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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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208 records · Page 12

Dynamics of the upper middle atmosphere (80-110 km) at Tromsoe, June-December 1987, using the Tromsoe/Saskatoon M.F. radar

A real time winds (RTW) system from Saskatoon operated with the Tromsoe M.F. (partial reflection) radar on a continuous basis, June to December 1987. Profiles with 3 km resolution were obtained every 5 minutes with weak ionization, and few geomagnetic disturbances limited the observations normally to 80 to 110 km. However, daily mean winds, tidal characteristics (24, 12 h) such as amplitudes, phases and wavelengths, and gravity wave characteristics (intensities, mean directions) are available throughout this interval, which includes MAC-SINE and Epsilon. This is particularly valuable in defining the background state for some experiments, e.g., rockets, and for comparison with related parameters from the lidar and other radars (EISCAT, SOUSY-VHF). Comparisons with dynamical parameters from Saskatoon (52 N) are made: the zonal circulation was weaker at Tromsoe, tidal amplitudes smaller, and summer 12 h tidal wavelengths shorter (approx. 80 km vs approx. 100 km). The fall transition for this tide occurred in September, earlier than observed elsewhere. Initial comparisons with other experimental systems are also made.

Manson, A. H.↗

The barotropic normal modes in certain shear flows and the traveling waves in the atmosphere

It is shown analytically and numerically that in certain shear flows the linearized nondivergent barotropic vorticity equation has a limited number of neutral normal modes. The latitudinal structures of these shear flows can be expressed as polynomials of the sine of latitude. The first few such shear flows resemble the gross features of the zonal winds in the atmosphere of the earth at different times and altitudes. The spatial structures of the neutral normal modes in these shear flows are spherical harmonics, and, as a consequence, these modes are also the exact solutions of the fully nonlinear equation because the nonlinear interaction term vanishes identically. The spatial structures of the observed 5-, 4-, 2-, and 16-day free traveling waves in the atmosphere are often identified with the spherical harmonics with indices of (m, n) = ( 1, 2), (2, 3), (3, 3), and ( 1, 4), which are known previously as the neutral normal modes of the nondivergent barotropic vorticity equation in a motionless background state. Our results could explain why these free traveling waves can survive the shearing effects of zonal flows that are far different from rest because these spherical harmonics are also normal modes in certain shear flows that resemble the observations of the atmosphere.

Chen, Ping↗

Transmission of sound through nonuniform circular ducts with compressible mean flows

An acoustic theory is developed to determine the sound transmission and attenuation through an infinite, hard-walled or lined, circular duct carrying compressible, sheared, mean flows and having a variable cross section. The theory is applicable to large as well as small axial variations, as long as the mean flow does not separate. Although the theory is described for circular ducts, it is applicable to other duct configurations - annular, two dimensional, and rectangular. The theory is described for the linear problem, but the technique is general and has the advantage of being applicable to the nonlinear case as well as the linear case. The technique is based on solving for the envelopes of the quasi-parallel acoustic modes that exist in the duct instead of solving for the actual wave. A computer program was developed. The mean flow model consists of a one dimensional flow in the core and a quarter-sine profile in the boundary layer. Results are presented for the reflection and transmission coefficients in ducts with varying slopes and carrying different mean flows.

Nayfeh, A. H.↗

Aspects of reheating in first-order inflation

Studied here is reheating in theories where inflation is completed by a first-order phase transition. In the scenarios, the Universe decays from its false vacuum state by bubble nucleation. In the first stage of reheating, vacuum energy is converted into kinetic energy for the bubble walls. To help understand this phase, researchers derive a simple expression for the equation of state of a universe filled with expanding bubbles. Eventually, the bubble walls collide. Researchers present numerical simulations of two-bubble collisions clarifying and extending previous work by Hawking, Moss, and Stewart. The researchers' results indicate that wall energy is efficiently converted into coherent scalar waves. Also discussed is particle production due to quantum effects. These effects lead to the decay of the coherent scalar waves. They also lead to direct particle production during bubble-wall collisions. Researchers calculate particle production for colliding walls in both sine-Gordon and theta (4) theories and show that it is far more efficient in the theta (4) case. The relevance of this work for recently proposed models of first order inflation is discussed.

Watkins, Richard↗

Use of a genetic algorithm for the analysis of eye movements from the linear vestibulo-ocular reflex

It is common in vestibular and oculomotor testing to use a single-frequency (sine) or combination of frequencies [sum-of-sines (SOS)] stimulus for head or target motion. The resulting eye movements typically contain a smooth tracking component, which follows the stimulus, in which are interspersed rapid eye movements (saccades or fast phases). The parameters of the smooth tracking--the amplitude and phase of each component frequency--are of interest; many methods have been devised that attempt to identify and remove the fast eye movements from the smooth. We describe a new approach to this problem, tailored to both single-frequency and sum-of-sines stimulation of the human linear vestibulo-ocular reflex. An approximate derivative is used to identify fast movements, which are then omitted from further analysis. The remaining points form a series of smooth tracking segments. A genetic algorithm is used to fit these segments together to form a smooth (but disconnected) wave form, by iteratively removing biases due to the missing fast phases. A genetic algorithm is an iterative optimization procedure; it provides a basis for extending this approach to more complex stimulus-response situations. In the SOS case, the genetic algorithm estimates the amplitude and phase values of the component frequencies as well as removing biases.

