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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10

Optimization of Hot-Pressed n-Type SiGe/GaP and p-Type SiGe/B Thermoelectric Materials

A comprehensive experimental and theoretical work has been conducted in order to optimize the thermoelectric properties of Si_(80)Ge_(20) materials and reach the goal of a combined figure of merit value of 0.85x10^(-3) K^(-1) averaged over a 600-1000 C temperature range. Improvement for the n-type material has been obtained by determining the optimum amounts of gallium and phosphorus dopants necessary to achieve optimum carrier mobility and concentration. The emphasis is now on the consistent reproducibility of these results through understanding and control of the hot-pressing parameters relating microstructure and composition to the transport properties. The optimum doping level has now been firmly established for p-type materials, and work is concentrating on the reduction in thermal conductivity. BN ultra fine particles have been successfully incorporated into fully dense samples and have resulted in desired improvement of the figure of merit...

Fleurial, Jean-Pierre↗

Simulation of Delamination Under High Cycle Fatigue in Composite Materials Using Cohesive Models

A new thermodynamically consistent damage model is proposed for the simulation of high-cycle fatigue crack growth. The basis for the formulation is an interfacial degradation law that links Fracture Mechanics and Damage Mechanics to relate the evolution of the damage variable, d, with the crack growth rate da/dN. The damage state is a function of the loading conditions (R and (Delta)G) as well as the experimentally-determined crack growth rates for the material. The formulation ensures that the experimental results can be reproduced by the analysis without the need of additional adjustment parameters.

Camanho, Pedro P.↗

Simulation of Delamination Propagation in Composites Under High-Cycle Fatigue by Means of Cohesive-Zone Models

A damage model for the simulation of delamination propagation under high-cycle fatigue loading is proposed. The basis for the formulation is a cohesive law that links fracture and damage mechanics to establish the evolution of the damage variable in terms of the crack growth rate dA/dN. The damage state is obtained as a function of the loading conditions as well as the experimentally-determined coefficients of the Paris Law crack propagation rates for the material. It is shown that by using the constitutive fatigue damage model in a structural analysis, experimental results can be reproduced without the need of additional model-specific curve-fitting parameters.

Turon, Albert↗

The Parallel System for Integrating Impact Models and Sectors (pSIMS)

We present a framework for massively parallel climate impact simulations: the parallel System for Integrating Impact Models and Sectors (pSIMS). This framework comprises a) tools for ingesting and converting large amounts of data to a versatile datatype based on a common geospatial grid; b) tools for translating this datatype into custom formats for site-based models; c) a scalable parallel framework for performing large ensemble simulations, using any one of a number of different impacts models, on clusters, supercomputers, distributed grids, or clouds; d) tools and data standards for reformatting outputs to common datatypes for analysis and visualization; and e) methodologies for aggregating these datatypes to arbitrary spatial scales such as administrative and environmental demarcations. By automating many time-consuming and error-prone aspects of large-scale climate impacts studies, pSIMS accelerates computational research, encourages model intercomparison, and enhances reproducibility of simulation results. We present the pSIMS design and use example assessments to demonstrate its multi-model, multi-scale, and multi-sector versatility.

crop modeling↗

Relaxation Matrix for Symmetric Tops with Inversion Symmetry: Line Coupling and Line Mixing Effects on NH3 Lines in the V4 Band

Line shape parameters including the half-widths and the off-diagonal elements of the relaxation matrix have been calculated for self-broadened NH3 lines in the perpendicular v4 band. As in the pure rotational and the parallel v1 bands, the small inversion splitting in this band causes a complete failure of the isolated line approximation. As a result, one has to use formalisms not relying on this approximation. However, due to differences between parallel and perpendicular bands of NH3, the applicability of the formalism used in our previous studies of the v1 band and other parallel bands must be carefully verified. We have found that, as long as potential models only contain components with K1 equals K2 equals 0, whose matrix elements require the selection rule delta k equals 0, the formalism is applicable for the v4 band with some minor adjustments. Based on both theoretical considerations and results from numerical calculations, the non-diagonality of the relaxation matrices in all the PP, RP, PQ, RQ, PR, and RR branches is discussed. Theoretically calculated self-broadened half-widths are compared with measurements and the values listed in HITRAN 2012. With respect to line coupling effects, we have compared our calculated intra-doublet off-diagonal elements of the relaxation matrix with reliable measurements carried out in the PP branch where the spectral environment is favorable. The agreement is rather good since our results do well reproduce the observed k and j dependences of these elements, thus validating our formalism.

