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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 91 records · Page 5

Multiphysics Thermal-Fluid Analysis of a Non-Nuclear Tester for Hot-Hydrogen Materials Development

The objective of this effort is to analyze the thermal field of a non-nuclear tester, as a first step towards developing efficient and accurate multiphysics, thermo-fluid computational methodology to predict environments for hypothetical solid-core, nuclear thermal engine thrust chamber design and analysis. The computational methodology is based on a multidimensional, finite-volume, turbulent, chemically reacting, radiating, unstructured-grid, and pressure-based formulation. The multiphysics invoked in this study include hydrogen dissociation kinetics and thermodynamics, turbulent flow, convective, radiative and conjugate heat transfers.

Wang, Ten-See↗

Development of a Display Tool to Quality Control Weather Balloon Data for Space Launch Vehicles Using Python

Continuous atmospheric data analysis is an important factor for space launch vehicle design and operations. The balloon quality control tool was developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Natural Environments Branch (NEB) for monitoring quality control processes and verifying the automated flags created on the balloon data sets analyzed. The data sets currently analyzed are comprised of high-resolution and low-resolution balloon data from NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC), co-located on the United States Air Force’s Eastern range (ER) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The NEB was tasked to perform a quality assessment of these data sets and needed a tool to confirm the quality control (QC) flags produced from an automated process and add additional QC flags if necessary. This Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed to visualize all of the data from these balloon sets, display any flags from the automated QC process, and add additional flags to variables if necessary. The GUI was developed in Python 3.6 utilizing different packages available such as pandas for data analysis and manipulation, NumPy for high-performance multidimensional array and tools to compute with and manipulate arrays, Matplotlib for plotting data and Tkinter to build the GUI.

Jessica K Headley↗

Development of a Display Tool to Quality Control Weather Balloon Data for Space Launch Vehicles

Continuous atmospheric data analysis is an important factor for space launch vehicle design and operations. The balloon quality control tool was developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Natural Environments Branch (NEB) for monitoring quality control processes and verifying the automated flags created on the balloon data sets analyzed. The data sets currently analyzed are comprised of high-resolution and low-resolution balloon data from NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC), co-located on the United States Air Force’s Eastern range (ER) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The NEB was tasked to perform a quality assessment of these data sets and needed a tool to confirm the quality control (QC) flags produced from an automated process and add additional QC flags if necessary. This Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed to visualize all of the data from these balloon sets, display any flags from the automated QC process, and add additional flags to variables if necessary. The GUI was developed in Python 3.6 utilizing different packages available such as pandas for data analysis and manipulation, NumPy for high-performance multidimensional array and tools to compute with and manipulate arrays, Matplotlib for plotting data and Tkinter to build the GUI.

Jessica K Headley↗

Mapping Arid Vegetation Species Distributions in the White Mountains, Eastern California, Using AVIRIS, Topography, and Geology

Our challenge is to model plant species distributions in complex montane environments using disparate sources of data, including topography, geology, and hyperspectral data. From an ecologist's point of view, species distributions are determined by local environment and disturbance history, while spectral data are 'ancillary.' However, a remote sensor's perspective says that spectral data provide picture of what vegetation is there, topographic and geologic data are ancillary. In order to bridge the gap, all available data should be used to get the best possible prediction of species distributions using complex multivariate techniques implemented on a GIS. Vegetation reflects local climatic and nutrient conditions, both of which can be modeled, allowing predictive mapping of vegetation distributions. Geologic substrate strongly affects chemical, thermal, and physical properties of soils, while climatic conditions are determined by local topography. As elevation increases, precipitation increases and temperature decreases. Aspect, slope, and surrounding topography determine potential insolation, so that south-facing slopes are warmer and north-facing slopes cooler at a given elevation. Topographic position (ridge, slope, canyon, or meadow) and slope angle affect sediment accumulation and soil depth. These factors combine as complex environmental gradients, and underlie many features of plant distributions. Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data, digital elevation models, digitized geologic maps, and 378 ground control points were used to predictively map species distributions in the central and southern White Mountains, along the western boundary of the Basin and Range province. Minimum Noise Fraction (MNF) bands were calculated from the visible and near-infrared AVIRIS bands, and combined with digitized geologic maps and topographic variables using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). CCA allows for modeling species 'envelopes' in multidimensional environmental space, which can then be projected across entire landscapes.

