It’s a Wrap! NAS Science and Engineering Shines at Supercomputing Show

Visualization of the flow of NASA’s six-passenger quadcopter concept for urban air mobility (UAM). The quadcopter vehicle design reduces rotor-rotor interactions between the front and rear rotors, while keeping an efficient and compact configuration. The image was featured in one of many demonstrations presented by NAS researchers in the NASA booth at SC19. *Patricia Ventura Diaz, Tim Sandstrom, NASA/Ames*

December 20, 2019

Whether or not you were among the thousands of visitors who caught our acts in the NASA booth’s Hyperwall Theater at SC19 this past November, take a look at the spectacular images, videos, and science and engineering feats achieved by researchers from the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division. Here’s a recap of our talks that captivated audiences during the supercomputing community’s biggest event, the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis.

Lowering the (Sonic) Boom

NAS tools and technologies are helping to assess new designs for quieter commercial supersonic aircraft. In his presentation, Gerrit Stich described how aeroacoustics simulations resulted in accurate prediction of jet noise on NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator. And Marian Nemec captured the rapt attention of a group of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) students visiting the NASA exhibit by revealing how his team’s simulations contribute to the design of NASA’s supersonic X-59 concept airplane. The X-59 will demonstrate new technology that reduces sonic booms to gentle thumps.

Giving the Artemis Program a ‘Boost’

Jamie Meeroff welcomed another student group by showing how his team is helping NASA’s Artemis program send humans back to the Moon and on to Mars—possibly inspiring future aerospace engineers just as Apollo did two generations ago. Using a model of NASA’s upcoming heavy-lift vehicle, the Space Launch System(SLS), the team runs thousands of simulations that help design engineers understand the critical moments after liftoff when the SLS’s solid rocket boosters separate from the center core.

solid rocket booster separation from the core stage of the Space Launch System — Simulation of solid rocket booster separation from the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System. Eight thousand simulations of various scenarios were run to create aerodynamic databases for the Artemis II mission. In this scenario, a failure occurs in a core stage engine with the boosters four feet downstream from their original, attached position. The vehicle surface is colored by pressure contours, where blue is low and red is high. The green and orange colors represent low and high Mach numbers, respectively. *Stuart Rogers, Henry Lee, NASA/Ames*

A Cleaner Way to Fly

Another NASA concept in the works is the X-57 experimental electric aircraft, which is being designed to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. Jared Duensing demonstrated simulations that analyze the X-57’s unique propulsion system and help create an accurate computer model of its aerodynamic performance to incorporate into the X-57 flight simulator.

Tuning In to the Vibrations

In his presentation, Francois Cadieux explained how his team is also contributing to the Artemis program by running simulations of the Launch Abort System (LAS), which would propel the Orion crew capsule to safety in the event of a problem during an SLS launch. This NAS team’s simulations help design engineers understand how acoustic vibrations generated by the LAS motor would impact the vehicle.

Withstanding the Heat

Protecting spacecraft during atmospheric entry requires modern materials with complex microstructures. John Thornton outlined how his team’s simulations enable microscale analysis of materials that may allow spacecraft to survive higher temperatures, enabling greater flexibility in future missions.

Designing for Urban Air Mobility

Patricia Ventura Diaz wowed visitors with intricate visualizations of NASA’s six-passenger quadcopter air taxi concept, exquisitely rendered from her team’s simulation data by NAS visualization experts. This work helps engineers understand the complex aerodynamic flows generated by the concept vehicle’s four rotors, leading to design improvements that may bring urban air mobility closer to reality.

Special Delivery—by Drone!

Quadcopters may someday deliver packages, as well as people—but, they are noisy, which is a major roadblock to community acceptance. In his presentation, Mike Barad explained how the NAS Division’s Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) team is helping address this issue by running simulations of quadcopter drone noise that may help design engineers develop quieter vehicles.

Dousing the Sound of Ignition and Liftoff

The LAVA team also runs extensive simulations of the launch environment complex at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to investigate the effects of ignition and liftoff on the launch infrastructure. Jordan Angel described how his team is working to incorporate the effects of the Ignition Overpressure Protection and Sound Suppression (IOP/SS) system into their simulations. When rockets launch, this system drenches the mobile launcher and flame deflector with nearly a half-million gallons of water to suppress strong acoustic waves that could damage the structure or the vehicle.

From the Wind Tunnel to the hyperwall

Nettie Roozeboom of NASA’s Ames Research Center described how her team worked with NAS experts to develop a secure, high-bandwidth, one-way channel to quickly move huge amounts of pressure-sensitive paint data from an SLS model in Ames’ Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel to NAS supercomputers—and along the way, cut the processing time from one day per test point to one minute, enabling near-real-time data processing on the NAS hyperwall.

Unlocking the Secrets of Solar Storms

In addition to the many aerospace applications demonstrated in the NASA exhibit, heliophysicist Irina Kitiashvili showed mesmerizing visualizations resulting from her work modeling the Sun’s corona to study sources of space weather disturbances and unlock the secrets of solar storms, which can affect our communication, power grids, and space technologies.

Visualizing A New Way to Land on Mars

Outside the booth, at the SC19 Scientific Visualization & Data Analytics Showcase, NAS visualization expert Pat Moran presented “Visualizing Supersonic Retropropulsion for Mars: The Summit Early Science Results," showing the stunning videos he and colleague Tim Sandstrom produced in collaboration with researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center.

Rounding Up Four Decades of NAS Supercomputing

Last but not least, Bill Thigpen and Bob Hood described advances in the resources and user services provided at the NAS facility. Bill summarized the evolution of NASA’s high-end computing capabilities, highlighting the agency’s newest supercomputer, Aitken, housed in the energy-efficient Modular Supercomputing Facility. Bob explained his team’s three-phased approach to providing NAS users with a new cloud capability to run their science and engineering jobs.

With SC19’s record-breaking attendance, more than 13,000 visitors enjoyed downtown Denver’s friendly atmosphere and beautiful fall weather—and a chance to learn about NASA’s extraordinary contributions to science and engineering through high-performance computing. You can take some of these achievements with you everywhere you go by downloading our new mobile phone wallpapers made from NAS visualizations! (See sidebar.)

— Michelle Moyer and Jill Dunbar, NASA Ames Research Center

See all of NASA’s science and engineering demonstrations presented at SC19 by visiting: http://www.nas.nasa.gov/SC19/