Absorption coefficient↗

Test Methods and Analysis of Anomalous Charging Currents in Polymer Tantalum Capacitors

Due to dry environments, anomalous charging currents (ACC) in polymer tantalum capacitors (PTC) could cause malfunctions or failures in space systems. Currently, there is no standard metric to assess this effect, and factors affecting ACC are not well understood. This paper discusses the benefits and drawbacks of different methods used to reveal ACC including constant voltage ramp and constant current stress and suggest a power surge testing (PST) as a procedure for screening and qualification of PTCs for space applications. The suggested test is similar to the surge current testing that is currently used for MnO2 tantalum capacitors but assures dissipation of high power in the part throughout testing. Using various types of capacitors, the reproducibility of test results for different manufacturing lots of PTCs and from sample to sample within a lot were estimated. The impact of moisture content, test temperature, stress voltages, and preconditioning were assessed. Thermal effects associated with ACC and the possibility of catastrophic failures were studied experimentally using an IR camera and calculated at adiabatic heating conditions. Possible mechanisms of the phenomenon are discussed and recommendations for testing to avoid failures related to ACC are suggested.

Alexander A.Teverovsky↗

Power Surge Testing for Polymer Tantalum Capacitors

Due to dry environments, anomalous charging currents (ACC) in polymer tantalum capacitors (PTC) might cause malfunctions and failures in space systems. Currently, there is no standard metrics to assess this effect and factors affecting ACC are not well understood. This paper discusses benefits and drawbacks of different methods used to reveal ACC and suggest a power surge testing (PST) as a procedure for screening and qualification of PTCs. The suggested test is similar to the surge current testing that is currently used for MnO2 tantalum capacitors but assures dissipation of high power in the part during the whole period of testing. Using various types of capacitors, the reproducibility of test results for different lots of PTCs and from sample to sample in a lot were estimated. The impact of moisture content, test temperature, stress voltages, and preconditioning is assessed. Thermal effects associated with ACC and the possibility of catastrophic failures were studied experimentally using an IR camera and calculated at adiabatic heating conditions. Possible mechanisms of the phenomenon are discussed and recommendations for testing to avoid failures related to ACC are suggested.

Alexander A Teverovsky↗

Developing Data-Driven Artificial Neural Network for A High Throughput Retrieval of Aerosol Optical Depth and Surface Temperature of Mars

In this work, we aim to developartificial neural network(ANN)techniquesto reproduce the retrieval results ofphysical quantities from spacecraft observations of solar system bodiesusing radiative transfer methods. The particular application here is the retrieval of dust optical depth, water-ice optical depth, and surface temperatureonMarsusingdaytime observationsobtained by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) onboard the Mars Global Surveyor.Compared against the results obtained from traditional radiative transfer retrieval techniques, our ANN successfully recoveredthe three quantitiesusingdaytime observations. The principal advantage of thesemachine learning(ML) algorithms istheir complete automation and highthroughput. Therefore, the algorithms presented here would be useful for very large datasets andwould make practical the sampling of many different approximations or boundary conditions related to a given observation dataset and retrieval problem.

Rafael Moreno↗

Comparisons of Impedance Prediction Models for Perforate-over-Honeycomb Liners

A large dataset is used to evaluate the efficacy of multiple impedance prediction models for perforate-over-honeycomb liners. Two-factorial analysis is used to explore the relative importance of the key parameters used in these models. Tests are conducted in the NASALangley Normal Incidence Tube and Grazing Flow Impedance Tube with over eighty perforate facesheets at multiple source sound pressure levels, Mach numbers and frequencies. Each prediction model is then compared with this dataset to determine how well each method predicts the measured data. Finally, an optimizer is used to further improve the ability of one of these models to reproduce the measured results.

