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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 343 records · Page 19

Research study on multi-KW-DC distribution system

A detailed definition of the HVDC test facility and the equipment required to implement the test program are provided. The basic elements of the test facility are illustrated, and consist of: the power source, conventional and digital supervision and control equipment, power distribution harness and simulated loads. The regulated dc power supplies provide steady-state power up to 36 KW at 120 VDC. Power for simulated line faults will be obtained from two banks of 90 ampere-hour lead-acid batteries. The relative merits of conventional and multiplexed power control will be demonstrated by the Supervision and Monitor Unit (SMU) and the Automatically Controlled Electrical Systems (ACES) hardware. The distribution harness is supported by a metal duct which is bonded to all component structures and functions as the system ground plane. The load banks contain passive resistance and reactance loads, solid state power controllers and active pulse width modulated loads. The HVDC test facility is designed to simulate a power distribution system for large aerospace vehicles.

Berkery, E. A.↗

Intercomparison and Evaluation of Global Aerosol Microphysical Properties Among Aerocom Models of a Range of Complexity

Many of the next generation of global climate models will include aerosol schemes which explicitly simulate the microphysical processes that determine the particle size distribution. These models enable aerosol optical properties and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations to be determined by fundamental aerosol processes, which should lead to a more physically based simulation of aerosol direct and indirect radiative forcings. This study examines the global variation in particle size distribution simulated by 12 global aerosol microphysics models to quantify model diversity and to identify any common biases against observations. Evaluation against size distribution measurements from a new European network of aerosol supersites shows that the mean model agrees quite well with the observations at many sites on the annual mean, but there are some seasonal biases common to many sites. In particular, at many of these European sites, the accumulation mode number concentration is biased low during winter and Aitken mode concentrations tend to be overestimated in winter and underestimated in summer. At high northern latitudes, the models strongly underpredict Aitken and accumulation particle concentrations compared to the measurements, consistent with previous studies that have highlighted the poor performance of global aerosol models in the Arctic. In the marine boundary layer, the models capture the observed meridional variation in the size distribution, which is dominated by the Aitken mode at high latitudes, with an increasing concentration of accumulation particles with decreasing latitude. Considering vertical profiles, the models reproduce the observed peak in total particle concentrations in the upper troposphere due to new particle formation, although modelled peak concentrations tend to be biased high over Europe. Overall, the multimodel- mean data set simulates the global variation of the particle size distribution with a good degree of skill, suggesting that most of the individual global aerosol microphysics models are performing well, although the large model diversity indicates that some models are in poor agreement with the observations. Further work is required to better constrain size-resolved primary and secondary particle number sources, and an improved understanding of nucleation an growth (e.g. the role of nitrate and secondary organics) will improve the fidelity of simulated particle size distributions.

Cloud physics↗

On the Spatial Distribution of High Velocity Al-26 Near the Galactic Center

We present results of simulations of the distribution of 1809 keV radiation from the decay of Al-26 in the Galaxy. Recent observations of this emission line using the Gamma Ray Imaging Spectrometer (GRIS) have indicated that the bulk of the AL-26 must have a velocity of approx. 500 km/ s. We have previously shown that a velocity this large could be maintained over the 10(exp 6) year lifetime of the Al-26 if it is trapped in dust grains that are reaccelerated periodically in the ISM. Here we investigate whether a dust grain velocity of approx. 500 km/ s will produce a distribution of 1809 keV emission in latitude that is consistent with the narrow distribution seen by COMPTEL. We find that dust grain velocities in the range 275 - 1000 km/ s are able to reproduce the COMPTEL 1809 keV emission maps reconstructed using the Richardson-Lucy and Maximum Entropy image reconstruction methods while the emission map reconstructed using the Multiresolution Regularized Expectation Maximization algorithm is not well fit by any of our models. The Al-26 production rate that is needed to reproduce the observed 1809 keV intensity yields in a Galactic mass of Al-26 of approx. 1.5 - 2 solar mass which is in good agreement with both other observations and theoretical production rates.

