Engineering topics

Palmadesso, Peter J.

Publications and source records attributed to Palmadesso, Peter J..

5 records

NASA NTRS1990

Current collection by a spherical high voltage probe: Electron trapping and collective processes

The author summarizes the results of theoretical studies of the interaction of an uninsulated, spherical, high voltage (10's of KV positive) probe with the ionospheric environment. The focus of this effort was the phenomenon of electron trapping and its implications for breakdown processes (collisional regime) and the current-voltage relationship governing current collection (collisionless regime) in space-based pulsed power systems with high voltage components exposed to space, e.g., the SPEAR I experiment.

Palmadesso, Peter J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Differential memory in the trilinear model magnetotail

The previously proposed concept of 'differential memory' is quantitatively demonstrated using an idealized analytical model of particle dynamics in the magnetotail geometry. In this model (the 'trilinear' tail model) the magnetotail is divided into three regions. The particle orbits are solved exactly in each region, thus reducing the orbit integration to an analytical mapping. It is shown that the trilinear model reproduces the essential phase space features of the earlier model (Chen and Palmadesso, 1986), possessing well-defined entry and exit regions, and stochastic, integrable (regular), and transient orbits, occupying disjoint phase space regions. Different regions have widely separated characteristic time scales corresponding to different types of particle motion. Using the analytical model, the evolution of single-particle distribution functions is calculated.

Chen, James↗

NASA NTRS1988

Effects of eletron heating on the current driven electrostatic ion cyclotron instability and plasma transport processes along auroral field lines

Fluid simulations of the plasma along auroral field lines in the return current region have been performed. It is shown that the onset of electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) related anomalous resistivity and the consequent heating of electrons leads to a transverse ion temperature that is much higher than that produced by the current driven EIC instability (CDICI) alone. Two processes are presented for the enhancement of ion heating by anomalous resistivity. The anomalous resistivity associated with the turbulence is limited by electron heating, so that CDICI saturates at transverse temperature that is substantially higher than in the absence of resistivity. It is suggested that this process demonstrates a positive feedback loop in the interaction between CDICI, anomalous resistivity, and parallel large-scale dynamics in the topside ionosphere.

Ganguli, Supriya B.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Plasma transport in the auroral return current region

The classical and anomalous transport properties of a multifluid plasma consisting of H(+), O(+), and electron populations in the presence of auroral field-aligned return currents are investigated, using a multimoment fluid model with anomalous transport coefficients. The macroscopic effects of the electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) instability and of an EIC-related anomalous resistivity mechanism which heats the electrons are included in the present version of the model. The responses of the outflowing polar wind plasma to the application of current, with and without instabilities, are exhibited. The simulations show that the electron drift velocity corresponding to a return current of 0.65 micro-A/sq m is above the threshold for EIC waves. Downward electron heat flow competes with upward convection and adiabatic effects to determine the direction of the electron temperature anisotropy. Resistive electron heating lowers the critical drift velocity for marginal EIC stability and leads to enhanced ion heating.

Ganguli, Supriya B.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Numerical simulations of magnetospheric plasmas - Review and quadrennial report to the IUGG

This article provides a broad survey of U.S. progress during the quadrennium 1983-1986 in the category 'numerical simulations of magnetospheric plasmas'. There has been a substantial increase of activity in this area during this period. Simulations have been instrumental in providing valuable insights into large scale dynamic phenomena, nonlinear effects, and complex kinetic phenomena in a wide variety of subject areas, including shocks and double layers, ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling phenomena, and important microphysical processes such as broadband electrostatic noise. The methodology of computer simulation has also been advanced during this quadrennium. Vlasov algorithms have been improved; hybrid codes in 2 and 3D have been developed and applied to magnetospheric problems; and complex problems have been subjected with increasing frequency to a multipronged attack in which several types of simulation models, each designed to accurately model phenomena within a particular range of temporal or spatial scales, are employed synergistically.

Palmadesso, Peter J.↗