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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 325 records · Page 18

The periods and amplitudes of TU Cas

Light curve observations of the double-mode Cepheid TU Cas obtained by 10 different sets of observers on several photometric systems over a time span of 67 years were carefully studied to determine the fundamental and first overtone periods and their amplitudes on the V magnitude scale. The presence of a second overtone radial pulsation is discussed, and it is concluded that a previous detection of this mode was spurious due to the lack of a proper zero point correction for two groups of observations. The amplitudes of the two modes are shown to possibly vary during the entire observing period with the fundamental mode amplitude of 0.69 + or - 0.03 and the overtone amplitude decreasing about 0.2 or 0.3 magnitude. If this Cepheid displays the two pulsation modes because it is mode switching, this switching time scale might be less than a hundred years.

Hodson, S. W.↗

Analysis and Mitigation of Cascading Failures Using a Stochastic Interaction Graph with Eigen-analysis

In studies on complex network systems using graph theory, eigen-analysis is typically performed on an undirected graph model of the network. However, when analyzing cascading failures in a power system, the interactions among failures suggest the need for a directed graph beyond the topology of the power system to model directions of failure propagation. To accurately quantify failure interactions for effective mitigation strategies, this paper proposes a stochastic interaction graph model and associated eigen-analysis. Different types of modes on failure propagations are defined and characterized by the eigenvalues of a stochastic interaction matrix, whose absolute values are unity, zero, or in between. Finding and interpreting these modes helps identify the probable patterns of failure propagation, either local or widespread, and the participating components based on eigenvectors. Then, by lowering the failure probabilities of critical components highly participating in a mode of widespread failures, cascading can be mitigated. Here, the validity of the proposed stochastic interaction graph model, eigen-analysis and the resulting mitigation strategies is demonstrated using simulated cascading failure data on an NPCC 140-bus system.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Superfluid transport and its applications in space

Various transport modes in superfluid helium are discussed. They include zero net mass flow and finite mass flow for pure superfluid and normal fluid flow. An attempt is made to characterize these transport modes in a common frame of reference. Two dimensionless numbers are used, namely, the dimensionless heat flux number and the dimensionless driving force number. The equations are generalized by the use of a characteristic length so that they can be applied to the transport of HE II in any geometry. The theories are then extended to applications in space. In particular, fountain effect pumps and superfluid management at zero g by vapor-liquid phase separators are discussed in detail.

Yuan, S. W. K.↗

Effects of finite material size on axion-magnon conversion

Magnetic materials are particularly favorable targets for detecting axions interacting with electrons because the collective excitation of electron spins, the magnon, can be excited through the axion-magnon conversion process. It is often assumed that only the zero-momentum uniformly precessing magnetostatic (Kittel) mode of the magnon is excited. This is justified if the de Broglie wavelength of the axion is much longer than the size of the target magnetic material. However, if the de Broglie wavelength is shorter, finite-momentum magnon modes can also be excited. We systematically analyze the target material size dependence of the axion-magnon conversion rate. We discuss the importance of these effects in the detection of relativistic axions as well as in the detection of axion dark matter of relatively heavy mass with large material size.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A generalized Selberg zeta function for flat space cosmologies

Flat space cosmologies (FSCs) are time dependent solutions of three-dimensional (3D) gravity with a vanishing cosmological constant. They can be constructed from a discrete quotient of empty 3D flat spacetime and are also called shifted-boost orbifolds. Using this quotient structure, we build a new and generalized Selberg zeta function for FSCs, and show that it is directly related to the scalar 1-loop partition function. We then propose an extension of this formalism applicable to more general quotient manifolds $\mathcal{M}$/ℤ, based on representation theory of fields propagating on this background. Our prescription constitutes a novel and expedient method for calculating regularized 1-loop determinants, without resorting to the heat kernel. We compute quasinormal modes in the FSC using the zeroes of a Selberg zeta function, and match them to known results.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Theory predicts UV/vis-to-IR photonic down conversion mediated by excited state vibrational polaritons

