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At least 217 records · Page 12

An evaluation of errors observed in the measurement of low wind velocities

Measurements of low wind velocities (the absolute value of V sub H is approx. equal to 6 m/s) with a VHF wind profiler can be difficult if ground clutter or other biases in the system dominate in altering the position of the perceived peak in the calculated power spectrum. A variety of methods for ground clutter suppression are used in profiler systems today (Cornish, 1983). An editing method called zero suppression takes the spectral value of selectable number of points (N) on each side of 0 velocity (one point on either side, in this study) and sets them equal to the mean value of the points exterior to the specified N points on either side of 0. Analysis done with the PSU VHF(1) radar, shows that this zero-suppression method can systematically bias horizontal wings V sub H below 6 m/s. With the zero suppression, an artificial increase in absolute wind velocities occurs when the spectral peaks fall within the plus or minus N points of the FFT (personal communication, Strauch, 1985). It was also established that the method artificially decreases the absolute wind velocities inferred from spectral peaks that are outside but near the suppressed region. Comparisons of wind profiles observed with and without zero suppression are given. The range of the biased velocities extends to about plus or minus 6 m/s. Biases have been deduced to be as much as 2 m/s, but more commonly they are on the order of 1.0 m/s.

Williams, S. R.↗

Application of STARFLEET Velocimetry in the NASA Langley 0.3-Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel

Selective two-photon absorptive resonance femtosecond laser electronic excitation tagging (STARFLEET) velocimetry is demonstrated for the first time in a NASA Langley wind tunnel with high repetition-rate and single-shot imaging. Experiments performed in the 0.3-meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel (TCT) allowed for testing at 300 K over a range of pressures (124 to 517 kPa) and Mach numbers (0.2-0.8) for freestream conditions and flow behind a cylindrical model. Measurement precision and accuracy are determined for the current set of experiments, as are signal intensity and lifetime. Precisions of 3-5 m/s (based on one standard deviation) were typical in the experiment; precisions better than 2% of the mean velocity were obtained for some of the highest velocity conditions. Agreement within a mean error of 3 m/s between STARFLEET freestream velocity measurements and facility DAS readings is demonstrated. STARFLEET is also shown to return spatially-resolved velocity profiles, though some binning of the signal is required.

STARFLEET↗

The prevalence of second harmonic radiation in type III bursts observed at kilometric wavelengths.

We present the analysis of 64 type III solar bursts that drifted from 3.5 MHz down to the range 350-50 kHz between March 1968 and February 1970. Bursts arrival times were predicted by a simple model and then compared with observations. The results show that, as the bursts drift, the fundamental often disappears below a certain frequency range while the second harmonic remains. Below about 1 MHz, the second harmonic occurrence predominates. Recognizing this fact we deduce a mean velocity of 0.32c plus or minus 0.02c for the exciter particles, where the uncertainty is the standard error and c the velocity of light in vacuum; the electron density model used is comparable to a solar wind model.

Haddock, F. T.↗

Accuracy of vertical velocity determination

Typical wind spectra taken at Poker Flat, Alaska, using the vertically oriented antenna show velocities of 10's of cm to meters per second and spectral widths winds of 0.5 to 1 m/s. The potential errors in such measurements can be broken down into three categories: (1) those due to instrumental parameters and data processing, (2) those due to specular returns from non-horizontal surfaces, and (3) those due to other physical effects. Error analysis in vertical velocity measurement is further discussed.

Riddle, A. C.↗

Speed control device for a heavy duty shaft

A speed control device is characterized by a reference speed shaft spatially related to a heavy duty shaft, a drive train for driving the reference speed shaft at a constant angular velocity, a drive train for driving the heavy duty shaft at a variable angular velocity and a speed control assembly for continuously comparing the angular velocity of the heavy duty shaft with the angular velocity of the reference speed shaft. A brake assembly is connected to the heavy duty shaft and is adapted to respond to errors in the angular velocity of the heavy duty shaft in order to reduce the angular velocity of the heavy duty shaft to that of the reference speed shaft.

Ford, A. G.↗

Table and Charts of Equilibrium Normal-shock Properties for Pure Hydrogen with Velocities to 70 km/sec. Revised.

Errors found in the original edition are corrected. Refinement was made in procedures for solving the conservation relations for an incident (moving), standing, and reflected normal shock, as well as in computational methods for determining thermochemical-equilibrium hydrogen properties. A six-species hydrogen model replaces the original four-species model, and the heat of formation and spectroscopic constants used in this six-species model are listed in appendix A. In appendix B, comparisons are made between a number of methods for determining equilibrium thermodynamic properties for hydrogen for several values of pressure and temperatures to 50000 K. A comparison is also performed between the present method and a second method for determining thermodynamic properties and flow velocity behind an incident shock into pure hydrogen and behind a reflected shock.

