Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2003. Directed by Erian A. Armanios. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-212).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering." Includes bibliographical references (p. 2-5).

<p> The non-resonant heating of gases by laser irradiation and plasma formation has been under investigation since the development of 100 megawatt peak power, Q-switched, nanosecond pulse duration lasers and the commensurate discovery of laser air sparks. More recently, advances in mode-locking and chirped pulse amplification have led to commercially available 100 gigawatt peak power, femtosecond pulse duration lasers with a rapidly increasing number of applications including remote sensing, laser spectroscopy, aerodynamic flow control, and molecular tagging velocimetry and thermometry diagnostics. This work investigates local energy deposition and gas heating produced by focused, non-resonant, nanosecond and femtosecond laser pulses in the context of flow control and laser diagnostic applications. </p><p> Three types of pulse configurations were examined: single nanosecond pulses, single femtosecond pulses and a dual pulse approach whereby a femtosecond pre-ionizing pulse is followed by a nanosecond pulse. For each pulse configuration, optical and laser diagnostic techniques were applied in order to qualitatively and quantitatively measure the plasmadynamic and hydrodynamic processes accompanying laser energy deposition. Time resolved imaging of optical emission from the plasma and excited species was used to qualitatively examine the morphology and decay of the excited gas. Additionally, Thomson scattering and Rayleigh scattering diagnostics were applied towards measurements of electron temperature, electron density, gas temperature and gas density. </p><p> Gas heating by nanosecond and dual pulse laser plasmas was found to be considerably more intense than femtosecond plasmas, irrespective of pressure, while the dual pulse approach provided substantially more controllability than nanosecond pulses alone. In comparison, measurements of femtosecond laser heating showed a strong and nonlinearly dependence on focusing strength. With comparable pulse energy, measurements of maximum temperature rise ranged from 50K to 2000K for 500mm and 175mm focal length lenses, respectively. Experiments with various lens and pulse energy combinations indicated an important connection between gas heating and the phenomena of intensity clamping and self-guiding. The long-term behavior of the heated region varied considerably among pulse configurations. However, in each case, the formation of a toroidal vortex could be suppressed or enhanced depending on the variables of pressure, focusing and pulse energy.</p>

<p> Carbon nanotubes are a relatively new area of research which has gained significant attention in published literature. One reason for this interest is their use in multi-phase composites, specifically where they can enhance traditional polymer matrices. Many authors have attempted to adapt conventional micromechanical analyses reserved for microfibers to the nano scale. A review of these works is presented. In depth analysis is provided on one of these two phase (nanotube and matrix) models, the Anumandla-Gibson model, originally published in 2006. A discussion of its strengths and sensitivities is given, with numerical data to support the conclusions. It is extended to three-phase composites through the use of classical laminated plate theory. A literature survey is conducted to gather published two and three-phase experimental results for comparison. Two phase experimental results agree well with the present model, whereas three phase data was limited, but initial comparisons were promising.</p>

<p> The effects of vapor-grown carbon nanofiber (VGCNF) weight fraction, applied stress, and temperature on the viscoelastic responses (creep strain, creep rate, and creep compliance) of VGCNF/vinyl ester (VE) nanocomposites were studied using a central composite design (CCD). The nanocomposite test articles were fabricated by high shear mixing, casting, curing, and post-curing in an open face mold under a nitrogen environment. Short-term creep/creep recovery experiments were conducted at prescribed combinations of temperatures (23.8 - 69.2 C), applied stresses (30.2 - 49.8 MPa), and VGCNF weight fractions (0.00 - 1.00 parts of VGCNF per hundred parts of resin, phr) determined from the CCD. The response surface models (RSMs) for predicting these viscoelastic responses were developed using the least squares method and an analysis of variance procedure. The response surface estimates indicate that increasing the VGCNF weight fraction marginally increases the creep resistance of the VGCNF/VE nanocomposite at low temperatures (i.e., 23.8 - 46.5 C). However, increasing the VGCNF weight fraction for temperatures greater than 50 C decreased the creep resistance of these nanocomposites. The latter response may be due to a decrease in the nanofiber-to-matrix adhesion as the temperature is increased. The RSMs for creep strain, creep rate, and creep compliance revealed the interactions between the VGCNF weight fraction, stress, and temperature on the creep behavior of thermoset polymer</p>

<p> NASA has had a decades-long problem with cost growth during the development of space science missions. Numerous agency-sponsored studies have produced average mission level development cost growths ranging from 23 to 77%. </p><p> A new study of 26 historical NASA science instrument set developments using expert judgment to re-allocate key development resources has an average cost growth of 73.77%. Twice in history, during the Cassini and EOS-Terra science instrument developments, a barter-based mechanism has been used to re-allocate key development resources. The mean instrument set development cost growth was -1.55%. Performing a bivariate inference on the means of these two distributions, there is statistical evidence to support the claim that using a barter-based mechanism to re-allocate key instrument development resources will result in a lower expected cost growth than using the expert judgment approach. </p><p> Agent-based discrete event simulation is the natural way to model a trade environment. A NetLogo agent-based barter-based simulation of science instrument development was created. The agent-based model was validated against the Cassini historical example, as the starting and ending instrument development conditions are available. The resulting validated agent-based barter-based science instrument resource re-allocation simulation was used to perform 300 instrument development simulations, using barter to re-allocate development resources. The mean cost growth was -3.365%. A bivariate inference on the means was performed to determine that additional significant statistical evidence exists to support a claim that using barter-based resource re-allocation will result in lower expected cost growth, with respect to the historical expert judgment approach. </p><p> Barter-based key development resource re-allocation should work on science spacecraft development as well as it has worked on science instrument development. A new study of 28 historical NASA science spacecraft developments has an average cost growth of 46.04%. As barter-based key development resource re-allocation has never been tried in a spacecraft development, no historical results exist, and an inference on the means test is not possible. </p><p> A simulation of using barter-based resource re-allocation should be developed. The NetLogo instrument development simulation should be modified to account for spacecraft development market participant differences. The resulting agent-based barter-based spacecraft resource re-allocation simulation would then be used to determine if significant statistical evidence exists to prove a claim that using barter-based resource re-allocation will result in lower expected cost growth.</p>