acoustic↗

Comparisons of Impedance Prediction Models for Perforate-over-Honeycomb Liners

A large dataset is used to evaluate the efficacy of multiple impedance prediction models for perforate-over-honeycomb liners. Two-factorial analysis is used to explore the relative importance of the key parameters used in these models. Tests are conducted in the NASALangley Normal Incidence Tube and Grazing Flow Impedance Tube with over eighty perforate facesheets at multiple source sound pressure levels, Mach numbers and frequencies. Each prediction model is then compared with this dataset to determine how well each method predicts the measured data. Finally, an optimizer is used to further improve the ability of one of these models to reproduce the measured results.

acoustic↗

Monodisperse Single-Material Granular Tribocharging Modeling and Experimental Validation

Charge transfer between insulating grains has been a topic of interest for many years as this phenomenon is extremely important to many areas in industry. Of particular interest to NASA is the behavior of electrically insulative dust grains such as those found on the lunar surface. Whether poured from a scoop during sample collection activities, agitated inside a drum via mining robots, or fluidized by a gas plume, particle-particle interactions between similar granular materials will be widespread on the Moon. Designers hope to have a predictive model for how dust grains are charged, transported, and deposited on flight systems to better understand issues electrostatics may cause in future missions. While difference in work function is often seen as a driver for charge transfer between two materials, this is an incomplete representation for insulative particles. Other asymmetries in the system can also lead to charge being transferred: one such being the difference between static vs dynamic particles. Experiments performed under vacuum in the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory (ESPL) clearly show that particles having more contacts with other particles tend to charge positively and particles having fewer contacts tend to charge negatively, despite being made from the same material. During these experiments, monodisperse (population of single diameter) spherical particles were held in a reservoir which was then elevated at one end to slope into a Faraday cup used to measure bulk charge of the grains. Care was taken to limit the number of spheres bouncing out of the cup, to isolate the beads from the container itself so that only grain-to-grain interactions occurred, and to assure neutrality of the beads before the experiment began. A discrete element method (DEM) modeling package already incorporating many granular mechanics interactions was augmented to include the electrostatic behaviors seen in experiments. The model can reproduce the experimental results above by tracking the number of contacts between pairs of individual grains and applying a charge transfer condition related to this contact parameter. The experimental results as well as their incorporation into the improved modeling suite will be discussed. Future work includes adding additional asymmetries into the experiments/model such as polydisperse populations of spherical particles and irregularly shaped grains.

granular↗

Monodisperse Single-Material Granular Tribocharging Modeling and Experimental Validation

Charge transfer between insulating grains has been a topic of interest for many years as this phenomenon is extremely important to many areas in industry. Of particular interest to NASA is the behavior of electrically insulative dust grains such as those found on the lunar surface. Whether poured from a scoop during sample collection activities, agitated inside a drum via mining robots, or fluidized by a gas plume, particle-particle interactions between similar granular materials will be widespread on the Moon. Designers hope to have a predictive model for how dust grains are charged, transported, and deposited on flight systems to better understand issues electrostatics may cause in future missions. While difference in work function is often seen as a driver for charge transfer between two materials, this is an incomplete representation for insulative particles. Other asymmetries in the system can also lead to charge being transferred: one such being the difference between static vs dynamic particles. Experiments performed under vacuum in the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory (ESPL) clearly show that particles having more contacts with other particles tend to charge positively and particles having fewer contacts tend to charge negatively, despite being made from the same material. During these experiments, monodisperse (population of single diameter) spherical particles were held in a reservoir which was then elevated at one end to slope into a Faraday cup used to measure bulk charge of the grains. Care was taken to limit the number of spheres bouncing out of the cup, to isolate the beads from the container itself so that only grain-to-grain interactions occurred, and to assure neutrality of the beads before the experiment began. A discrete element method (DEM) modeling package already incorporating many granular mechanics interactions was augmented to include the electrostatic behaviors seen in experiments. The model can reproduce the experimental results above by tracking the number of contacts between pairs of individual grains and applying a charge transfer condition related to this contact parameter. The experimental results as well as their incorporation into the improved modeling suite will be discussed. Future work includes adding additional asymmetries into the experiments/model such as polydisperse populations of spherical particles and irregularly shaped grains.