Miller, C. G., III↗

Design and Calibration of Autonomous Coherent Doppler Lidar for Space Missions

Developed a new algorithm for the simulation of three dimensional homogeneous turbulent velocity fields. For typical atmospheric conditions it is impossible to produce a simulated velocity field that simultaneously satisfy a given spatial correlation and the corresponding spatial spectrum because of spectral aliasing. The new algorithms produce a turbulent velocity field which has accurate spatial correlations which is required for performance predictions from space-based systems. Developed a new algorithm for extracting the spatial statistics of the atmospheric velocity field using coherent Doppler lidar. The performance of the algorithm was compared with past methods and the new algorithm produces useful results for space-based data, which was not possible before. Developed new methods for verification of the errors in ground-based and space-based Doppler lidar wind measurements. These new methods do not require independent in situ data. This is an important issue for the verification of space-based Doppler lidar measurements of the global wind field. The performance of the new algorithm was compared with past results for both space-based and ground-based operation. The new algorithm has the best performance and is the only algorithm that performed satisfactory for spacebased operation. The performance of coherent Doppler lidar for a space missions with various scanning geometries was determined using computer simulation which contained the effects of random instrumental velocity errors, wind shear, wind variability along the range-gate and from shot-to-shot, and random variations in atmospheric aerosol backscatter over the measurement volume. The bias in the velocity estimates was small and the accuracy in the is typically less than 0.5 m/s for high signal conditions. For a large number of shot per velocity estimate, the threshold signal level for acceptable estimates is proportional to the number of shots to the minus one half power. This agrees with previous results determined for ground-based measurements. The use of multi-element optical detectors for autonomous operation of coherent Doppler lidar was shown to be a very promising technique. Optimal detector geometries were determined by computer simulation of performance: for ground-based testing with a fixed calibration target and for space-based operation using the random surface returns. The effects of refractive turbulence on ground-based calibration of coherent Doppler lidar was determined by computer simulations and compared with theoretical predictions. New techniques were required to correctly predict performance for the focused beam geometry commonly used for verification of space-based operation. An improved velocity estimator was evaluated for space-based applications were signal shot measurements are used to produce vector wind measurements. This permits more accurate measurements when the signal level is not known a priori or not available from multiple shot measurements. The average Doppler lidar signal spectrum including the effects of velocity turbulence was derived and calculated. This permits new estimation algorithms for turbulence based on spectral estimates. In situ atmospheric measurements were conducted and analyzed using an instrumented kite-platform. This work helps provide the required in situ data for verification of Doppler lidar velocity statistics.

Frehlich, Rod G.↗

The error associated with use of various forms of the divergence equation to diagnose geopotential and temperature

This study utilizes a model-generated data set to evaluate the errors associated with the diagnosis of geopotential height using three approximate forms of the divergence equation (DE). The DE was solved on the original sigma-coordinate surfaces of the model to exclude any error produced in the process of interpolating the data from observation points to the coordinate surface of the DE. An inviscid, nonlinear, divergent DE produced rms geopotential height errors as large as 3 m and rms temperature errors of over 26 C in the lower planetary boundary layer (PBL), with minimal errors above 800 mb. Elimination of the isobaric divergence in the velocity field caused additional height errors of 5-6 m and temperature errors of 0.4-1.2 C in the free troposphere. Use of a further-degraded DE without nonlinear terms caused height errors of 10-15 m in the upper troposphere with modestly increased temperature errors. Error fields at all levels had synoptic-scale features, with some mesoalpha structure. No spatial noise was apparent. Use of a temporal spectral filter to eliminate high-frequency modes from the model-generated data did not significantly influence the error associated with use of various forms of the DE.

Modica, George M.↗

A multidomain spectral collocation method for the Stokes problem

A multidomain spectral collocation scheme is proposed for the approximation of the two-dimensional Stokes problem. It is shown that the discrete velocity vector field is exactly divergence-free and we prove error estimates both for the velocity and the pressure.

