On the torsional static stability and response of open section tubes subjected to thermal radiation loading.
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A radiometer has been designed, fabricated, and tested which is rugged, versatile, and highly reliable for measurement of real or simulated solar radiation in an ambient or vacuum environment, and for measurement of total hemispherical infrared radiation in a vacuum. This radiometer may be considered as an all purpose radiometer for space environment simulation and testing.
A user's manual is presented for TRASYS, which is a digital software system with a generalized capability for solving radiation problems. Subroutines, file, and variable definitions are presented along with subroutine and function descriptions for the preprocessor. Definitions and descriptions of components of the processor are also presented.
For abstract, see N74-32371.
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The distribution of nonthermal emissivity with height z above the galactic plane is examined. The main result is that recent observations of the distribution of brightness at intermediate latitudes in the galaxy and of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891 indicate that the emissivity extends to heights of several kpc perpendicular to the plane. The relationship between the nonthermal emissivity and the neutral gas is also studied. In several galaxies the angular distributions of neutral hydrogen and nonthermal emission are roughly coextensive and show similar features such as spiral structure. If radio galaxies and normal galaxies with strong nuclear radio sources are excluded, there appears to be a proportionality between their total HI content and their nonthermal radio luminosity.
Infrared observations of Saturn from 5 to 40 microns are described. There is intense limb brightening at 12.35 microns over the southern polar cap. The C ring is anomalously bright at 10 and 20 microns and has bluer (hotter) colors than the A and B rings. The ring spectra have been extrapolated beyond 40 microns and subtracted from low-resolution far-infrared measurements to show that the far-infrared spectrum of the disk of Saturn is qualitatively similar to that of Jupiter and that Saturn radiates 2.5 plus or minus 0.6 times the energy it absorbs from the sun.
Techniques have been developed for controlling the temperature and enhancing the performance of metallized, ultrathin polymer film used as the sail material for the proposed Halley's Comet rendezvous solar sail vehicle. The coating technology development is described whereby film emissivity is increased sufficiently on one side to a point where the sail, in its cranking orbit, could go to a heliocentric distance of 0.25 AU and still operate within the temperature limits of the basic film material. This capability resulted in significant improvement in several mission performance parameters; e.g., a lengthened launch period through increased vehicle performance and more latitude in the selection of basic film candidates.
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The following topics are addressed: (1) emissive characteristics of a blackbody; (2) definition of properties for nonblack surfaces; (3) fundamentals of radiation in absorbing, emitting, and scattering media; (4) radiation in the presence of other modes of energy transfer; and (5) propagation in isotropic medium (the complex refractive index).
A general method of accounting for emissivity in making temperature determinations of graybody surfaces from radiometric data is presented. The method differs from previous treatments in that a simple blackbody calibration and graphical approach is used rather than numerical integrations which require detailed knowledge of an instrument's spectral characteristics. Also, errors caused by approximating instrumental response with the Stephan-Boltzman law rather than with an appropriately weighted Planck integral are examined. In the 8-14 micron wavelength interval, it is shown that errors are at most on the order of 3 C for the extremes of the earth's temperature and emissivity. For more practical limits, however, errors are less than 0.5 C.
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The user is provided the powerful options of writing his own executive, or driver logic and choosing, among several available options, the most desirable solution techniques for the problem at hand. Sample problems are presented.
Infrared radiative properties of Arctic stratus clouds in the 10.1-12.7 micron wavelength region are determined from a series of aircraft measurements. The average emissivity of the clouds when scattering is neglected is unity for cloud depths greater than 350 m. Under the assumption that the cloud layers are homogeneous the cloud droplet volume absorption coefficient is estimated as 17 + or - 5 per km. Several mass absorption coefficients are estimated for several assumed liquid water distributions. It is also concluded that the cloud reflectance is not larger than 2 (+ or - 5%).
There is currently no unambiguous observational evidence for the existence of other planetary systems. One possible way to detect and study such systems is infrared observations of continuum blackbody radiation from planets revolving around other stars. It is shown that the effective temperature of large planets revolving around mid- to late-spectral-type main-sequences stars is set by energy sources internal to the planet rather than by equilibrium with the radiation field of the central star, making them easier to detect than had been previously thought. Consideration is given to the two major observational constraints on detecting planetary companions to nearby stars, namely, angular resolution and sensitivity. A comparison is made between the performance of an ambient (T 200 K), single-aperture telescope and a cooled interferometer. In each case the required aperture (baseline) is large (in the 10-m class), but consistent with Shuttle launch capability.
Analysis of energy emitted from simple or complex cavity designs can lead to intricate solutions due to nonuniform radiosity and irradiation within a cavity. A numerical ray tracing technique was applied to simulate radiation propagating within and from various cavity designs. To obtain the energy balance relationships between isothermal and nonisothermal cavity surfaces and space, the computer code NEVADA was utilized for its statistical technique applied to numerical ray tracing. The analysis method was validated by comparing results with known theoretical and limiting solutions, and the electrical resistance network method. In general, for nonisothermal cavities the performance (apparent emissivity) is a function of cylinder length-to-diameter ratio, surface emissivity, and cylinder surface temperatures. The extent of nonisothermal conditions in a cylindrical cavity significantly affects the overall cavity performance. Results are presented over a wide range of parametric variables for use as a possible design reference.
A longwave radiative transfer model based on the narrow-band transmission functions of Lowtran 6 has been developed to investigate the profile of radiative flux divergence at the tops of stratiform clouds. The model has a vertical resolution of 1 m and a spectral resolution of 20/cm. These features are shown to permit modeling of broadband radiative transfer in the presence of a cloud top inversion and finite liquid water gradient. Radiative cooling rates in excess of 40 K/hr are shown to be possible for extreme conditions, with values of 10 K/hr being representative of more typical conditions. The values obtained are shown to be strongly influenced by the magnitude of liquid water concentration, by the gradient of liquid water in the top 50 m, and by the strength of the temperature inversion.