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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 1,513 records · Page 84

Code for Analyzing and Designing Spacecraft Power System Radiators

GPHRAD is a computer code for analysis and design of disk or circular-sector heat-rejecting radiators for spacecraft power systems. A specific application is for Stirling-cycle/linear-alternator electric-power systems coupled to radioisotope general-purpose heat sources. GPHRAD affords capabilities and options to account for thermophysical properties (thermal conductivity, density) of either metal-alloy or composite radiator materials.

Juhasz, Albert↗

Analyses of Longitudinal Mode Combustion Instability in J-2X Gas Generator Development

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne are developing a liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen rocket engine for future upper stage and trans-lunar applications. This engine, designated the J-2X, is a higher pressure, higher thrust variant of the Apollo-era J-2 engine. The contract for development was let to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in 2006. Over the past several years, development of the gas generator for the J-2X engine has progressed through a variety of workhorse injector, chamber, and feed system configurations on the component test stand at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Several of the initial configurations resulted in combustion instability of the workhorse gas generator assembly at a frequency near the first longitudinal mode of the combustion chamber. In this paper, several aspects of these combustion instabilities are discussed, including injector, combustion chamber, feed system, and nozzle influences. To ensure elimination of the instabilities at the engine level, and to understand the stability margin, the gas generator system has been modeled at the NASA MSFC with two techniques, the Rocket Combustor Interaction Design and Analysis (ROCCID) code and a lumped-parameter MATLAB(TradeMark) model created as an alternative calculation to the ROCCID methodology. To correctly predict the instability characteristics of all the chamber and injector geometries and test conditions as a whole, several inputs to the submodels in ROCCID and the MATLAB(TradeMark) model were modified. Extensive sensitivity calculations were conducted to determine how to model and anchor a lumped-parameter injector response, and finite-element and acoustic analyses were conducted on several complicated combustion chamber geometries to determine how to model and anchor the chamber response. These modifications and their ramification for future stability analyses of this type are discussed.

Hulka, J. R.↗

Airloads Correlation of the UH-60A Rotor Inside the 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel

The presented research validates the capability of a loosely-coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and comprehensive rotorcraft analysis (CRA) code to calculate the flowfield around a rotor and test stand mounted inside a wind tunnel. The CFD/CRA predictions for the full-scale UH-60A Airloads Rotor inside the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center are compared with the latest measured airloads and performance data. The studied conditions include a speed sweep at constant lift up to an advance ratio of 0.4 and a thrust sweep at constant speed up to and including stall. For the speed sweep, wind tunnel modeling becomes important at advance ratios greater than 0.37 and test stand modeling becomes increasingly important as the advance ratio increases. For the thrust sweep, both the wind tunnel and test stand modeling become important as the rotor approaches stall. Despite the beneficial effects of modeling the wind tunnel and test stand, the new models do not completely resolve the current airload discrepancies between prediction and experiment.

Chang, I-Chung↗

NOR-USA Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica: Science and Logistics on a Three-Month Expedition Across Antarctica's Farthest Frontier

Dr. Albert's current research is centered on transfer processes in porous media, including air-snow exchange in the Polar Regions and in soils in temperate areas. Her research includes field measurements, laboratory experiments, and theoretical modeling. Mary conducts field and laboratory measurements of the physical properties of natural terrain surfaces, including permeability, microstructure, and thermal conductivity. Mary uses the measurements to examine the processes of diffusion and advection of heat, mass, and chemical transport through snow and other porous media. She has developed numerical models for investigation of a variety of problems, from interstitial transport to freezing of flowing liquids. These models include a two-dimensional finite element code for air flow with heat, water vapor, and chemical transport in porous media, several multidimensional codes for diffusive transfer, as well as a computational fluid dynamics code for analysis of turbulent water flow in moving-boundary phase change problems.

Albert, Mary R.↗

OCSEGen: Open Components and Systems Environment Generator

To analyze a large system, one often needs to break it into smaller components.To analyze a component or unit under analysis, one needs to model its context of execution, called environment, which represents the components with which the unit interacts. Environment generation is a challenging problem, because the environment needs to be general enough to uncover unit errors, yet precise enough to make the analysis tractable. In this paper, we present a tool for automated environment generation for open components and systems. The tool, called OCSEGen, is implemented on top of the Soot framework. We present the tool's current support and discuss its possible future extensions.

User Specifications↗

ISS Double-Gimbaled CMG Subsystem Simulation Using the Agile Development Method

This paper presents an evolutionary approach in simulating a cluster of 4 Control Moment Gyros (CMG) on the International Space Station (ISS) using a common sense approach (the agile development method) for concurrent mathematical modeling and simulation of the CMG subsystem. This simulation is part of Training systems for the 21st Century simulator which will provide training for crew members, instructors, and flight controllers. The basic idea of how the CMGs on the space station are used for its non-propulsive attitude control is briefly explained to set up the context for simulating a CMG subsystem. Next different reference frames and the detailed equations of motion (EOM) for multiple double-gimbal variable-speed control moment gyroscopes (DGVs) are presented. Fixing some of the terms in the EOM becomes the special case EOM for ISS's double-gimbaled fixed speed CMGs. CMG simulation development using the agile development method is presented in which customer's requirements and solutions evolve through iterative analysis, design, coding, unit testing and acceptance testing. At the end of the iteration a set of features implemented in that iteration are demonstrated to the flight controllers thus creating a short feedback loop and helping in creating adaptive development cycles. The unified modeling language (UML) tool is used in illustrating the user stories, class designs and sequence diagrams. This incremental development approach of mathematical modeling and simulating the CMG subsystem involved the development team and the customer early on, thus improving the quality of the working CMG system in each iteration and helping the team to accurately predict the cost, schedule and delivery of the software.

