Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Smoothing”

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 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Improved carrier tracking by smoothing estimators

Smoothing as a way to improve the carrier phase estimation is proposed and analyzed. The performance of first and second order Kalman optimum smoothers are investigated. This performance is evaluated in terms of steady state covariance error computation, dynamic tracking, and noise response. It is shown that with practical amounts of memory, a second order smoother can have a position error due to an acceleration or jerk step input less than any prescribed maximum. As an example of importance to the NASA Deep Space Network, a second order smoother can be used to track the Voyager spacecraft at Uranus and Neptune encounters with significantly better performance than a second order phase locked loop.

Pomalaza-Raez, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Analysis of a finite composite plate with smooth rigid pin

An elastic continuum method of analysis developed for a smooth rigid pin in a finite composite plate by using complex potentials that satisfy the governing orthotropic differential equation is presented. The plate is subjected to uniaxial loading and the nonlinear problems of partial contact in the pin-plate are studied. Three types of pin fits are examined: interference, push, and clearance. The problems of stresses due to pure interference, load contact behavior, and stresses variations are addressed. The effects of the rectangular geometry and the orthotropic property of the plate are demonstrated through numerical results. It is found that the use of large hole diameter/plate width ratios have deleterious effects and the use of interference has beneficial effects. The solutions obtained will help in the development of special finite elements for fastener joints. Finally, the boundary conditions on the finite outer boundaries are found to be satisfied by a successive integration technique.

Naidu, A. C. B.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Parametric effects of CFL number and artificial smoothing on numerical solutions using implicit approximate factorization algorithm

An implicit approximate factorization algorithm is employed to quantify the parametric effects of Courant number and artificial smoothing on numerical solutions of the unsteady 3-D Euler equations for a windmilling propeller (low speed) flow field. The results show that propeller global or performance chracteristics vary strongly with Courant number and artificial dissipation parameters, though the variation is such less severe at high Courant numbers. Candidate sets of Courant number and dissipation parameters could result in parameter-dependent solutions. Parameter-independent numerical solutions can be obtained if low values of the dissipation parameter-time step ratio are used in the computations. Furthermore, it is realized that too much artificial damping can degrade numerical stability. Finally, it is demonstrated that highly resolved meshes may, in some cases, delay convergence, thereby suggesting some optimum cell size for a given flow solution. It is suspected that improper boundary treatment may account for the cell size constraint.

Daso, E. O.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Dynamic stress analysis of smooth and notched fiber composite flexural specimens

A detailed analysis of the dynamic stress field in smooth and notched fiber composite (Charpy-type) specimens is reported in this paper. The analysis is performed with the aid of the direct transient response analysis solution sequence of MSC/NASTRAN. Three unidirectional composites were chosen for the study. They are S-Glass/Epoxy, Kevlar/Epoxy and T-300/Epoxy composite systems. The specimens are subjected to an impact load which is modeled as a triangular impulse with a maximum of 2000 lb and a duration of 1 ms. The results are compared with those of static analysis of the specimens subjected to a peak load of 2000 lb. For the geometry and type of materials studied, the static analysis results gave close conservative estimates for the dynamic stresses. Another interesting inference from the study is that the impact induced effects are felt by S-Glass/Epoxy specimens sooner than Kevlar/Epoxy or T-300/Epoxy specimens.

Murthy, P. L. N.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Theory for computing the field scattered from a smooth inflected surface

A theory is described for computing the reflected or scattered field from a smooth body with inflection points. These inflections occur in certain directions at each surface point for which the total (Gaussian) curvature is zero or negative. For surface illumination in one of these critical directions, the usual reflection formulas obtained by the high-frequency approximation are inapplicable, and a shadow zone exists in the reflected field. Scattering into the shadow zone is treated, as well as specular reflection. This theory should have a variety of applications such as for certain optics problems, computer graphics modeling of three-dimensional shapes, and the design and analysis of specialized microwave reflector antennas.

Barger, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1987

An algorithm for surface smoothing with rational splines

Discussed is an algorithm for smoothing surfaces with spline functions containing tension parameters. The bivariate spline functions used are tensor products of univariate rational-spline functions. A distinct tension parameter corresponds to each rectangular strip defined by a pair of consecutive spline knots along either axis. Equations are derived for writing the bivariate rational spline in terms of functions and derivatives at the knots. Estimates of these values are obtained via weighted least squares subject to continuity constraints at the knots. The algorithm is illustrated on a set of terrain elevation data.

