cameras since the lack of a model force balance prevented the measurement of model deflections under load.Navier-Stokes computations using two different CFD codes were compared to the experimental sonic boom pressure signature data, and the rake total pressure data in the plume. A computational schlieren technique was used to compare the computed flow field with the RBOS images. The computational results were also used to complement the test data with flow field quantities that could not be measured, such as Mach number and pressure distributions to distinguish shock waves and expansion waves.

sonic boom↗
NASA NTRS2015

Assessment of a National Airspace System Airborne Rerouting Tool

This paper presents the assessment of a National Airspace System airborne rerouting tool. The tool implements NASA’s Dynamic Weather Routes concept for wind-corrected flying-time savings during convective weather activity. A description of the system, as applicable to the entire United States airspace is provided, and results are presented demonstrating benefits of such a system from various Centers and airlines’ perspectives. Three cases for selection of reroute-return capture fix, which prevent unrealistically large controller clearances are presented. Results are shown for potential time- and fuel-savings (over 134,000 minutes and 4.2 million lbs. of fuel for over 35,000 proposed reroutes) and sector congestion reduction (over 121 hours in congested sectors) for all 20 Centers. The data used were for 30 days with highest delays attributable to convective weather from April to October of 2014. Other results show the evaluation of the maneuver or reroute start point (a parameter representing the amount of coordination time needed), which highlight the need for a controller-pilot data link. A data link would help achieve higher savings. The results for persistence time, beyond which the time-savings dwindle quickly, help determine the maximum coordination time required for each Center. Finally, an assessment from a current National Operations Manager at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center of the FAA is documented. Those suggestions could improve the efficiency of the air transportation system, especially with the expected improvements in the traffic flow management infrastructure. Currently, one industry partner and one airline are assessing this technology for commercial operational use.

Benefits Assessment↗
NASA NTRS2019

In-Space Robotic Assembly Joint Characterization Approach

This paper describes the test systems and approaches developed to characterize the performance of a structural joint that is intended for robotic in-space assembly (ISA). The design of the joint is based on a heritage concept from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) originally intended for structural assembly by astronauts during extravehicular activity (EVA). Its design was modified under a public-private partnership and is intended to accelerate the availability of, and reduce costs for the infusion of NASA developed technologies into commercial ISA systems. Test systems were developed to measure the axial, bending, and torsional stiffness of the joint at a wide range of temperatures. A test system was also developed to measure the reliability of the joint in terms of translation and rotation when disassembled and re-assembled in space. These test systems were used to characterize the joint behavior and provide performance data for the iterative joint design process. The paper also lists the lessons learned to aid testing of next generation robotic in-space assembly joints.

Abraham, Nijo A.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Hybrid RANS/LES Simulation of Jet Surface Interaction Noise

NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology (CST) project has formulated a technical challenge to design a quiet propulsion system for a low boom supersonic aircraft that meets Federal Aviation Authority’s airport noise regulations with sufficient margin. Several proposed configurations take advantage of shielding from the wing or other air-frame components. Development of carefully validated computational tools are necessary for critically evaluating installation concepts that are currently being proposed to meet the technical challenge. Semi-empirical models that predict the noise reduction potential of arbitrary shielding surfaces are yet to mature. Another key challenge is the systematic assessment of additional noise from the interaction between high speed jet turbulence and a surface in it’s vicinity. As a first step towards predicting noise reduction due to radical installation concepts from first principles, we simulate the noise generated by a high speed turbulent round jet near a simple planar surface. Detailed comparisons are made with a dedicated experiment conducted at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. Sensitivity of far-field noise predictions to grid resolution is systematically documented. A permeable Ffowcs Williams Hawkings (FWH) surface enclosing both the jet and the shielding surface is used to predict far-field noise from the simulated flowfield. Details of the structured overset grids, numerical discretization, and turbulence model are provided. Near-field comparisons to PIV data and far-field comparisons to microphone array measurements are discussed. Excellent agreement for an initial validation study on an isolated free round jet was obtained and the findings were utilized in the jet surface interaction study. The split between shielded and reflected side of the microphone array was captured with good agreement, as well as the peak in the noise spectra due to scattering of turbulent energy into sound by the trailing edge of the surface.

Stich, Gerrit-Daniel↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

CFD Simulation of an Inward-Turning Supersonic Inlet Unstart at Flight Mach Number 1.7

Interest in inward-turning supersonic inlets renewed during NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project, as a means of reducing disturbances caused by propulsion integration. Inward-turning designs have the potential to greatly reduce the strength of shock waves emanating outward from the nacelle, and therefore their contribution to the overall sonic boom signature. For top-mounted, or over-wing installations, disturbances to aircraft aerodynamics are reduced. The nature of the inward-turning geometry results in a boundary-layer thickening effect, opposite that of the familiar thinning of an outward-turning cone boundary-layer. The application of a small amount of boundary-layer bleed at the throat has been shown to alleviate the negative effects of the boundary-layer on subsonic diffuser performance. Boundary-layer bleed, however, comes at the expense of increased complexity, and external disturbances at bleed exits that would partially defeat the purpose of the inward-turning scheme. Vortex generators were proposed as an alternative to bleed, and an initial CFD study of their effectiveness in this application forms the basis of the present work. A source-term model in the Wind-US CFD code was used to model the effects of an array of vortex generators placed at the entrance to the subsonic diffuser. Baseline results with no vortex generators compared favorably to previously reported results with no bleed at back-pressures near the design point, but stability margin in the present case was limited by a curious non-linear phenomena similar to unstart in mixed-compression inlets. While some improvement was noted with vortex generators, their effectiveness was diminished by the limited stability margin. A time-accurate calculation was subsequently performed to better understand this process. Results of this calculation are presented and instantaneous solutions compared with steady-state, subcritical results previously reported. The stability margin limitation is attributed to the use of a constant-pressure outflow boundary condition, which differed from that used in the prior simulations.

Pre-Compressor Cooling, Water Injection, Hypersoni↗
NASA NTRS1993

Low Cost Spacecraft Computers: Oxymoron or Future Trend?

This paper describes how future trends in commercial computer technology will simplify (or hinder) selection of computer technology for spacecraft control applications, and what spacecraft electronic system designers can do to circumvent design constraints.

spacecraft↗
NASA NTRS2021

Electrochemical System Recovers Hydrogen and Helium for Rocket Engine Tests

SKYRE, Inc. received NASA SBIR and STTR funding to develop electrochemical systems for recovering and compressing gases. SKYRE has worked with Stennis Space Center to advance the company’s Hydrogen Recovery System (HRS) for supplying compressed hydrogen and helium, which are required for rocket engine testing. Through funding from the NASA Civilian Commercialization Readiness Pilot Program, and with business training from the NASA SBIR/STTR I-Corps program, SKYRE has commercialized its technology into two product lines, valuing SBIR/STTR-related revenue at $25 million.

SBIR/STTR↗