Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “directional elements”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Atmospheric particulate measurements in Norfolk, Virginia

Characterization of atmospheric particulates was conducted at a site near the center of Norfolk, Virginia. Air quality was measured in terms of atmospheric mass loading, particle size distribution, and particulate elemental composition for a period of 2 weeks. The objectives of this study were (1) to establish a mean level of air quality and deviations about this mean, (2) to ascertain diurnal changes or special events in air quality, and (3) to evaluate instrumentation and sampling schedules. Simultaneous measurements were made with the following instruments: a quartz crystal microbalance particulate monitor, a light-scattering multirange particle counter, a high-volume air sampler, and polycarbonate membrane filters. To assess the impact of meteorological conditions on air quality variations, continuous data on temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction were recorded. Particulate elemental composition was obtained from neutron activation and scanning electron microscopy analyses of polycarbonate membrane filter samples. The measured average mass loading agrees reasonably well with the mass loadings determined by the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board. There are consistent diurnal increases in atmospheric mass loading in the early morning and a sample time resolution of 1/2 hour seems necessary to detect most of the significant events.

Storey, R. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Development of Computer Models for the Assessment of Foreign Body Impact Events on Composite Structures

The objective of this project was to model the 5-3/4 inch pressure vessels used on the NASA RTOP program in an attempt to learn more about how impact damage forms and what are the residual effects of the resulting damage. A global-local finite element model was developed for the bottle and the states of stress in the bottles were determined down to the constituent level. The experimental data that was generated on the NASA RTOP program was not in a form that enabled the model developed under this grant to be correlated with the experimental data. As a result of this exercise it is recommended that an experimental program be designed using statistical design of experiment techniques to generate data that can be used to isolate the phenomenon that control the formation of impact damage. This data should include residual property determinations so that models for post impact structural integrity can be developed. It is also recommended that the global-local methodology be integrated directly into the finite element code. This will require considerable code development.

Bucinell, Ronald B.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Improved 135.6-MHz antenna

Commercially available four-element array can be readily modified to receive 135.6-MHz signals. Directibility of each of the four elements is improved by lengthening them, repositioning feed elements, and changing total element-to-element spacing in both planes.

Gross, E. H.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Annual Report by Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel

Elements of the shuttle program that directly affect the mission success and crew safety were investigated. These elements included the shuttle orbiter, the main engine, the solid rocket boosters, avionic system, ground support equipment and the approach and landing operations. The thermal protection systems were studied in detail. Crew training and ground simulation test procedures were reviewed.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1993

Potassium isotope cosmochemistry, volatile depletion and the origin of the Earth

We report the first results obtained by our techniques for the precise and accurate determination of the isotopic composition of potassium to constrain the mechanism of volatile element depletion in the formation of the Earth, Moon, and meteorites. Our measurements of delta(K-41) for six chondrites and ten terrestrial rocks attained an average precision of the individual measurement of plus or minus 0.4 percent (2 sigma; plus or minus 0.2 percent/a.m.u. and yield a net chondrite-Earth difference unresolved at the 99 percent confidence limit, delta(K-41) = 0.32 plus or minus 0.35 percent (3 delta). This sets a firm upper limit of 1.3 plus or minus 1.4 percent Rayleigh evaporation of terrestrial potassium (using alpha = square root of 41/39), compared with an observed approximately equals 85 percent chemical depletion of K relative to C1 chondrites. Similar conclusions are reached for the SNC meteorites, Shergotty and Zagami, for 15495 (lunar mare gabbro), and for the eucrite Juvinas. Our conclusion is that direct evaporation of volatile elements from planets (e.g. from silicate vapor atmospheres following giant impact) can be ruled out, and the cause of volatile loss must be sought elsewhere, e.g. nebular processes. Our present findings do not support the conclusions of Hinton et al., the discrepancy to be resolved at a later date. We also find lunar soil 64801, delta(K-41) = +4.99 plus or minus 0.53 percent, to be distinctly heavy in accord with Garner et al.

