Meanwhile Back On Earth (1970s)

[Laughter] when we opened our minds very wide and found we were in the Space Age we found the computer was a constant companion I'm Rod Sterling and I've always been interested in man's mind in the Heights and Horizons Beyond which it can transport itself a computer is in a sense the transporting of man's mind and this reel of tape has recorded on it the product of many Minds fascinating equations Limitless in their [Music] applications a special reel of computer tape has a lot to do with this this is our space shuttle a model of it an unbelievable sophisticated piece of Hardware scheduled to zip back and forth with commuting astronauts in just a couple of years it was to ensure perfection in design of the Space Shuttle and a lot of other space vehicles that the special computer program came into being it was developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and it's called nastran short for NASA structural analysis what makes nastran especially exciting is that it's been found to work equally well on the structural an analysis of all kinds of things right here on Earth just about everything that shakes rattles or rolls from a windblown skyscraper to an automobile on a bumpy road building something and then testing it is the time honored way but it's expensive time consuming and not always foolproof when mastram is used for analysis lab tests are just cross checks the automobile frame and the wheel suspension always cause Engineers particular concern but they get covered up you don't even think about them unless your ride is [Music] uncomfortable what causes the discomfort the bumps and vibrations is the flexibility or lack of it in the steel from which the frames in front ends are made and when it's finished the combinations of weight and flexibility determine what kind of ride you'll [Music] have the millions of families who take to the road in new cars each year don't particularly care about the strange engineering terms used in analysis but they can appreciate the results this kind of total design capability in nastran is now available to the public the test try calls no real surprises when the design has been analyzed by nastran before production begins a major space a spin-off mastran better design for greater safety better ride not a better ball game but a better Stadium Nan's computer analysis is now working on it whether it's the design for a geodesic [Music] dome or the rearranged structure of the getic Dome the public public who always foots the bill for such Civic structures wants to know that it's better this is the award-winning designed for a new stadium in Seattle nran was used for the structural analysis who knows maybe there will be a whole R ball game [Music] television anyone television anytime and most importantly anywhere to have television anywhere there must be antennas sophisticated antennas all very large and All Out of Doors where the winds and the elements can cause trouble special design requires special approaches now they're using nastran this is a model of a new antenna which will be used by comat the communication satellite Corporation to beam television programs all over the world relaying them through an orbiting satellite its design was perfected with the use of nastran analysis NASA scientists took several years and a lot of money to develop the nastrand computer system and now it's available to everyone within the United States it was developed at public expense your tax dollars and mine three million of them and now we're getting the dividends if you're a design analyst or engineer or manufacturer you can buy the whole program for $1,500 if you're none of these and most of us are not you can simply re the rewards of better design safer design more economical design and virtually every piece of major Hardware made in the United St today in technical terms what nastran does is analyze organized elastic structures by finite elements now in our language that means that a computer programmed with nastran can tell you how much a bridge is going to flex or how much a helicopter blade will shimmy and it'll give you that information for any of a huge number of sample points in infinitely less time than the old testing techniques would require and best of all you can play with the design twist it bend it break it all on the computer and get it right before you start to build as the ad men say you know it will get off the [Applause] [Music] ground The Versatile helicopter a potential for good work that's being realized ized more and more each year but it also has in its elastic structure a potential for the shakes analyzing the design of each piece of a helicopter at a time and then putting it all together nastran can tell the engineers when rigidity is important and when flexibility is necessary cutting down on vibration is extremely important whether it's to provide a safer and more stable observation platform for B and fire surveillance [Music] to give the businessman a better ride or to increase the payload of the Workhorse helicopters that are revolutionizing [Music] construction this nation's demands for electric power have been outstripping our ability to produce the big steam-driven turbine continues to be the prime producer but in its design there are inherent vibration problems vibration which can cause loss of efficiency and sometimes disastrous explosions the giant blades turning from 1,800 to 3600 rotations per minute are constantly buffeted by steam under very high pressure and temperature vibration can reach a dangerous level less vibration greater efficiency when these big turbines are designed NASA's structural analysis is now being [Music] used we are the world's champion consumers and one of the things we consume the most paper virtually all our paper starts out of course as [Music] wood converting logs into wood chips for paper pulp has to be done efficiently and economically if the cost of paper is to be kept at reasonable levels big logs pose big problems again the old concern vibration a 30t log over 2 ft in diameter about 10 seconds and it becomes tiny chips of wood the huge chipper Wheels which hold the blades weigh several tons and rotate at extremely high speed if one of them gets out of balance the chipper room is not a safe place to be there were some problems with design when nazza structural analysis program was made available to the public it solved the problems now the lods flow in and the chips fly out it was said earlier that nastran could analyze the design of anything that shakes rattles or rolls why not [Music] railroads railroad tracks and the bed which supports them do not seem to be particularly elastic until the train runs over them a good road bed can make the difference smoother ride greater economy higher speeds nastran has been put to work on the problem by the Department of Transportation ribbons of Steel which stretch horizontally across the land or steel which stretches into the sky each job each design has its own particular problems with skyscrapers wind is a very real concern hundreds of feet taller than the Washington Monument a new giant will rise at this spot in Chicago just south of the Hancock building the vortices of the Winds whipping around the Hancock Building will give it a terrific wallup how much can it take how much can the residents accept within assured limits of safety and still be comfortable nastran is now being used to solve some of these problems long before the first footing is poured as a result there will be better design less cost greater utility and comfort always man has achieved and in that achievement not knowing the wide limits or the complete effect of his achievements so it has been with nastran NASA structural analysis [Music] another reaching toward the Stars has broadened the horizons here on Earth [Music] oh [Music]