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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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NASA NTRS2009

Implementation and Comparison of Acoustic Travel-Time Measurement Procedures for the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager Time-Distance Helioseismology Pipeline

The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite is designed to produce high-resolution Doppler velocity maps of oscillations at the solar surface with high temporal cadence. To take advantage of these high-quality oscillation data, a time-distance helioseismology pipeline has been implemented at the Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) at Stanford University. The aim of this pipeline is to generate maps of acoustic travel times from oscillations on the solar surface, and to infer subsurface 3D flow velocities and sound-speed perturbations. The wave travel times are measured from cross covariances of the observed solar oscillation signals. For implementation into the pipeline we have investigated three different travel-time definitions developed in time-distance helioseismology: a Gabor wavelet fitting (Kosovichev and Duvall, 1997), a minimization relative to a reference cross-covariance function (Gizon and Birch, 2002), and a linearized version of the minimization method (Gizon and Birch, 2004). Using Doppler velocity data from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on board SOHO, we tested and compared these definitions for the mean and difference travel-time perturbations measured from reciprocal signals. Although all three procedures return similar travel times in a quiet Sun region, the method of Gizon and Birch (2004) gives travel times that are significantly different from the others in a magnetic (active) region. Thus, for the pipeline implementation we chose the procedures of Kosovichev and Duvall (1997) and Gizon and Birch (2002). We investigated the relationships among these three travel-time definitions, their sensitivities to fitting parameters, and estimated the random errors they produce

Couvidat, S.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Modeling issues in precision orbit determination for Mars orbiter

This paper examines the accuracy of recent Mars gravity models and the importance of perturbations due to the Mars radiation pressure and the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, on the trajectories of Mars orbiters. A linear orbit perturbation theory is used to characterize the patterns of gravity field near resonances for the Viking and Mariner 9 spacecraft. These resonances are shown to have considerable power and their potential for contributing to Mars gravity solutions is emphasized. It is shown that some of the same resonance orders which appear in the Viking orbits, dominate the radial orbit error spectrum for Mars Observer. Results of orbit determination simulations at the Goddard Space Flight Center show that the perturbations caused by the Martian moons and the Mars radiation pressure are larger than 0.1 mm/s, the expected precision of the Mars Observer Doppler tracking data. Tests with the Viking Doppler data indicate that best analysis of these data mandates the inclusion of the Phobos gravitational perturbation in the modeling of Viking spacecraft trajectories.

Lemoine, Frank G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A study of ignition and simulation circuits for arcjet thrusters, part 1

A 1 kW electronic load was programmed to simulate the nonlinear i-v (volt-ampere) characteristics of an arcjet, both ignited and unignited. The simulator was tested and found to closely resemble an arcjet both for large transients and small perturbances up to about 40 kHz. No attempt was made to simulate the ignition process itself. The dynamic behavior of the arcjet (and the simulator) was shown to differ significantly from that of a resistor bank. Previous research led to the design and construction of a 1 kW arcjet power supply. A high voltage ignition circuit was added to this hardware, and tests on a 1 kW arcjet were performed at NASA-Lewis. All tests were successful and no ignition failures were observed. Circuit documentation and test results are included.

Stuart, Thomas A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Correlation of magnetic perturbation inspection data with rolling element bearing fatigue results

A magnetic perturbation technique was used to nondestructively detect subsurface nonmetallic inclusions in the inner races of 207-size, deep groove ball bearings. The bearings were fatigue tested at 2750 rpm under a radial load of. The inner races were subsequently sectioned at fatigue spall locations and at magnetic perturbation signal locations. Analyses of the data indicated good correlation between magnetic perturbation signals and inclusion size and location. Exclusion of those bearings that had significant magnetic perturbation signals did not alter the statistical life of the bearings.

Parker, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Wind Tunnel Generation of Sinusoidal Lateral and Longitudinal Gusts by Circulation of Twin Parallel Airfoils

A gust generator capable of producing sinusoidal lateral and longitudinal gusts was developed for the purpose of studying the gust response of a model rotor-propeller in a wind tunnel. The gust generator utilized harmonic circulation control of twin parallel airfoils to achieve the harmonic lift variation required for gust generation. The gust generator design, construction, and testing is described. Typical test results are presented in the form of lateral and longitudinal gust perturbation velocities as a function of generator reduced frequency.

Ham, N. D.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Geodetic evidence of the seismic potential at Parkfield, California

The average rates of line-length change and the rates of the shallow fault slip observed near Parkfield, California, were used to estimate the slip rate at depth on the San Andreas fault (SAF), using the Matsu'ura et al. (1986) procedure to model the aseismic deformation as a perturbation to steady block motion across the SAF. Five different models were tested against the data, with one model, featuring a nearly monotonic transition from creeping behavior on the northwest to locked behavior on the southeast, found to fit the data acceptably well. It is shown that stored elastic energy southeast of Parkfield could produce an earthquake of magnitude up to 8.0, that would have displacement and rupture length similar to historic earthquakes of the same size.