Humayun, M.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Siderophilic Cyanobacteria for the Development of Extraterrestrial Photoautotrophic Biotechnologies

In-situ production of consumables (mainly oxygen) using local resources (In-Situ Resource Utilization-ISRU) will significantly facilitate current plans for human exploration and settlement of the solar system, starting with the Moon. With few exceptions, nearly all technologies developed to date have employed an approach based on inorganic chemistry. None of these technologies include concepts for integrating the ISRU system with a bioregenerative life support system and a food production system. Therefore, a new concept based on the cultivation of cyanobacteria (CB) in semi-closed biogeoreactor, linking ISRU, a biological life support system, and food production, has been proposed. The key feature of the biogeoreactor is to use lithotrophic CB to extract many needed elements such as Fe directly from the dissolved regolith and direct them to any technological loop at an extraterrestrial outpost. Our studies showed that siderophilic (Fe-loving) CB are capable to corrode lunar regolith stimulants because they secrete chelating agents and can tolerate [Fe] up to 1 mM. However, lunar and Martian environments are very hostile (very high UV and gamma-radiation, extreme temperatures, deficit of water). Thus, the selection of CB species with high potential for extraterrestrial biotechnologies that may be utilized in 15 years must be sponsored by NASA as soon as possible. The study of the genomes of candidate CB species and the metagenomes of the terrestrial environments which they inhabit is critical to make this decision. Here we provide preliminary results about peculiarities of the genomes of siderophilic CB revealed by analyzing the genome of siderophilic cyanobacterium JSC-1 and the metagenome of iron depositing hot spring (IDHS) Chocolate Pots (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA). It has been found that IDHS are richer with ferrous iron than the majority of hot springs around the world. Fe2+ is known to increase the magnitude of oxidative stress in prokaryotes through so called Fenton reaction. It is not surprising therefore that the CB inhabiting IDHS have larger sets of the proteins involved in the maintenance of Fe homeostasis and oxidative stress protection than non-siderophilic CB. This finding combined with our earlier results about the ability of some siderophilic CB to utilize chemical elements released from analogs of lunar and Martian regolith make them the most advanced candidates to be employed in advanced extraterrestrial biotechnologies.

Brown, I. I.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Non-volatile, solid state bistable electrical switch

A bistable switching element is made of a material whose electrical resistance reversibly decreases in response to intercalation by positive ions. Flow of positive ions between the bistable switching element and a positive ion source is controlled by means of an electrical potential applied across a thermal switching element. The material of the thermal switching element generates heat in response to electrical current flow therethrough, which in turn causes the material to undergo a thermal phase transition from a high electrical resistance state to a low electrical resistance state as the temperature increases above a predetermined value. Application of the electrical potential in one direction renders the thermal switching element conductive to pass electron current out of the ion source. This causes positive ions to flow from the source into the bistable switching element and intercalate the same to produce a non-volatile, low resistance logic state. Application of the electrical potential in the opposite direction causes reverse current flow which de-intercalates the bistable logic switching element and produces a high resistance logic state.

Williams, Roger M.↗
NASA NTRS1969

H-H interaction potentials.

Direct Coulomb interaction matrix elements between hydrogen atoms in ground states calculated, presenting interaction potential

Flannery, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Computer analysis of general linear networks using digraphs.

Investigation of the application of digraphs in analyzing general electronic networks, and development of a computer program based on a particular digraph method developed by Chen. The Chen digraph method is a topological method for solution of networks and serves as a shortcut when hand calculations are required. The advantage offered by this method of analysis is that the results are in symbolic form. It is limited, however, by the size of network that may be handled. Usually hand calculations become too tedious for networks larger than about five nodes, depending on how many elements the network contains. Direct determinant expansion for a five-node network is a very tedious process also.

Mcclenahan, J. O.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Rapid iterative reanalysis for automated design

A method for iterative reanalysis in automated structural design is presented for a finite-element analysis using the direct stiffness approach. A basic feature of the method is that the generalized stiffness and inertia matrices are expressed as functions of structural design parameters, and these generalized matrices are expanded in Taylor series about the initial design. Only the linear terms are retained in the expansions. The method is approximate because it uses static condensation, modal reduction, and the linear Taylor series expansions. The exact linear representation of the expansions of the generalized matrices is also described and a basis for the present method is established. Results of applications of the present method to the recalculation of the natural frequencies of two simple platelike structural models are presented and compared with results obtained by using a commonly applied analysis procedure used as a reference. In general, the results are in good agreement. A comparison of the computer times required for the use of the present method and the reference method indicated that the present method required substantially less time for reanalysis. Although the results presented are for relatively small-order problems, the present method will become more efficient relative to the reference method as the problem size increases. An extension of the present method to static reanalysis is described, ana a basis for unifying the static and dynamic reanalysis procedures is presented.

