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NASA NTRS1984

Gas dynamics in the impulsive phase of solar flares. I Thick-target heating by nonthermal electrons

A numerical investigation is carried out of the gas dynamical response of the solar atmosphere to a flare energy input in the form of precipitating nonthermal electrons. Rather than discussing the origin of these electrons, the spectral and temporal characteristics of the injected flux are inferred through a thick-target model of hard X-ray bremsstrahlung production. It is assumed that the electrons spiral about preexisting magnetic field lines, making it possible for a one-dimensional spatial treatment to be performed. It is also assumed that all electron energy losses are due to Coulomb collisions with ambient particles; that is, return-current ohmic effects and collective plasma processes are neglected. The results are contrasted with earlier work on conductive heating of the flare atmosphere. A local temperature peak is seen at a height of approximately 1500 km above the photosphere. This derives from a spatial maximum in the energy deposition rate from an electron beam. It is noted that such a feature is not present in conductively heated models. The associated localized region of high pressure drives material both upward and downward.

Nagai, F.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Assessing the Altitude and Dispersion of Volcanic Plumes Using MISR Multi-angle Imaging from Space: Sixteen Years of Volcanic Activity in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

Volcanic eruptions represent a significant source of atmospheric aerosols and can display local, regional and global effects, impacting earth systems and human populations. In order to assess the relative impacts of these events, accurate plume injection altitude measurements are needed. In this work, volcanic plumes generated from seven Kamchatka Peninsula volcanoes (Shiveluch, Kliuchevskoi, Bezymianny, Tolbachik, Kizimen, Karymsky and Zhupanovsky), were identified using over 16 years of Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadimeter (MISR) measurements. Eighty-eight volcanic plumes were observed by MISR, capturing 3-25% of reported events at individual volcanoes. Retrievals were most successful where high intensity events persisted over a period of weeks to months. Compared with existing ground and airborne observations, and alternative satellite-based reports compiled by the Global Volcanism Program (GVP), MISR plume height retrievals showed general consistency; the comparison reports appear to be skewed towards the region of highest concentration observed in MISR-constrained vertical plume extent. The report observations display less discrepancy with MISR toward the end of the analysis period, with improvements in the suborbital data likely the result of the deployment of new instrumentation. Conversely, the general consistency of MISR plume heights with conventionally reported observations supports the use of MISR in the ongoing assessment of volcanic activity globally, especially where other types of volcanic plume observations are unavailable. Differences between the northern (Shiveluch, Kliuchevskoi, Bezymianny and Tolbachik) and southern (Kizimen, Karymsky and Zhupanovsky) volcanoes broadly correspond to the Central Kamchatka Depression (CKD) and Eastern Volcanic Front (EVF), respectively, geological sub-regions of Kamchatka distinguished by varying magma composition. For example, by comparison with reanalysis-model simulations of local meteorological conditions, CKD plumes generally were less constrained by mid-tropospheric (< 6 km) layers of vertical stability above the boundary layer, suggesting that these eruptions were more energetic than those in the EVF

Kamchatka↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simulating Pyrocumulonimbus Clouds Using a Multiscale Wildfire Simulation Framework

Pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds, driven by extreme fires under favorable meteorological conditions, can inject smoke into the stratosphere at magnitudes comparable to those of moderate volcanic eruptions, potentially altering the global radiative balance and atmospheric composition. However, simulating pyroCb is particularly challenging in Earth system models. Using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), we developed a novel global multiscale framework to model pyroCb events in California, which includes a high‐resolution fire radiative power time series, a one‐dimensional plume‐rise parameterization, a fire‐induced vertical water vapor transport scheme, and a surface wildfire sensible heat flux representation. Our simulation successfully reproduces many pyroCb features, including cloud height, spatiotemporal evolution, and convective intensity in comparison with satellite and ground‐based observations. Sensitivity experiments show that realistic pyroCb simulation depends on vertical water vapor transport. These advances provide a basis for future exploration of pyroCb impacts at regional and global scales within climate models.