Sung, Li-Yu↗
NASA NTRS1992

Nonlinear Maneuver Autopilot

Trajectory-control laws based on singular-perturbation theory and nonlinear dynamical modeling. Nonlinear maneuver autopilot commands flight-test trajectories of F-15 airplane. Underlying theory of controller enables separation of variables processed in fast and slow control loops, reducing amount of computation required.

Menon, P. K. A.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Initial Results of an MDO Method Evaluation Study

The NASA Langley MDO method evaluation study seeks to arrive at a set of guidelines for using promising MDO methods by accumulating and analyzing computational data for such methods. The data are collected by conducting a series of re- producible experiments. In the first phase of the study, three MDO methods were implemented in the SIGHT: framework and used to solve a set of ten relatively simple problems. In this paper, we comment on the general considerations for conducting method evaluation studies and report some initial results obtained to date. In particular, although the results are not conclusive because of the small initial test set, other formulations, optimality conditions, and sensitivity of solutions to various perturbations. Optimization algorithms are used to solve a particular MDO formulation. It is then appropriate to speak of local convergence rates and of global convergence properties of an optimization algorithm applied to a specific formulation. An analogous distinction exists in the field of partial differential equations. On the one hand, equations are analyzed in terms of regularity, well-posedness, and the existence and unique- ness of solutions. On the other, one considers numerous algorithms for solving differential equations. The area of MDO methods studies MDO formulations combined with optimization algorithms, although at times the distinction is blurred. It is important to

Alexandrov, Natalia M.↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Simons Observatory: science goals andforecasts

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a new cosmic microwave background experiment being built on Cerro Toco in Chile, due to begin observations in the early 2020s. We describe the scientific goals of the experiment, motivate the design, and forecast its performance. SO will measure the temperature and polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background in six frequency bands centered at: 27, 39, 93, 145, 225 and 280 GHz. The initial configuration of SO will have three small-aperture 0.5-m telescopes and one large-aperture 6-m telescope, with a total of 60,000 cryogenic bolometers. Our key science goals are to characterize the primordial perturbations, measure the number of relativistic species and the mass of neutrinos, test for deviations from a cosmological constant, improve our understanding of galaxy evolution, and constrain the duration of reionization. The small aperture telescopes will target the largest angular scales observable from Chile, mapping ≈ 10% of the sky to a white noise level of 2 μK-arcmin in combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, to measure the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, at a target level of σ(r)=0.003. The large aperture telescope will map ≈ 40% of the sky at arcminute angular resolution to an expected white noise level of 6 μK-arcmin in combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, overlapping with the majority of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope sky region and partially with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. With up to an order of magnitude lower polarization noise than maps from the Planck satellite, the high-resolution sky maps will constrain cosmological parameters derived from the damping tail, gravitational lensing of the microwave background, the primordial bispectrum, and the thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects, and will aid in delensing the large-angle polarization signal to measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio. The survey will also provide a legacy catalog of 16,000 galaxy clusters and more than 20,000 extragalactic sources.

Peter Ade↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Simons Observatory: Science Goals and Forecasts

The Simons Observatory (SO) is a new cosmic microwave background experiment being built on CerroToco in Chile, due to begin observations in the early 2020s. We describe the scientific goals of the experiment, motivate the design, and forecast its performance. SO will measure the temperature and polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background in six frequency bands centered at: 27,39, 93, 145, 225 and 280 GHz. The initial configuration of SO will have three small-aperture 0.5-mtelescopes and one large-aperture 6-m telescope, with a total of 60,000 cryogenic bolometers. Our key science goals are to characterize the primordial perturbations, measure the number of relativistic species and the mass of neutrinos, test for deviations from a cosmological constant, improve our understanding of galaxy evolution, and constrain the duration of reionization. The small aperture telescopes will target the largest angular scales observable from Chile, mapping≈10% of the sky to a white noise level of 2μK-arcmin in combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, to measure the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, at a target level ofσ(r) = 0.003. The large aperture telescope will map ≈40% of the sky at arcminute angular resolution to an expected white noise level of 6μK-arcminin combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, overlapping with the majority of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope sky region and partially with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. With up to an order of magnitude lower polarization noise than maps from the Planck satellite, the high-resolution sky maps will constrain cosmological parameters derived from the damping tail, gravitational lensing of the microwave background, the primordial bispectrum, and the thermal and kinematic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effects, and will aid in delensing the large-angle polarization signal to measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio. The survey will also provide a legacy catalog of 16,000 galaxy clusters and more than20,000 extragalactic sources.

