Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “experimental data analysis”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,549 records · Page 86

NASA Lunar Base Wireless System Propagation Analysis

There have been many radio wave propagation studies using both experimental and theoretical techniques over the recent years. However, most of studies have been in support of commercial cellular phone wireless applications. The signal frequencies are mostly at the commercial cellular and Personal Communications Service bands. The antenna configurations are mostly one on a high tower and one near the ground to simulate communications between a cellular base station and a mobile unit. There are great interests in wireless communication and sensor systems for NASA lunar missions because of the emerging importance of establishing permanent lunar human exploration bases. Because of the specific lunar terrain geometries and RF frequencies of interest to the NASA missions, much of the published literature for the commercial cellular and PCS bands of 900 and 1800 MHz may not be directly applicable to the lunar base wireless system and environment. There are various communication and sensor configurations required to support all elements of a lunar base. For example, the communications between astronauts, between astronauts and the lunar vehicles, between lunar vehicles and satellites on the lunar orbits. There are also various wireless sensor systems among scientific, experimental sensors and data collection ground stations. This presentation illustrates the propagation analysis of the lunar wireless communication and sensor systems taking into account the three dimensional terrain multipath effects. It is observed that the propagation characteristics are significantly affected by the presence of the lunar terrain. The obtained results indicate the lunar surface material, terrain geometry and antenna location are the important factors affecting the propagation characteristics of the lunar wireless systems. The path loss can be much more severe than the free space propagation and is greatly affected by the antenna height, surface material and operating frequency. The results from this paper are important for the lunar wireless system link margin analysis in order to determine the limits on the reliable communication range, achievable data rate and RF coverage performance at planned lunar base work sites.

Hwu, Shian U.↗

The Nature of Scatter at the DARHT Facility and Suggestions for Improved Modeling of DARHT Facility

The U.S. Stockpile Stewardship Program [1] is designed to sustain and evaluate the nuclear weapons stockpile while foregoing underground nuclear tests. The maintenance of a smaller, aging U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without underground testing requires complex computer calculations [14]. These calculations in turn need to be verified and benchmarked [14]. A wide range of research facilities have been used to test and evaluate nuclear weapons while respecting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) [2]. Some of these facilities include the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories, and the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This research will focus largely on DARHT (although some information from Cygnus and the Los Alamos Microtron may be used in this research) by modeling it and comparing to experimental data. DARHT is an electron accelerator that employs high-energy flash x-ray sources for imaging hydro-tests. This research proposes to address some of the issues crucial to understanding DARHT Axis II and the analysis of the radiographic images produced. Primarily, the nature of scatter at DARHT will be modeled and verified with experimental data. It will then be shown that certain design decisions can be made to optimize the scatter field for hydrotest experiments. Spectral effects will be briefly explored to determine if there is any considerable effect on the density reconstruction caused by changes in the energy spectrum caused by target changes. Finally, a generalized scatter model will be made using results from MCNP that can be convolved with the direct transmission of an object to simulate the scatter of that object at the detector plane. The region in which with this scatter model is appropriate will be explored.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

An experimental evaluation of the Hamrock and Dowson minimum film thickness equation for fully flooded EHD point contacts

Fifty-seven measurements of the minimum lubricant film separating the elastohydrodynamically lubricated point contact of a steel crowned roller and a flat sapphire disk were made by an optical interferometry technique. The data collected were used to evaluate the Hamrock and Dowson minimum EHD film thickness model over a practical range of contact ellipticity ratio where the major axis of the contact ellipse is aligned both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of motion. A statistical analysis of the measured film thickness data showed that on the average the experimental data averaged 30 percent greater film thickness than the Hamrock and Dowson model predicts.

