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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Solar wind and high energy particle effects in the middle atmosphere

The solar wind variability and high energy particle effects in the neutral middle atmosphere are not much known. These factors are important in the high latitude upper mesosphere, lower thermosphere energy budget. They influence temperature, composition (minor constituents of nitric oxide, ozone), circulation (wind system) and airflow. The vertical and latitudinal structures of such effects, mechanisms of downward penetration of energy and questions of energy abundance are largely to be solved. The most important recent finding seems to be the discovery of the role of highly relativistic electrons in the middle atmosphere at L = 3 - 8 (Baker et al., 1987). The solar wind and high energy particle flux variability appear to form a part of the chain of possible Sun-weather (climate) relationships. The importance of such studies in the nineties is emphasized by their role in big international programs STEP and IGBP - Global Change.

Lastovicka, Jan↗
NASA NTRS1942

Investigation of Diving Moments of a Pursuit Airplane in the Ames 16-Foot High Speed Wind Tunnel

A pursuit type airplane encountered severe diving moments in high-speed dives which make recovery difficult. For the purpose of investigating these diving moments and finding means for their reduction, a 1/6-scale model of the airplane was tested in the 16-foot high-speed wind tunnel at Ames Aeronautical Laboratory. The test results indicate that up to a Mach number of at least 0.75, the limit of the tests, the dive-recovery difficulties can be alleviated and the longitudinal maneuverability improved by the substitution of a long symmetrical fuselage for the standard fuselage.

MACH NUMBER↗
NASA NTRS1982

Thermospheric winds at high latitudes from chemical release observations

The considered investigation takes into account wind measurements conducted with the aid of 39 sounding rocket chemical release payloads. Attention is given to the geomagnetic dependence, winds and ion convection patterns, subauroral dayside measurements, evening auroral belt measurements, evening polar cap measurements, postmidnight polar cap measurements, midnight and early morning auroral belt measurements, late evening auroral belt measurements, and anomalous winds. The prevailing theme in presenting and interpreting the wind measurements between 160 and 320 km has been that the gross characteristics of the high-latitude wind system can be readily understood in terms of the pattern distribution of electric fields when the inertial properties of the neutral atmosphere and Coriolis forces are taken into account.

Heppner, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Microspheres for laser velocimetry in high temperature wind tunnel

The introduction of non-intrusive measurement techniques in wind tunnel experimentation has been a turning point in error free data acquisition. Laser velocimetry has been progressively implemented and utilized in various wind tunnels; e.g. subsonic, transonic, and supersonic. The success of the laser velocimeter technique is based on an accurate measurement of scattered light by seeding particles introduced into the flow stream in the wind tunnel. Therefore, application of appropriate seeding particles will affect, to a large extent the acquired data. The seeding material used depends on the type of experiment being run. Among the seeding material for subsonic tunnel are kerosene, Kaolin, and polystyrene. Polystyrene is known to be the best because of being solid particles, having high index of refraction, capable of being made both spherical and monodisperse. However for high temperature wind tunnel testing seeding material must have an additional characteristic that is high melting point. Typically metal oxide powders such as Al2O3 with melting point 3660 F are used. The metal oxides are, however polydispersed, have a high density, and a tendency to form large agglomerate that does not closely follow the flow velocity. The addition of flame phase silica to metal oxide helps to break up the agglomerates, yet still results in a narrow band of polydispersed seeding. The less desirable utility of metal oxide in high temperature wind tunnels necessitates the search for a better alternative particle seeding which this paper addresses. The Laser Velocimetry (LV) characteristic of polystyrene makes it a prime candidate as a base material in achieving the high temperature particle seeding inexpensively. While polystyrene monodisperse seeding particle reported has been successful in a subsonic wind tunnel, it lacks the high melting point and thus is not practically usable in a high temperature wind tunnel. It is well known that rise in melting point of polystyrene can be achieved by a cross-linking technique. Since polystyrene already possesses all the desired characteristics for LV, to circumvent the low melting point, a cross-linking technique was investigated.

