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At least 127 records · Page 7

I-deas TMG to NX Space Systems Thermal Model Conversion and Computational Performance Comparison

CAD/CAE packages change on a continuous basis as the power of the tools increase to meet demands. End -users must adapt to new products as they come to market and replace legacy packages. CAE modeling has continued to evolve and is constantly becoming more detailed and complex. Though this comes at the cost of increased computing requirements Parallel processing coupled with appropriate hardware can minimize computation time. Users of Maya Thermal Model Generator (TMG) are faced with transitioning from NX I -deas to NX Space Systems Thermal (SST). It is important to understand what differences there are when changing software packages We are looking for consistency in results.

Thermal Model Generator (TMG)

Statistical methodologies for the control of dynamic remapping

Following an initial mapping of a problem onto a multiprocessor machine or computer network, system performance often deteriorates with time. In order to maintain high performance, it may be necessary to remap the problem. The decision to remap must take into account measurements of performance deterioration, the cost of remapping, and the estimated benefits achieved by remapping. We examine the tradeoff between the costs and the benefits of remapping two qualitatively different kinds of problems. One problem assumes that performance deteriorates gradually, the other assumes that performance deteriorates suddenly. We consider a variety of policies for governing when to remap. In order to evaluate these policies, statistical models of problem behaviors are developed. Simulation results are presented which compare simple policies with computationally expensive optimal decision policies; these results demonstrate that for each problem type, the proposed simple policies are effective and robust.

Saltz, J. H.

A new approach to the pulsed thermocouple for high gas temperature measurements

Pulsed thermocouple systems can be used to measure gas temperatures above the melting point of the thermocouple by various techniques of short term of intermittent exposure of the thermocouple operating at lower temperatures. An approach is described which uses a thermocouple cooled by a small jet of inert gas. When a measurement is to be made, the cooling jet is turned off and the thermocouple allowed to heat up to near its melting point, at which time the cooling is reapplied. The final temperature which the thermocouple should have attained is then calculated by extrapolating an exponential curve fit to the data. Temperature measurements can be recorded and displayed in near real time by using modern high-speed computing systems to perform these calculations. Examples of the technique applied to high temperature jet engine combustor development are presented.

Glawe, G. E.

MIUS community conceptual design study

The feasibility, practicality, and applicability of the modular integrated utility systems (MIUS) concept to a satellite new-community development with a population of approximately 100,000 were analyzed. Two MIUS design options, the 29-MIUS-unit (option 1) and the 8-MIUS-unit (option 2) facilities were considered. Each resulted in considerable resource savings when compared to a conventional utility system. Economic analyses indicated that the total cash outlay and operations and maintenance costs for these two options were considerably less than for a conventional system. Computer analyses performed in support of this study provided corroborative data for the study group. An environmental impact assessment was performed to determine whether the MIUS meets or will meet necessary environmental standards. The MIUS can provide improved efficiency in the conservation of natural resources while not adversely affecting the physical environment.

Fulbright, B. E.

A new approach to the pulsed thermocouple for high gas temperature measurements

Pulsed thermocouple systems can be used to measure gas temperatures above the melting point of the thermocouple by various techniques of short term or intermittent exposure of the thermocouple operating at lower temperatures. This paper describes an approach which uses a thermocouple cooled by a small jet of inert gas. When a measurement is to be made, the cooling jet is turned off and the thermocouple allowed to heat up to near its melting point, at which time the cooling is reapplied. The final temperature which the thermocouple should have attained is then calculated by extrapolating an exponential curve fit to the data. Temperature measurements can be recorded and displayed in near real time by using modern high-speed computing systems to perform these calculations. Examples of the technique applied to high temperature jet engine combustor development are presented.

Glawe, G. E.

Performance evaluation of telecommunication systems using computer simulation

The SYSTID time domain digital simulation technique is reviewed. A technique is illustrated which estimates the signal to noise ratio at a point in the simulation of a communication system. Signals having a lowpass or bandpass spectra are utilized. Simulation results show the technique to be accurate over a wide range of signal to noise ratios. Examples which illustrate application to both analog and digital communication systems are provided.

Tranter, W. H.

