Engineering topics

Boss, A. P.

Publications and source records attributed to Boss, A. P..

At least 19 records

NASA NTRS1994

Large-scale processes in the solar nebula

Theoretical models of the structure of a minimum mass solar nebula should be able to provide the physical context to help evaluate the efficacy of any mechanism proposed for the formation of chondrules or Ca, Al-rich inclusions (CAI's). These models generally attempt to use the equations of radiative hydrodynamics to calculate the large-scale structure of the solar nebula throughout the planet-forming region. In addition, it has been suggested that chondrules and CAI's (=Ch&CAI's) may have been formed as a direct result of large-scale nebula processing such as passage of material through high-temperature regions associated with the global structure of the nebula. In this report we assess the status of global models of solar nebula structure and of various related mechanisms that have been suggested for Ch and CAI formation.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Midplane temperatures in the solar nebula

Cosmochemical analyses of meteorites imply that maximum temperatures in the inner solar nebula were on the order of 1300 K, yet standard viscous accretion disk models predict much lower midplane temperatures (approx. 300 K at 2 AU to 3 AU) in a minimum mass nebula. A second-order accurate radiative hydrodynamics code has been used to construct models of the late-phase solar nebula appropriate for low-mass star formation (M is approximately 10(exp -6) to 10(exp -5) solar-M yr(exp -1). For a minimum mass (0.02 solar-M) nebula and a solar-mass protostar, the new models show that compressional heating due to mass accretion onto the nebula and subsequent vertical contraction of the nebula are sufficient to lead to midplane temperatures T(sub m) greater than 1400 K at 1 AU and T(sub m) greater than 1000 K at 2.5 AU.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Chondrule formation by clumpy accretion onto the solar nebula

Chondrule textures and compositions appear to require rapid heating of precursor grain aggregates to temperatures in the range 1500 K to 2100 K, cooling times on the order of hours, and episodic and variable intensity events in order to produce chondrule rims and chemically distinct groups. Nebula shock waves have been proposed by Hood and Horanyi as a physical mechanism that may be capable of meeting the meteoritical constraints. Motivated by astronomical observations of the close environments of young stars, we suggest that the source of the nebula shock waves may be clumpy accretion onto the solar nebula - that is, episodic impacts onto the nebula by discrete cloud clumps with masses of at least 10(exp 22) g. If the cloud clumps are massive enough (10(exp 26) g), the resulting shockwave may be able to propagate to the midplane and process precursor aggregates residing in a dust sub-disk.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Initiating solar system formation through stellar shock waves

Isotopic anomalies in presolar grains and other meteoritical components require nucleosynthesis in stellar interiors, condensation into dust grains in stellar envelopes, transport of the grains through the interstellar medium by stellar outflows, and finally injection of the grains into the presolar nebula. The proximity of the presolar cloud to these energetic stellar events suggests that a shock wave from a stellar outflow might have initiated the collapse of an otherwise stable presolar cloud. We have begun to study the interactions of stellar shock waves with thermally supported, dense molecular cloud cores, using a three spatial dimension (3D) radiative hydrodynamics code. Supernova shock waves have been shown by others to destroy quiescent clouds, so we are trying to determine if the much smaller shock speeds found in, e.g., asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star winds, are strong enough to initiate collapse in an otherwise stable, rotating, solar-mass cloud core, without leading to destruction of the cloud.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Tidal disruption of inviscid planetesimals

In view of previous efforts' demonstration that strongly dissipative planetesimals are immune to tidal disruption, an examination is presently conducted of the complementary case of inviscid planetesimals arising from collisions that are sufficiently energetic to entirely melt the resulting planetesimal and debris. The tidal disruption is numerically simulated by means of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code of Cameron and Benz (1991), concentrating on the tidal disruption of 0.01 earth-mass planetesimals passing by the earth with variations in the impact parameter at perigee and velocity at infinity. The SPH models show that tidal forces during a close encounter can efficiently convert orbital angular momentum into spin angular momentum, thereby initiating equatorial mass-shedding to inviscid planetesimals that have been spun up beyond the limit of rotational stability.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Dynamical constraints on the origin of the moon