Peter Ade↗
NASA NTRS1990

Minimal spectrum of long-wave perturbations - Is linear growth correct only in the nonlinear regime?

Very high resolution two-dimensional simulations are used to test the generation and growth of the so-called 'minimal' k exp 4 power spectrum which develops from initial conditions which have power only on small scales, such as might result from some process in the early universe. It is confirmed that the amplitude of minimal long-wave power grows proportionally to a exp 4, not a-squared, where a is the scale factor of the expanding universe. It reverts to a-squared only after the short-wave modes are effectively saturated, and by that time an effective long-wave power law closer to k-cubed is found. Small-scale perturbations may result in much more long-wave power than has been generally assumed.

Shandarin, Sergei F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Numerical comparisons of nonlinear convergence accelerators

As part of a continuing program of numerical tests of convergence accelerators, the iterated Aitken's Delta-squared method, Wynn's epsilon algorithm, Brezinski's theta algorithm, and Levin's u transform are compared on a broad range of test problems: linearly convergence alternating, monotone, and irregular-sign series, logarithmically convergent series, power method and Bernoulli method sequences, alternating and monotone asymptotic series, and some perturbation series arising in applications. In each category either the epsilon algorithm or the u transform gives the best results of the four methods tested. In some cases differences among methods are slight, and in others they are quite striking.

Smith, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Experimental study of the stability and flow characteristics of floating liquid columns confined between rotating disks

A low Bond number simulation technique was used to establish the stability limits of cylindrical and conical floating liquid columns under conditions of isorotation, equal counter rotation, rotation of one end only, and parallel axis offset. The conditions for resonance in cylindrical liquid columns perturbed by axial, sinusoidal vibration of one end face are also reported. All tests were carried out under isothermal conditions with water and silicone fluids of various viscosities. A technique for the quantitative measurement of stream velocity within a floating, isothermal, liquid column confined between rotatable disks was developed. In the measurement, small, light scattering particles were used as streamline markers in common arrangement, but the capability of the measurement was extended by use of stereopair photography system to provide quantitative data. Results of velocity measurements made under a few selected conditions, which established the precision and accuracy of the technique, are given. The general qualitative features of the isothermal flow patterns under various conditions of end face rotation resulting from both still photography and motion pictures are presented.

Fowle, A. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Testing the strong equivalence principle by radio ranging

Planetary range data offer the most promising means to test the validity of the Strong Equivalence Principle (SEP). Analytical expressions for the perturbation in the 'range' expected from an SEP violation predicted by the 'variation-of-G' method and by the 'two-times' approach are derived and compared. The dominant term in both expressions is quadratic in time. Analysis of existing range data should allow a determination of the coefficient of this term with a one-standard-deviation uncertainty of about 1 part in 100 billion/yr.

Canuto, V. M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Cosmic-structure constraints from a one-degree microwave-background anisotropy experiment

A recent anisotropy experiment with a 30-arcmin beam is close to optimal for testing models in which cosmic structure arose from inflation-generated Gaussian density perturbations. Using a Bayesian analysis to constrain the amplitude of the perturbation spectrum, it is shown that adiabatic hot-dark-matter models are convincingly ruled out and cold-dark-matter models have anisotropies near the derived limits. Theories with broken scale invariance such as isocurvature baryon models are strongly constrained, as are models with extra power crafted to give significant large-scale structures and flows.

Bond, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Short-time Lyapunov exponent analysis

A new technique for analyzing complicated fluid flows in numerical simulations has been successfully tested. The analysis uses short time Lyapunov exponent contributions and the associated Lyapunov perturbation fields. A direct simulation of the Taylor-Couette flow just past the onset of chaos demonstrated that this new technique marks important times during the system evolution and identifies the important flow features at those times. This new technique will now be applied to a 'minimal' turbulent channel.