Landriani, G. Sacchi↗

Coherent lidar design and performance verification

The verification of LAWS beam alignment in space can be achieved by a measurement of heterodyne efficiency using the surface return. The crucial element is a direct detection signal that can be identified for each surface return. This should be satisfied for LAWS but will not be satisfied for descoped LAWS. The performance of algorithms for velocity estimation can be described with two basic parameters: the number of coherently detected photo-electrons per estimate and the number of independent signal samples per estimate. The average error of spectral domain velocity estimation algorithms are bounded by a new periodogram Cramer-Rao Bound. Comparison of the periodogram CRB with the exact CRB indicates a factor of two improvement in velocity accuracy is possible using non-spectral domain estimators. This improvement has been demonstrated with a maximum-likelihood estimator. The comparison of velocity estimation algorithms for 2 and 10 micron coherent lidar was performed by assuming all the system design parameters are fixed and the signal statistics are dominated by a 1 m/s rms wind fluctuation over the range gate. The beam alignment requirements for 2 micron are much more severe than for a 10 micron lidar. The effects of the random backscattered field on estimating the alignment error is a major problem for space based lidar operation, especially if the heterodyne efficiency cannot be estimated. For LAWS, the biggest science payoff would result from a short transmitted pulse, on the order of 0.5 microseconds instead of 3 microseconds. The numerically errors for simulation of laser propagation in the atmosphere have been determined as a joint project with the University of California, San Diego. Useful scaling laws were obtained for Kolmogorov atmospheric refractive turbulence and an atmospheric refractive turbulence characterized with an inner scale. This permits verification of the simulation procedure which is essential for the evaluation of the effects of refractive turbulence on coherent Doppler lidar systems. The analysis of 2 micron Doppler lidar data from Coherent Technologies, Inc. (CTI) has demonstrated many of the advantages of doppler lidar measurements of boundary layer winds. The effects of wind shear and wind turbulence over the pulse volume are probably the dominant source of the reduced performance. The effects of wind shear and wind turbulence on the statistical description of doppler lidar data has been derived and calculated.

Frehlich, Rod↗

Underexpanded Screeching Jets From Circular, Rectangular, and Elliptic Nozzles

The screech frequency and amplitude, the shock spacing, the hydrodynamic-acoustic standing wave spacing, and the convective velocity of large organized structures are measured in the nominal Mach number range of 1.1 less than or = Mj less that or = l0.9 for supersonic, underexpanded jets exhausting from a circular, a rectangular and an elliptic nozzle. This provides a carefully measured data set useful in comparing the importance of various physical parameters in the screech generation process. The hydrodynamic-acoustic standing wave is formed between the potential pressure field of large turbulent structures and the acoustic pressure field of the screech sound. It has been demonstrated earlier that in the currently available screech frequency prediction models replacement of the shock spacing by the standing wave spacing provides an exact expression. In view of this newly found evidence, a comparison is made between the average standing wavelength and the average shock spacing. It is found that there exists a small, yet important, difference, which is dependent on the azimuthal screech mode. For example, in the flapping modes of circular, rectangular, and elliptic jets, the standing wavelength is slightly longer than the shock spacing, while for the helical screech mode in a circular jet the opposite is true. This difference accounts for the departure of the existing models from predicting the exact screech frequency. Another important parameter, necessary in screech prediction, is the convective velocity of the large organized structures. It is demonstrated that the presence of the hydrodynamic-acoustic standing wave, even inside the jet shear layer, becomes a significant source of error in the convective velocity data obtained using the conventional methods. However, a new relationship, using the standing wavelength and screech frequency is shown to provide more accurate results.

Panda, J.↗

Refined Telluric Absorption Correction for Low-resolution Ground-based Spectroscopy: Resolution and Radial Velocity Effects in the O{sub 2}A-band for Exoplanets and K i Emission Lines

Telluric correction of spectroscopic observations is either performed via standard stars that are observed close in time and airmass along with the science target, or recently growing in importance, by theoretical telluric absorption modeling. Both approaches work fine when the telluric lines are resolved, i.e., at a spectral resolving power larger than about 10,000, and it is sufficient to facilitate the detection of spectral features at lower resolution. However, a meaningful quantitative analysis also requires the reliable recovery of line strengths. Here, we show for the Fraunhofer A-band of molecular O{sub 2} that the standard telluric correction approach fails in this at lower spectral resolutions, as an example for the general problem. Doppler-shift-dependent errors of the restored flux may arise, which can amount to more than 50% in extreme cases, depending on the line shapes of the target spectral features. Two applications are discussed: the recovery of the O{sub 2} band in the reflected light of an Earth analog atmosphere, as facilitated potentially in the future using an orbiting starshade and a ground-based extremely large telescope; and the recovery of the intrinsic ratio of the K i lines in the post-nova V4332 Sgr tracing the optical depth of the emitting region, to exemplify the relevance using present-day instrumentation. We show how one should derive correction functions for the compensation of the error in dependence of radial velocity shift, spectral resolution, and target line-profile function by use of high-resolution atmospheric transmission modeling, which has to be solved for the individual case.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Improved configuration control for redundant robots

This article presents a singularity-robust task-prioritized reformulation of the configuration control scheme for redundant robot manipulators. This reformulation suppresses large joint velocities near singularities, at the expense of small task trajectory errors. This is achieved by optimally reducing the joint velocities to induce minimal errors in the task performance by modifying the task trajectories. Furthermore, the same framework provides a means for assignment of priorities between the basic task of end-effector motion and the user-defined additional task for utilizing redundancy. This allows automatic relaxation of the additional task constraints in favor of the desired end-effector motion, when both cannot be achieved exactly. The improved configuration control scheme is illustrated for a variety of additional tasks, and extensive simulation results are presented.