Sturner, Steven J.↗

A stochastic model for photon noise induced by charged particles in multiplier phototubes of the space telescope fine guidance sensors

The Space Telescope (ST) is subjected to charged particle strikes in its space environment. ST's onboard fine guidance sensors utilize multiplier phototubes (PMT) for attitude determination. These tubes, when subjected to charged particle strikes, generate spurious photons in the form of Cerenkov radiation and fluorescence which give rise to unwanted disturbances in the pointing of the telescope. A stochastic model for the number of these spurious photons which strike the photocathode of the multiplier phototube which in turn produce the unwanted photon noise are presented. The model is applicable to both galactic cosmic rays and charged particles trapped in the Earth's radiation belts. The model which was programmed allows for easy adaption to a wide range of particles and different parameters for the phototube of the multiplier. The probability density functions for photons noise caused by protons, alpha particles, and carbon nuclei were using thousands of simulated strikes. These distributions are used as part of an overall ST dynamics simulation. The sensitivity of the density function to changes in the window parameters was also investigated.

Howell, L. W.↗

Stochastic model for photon noise induced by charged particles in multiplier phototubes of the Hubble Space Telescope fine guidance sensors

The Space Telescope (ST) is subjected to charged particle strikes in its space environment. ST's onboard fine guidance sensors utilize multiplier phototubes (PMT) for attitude determination. These tubes, when subjected to charged particle strikes, generate spurious photons in the form of Cerenkov radiation and fluorescence which give rise to unwanted disturbances in the pointing of the telescope. A stochastic model for the number of these spurious photons which strike the photocathodes of the multiplier phototube which in turn produce the unwanted photon noise are presented. The model is applicable to both galactic cosmic rays and charged particles trapped in the earth's radiation belts. The model which was programmed allows for easy adaption to a wide range of particles and different parameters for the phototube of the multiplier. The probability density functions for photons noise caused by protons, alpha particles, and carbon nuclei were using thousands of simulated strikes. These distributions are used as part of an overall ST dynamics simulation. The sensitivity of the density function to changes in the window parameters was also investigated.

Howell, L. W.↗

Trajectory Simulations of Upper Tropospheric Humidity

We present comparisons of simulations of upper tropospheric humidity at 215 and 146 hPa with satellite measurements. Our model uses diabatic trajectories to advect water vapor from an initial condition of 100% relative humidity to the final state. The model does not allow parcels' relative humidity to exceed 100%, and in this way crudely incorporates condensation. We find that this simple model does a good job of simulating the observations. Sensitivity studies suggest that one must have realistic wind velocities in order to accurately simulate the humidity distribution; microphysical parameterizations seem to be less important. Comparisions between simulations using UKMO and NCEP horizontal winds will be discussed.

Dessler, A. E.↗

Effects of Trailing Edge Thickness and Blade Loading Distribution on the Aerodynamic Performance of Simulated CMC Turbine Blades

The aerodynamic performance of three blade sets that represent the geometric manufacturing constraints of Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) blades was measured experimentally in a large-scale transonic turbine blade cascade. The trailing edge thicknesses of CMC blades are anticipated to be significantly larger than those of current state-of-the-art metallic blades. The blades tested in the current study had trailing edge thicknesses of 5%, 7%, and 9% relative to the blade axial chord. The three blade sets were designed with matching throat dimensions, so the blade loading distributions were varied to retain similar overall loading levels. Data were acquired at four Reynolds numbers, covering a factor of six range. All data were acquired at the design isentropic exit Mach number of 0.74. Measurements include blade loading and five-hole probe surveys at two downstream stations. The effects of inlet turbulence intensity were also quantified. Total pressure loss data were integrated to determine overall loss levels for each of the three measured blade passages. Excellent periodicity was noted. For low inlet turbulence levels, losses were surprisingly lower for the thickest trailing edge at low Reynolds numbers, but were highest at the maximum Reynolds number. In general, losses were found to scale well with Reynolds number, although front loading was found to significantly reduce the sensitivity of loss to Reynolds number. For high inlet turbulence intensity, losses were found to scale with trailing edge thickness as expected, and the Reynolds number sensitivity was reduced for all three blade sets. Loss levels at the highest Reynolds number were comparable at low and high inlet turbulence intensity levels.