Schiess, James R.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Smoothing and the second law

The technique of obtaining second order, oscillation free, total variation diminishing (TVD), scalar difference schemes by adding a limited diffusion flux (smoothing) to a second order centered scheme is explored. It is shown that such schemes do not always converge to the correct physical answer. The approach presented here is to construct schemes that numerically satisfy the second law of thermodynamics on a cell by cell basis. Such schemes can only converge to the correct physical solution and in some cases can be shown to be TVD. An explicit scheme with this property and second order spatial accuracy was found to have an extremely restrictive time step limitation (Delta t less than Delta x squared). Switching to an implicit scheme removed the time step limitation.

Merriam, Marshal L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Partial spline models for the inclusion of tropopause and frontal boundary information in otherwise smooth two- and three-dimensional objective analysis

A new method, based on partial spline models, is developed for including specified discontinuities in otherwise smooth two- and three-dimensional objective analyses. The method is appropriate for including tropopause height information in two- and three-dimensinal temperature analyses, using the O'Sullivan-Wahba physical variational method for analysis of satellite radiance data, and may in principle be used in a combined variational analysis of observed, forecast, and climate information. A numerical method for its implementation is described and a prototype two-dimensional analysis based on simulated radiosonde and tropopause height data is shown. The method may also be appropriate for other geophysical problems, such as modeling the ocean thermocline, fronts, discontinuities, etc.

Shiau, Jyh-Jen↗
NASA NTRS1987

Smoothing and the second law

The technique of obtaining second-order oscillation-free total -variation-diminishing (TVD), scalar difference schemes by adding a limited diffusive flux ('smoothing') to a second-order centered scheme is explored. It is shown that such schemes do not always converge to the correct physical answer. The approach presented here is to construct schemes that numerically satisfy the second law of thermodynamics on a cell-by-cell basis. Such schemes can only converge to the correct physical solution and in some cases can be shown to be TVD. An explicit scheme with this property and second-order spatial accuracy was found to have extremely restrictive time-step limitation. Switching to an implicit scheme removed the time-step limitation.

Merriam, Marshal L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Effect of wall cooling on the stability of compressible subsonic flows over smooth humps and backward-facing steps

The effect of wall cooling on the two-dimensional linear stability of subsonic flows over two-dimensional surface imperfections is investigated. Results are presented for flows over smooth humps and backward-facing steps with Mach numbers up to 0.8. The results show that, whereas cooling decreases the viscous instability, it increases the shear-layer instability and hence it increases the growth rates in the separation region. The coexistence of more than one instability mechanism makes a certain degree of wall cooling most effective. For the Mach numbers 0.5 and 0.8, the optimum wall temperatures are about 80 pct and 60 pct of the adiabatic wall temperature, respectively. Increasing the Mach number decreases the effectiveness of cooling slightly and reduces the optimum wall temperature.

Al-Maaitah, Ayman A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Friction factor data for flat plate tests of smooth and honeycomb surfaces

Friction factors for honeycomb surfaces were measured with a flat plate tester. The flat plate test apparatus was described and a method was discussed for determining the friction factor experimentally. The friction factor model was developed for the flat plate test based on the Fanno Line Flow. The comparisons of the friction factor were plotted for smooth surfaces and six-honeycomb surfaces with three-clearances, 6.9 bar to 17.9 bar range of inlet pressures, and 5,000 to 100,000 range of the Reynolds number. The optimum geometries for the maximum friction factor were found as a function of cell width to cell depth and cell width to clearance ratios.

Ha, Tae Woong↗
NASA NTRS1988

Recursive dynamics of topological trees of rigid bodies via Kalman filtering and Bryson-Frazier smoothing

The inverse and forward dynamics problems for a set of rigid bodies connected by hinges to form a topological tree are solved by using recursive techniques from linear filtering and smoothing theory. An inward filtering sequence computes a set of constraint moments and forces. This is followed by an outward sequence to determine a corresponding set of angular and linear accelerations. An inward sequence begins at the tips of all of the terminal bodies of the tree and proceeds inwardly through all of the branches until it reaches the root. Similarly, an outward sequence begins at the root and propagates to all of the tree branches until it reaches the tips of the terminal bodies. The paper also provides an approach to evaluate recursively the composite multibody system inertia matrix and its inverse.

