Engineering topics

Sharman, R. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Sharman, R. D..

11 records

NASA NTRS1993

Lee waves: Benign and malignant

The flow of an incompressible fluid over an obstacle will produce an oscillation in which buoyancy is the restoring force, called a gravity wave. For disturbances of this scale, the atmosphere may be treated as dynamically incompressible, even though there exists a mean static upward density gradient. Even in the linear approximation - i.e., for small disturbances - this model explains a great many of the flow phenomena observed in the lee of mountains. However, nonlinearities do arise importantly, in three ways: (1) through amplification due to the decrease of mean density with height; (2) through the large (scaled) size of the obstacle, such as a mountain range; and (3) from dynamically singular levels in the fluid field. These effects produce a complicated array of phenomena - large departure of the streamlines from their equilibrium levels, high winds, generation of small scales, turbulence, etc. - that present hazards to aircraft and to lee surface areas. The nonlinear disturbances also interact with the larger-scale flow in such a manner as to impact global weather forecasts and the climatological momentum balance. If there is no dynamic barrier, these waves can penetrate vertically into the middle atmosphere (30-100 km), where recent observations show them to be of a length scale that must involve the coriolis force in any modeling. At these altitudes, the amplitude of the waves is very large, and the phenomena associated with these wave dynamics are being studied with a view to their potential impact on high performance aircraft, including the projected National Aerospace Plane (NASP). The presentation shows the results of analysis and of state-of-the-art numerical simulations, validated where possible by observational data, and illustrated with photographs from nature.

Wurtele, M. G.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Incompressible and anelastic flow simulations on numerically generated grids

In the numerical simulation of incompressible and anelastic flows, it is necessary to solve an elliptic equation at each time step. When the boundaries of such flows are nonrectangular, it may be advantageous to solve the equations on a new, numerically generated coordinate grid, in which the property of orthogonality has been preserved. Flow equations in general curvilinear coordinates maintaining the conservative form are given for both anelastic models using the momentum equations, and for incompressible models, using the vorticity equation. The general problem of grid-generation in two dimensions is presented, and a quasi-conformal transformation technique is discussed in detail. Some examples of grids generated by this technique are exhibited. Three examples of the flow of a stratified fluid over obstacles are presented, in which the grid-generation permits some new results to be obtained.

Sharman, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Analysis and simulations of a troposphere-stratosphere gravity wave model. I

An analytical model is presented that accommodates nonhydrostatic shearing stratified flow over an obstacle, and that can be modified to include a superposed stratosphere with constant wind and higher stability. A simulation code is used in parallel with the analytic calculations to demonstrate a methodology for determining the wavelength and magnitude of gravity wave energy reflected, and that transmitted, by the tropopause.

Wurtele, M. G.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Perturbations of the Richardson number field by gravity waves

An analytic solution is presented for a stratified fluid of arbitrary constant Richardson number. By computer aided analysis the perturbation fields, including that of the Richardson number can be calculated. The results of the linear analytic model were compared with nonlinear simulations, leading to the following conclusions: (1) the perturbations in the Richardson number field, when small, are produced primarily by the perturbations of the shear; (2) perturbations of in the Richardson number field, even when small, are not symmetric, the increase being significantly larger than the decrease (the linear analytic solution and the nonlinear simulations both confirm this result); (3) as the perturbations grow, this asymmetry increases, but more so in the nonlinear simulations than in the linear analysis; (4) for large perturbations of the shear flow, the static stability, as represented by N2, is the dominating mechanism, becoming zero or negative, and producing convective overturning; and (5) the convectional measure of linearity in lee wave theory, NH/U, is no longer the critical parameter (it is suggested that (H/u sub 0) (du sub 0/dz) takes on this role in a shearing flow).

Wurtele, M. G.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Ship waves and lee waves

Dynamics analogous to those of surface ship waves on water of finite depth are noted for the three-dimensional trapped lee wave modes produced by an isolated obstacle in a stratified fluid. This vertical trapping of wave energy is modeled by uniform upstream flow and stratification, bounded above by a rigid lid, and by a semiinfinite fluid of uniform stability whose wind velocity increases exponentially with height, representing the atmosphere. While formal asymptotic solutions are produced, limited quantitative usefulness is obtained through them because of the limitations of the approximations and the infinity of modes in the solution. Time-dependent numerical models are accordingly developed for both surface ship waves and internal and atmospheric ship waves, yielding a variety of results.

