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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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At least 271 records · Page 15

The temporal structure of the HF and VHF radiation produced by intracloud lightning discharges

Measurements of the radio frequency emissions produced by large-amplitude intracloud lightning impulses are presented in correlation with the associated electric radiation field. The RF radiation starts at almost the same time as the field, and the peak RF tends to occur during the initial half cycle of the field pulse. This temporal behavior is in marked contrast to that exhibited by the RF during the return stroke portions of cloud-to-ground flashes.

Krider, E. P.↗

Deconvolution and analysis of wide-angle longwave radiation data from Nimbus 6 Earth radiation budget experiment for the first year

One year of longwave radiation data from July 1975 through June 1976 from the Nimbus 6 satellite Earth radiation budget experiment is analyzed by representing the radiation field by a spherical harmonic expansion. The data are from the wide field of view instrument. Contour maps of the longwave radiation field and spherical harmonic coefficients to degree 12 and order 12 are presented for a 12 month data period.

Bess, T. D.↗

Low-redshift Lyman-alpha absorption lines and the dark matter halos of disk galaxies

Ultraviolet observations of the low-redshift quasar 3C 273 using the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed many more Lyman-alpha absorption lines than would be expected from extrapolation of the absorption systems seen toward QSOs at z about 2. It is shown here that these absorption lines can plausibly be produced by gas at large radii in the disks of spiral and irregular galaxies; the gas is confined by the dark matter halos and ionized and heated by the extragalactic radiation field. This scenario does not require the extragalactic ionizing radiation field to decline as rapidly with decreasing z as the QSO emissivity. Observations of Ly-alpha absorption through the halos of known galaxies at low redshift will constrain both the extragalactic background and the properties of galactic halos.

Maloney, Philip↗

Radiative Smoothing in Clouds at Transparent and Absorbing Wavelengths

For absorbing and transparent wavelengths, we discuss the effect of horizontal solar radiative fluxes in clouds on the accuracy of a conventional plane-parallel radiative transfer calculations for a single pixel, known as the Independent Pixel Approximation (IPA). We address the question of correlations between horizontal fluxes, IPA accuracies and radiative smoothing. By smoothing we understand a radiative transfer process whereby radiation does not follow the small-scale fluctuations of cloud structure, producing much smoother radiation fields. The scale eta that characterizes this process is called "radiative smoothing scale." We relate radiative smoothing to the photon's horizontal displacement that characterizes a "spot" of reflected light associated with a point source. We generalize the "spot-size" estimate derived for conservative scattering using the diffusion theory to the case of non-conservative scattering. For reflected light, theoretical results are confirmed with numerical simulations. The radiative smoothing scale eta is a critical value where IPA effectively breaks down; for scales smaller than TI, real radiation field are much smoother than their IPA counterparts for the same cloud structure. In addition to the estimate of il for absorbing wavelengths, we show that: (1) with more absorption, the scale break determined by eta in a log-log plot of wavenumber spectra moves towards smaller scales and (2) the smaller eta the flatter the small-scale slope which means less radiative smoothing, thus more accuracy in the IPA reflection.

Marshak, A.↗

X-ray luminosities of B supergiants estimated from ultraviolet resonance lines

The Auger ionization model is used to estimate the X-ray luminosities of supergiants of spectral types from B1.5 to B9. It is found that the ion N+4 is not useful in the B spectral range, while the C IV and Si IV line strengths are excellent diagnostics of X-ray luminosity, being only slightly affected by the diffuse radiation field. For the ion abundance calculations, the X-ray radiation field was assumed to be like that observed in early B supergiants and mass loss rates were estimated using an extrapolation of radio observations of earlier OB supergiants. X-ray luminosities were derived that are consistent with Einstein observatory results. Derived X-ray luminosities show a general bolometric magnitude decrease from early to late B supergiants.

Odegard, N.↗

Finite element-integral simulation of static and flight fan noise radiation from the JT15D turbofan engine

An iterative finite element integral technique is used to predict the sound field radiated from the JT15D turbofan inlet. The sound field is divided into two regions: the sound field within and near the inlet which is computed using the finite element method and the radiation field beyond the inlet which is calculated using an integral solution technique. The velocity potential formulation of the acoustic wave equation was employed in the program. For some single mode JT15D data, the theory and experiment are in good agreement for the far field radiation pattern as well as suppressor attenuation. Also, the computer program is used to simulate flight effects that cannot be performed on a ground static test stand.