E3SM↗
NASA NTRS2000

Volcanic Signatures in Estimates of Stratospheric Aerosol Size, Distribution Width, Surface Area, and Volume Deduced from Global Satellite-Based Observations

Volcanic signatures in the stratospheric aerosol layer are revealed by two independent techniques which retrieve aerosol information from global satellite-based observations of particulate extinction. Both techniques combine the 4-wavelength Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II extinction measurements (0.385 <= lambda <= 1.02 microns) with the 7.96 micron and 12.82 micron extinction measurements from the Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) instrument. The algorithms use the SAGE II/CLAES composite extinction spectra in month-latitude-altitude bins to retrieve values and uncertainties of particle effective radius R(sub eff), surface area S, volume V and size distribution width sigma(sub R). The first technique is a multi-wavelength Look-Up-Table (LUT) algorithm which retrieves values and uncertainties of R(sub eff) by comparing ratios of extinctions from SAGE II and CLAES (e.g., E(sub lambda)/E(sub 1.02) to pre-computed extinction ratios which are based on a range of unimodal lognormal size distributions. The pre-computed ratios are presented as a function of R(sub eff) for a given sigma(sub g); thus the comparisons establish the range of R(sub eff) consistent with the measured spectra for that sigma(sub g). The fact that no solutions are found for certain sigma(sub g) values provides information on the acceptable range of sigma(sub g), which is found to evolve in response to volcanic injections and removal periods. Analogous comparisons using absolute extinction spectra and error bars establish the range of S and V. The second technique is a Parameter Search Technique (PST) which estimates R(sub eff) and sigma(sub g) within a month-latitude-altitude bin by minimizing the chi-squared values obtained by comparing the SAGE II/CLAES extinction spectra and error bars with spectra calculated by varying the lognormal fitting parameters: R(sub eff), sigma(sub g), and the total number of particles N(sub 0). For both techniques, possible biases in retrieved-parameters caused by assuming a unimodal functional form are removed using correction factors computed from representative in situ measurements of bimodal size distributions. Some interesting features revealed by the LUT and PST retrievals include: (1) Increases in S and V (but not R(sub eff)) after the Ruiz and Kelut injections, (2) Increases in S, V, R(sub eff) after Pinatubo, (3) Post-Pinatubo increases in S, V, and R(sub eff) that are more rapid in the tropics than elsewhere, (4) Mid-latitude post-Pinatubo increases in R(sub eff) that lag increases in S and V, (5) S and V returning to pre-Pinatubo values sooner than R(sub eff) does, (6) Sharp increases in sigma(sub g), after Pinatubo and slight increases in sigma(sub g) after Ruiz, Etna, Kelut, Spurr and Rabaul, and (7) Gradual declines in the heights at which R(sub eff), S and V peak after Pinatubo.

Bauman, J. J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Multimode turbulent flow measurements using magnetic resonance imaging- and laser-based techniques and computational fluid dynamics simulations

We studied the flow field characteristics of a turbulent flow over a regularized cube array with a perpendicular injection flow through the floor between the second and third cubical elements, representing the complex flow interactions of a 3D jet and the wake flows behind cubical obstacles. Four different experimental measurements were performed: two magnetic resonance imaging-based measurements for three-dimensional three-component velocity (MRV) and concentration (MRC) and two laser-based techniques, particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), for two-dimensional two-component velocity and concentration measurement, respectively. The mainstream Reynolds number is Re = 15 000⁠, based on the primary inlet velocity U m and channel height D H ⁠, whereas the injector Reynolds number is Re j = 3400⁠, based on the injector velocity U j and the injector's exit width D j ⁠. Numerical simulations were performed for the studied flow configuration of turbulent flow over a regularized cube array using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large-eddy simulation (LES) approaches. Results obtained from experimental measurements—including MRV, MRC, PIV, and PLIF—as well as RANS and LES simulations are discussed and compared along several horizontal and vertical planes of the studied configuration. In addition, 3D turbulent flow structures, such as leading-edge vortex, horseshoe vortex, and jet shear-layer vortex, and the isosurfaces of scalar concentration successfully revealed by MRV and MRC techniques were found to be in very good agreement with those 3D features extracted from RANS and LES simulations. In conclusion, the high-resolution experimental and numerical database obtained from this study could be useful for validation and verification of numerical codes.

