Background, The purpose of this research program is to evaluate the efficacy of detecting changes in roadside weather using only static images from commodity traffic cameras as input. If successful, these results will provide a cost-effective alternative to the state-of-the-art dedicated weather-sensing hardware currently deployed by Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies. In areas that may experience…, Approach, To address this goal of detecting changes in roadside weather conditions using only snapshots collected from traffic cameras, data from DOT agencies is actively being collected, including both traffic camera snapshots and dedicated weather sensor data where available. This raw data must first be coalesced into a common format across the wide variety of native formats, then labeled either by using…, Accomplishments, To date, the project team has interfaced with the disparate data sources available from four DOT agencies, coalescing that data into common formats and storing this data on a project server. The team has also, as mentioned above, developed a web-based tool to facilitate labeling and analyzing high-level trends in the collected data. This ability to view data trends has revealed erroneous sensor…
Type: IRD Synopsis
Background, Flight test measurements are typically acquired through a combination of adding discrete aeromechanical sensors to the structure and tapping into the communication busses between flight control computers. The amount and type of measurement sources depends on a combination of the maturity of the aircraft design under test and what specific test objectives need to be achieved. The growth of storage…, Approach, We began by implementing various machine vision and image processing algorithms on our existing cockpit video testbed. We implemented the video processing using OpenCV which is an open-source computer vision library which facilitates both rapid development and multi-platform deployment. We captured video from the cockpit displays of our flight simulator to use as test inputs for our algorithm…, Accomplishments, This research project was successful in exploring the possibilities of acquiring numeric measurements, roll and pitch measurements, and light indicator states. This internal research project laid the groundwork of algorithms that could be expanded to future customer systems and was also successful in demonstrating which logic and available open source functions will or will not be useful, as well…
Type: IRD Synopsis
BACKGROUND, Corrosion of carbon steel in the presence of H 2 S is an important topic in the oil and gas industry that has been studied for more than 50 years. Removing this compound results in not only an increase in the corrosion resistance of carbon steel, but also an improvement of environmental, health, and safety compliance, thereby increasing production efficiency. Triazines are commonly used as H 2 S…, APPROACH, In this work, we sought to understand the effect of triazine on the electrochemical response of a carbon steel surface in a mixed gas system. Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) was used to qualitatively assess the nature of the carbon steel surface with and without CO 2 in the presence of triazine. Changes in surface film properties were also assessed using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in an…, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, Cyclic voltammetry was used to identify specific oxidation events associated with FeS formation. However, extreme care must be used in the interpretation because of apparent double layer charging that confounds a critical interpretation of the data. CV scans indicated that increases in triazine additions resulted in a reduction in the formation kinetics of FeO(OH). For the highest triazine…
Type: IRD Synopsis
BACKGROUND, The oil and gas and petrochemical industries have a need for thick diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings on the interior surface of long pipes to increase corrosion and erosion resistance. Using a plasma immersion ion deposition (PIID) process, SwRI has demonstrated that thick (>10 µm) DLC coatings can be deposited on the outer surfaces of components. The coatings have shown excellent corrosion…, APPROACH, Initial coating development is carried out on 7 feet long pipes (4 inch diameter) to optimize key deposition parameters and power supply configurations. Stainless steel coupon samples are placed inside the pipe for characterization and process optimization purposes. The efforts are focused on developing a stable PIID process for obtaining high quality thick DLC coatings in long pipes. The…, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, Different power technology configurations (AC, pulsed dc, high power impulse pulsed dc) for the pipe and electrode were optimized to improve the uniformity and density of the plasma generated in long pipes for DLC depositions. The structure and properties of DLC coatings have been studied systematically by tuning key processing parameters and using different power technology configurations. To…
Type: IRD Synopsis
BACKGROUND, Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging technology that promises a host of improvements over conventional manufacturing methods. These advantages, however, come with unique risks, especially where the fatigue performance of the component must be understood. For example, AM parts can have naturally occurring flaws that would affect the apparent material properties, such as porosity, lack of…, APPROACH, There are two separate technical efforts associated with this proposed research program. First, to determine the influence of surface roughness on ECT inspections, test samples are being fabricated with slightly different build parameters to induce various surface conditions. After adding reference features (i.e., notches) to each specimen, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements will be…, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, The set of AM specimens has been designed and is now being fabricated. Furthermore, a custom UT transducer has been designed, built, and tested for evaluation of the specimens. All of the anticipated objectives of this program have yet to be achieved, as this is an ongoing program. The most significant accomplishment will be developing a knowledgebase at SwRI related to the NDE of AM materials.…
Type: IRD Synopsis
BACKGROUND, Bridge fires are considered to be low-probability but high consequence events. However, because of recent fire incidents, the poor state of an increasing number of bridges throughout the country, rapid growth of ground transportation, and increasing transportation of hazardous materials, fire safety for concrete bridges has become a major concern. When concrete is exposed to elevated temperatures…, APPROACH, In this research, we are simulating the nonlinear system response of a 3D model of a prestressed concrete slab where the post-tensioning tendon and anchor are explicitly modeled. Heat from fire causes progressive spalling and deterioration of strength and stiffness of the concrete and the tendons, ultimately resulting in structural collapse. Consequently, several computational models are coupled…, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, This research is ongoing. We are advancing our methodology and validation process in stages. We simulated a 3D thermal-mechanical response of a concrete beam for validation. The beam was prestressed by a parabolic-shaped unbonded tendon. We are developing the hydrothermal modeling algorithm. Results from preliminary analyses are shown in Figure 1. Based on the results obtained so far, an abstract…, (a), The temperature contour along the mid-section of a prestressed slab model (simply supported) 20 minutes exposure to fire loading., (b), Time-temperature curve: (i) standard fire as input to the model, (ii) node on bottom surface or heater side of the beam along mid-section, (iii) node at mid-height of the beam along mid-section, (iv) node on top surface or cold side of the beam along mid-section, and (v) node at center tendon section at mid-section of the beam., (c), Deformation of the center of the beam plotted with respect to the temperature of heated side of the beam.
