42 research outputs found

    Electrostatic Levitation for Studies of Additive Manufactured Materials

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    The electrostatic levitation (ESL) laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is a unique facility for investigators studying high temperature materials. The laboratory boasts two levitators in which samples can be levitated, heated, melted, undercooled, and resolidified. Electrostatic levitation minimizes gravitational effects and allows materials to be studied without contact with a container or instrumentation. The lab also has a high temperature emissivity measurement system, which provides normal spectral and normal total emissivity measurements at use temperature. The ESL lab has been instrumental in many pioneering materials investigations of thermophysical properties, e.g., creep measurements, solidification, triggered nucleation, and emissivity at high temperatures. Research in the ESL lab has already led to the development of advanced high temperature materials for aerospace applications, coatings for rocket nozzles, improved medical and industrial optics, metallic glasses, ablatives for reentry vehicles, and materials with memory. Modeling of additive manufacturing materials processing is necessary for the study of their resulting materials properties. In addition, the modeling of the selective laser melting processes and its materials property predictions are also underway. Unfortunately, there is very little data for the properties of these materials, especially of the materials in the liquid state. Some method to measure thermophysical properties of additive manufacturing materials is necessary. The ESL lab is ideal for these studies. The lab can provide surface tension and viscosity of molten materials, density measurements, emissivity measurements, and even creep strength measurements. The ESL lab can also determine melting temperature, surface temperatures, and phase transition temperatures of additive manufactured materials. This presentation will provide background on the ESL lab and its capabilities, provide an approach to using the ESL in supporting the development and modeling of the selective laser melting process for metals, and provide an overview of the results to date

    Multilayer Insulation Ascent Venting Model

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    The thermal and venting transient experienced by tank-applied multilayer insulation (MLI) in the Earth-to-orbit environment is very dynamic and not well characterized. This new predictive code is a first principles-based engineering model which tracks the time history of the mass and temperature (internal energy) of the gas in each MLI layer. A continuum-based model is used for early portions of the trajectory while a kinetic theory-based model is used for the later portions of the trajectory, and the models are blended based on a reference mean free path. This new capability should improve understanding of the Earth-to-orbit transient and enable better insulation system designs for in-space cryogenic propellant systems

    Flow characterisation for a validation study in high-speed aerodynamics

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    Validation studies are becoming increasingly relevant when investigating complex flow problems in high-speed aerodynamics. These investigations require calibration of numerical models with accurate data from the physical wind tunnel being studied. This paper presents the characterisation process for a joint experimental-computational study to investigate the streamwise corners of a Mach 2.5 channel flow. As well as checks of flow quality typically performed for phenomenological investigations, additional quantitative tests are conducted. The extra care to obtain high quality data and eliminate any systematic errors reveal useful information about the wind tunnel flow. Further important physical insights are gained from designing and conducting wind tunnel tests in conjunction with numerical simulations. Crucially, the close experimental-computational collaboration enabled the identification of secondary flows in the sidewall boundary-layers; these strongly influence the flow in the corner regions, the target of the validation study

    Experimental validation of the quadratic constitutive relation in supersonic streamwise corner flows

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    The quadratic constitutive relation is a simple extension to the linear eddy-viscosity hypothesis and has shown some promise in improving the computation of flow along streamwise corner geometries. In order to further investigate these improvements, the quadratic model is validated by comparing RANS simulations of a Mach 2.5 wind tunnel flow with high-quality experimental velocity data. Careful set up and assessment of computations using detailed characterisation data of the overall flow field suggests a minimum expected discrepancy of approximately 3% for any experimental–computational velocity comparisons. The corner regions of the rectangular cross-section wind tunnel exhibit velocity differences of 7% between experimental data and computations with linear eddy-viscosity models, but these discrepancies are reduced to 4–5% when the quadratic constitutive relation is used. This improvement can be attributed to a better prediction of the corner boundary-layer structure, due to computations reproducing the stress-induced streamwise vortices which are known to exist in this flow field. However, the strength and position of these vortices do not correspond exactly with those in the measured flow. A further observation from this study is the appearance of additional, non-physical vortices when the value of the quadratic coefficient in the relation exceeds the recommended value of 0.3.This material is based upon work supported by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550–16–1–0430

    Ecological distribution conflicts as forces for sustainability : an overview and conceptual framework

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    Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Centre: ICTA Digital object identifier for the 'European Research Council' (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000781) Digital object identifier for 'Horizon 2020' (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100007601).Can ecological distribution conflicts turn into forces for sustainability? This overview paper addresses in a systematic conceptual manner the question of why, through whom, how, and when conflicts over the use of the environment may take an active role in shaping transitions toward sustainability. It presents a conceptual framework that schematically maps out the linkages between (a) patterns of (unsustainable) social metabolism, (b) the emergence of ecological distribution conflicts, (c) the rise of environmental justice movements, and (d) their potential contributions for sustainability transitions. The ways how these four processes can influence each other are multi-faceted and often not a foretold story. Yet, ecological distribution conflicts can have an important role for sustainability, because they relentlessly bring to light conflicting values over the environment as well as unsustainable resource uses affecting people and the planet. Environmental justice movements, born out of such conflicts, become key actors in politicizing such unsustainable resource uses, but moreover, they take sometimes also radical actions to stop them. By drawing on creative forms of mobilizations and diverse repertoires of action to effectively reduce unsustainabilities, they can turn from 'victims' of environmental injustices into 'warriors' for sustainability. But when will improvements in sustainability be lasting? By looking at the overall dynamics between the four processes, we aim to foster a more systematic understanding of the dynamics and roles of ecological distribution conflicts within sustainability processes

    Aerodynamics of Stream Thrust Probes

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    Validation of Implicit Algorithms for Unsteady Flows Including Moving and Deforming Grids

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