Computational fluid dynamics↗
NASA NTRS1982

Provisions for nonintrusive flow-evaluation tools in the National Transonic Facility

The national transonic facility fan driven, closed circuit, continuous flow, pressurized wind tunnel is examined. The test section is 2.500 m x 2.500 m and 7.620 m long with a slotted wall configuration. There are six slots each in the top and bottom walls and two slots per sidewall. To maintain good flow quality and aerodynamic efficiency over the wide range of test capabilities the test section geometry is variable. The position of the test section and bottom walls, the reentry flaps at the rear of the test section slots, and the step height for reentering slot flow are remotely controlled. The test gas may be dry air or nitrogen, which for the elevated temperature (340 K) mode of operation the test medium is normally air, and heat removal is by a water cooled heat exchanger (cooling coil) located at the upstream end of the settling chamber. For the cryogenic mode of operation, heat removal is by evaporation of liquid nitrogen, which is sprayed into the circuit upstream of the fan. By utilizing liquid nitrogen as a coolant, the tunnel test temperature range is variable from 340 to 78 K. When nitrogen is injected into the circuit, venting must occur to maintain a constant pressure. Thermal insulation is installed internal to the pressure shell to minimize energy consumption.

Fuller, D. E.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Space plasma laboratory - Experiment in simulated ionospheric plasma

Several experiments with simulated ionospheric plasma were performed in the Johnson Space Center's large (17 m diameter x 27 m height) vacuum chamber. Two of these, the RF discharge and the electron-beam plasma discharge, are described here. The RF experiment involved measurement of the loading on a 5 m dipole and a 5 m loop antenna caused by the presence of a plasma. The results indicate that when the RF frequency is near the electron gyro frequency a self-sustained plasma discharge is set up and the real part of the complex antenna impedance increases. The beam-plasma experiment was carried out to study a discharge produced by an electron beam with an energy of about 1 keV when the electron beam was injected parallel to the ambient magnetic field. As the beam current was raised to a critical level, a spontaneous transition occurred whereby a luminous halo was formed around the electron beam indicating a sustained discharge.

Konradi, A.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Simulation of the Solar Energetic Particle Event on 2020 May 29 Observed by Parker Solar Probe

This paper presents a stochastic three-dimensional focused transport simulation of solar energetic particles (SEPs) produced by a data-driven coronal mass ejection (CME) shock propagating through a data-driven model of coronal and heliospheric magnetic fields. The injection of SEPs at the CME shock is treated using diffusive shock acceleration of post-shock suprathermal solar wind ions. A time-backward stochastic simulation is employed to solve the transport equation to obtain the SEP time–intensity profile at any location, energy, and pitch angle. The model is applied to a SEP event on 2020 May 29, observed by STEREO-A close to ∼1 au and by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) when it was about 0.33 au away from the Sun. The SEP event was associated with a very slow CME with a plane-of-sky speed of 337 km s −1 at a height below 6 RS as reported in the SOHO/LASCO CME catalog. We compute the time profiles of particle flux at PSP and STEREO-A locations, and estimate both the spectral index of the proton energy spectrum for energies between ∼2 and 16 MeV and the equivalent path length of the magnetic field lines experienced by the first arriving SEPs. We find that the simulation results are well correlated with observations. The SEP event could be explained by the acceleration of particles by a weak CME shock in the low solar corona that is not magnetically connected to the observers.

Solar energetic particles↗
DOE OSTI2026

Creation of Speed-of-Sound Inject Data for Technical Nuclear Forensics

Technical Nuclear Forensics (TNF) exercises simulate a detonation of a nuclear device within the United States, usually in a city. Speed-of-sound (SOS) phenomenology are the atmospheric overpressure and ground shock mechanical motions that are observed at over-pressure (air-blast and infrasound) and seismic sensors, respectively (Figure 1). Amplitudes of SOS data are related to the explosive yield (Kinney and Graham, 1985; Koper et al., 2002; Bonner et al., 2013ab; Ford et al., 2014, 2021; Templeton et al., 2018; Schnurr et al., 2020). Within the country, the United States Prompt Diagnostics System (USPDS) includes a network of geophysical sensors to capture such SOS signals. During the TNF exercise, the event data will be analyzed by the players who know nothing about the technical details of the source (e.g. location, yield, explosive). Specifically, they will use the Integrated Yield Determination Tool (IYDT) to estimate the yield and height-of-burst or depth-of-burial (HOB/DOB). The IYDT allows the user to measure features on the overpressure and seismic channels, evaluate the consistency of features and jointly estimate yield and HOB/DOB. For these exercises, SOS data are simulated for the location, emplacement and yield of the device and signals are propagated to the observing stations. This document describes the steps undertaken in the simulation, validation, preparation and verification of SOS signals for TNF exercises.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2025