Baumeister, K. J.↗

Radiation Transport Models in Space: from Supernovae to Cells

Humans embarking on deep space exploration missions will encounter persistent exposure to galactic cosmic rays (GCR) - an energetic and highly complex radiation field that is unlike anything found on Earth. Exposure to such radiation fields is attributed to various adverse health effects, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive impairment and is identified by NASA as one of the five main hazards of human spaceflight. It is therefore critical to be able to fully characterize the exposure received by humans behind shielding in space and project consequent health risks. A wide variety of computational models have been developed over the years to help meet this requirement. In this talk, an overview of the GCR environment in deep space is provided. Methods of propagating GCR fields through the shielding that protects humans in space are described along with simulation tools used to assess biological damage at the cellular scale. Finally, the NASA cancer risk model is briefly described, and risk projections are provided for various mission scenarios. Radiation transport models and solution methods pervade many aspects of this talk. For example, the GCR spectrum impinging on spacecraft is determined by solving the Fokker-Planck transport equation to propagate cosmic rays (believed to originate from supernovae) from the edge of the heliosphere to the vicinity of Earth. The Boltzmann transport equation is solved to transport this GCR spectrum through shielding and human tissue. Monte Carlo methods are used to simulate the transport of low energy electrons that dominate biological damage at the cellular scale. Progress and challenges in each of these areas will be highlighted.

Tony C. Slaba↗

Identification of Brillouin Zones by In-Plane Lasing from Light-Cone Surface Lattice Resonances

Periodic optical structures can control the flow of light, which has facilitated applications in optical fibers, laser cavities, and biochemical sensors. The first Brillouin zone (BZ) in reciprocal space can describe all the electromagnetic fields localized inside a photonic lattice. However, photonic lattices also exhibit radiative losses from light scattering, but the radiated fields are not captured by the first BZ. In a two-dimensional lattice, the in-plane wavevectors of photonic modes are limited by the so-called light cone, which depicts free-photon dispersion relations in the surrounding medium. Here we show that projection of the light cone on extended BZs provides a geometric method to observe radiated electromagnetic fields of photonic lattice modes. We developed a coupled dipole radiation theory to reveal how lattice geometry and dipole orientation affect the angular distributions of the radiated fields. Using dye molecules as local dipole emitters to excite and probe the optical modes, we experimentally identified high-order BZ edges through directional, in-plane lasing emission.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Thermal analogies to Kepler's laws and their application to orbital heat transfer calculations

Integral expressions of radiant transfer in Keplerian orbits are developed in which quantities of heat are represented by areas swept over by thermal radii (presently introduced). The integrals are shown to be analogous in form to the solutions provided by Kepler's laws in orbital mechanics, when the radiation field is concentric with the gravitational field and possesses spherical symmetry. The more general case involving aspherical radiation fields and multiple heat sources is treated by graphical integration, using polar diagrams. Applications pertaining to the solar system and to the thermal balance of a conceptual Venus Radar Mapper Spacecraft are discussed.

Buna, T.↗

Heat transfer evaluation in a plasma core reactor

Numerical evaluations of heat transfer in a fissioning uranium plasma core reactor cavity, operating with seeded hydrogen propellant, was performed. A two-dimensional analysis is based on an assumed flow pattern and cavity wall heat exchange rate. Various iterative schemes were required by the nature of the radiative field and by the solid seed vaporization. Approximate formulations of the radiative heat flux are generally used, due to the complexity of the solution of a rigorously formulated problem. The present work analyzes the sensitivity of the results with respect to approximations of the radiative field, geometry, seed vaporization coefficients and flow pattern. The results present temperature, heat flux, density and optical depth distributions in the reactor cavity, acceptable simplifying assumptions, and iterative schemes. The present calculations, performed in cartesian and spherical coordinates, are applicable to any most general heat transfer problem.

Smith, D. E.↗

A global analysis of the electrodynamic interactions between a space station and the ionospheric plasma environment

A general analysis of the electrodynamic interactions between a space station with two biased platforms and the ionospheric plasma is presented. This problem can be separated into a far-field problem, concerned with the electromagnetic interference surrounding the entire space station, and a near-field problem, concentrated on the interactions in the vicinity of the biased platforms. The far-field problem is solved by application of plasma fluid theory. The space station will generate a radiation field composed mainly of the Alfven waves. This far-field radiation depends on the details of the near-field current collection. Computer particle simulations were performed in the near-field of the biased platform to study the plasma flow field, the sheath structure and the current collection. Approximate analytical solutions to the near-field are also obtained. The far-field and near-field solutions are coupled to provide a global description of the electrodynamic interactions.

Wang, J.↗

Closures and Simulation for Thermal Radiation Transport in Stochastic Media with Nonlinear Temperature Dependence

