OSS provides engineering analysis as both a stand-alone engineering service, and as an integral part of our product development process. Our engineering analysis group includes three specialized areas: Stress Analysis, Thermal Analysis, and Materials and Processes Engineering. Our Stress and M&P groups both hold NASA signature authority, which means that individuals within those groups have earned the right, through their technical expertise, to review and approve NASA drawings.
Primary stress analysis tools are NASTRAN, ANSYS MathCAD, and NASGRO. Finite element models are generated and analyzed using either NASTRAN or ANSYS. Typically, our FEA models are test verified and/or correlated as part of the structural verification process. Fatigue and fracture control analysis are done using NASA’s FLAGRO software program.
OSS uses TSS (Thermal Synthesizer System), TAS (Thermal Analysis System), SINDA/FLUINT (System Improved Numerical Differencing Analyzer/Fluid Integrator), and TRASYS (Thermal Radiation Analyzer) tools to design, analyze, and predict thermal behavior of complex space flight operations and tools. TAS can read FEMAP, NASTRAN, ANSYS, and TRASYS models based on nodes, elements, and radiation conductors. The model once read can be built upon, and thermal constraints and loads can be applied and analysis performed to determine the thermal behavior of the hardware.
TSS is used for IVA, EVA, and orbital analysis. Based on its location, conditions such as a payload’s attitude, solar flux, albedo, and planet shine or Earth IR are defined and orbital analysis or launch-to-activation analysis are performed. TSS can read IGES, NASTRAN, RENO, and TRASYS files.
SINDA is a thermal network solver, and FLUINT is a fluid flow network solver. Once a TSS model is complete, it is converted to SINDA, codes are modified as required, and the model is run for output.