Benchmark Exercise Report for Experimental Study of Bubble Scrubbing in Water Coolant Pool

Mechanistic assessments of radionuclide release during postulated accidents are expected to be included in advanced reactor license applications. The mechanistic source term (MST) provides an opportunity for vendors to realistically evaluate the radiological consequences of an incident, and may aid in justifying reduced emergency planning zones and plant sites. However, the development of MSTs for advanced nuclear reactors is challenging because there are numerous phenomena that can affect the transport and retention of radionuclides. As part of a trial MST assessment for a metal-fueled, pool-type sodium cooled fast reactor (SFR), led by Argonne National Laboratory, a simplified radionuclide transport code (SRT code) was developed, which includes models to estimate the quantity of fission product aerosols scrubbed in the sodium pool during postulated accident scenarios. In a pool-type SFR, when fission products are released into the coolant pool due to failure of fuel pins, most of the radionuclides are scrubbed by the coolant pool, but some have the potential to migrate to the cover gas region through entrainment within gas bubbles. The SRT code contains a model that evaluates this scrubbing behavior and calculates the fraction of fission product aerosols that reach the cover gas. Due to a lack of available validation data for sodium pool scrubbing, the U.S. Department of Energy funded an experiment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to measure aerosol scrubbing by injecting air bubbles containing aerosol into a coolant pool. Prior to performing an experiment with liquid sodium, a water loop experiment was performed. Their experiment evaluated the effect of changing the aerosol size, aerosol density, aerosol concentration, bubble size, and pool depth on the aerosol scrubbing efficiency of the pool. In this benchmark experiment, the base tests were conducted by repeated tests of isolated bubbles. Afterwards, more prototypic tests with bubble swarms were performed to evaluate the interactions between the bubbles. The bubble swarm test was able to confirm that a larger amount of aerosol scrubbing occurred than the single bubble test. It was also confirmed that as the bubble size, aerosol density, and pool height increase, the extent of pool scrubbing also increases and does not change with the aerosol concentration. In addition, since the degree of scrubbing is the lowest at aerosol sizes between 0.01 and 1 μm, that is, the largest amount of aerosol is emitted, it was confirmed that the analysis of this size in MST is the most important. This benchmark experiment informs the direction of future sodium experiments.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRS1987

SAGE aerosol measurements. Volume 3: January 1, 1981 to November 18, 1981

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) satellite system, launched February 18, 1979, obtained profiles of aerosol extinction at 1.00 micron and 0.45 micron ozone concentration, and nitrogen dioxide concentration. Data taken during sunset events are presented in the form of zonal and seasonal averages of aerosol extinction of 1.00 micron and 0.45 micron, ratios of aerosol extinction to molecular extinction at 1.00 micron and ratios of aerosol extinction at 0.45 micron to aerosol extinction at 1.00 micron. Averages for 1981 are shown in tables, and in profile and contour plots (as a function of altitude and latitude). In addition, temperature data provided by NOAA for the time and location of each SAGE measurement are averaged and shown in a similar format. The stratospheric aerosol distribution for 1981 shows effects of volcanically injected material from eruptions of Ulawun, Alaid, and Pagan. Peak values of aerosol extinction at 0.45 micron and 1.00 micron were 2 to 4 times higher than typical peak values observed during near background conditions. Stratospheric aerosol optical depth values at 1.00 microns increased by a factor of about 2 from near background levels in regions of volcanic activity. During the year, these values ranged from between 0.001 and 0.006. The largest were near the location of a recent eruption. The distribution of the ratio of aerosol to molecular extinction at 1.00 microns also showed that maximum values are found in the vicinity of an eruption. These maximums varied in altitude, but remained below a height of about 25 km. No attempt has been made to give detailed explanations or interpretations of these data. The intent is to provide, in a ready-to-use visual format, representative zonal and seasonal averages of aerosol extinction data for the third calendar year of the SAGE data set to facilitate atmospheric and climatic studies.

