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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 289 records · Page 16

Show Me the Money! Evaluating A Graduated Incentive Structure to Keep Respondents Engaged Through 101 Surveys in 28 Days

We report the results of a survey test conducted in advance of a series of community response tests (CRTs) to evaluate response to noise from NASA’s X-59 aircraft. The CRTs will require a substantial number of observations to generate a dose response curve for noise exposure and related annoyance levels and the timeframe is limited due to resource and scheduling constraints with an experimental aircraft. Within each CRT area, we will recruit a sample of residents in advance and ask them to fill out a brief survey each time the aircraft passes over. Respondents will be asked to fill out the survey either on the web or as part of an application they are able to download onto their mobile phones. Respondents will be notified each time the plane flies over, asking for their reactions. On many days, respondents will be asked to fill out the survey for multiple flights. Typical incentives are used during the recruitment phase (pre-incentive for a household screener and post-paid for a background survey completed by the selected respondent) and post-paid for an end of study survey. To improve response rates over such a demanding survey schedule (101 surveys in 28 days) we will implement a weekly incentive based upon participation rates, with higher incentives for greater participation and increasing rates each week. The survey test will follow the proposed methodology of the CRTs. We will report on the participation rates by incentive amount and the effectiveness of the incentive structure in obtaining and maintaining response rates over the 4 weeks. We will examine how quickly participation fades over the 4-week period and consider whether the incentive schedule could be improved by altering the distribution of payments. Finally, we will compare how these rates varied across web and app respondents. We will use the results of this work to confirm or improve the design of the CRTs, ensuring the collection of data needed by NASA to evaluate the impact of this innovative technology.

incentives↗

101 Surveys in 28 Days - Evaluating Response Rates to a Demanding Request

We report the results of a survey test conducted in advance of a series of community response tests (CRTs) to evaluate response to noise from NASA’s X-59 aircraft. The CRTs will require a substantial number of observations to generate a dose response curve and the timeframe is limited due to resource and scheduling constraints with an experimental aircraft. Within each CRT area, we will recruit a sample of residents in advance and ask them to fill out a brief survey each time the aircraft passes over. Respondents will be asked to fill out the survey either on the web or as part of an application they are able to download onto their mobile phones. On many days, respondents will be asked to fill out the survey for multiple passes. The survey test followed the proposed methodology of the CRTs, albeit gauging reactions to normal in-situ aircraft events. To demonstrate initial interest, we will present response rates to the recruitment portion of the survey test which used an ABS frame. We will then evaluate the ongoing response rates among the recruited population to a demanding survey schedule involving 101 surveys over a 28-day period. The response rate evaluation will focus on demographics, mode (app vs. web) and whether and how these change over time. We will use the results of this work to confirm or improve the design of the CRTs, ensuring the collection of data needed by NASA to evaluate the impact of this innovative technology.

response rates↗

Aircraft adaptive learning control

The optimal control theory of stochastic linear systems is discussed in terms of the advantages of distributed-control systems, and the control of randomly-sampled systems. An optimal solution to longitudinal control is derived and applied to the F-8 DFBW aircraft. A randomly-sampled linear process model with additive process and noise is developed.

Lee, P. S. T.↗

Ozone contamination in aircraft cabins - Results from GASP data and analyses

The paper reviews results from the NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP) pertaining to the problem of ozone contamination in commercial aircraft cabins. Specifically, analyses of GASP data have (1) confirmed the high ozone levels in aircraft cabins and documented the ratio of ozone inside and outside the cabins of two B747 airliners, including the effects of air conditioning modifications on that ratio; (2) defined ambient ozone climatology at commercial aircraft cruise altitudes, including tabulation of encounter frequency data; and (3) outlined procedures for estimating the frequency of flights encountering high cabin ozone levels using climatological ambient ozone data and verified these procedures against cabin measurements.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

A comparison of the capabilities of three finite element programs

Three finite element programs are compared to assess their capabilities as an analysis tool in a structural design process. Because of the need for repetitive analyses as an integral part of a design loop, a candidate program must be capable of handling large problems, operate efficiently, and be readily adaptable for use in computer-aided design. The three programs considered in the study, ELAS,SNAP, and NASTRAN, range from a relatively small finite element program limited to static structural analysis (ELAS) to a large complex general analysis system (NASTRAN). Results are given for comparative speeds and computer resources required for each program in the analysis of sample fuselage problems representative of practical aircraft design.