Paul W Giel↗

Effects of Trailing Edge Thickness and Blade Loading Distribution on the Aerodynamic Performance of Simulated CMC Turbine Blades

The aerodynamic performance of three blade sets that represent the geometric manufacturing constraints of Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) blades was measured experimentally in a large-scale transonic turbine blade cascade. The trailing edge thicknesses of CMC blades are anticipated to be significantly larger than those of current state-of-the-art metallic blades. The blades tested in the current study had trailing edge thicknesses of 5%, 7%, and 9% relative to the blade axial chord. The three blade sets were designed with matching throat dimensions, so the blade loading distributions were varied to retain similar overall loading levels. Data were acquired at four Reynolds numbers, covering a factor of six range. All data were acquired at the design isentropic exit Mach number of 0.74. Measurements include blade loading and five-hole probe surveys at two downstream stations. The effects of inlet turbulence intensity were also quantified. Total pressure loss data were integrated to determine overall loss levels for each of the three measured blade passages. Excellent periodicity was noted. For low inlet turbulence levels, losses were surprisingly lower for the thickest trailing edge at low Reynolds numbers, but were highest at the maximum Reynolds number. In general, losses were found to scale well with Reynolds number, although front loading was found to significantly reduce the sensitivity of loss to Reynolds number. For high inlet turbulence intensity, losses were found to scale with trailing edge thickness as expected, and the Reynolds number sensitivity was reduced for all three blade sets. Loss levels at the highest Reynolds number were comparable at low and high inlet turbulence intensity levels.

Turbine↗

A simulation study exploring the effects of sensor spatial resolution on estimates of cloud cover from satellites.

Investigation of the effects of sensor spatial resolution on estimating the amount of clouds covering the earth by simulating various cloud distributions and sizes, and measuring the known cloud amount with resolution of different sizes using a cloud-no cloud threshold technique often applied in automatic data processing. Cloud amount statistics have been tabulated for a three-orders-of-magnitude range in the ratio (R) of areal cloud size to areal resolution size for seven cloud amounts between 6 and 90%. Three different cloud patterns were used. These were 1) a regularly spaced pattern of homogeneous dots arranged in rows and columns (to simulate cloud streets), 2) a randomly spaced pattern of the same dots (to simulate randomly oriented cumulus clouds), and 3) a heterogeneous cloud size distribution irregularly spaced (to simulate a view of different cloud types and sizes). Two cloud amount estimation techniques were tested. Cloud amounts of 100% (method 1) and 50% (method 2) were assigned to partially filled resolution elements. Using criteria applicable to some studies carried out in the past, it is shown that cloud amount estimations can be in error by as much as 86 and 38%, respectively, for the two methods. Nomograms have been developed which subtantially improve the estimate of the true cloud cover for R less than 100, provided that R can be determined.

Shenk, W. E.↗

Pseudo-Random Number Generators

Package features comprehensive selection of probabilistic distributions. Monte Carlo simulations resorted to whenever systems studied not amenable to deterministic analyses or when direct experimentation not feasible. Random numbers having certain specified distribution characteristic integral part of simulations. Package consists of collector of "pseudorandom" number generators for use in Monte Carlo simulations.

Howell, L. W.↗

Simulating fail-stop in asynchronous distributed systems

The fail-stop failure model appears frequently in the distributed systems literature. However, in an asynchronous distributed system, the fail-stop model cannot be implemented. In particular, it is impossible to reliably detect crash failures in an asynchronous system. In this paper, we show that it is possible to specify and implement a failure model that is indistinguishable from the fail-stop model from the point of view of any process within an asynchronous system. We give necessary conditions for a failure model to be indistinguishable from the fail-stop model, and derive lower bounds on the amount of process replication needed to implement such a failure model. We present a simple one-round protocol for implementing one such failure model, which we call simulated fail-stop.

Sabel, Laura↗

Effects of Spatial Resolution on the Simulated Dust Aerosol Lifecycle: Implications for Dust Event Magnitude and Timing in the NASA GEOS-5 AGCM