This work proposes a photophysical phenomenon whereby ultraviolet/visible (UV/vis) excitation of a molecule involving a Franck-Condon (FC) active vibration yields infrared (IR) emission by strong coupling to an optical cavity. The resulting UV/vis-to-IR photonic down conversion process is mediated by vibrational polaritons in the electronic excited state potential. It is shown that the formation of excited state vibrational polaritons (ESVP) via UV/vis excitation only involve vibrational modes with both a non-zero FC activity and IR activity in the excited state. Density functional theory calculations are used to identify 1-Pyreneacetic acid as a molecule with this property and the dynamics of ESVP are modeled. Overall, this work introduces an avenue of polariton chemistry where excited state dynamics are influenced by the formation of vibrational polaritons. Along with this, the UV/vis-to-IR photonic down conversion is potentially useful in both sensing excited state vibrations and quantum transduction schemes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Duct liner optimization for turbomachinery noise sources

An acoustical field theory for axisymmetric, multisectioned lined ducts with uniform flow profiles was combined with a numerical minimization algorithm to predict optimal liner configurations having one, two, and three sections. Source models studied include a point source located on the axis of the duct and rotor/outlet-stator viscous wake interaction effects for a typical research compressor operating at an axial flow Mach number of about 0.4. For this latter source, optimal liners for equipartition-of energy, zero-phase, and least-attenuated-mode source variations were also calculated and compared with exact results. It is found that the potential benefits of liner segmentation for the attenuation of turbomachinery noise is greater than would be predicted from point source results. Furthermore, effective liner design requires precise knowledge of the circumferential and radial modal distributions.

Lester, H. C.↗

Subsonic/supersonic nonvectored aeropropulsive characteristics of nonaxisymmetric nozzles installed on an F-18 model

An experimental program on a model of the F-18 airplane has been conducted to determine the performance of nonaxisymmetric nozzles relative to the aircraft's baseline axisymmetric nozzle at Mach numbers from 0.60 to 2.20. The performance of a two-dimensional convergent-divergent nozzle, a single expansion ramp nozzle (ADEN) and a wedge nozzle were compared to the baseline axisymmetric nozzles. The nonaxisymmetric nozzles (except ADEN) were designed for vectoring and reversing. The axisymmetric nozzle did not have these capabilities. The comparisons presented here are for the nozzles in their full forward thrust mode and for the aircraft at zero angle of attack. The results demonstrate that nonaxisymmetric nozzles can be installed on a close-spaced twin engine fighter with equal or higher performance than the axisymmetric nozzle over the range of Mach numbers tested.

Capone, F. J.↗

Acoustic and turbulence measurements of a tone-excited jet with and without flight simulation

Acoustic as well as turbulence measurements were made of tone-excited jets to obtain an understanding of the broadband noise augmentation mechanism. Results for both heated and unheated jets with and without flight simulation are presented for a range of excitation frequencies and levels, as well as for the zero order and first order spinning modes. It is argued that although the phase-locked large-scale turbulence structure is at the root of the noise amplification process, the actual noise generation mechanism lies in the small-scale turbulence. Results show that (1) the phase velocity of the excited large scale instability waves is subsonic relative to the ambient fluid and (2) broadband jet noise is almost uniform at all frequencies. Moreover, when the large-scale and small-scale structures are plotted against forward velocity (for a given upstream excitation level of 141 dB), the change in large-scale turbulence is negligible with forward velocity, whereas the small-scale turbulence decreases for both excited and unexcited jets. Also, the corresponding difference in far-field noise does not appear to change significantly, indicating that the changes in small-scale turbulence are responsible for jet noise amplification.

Ahuja, K. K.↗

An influence coefficient method for the application of the modal technique to wing flutter suppression of the DAST ARW-1 wing

The methods used to compute the mass, structural stiffness, and aerodynamic forces in the form of influence coefficient matrices as applied to a flutter analysis of the Drones for Aerodynamic and Structural Testing (DAST) Aeroelastic Research Wing. The DAST wing was chosen because wind tunnel flutter test data and zero speed vibration data of the modes and frequencies exist and are available for comparison. A derivation of the equations of motion that can be used to apply the modal method for flutter suppression is included. A comparison of the open loop flutter predictions with both wind tunnel data and other analytical methods is presented.