VandeVen, C.↗

Numerical analysis of ignition transients in solid rocket motors

A model to analyze the unstready multidimensional turbulent flow in the head-end, star slot section of a solid rocket motor during the ignition transient is developed. The present paper examines the fluid dynamic aspects of the starting transient. A finite-difference solution of the unsteady, compressible, full Navier-Stokes equations, together with a two-equation k-epsilon turbulence model, is obtained utilizing the MacCormack explicit, predictor-corrector technique. Computed results for the flow in the slot are compared with experimental data obtained in cold flow tests of a scaled model of the Space Shuttle SRM head-end, star grain section. The agreement between the calculated flowfield and existing experimental data is very good.

Ciucci, A.↗

The Measurement of Radiation Exposure of Astronauts by Radiochemical Techniques

The principal gamma-ray-omitting radioisotopes produced in the body of astronauts by cosmic-ray bombardment which have half-lives long enough to be useful for radiation dose evaluation are Be-7, Na-22, and Na-24. The sodium isotopes were measured in the preflight and postflight urine and feces, and those feces specimens collected during the manned Apollo missions, by analysis of the urine salts and the raw feces in large crystal multidimensional gamma-ray spectrometers. The Be-7 was chemically separated, and its concentration measured in an all Na(T1), anticoincidence shielded, scintillation well crystal. The overall sensitivity of the experiment was reduced by almost all variables such as low concentrations of excreted cosmogenic radionuclides, high concentrations of injected radionuclides, low sample sizes, long delay periods before analysis, and uncertain excretion rates. The astronaut radiation dose in millirads, as determined by this technique, for the Apollo 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 missions was 330, 160, 315, 870 ? 550, 31, 110, and 250 respectively. In view of these limitations this technique would be best applied to cases of unusually high exposures, such as that encountered from solar flares.

R L Brodzinski↗

Evaluation of innovative rocket engines for single-stage earth-to-orbit vehicles

Computer models of rocket engines and single-stage-to-orbit vehicles that were developed by the authors at DFVLR and NASA have been combined. The resulting code consists of engine mass, performance, trajectory and vehicle sizing models. The engine mass model includes equations for each subsystem and describes their dependences on various propulsion parameters. The engine performance model consists of multidimensional sets of theoretical propulsion properties and a complete thermodynamic analysis of the engine cycle. The vehicle analyses include an optimized trajectory analysis, mass estimation, and vehicle sizing. A vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing, single-stage, winged, manned, fully reusable vehicle with a payload capability of 13.6 Mg (30,000 lb) to low earth orbit was selected. Hydrogen, methane, propane, and dual-fuel engines were studied with staged-combustion, gas-generator, dual bell, and the dual-expander cycles. Mixture ratio, chamber pressure, nozzle exit pressure liftoff acceleration, and dual fuel propulsive parameters were optimized.

Manski, Detlef↗

Generalized multi-point inverse airfoil design

In a rather general sense, inverse airfoil design can be taken to mean the problem of specifying a desired set of airfoil characteristics, such as the airfoil maximum thickness ratio, pitching moment, part of the velocity distribution or boundary-layer development, etc., then from this information determine the corresponding airfoil shape. This paper presents a method which approaches the design problem from this perspective. In particular, the airfoil is divided into segments along which, together with the design conditions, either the velocity distribution or boundary-layer development may be prescribed. In addition to these local desired distributions, single parameters like the airfoil thickness can be specified. The problem of finding the airfoil shape is determined by coupling an incompressible, inviscid, inverse airfoil design method with a direct integral boundary-layer analysis method and solving the resulting nonlinear equations via a multidimensional Newton iteration technique. The approach is fast and easily allows for interactive design. It is also flexible and could be adapted to solving compressible, inverse airfoil design problems.