Aircraft simulation data management - A prototype system

Piloted flight simulations are used throughout the aircraft development process to evaluate design concepts, handling qualities and operational procedures. Simulation project managers are often inundated with data but without a convenient and efficient way to make the correlations and analyses necessary to evaluate system performance. A computer-based Simulation Management System (SIMS) is under development. SIMS will permit simulation project engineers to quickly acquire, access, display, edit, analyze, and document the information necessary to more efficiently manage the research program. SIMS features interactive, associative access to simulation data. This paper describes SIMDEM, a prototype system designed to demonstrate these concepts and procedures in order to obtain feedback from simulator users to guide system design.

Crane, D. F.

Simulator certification methods and the vertical motion simulator

The vertical motion simulator (VMS) is designed to simulate a variety of experimental helicopter and STOL/VTOL aircraft as well as other kinds of aircraft with special pitch and Z axis characteristics. The VMS includes a large motion base with extensive vertical and lateral travel capabilities, a computer generated image visual system, and a high speed CDC 7600 computer system, which performs aero model calculations. Guidelines on how to measure and evaluate VMS performance were developed. A survey of simulation users was conducted to ascertain they evaluated and certified simulators for use. The results are presented.

Showalter, T. W.

The development of a CFD potential method for the analysis of tilt-rotors

A new CFD potential code, FPX (eXtended Full-Potential), has been developed for application to both helicopters and tilt-rotors. The code solves the unsteady, three-dimensional full potential equation and is an extension of the rotor code, FPR. Both entropy and viscosity corrections are included to enhance the physical modeling capabilities. A number of efficiency related modifications have yielded a factor of two speed-up in the code. An axial flow capability has been added to treat tilt-rotor in forward flight (cruise mode). In order to employ streamwise periodicity and accurately solve for the propagation of acoustic signals in the tip region, an H-H topology has been added to the basic O-H grid system. Computations are performed for the XV-15 Standard and ATB blades at high-speed conditions. Comparisons are made for the blade aerodynamics and the induced fuselage cabin pressure for a range of Mach numbers. Grid generation, wake treatment, and far-field wall treatment are identified as problem areas with recommendations for future research.

Bridgeman, John O.

Evaluation of the Intel iWarp parallel processor for space flight applications

The potential of a DARPA-sponsored advanced processor, the Intel iWarp, for use in future SSF Data Management Systems (DMS) upgrades is evaluated through integration into the Ames DMS testbed and applications testing. The iWarp is a distributed, parallel computing system well suited for high performance computing applications such as matrix operations and image processing. The system architecture is modular, supports systolic and message-based computation, and is capable of providing massive computational power in a low-cost, low-power package. As a consequence, the iWarp offers significant potential for advanced space-based computing. This research seeks to determine the iWarp's suitability as a processing device for space missions. In particular, the project focuses on evaluating the ease of integrating the iWarp into the SSF DMS baseline architecture and the iWarp's ability to support computationally stressing applications representative of SSF tasks.

Hine, Butler P., III

Artificial Intelligence Research Branch future plans

This report contains information on the activities of the Artificial Intelligence Research Branch (FIA) at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in 1992, as well as planned work in 1993. These activities span a range from basic scientific research through engineering development to fielded NASA applications, particularly those applications that are enabled by basic research carried out in FIA. Work is conducted in-house and through collaborative partners in academia and industry. All of our work has research themes with a dual commitment to technical excellence and applicability to NASA short, medium, and long-term problems. FIA acts as the Agency's lead organization for research aspects of artificial intelligence, working closely with a second research laboratory at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and AI applications groups throughout all NASA centers. This report is organized along three major research themes: (1) Planning and Scheduling: deciding on a sequence of actions to achieve a set of complex goals and determining when to execute those actions and how to allocate resources to carry them out; (2) Machine Learning: techniques for forming theories about natural and man-made phenomena; and for improving the problem-solving performance of computational systems over time; and (3) Research on the acquisition, representation, and utilization of knowledge in support of diagnosis design of engineered systems and analysis of actual systems.

Stewart, Helen

Report on the Acceptance Test of the CRI Y-MP 8128, 10 February - 12 March 1990

The NAS Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Facility's HSP 2 computer system, a CRI Y-MP 832 SN #1002, underwent a major hardware upgrade in February of 1990. The 32 MWord, 6.3 ns mainframe component of the system was replaced with a 128 MWord, 6.0 ns CRI Y-MP 8128 mainframe, SN #1030. A 30 day Acceptance Test of the computer system was performed by the NAS RND HSP group from 08:00 February 10, 1990 to 08:00 March 12, 1990. Overall responsibility for the RND HSP Acceptance Test was assumed by Duane Carbon. The terms of the contract required that the SN #1030 achieve an effectiveness level of greater than or equal to ninety (90) percent for 30 consecutive days within a 60 day time frame. After the first thirty days, the effectiveness level of SN #1030 was 94.4 percent, hence the acceptance test was passed.