Non-NASA Center↗

The global structure of the annual and semiannual sea surface height variability from Geosat altimeter data

Two years of data from the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission are employed to study the annual and semiannual variability of sea-surface height on a global basis. The data are treated with atmospheric corrections and interpolations, and the orbit error of about 40 cm RMS is purged. The spatial variability of the Geosat data is constructed for particular frequencies, and the estimate of the M2 tidal error indicates that the error is aliased to 1.15 cycles/yr and has an unusual spatial pattern. Sine and cosine coefficients are derived for the annual and semiannual frequencies by means of a least squares fit yielding the amplitude and phase of the changes in sea-surface height. A 180-deg phase difference is noted between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres for the annual variability, and large-scale westward propagating waves are identified. The Geosat data also indicate the phase relationships between major current systems and the systems of variations at work in the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

Jacobs, Gregg A.↗

An Investigation of Energy Transmission Due to Flexural Wave Propagation in Lightweight, Built-Up Structures

A technique to measure flexural structure-borne noise intensity is investigated. Two accelerometers serve as transducers in this cross-spectral technique. The structure-borne sound power is obtained by two different techniques and compared. In the first method, a contour integral of intensity is performed from the values provided by the two-accelerometer intensity technique. In the second method, input power is calculated directly from the output of force and acceleration transducers. A plate and two beams were the subjects of the sound power comparisons. Excitation for the structures was either band-limited white noise or a deterministic signal similar to a swept sine. The two-accelerometer method was found to be sharply limited by near field and transducer spacing limitations. In addition, for the lightweight structures investigated, it was found that the probe inertia can have a significant influence on the power input to the structure. In addition to the experimental investigation of structure-borne sound energy, an extensive study of the point harmonically forced, point-damped beam boundary value problem was performed to gain insight into measurements of this nature. The intensity formulations were also incorporated into the finite element method. Intensity mappings were obtained analytically via finite element modeling of simple structures.

Mickol, John Douglas↗

Analysis of DE-1 PWI electric field data

The measurement of low frequency electric field oscillations may be accomplished with the Plasma Wave Instrument (PWI) on DE 1. Oscillations at a frequency around 1 Hz are below the range of the conventional plasma wave receivers, but they can be detected by using a special processing of the quasi-static electric field data. With this processing it is also possible to determine if the electric field oscillations are predominately parallel or perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field. The quasi-static electric field in the DE 1 spin/orbit plane is measured with a long-wire 'double probe'. This antenna is perpendicular to the satellite spin axis, which in turn is approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic field in the polar magnetosphere. The electric field data are digitally sampled at a frequency of 16 Hz. The measured electric field signal, which has had phase reversals introduced by the rotating antenna, is multiplied by the sine of the rotation angle between the antenna and the magnetic field. This is called the 'perpendicular' signal. The measured time series is also multiplied with the cosine of the angle to produce a separate 'parallel' signal. These two separate time series are then processed to determine the frequency power spectrum.

Weimer, Daniel↗

Digital Receiver Phase Meter

The software of a commercially available digital radio receiver has been modified to make the receiver function as a two-channel low-noise phase meter. This phase meter is a prototype in the continuing development of a phase meter for a system in which radiofrequency (RF) signals in the two channels would be outputs of a spaceborne heterodyne laser interferometer for detecting gravitational waves. The frequencies of the signals could include a common Doppler-shift component of as much as 15 MHz. The phase meter is required to measure the relative phases of the signals in the two channels at a sampling rate of 10 Hz at a root power spectral density <5 microcycle/(Hz)1/2 and to be capable of determining the power spectral density of the phase difference over the frequency range from 1 mHz to 1 Hz. Such a phase meter could also be used on Earth to perform similar measurements in laser metrology of moving bodies. To illustrate part of the principle of operation of the phase meter, the figure includes a simplified block diagram of a basic singlechannel digital receiver. The input RF signal is first fed to the input terminal of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). To prevent aliasing errors in the ADC, the sampling rate must be at least twice the input signal frequency. The sampling rate of the ADC is governed by a sampling clock, which also drives a digital local oscillator (DLO), which is a direct digital frequency synthesizer. The DLO produces samples of sine and cosine signals at a programmed tuning frequency. The sine and cosine samples are mixed with (that is, multiplied by) the samples from the ADC, then low-pass filtered to obtain in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) signal components. A digital signal processor (DSP) computes the ratio between the Q and I components, computes the phase of the RF signal (relative to that of the DLO signal) as the arctangent of this ratio, and then averages successive such phase values over a time interval specified by the user.

Marcin, Martin↗