Loendorf, D. D.↗

NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP). Data report for tape VL0001

Atmospheric trace constituents in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere are now being measured as part of the NASA Global Atmospheric Sampling Program (GASP), using fully automated air sampling systems on board commercial 747 aircraft in routine airline service. Measurements of atmospheric ozone and related meteorological and flight information obtained during several GASP flights in March 1975 are now available from the National Climatic Center, Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to the data from the aircraft, tropopause pressure data obtained from the National Meteorological Center (NMC) archives for the dates of the flights are included. This report is the first of a series of reports which describes the data currently available from GASP, including flight routes and dates, instrumentation, the data processing procedure used, and data tape specifications.

Holdeman, J. D.↗

Rocket effluent: Its ice nucleation activity and related properties

To investigate the possibility of inadvertent weather modification from rocket effluent, aerosol samples were collected from an instrumented aircraft subsequent to the Voyager 1 and 2 launches. The aerosol's morphology, concentration, and size distribution were examined with an electron microscope. The elemental compositions of individual particles were analyzed with an X-ray energy spectrometer. Ice nucleus concentration was measured with a thermal diffusion chamber. The particles' physical and chemical properties were related to their ice nucleation activity. A laboratory experiment on rocket propellant exhaust was conducted under controlled conditions. Both laboratory and field experimental results indicated that rocket propellant exhaust can produce active ice nuclei and modify local weather in suitable meteorological conditions.

Parungo, F. P.↗

Rocket effluent - Its ice nucleation activity and related properties

To investigate the possibility of inadvertent weather modification from rocket effluent, aerosol samples were collected from an instrumented aircraft subsequent to the Voyager I and II launches. The aerosol's morphology, concentration and size distribution were examined with an electron microscope. The elemental compositions of individual particles were analyzed with an X-ray energy spectrometer. Ice nucleus concentration was measured with a subfreezing thermal diffusion chamber. The particles' physical and chemical properties were related to their ice nucleation activity. A laboratory experiment on rocket propellant exhaust was conducted under controlled conditions. Both laboratory and field experimental results indicated that rocket propellant exhaust can produce active ice nuclei. Their consequences for potential inadvertant weather modification demand additional study.

Parungo, F. P.↗

Use of Thematic Mapper for water quality assessment

The evaluation of simulated TM data obtained on an ER-2 aircraft at twenty-five predesignated sample sites for mapping water quality factors such as conductivity, pH, suspended solids, turbidity, temperature, and depth, is discussed. Using a multiple regression for the seven TM bands, an equation is developed for the suspended solids. TM bands 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are used with logarithm conductivity in a multiple regression. The assessment of regression equations for a high coefficient of determination (R-squared) and statistical significance is considered. Confidence intervals about the mean regression point are calculated in order to assess the robustness of the regressions used for mapping conductivity, turbidity, and suspended solids, and by regressing random subsamples of sites and comparing the resultant range of R-squared, cross validation is conducted.

Horn, E. M.↗

The cycle of biogenic sulfur compounds over the Amazon Basin. I - Dry season

The concentrations of SO2, methylmercaptan, dimethylsulfide, H2S, aerosol sulfate, and methanesulfonate over the Amazon Basin during the July/August dry season were determined from samples collected by the NASA research aircraft. The results indicate that biogenic emissions represent an important, if not the dominant, source of sulfur to the atmosphere over Amazonia. Per unit area, the wet continental tropics appear to have about the same reduced sulfur emission flux as the oceanic area average (about 6 nmol/sq m per min), consistent with the fact that the aerosol sulfate concentration over the Amazon Basin is similar to the excess sulfate levels over the remote oceans. However, since the wet tropical continents represent only about 3 percent of the earth's surface, their global contribution is modest; it is also small relative to the anthropogenic emissions from fossil fuel burning.

Andreae, M. O.↗

Biomass-burning emissions and associated haze layers over Amazonia

The characteristics of haze layers, which were visually observed over the central Amazon Basin during many of the Amazon Boundary Layer Experiment 2A flights in July/August 1985, were investigated by remote and in situ measurements, using the broad range of instrumentation and sampling equipment on board the Electra aircraft. It was found that these layers strongly influenced the chemical and optical characteristics of the atmosphere over the eastern Amazon Basin. Relative to the regional background, the concentrations of CO, CO2, O3, and NO were significantly elevated in the plumes and haze layers, with the NO/CO ratio in fresh plumes much higher than in the aged haze layers. The haze aerosol was composed predominantly of organic material, NH4, K(+), NO3(-), SO4(2-), and organic anions (formate, acetate, and oxalate).