The NASA GEOS-5 atmospheric transport model simulates global aerosol distributions with an online aerosol module. GEOS-5 may be run at various horizontal spatial resolutions depending on the research application. For example, long integration climate simulations are typically run at 2 deg or 1 deg grid spacing, whereas aerosol reanalysis and forecasting applications may be performed at O.5 deg or 0.25 deg resolutions. In this study, we assess the implications of varying spatial resolution on the simulated aerosol fields, with a particular focus on dust. Dust emissions in GEOS-5 are calculated with one of two parameterizations, one based on the Goddard Chemistry, Aerosol, Radiation, and Transport (GO CART) model and another based on the Dust Entrainment and Deposition (DEAD) model. Emission fluxes are parameterized in terms of the surface wind speed, either the 10-m (GO CART) or friction (DEAD) wind speed. We consider how surface wind speeds and thus the dust emission rates are a function of the model spatial resolution. We find that spatial resolution has a significant effect on the magnitude of dust emissions, as higher resolution versions of the model have typically higher surface wind speeds. Utilizing space-borne observations from MISR, MODIS, and CALIOP, we find that simulated Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) distributions respond differently to spatial resolution over the African and Asian source regions, highlighting the need to regional dust emission tuning. When compared to ground-based observations from AERONET, we found improved timing of dust events with as spatial resolution was increased. In an attempt to improve the representation of the dust aerosol lifecycle at coarse resolutions, we found that incorporating the effects of sub-grid wind variability in a course resolution simulation led to improved agreement with observed AOT magnitudes, but did not impact the timing of simulated dust events.

Nowottnick, E.↗

Apparatus for experimental investigation of aerodynamic radiation with absorption by ablation products

A description is given and calibration procedures are presented for an apparatus that is used to simulate aerodynamic radiant heating during planetary entry. The primary function of the apparatus is to simulate the spectral distribution of shock layer radiation and to determine absorption effects of simulated ablation products which are injected into the stagnation region flow field. An electric arc heater is used to heat gas mixtures that represent the planetary atmospheres of interest. Spectral measurements are made with a vacuum ultraviolet scanning monochromator.

Wells, W. L.↗

Effect of melt-solid interface shape on lateral compositional distribution of unidirectionally solidified 2-6 semiconducting alloys

A computer code developed previously has been used to simulate lateral compositional distributions for several 2-6 semiconducting systems. The code is based on analytical results obtained previously. The system under study is an azimuthal symmetric cylindrical system with a curved melt-solid interface shape during an unidirectional solidification process. It is assumed that the system is under a steady state diffusion limited growth condition.

Wang, Jai-Ching↗

Simulation of flight maneuver-load distributions by utilizing stationary, non-Gaussian random load histories

Random numbers were generated with the aid of a digital computer and transformed such that the probability density function of a discrete random load history composed of these random numbers had one of the following non-Gaussian distributions: Poisson, binomial, log-normal, Weibull, and exponential. The resulting random load histories were analyzed to determine their peak statistics and were compared with cumulative peak maneuver-load distributions for fighter and transport aircraft in flight.

Leybold, H. A.↗

Higher order moments of the matter distribution in scale-free cosmological simulations with large dynamic range

We calculate reduced moments (xi bar)(sub q) of the matter density fluctuations, up to order q = 5, from counts in cells produced by particle-mesh numerical simulations with scale-free Gaussian initial conditions. We use power-law spectra P(k) proportional to k(exp n) with indices n = -3, -2, -1, 0, 1. Due to the supposed absence of characteristic times or scales in our models, all quantities are expected to depend on a single scaling variable. For each model, the moments at all times can be expressed in terms of the variance (xi bar)(sub 2), alone. We look for agreement with the hierarchical scaling ansatz, according to which ((xi bar)(sub q)) proportional to ((xi bar)(sub 2))(exp (q - 1)). For n less than or equal to -2 models, we find strong deviations from the hierarchy, which are mostly due to the presence of boundary problems in the simulations. A small, residual signal of deviation from the hierarchical scaling is however also found in n greater than or equal to -1 models. The wide range of spectra considered and the large dynamic range, with careful checks of scaling and shot-noise effects, allows us to reliably detect evolution away from the perturbation theory result.

Lucchin, Francesco↗

Application of a distributed network in computational fluid dynamic simulations

A general-purpose 3-D, incompressible Navier-Stokes algorithm is implemented on a network of concurrently operating workstations using parallel virtual machine (PVM) and compared with its performance on a CRAY Y-MP and on an Intel iPSC/860. The problem is relatively computationally intensive, and has a communication structure based primarily on nearest-neighbor communication, making it ideally suited to message passing. Such problems are frequently encountered in computational fluid dynamics (CDF), and their solution is increasingly in demand. The communication structure is explicitly coded in the implementation to fully exploit the regularity in message passing in order to produce a near-optimal solution. Results are presented for various grid sizes using up to eight processors.

Deshpande, Manish↗