Koye, K. A.↗

Predicting Pulsed-Laser Deposition SrTiO 3 Homoepitaxy Growth Dynamics Using High-Speed Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction

Pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) is a powerful technique for growing complex oxides with controlled stoichiometry. To understand growth dynamics therein, it is common to leverage in situ spectroscopies, such as reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), to monitor surface crystallinity. Most commercial systems rely on video-rate cameras operating at 60-120 Hz that lack sufficient temporal resolution to capture growth dynamics at practical deposition frequencies. Here, a high-speed platform to record in situ dynamics via RHEED at >500 Hz is implemented. An open-source analysis package is designed to fit diffraction spots to 2D Gaussians, allowing single-pulse surface reconstruction kinetics extraction. Using homoepitaxially deposited (001)-oriented SrTiO 3 as a model system, we demonstrate how high-speed RHEED can provide real-time insight into growth processes obscured by slower acquisition systems. By fitting the single-pulse intensity to a set of exponential functions, we observe changes in the characteristic decay time and mechanism correlated to the substrate step width and surface termination. We observe distinct surface effects, with diffraction intensity decaying on lower-energy TiO 2 -terminated surfaces and stabilizing on SrO- or mixed-terminated surfaces. Similarly, using an exponential model, the extracted characteristic time of adatom deposition decreases with increased density of bonding sites associated with mixed termination and narrower step widths. Ultimately, this work shows how increasing RHEED temporal resolution can uncover new insights into growth processes, with practical implications for the design and control of PLD processes. This experimental platform provides new capabilities to enable data-driven machine learning analysis and autonomous control systems to enhance the complexity and fecundity of PLD.

(SrO)↗

Visualization and Analysis for Near-Real-Time Decision Making in Distributed Workflows

Data driven science is becoming increasingly more common, complex, and is placing tremendous stresses on visualization and analysis frameworks. Data sources producing 10GB per second (and more) are becoming increasingly commonplace in both simulation, sensor and experimental sciences. These data sources, which are often distributed around the world, must be analyzed by teams of scientists that are also distributed. Enabling scientists to view, query and interact with such large volumes of data in near-real-time requires a rich fusion of visualization and analysis techniques, middleware and workflow systems. Here, this paper discusses initial research into visualization and analysis of distributed data workflows that enables scientists to make near-real-time decisions of large volumes of time varying data.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Misinterpreting modified gravity as dark energy: a quantitative study

Standard cosmological data analyses typically constrain simple phenomenological dark-energy parameters, for example the present-day value of the equation of state parameter, w 0 , and its variation with scale factor, w a . However, results from such an analysis cannot easily indicate the presence of modified gravity. Even if general relativity does not hold, experimental data could still be fit sufficiently well by a phenomenological w 0 w a CDM, unmodified-gravity model. Hence, it would be very useful to know if there are generic signatures of modified gravity in standard analyses. Here we present, for the first time to our knowledge, a quantitative mapping showing how modified gravity models look when (mis)interpreted within the standard unmodified-gravity analysis. Scanning through a broad space of modified-gravity (Horndeski) models, and assuming a near-future survey consisting of CMB, BAO, and SNIa observations, we report values of the best-fit set of cosmological parameters including (w 0 , w a ) that would be inferred if modified gravity were at work. We find that modified gravity models that can masquerade as standard gravity lead to very specific biases in standard-parameter spaces. Here, we also comment on implications for measurements of the amplitude of mass fluctuations described by the parameter S 8 .

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

pyEGAF: An open-source Python library for the Evaluated Gamma-ray Activation File

The Evaluated Gamma-ray Activation File (EGAF) is one of the most comprehensive resources for thermal neutron-capture data. This database contains data from prompt gamma activation analysis measurements carried out in a consistent manner using the same experimental configuration at the Budapest Research Reactor for 245 isotopes. Although these valuable datasets have been freely available for many years, one of the drawbacks is the outdated and cryptic Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF) format that is currently adopted for dissemination, making it difficult for users unfamiliar with the format to access and utilize the data contained therein. Furthermore, the ENSDF format does not readily lend itself to modern computational technologies and a parser is required to interpret the complicated mixed-record format. To help overcome these challenges, we have developed a translator to convert the ENSDF-formatted datasets into an open standard JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format enabling accessibility to applications using different programming languages running in different environments. To compliment this effort, we have also developed an open-source software package implemented in Python, pyEGAF, that is designed to interact with the JSON data structures for general purpose access, manipulation, and analysis of the neutron-capture $\gamma$-ray data in EGAF. The new format, together with the pyEGAF library, greatly enhances access to the wider applications community where EGAF data may be useful or is required.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

The Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE)

The Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) constituted a series of three NASA-supported microgravity experiments, all of which flew aboard the space shuttle, Columbia. This experimental space flight series was designed and operated to grow and record dendrite solidification in the absence of gravity-induced convective heat transfer, and thereby produce a wealth of benchmark-quality data for testing solidification scaling laws. The data and analysis performed on the dendritic growth speed and tip size in Succinontrie (SCN) demonstrates that although the theory yields predictions that are reasonably in agreement with experiment, there are significant discrepancies. However, some of these discrepancies can be explained by accurately describing the diffusion of heat. The key finding involves recognition that the actual three-dimensional shape of dendrites includes time-dependent side-branching and a tip region that is not a paraboloid of revolution. Thus, the role of heat transfer in dendritic growth is validated, with the caveat that a more realistic model of the dendrite then a paraboloid is needed to account for heat flow in an experimentally observed dendrite. We are currently conducting additional analysis to further confirm and demonstrate these conclusions. The data and analyses for the growth selection physics remain much less definitive. From the first flight, the data indicated that the selection parameter, sigma*, is not exactly a constant, but exhibits a slight dependence on the supercooling. Additional data from the second flight are being examined to investigate the selection of a unique dendrite speed, tip size and shape. The IDGE flight series is now complete. We are currently completing analyses and moving towards final data archiving. It is gratifying to see that the IDGE published results and archived data sets are being used actively by other scientists and engineers. In addition, we are also pleased to report that the techniques and IDGE hardware system that the authors developed with NASA, are being currently employed on both designated flight experiments, like EDSE, and on flight definition experiments, like TDSE.

Glicksman, Martin E.↗

A Toolkit to Study Sensitivity of the Geant4 Predictions to the Variations of the Physics Model Parameters

Geant4 is the leading detector simulation toolkit used in high energy physics to design detectors and to optimize calibration and reconstruction software. It employs a set of carefully validated physics models to simulate interactions of particles with matter across a wide range of interaction energies. These models, especially the hadronic ones, rely largely on directly measured cross-sections and phenomenological predictions with physically motivated parameters estimated by theoretical calculation or measurement. Because these models are tuned to cover a very wide range of possible simulation tasks, they may not always be optimized for a given process or a given material. This raises several critical questions, e.g. how sensitive Geant4 predictions are to the variations of the model parameters, or what uncertainties are associated with a particular tune of a Geant4 physics model, or a group of models, or how to consistently derive guidance for Geant4 model development and improvement from a wide range of available experimental data. We have designed and implemented a comprehensive, modular, user-friendly software toolkit to study and address such questions. It allows one to easily modify parameters of one or several Geant4 physics models involved in the simulation, and to perform collective analysis of multiple variants of the resulting physics observables of interest and comparison against a variety of corresponding experimental data. Based on modern event-processing infrastructure software, the toolkit offers a variety of attractive features, e.g. flexible run-time configurable workflow, comprehensive bookkeeping, easy to expand collection of analytical components. Design, implementation technology, and key functionalities of the toolkit are presented and illustrated with results obtained with Geant4 key hadronic models.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Reliable and Efficient Machine Learning (Final Technical Report)