Andreae, M. O.↗

Surface reconstruction from scattered data through pruning of unstructured grids

This paper describes an algorithm for reconstructing a surface from a randomly digitized object. Scan data (treated as a cloud of points) is first tesselated out to its convex hull using Delaunay triangulation. The line-of-sight between each surface point and the scanning device is traversed, and any tetrahedra which are pierced by it are removed. The remaining tetrahedra form an approximate solid model of the scanned object. Due to the inherently limited resolution of any scan, this algorithm requires two additional procedures to produce a smooth, polyhedral surface: one process removes long, narrow tetrahedra which span indentations in the surface between digitized points; the other smooths sharp edges. The results for a moderately resolved sample body and a highly resolved aircraft are displayed.

Maksymiuk, C. M.↗

Overview of high performance aircraft propulsion research

The overall scope of the NASA Lewis High Performance Aircraft Propulsion Research Program is presented. High performance fighter aircraft of interest include supersonic flights with such capabilities as short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) and/or high maneuverability. The NASA Lewis effort involving STOVL propulsion systems is focused primarily on component-level experimental and analytical research. The high-maneuverability portion of this effort, called the High Alpha Technology Program (HATP), is part of a cooperative program among NASA's Lewis, Langley, Ames, and Dryden facilities. The overall objective of the NASA Inlet Experiments portion of the HATP, which NASA Lewis leads, is to develop and enhance inlet technology that will ensure high performance and stability of the propulsion system during aircraft maneuvers at high angles of attack. To accomplish this objective, both wind-tunnel and flight experiments are used to obtain steady-state and dynamic data, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes are used for analyses. This overview of the High Performance Aircraft Propulsion Research Program includes a sampling of the results obtained thus far and plans for the future.

Biesiadny, Thomas J.↗

Overview of high performance aircraft propulsion research

The overall scope of the NASA Lewis High Performance Aircraft Propulsion Research Program is presented. High performance fighter aircraft of interest include supersonic flights with such capabilities as short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) and/or high maneuverability. The NASA Lewis effort involving STOVL propulsion systems is focused primarily on component-level experimental and analytical research. The high-maneuverability portion of this effort, called the High Alpha Technology Program (HATP), is part of a cooperative program among NASA's Lewis, Langley, Ames, and Dryden facilities. The overall objective of the NASA Inlet Experiments portion of the HATP, which NASA Lewis leads, is to develop and enhance inlet technology that will ensure high performance and stability of the propulsion system during aircraft maneuvers at high angles of attack. To accomplish this objective, both wind-tunnel and flight experiments are used to obtain steady-state and dynamic data, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes are used for analyses. This overview of the High Performance Aircraft Propulsion Research Program includes a sampling of the results obtained thus far and plans for the future.

Biesiadny, Thomas J.↗

Case Study Analyses of the Success DC-8 Scanning Lidar Database

Under project SUCCESS (Subsonic Aircraft Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study) funded by the Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Program, SRI International (SRI) developed an angular scanning back'scatter lidar for operation on the NASA DC-8 research aircraft and deployed the scanning lidar during the SUCCESS field campaign. The primary purpose of the lidar was to generate real-time video displays of clouds and contrails above, ahead of, and below the DC-8 as a means to help position the aircraft for optimum cloud and contrail sampling by onboard in situ sensors, and to help extend the geometrical domain of the in situ sampling records. A large, relatively complex lidar database was collected and several data examples were processed to illustrate the value of the lidar data for interpreting the other data records collected during SUCCESS. These data examples were used to develop a journal publication for the special SUCCESS Geophysical Research Letters issue (reprint presented as Appendix A). The data examples justified data analyses of a larger part of the DC-8 lidar database and is the objective of the current study.

