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Trimpi, R. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Trimpi, R. L..

The NASA-Langley 20-inch supersonic wind tunnel

NASA Langley's new 20-inch supersonic wind tunnel is in the process of reassembly, following extensive modifications. These will result in its incorporation of such features as a 'quiet' flow control valve, thick sintered screens with very large pressure drops, special farings in the contraction section, an instantaneous relief hatch in the test section, and a switching exhaust system that permits flow into a vacuum sphere during startup and shutdown and to the atmosphere during data acquisition. Attention is given to the expected operating map of the new tunnel.

Dillon, J. L.

Modern fluid dynamics of supersonic and hypersonic flight

Many aspects of fluid dynamics impacting supersonic and hypersonic flight are examined. Progress, current problem areas, and prognostications for the future are discussed, with special emphasis on those fluid dynamics facets which can be more directly tied to a potential end-product vehicle. Numerous illustrative examples are included.

Trimpi, R. L.

Relaxation of an unsteady turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate in an expansion tube

An analysis is presented for the relaxation of a turbulent boundary layer on a semi-infinite flat plate after passage of a shock wave and a trailing driver gas-driven gas interface. The problem has special application to expansion-tube flows. The flow-governing equations have been transformed into the Crocco variables, and a time-similar solution is presented in terms of the dimensionless distance-time variable alpha and the dimensionless velocity variable beta. An eddy-viscosity model, similar to that of time-steady boundary layers, is applied to the inner and outer regions of the boundary layer. A turbulent Prandtl number equal to the molecular Prandtl number is used to relate the turbulent heat flux to the eddy viscosity. The numerical results, obtained by using the Gauss-Seidel line-relaxation method, indicate that a fully turbulent boundary layer relaxes faster to the final steady-state values of heat transfer and skin friction than a laminar boundary layer. The results also give a fairly good estimate of the local skin friction and heat transfer for near steady-flow conditions.

Gurta, R. N.

An eddy-viscosity treatment of the unsteady turbulent boundary layer on a flat plate in an expansion tube

An analysis is presented for the relaxation of a turbulent boundary layer on a semiinfinite flat plate after passage of a shock wave and a trailing driver gas-driven gas interface. The problem has special application to expansion tube flows. The flow-governing equations have been transformed into the Lamcrocco variables. The numerical results indicate that a fully turbulent boundary layer relaxes faster to the final steady-state values of heat transfer and skin-friction than a fully laminar boundary layer.

Gupta, R. N.

Combustion detector

A device has been developed for generating a rapid response signal upon the radiation-emitting combustion reaction of certain gases in order to provide a means for the detection and identification of such reaction and concurrently discriminate against spurious signals. This combustion might be the first stage of a coal mine explosion process, and thereby this device could provide a warning of the impending explosion in time to initiate quenching action. This device has the capability of distinguishing between the light emitted from a combustion reaction and the light emitted by miners' lamps, electric lamps, welding sparks or other spurious events so that the quenching mechanism is triggered only when an explosion-initiating combustion occurs.

Trimpi, R. L.

Relaxation of the accelerating-gas boundary layer to the test-gas boundary layer on a flat plate in an expansion tube

An analytic investigation of the relaxation of the accelerating-gas boundary layer to the test-gas boundary layer over a flat plate mounted in an expansion tube has been conducted. In this treatment, nitrogen has been considered as the test gas and helium as the accelerating gas. The problem is analyzed in two conically similar limits: (1) when the time lag between the arrival of the shock and the interface at the leading edge of the plate is very large, and (2) when this time lag is negligible. The transient laminar boundary-layer equations of a perfect binary-gas mixture are taken as the flow governing equations. These coupled equations have been solved numerically by Gauss-Seidel line-relaxation method. The results predict the transient behavior as well as the time required for an all-helium accelerating-gas boundary layer to relax to an all-nitrogen boundary layer.

Gupta, R. N.