Carter, Russell

Challenges of Future High-End Computing

The next major milestone in high performance computing is a sustained rate of one Pflop/s (also written one petaflops, or 10(circumflex)15 floating-point operations per second). In addition to prodigiously high computational performance, such systems must of necessity feature very large main memories, as well as comparably high I/O bandwidth and huge mass storage facilities. The current consensus of scientists who have studied these issues is that "affordable" petaflops systems may be feasible by the year 2010, assuming that certain key technologies continue to progress at current rates. One important question is whether applications can be structured to perform efficiently on such systems, which are expected to incorporate many thousands of processors and deeply hierarchical memory systems. To answer these questions, advanced performance modeling techniques, including simulation of future architectures and applications, may be required. It may also be necessary to formulate "latency tolerant algorithms" and other completely new algorithmic approaches for certain applications. This talk will give an overview of these challenges.

Bailey, David

Using Science Driven Technologies for the Defense and Security Applications

For the past three decades, Earth science remote sensing technologies have been providing enormous amounts of useful data and information in broadening our understanding of our home planet as a system. This research, as it has expanded our learning process, has also generated additional questions. This has further resulted in establishing new science requirements, which have culminated in defining and pushing the state-of-the-art technology needs. NASA s Earth science program has deployed 18 highly complex satellites, with a total of 80 sensors, so far and is in a process of defining and launching multiple observing systems in the next decade. Due to the heightened security alert of the nation, researchers and technologists are paying serious attention to the use of these science driven technologies for dual use. In other words, how such sophisticated observing and measuring systems can be used in detecting multiple types of security concerns with a substantial lead time so that the appropriate law enforcement agencies can take adequate steps to defuse any potential risky scenarios. This paper examines numerous NASA technologies such as laser/lidar systems, microwave and millimeter wave technologies, optical observing systems, high performance computational techniques for rapid analyses, and imaging products that can have a tremendous pay off for security applications.

Habib, Shahid

VULCAN-CFD User Manual: Ver. 7.2.0

VULCAN-CFD offers a comprehensive set of capabilities to enable the simulation of continuum flowfields from subsonic to hypersonic conditions. The governing equations that are employed include allowances for both chemical and thermal nonequilibrium processes, coupled with a wide variety of turbulence models for both Reynolds-averaged and large eddy simulations. The software package can simulate two-dimensional, axisymmetric, or three-dimensional problems on structured multiblock meshes or fully unstructured meshes. A parabolic (i.e., space-marching) treatment can also be used for any subset of a structured mesh that can accommodate this solution strategy. The flow solver provides a significant level of geometric flexibility for structured grid simulations by allowing for arbitrary face-to-face C(0) continuous and non-C(0) continuous block interface connectivities. The unstructured grid paradigm allows for mixed element unstructured meshes that contain any combination of tetrahedral, prismatic, pyramidal, and hexahedral cell elements. The flow solver is also fully parallelized using MPI (Message Passing Interface) libraries in a data-parallel fashion, allowing for efficient simulations on modern High Performance Computing (HPC) systems. This document provides information related to the installation and execution of the VULCAN-CFD software package. A detailed description of the physical and numerical models available in the software are provided in the VULCAN-CFD Theory Manual.

VULCAN-CFD User Manual

Computational strategies for three-dimensional flow simulations on distributed computer systems

An increasing amount of research activity in computational fluid dynamics has been devoted to the development of efficient algorithms for parallel computing systems. The increasing performance to price ratio of engineering workstations has led to research to development procedures for implementing a parallel computing system composed of distributed workstations. This thesis proposal outlines an ongoing research program to develop efficient strategies for performing three-dimensional flow analysis on distributed computing systems. The PVM parallel programming interface was used to modify an existing three-dimensional flow solver, the TEAM code developed by Lockheed for the Air Force, to function as a parallel flow solver on clusters of workstations. Steady flow solutions were generated for three different wing and body geometries to validate the code and evaluate code performance. The proposed research will extend the parallel code development to determine the most efficient strategies for unsteady flow simulations.

Weed, Richard Allen