Uthe, Edward E.↗

The Role of Wave Cyclones in Transporting Boundary Layer Air to the Free Troposphere During the Spring 2001 NASA / TRACE-P Experiment

Transport of boundary layer air to the free troposphere by cyclones during NASA's Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) experiment is investigated. Airstreams responsible for boundary layer venting are diagnosed using results from a high-resolution meteorological model (MM5) together with in situ and remotely sensed chemical data. Hourly wind data from the MM5 are used to calculate three-dimensional grids of backward air trajectories. A reverse domain filling (RDF) technique then is employed to examine the characteristics of airstreams over the computational domain, and to isolate airstreams ascending from the boundary layer to the free troposphere during the previous 36 hours. Two cases are examined in detail. Results show that airstreams responsible for venting the boundary layer differ considerably from those described by classic conceptual models and in the recent literature. In addition, airstreams sampled by the TRACE-P aircraft are found to exhibit large variability in chemical concentrations. This variability is due to differences in the boundary layer histories of individual airstreams with respect to anthropogenic sources over continental Asia and Japan. Complex interactions between successive wave cyclones also are found to be important in determining the chemical composition of the airstreams. Particularly important is the process of post-cold frontal boundary layer air being rapidly transported offshore and recirculated into ascending airstreams of upstream cyclones.

Fuelberg, Henry E.↗

Water-soluble Organic Components in Aerosols Associated with Savanna Fires in Southern Africa: Identification, Evolution and Distribution

During the SAFARI 2000 field campaign, both smoke aerosols from savanna fires and haze aerosols in the boundary layer and in the free troposphere were collected from an aircraft in southern Africa. These aerosol samples were analyzed for their water-soluble chemical components, particularly the organic species. A novel technique, electrospray ionization-ion trap mass spectrometry, was used concurrently with an ion chromatography system to analyze for carbohydrate species. Seven carbohydrates, seven organic acids, five metallic elements, and three inorganic anions were identified and quantified. On the average, these 22 species comprised 36% and 27% of the total aerosol mass in haze and smoke aerosols, respectively. For the smoke aerosols, levoglucosan was the most abundant carbohydrate species, while gluconic acid was tentatively identified as the most abundant organic acid. The mass abundance and possible source of each class of identified species are discussed, along with their possible formation pathways. The combustion phase of a fire had an impact on the chemical composition of the emitted aerosols. Secondary formation of sulfate, nitrate, levoglucosan, and several organic acids occurred during the initial aging of smoke aerosols. It is likely that under certain conditions, some carbohydrate species in smoke aerosols, such as levoglucosan, were converted to organic acids during upward transport.

Gao, Song↗

How Well do State-of-the-Art Techniques Measuring the Vertical Profile of Tropospheric Aerosol Extinction Compare?

The recent Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Aerosol Intensive Operations Period (AIOP, May 2003) yielded one of the best measurement sets obtained to date to assess our ability to measure the vertical profile of ambient aerosol extinction sigma(ep)(lambda) in the lower troposphere. During one month, a heavily instrumented aircraft with well-characterized aerosol sampling ability carrying well-proven and new aerosol instrumentation devoted most of the 60 available flight hours to flying vertical profiles over the heavily instrumented ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) Climate Research Facility (CRF). This allowed us to compare vertical extinction profiles obtained from six different instruments: airborne Sun photometer (AATS-14), airborne nephelometer/absorption photometer, airborne cavity ring-down system, groundbased Raman lidar, and two ground-based elastic backscatter lidars. We find the in situ measured sigma(ep)(lambda) to be lower than the AATS-14 derived values. Bias differences are 0.002-0.004 Km!1 equivalent to 13-17% in the visible, or 45% in the near-infrared. On the other hand, we find that with respect to AATS-14, the lidar sigma(ep)(lambda) are higher: Bias differences are 0.004 Km(-1) (13%) and 0.007 Km(-1) (24%) for the two elastic backscatter lidars (MPLNET and MPLARM, lambda = 523 nm) and 0.029 Km(-1) (54%) for the Raman lidar (lambda = 355 nm). An unnoticed loss of sensitivity of the Raman lidar had occurred leading up to AIOP, and we expect better agreement from the recently restored system. Looking at the collective results from six field campaigns conducted since 1996, airborne in situ measurements of sigma(ep)(lambda) tend to be biased slightly low (17% at visible wavelengths) when compared to airborne Sun photometer sigma(ep)(lambda). On the other hand, sigma(ep)(lambda) values derived from lidars tend to have no or positive biases. From the bias differences we conclude that the typical systematic error associated with measuring the tropospheric vertical profile of the ambient aerosol extinction with current state-of-the-art instrumentation is 15-20% at visible wavelengths and potentially larger in the UV and near-infrared.

Schmid, B.↗