Selig, Michael S.↗

An expert system/ion trap mass spectrometry approach for life support systems monitoring

Efforts to develop sensor and control system technology to monitor air quality for life support have resulted in the development and preliminary testing of a concept based on expert systems and ion trap mass spectrometry (ITMS). An ITMS instrument provides the capability to identify and quantitate a large number of suspected contaminants at trace levels through the use of a variety of multidimensional experiments. An expert system provides specialized knowledge for control, analysis, and decision making. The system is intended for real-time, on-line, autonomous monitoring of air quality. The key characteristics of the system, performance data and analytical capabilities of the ITMS instrument, the design and operation of the expert system, and results from preliminary testing of the system for trace contaminant monitoring are described.

Palmer, Peter T.↗

Generation of Boundary Manikin Anthropometry

The purpose of this study was to develop 3D digital boundary manikins that are representative of the anthropometry of a unique population. These digital manikins can be used by designers to verify and validate that the components of the spacesuit design satisfy the requirements specified in the Human Systems Integration Requirements (HSIR) document. Currently, the HSIR requires the suit to accommodate the 1st percentile American female to the 99th percentile American male. The manikin anthropometry was derived using two methods: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Whole Body Posture Based Analysis (WBPBA). PCA is a statistical method for reducing a multidimensional data set by using eigenvectors and eigenvalues. The goal is to create a reduced data set that encapsulates the majority of the variation in the population. WBPBA is a multivariate analytical approach that was developed by the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) to identify the extremes of the population for a given body posture. WBPBA is a simulation-based method that finds extremes in a population based on anthropometry and posture whereas PCA is based solely on anthropometry. Both methods yield a list of subjects and their anthropometry from the target population; PCA resulted in 20 female and 22 male subjects anthropometry and WBPBA resulted in 7 subjects' anthropometry representing the extreme subjects in the target population. The subjects anthropometry is then used to 'morph' a baseline digital scan of a person with the same body type to create a 3D digital model that can be used as a tool for designers, the details of which will be discussed in subsequent papers.

Young, Karen S.↗

Numerical Analysis Of Flows With FIDAP

Report presents an evaluation of accuracy of Fluid Dynamics Package (FIDAP) computer program. Finite-element code for analysis of flows of incompressible fluids and transfers of heat in multidimensional domains. Includes both available methods for treatment of spurious numerical coupling between simulated velocity and simulated pressure; namely, penalty method and mixed-interpolation method with variable choices of interpolation polynomials for velocity and pressure. Streamwise upwind (STU) method included as option for flows dominated by convection.

Sohn, Jeong L.↗

Analysis of ignition and flame spreading in the Space Shuttle head-end star grain

A model to analyze the unsteady, multidimensional, turbulent flow in the head-end, star slot section of a solid rocket motor (SRM) during ignition transients is presented. This paper examines the complex interactions between the expanding igniter plume, the flow field within the star slot, the heat transfer to the solid propellant, ignition of the propellant, and subsequent flame spreading across the surface of the grain in the slot. The analysis provides a description of the ignition transient sequence from the onset of igniter flow to complete ignition of the head-end star slot region of the SRM.

Ciucci, A.↗

The measurement of radiation exposure of astronauts by radiochemical techniques

The principal gamma-ray emitting radioisotopes, produced in the body of astronauts by cosmic-ray bombardment, which have half-lives long enough to be useful for radiation dose evaluation, are Be-7, Na-22, and Na-24. The sodium isotopes were measured in the preflight and postflight urine and feces, and those feces specimens collected during the manned Apollo missions, by analysis of the urine salts and the raw feces in large crystal multidimensional gamma-ray spectrometers. The Be-7 was chemically separated, and its concentration measured in an all NaI (TL), anticoincidence shielded, scintillation well crystal. The astronaut radiation dose in millirads, as determined for the Apollo 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 missions, was 330, 160, smaller than 315, 870 plus or minus 550, 31, 110, and smaller than 250, respectively.

Brodzinski, R. L.↗

Multidimensional aspects: Ozone, temperature and transport

The capability for obtaining four-dimensional data on stratospheric structure, dynamics, and zone is discussed. Progress in the development of multidimensional models of the stratosphere is reported. The discussion of multidimensional aspects of the stratosphere is divided into four major sections: observations, analysis and interpretation, modeling, and transport of trace species.