Vastano, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Boundary layer transition studies

A small-scale wind tunnel previously used for turbulent boundary layer experiments was modified for two sets of boundary layer transition studies. The first study concerns a laminar separation/turbulent reattachment. The pressure gradient and unit Reynolds number are the same as the fully turbulent flow of Spalart and Watmuff. Without the trip wire, a laminar layer asymptotes to a Falkner & Skan similarity solution in the FPG. Application of the APG causes the layer to separate and a highly turbulent and approximately 2D mean flow reattachment occurs downstream. In an effort to gain some physical insight into the flow processes a small impulsive disturbance was introduced at the C(sub p) minimum. The facility is totally automated and phase-averaged data are measured on a point-by-point basis using unprecedently large grids. The evolution of the disturbance has been tracked all the way into the reattachment region and beyond into the fully turbulent boundary layer. At first, the amplitude decays exponentially with streamwise distance in the APG region, where the layer remains attached, i.e. the layer is viscously stable. After separation, the rate of decay slows, and a point of minimum amplitude is reached where the contours of the wave packet exhibit dispersive characteristics. From this point, exponential growth of the amplitude of the disturbance is observed in the detached shear layer, i.e. the dominant instability mechanism is inviscid. A group of large-scale 3D vortex loops emerges in the vicinity of the reattachment. Remarkably, the second loop retains its identify far downstream in the turbulent boundary layer. The results provide a level of detail usually associated with CFD. Substantial modifications were made to the facility for the second study concerning disturbances generated by Suction Holes for laminar flow Control (LFC). The test section incorporates suction through interchangeable porous test surfaces. Detailed studies have been made using isolated holes in the impervious test plate that used to establish the Blasius base flow. The suction is perturbed harmonically and data are averaged on the basis of the phase of the disturbance, for conditions corresponding to strong suction and without suction. The technique was enhanced by using up to nine multiple probes to reduce the experimental run-time. In both cases, 3D contour surfaces in the vicinity of the hole show highly 3D TS waves which fan out in the spanwise direction forming bow-shaped waves downstream. The case without suction has proved useful for evaluating calculation methods. With suction, the perturbations on the centerline are much stronger and decay less rapidly, while the TS waves in the far field are similar to the case without suction. Downstream, the contour surfaces of the TS waves develop spanwise irregularities which eventually form into clumps. The spanwise clumping is evidence of a secondary instability that could be associated with suction vortices. Designers of porous surfaces use Goldsmith's Criterion to minimize cross-stream interactions. It is shown that partial TS wave cancellation is possible, depending on the hole spacing, disturbance frequency and free-stream velocity. New high-performance Constant Temperature Hot-Wire Anemometers were designed and built, based on a linear system theory analysis that can be extended to arbitrary order. The motivation was to achieve the highest possible frequency reponse while ensuring overall system stability. The performance is equal to or superior to commercially available instruments at about 10% of the cost. Details, such as fabrication drawings and a parts list, have been published to enable the instrument to be construced by others.

Watmuff, Jonathan H.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Experimental Study of Unsupported Nonane fuel Droplet Combustion in Microgravity

Soot formation in droplet flames is the basic component of the particulate emission process that occurs in spray combustion. The complexity of soot formation motivates a one-dimensional transport condition which has obvious advantages in modeling. Recent models of spherically symmetric droplet combustion have made this assumption when incorporating such aspects as detailed chemistry and radiation. Interestingly, spherical symmetry does not necessarily restrict the results because it has been observed that the properties of carbon formed in flames are not strongly affected by the nature of the fuel or flaming configuration. What is affected, however, are the forces acting on the soot aggregates and where they are trapped by a balance of drag and thermophoretic forces. The distribution of these forces depends on the transport conditions of the flame. Prior studies of spherical droplet flames have examined the droplet burning history of alkanes, alcohols and aromatics. Data are typically the evolution of droplet, flame, extinction, and soot shell diameters. These data are only now just beginning to find their way into comprehensive numerical models of droplet combustion to test proposed oxidation schemes for fuels such as methanol and heptane. In the present study, we report new measurements on the burning history of unsupported nonane droplets in a convection-free environment to promote spherical symmetry. The far-field gas is atmospheric pressure air at room temperature. The evolution of droplet diameter was measured using high speed cine photography of a spark-ignited, droplet within a confined volume in a drop tower. The initial droplet diameters varied between 0.5 mm and 0.6 mm. The challenge of unsupported droplets is to form, deploy and ignite them with minimal disturbance, and then to keep them in the camera field of view. Because of the difficulty of this undertaking, more sophisticated diagnostics for studying soot than photographic were not used. Supporting the test droplet by a fiber fixes the droplet position but the fiber can perturb the burning process especially for a sooting fuel. Prior studies on heptane showed little evidence for soot formation due to g-droplets of similar size the relationship between sooting and droplet diameter. For nonane droplets we expect increased sooting due to the greater number of carbon atoms. As a sooting droplet burns and its diameter decreases, proportionally less soot should form. This reduced soot, as well as the influence of soot formed earlier in the burning process which collects in a 'shell', on heat transport to the flame offers the potential for a time-varying burning rate. Such an effect was investigated and revealed in results reported here. Speculation is offered for the cause of this effect and its possible relation to soot formation.

Callahan, B. J.↗