Because of the practical challenge of rendering very complex realistic spatial structures for numerical work, it is common practice to resort to characterizing such media as stochastic mixtures of materials, ideally parametrized with low order statistics such as the mean, variance, and correlation functions of the now random material properties. This enables realizations of the medium to be repeatedly generated and radiation transport computations to, in principle, be performed for a large ensemble of these realizations to obtain a statistically well-characterized radiation field. Statistical post-processing yields desired quantities such as conditional and unconditional mean radiation flux and probability distributions of transmitted radiation. However, such computations prove expensive for all but the simplest stochastic geometries and are most suited for benchmarking approximate models. The most common approximations lead to homogenized media so that transport computations are required only on a single medium realization but by construct provide only limited statistical information on the radiation field. Almost all approximate approaches to this problem attempt to develop equations for low order moments of the radiation intensity (mean, second moment, correlation function) but inevitably encounter a closure problem: the equation for any statistical moment will contain terms depending on unknown higher-order moments. Thus, the challenge shifts to one of developing closure relations that relate the unknown moments to the lower order moments. Under very special conditions, an exact closure can be derived but in general closures are heuristically stated constitutive relations. Also, closure approaches depend on whether the mixing statistics are spatially and/or temporally continuous as in fluctuating turbulent fields, or discontinuous as in randomly mixed solid chunks of material. Thus, unconditional averaging is generally applied in the former case but conditional averaging is more appropriate when the mixing is discontinuous. In this work, the emphasis is on binary statistical mixtures of immiscible fluids as as such the quantities of interest are averages (flux, temperature) conditioned on the material type.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Multi-mode horn antenna simulation

Radiation patterns were computed for a circular multimode horn antenna using waveguide electric field radiation expressions. The circular multimode horn was considered as a possible reflector feed antenna for the Large Antenna Multifrequency Microwave Radiometer (LAMMR). This horn antenna uses a summation of the TE sub 11 deg and TM sub 11 deg modes to generate far field primary radiation patterns with equal E and H plane beamwidths and low sidelobes. A computer program for the radiation field expressions using the summation of waveguide radiation modes is described. The sensitivity of the multimode horn antenna radiation patterns to phase variations between the two modes is given. Sample radiation pattern calculations for a reflector feed horn for LAMMR are shown. The multimode horn antenna provides a low noise feed suitable for radiometric applications.

Dod, L. R.↗

An approximate inviscid radiating flow field analysis for outer planet entry probes

An approximate computational technique has been developed for predicting inviscid, radiating flows about blunt probes entering atmospheres consisting of hydrogen and helium. The technique is rapid and versatile and is well suited for performing parametric trade studies for outer planet entries. Details of the computational technique, the thermodynamic correlations, the 58-step absorption coefficient model and the analytic shock shape equations are discussed. Good comparisons of the radiative heating computed by the approximate method and by detailed calculations are obtained.

Zoby, E. V.↗

Discretization Writeup for Grey Flux-Limited Radiation Diffusion

This report documents the time and space discretizations for grey flux-limited diffusion applied to the thermal radiative transfer (TRT) equations. We begin with a description of the physics being solved before moving into the diffusion approximation. Once we have the TRT system, we show a finite-volume-inspired discretization from Jim Morel (Texas A&M University, NUEN 627 class notes, lecture 8). As systems become hotter they emit more photons in the form of blackbody radiation. Because average photon energy of the blackbody source is proportional to the temperature of the system, we call these thermal photons or thermal radiation. As material temperatures increase, increasing fractions of the total energy in the system go into the radiation field. In addition, radiation can deposit energy and momentum non-locally, making it an important phenomenon for heating and impulse. In order to accurately study systems at high temperatures, we wish to add the physics of thermal radiation to our hydrodynamic system. In practice, coupling radiation and hydrodynamics is often done by operator-splitting each timestep into two consecutive, non-overlapping phases: (1) update the hydrodynamics for a fixed radiation state (2) update the radiation and internal energy for an otherwise fixed hydrodynamic state. Because of this clean separation of physics updates, in this report we show only the latter phase, which involves solely the TRT equations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Approximate temperature distribution for a diffuse, highly reflecting material.

The application of a 'two-flux' technique is considered for determining the reflective characteristics and approximate temperature distribution in highly backscattering materials characterized by a very small absorption coefficient. With respect to the transmitted internal radiation fields, the internal radiative emission is assumed to be negligible. A comparison of theory and experiment is presented.

Weston, K. C.↗

The formation of diatomic molecules in interstellar clouds.

The formation of the classical interstellar molecules CH, CH(+), and CN is investigated, giving attention to the chemistry of moderate-density interstellar clouds. An H I region is considered in the model employed in the study. The major constituents in the region are atoms or ions because of the intensity of the UV radiation field. Aspects of radiative association are discussed together with chemical reactions, the electronic states and optical properties of CH and CH(+), and photodissociation rates.

Solomon, P. M.↗

X-ray nebular models

Theoretical models are presented for the temperature and ionization structure of spherically symmetric, constant density, gaseous nebulae surrounding compact X-ray sources and for the optical, UV, and X-ray spectra emerging from the nebulae. The structure is determined by assuming a local balance between heating and cooling in the gas, and the radiation field is found by solving a simplified equation of transfer. The calculations include an accurate and comprehensive treatment of the atomic processes affecting the state of the gas and the radiation field. The destruction of line radiation during resonance scattering causes models to be significantly hotter and more highly ionized than previous models of the same type. Model results are presented for a wide variety of gas densities and X-ray source spectra, scaling laws which allow these results to be generalized to a wide variety of astrophysical solutions are discussed, and column densities of multiply charged species are tabulated.

Kallman, T. R.↗