Modern scientific experiments generate massive amounts of data at a pace much faster than humans can manually analyze. While machine learning has revolutionized commercial data analysis (such as recommending movies or recognizing faces), applying these tools to complex scientific discovery is challenging because scientific answers must be precise, interpretable, and adhere to physical laws. The research under this project aims to develop new mathematical tools and computer algorithms specifically designed for scientific applications. Major progress has been made in automatically cleaning and deconstructing messy experimental data, analyzing the visual information of physical phenomena, determining the underlying physical variables, and providing rig orous mathematical analysis of interesting algorithms and concepts widely used in machine learning. This project addressed the critical gap between our ability to generate massive scientific data and our ability to extract interpretable information from it. We established mathematical foundations for Scientific Machine Learning (SciML) aimed at effective data analytics and automated discovery. Our work focused on three core objectives: (1) developing reliable feature extraction methods for dynamic high-dimensional data, (2) establishing mathematical foundations for discovering dynamics via neural networks, and (3) creating rigorous optimization techniques for these models. Key outcomes come from two fronts. On the practical side, they include the development of algorithms that significantly enhance the extraction of signals from field data, as well as the capability to handle situations that exhibit smooth variations or physical stretching due to temperature changes. They also include the creation of an automated framework for discovering fundamental state variables from raw experimental data, demonstrating the ability to identify intrinsic physical dimensions without prior knowledge of the governing laws. On the theoretical front, the research results in theoretical advances in Optimal Transport, a widely used notion in SciML, specifically regarding functions with fixed-size nodal sets, provide sharp bounds relevant to uncertainty quantification. Meanwhile, the outcomes also include the establishment of convergence theories for nonlocal gradient descent methods, enabling robust optimization with noisy data in high-dimensional settings commonly encountered in scientific modeling. The project also helps creating opportunities to train the next generation of researchers, equipping them with the necessary technical skills for today’s workplace and preparing them for future advances.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Analysis of Bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide Interactions with Metal Cations Through a Chemical Informatics Approach

Nominally weakly coordinating anions are useful for modulating the solubility and chemical properties of metal complexes, but identification and analysis of the systematics of the interactions of anions with cationic metal complexes has not received the attention it deserves. Here, a chemical informatics approach is demonstrated for identifying and quantitatively analyzing the ways that the bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion (TFSI) can interact with metal-containing species. An open access computer program (PyCIFTer) was developed to facilitate large-scale structural analysis of TFSI-containing species by utilization of experimental atomic coordinate data from single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies obtained from the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). PyCIFTer establishes a three-dimensional vector space from the raw atomic coordinates, generating acyclic, undirected graphs that are used to rapidly analyze the structural properties (bond lengths and angles) of TFSI in individual structures in sequential/batch fashion. The structures are sorted by PyCIFTer into groups based on pre-set and chemically sensible criteria, affording a comprehensive and systematic view of TFSI structural chemistry. This approach avoids tedious one-at-a-time interrogation of structures, a prospect unreasonable in this case, and many others of contemporary chemical relevance; there were over 1500 structures in the CSD containing TFSI as of November 2024. The results demonstrate that TFSI only rarely binds to cations in the solid state, favoring the formation of species in which TFSI is found in cations’ outer coordination spheres. The prospect of applying PyCIFTer to other moieties is also discussed. PyCIFTer is also schematically compared to the commercial CSD Python application programming interface (API). Taken together, this work demonstrates the usefulness of modular workflows for sequential/batch analysis of structural data from XRD, an approach that appears poised to accelerate the translation of legacy structural results into new chemical insights and hypotheses.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Hypersonic wing test structure design, analysis, and fabrication

An investigation to provide the analyses, data, and hardware required to experimentally validate the beaded panel concept and demonstrate its usefulness as a basis for design of a Hypersonic Research Airplane (HRA) wing is reported. Combinations of the beaded panel structure, heat shields, channel caps and corrugated webs for ribs and spars were analyzed for the wing of a specified HRA to operate at Mach 8 with a lifespan of 150 flights. Detailed analyses were conducted in accordance with established design criteria and included aerodynamic heating and load predictions, transient structural thermal calculations, extensive NASTRAN computer modeling, and structural optimization. Optimum beaded panel tests at 922 K (1200 F) were performed to verify panel performance. Close agreement of predicted and actual critical loads permitted use of design procedures and equations for the beaded panel concept without modification.

