NASA STTR 2008 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (SBC):		RESEARCH INSTITUTION (RI):
NAME:	Combustion Research and Flow Technology	NAME:	University of Florida
STREET:	6210 Keller's Church Road	STREET:	339 Weil Hall
CITY:	Pipersville	CITY:	Gainesville
STATE/ZIP:	PA  18947 - 1020	STATE/ZIP:	FL  32611 - 6250
PHONE:	(215) 766-1520	PHONE:	(352) 846-3017

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Vineet Ahuja
vineet@craft-tech.com

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 3 to 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Instabilities associated with fluid handling and operation in liquid rocket propulsion systems and test facilities usually manifest themselves as structural vibrations and may cause structural damage such as the cracks observed in the space shuttle hydrogen feed liners. While the source of the instability is directly related to the performance of a component such as a turbopump, valve or a flow control element, the associated pressure fluctuations as they propagate through the system have the potential to amplify and resonate with natural modes of the structural elements and components of the system. The innovation described in this proposal directly relates to an innovative multi-level approach that involves integration of analysis, at both the component and systems level, into a unified simulation framework. The primary source of the unsteadiness is modeled with a high-fidelity hybrid RANS/LES based CFD methodology that has been previously used to study instabilities in feed systems. System response to the driving instability will be simulated through a lumped element modeling (LEM) technique that will approximate the behavior of all the distributed elements that constitute the system.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The integrated multi-level (system and component) simulation software resulting from this proposal would predict performance of liquid rocket propulsion systems and test facilities for rocket engines. The salient features of the framework include diagnosis of system anomalies/transients and prediction of system feedback and response to the transients. Our product addresses core needs of NASA in the Constellation program, and the mission to the moon, in reliably predicting instability modes, resonance and structural vibrations in propulsion systems such as the J-2X and RS-68 engines as well as test facilities with complex networks of valves, venturis, control elements etc. The software technology developed here can also be deployed by engine health monitoring systems and/or by control algorithms that require rapid response models of systems that consist of vast array of fluid dynamic components.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The commercial market for our product is very large and includes plants and industrial facilities such as nuclear power generation, chemical process plants etc. Recently, commercial space ventures ranging from space transportation systems (COTS) for the international space station (ISS), to low-cost satellite launch systems are getting interested in simulation tools capable of providing risk assessment of propulsion systems. The primary market for this product will be in the design and analysis of high-performance, high-reliability systems used for inherently transient operations in the nuclear and chemical process industry. Here characterizing the transient performance of the system is a critical safety issue and the availability of a well-validated, reliable predictive software tool can play an integral role in reducing costs and managing risk.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Feed System Components Simulation Modeling Environment Testing Facilities Testing Requirements and Architectures