Rodriguez, G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Enhanced image products by limb-correction and smoothing of VAS radiance measurements

Limb darkening and brightening affect the GOES satellite's VISSR Atmospheric Sounder instrument's imagery with varying satellite viewing angles and instrument noise; limb effects are also associated with a vertical shift of a wavelength's characteristic weighting function. The radiances in an image can be normalized to a reference zenith angle by limb-correcting the image. An additional undesirable effect is that of instrument noise, which varies as a function of channel characteristics and is greatest for channels sensitive to the upper atmosphere. The statistical structure function analysis method of Hillger et al. (1987) is used to obtain noise levels and optimal spatial averaging distances; the averaging domain size from the analysis is used to produce smoothed images, via a running average technique.

Jones, Andrew S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Applications of square-root information filtering and smoothing in spacecraft orbit determination

The JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Orbit Determination Software System is a set of computer programs developed for the primary purpose of determining the flight path of deep-space mission spacecraft in NASA's Planetary Program and highly elliptical orbiting spacecraft in Earth orbit. The filtering processes available within the JPL Orbit Determination Software are discussed, and several examples are presented. In particular, solutions obtained by the Square Root Information Filter (SRIF) using Bierman's Estimation Subroutine Library (ESL) are discussed and compared with the solutions obtained by the singular value decomposition (SVD) technique. It is concluded that the SRIF filtering and smoothing algorithms are efficient and numerically stable for well-conditioned systems. The use of Bierman's ESL simplifies the task of maintaining the orbit determination software by providing efficient, tested filtering tools. For solving a large well-conditioned system (rank higher than 120), SRIF is approximately four times faster than SVD; however, for solving an ill-conditioned system, SVD is recommended.

Wang, Tseng-Chan↗
NASA NTRS1988

Smooth indentation of a composite laminate

Finite difference method is used to analyze the problem of smooth contact between a rigid indenter and a laminated circular plate clamped at the edges. The plate consists of transversely isotropic layers. The interlaminar shear stresses in the contact region are found to be much different from the laminate plate theory solutions. It has been found that low-modulus interlayers cause significant reduction in the maximum interlaminar shear stresses.

Sankar, B. V.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Smooth indentation of orthotropic beams

An approximate Green's function for surface displacements in an orthotropic beam is derived as the superposition of the half-plane solution for displacements and the beam theory deflections. The Green's function is used to formulate the integral equation for the problem of smooth contact between a rigid-cylinder and a simply supported orthotropic beam. The integral equation is solved using a least-squares approximation procedure. The contact stress distribution is presented for three materials with different degrees of orthotropy. Numerical results are given for contact force-contact length and contact force-indentation relations. The effects of curvature of the deflected beam, shear deformation and length-to-thickness ratio of the beam on the contact behavior are discussed.

Sankar, B. V.↗
NASA NTRS1989

An entrance region friction factor model applied to annular seal analysis - Theory versus experiment for smooth and honeycomb seals

A friction factor model is developed for the entrance-region of a duct. The model is used in an annular gas seal analysis similar to Nelson's (1984). Predictions of the analysis are compared to experimental results for a smooth-stator/smooth-rotor seal and three honeycomb-stator/smooth-rotor seals. The model predicts a leakage and direct damping well. The model overpredicts the dependence of cross-coupled stiffness on fluid prerotation. The model predicts direct stiffness poorly.

Elrod, D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Source location of the smooth high-frequency radio emissions from Uranus

The source location of the smooth high-frequency radio emissions from Uranus has been determined. Specifically, by fitting the signal dropouts which occurred as Voyager traversed the hollow center of the emission pattern to a symmetrical cone centered on the source magnetic field direction at the cyclotron frequency, a southern-hemisphere (nightside) source was found at approximately 56 deg S, 219 deg W. The half-angle for the hollow portion of the emission pattern was found to be 13 deg.

Farrell, W. M.↗