Six different categories of models for the formation of the moon within the context of the general theory of terrestial planet formation by the accumulation of protoplanets are discussed. These catagories are: (1) rotational fission; (2) precipitation fission; (3) intact capture; (4) disintegrative capture; (5) binary accretion; and (6) giant impact accretion. It appears that the only plausable mechanism proposed thus far involves the formation of the Moon following a giant impact that ejects portions of the differentiated Earth's mantle and parts of the impacting body into circumterrestrial orbit.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Theory of collapse and protostar formation

Interstellar clouds must increase in density by a factor of more than 10 to the 20th in order to form stars. Because observations of the phases intermediate between dense interstellar clouds and pre-main-sequence stars are difficult, theoretical solutions presently provide the primary means for exploring the collapse phase of protostellar formation. The mathematical formulation of the protostellar collapse problem is presented, and various methods employed in solving the equations are outlined. This tutorial emphasizes the numerical approach to the study of the nonlinear time-dependent evolution of collapsing interstellar clouds, including self-gravitation, rotation, and radiative transfer. Results are summarized for the restricted cases of spherical and axisymmetric symmetry, as well as for fully three-dimensional evolutions, and briefly compared to observations of star formation.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1986

High spatial resolution models of time-dependent, layered mantle convection

Time-dependent models of Boussinesq convection are analyzed in order to determine the potential existence of the transient phase of multiple layered convection initially described by Ross and Sacks (1982, 1984). The initial thermal profile for subsolidus mantle convection is examined in terms of an adiabatic or a conductive profile. The effects of varied spatial resolution, aspect ratio, Rayleigh number, initial buoyancy, and supersolidus temperature cutoffs on mantle convection are investigated. It is observed that the data supports the existence of the transient phase of multiple layered convection.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Protoearth mass shedding and the origin of the moon

Darwin's (1980) theory of lunar formation from the earth by means of a rotationally driven dynamic fission instability is presently considered in view of viscous shear's maintenance of solid body rotation throughout the protoearth's accretion phase. Assuming the appropriateness of a polytropic account of the protoearth, it is unlikely that dynamic fission could have occurred; instantaneous spin-up following a giant impact would instead have led to mass shedding. The dynamical phenomenon of mass shedding is here explored on the basis of numerical models for a self-gravitating, axisymmetric, polytropic and dissipative protoearth. It is concluded that mass shedding from the protoearth mantle after a giant impact and explosion could have contributed substantial matter to a lunar disk.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Dynamical constraints on the origin of the moon

The paper considers six different categories of models for the formation of the moon within the context of the general theory of terrestrial planet formation by accumulation of planetesimals. These categories are: (1) rotational fission, (2) precipitation fission, (3) intact capture, (4) disintegrative capture, (5) binary accretion, and (6) giant impact accretion. It appears that the only plausible mechanism proposed thus far involves the formation of the moon following a giant impact that ejects portions of the differentiated earth's mantle and parts of the impacting body into circumterrestrial orbit.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Tidal disruption of dissipative planetesimals

A self-consistent numerical model is developed for the tidal disruption of a solid planetesimal. The planetesimal is treated as a highly viscous, slightly compressible fluid whose disturbed parts are an inviscid, pressureless fluid undergoing distortion and disruption. The distortions were constrained to being symmetrical above and below the equatorial plane. The tidal potential is expanded in terms of Legendre polynomials, which eliminates the center of mass acceleration effects, permitting definition of equations of motion in a noninertial frame. Consideration is given to viscous dissipation and to characteristics of the solid-atmosphere boundary. The model is applied to sample cases in one, two and three dimensions.

Mizuno, H.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Dynamic fission instability of dissipative protoplanets

Analytical and numerical approaches are taken to consider if a rapidly rotating, viscous protoearth would have lost mass by a fission process and thereby given birth to the moon. The fast rotation is assumed as the source of the instability in the dissipative liquid protoearth. Governing hydrodynamic equations are defined for the evolution of the protoearth. Account is taken of viscous dissipation, the pressure equation of state for the atmospheric material sent on a ballistic trajectory, and the effective viscosity. The results indicate that dynamic fission was probably not the process by which the protomoon came into existence.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Velocity fields in binary protostellar clouds - An alternative to retrograde rotation