Plank, P. P.↗

Thermal Transport and Fracture Behavior of Sintered Fuel Pellets: Experimental Validation of NEAMS Tool MARMOT

The project targets at experimental validation of NEAMS tool MARMOT for predicting thermal transport and fuel fracture. The key components of the project include: (1) sintering UO 2 samples with well-controlled microstructures (grain size, pore, fission bubble, porosity and pore distribution either in intra- or inter-granular pores); (2) thermal conductivity measurements of these wellcharacterized polycrystalline samples; (3) indentation testing of sintered UO 2 with various grain size, porosity and stoichiometry to obtain fracture and crack propagation mechanisms (inter or intragranular fracture); and (4) validation and uncertainty quantification of the MARMOT thermal transport and fracture models. The high quality experimental data will be used to validate the predictions of MARMOT for thermal transport and fracture, using average data and local microstructure information. In this work, UO 2 fuels with controlled microstructure (grain size, pore size/structure and fuel chemistry) were successfully prepared by high energy ball milling of the hyper-stoichiometric UO 2+x powders purchased commercially, and consolidated by spark plasma sintering. Dense nano-sized UO 2 fuel pellets with controlled stoichiometry were sintered by SPS. The effects of different SPS sintering parameters on the pore size and distribution were investigated, and the correlation among the SPS parameter – microstructure control – stoichiometry/defect structure was established. To further control the pore structure and fuel chemistry, systematic thermal annealing of the sintered fuels with the controlled pore structure was performed in a reduced. The controlled microstructure and fuel chemistry enable the investigation of the separate effects of pore structure and fuel chemistry on thermal transport behavior. The mechanical properties of the sintered UO 2 fuels were tested by nanoindentation and microindentation testing at different temperatures. The fracture behavior of the sintered fuels as functions of grain structure and temperature was investigated. Nanocrystalline UO 2 display higher hardness than microcrystalline counterpart, consistent with the Hall-Petch strengthening mechanism. Greater Young’s modulus and fracture toughness are also identified for the nanocrystalline UO 2 , and hardness and Young’s modulus decrease with temperature, suggesting better ductility of oxide fuels at greater temperature at small length scale. Hyper-stoichiometric UO 2 specimen displays higher hardness and fracture toughness than stoichiometric UO 2 , due to the impediment of the crack propagation by the oxygen interstitial atoms. These results are useful in understanding the mechanical properties of the high burn-up structure (HBS) formed in nuclear fuels during reactor operation, and also provide critical experimental data as the input for the development and validation of the MARMOT fracture model of nuclear fuels. The thermal properties of the sintered UO 2 fuel pellets with controlled grain structure, fuel chemistry and pore structures are measured by laser flash and the impact of the microstructure characteristics on the thermal transport properties is elucidated. Through a close collaboration with the MARMOT team at Idaho National Laboratory, the thermal properties of the sintered oxide fuel pellets with controlled microstructures are measured experimentally, and modeled using the developed MARMOT thermal transport models for a joint effort of demonstrating high spatial resolution measurements at the microstructural level on as-fabricated nuclear fuels and materials and obtain critical experimental data for model validation and properties predictions. In this work, we also conducted sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification (UQ) on a mesoscale simulation that has been applied to understand the effective thermal conductivity of UO 2 reactor fuel using the MARMOT tool. We also conduced UQ on mechanistic macroscale models that have been developed to predict the effective thermal conductivity. The most sensitive parameter is the thermal conductivity of bulk UO 2 for the thermal conductivity models. In the future, the predicted simulation distributions need to be compared to experimental data for validation of the models.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Design, Optimization and Evaluation of Integrally Stiffened Al 7050 Panel with Curved Stiffeners

A curvilinear stiffened panel was designed, manufactured, and tested in the Combined Load Test Fixture at NASA Langley Research Center. The panel was optimized for minimum mass subjected to constraints on buckling load, yielding, and crippling or local stiffener failure using a new analysis tool named EBF3PanelOpt. The panel was designed for a combined compression-shear loading configuration that is a realistic load case for a typical aircraft wing panel. The panel was loaded beyond buckling and strains and out-of-plane displacements were measured. The experimental data were compared with the strains and out-of-plane deflections from a high fidelity nonlinear finite element analysis and linear elastic finite element analysis of the panel/test-fixture assembly. The numerical results indicated that the panel buckled at the linearly elastic buckling eigenvalue predicted for the panel/test-fixture assembly. The experimental strains prior to buckling compared well with both the linear and nonlinear finite element model.