For high-fidelity parallel computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations, multi-block grid methodology makes it possible to simulate flows around complex geometries. An automatic load-balancing tool is developed for a parallel Newton-Krylov algorithm that uses multi-block grids. The load-balancing tool uses a recursive edge bisection tool for splitting blocks to enforce load-balancing constraints. When homogeneous multi-block grids are used, an optional constraint is introduced to control block splitting. For heterogeneous multi-block grids, a block size constraint prevents smaller blocks from being split when the tool is started of with a smaller number of blocks than processors. The load-balancing tool is applied to three-dimensional multi-block grids for a Newton-Krylov solution process applied to the Euler and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. For heterogeneous grids, significant reductions in turnaround time is obtained using the load-balancing tool than without a load-balancing tool. Finally, using the automatic tool, the scaling properties of the parallel Newton-Krylov algorithm are investigated.

For high-fidelity parallel computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations, multi-block grid methodology makes it possible to simulate flows around complex geometries. An automatic load-balancing tool is developed for a parallel Newton-Krylov algorithm that uses multi-block grids. The load-balancing tool uses a recursive edge bisection tool for splitting blocks to enforce load-balancing constraints. When homogeneous multi-block grids are used, an optional constraint is introduced to control block splitting. For heterogeneous multi-block grids, a block size constraint prevents smaller blocks from being split when the tool is started of with a smaller number of blocks than processors. The load-balancing tool is applied to three-dimensional multi-block grids for a Newton-Krylov solution process applied to the Euler and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. For heterogeneous grids, significant reductions in turnaround time is obtained using the load-balancing tool than without a load-balancing tool. Finally, using the automatic tool, the scaling properties of the parallel Newton-Krylov algorithm are investigated.

<p> Nanofluids, stable colloidal suspensions of nanoparticles in a base fluid, have potential applications in the heat transfer, combustion and propulsion, manufacturing, and medical fields. Experiments were conducted to determine the evaporation rate of room temperature, millimeter-sized pendant drops of ethanol laden with varying amounts (0-3% by weight) of 40-60 nm aluminum nanoparticles (nAl). Time-resolved high-resolution drop images were collected for the determination of early-time evaporation rate (D²/D₀² > 0.75), shown to exhibit D-square law behavior, and surface tension. Results show an asymptotic decrease in pendant drop evaporation rate with increasing nAl loading. The evaporation rate decreases by approximately 15% at around 1% to 3% nAl loading relative to the evaporation rate of pure ethanol. Surface tension was observed to be unaffected by nAl loading up to 3% by weight. </p><p> A model was developed to describe the evaporation of the nanofluid pendant drops based on D-square law analysis for the gas domain and a description of the reduction in liquid fraction available for evaporation due to nanoparticle agglomerate packing near the evaporating drop surface. Model predictions are in relatively good agreement with experiment, within a few percent of measured nanofluid pendant drop evaporation rate. </p><p> The evaporation of pinned nanofluid sessile drops was also considered via modeling. It was found that the same mechanism for nanofluid evaporation rate reduction used to explain pendant drops could be used for sessile drops. That mechanism is a reduction in evaporation rate due to a reduction in available ethanol for evaporation at the drop surface caused by the packing of nanoparticle agglomerates near the drop surface. Comparisons of the present modeling predictions with sessile drop evaporation rate measurements reported for nAl/ethanol nanofluids by Sefiane and Bennacer [11] are in fairly good agreement. Portions of this abstract previously appeared as: W. J. Gerken, A. V. Thomas, N. Koratkar and M. A. Oehlschlaeger, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 263-268, July 2014. W. J. Gerken, M. A. Oehlschlaeger, "Nanofluid Pendant Droplet Evaporation", in Proceedings of the ASME 2013 Summer Heat Transfer Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 2013, pp. V001T03A018.</p>

This thesis reports on research into the causes of local optima when optimization algorithms are applied to aerospace structural design. A thorough understanding of local optima will enable the engineers to select the algorithm for optimization or to guide the optimization to ensure either global optima or near optimal solutions are achieved. Therefore, a comprehensive literature review has been conducted and several illustrative examples have been identified to help fully understand the cause and importance of local optima. The first application involved the design of the internal structure of a simplified wing spoiler. MSC.NASTRAN was used to optimize each discretized location of an additional rib with the aid of a Patran Command Language (PCL) algorithm. The objective function of minimum weight was approximated as a multimodal function in a 2D smooth curve where the local and global optima were identified. The theory of continuous rectangular plates was used to explain the phenomena. The second problem considered buckling of a wing rib. A PCL code was written to obtain the rib buckling factors as the position of the center of a square cutout was varied within a constrained area. The rib linear buckling factor versus the centre position O(X, Y) of the square cutout was plotted in a 3D surface contour plot. Load path theory and relevant plate buckling theories were used to explain the local and global maxima identified. The final example considered the maximization of the buckling load of a simply supported composite laminated plate under in-plane loading. A conventional Genetic Algorithm was used to examine the local and global optima of the critical buckling load factor. Many local and global optima were identified and explained and many near-optimal solutions were found in a single run. A significant understanding of local optima in aerospace structural design with the optimal utilization of available software and the appropriate selection of optimization algorithms has been achieved. Further work could either include implementing the proposed global optimization strategies or include implementing rapid methods for identifying multiple local optima.