Observations of the emission from optically thin molecular species in several dense interstellar clouds have been interpreted as indicating rotating of cloud envelopes in one direction and of cloud cores in the opposite direction (retrograde rotation). This has been taken as evidence for the presence of magnetic fields sufficiently strong to have caused the retrograde rotation. However, it is shown that the velocity fields that are produced when a nonmagnetic interstellar cloud collapses to form a binary protostellar system yield spatial velocity maps that appear to be at least qualitatively consistent with the (C-13)O observations. An embedded star has been detected recently in one of these clouds (Barnard 5). If the binary protostar model is correct, then another protostar, as yet undetected, should also be present in Barnard 5.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Finite-amplitude models of convection in the early mantle

Models of finite-amplitude, time-dependent mantle convection at Reynolds number ten million are calculated. The models are based on the Boussinesq approximation for convection at infinite Prandtl number and treat convection in a two-dimensional, Cartesian coordinate box with an aspect ratio of 1.4. The initial conditions consist of a static fluid with a purely conductive temperature profile, while the boundary conditions are taken to be free slip, with impenetrable insulating side walls. The initial conditions are found to result in an initial burst of convection that reverses the horizontally averaged temperature gradient, making the middle layers stable with respect to convection. With bottom heating and cooling of the top, two distinct layers of convective cells occur; with top cooling only, the upper layer alone convects.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Angular momentum transfer by gravitational torques and the evolution of binary protostars

The efficiency of angular momentum transport by gravitational torques is investigated semianalytically for two idealized models. The first model, a rotating ellipsoid embedded within another ellipsoid, is compared with numerical results for the fission instability of a radpidly-rotating polytrope. The fission instability is aborted by the rapid transfer of angular momentum outward by gravitational torques. The global rates of angular momentum transfer by gravitational torques in rotating gas clouds such as the presolar nebula are shown to be comparable to the rates assumed to be appropriate for transfer by turbulent stresses. The second model is a binary system embedded within a rotating ellipsoid. The binary orbital angular momentum decreases significantly when the phase angle with the ellipsoid is constant; the binary separation may then decrease by a factor of 100 within about an orbital period. For a variable phase angle, little secular loss of orbital angular momentum occurs. Binaries which form in the isothermal regime of the theory of hierarchical fragmentation will not undergo orbital decay, whereas very close binaries composed of nonisothermal fragments may decay and merge into single objects.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Rapid expansion of polytropes

An extremely massive unevolved star may be idealized as an n = 3 polytropic sphere supported by radiation pressure. Such a polytrope is subject to explosive, supersonic expansion, whose later stages can be described by similarity solution of the dynamical equations. This picture is confirmed by numerical hydrodynamic simulation, which shows that an n = 3 polytrope, initially at rest near equilibrium, undergoes an explosive expansion which approaches the similarity solution at large times.

Barnes, A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Time-dependent models of single- and double-layer mantle convection

Time-dependent numerical models of two-dimensional convection which simulate mantle convection are presented. Starting from a fluid initially at rest with a purely conductive temperature profile, it is found that for a Rayleigh number of ten million, the model experiences a transient period of double-layer convection which lasts on the order of hundreds of millions of years when scaled to the earth's mantle. It is suggested that transient periods of double-layer convection in the earth's mantle may have existed in the past, whether or not such a period exists today.

Boss, A. P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Protostellar formation in rotating interstellar clouds. IV Nonisothermal collapse

Radiative transfer in the Eddington approximation is included in a multidimensional, self-gravitational, hydrodynamical computer code. Details of the numerical solution and thermodynamic relations are given. Comparison calculations with previous spherically symmetrical models of protostellar collapse are used to validate the basic approach and the artifices which allow the explicit hydrodynamics code to follow the accretion of gas onto a quasi-equilibrium core. A series of axisymmetric models is used to investigate the importance of rotation in collapsing clouds, as the initial amount of angular momentum is lowered, with an emphasis on the possible formation of rings. Rings readily form even in the nonisothermal regime except for very low initial angular momenta; even these clouds may experience ring formation prior to reaching stellar densities. The models imply that other effects (such as gravitational torques or turbulent viscosity) may be necesary to avoid binary formation and thus result in a presolar nebula consistent with the assumptions of either Safronov or Cameron.

Boss, A. P.↗