Seraji, H.↗

Mapping the Gas Turbulence in the Coma Cluster: Predictions for Astro-H

Astro-H will be able for the first time to map gas velocities and detect turbulence in galaxy clusters. One of the best targets for turbulence studies is the Coma cluster, due to its proximity, absence of a cool core, and lack of a central active galactic nucleus. To determine what constraints Astro-H will be able to place on the Coma velocity field, we construct simulated maps of the projected gas velocity and compute the second-order structure function, an analog of the velocity power spectrum. We vary the injection scale, dissipation scale, slope, and normalization of the turbulent power spectrum, and apply measurement errors and finite sampling to the velocity field. We find that even with sparse coverage of the cluster, Astro-H will be able to measure the Mach number and the injection scale of the turbulent power spectrum-the quantities determining the energy flux down the turbulent cascade and the diffusion rate for everything that is advected by the gas (metals, cosmic rays, etc.). Astro-H will not be sensitive to the dissipation scale or the slope of the power spectrum in its inertial range, unless they are outside physically motivated intervals. We give the expected confidence intervals for the injection scale and the normalization of the power spectrum for a number of possible pointing configurations, combining the structure function and velocity dispersion data. Importantly, we also determine that measurement errors on the line shift will bias the velocity structure function upward, and show how to correct this bias.

clusters: intracluster medium↗

Formal Verification of Safety Buffers for Sate-Based Conflict Detection and Resolution

The information provided by global positioning systems is never totally exact, and there are always errors when measuring position and velocity of moving objects such as aircraft. This paper studies the effects of these errors in the actual separation of aircraft in the context of state-based conflict detection and resolution. Assuming that the state information is uncertain but that bounds on the errors are known, this paper provides an analytical definition of a safety buffer and sufficient conditions under which this buffer guarantees that actual conflicts are detected and solved. The results are presented as theorems, which were formally proven using a mechanical theorem prover.

Herencia-Zapana, Heber↗

Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy for Kinetic Investigations in Viscous Deep Eutectic Solvents: Identifying Practical Approach Curves and Deviations from Electron Transfer Models

Determining heterogeneous electrochemical electron transfer (ET) kinetics in electrolytes with a wide range of physical properties is of great interest for achieving high-performance redox flow batteries. Among such electrolytes, concentrated hydrogen-bonded electrolytes (CoHBEs), including deep eutectic solvents (DESs), have recently garnered significant attention. Unfortunately, traditional Tafel analysis using macroelectrodes often encounters issues with mass transfer limitations in CoHBEs with high viscosities, thereby restricting kinetic analysis to a narrow potential window. Here, in this work, we introduce a methodology for evaluating ET kinetics in viscous DES using the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). We first determined practical solutions to SECM tip positioning in ethaline DES, which yield pseudopositive feedback responses. Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) simulations helped us rationalize the impact of the fluid and concentration fields, as well as tip geometry, tip approach velocity v, and the solvent viscosity ηs, on the shape of the approach curves. In addition to successfully recreating approach curves over a variety of conditions, we found that approaching a conductor ensured a practical point where the normalized tip response (Ni T = 2) converged at L = 0.7 within ∼10% error regardless of tip velocity. With positioning capabilities at hand, we investigated the kinetics of Fe 3+ /Fe 2+ redox couple in aqueous and the ethaline media. The experimental kinetic results were interpreted using the Butler–Volmer (BV) and Marcus–Hush–Chidsey (MHC) models. For ethaline, a nonideal kinetic behavior was observed, potentially attributed to solvent dynamics within DESs or to the interplay of chloride anions in the charge transfer process.

electrodes↗

Evaluation of pressure reconstruction techniques for Model Order Reduction in incompressible convective heat transfer

This paper compares pressure reconstruction strategies in Model Order Reduction for incompressible flows with convective heat transfer. The Navier-Stokes equation are reduced along with the passive scalar transport equation for the temperature using the POD-Galerkin technique. Six different pressure reconstruction methods are evaluated, two of which are novel to the best of the authors’ knowledge. Accurate pressure reconstruction is key to avoid error buildup in when solving for the conservation of linear momentum at the reduced level. The six approaches are compared using Direct Numerical Simulations of convective heat exchange processes in a 3D Backward Facing Step with a heated cylinder. Additionally, when comparing time-averaged metrics, we observe that the reconstruction methods that approximate the reduced pressure field using techniques borrowed from full order models (mechanical analogy, pressure Poisson, and velocity supremizers) yield higher errors than the methods that seek to stabilize the reduced systems (reduced residual stabilization, artificial divergence, and Uzawa operator).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