Pines, S.↗

Capillary pumped loop GAS and Hitchhiker flight experiments

Flight experiments of a capillary pumped loop (CPL) aboard the Space Shuttle on both the Get Away Special (GAS) and Hitchhiker-G (H/H-G) carriers are described. These tests have shown that a two-phase heat transfer loop utilizing a wicking material as the system pumping mechanism can operate successfully in a zero-g environment. The CPL operating modes demonstrated were start-up, heat load sharing/natural priming, liquid inventory and temperature control via the reservoir, dryout recovery, and isolation of a single pump deprime. Also investigated were high and low power limits, and inlet subcooling requirements. In these CPL flight experiments, successful system operation was demonstrated at input power levels up to 560 watts and inlet subcooling below 2 C.

Ku, J.↗

An explicit solution to the optimal LQG problem for flexible structures with collocated rate sensors

We present a class of compensators in explicit form (not requiring numerical computer calculations) for stabilizing flexible structures with collocated rate sensors. They are based on the explicit solution, valid for both Continuum and FEM Models, of the LQG problem for minimizing mean square rate. They are robust with respect to system stability (will not destabilize modes even with mismatch of parameters), can be instrumented in state space form suitable for digital controllers, and can be specified directly from the structure modes and mode 'signature' (displacement vectors at sensor locations). Some simulation results are presented for the NASA LaRC Phase-Zero Evolutionary Model - a modal Trust model with 86 modes - showing damping ratios attainable as a function of compensator design parameters and complexity.

Balakrishnan, A. V.↗

A Two-Wheel Observing Mode for the MAP Spacecraft

The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) is a follow-on to the Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR) instrument on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). Due to the MAP project's limited mass, power, and budget, a traditional reliability concept including fully redundant components was not feasible. The MAP design employs selective hardware redundancy, along with backup software modes and algorithms, to improve the odds of mission success. This paper describes the effort to develop a backup control mode, known as Observing II, that will allow the MAP science mission to continue in the event of a failure of one of its three reaction wheel assemblies. This backup science mode requires a change from MAP's nominal zero-momentum control system to a momentum-bias system. In this system, existing thruster-based control modes are used to establish a momentum bias about the sun line sufficient to spin the spacecraft up to the desired scan rate. Natural spacecraft dynamics exhibits spin and nutation similar to the nominal MAP science mode with different relative rotation rates, so the two reaction wheels are used to establish and maintain the desired nutation angle from the sun line. Detailed descriptions of the ObservingII control algorithm and simulation results will be presented, along with the operational considerations of performing the rest of MAP's necessary functions with only two wheels.

Starin, Scott R.↗

The Effects of Propellant Slosh Dynamics on the Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission, which is part of the Living With a Star program, was successfully launched and deployed from its Atlas V launch vehicle on February 11, 2010. SDO is an Explorer-class mission now operating in a geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The basic mission is to observe the Sun for a very high percentage of the 5-year mission (10-year goal) with long stretches of uninterrupted observations and with constant, high-data-rate transmission to a dedicated ground station located in White Sands, New Mexico. A significant portion of SDO's launch mass was propellant, contained in two large tanks. To ensure performance with this level of propellant, a slosh analysis was performed. This paper provides an overview of the SDO slosh analysis, the on-orbit experience, and the lessons learned. SDO is a three-axis controlled, single fault tolerant spacecraft. The attitude sensor complement includes sixteen coarse Sun sensors, a digital Sun sensor, three two-axis inertial reference units, two star trackers, and four guide telescopes. Attitude actuation is performed either using four reaction wheels or eight thrusters, depending on the control mode, along with single main engine which nominally provides velocity-change thrust. The attitude control software has five nominal control modes: three wheel-based modes and two thruster-based modes. A wheel-based Safehold running in the Attitude Control Electronics (ACE) box improves the robustness of the system as a whole. All six modes are designed on the same basic proportional-integral-derivative attitude error structure, with more robust modes setting their integral gains to zero. To achieve and maintain a geosynchronous orbit for a 2974-kilogram spacecraft in a cost effective manner, the SDO team designed a high-efficiency propulsive system. This bi-propellant design includes a 100-pound-force main engine and eight 5-pound-force attitude control thrusters. The main engine provides high specific impulse for the maneuvers to attain GEO, while the smaller Attitude Control System (ACS) thrusters manage the disturbance torques of the larger main engine and provide the capability for much smaller orbit adjustment burns. SDO's large solar profile produces a large solar torque disturbance and momentum buildup. This buildup drives the frequency of momentum unloads via ACS thrusters. SDO requires 1409 kilograms (which is approximately half the launch mass) of propellant to achieve and maintain the GEO orbit while performing the momentum unloads for 10 years.

