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A probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) approach has been developed and applied to the risk analysis of capsule abort during ascent. The PRA is used to assist in the identification of modeling and simulation applications that can significantly impact the understanding of crew risk during this potentially dangerous maneuver. The PRA approach is also being used to identify the appropriate level of fidelity for the modeling of those critical failure modes. The Apollo launch escape system (LES) was chosen as a test problem for application of this approach. Failure modes that have been modeled and/or simulated to date include explosive overpressure-based failure, explosive fragment-based failure, land landing failures (range limits exceeded either near launch or Mode III trajectories ending on the African continent), capsule-booster re-contact during separation, and failure due to plume-induced instability. These failure modes have been investigated using analysis tools in a variety of technical disciplines at various levels of fidelity. The current paper focuses on the roles and impacts of the higher-fidelity methods on this process and, by association, the roles and impacts of the high performance computing resources of the Columbia supercomputer system at NASA Ames Research Center.

‡As one component of an expert system to generate aerodynamic data using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools, a new approach utilizing Design of Experiment (DOE) and data fusion is outlined in the following paper. The goal of combining data fusion (merging of various fidelity solutions into a single, coherent database) with an adaptive DOE design is to improve the efficiency of the data generation process. A comparison between databases created using this novel approach and a more conventional full-factorial design shows that the new process can dramatically reduce the computational times required to generate data.

The Tool Agent Framework—Java (TAF-J) software was developed to provide a set of services to access, manage, and integrate aerospace analysis tools with the Information Power Grid (IPG), a distributed set of heterogeneous compute resources. Analysis tools in several disciplines were incorporated into the framework. The framework also included a number of helper utilities created to link the various tools together to perform multidisciplinary analyses. Analysis and tool selection, job creation, submission and monitoring, solution monitoring, and data storage and retrieval were managed using prototype software agents. These agents were designed to perform their functions with minimal user input. The framework was used to compute ascent abort trajectories for a reusable launch vehicle design. Several design of experiments (DOE) methods within the framework were tested for computational speed and accuracy. The data generated were then used in the trajectory analysis. The trajectory analysis agent automatically selected an appropriate emergency landing site based upon the abort parameters.

A numerical study is performed to investigate the effects of tangential slot blowing on a generic chined forebody. The Reynolds-averaged, thin-layer, Navier-Stokes equations are solved to obtain the high-angle-of-attack viscous flow field about a generic chined forebody. Tangential slot blowing is investigated as a means of forebody flow control to generate side force and yawing moment on the forebody. The effects of jet mass flow ratios, angle of attack, and blowing slot location in the axial and circumferential directions are studied. The computed results are compared with available wind tunnel experimental data. The solutions with and without blowing are also analyzed using helicity density contours, surface flow patterns, and off-surface instantaneous streamlines. The results of this analysis provide details of the flow field about the generic chined forebody, as well as show that tangential slot blowing can be used as a means of forebody flow control to generate side force and yawing moment.

The effect of forebody tangential slot blowing on the flowfield about an F/A-18 aircraft is investigated numerically using solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. Computed solutions are obtained for a full aircraft geometry, including the fuselage, wing with deflected leading-edge flap, empennage, and a faired-over engine inlet. The computational slot geometry corresponds to that used in full-scale wind tunnel tests. Solutions are computed using flight test conditions and jet mass flow ratios equivalent to wind tunnel test conditions. The effect of slot location is analyzed by computing two non-time-accurate solutions with a 16 in. slot located 3 in. and 11 in. aft of the nose of the aircraft. These computations resolve the trends observed in the full-scale wind tunnel test data. The flow aft of the leading edge extension (LEX) vortex burst is unsteady. A time-accurate solution is obtained to investigate the flow characteristics aft of the vortex burst, including the effect of blowing on tail buffet.

Numerical investigation of vortex induced tail buffet is conducted on the F-18 aircraft at high angles of attack. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are integrated using a time-accurate, implicit procedure. A generalized overset zonal grid scheme is used to decompose the computational space around the complete aircraft with faired-over inlet. A weak coupling between the aerodynamics and structures is assumed to compute the structural oscillation of the flexible vertical tail. Time-accurate computations of the turbulent flow around the F-18 aircraft at 30 degrees angle of attack show the surface and off-surface flowfield details, including the unsteadiness created by the vortex burst and its interaction with the vertical twin tail which causes the tail buffet. The effect of installing a LEX fence on modifying the vortex structure upstream of the tail is also examined.

A full aircraft geometry is used to computationally analyze the effectiveness of a pneumatic forebody flow control concept. An overset grid technique is employed to model the aircraft and slot geometry. Steady-state solutions for both isolated forebody and full aircraft configurations are carried out using a thin-layer Navier-Stokes flow solver. A solution obtained using the full aircraft geometry and a flight sideslip condition investigates the effect of sideslip on the leading edge extention vortex burst point. A no-sideslip blowing solution using the isolated forebody at full-scale wind tunnel test conditions is compared with experimental data to determine the accuracy of the numerical method. A solution employing the full geometry and slot blowing at flight conditions is obtained.

This paper describes a numerical method capable of solving the steady and unsteady viscous flow around complete aircraft configurations at high angles of attack. This method is used to simulate the external flow around the F-18 aircraft, including deflected control surfaces. The current technique employs a generalized overset zonal grid scheme to decompose the computational space around the aircraft. The grid around various components of the aircraft are created numerically using a three-dimensional hyperbolic grid generation procedure. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are integrated using a time-accurate, implicit procedure. Results for the turbulent flow around the F-18 aircraft at 30 degrees angle of attack show the details of the flowfield structure, including the unsteadiness created by the vortex burst and the resulting fluctuating airloads exerted on the vertical tail. The computed results agree fairly well with flight data for surface pressure, surface flow pattern, vortex burst location, and the dominant frequency for tail load fluctuations.

A numerical method developed for solving the viscous flow around three-dimensional complex configurations is presently used to simulate the flow around a simplified F/A-18 configuration encompassing forebody, wing, leading-edge extension, faired-over inlet, and deflected wing leading-edge flaps, at Mach 0.243 and 30.3 deg angle of attack. The computational results show the details of the flowfield structure, including primary, secondary, and tertiary separation lines, the development of forebody and leading-edge extension vortex, and the burst of this vortex. A grid-refinement study is conducted to assess the effect of grid characteristics on solution accuracy. Substantial agreement is obtained between these results and flight data.

The F3D thin-layer Navier-Stokes code presently used to numerically investigate the three-dimensional separated flow about a prolate spheroid at high incidence analyzes the effect of different turbulence models on the flowfield solution and the characteristics of the predicted flow. The Johnson-King (1984) model is applied in order to evaluate the importance of modeling nonequilibrium effects in predicting flow about a slender body at high incidence; the computations in question are for steady-state, fully turbulent flow. Insight is gained into the effects of turbulence models on flow characteristics, and model effects on the accurate prediction of highly separated and vortical flows about a slender body are demonstrated.

A method was evolved to account for the effects of compressibility in flows through long circular pipes of uniform diameter. Velocity and density variations across the flow cross section were approximated by profile shapes recommended for a flow past flat plates. The wall of the pipe was assumed to have attained an adiabatic condition. An integral method was used to obtain solutions for the governing equations of flow. The method was then used to analyze the detailed pressure measurements made in a long pipe for flow of air at different flow rate settings. Flow friction values derived from these pressure measurements were compared with the standard incompressible pipe flow data available in existing literature.