Inampudi, Ravi↗

Impact Testing and Simulation of a Sinusoid Foam Sandwich Energy Absorber

A sinusoidal-shaped foam sandwich energy absorber was developed and evaluated at NASA Langley Research Center through multi-level testing and simulation performed under the Transport Rotorcraft Airframe Crash Testbed (TRACT) research project. The energy absorber, designated the "sinusoid," consisted of hybrid carbon- Kevlar® plain weave fabric face sheets, two layers for each face sheet oriented at +/-45deg with respect to the vertical or crush direction, and a closed-cell ELFOAM(TradeMark) P200 polyisocyanurate (2.0-lb/ft3) foam core. The design goal for the energy absorber was to achieve an average floor-level acceleration of between 25- and 40-g during the full-scale crash test of a retrofitted CH-46E helicopter airframe, designated TRACT 2. Variations in the design were assessed through quasi-static and dynamic crush testing of component specimens. Once the design was finalized, a 5-ft-long subfloor beam was fabricated and retrofitted into a barrel section of a CH-46E helicopter. A vertical drop test of the barrel section was conducted onto concrete to evaluate the performance of the energy absorber prior to retrofit into TRACT 2. Finite element models were developed of all test articles and simulations were performed using LSDYNA ®, a commercial nonlinear explicit transient dynamic finite element code. Test analysis results are presented for the sinusoid foam sandwich energy absorber as comparisons of load-displacement and acceleration-time-history responses, as well as predicted and experimental structural deformations and progressive damage for each evaluation level (component testing through barrel section drop testing).

Jackson, Karen E.↗

Towards Multiphysics Prediction Capability for the KSC Launch Environment

Launching powerful space vehicles like the next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) creates extreme pressure waves that could damage the vehicle and the launch environment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). To ensure mission safety, the Ignition Overpressure Protection and Sound Suppression (IOP/SS) water deluge system suppresses the strong acoustic waves by delivering almost a half-million gallons of water to the mobile launcher and flame deflector. To better understand the effectiveness of this system at different operating conditions, the Launch Ascent and Vehicle Analysis (LAVA) code, developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, is currently being modified and extended to incorporate the complex physics needed to model the IOP/SS system.

Angel, Jordan B.↗

Evaluation of a Variable Facesheet Liner Configuration in Grazing Incidence for Broadband Noise Reduction

Abstract Tests were conducted in the NASA Langley Grazing Flow Impedance Tube (GFIT) to determine the broadband noise reduction capability of a variable facesheet liner. Three uniform liners were designed to achieve sound absorption over distinct frequency regimes at Mach 0.0. Each liner was fabricated and tested in the GFIT at sound pressure levels of 120 and 140 dB, and at tangential flow velocities up to Mach 0.5. A variable facesheet liner was fabricated to combine the geometries of these three liners, such that the facesheet geometry (hole diameter and porosity) was varied across the liner surface. The Prony method was used to educe the impedance of each sample, and these impedances were input to the CHE (Convected Helmholtz Equation) propagation code to predict the acoustic pressure profiles in the GFIT. Comparisons of predicted and measured acoustic pressure profiles were used to confirm the uniformity of all four liners, and to demonstrate the suitability of the CHE code in analysis of the variable facesheet concept. Results showed good comparison at no flow and Mach 0.3, and acceptable comparison at Mach 0.5. The variable facesheet liner provides enhanced broadband noise reduction at the no-flow condition for which it was designed, but further optimization is needed to target flow conditions.

acoustic↗

Human-AI Collaboration Among Engineering and Design Professionals: Three Strategies of Generative AI Use

Designers are increasingly using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in design processes; however, knowing how designers use GenAI--especially in professional design practice--is under-explored. This paper presents an ethnographic study of a design team at NASA that explores the natural variation of GenAI use across team members during a speculative design workflow. We aimed to uncover when, how, and why GenAI tools were or were not employed using ethnographic observations to map the team's speculative design process and follow-up interviews to provide deeper insights into team members' interactions (or lackthereof) with GenAI. Through inductive qualitative coding, our analysis revealed three strategies of GenAI use observed among professional engineers and designers--intimate co-design with GenAI, selective delegation to GenAI, and minimal use of GenAI--as well as factors that appeared to influence their decisions whether or not to use GenAI. This study proposes new theory in human-AI collaboration that sheds light on the strategies, rationale, and circumstances under which design professionals use GenAI. Future work that builds upon these insights include examining a larger sample size of engineering and design professionals in uncontrolled design process experiences and exploring the impact that design tasks, goals, and constraints have on a participants decision to leverage GenAI tools.