Type: IRD Synopsis
Background, Schematic of Pluto orbital mission tour Figure 1: Schematic of Pluto orbital mission tour. This mission would orbit Pluto for two years, with multiple flybys of each of Pluto's moons before exiting the Pluto system to fly by other objects in the Kuiper belt. NASA's New Horizons mission, led by an SwRI PI, has shown the scientific value of Kuiper Belt exploration, and has sparked an interest in…, Approach, Diagram of a flight path for a spacecraft leaving Pluto for KBO 2002 MS4 Figure 2: Flight path for a spacecraft leaving Pluto for KBO 2002 MS4. The spacecraft could visit two additional objects - 2011 KY31 and 2011 JW31 en route. The goals of the project were to develop and exploit mission analysis tools, as well as study a "gold standard" nuclear-electric propulsion mission that would orbit…, Accomplishments, A "gold standard" mission model for a two-year orbital tour of Pluto has been created (see Figure 1). Additionally, post-Pluto follow-on targets reachable in a 20-year mission lifetime have been identified, including multiple flyby opportunities (see Figure 2). The combined orbiter/KBO flyby mission was presented in a special workshop at the 2018 Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in…
Type: IRD Synopsis
BACKGROUND, The United States Air Force (USAF) has a large fleet of aging metallic aircraft. Replacement parts for damaged structural components are required to sustain these aircraft. The military routinely has problems obtaining acceptable replacement parts for numerous reasons, including long lead time,; the original manufacturer is out of business, or fabrication processes are no longer available. This…, APPROACH, This project builds a computational model of the selective laser melting process and uses thermal history predictions to drive computational predictions of residual stress and average grain size. Thermal profiles for the AM process may be computed by (relatively) straightforward thermal simulations. Consider a finite element analysis with a structured grid of elements such that one grid of…, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, Accomplishments during the first quarter of this project include capabilities to activate elements during thermal analysis; capabilities to define power source parameters and scan path; capabilities to change phase (e.g., from powder to liquid to solid); and demonstration of these capabilities on various geometries. Accomplishments during the second quarter of this project include capabilities to…
Type: IRD Synopsis
Background, Among the first steps of any planetary surface investigation is to construct a mosaic, which facilitates innumerable geologic and geophysical studies. This holds regardless of whether mosaics already exist: Ever-higher-resolution mosaics enable new studies and almost always quickly supersede the previous generation. We worked to develop workflow to create global 6 meters/pixel Mars…, Approach, We began with a basic, iterative process of creating semi-automated control networks. A control network takes multiple images, identifies common features, and determines how the a priori spacecraft and camera pointing information must be altered in order to have those features project to the same location. Once that is solved, the images can be re-projected with our new solution and mosaicked.…, Accomplishments, We succeeded in developing a solid workflow that works for Mars CTX images. We are cautious here as to how well this workflow might be generalized to other data and other bodies because the specific camera and imaging campaign for MRO CTX are ideal for creating even, high quality mosaics. We modified our original approach to remove much of the iterative component, which greatly reduced the time…
Type: IRD Synopsis
Background, Two cross-sectional views of the DMA design Figure 1: Two cross-sectional views of the DMA design with a front-on view (left) and isometric view (right). The purpose of this project was to simulate, design, fabricate, and test a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) suitable for a Titan lander. Since the discovery of Titan’s atmosphere in 1947, findings from Voyager 1 and 2 and, most recently,…, Approach, The DMA is a parallel plate design (Figure 1). The two parallel plates are called the inlet and outlet plates with the inlet plate containing the inlet slit for ions to enter the DMA and the outlet plate having an outlet slit at a fixed horizontal distance (x-dimension) from the inlet slit. In this design, a voltage difference is applied between the two plates providing an electric field to…, Accomplishments, Electron micrograph images of two tholin samples Figure 3: Electron micrograph images of two tholin samples display very interesting, but also seemingly ordered structure. We have successfully simulated, designed, and are currently in the fabrication process for completing the prototype DMA. Initial two-dimensional boundary layer thickness calculations were performed to determine optimal DMA…
Type: IRD Synopsis