electrostatics↗

Experiment 13: The Study of Dopant Segregation Behavior During the Growth of GaAs in Microgravity on USML-2

An investigation into the segregation behavior of selenium doped gallium arsenide (Se/GaAs) during directional solidification in the microgravity environment was conducted using the Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) aboard the second United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2). Two crystals were successfully processed on USML-2, which lasted from October 20 to November 7, 1995. The first sample was processed for 67 hours, 45 minutes (MET 5/04:53:45-8/00:23:50) and included 19 hours of growth at 0.5 microns/sec which yielded 3.42 cm of sample length, and 5 hours of growth at 1.5 microns/sec which yielded 2.7 cm of sample. During the second experiment, the furnace temperature was adjusted to move the melt-solid interface position towards the hot end of the furnace. The second sample was processed for 50 hours, 10 minutes (MET 8/18:48:49-10/21:58:54) and included 11 hours of growth at 0.5 microns/sec which yielded 1.98 cm of sample, and 1 hour, 25 minutes of growth at 5.0 microns/sec which yielded 2.6 cm of sample. This sample provides an order of magnitude change in growth rate and reproduces one of the growth rates used during USML-1. In contrast to the results from USML-1, no voids were present in either crystal grown on USML-2. The absence of voids in either sample indicates that growth rate changes alone were not responsible for the formation of voids found in the crystals grown on USML-1. Sections of the ground-based and flight crystals grown on USML-2 were cut and polished. All of the interface demarcation lines expected from the current pulse interface demarcation (CPID) system have been identified. These measurements have been analyzed for interface positions, interface shapes, and growth rates. Using a newly developed technique, based on experimental and numerical results, the seeding interface reproducibility from run to run was <= 2.5 mm. The seeding interface position could be controllably moved, with respect to the furnace zones, by adjusting the control set points of the heating zones. The interface shapes flattened slightly as the interface position moved closer to the hot zone but was always an unfavorable concave into the solid shape. The growth rate was found to equal the furnace translation rate, after a 2 -hour transient, for growth rates <= 1.0 microns/sec. Segregation measurements for the ground-based crystals are indicative of complete mixing behavior, as expected. Segregation measurements of the flight crystals are still in progress.

Matthiesen, David H.↗

Identification of Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Surface Salinity Fronts along the California Coast: Application Using Saildrone and Satellite Derived Products

Coastal upwelling regions are one of the most dynamic areas of the world’s oceans. The California and Baja California Coasts are impacted by both coastal upwelling and the California Current, leading to frontal activity that is captured by gradients in both Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Sea Surface Salinity (SSS). Satellite data are a great source of spatial data to study fronts. However, biases near coastal areas and coarse resolutions can impair its usefulness in upwelling areas. In this work gradients in SST from NASA Multi-Scale Ultra-High Resolution (MUR) and in two SSS products derived from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) NASA mission are compared directly with gradients derived from the Saildrone uncrewed vehicles to validate the gradients as well as to assess their ability to detect known frontal features. The three remotely sensed data sets (MURSST/JPL, SMAP SSS/RSS, SMAP SSS) were co-located with the Saildrone data prior to the calculation of the gradients. Wavelet analysis is used to determine how well the satellite derived SST and SSS products are reproducing the Saildrone derived gradients. Overall results indicate the remote sensing products are reproducing features of known areas of coastal upwelling. Differences between the SST and SSS gradients are mainly associated with the limitations of the microwave derived SSS coverage near land and its reduced spatial resolution. The results are promising for using remote sensing data sets to monitor frontal structure along the California Coast and the application to long term changes in coastal upwelling and dynamics.