Mccormick, M. Patrick↗
NASA NTRS1989

Effects of swirl and high turbulence on a jet in a crossflow

An experimental study has been conducted on the effects of initial swirl and high turbulence in the exhaust of a circular jet injected from a flat plate at a 90-deg angle into a crossflow. The different jet types studied were low-exit turbulence (3 percent), high-exit turbulence (over 10 percent), and 40 and 58 percent swirl. Surface pressure distributions and mean velocity vector plots were obtained for all of these cases. For the surface pressure distribution tests, the jet to crossflow velocity ratios R were 2.2, 4, and 8 for most of the jet types. For the mean velocity vector plots, R = 4 was chosen. Turbulence information in the jet plume was also obtained for the low-exit turbulence case at R = 4. The results showed that the higher-exit turbulence reduced the penetration height, and it also reduced the surface area influenced by negative pressures. The swirl-caused asymmetric pressure distributions and the swirl effects were more pronounced for lower-velocity ratios.

Kavsaoglu, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS1990

SR90, strontium shaped-charge critical ionization velocity experiment

In May 1986 an experiment was performed to test Alfven's critical ionization velocity (CIV) effect in free space, using the first high explosive shaped charge with a conical liner of strontium metal. The release, made at 540 km altitude at dawn twilight, was aimed at 48 deg to B. The background electron density was 1.5 x 10(exp 4) cu cm. A faint field-aligned Sr(+) ion streak with tip velocity of 2.6 km/s was observed from two optical sites. Using two calibration methods, it was calculated that between 4.5 x 10(exp 20) and 2 x 10(exp 21) ions were visible. An ionization time constant of 1920 s was calculated for Sr from the solar UV spectrum and ionization cross section which combined with a computer simulation of the injection predicts 1.7 x 10(exp 21) solar UV ions in the low-velocity part of the ion streak. Thus all the observed ions are from solar UV ionization of the slow (less than critical) velocity portion of the neutral jet. The observed neutral Sr velocity distribution and computer simulations indicate that 2 x 10(exp 21) solar UV ions would have been created from the fast (greater than critical) part of the jet. They would have been more diffuse, and were not observed. Using this fact it was estimated that any CIV ions created were less than 10(exp 21). It was concluded that future Sr CIV free space experiments should be conducted below the UV shadow height and in much larger background plasma density.

Wescott, Eugene M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The 1992/93 eclipse of 31 Cygni

Extensive new ultraviolet and optical spectra of an atmospheric eclipse define the physical properties throughout the wind and chromosphere of 31 Cyg. These data require mass loss of approximately 3 x 10(exp -8) solar masses/yr in a wind that may merge smoothly into the chromosphere. Considerations of how energy is injected into the wind, however, suggest that the chromosphere and wind are separate structures. Most, if not all, of the velocity structure in metallic lines, which we have heretofore simulated with Doppler widths in the range 15-25 km/s, results from differential expansion of the atmosphere. Electron densities in the inner R(sub star) of the chromosphere are in the range 1.5 x 10(exp 9) - 2 x 10(exp 8)/cu cm, which implies clumping of the gas. The ionization of oxygen and nitrogen is consistent with clumping by factors of 3-30 in the outer chromosphere, roughly the amount required to give enough gas pressure to support the chromosphere. Chromospheric gas in 31 Cyg becomes hotter with increasing height, thus with decreasing optical depth, in a way that seems similar for all the zeta Aur binaries. Excitation temperature for Fe II in 1992/93 rises from about 5000 K at the deepest points sampled to about 12,500 K high in the wind. Strengths of violet Balmer lines give an excitation temperature for hydrogen of 6200-6500 K above a radial mass column density of approximately 0.01 g/sq cm. This amount of excitation implies that Lyman-alpha is thermalized beneath about 4 x 10(exp -3) g/sq cm. The outer atmosphere was symmetrical to within a factor of 2 in 1992/93, although it was clearly variable at this level, and it had similar mass column densities as in 1982. One manifestation of the variability was a flow toward the B star at phases 0.013-0.022 spanning velocities 45-100 km/s. Several lines of evidence point to a complicated and variable ionization in the wind: At large distance from the K star, measured mass column densities are less by up to a factor of 3 than required by a smoothly flowing wind. Also, much of the gas beyond r = 350 solar radii = 1.75 R(sub star) has a negative radial velocity. Radial velocities of the shell lines imply the outer atmosphere rotates in the direction of orbital motion, possibly through the deflection of wind flow lines in this direction.

