Vehicles and Performance

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Briefs: Software
Conservative Patch Algorithm and Mesh Sequencing for PAB3D
A mesh-sequencing algorithm and a conservative patched-grid-interface algorithm (hereafter “Patch Algorithm”) have been incorporated into the PAB3D code, which is a computer program that solves the Navier-Stokes equations for the simulation of subsonic, transonic, or supersonic flows...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Stability-Augmentation Devices for Miniature Aircraft
Non-aerodynamic mechanical devices are under consideration as means to augment the stability of miniature autonomous and remotely controlled aircraft. Such aircraft can be used for diverse purposes, including military reconnaissance, radio communications, and safety-related monitoring of wide...
Briefs: Software
Two-Dimensional Ffowcs Williams/Hawkings Equation Solver
FWH2D is a Fortran 90 computer program that solves a two-dimensional (2D) version of the equation, derived by J. E. Ffowcs Williams and D. L. Hawkings, for sound generated by turbulent flow. FWH2D was developed especially for estimating noise generated by airflows around such approximately 2D...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Thermal components for military, aerospace, and medical applications are continually getting smaller, more accurate, and more robust. To match these...
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Briefs: Software
Predicting Flutter and Forced Response in Turbomachinery
TURBO-AE is a computer code that enables detailed, highfidelity modeling of aeroelastic and unsteady aerodynamic characteristics for prediction of flutter, forced response, and bladerow interaction effects in turbomachinery.
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A technique based on accelerating positive nitrogen ions onto an aluminum layer has been demonstrated to be effective in forming thin (<2 nm thick) layers of aluminum nitride...
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Briefs: Materials
Nonflammable, Hydrophobic Aerogel Composites for Insulation
Aerogel composites that are both nonflammable and hydrophobic have been developed for use as lightweight thermal- insulation materials for cryogenic systems. Aerogels are well known in the industry for their effectiveness as thermal insulators under cryogenic conditions, but the treatments...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Estimating Aeroheating of a 3D Body Using a 2D Flow Solver
A method for rapidly estimating the aeroheating, shear stress, and other properties of hypersonic flow about a three-dimensional (3D) blunt body has been devised. First, the geometry of the body is specified in Cartesian coordinates. The surface of the body is then described by its...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Cryogenic High-Sensitivity Magnetometer
A proposed magnetometer for use in a cryogenic environment would be sensitive enough to measure a magnetic-flux density as small as a picogauss (10-16 Tesla). In contrast, a typical conventional flux-gate magnetometer cannot measure a magnetic-flux density smaller that about 1 microgauss (10-10 Tesla).
Briefs: Materials
Phenylethynyl containing reactive additive (PERA) compounds and mixtures have been found to be useful for improving the processability of oligomers, polymers, cooligomers, and copolymers...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A high-efficiency power amplifier that operates in the S band (frequencies of the order of a few gigahertz) utilizes transistors operating under class-D bias and excitation conditions. Class-D operation...
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Briefs: Software
Simulating Descent and Landing of a Spacecraft
The Dynamics Simulator for Entry, Descent, and Surface landing (DSENDS) software performs high-fidelity simulation of the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) of a spacecraft into the atmosphere and onto the surface of a planet or a smaller body. DSENDS is an extension of the DShell and DARTS programs...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
In situ systems that provide fresh lubricants to ball/race contacts on demand have been developed to prolong the operational lives of ball bearings. These systems were originally intended...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Blended Buffet-Load-Alleviation System for Fighter Airplane
The capability of modern fighter airplanes to sustain flight at high angles of attack and/or moderate angles of sideslip often results in immersion of part of such an airplane in unsteady, separated, vortical flow emanating from its forebody or wings. The flows from these surfaces become...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Helicity in Supercritical O₂/H₂ and C₇H₁₆/N₂ Mixing Layers
This report describes a study of databases produced by direct numerical simulation of mixing layers developing between opposing flows of two fluids under supercritical conditions, the purpose of the study being to elucidate chemical species-specific aspects of turbulence, with...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A proposed class of lightweight exoskeletal electromechanical systems would include electrically controllable actuators that would generate torques and forces that, depending on specific...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
In response to the loss of seven astronauts in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, large, lightweight, inflatable atmospheric-entry vehicles have been proposed as means of emergency descent and...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Part 1 of a Computational Study of a Drop-Laden Mixing Layer
This first of three reports on a computational study of a drop-laden temporal mixing layer presents the results of direct numerical simulations (DNS) of well-resolved flow fields and the derivation of the large-eddy simulation (LES) equations that would govern the larger scales of a...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Microstrip-patch-style antennas that generate monopole radiation patterns similar to those of quarter-wave whip antennas can be designed to have dimensions smaller than those needed...
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Briefs: Manned Systems
System for Better Spacing of Airplanes En Route
An improved method of computing the spacing of airplanes en route, and software to implement the method, have been invented. The purpose of the invention is to help air-traffic controllers minimize those deviations of the airplanes from the trajectories preferred by their pilots that are needed to...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
AIN-Based Packaging for SiC High-Temperature Electronics
Packaging made primarily of aluminum nitride has been developed to enclose silicon carbide-based integrated circuits (ICs), including circuits containing SiC-based power diodes, that are capable of operation under conditions more severe than can be withstood by silicon-based integrated...
Briefs: Software
Software for Analyzing Laminar-to-Turbulent Flow Transitions
Langley Stability and Transition Analysis Codes (LASTRAC) is a set of engineering software tools developed with the C++ language and modern software technologies for use in analyzing transition from laminar to turbulent flows. LASTRAC is a product of on-going NASA Langley research...
Briefs: Materials
Formulations for Stronger Solid Oxide Fuel-Cell Electrolytes
Tests have shown that modification of chemical compositions can increase the strengths and fracture toughnesses of solid oxide fuel-cell (SOFC) electrolytes. Heretofore, these solid electrolytes have been made of yttria- stabilized zirconia, which is highly conductive for oxygen ions at...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Wavy-planform rotor blades for helicopters have been investigated for the first time in an effort to reduce noise. Two of the main sources of helicopter noise are blade/vortex interaction (BVI)...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Bending actuators of a proposed type would partly resemble ordinary bending actuators, but would include simple additional components that would render them capable of exerting large forces at small displacements. Like...
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Briefs: Software
Program Predicts Broadband Noise From a Turbofan Engine
Broadband Fan Noise Prediction System (BFaNS) is a computer program that, as its name indicates, predicts the broadband noise generated by the fan stage of a turbofan engine. This noise is the sum of (1) turbulent- inflow noise, which is caused by turbulence impinging on leading edges of the...
Briefs: Medical
Spore-Forming Bacteria That Resist Sterilization
A report presents a phenotypic and genotypic characterization of a bacterial species that has been found to be of the genus Bacillus and has been tentatively named B. odysseensis because it was isolated from surfaces of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft as part of continuing research on techniques for...
Briefs: Software
Analyzing Aeroelasticity in Turbomachines
ASTROP2-LE is a computer program that predicts flutter and forced responses of blades, vanes, and other components of such turbomachines as fans, compressors, and turbines. ASTROP2-LE is based on the ASTROP2 program, developed previously for analysis of stability of turbomachinery components. In developing...
Briefs: Materials
Processable Polyimides Containing APB and Reactive End Caps
Imide copolymers that contain 1,3-bis (3- aminophenoxy) benzene (APB) and other diamines and dianhydrides and that are terminated with appropriate amounts of reactive end caps have been invented. The reactive end caps investigated thus far include 4-phenylethynyl phthalic anhydride (PEPA),...

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