Mason, Paul↗

Does Orbital Angular Momentum Have Effect on Laser’s Scattering by Molecular Atmosphere?

Lasers with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have potential applications in communication technology, manipulation of particles, and remote sensing. Because of its unusual light-scattering properties, the OAM laser’s interaction with a molecular atmosphere must be studied to ensure that it is not lossy for communication or remote-sensing applications that involve its transmission through an atmospheric environment. In this study, the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method [21] is applied to calculate the light scattering of the purely azimuthal (the radial mode number is assumed to be zero) Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams with OAM by very small dielectric particles. Not like Lorentz-Mie solutions, the FDTD method can calculate for particles off the central axis of the LG beam. It is found that when the particles are very small, and the topological charge number of the OAM of a laser is not extremely large, the laser’s OAM has little effect on the scattering phase function. This suggests that Rayleigh theory can be applied directly to calculate the light scattering by atmospheric molecules. The transmission of a laser beam with OAM in a molecular atmosphere is not different from that of a regular Gaussian beam.

Molecular atmosphere↗

A FDTD Solution of Scattering of Laser Beam with Orbital Angular Momentum by Dielectric Particles: Far-Field Characteristics

Electromagnetic (EM) beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) may have great potential applications in communication technology and in remote sensing of the Earth-atmosphere system and outer planets. Study of their interaction with optical lenses and dielectric or metallic objects, or scattering of them by particles in the Earth-atmosphere system, is a necessary step to explore the advantage of the OAM EM beams. In this study, the 3-dimensional (3D) scattered-field (SF) finite-difference time domain (FDTD) technique with the convolutional perfectly matched layer (CPML) absorbing boundary conditions (ABC) is applied to calculate the scattering of the purely azimuthal (the radial mode number is assumed to be zero) Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beams with the OAM by dielectric particles. We found that for OAM beam׳s interaction with dielectric particles, the forward-scattering peak in the conventional phase function (P11) disappears, and light scattering peak occurs at a scattering angle of ~15° to 45°. The disappearance of forward-scattering peak means that, in laser communications most of the particle-scattered noise cannot enter the receiver, thus the received light is optimally the original OAM-encoded signal. This feature of the OAM beam also implies that in lidar remote sensing of the atmospheric particulates, most of the multiple-scattering energy will be off lidar sensors, and this may result in an accurate profiling of particle layers in the atmosphere or in the oceans by lidar, or even in the ground when a ground penetration radar (GPR) with the OAM is applied. This far-field characteristics of the scattered OAM light also imply that the optical theorem, which is derived from plane-parallel wave scattering case and relates the forward scattering amplitude to the total cross section of the scatterer, is invalid for the scattering of OAM beams by dielectric particles.

Electromagnetic beams↗

Magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in coronal arcades

The MHD stability of coronal arcades is studied with and without a detached flux using a two-dimensional linear MHD stability numerical model. Two-dimensional magnetohydrostatic equilibria with and without gravity are computed. A coronal arcade without a detached flux tube is found to be stable for any magnetic shear and for any longitudinal mode. On the other hand, an arcade with a detached flux tube is unstable for perturbations with nonzero longitudinal wave number n and the instability mode structure and growth rate vary depending on the field twist and n. All the equilibria studied are stable to n = 0 perturbations. Gravity has a stabilizing effect on the equilibria. As the ratio lambda of the standard arcade width to the gravitational scale height increases from zero to 0.2, the m = 0 transverse mode growth rate decreases, but high m modes are stabilized. The equilibria studied here are completely stabilized for lambda larger than 0.33.

An, Chang-Hyuk↗

High pressure far infrared spectroscopy of ionic solids

A high-pressure far-infrared cell operating at up to truly hydrostatic pressures of 8 kbar is described and used to determine the anharmonic self-energies associated with the transverse optic modes of ionic solids in which q approximately equals zero. The cell allows far-infrared studies in the spectral range below 120 reciprocal cm. The transverse optic modes were investigated to determine their mode Gruneisen constants and the pressure dependence of their inverse lifetimes in RbI, CsI, and TlCl.

Lowndes, R. P.↗