Sharman, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Numerical and analytical investigations of three-dimensional lee waves

A conceptual framework for the three-dimensional lee wave is given, and the severe limits of mathematical analysis as applied to the problem are described. It is shown that numerical simulation is the only feasible approach and some simulation results are displayed. These results are then compared with those from corresponding simulations of the much more familiar case of two-dimensional flow over a ridge. The problem of predicting in which portions of the lee wave clear air turbulence encounters are most probable is addressed. Here, idealized linear models are employed to establish a few tentative guidelines.

Wurtele, M. G.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Mars water vapor, near-surface

In a previous paper we concluded that the temperature sensors aboard the Viking landers (VL-1 and VL-2) were detecting the water vapor frost point. Analysis of one Mars year of data at both lander sites substantiates this conclusion. At VL-1 it is found that the water vapor mixing ratio is constant with height through the bulk of the atmosphere, most of the time. Exceptions are during the onset phases of the two major dust storms when temporary enhancement of near-surface vapor occurs (the same phenomenon is observed at VL-2), and some depletion of near-surface vapor during the decay phase of the first storm, possibly the second storm as well. The former suggests near-surface, northward transport of water vapor with the storms. The latter suggests adsorption of vapor on dust particles followed by surface deposition. At VL-2, severe near-surface depletion of water vapor occurs during northern autumn and winter. The residual vapor is in equilibrium with the surface condensate observed at the site during this period, indicating that the source region for the condensate must be aloft with downward transport by dust fall-out. Since the near-surface water vapor mixing ratio and concentration at VL-1 generally parallels the column abundance over VL-1 obtained by the orbiters, this suggests that VL-1 can be used to give a measure of column abundance for as long as the temperature sensors remain operational.

Ryan, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Local Mars dust storm generation mechanism

On an areocentric solar longitude of 340 deg, first Mars year of Viking on the surface, a local dust storm was observed at the Viking Lander No. 1 site by Viking Orbiter A. The storm lasted less than one Martian day (sol) with the dust raised affecting the site for about three sols. It is concluded that this storm was caused by baroclinic waves and that the threshold wind speed for saltation was 25-30 m/sec.

Ryan, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Two major dust storms, one Mars year apart - Comparison from Viking data

The Viking Mars Landers have been on the Mars surface for over two Mars years. During the first year two major, probably global, dust storms occurred. The first was unusually early compared to most previous earth-based observations. A major storm occurred during the second year, almost precisely one year after the first storm of the first year. Meteorological data show roughly similar atmospheric behavior for the two early storms. Of particular note is the increase in amplitude of pressure oscillations (probably of baroclinic origin) and concurrent increases in wind speed during the build-up phase of all three storms. The generation of these waves appears to be a natural consequence of seasonal effects not associated with the dust storms. It is suggested that baroclinic waves, should they exist in the Southern Hemisphere during the time of dust storm generation, could be an important factor in the growth and development of the dust storms.

Ryan, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

H2O frost point detection on Mars

The Viking Mars landers contain meteorological instrumentation to measure wind, temperature, and pressure but not atmospheric water content. The landings occurred during local summer, and it was observed that the nocturnal temperature decrease at sensor height (1.6 m) did not exhibit a uniform behavior at either site. It was expected that the rate of decrease would gradually slow, leveling off near sunrise. Instead, a leveling occurred several hours earlier. Temperature subsequently began a more rapid decrease which slowed by sunrise. This suggested that the temperature sensors may be detecting the frost point of water vapor. Analysis of alternative hypotheses demonstrates that none of these are viable candidates. The frost point interpretation is consistent with other lander and orbiter observations, with terrestrial experience, and with modeling of Mars' atmospheric behavior. It thus appears that the meteorology experiment can help provide a basis toward understanding the distribution and dynamics of Martian water vapor.

Ryan, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Mars atmosphere pressure periodicities from Viking observations

The first Martian year of pressure data taken by the Viking landers on Mars is subjected to power spectrum analysis. The analysis suggests that strong periodicities are present in the Martian atmosphere, especially at the high-latitude (48 deg N) site of the second lander. Most of these periodicities are probably due to the passage of baroclinic waves. Inspection of individual segments of data shows that the periodicities of the dominant waves vary significantly with time of year. This may be related to the amount of dust in the atmosphere since the dominant frequencies of the waves during times of major dust storms are quite different than at other times.

Sharman, R. D.↗