Sea Surface Salinity↗

Saturn Radiation (SATRAD) Model

The Saturnian radiation belts have not received as much attention as the Jovian radiation belts because they are not nearly as intense-the famous Saturnian particle rings tend to deplete the belts near where their peak would occur. As a result, there has not been a systematic development of engineering models of the Saturnian radiation environment for mission design. A primary exception is that of Divine (1990). That study used published data from several charged particle experiments aboard the Pioneer 1 1, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2 spacecraft during their flybys at Saturn to generate numerical models for the electron and proton radiation belts between 2.3 and 13 Saturn radii. The Divine Saturn radiation model described the electron distributions at energies between 0.04 and 10 MeV and the proton distributions at energies between 0.14 and 80 MeV. The model was intended to predict particle intensity, flux, and fluence for the Cassini orbiter. Divine carried out hand calculations using the model but never formally developed a computer program that could be used for general mission analyses. This report seeks to fill that void by formally developing a FORTRAN version of the model that can be used as a computer design tool for missions to Saturn that require estimates of the radiation environment around the planet. The results of that effort and the program listings are presented here along with comparisons with the original estimates carried out by Divine. In addition, Pioneer and Voyager data were scanned in from the original references and compared with the FORTRAN model s predictions. The results were statistically analyzed in a manner consistent with Divine s approach to provide estimates of the ability of the model to reproduce the original data. Results of a formal review of the model by a panel of experts are also presented. Their recommendations for further tests, analyses, and extensions to the model are discussed.

Garrett, H. B.↗

Saturn radiation (SATRAD) model

The Saturnian radiation belts have not received as much attention as the Jovian radiation belts because they are not nearly as intense—the famous Saturnian particle rings tend to deplete he belts near where their peak would occur. As a result, there has not been a systematic development of engineering models of the Saturnian radiation environment for mission design. A primary exception is that of Divine (1990). That study used published data from several charged particle experiments aboard the Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2 spacecraft during their flybys at Saturn to generate numerical models for the electron and proton radiation belts between 2.3 and 13 Saturn radii. The Divine Saturn radiation model described the electron distributions at energies between 0.04 and 10 MeV and the proton distributions at energies between 0.14 and 80 MeV. The model was intended to predict particle intensity, flux, and fluence for the Cassini orbiter. Divine carried out hand calculations using the model but never formally developed a computer program that could be used for general mission analyses. This report seeks to fill that void by formally developing a FORTRAN version of the model that can be used as a computer design tool for missions to Saturn that require estimates of the radiation environment around the planet. The results of that effort and the program listings are presented here along with comparisons with the original estimates carried out by Divine. In addition, Pioneer and Voyager data were scanned in from the original references and compared with the FORTRAN model’s predictions. The results were statistically analyzed in a manner consistent with Divine’s approach to provide estimates of the ability of the model to reproduce the original data. Results of a formal review of the model by a panel of experts are also presented. Their recommendations for further tests, analyses, and extensions to the model are discussed.

Evans, R. W.↗

Cross-correlating Cosmic IR and X-ray Background Fluctuations: Evidence of Significant Black Hole Populations Among the CIB Sources

In order to understand the nature of the sources producing the recently uncovered cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations, we study cross-correlations between the fluctuations in the source-subtracted CIB from Spitzer/IRAC data and the unresolved cosmic X-ray background from deep Chandra observations. Our study uses data from the EGS/AEGIS field, where both data sets cover an approx = 8' x 45' region of the sky. Our measurement is the cross-power spectrum between the IR and X-ray data. The cross-power signal between the IRAC maps at 3.6 micron and 4.5 micron and the Chandra [0.5-2] keV data has been detected, at angular scales approx >20'', with an overall significance of approx = 3.8 sigma and approx. = 5.6 sigma, respectively. At the same time we find no evidence of significant cross-correlations at the harder Chandra bands. The cross-correlation signal is produced by individual IR sources with 3.6 micron and 4.5 micron magnitudes m(sub AB) approx. > 25-26 and [0.5-2] keV X-ray fluxes << 7 × 10(exp -177 erg sq. cm/ s. We determine that at least 15%-25% of the large scale power of the CIB fluctuations is correlated with the spatial power spectrum of the X-ray fluctuations. If this correlation is attributed to emission from accretion processes at both IR and X-ray wavelengths, this implies a much higher fraction of accreting black holes than among the known populations. We discuss the various possible origins for the cross-power signal and show that neither local foregrounds nor the known remaining normal galaxies and active galactic nuclei can reproduce the measurements. These observational results are an important new constraint on theoretical modeling of the near-IR CIB fluctuations. local foregrounds, nor the known remaining normal galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN) can reproduce the measurements. These observational results are an important new constraint on theoretical modeling of the near-IR CIB fluctuations

Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB)↗