Unified Test Stand Design and Environmental Model

The design of propulsion test stands and impact of new engines on existing test stands and surrounding environments requires the calculation of exhaust plume environments (pressure, radiative and convective heating, acoustics and environmental contamination). The current process is very labor-intensive and requires the use of a multitude of individual non-interacting models that requires several experts. Plumetech (PT) proposes to develop a PC Windows-based software package that integrates a CAD geometry module with the individual components of plume induced environments that can be used by personnel not versed in all models, to rapidly calculated the plume induced environments and determine the subsequent impact on the design, the environment and hardware in the area surrounding the stand. With NASA becoming more directly involved in test stand design and testing of propulsion systems, it is essential that NASA have the ability to provide the environments and determine the impact of the environments on test stands in a rapid, cost effective manner. The proposed Phase I study is innovative as it combines recent CAD surface geometry modeling advances with plume, plume induced environment and thermal response models that allow easy, accurate, and rapid computation/evaluation of the impact of the induced environments on test stands.