Eaton, Joel A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Heavy ions from the Galilean satellites and the centrifugal distortion of the Jovian magnetosphere

The Galilean satellites constitute a potentially significant source of plasma to the Jovian atmosphere. The paper examines the distortion of the Jovian magnetosphere that would result from injection of ions at the Galilean satellites. The magnetic distortion produced is a localized perturbation near the equatorial plane, in contrast to the large-scale distortion produced by Jovian atmospheric ions. The study estimates the relative perturbation currents resulting from the two sources in terms of the unknown ion production rate at the satellites. It is found that the two perturbations would be of comparable magnitudes if the ion source flux at all of the Galilean satellites were comparable to the photo-ion escape flux from Jupiter's atmosphere. More specifically, ions produced by the Galilean satellites should be confined near the equatorial plane of Jupiter's magnetosphere in a sheet whose thickness is determined by a centrifugal scale height given essentially by the ion thermal speed divided by the corotation frequency.

Hill, T. W.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Effects of diffusion and mass flows on C IV and Si IV lines formed in the solar atmosphere

A model for the transition region is derived from an initial interpretation of EUV observations, assuming ionization equilibrium and constant elemental abundance with height. The effects of diffusion and mass flows are then included in the initial model and the emergent profiles of several C IV and Si IV lines are computed. It is found that diffusion and mass flows have a strong effect on both the emergent intensity and spectral shape of these lines. Diffusion acts to deplete the transition region of heavy ions to an extent which depends on the detailed temperature and density structure. The net effect is a weighting of the coronal emission relative to that in the transition. On the basis of the results, it is suggested that the downflows observed in the network in lines of C IV and Si IV could be due to gravitational settling of the ions following their injection, via diffusion, into the corona from spicules. When flows are superposed on the basic diffusion model, the rapid change in elemental abundance characteristic of the model is virtually eliminated and the coronal contribution to the emission in C IV and Si IV lines becomes negligible relative to that in the transition region. Flows have a strong effect on the computed line intensities and introduce large asymmetries into the line shapes.

Roussel-Dupre, R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Effect of volcanic debris on stratospheric ion conductivity

The reduction is reported of stratospheric ion conductivities in the altitude range of 20 to 27 km attributable to the aerosols injected into the stratosphere by the eruption of volcano Nevado Del Ruiz on November 13, 1985. Three balloon experiments were conducted from Hyderabad, India (17.5 N, 78.6 E) carrying a Langmuir probe payload for measuring stratospheric ion conductivities. The first flight took place about 9 months before the volcanic eruption, the second 3 weeks after the eruption and the third about a year later. Lidar observations from Japan, Hawaii and Europe reported detection of aerosol layers in the 18 to 25 km altitude range attributable to the Nevado Del Ruiz volcanic eruption. A comparison of the conductivity profiles shows that the reduction of ion conductivities is: 57.3 percent at 20 km and 31 percent at 25 km. A year after the eruption, conductivities at all heights tended to recover.

Somayajulu, Y. V.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Numerical modeling of the interstellar medium in galactic disks

We have been developing detailed hydrodynamic models of the global interstellar medium in the hope of understanding the mass and volume occupied by various phases, as well as their structure and kinematics. In our model, the gas is modeled by one fluid while representative Pop 1 stars are modeled by a second fluid. The two fluids are coupled in that the gas forms into stars at a rate given by a Schmidt law while stellar mass loss returns matter into the gas phase (on a time scale of 100 Myr). Also, the stars heat the gas through stellar winds and the gas cools through optically thin radiation. The time behavior of these two fluids is studied in two spatial dimensions with the Eulerian finite difference numerical hydrodynamic code Zen. The two spatial dimensions are along the plane of a disk (x, total length of 2 kpc) and perpendicular to the disk (z, total height of +/- 15 kpc) and a galactic gravitational field in the z direction, typical of that at the solar circle, is imposed upon the simulation; self-gravity and rotation are absent. For the boundary conditions, outflow is permitted at the top and bottom of the grid (z = +/- 15 kpc) while periodic boundary conditions are imposed upon left and right sides of the grid. As initial conditions, we assumed a gaseous distribution like that seen for the H1 by earlier researchers, although the results are insensitive to the initial conditions. We have run simulations in which the heating due to stars, parameterized as a stellar wind velocity, a, is varied from low (a = 150 km/s), to intermediate (a = 300 km/s), to high (a = 600 km/s). Since the intermediate case is roughly equivalent to the Galactic energy injection rate from supernovae, this summary will concentrate on results from this simulation.

Rosen, A.↗