design practice↗

Risk Characterization Research for Artemis II: Human Factors and Behavioral Performance

BACKGROUND Artemis II will be the first time NASA astronauts go beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) since the Apollo era, and the first astronauts heading into space in the Orion vehicle. As such, it provides a critical opportunity to refine our understanding of the likelihood and consequences associated with the Behavioral Medicine (BMed), Team, Human System Integration Architecture (HSIA), and Sleep Risks, and prepare for future Moon and Mars missions. However, Artemis II research efforts are uniquely shaped by in-mission data collection constraints. There is currently no in-mission crew time available to complete measures. In-mission data will need to be collected unobtrusively from available data streams (e.g., audiovisual, existing records such as schedules, and actigraphy). Accordingly, the overarching goal of our research is to utilize Artemis II data to further define the likelihood and consequences of these risks, and to create an unobtrusive research infrastructure that can be expanded to include future Artemis missions. This goal spans four aims across three research phases: (1) identify and operationally define key performances metrics and constructs across the four aforementioned risks, (2) develop an unobtrusive methodology and coding scheme for in-mission data collection, (3) characterize performance decrements due to Bmed, Team, HSIA, and Sleep Risks, and (4) develop a data infrastructure for future Artemis missions. The following details results of Phase I efforts in which we address Aims 1 and 2 to develop an unobtrusive measurement plan and coding scheme to capture key constructs, contributing factors, and performance decrements across each risk area. METHOD As part of Phase I, we conducted an interdisciplinary literature review and consulted with SMEs to identify unobtrusive methodologies that leverage text, audio, and/or video data as well as conceptualize key performance metrics, contributing factors, and BMed, Team, HSIA, and Sleep risk constructs related to performance decrements. The Phase I effort resulted in a finalized pre- and post-mission protocol for Artemis II, along with a measurement and coding scheme for in-mission Artemis II data. Phase II will involve data collection from the upcoming Artemis II mission. Phase III will include data processing, coding, depiction, analysis, and report writing of the Artemis II data. RESULTS & DISCUSSION To date, we have completed Phase I efforts. Specifically, we identified BMed, Team, HSIA, and Sleep risk constructs related to performance metrics, summarized how these constructs can be measured using audiovisual data collected during the mission, and worked with NASA’s HFBP Element to finalize a data collection protocol that leverages audiovisual input from the Orion spacecraft system. Our protocol includes novel unobtrusive methodologies that adhere to in-mission data streams and subsequent constraints (e.g., limited storage space on GoPro cameras, ambient noise impeding audio files) to best capture in-mission phenomena across each risk area. We will present our results from Phase I efforts, namely best practices for unobtrusive measurement as identified through literature reviews and SME consultation as well as codebook excerpts for use in Artemis II. We will include a description of planned work as we prepare for Phase II and Phase III of this research plan and the Artemis II mission itself. SUMMARY We describe progress on our Human Factors and Behavioral Performance Research for Artemis II study.

behavioral health↗

Review of Transient Testing of Fast Reactor Fuels in the Transient REActor Test Facility (TREAT)

The restart of the Transient REActor Test (TREAT) facility provides a unique opportunity to engage the fast reactor fuels community to reinitiate in-pile experimental safety studies. Historically, the TREAT facility played a critical role in characterizing the behavior of both metal and oxide fast reactor fuels under off-normal conditions, irradiating hundreds of fuel pins to support fast reactor fuel development programs. The resulting test data has provided validation for a multitude of fuel performance and severe accident analysis computer codes. This paper will provide a review of the historical database of TREAT experiments including experiment design, instrumentation, test objectives, and salient findings. Additionally, the paper will provide an introduction to the current and future experiment plans of the U.S. transient testing program at TREAT.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Containment Sodium Chemistry Models in MELCOR.

To meet regulatory needs for sodium fast reactors’ future development, including licensing requirements, Sandia National Laboratories is modernizing MELCOR, a severe accident analysis computer code developed for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Specifically, Sandia is modernizing MELCOR to include the capability to model sodium reactors. However, Sandia’s modernization effort primarily focuses on the containment response aspects of the sodium reactor accidents. Sandia began modernizing MELCOR in 2013 to allow a sodium coolant, rather than water, for conventional light water reactors. In the past three years, Sandia has been implementing the sodium chemistry containment models in CONTAIN-LMR, a legacy NRC code, into MELCOR. These chemistry models include spray fire, pool fire and atmosphere chemistry models. Only the first two chemistry models have been implemented though it is intended to implement all these models into MELCOR. A new package called “NAC” has been created to manage the sodium chemistry model more efficiently. In 2017 Sandia began validating the implemented models in MELCOR by simulating available experiments. The CONTAIN-LMR sodium models include sodium atmosphere chemistry and sodium-concrete interaction models. This paper presents sodium property models, the implemented models, implementation issues, and a path towards validation against existing experimental data.

Louie, David↗