Source record↗

Multidimensional scaling informed by F -statistic: Visualizing grouped microbiome data with inference

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a widely used dimensionality reduction technique in microbial ecology data analysis that captures the multivariate structure of the data while preserving pairwise distances between samples. While improvements in MDS have enhanced the ability to reveal group-specific data patterns, these MDS-based methods require prior assumptions for inference, limiting their application in general microbiome analysis. Here, in this study, we introduce a new MDS-based ordination method, “F-informed MDS,” which configures the data distribution based on the F-statistic, the ratio of dispersion between groups sharing common and different characteristics. Using semisynthetic datasets, we demonstrate that the proposed method is robust to hyperparameter selection while maintaining statistical significance throughout the ordination process. Various quality metrics for evaluating dimensionality reduction confirm that F-informed MDS is comparable to state-of-the-art methods in preserving both local and global data structures. Its application to a diatom-associated bacterial community suggests the role of this new method in interpreting the community’s response to the host. Our approach offers a well-founded refinement of MDS that aligns with statistical test results, which can be beneficial for broader multidimensional data analyses in microbiology and ecology. This new visualization tool can be incorporated into standard microbiome data analyses.

Biological and medical sciences↗

Behaviour of nitric oxide trails deposited in the mesosphere and stratosphere

The transient behavior of a nitric oxide trail deposited at approximately 60 km altitude is studied by the solution of the appropriate multidimensional diffusion equation which includes terms representing the effects of wind shear. Similar analysis is then carried out for the situation in the stratosphere. Trail behavior is found to be relatively independent of altitude and background ozone, but strongly dependent on the magnitude of eddy diffusity and the initial nitric oxide concentration. The nitric oxide trail reacts with ambient ozone to form nitrogen dioxide. For a trail 100 m initial radius, an ozone hole will form to a maximum size in 4 to 6 hours and then decay. The overall recovery time of the atmosphere following the creation of the trail is less than 12 hours.

Eberstein, I. J.↗

Thermochemical erosion

A quasi-steady multidimensional Stefan problem is treated by means of similarity, asymptotic methods, and numerical analysis. The continuous wearing away of a solid 'erodee' is effected by gradual consumption of a solid 'eroder'. In the process under study, the erodee melts and the (liquid) melt diffuses to the eroder, where an exothermic, indefinitely rapid, diffusion-controlled surface reaction occurs. The products of reaction convey some of the chemically-generated heat to the surface of the erodee, so that further melting may occur, and the process may proceed. The analysis seeks to estimate the quasi-steady rates of consumption of the erodee and eroder, for the (convenient) self-similar case of confocal parabolas defining the boundaries of the melt layer. The analysis is simplified by observing that the flow is of lubrication-theory type: creeping, primarily unidirectional motion owing to the thinness of the melt layer between the erodee and eroder, with diffusion of heat and mass predominantly perpendicular to the principal motion. The analysis is completed by consideration of the force balance on the eroder.

Butler, Gerald↗

From dynamics to kinetics for the dissociation of •QOOH radicals derived from isopentane

Thermal dissociation rates for hydroperoxyalkyl (•QOOH) radicals are challenging to measure due to their inherent instability. Recent dynamics experiments have demonstrated that in situ synthesis of •QOOH radicals in a supersonic expansion in combination with IR action spectroscopy provides an effective route to accurately map their energy-resolved dissociation rates. Collaborative theoretical analyses provide a route for converting from those microcanonical rates to accurate temperature- and pressure-dependent thermal rate constants. Here, we present the results of this conversion for the dissociation of two isopentyl β-QOOH isomers of relevance to isopentane oxidation. The results are compared with existing literature values, as well as with results obtained in a similar fashion for related •QOOH systems. Extrapolations from benchmark calculations of barrier properties for smaller systems to accurate predictions for larger systems and multidimensional hindered rotor treatments are both shown to be important components of the theoretical analysis. For completeness, we extend the theoretical analysis to a treatment of the full RO 2 /QOOH system for isopentyl (1,1-dimethyl-propyl) radical.

Ab initio kinetics↗