Bhatia, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Skin friction reduction in supersonic flow by injection through slots, porous sections and combinations of the two

An experimental study of skin friction reduction in a Mach 3.0 air steam with gaseous injection through a tangential slot, a porous wall section, and combinations of the two was conducted. The primary data obtained were wall shear values measured directly with a floating element balance and also inferred from Preston Tube measurements. Detailed profiles at several axial stations, wall pressure distributions and schlieren photographs are presented. The data indicate that a slot provides the greatest skin friction reduction in comparison with a reference flat plate experiment. The porous wall section arrangement suffers from an apparent roughness-induced rise in skin friction at low injection rates compared to the flat plate. The combination schemes demonstrated a potential for gain.

Schetz, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

User's manual for University of Arizona APART program (Analysis Program - Arizona Radiation Trace)

A description and operating instructions for the Analysis Program Arizona Radiation Trace (APART) are given. This is a computer program that is able to efficiently and accurately predict the off-axis rejection characteristics of unwanted stray radiation for complex rotationally symmetric optical systems. The program first determines the critical objects or areas that scatter radiation to the image plane either directly or through imaging elements: this provides the opportunity to modify, if necessary, the design so that the number of critical areas seen by the image plane is reduced or the radiation to these critical areas is minimized. Next, the power distribution reaching the image plane and a sectional power map of all internal surfaces are computed. Angular information is also provided that relates the angle by which the radiation came into a surface to the angle by which the radiation is scattered out of the surface.

Breault, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Low cost silicon solar array project large area silicon sheet task: Silicon web process development

Growth configurations were developed which produced crystals having low residual stress levels. The properties of a 106 mm diameter round crucible were evaluated and it was found that this design had greatly enhanced temperature fluctuations arising from convection in the melt. Thermal modeling efforts were directed to developing finite element models of the 106 mm round crucible and an elongated susceptor/crucible configuration. Also, the thermal model for the heat loss modes from the dendritic web was examined for guidance in reducing the thermal stress in the web. An economic analysis was prepared to evaluate the silicon web process in relation to price goals.

Duncan, C. S.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Some recent progress in transonic flow computation

Although the development of a finite difference relaxation procedure to solve the steady form of equations of motion gave birth to the study of computational transonic aerodynamics and considerable progress has been made using the small disturbance theory, no general analytical solution method yet exists for transonic flows that include three dimensional unsteady, and viscous effects. Two techniques are described which are useful in computational transonic aerodynamics applications. The finite volume method simplifies the application of boundary conditions without introducing the constriction associated with small disturbance theory. Governing equations are solved in a Cartesian coordinate system using a body-oriented and shock-oriented mesh network. Only the volume and surface normal directions of the volume elements must be known. The other method, configuration design by numerical optimization, can be used by aircraft designers to develop configurations that satisfy specific geometric performance constraints. Two examples of airfoil design by numerical optimization are presented.

Ballhaus, W. F.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Visual observations from space

Visual observations from space reveal a number of fascinating natural phenomena of interest to meteorologists and aeronomists, such as aurorae, airglow, aerosol layers, lightning, and atmospheric refraction effects. Other man-made radiation, including city lights and laser beacons, are also of considerable interest. Of course, the most widely used space observations are of the large-scale weather systems viewed each day by millions of people on their local television. From lower altitudes than the geostationary meteorological satellite orbits, obliques and overlapping stereo views are possible, allow height information to be obtained directly, often a key element in the use of the photographs for research purposes. However, this note will discuss only the less common observations mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.

Garriott, O. K.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Simple Magnetometer for Autopilots

Simple, low-cost magnetometer is suitable for heading-reference applications in autopilots and other directional control systems. Sensing element utilizes commercially available transformer core; and supporting electronics consist of one transistor, two readily-available integrated-circuit chips, and associated resistors and capacitors.

Garner, H. D.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Transition to turbulence in plane channel flow

A numerical simulation of the final stages of transition to turbulence in plane channel flow is reported. Three dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are numerically integrated to obtain the time-evolution of two and three dimensional finite amplitude disturbances. Computations are performed on the CYBER-203 vector processor for a 32x51x32 grid. Results are presented for no-slip boundary conditions at the solid walls as well as for periodic suction-blowing to simulate active control of transition by mass transfer. Solutions indicate that the method is capable of simulating the complex character of vorticity dynamics during the various stages of transition and final breakdown. In particular, evidence points to the formation of a lambda-shape vortex and the subsequent system of horseshoe vortices inclined to the main flow direction as the main elements of transition. Calculations involving suction-blowing indicate that interference with a wave of suitable phase and amplitude reduces the disturbance growth rates.

Biringen, S.↗