Slemp, Wesley C. H.↗

Analysis of first and second order binary quantized digital phase-locked loops for ideal and white Gaussian noise inputs

Specific configurations of first and second order all digital phase locked loops are analyzed for both ideal and additive white gaussian noise inputs. In addition, a design for a hardware digital phase locked loop capable of either first or second order operation is presented along with appropriate experimental data obtained from testing of the hardware loop. All parameters chosen for the analysis and the design of the digital phase locked loop are consistent with an application to an Omega navigation receiver although neither the analysis nor the design are limited to this application.

Blasche, P. R.↗

Cross-correlation analysis of on-orbit residual accelerations in Spacelab

To characterize the low-gravity environment within orbiting space laboratories, researchers are operating sensitive accelerometer systems. Transient accelerations recorded in spacecraft can have magnitudes up to 0.01 g over a wide range of frequencies. These accelerations have components in the 0.001-100-Hz range no greater in magnitude than 0.001 g. Some experiments can be sensitive to such accelerations, so investigators are interested in identifying causal relationships between accelerations and experimental results. Here, two forms of synthetic experiment data created using Spacelab 3 accelerometer data are evaluated using cross-correlation analysis. The results show that the use of cross-correlation techniques is appropriate, for specific experiment classes, for assessing relationships between both transient and oscillatory residual accelerations and experimental results recorded in a low-gravity environment.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗

Computational analysis of ramjet engine inlet interaction

A computational analysis of a ramjet engine at Mach 3.5 has been conducted and compared to results obtained experimentally. This study focuses on the behavior of the inlet both with and without combustor backpressure. Increased backpressure results in separation of the body side boundary layer and a resultant static pressure rise in the inlet throat region. The computational results compare well with the experimental data for static pressure distribution through the engine, inlet throat flow profiles, and mass capture. The computational analysis slightly underpredicts the thickness of the engine body surface boundary layer and the extent of the interaction caused by backpressure; however, the interaction is observed at approximately the same level of backpressure both experimentally and computationally. This study demonstrates the ability of two different Navier-Stokes codes, namely RPLUS and PARC, to calculate the flow features of this ramjet engine and to provide more detailed information on the process of inlet interaction and unstart.

Duncan, Beverly↗

CFD Simulations of the AEDC H3 Arc-Jet Flow: Mach 3.3 Nozzle, Flow Surveys, Wedge Models

This paper reports computational simulations and analysis of tests in a high enthalpy arc-jet facility at Arnold Engineering Development Center. These tests were conducted using wedge models placed in a free jet downstream of a 4.5-inch diameter contoured Mach 3.3 nozzle in the H3 facility. For calibration of test conditions, one wedge calibration plate instrumented with an array of pressure and coaxial thermocouple heat flux gages, one stagnation pressure probe and two null-point heat flux calorimeters were used. The pitot pressure and null-point probe measurements give experimental surveys of the test flow, providing assessment of the flow uniformity and valuable data for flow characterization. The present analysis comprises computational fluid dynamics simulations of the nonequilibrium flowfield in the facility nozzle, into the test box and over the wedge models, and comparisons with the experimental measurements. Several issues related to testing are considered: test flow characterization, prediction of surface quantities for three wedge models, effects of model shape change and test article recession, and prediction of surface quantities for the test articles with two circular cavities. These simulations take into account non-uniform total enthalpy profiles at the nozzle inlet as well as the expansion waves emanating from the nozzle exit and their effects on the wedge model flowfields.

Arc-jet testing↗