Ghorieshi, Anthony↗
NASA NTRS2013

A System for Measuring the Sway of the Vehicle Assembly Building

A system was developed to measure the sway of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center. This system was installed in the VAB and gathered more than one total year of data. The building movement was correlated with measurements provided by three wind towers in order to determine the maximum deflection of the building during high-wind events. The VAB owners were in the process of obtaining new platforms for use in assembling very tall rockets when analysis of the VAB showed that a high wind could move the building sufficiently that an upper platform might impact a rocket. The problem arises because safety requires a relatively small gap between the platform and the rocket, while a large enough gap is needed to ensure that stacking tolerances prevent contact between the rocket and the platform. This only leaves an inch or two (approximately 2 to 5 cm) of total clearance, so when the analysis showed that more than a couple of inches of motion could occur in a high wind, there was a potential for damaging the rocket. The KSC Applied Physics Laboratory was asked to install a system in the VAB that could measure the motion of the building in high winds to determine the actual building sway. The motion of the VAB roof under wind load was measured optically, and under analysis, it was determined that a relatively large-aperture optical system would be required to reduce diffraction effects to less than a small fraction of an inch (approximately mm) at a distance of 500 ft (≈150 m). A 10-in. (approximately 250 mm) telescope was placed on the floor of the building, looking at the ceiling. On the ceiling, a flat plate with three white LEDs was mounted in an "L" shape, such that the telescope was essentially looking at three stars. Software was written to track the motion of these three points using an image processing system. This provided a better than 1/10-in. (approximately 2.5-mm) 2D measurement faster than once a second. Data was downloaded once a month for comparison with the wind tower data. The system was fully operational and provided enough data to show that the VAB will only move 1 in. (approximately 2.5 cm) at the ceiling under 70-knot winds. Adjustable platforms are not required.

Youngquist, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1979

Low-turbulence high-speed wind tunnel for the determination of cascade shock losses

A low turbulence high-speed wind tunnel, using anti-turbulence screening and a 100:1 contraction ratio, has been found suitable for high-speed smoke flow visualization. The location and strength of normal, oblique, and curved shock waves generated by transonic or supersonic wind tunnel flow over airfoils or through axial compressor cascades is determined by combined shadowgraph and smokelines visualization techniques without the interference effects caused by intrusive probes. The Reynolds number based on chord varied between 50,000 and 1,000,000. Preliminary results are compared with the relevant theory and data gathered using a total pressure probe.

Slovisky, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Analysis of Satellite-Derived Arctic Tropospheric BrO Columns in Conjunction with Aircraft Measurements During ARCTAS and ARCPAC

We derive tropospheric column BrO during the ARCTAS and ARCPAC field campaigns in spring 2008 using retrievals of total column BrO from the satellite UV nadir sensors OMI and GOME-2 using a radiative transfer model and stratospheric column BrO from a photochemical simulation. We conduct a comprehensive comparison of satellite-derived tropospheric BrO column to aircraft in-situ observations ofBrO and related species. The aircraft profiles reveal that tropospheric BrO, when present during April 2008, was distributed over a broad range of altitudes rather than being confined to the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Perturbations to the total column resulting from tropospheric BrO are the same magnitude as perturbations due to longitudinal variations in the stratospheric component, so proper accounting of the stratospheric signal is essential for accurate determination of satellite-derived tropospheric BrO. We find reasonably good agreement between satellite-derived tropospheric BrO and columns found using aircraft in-situ BrO profiles, particularly when satellite radiances were obtained over bright surfaces (albedo> 0.7), for solar zenith angle < 80 and clear sky conditions. The rapid activation of BrO due to surface processes (the bromine explosion) is apparent in both the OMI and GOME-2 based tropospheric columns. The wide orbital swath of OMI allows examination of the evolution of tropospheric BrO on about hourly time intervals near the pole. Low surface pressure, strong wind, and high PBL height are associated with an observed BrO activation event, supporting the notion of bromine activation by high winds over snow.

Choi, S.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Terrain Relative Navigation for Guided Descent on Titan

Titan’s dense atmosphere, low gravity, and high winds at high altitudes create descent times of >90 minutes with standard entry/descent/landing (EDL) architectures and result in large unguided landing ellipses, with 99% values of 110x110 km and 149x72 km in recent Titan lander proposals. Enabling precision landing on Titan could increase science return for the types of missions proposed to date and make additional types of landing sites accessible, opening up new possibilities for science investigations. Precision landing on Titan has unique challenges, because the hazy atmosphere makes it difficult to see the surface and because it requires guided descent with divert ranges that are one to two orders of magnitude larger than needed for other target bodies, i.e. up to on the order of 100 km. It is conceivable that such a divert capability could be provided economically by a parafoil or other steerable aerodynamic decelerator deployed several 10s of km above the surface. The long descent times lead to large inertial navigation errors, hence a need for terrain relative navigation (TRN). This would require a TRN capability that can operate at such altitudes, despite challenges of seeing the surface sufficiently clearly and of depending on map products that are two orders of magnitude lower in spatial resolution than those for Mars and airless bodies. We then develop algorithms for map matching and feature tracking with descent images and test these with synthetic images created from Cassini/Huygens data sets and our radiative transfer model. We also introduce new possibilities for TRN based on the potential to discriminate some specific types of terrain onboard in descent imagery, such as lake vs adjacent ground and dune vs interdune. We use sensor measurement noise models in simulations of state estimation with an extended Kalman filter that includes coordinates of a set of tracked features in the state vector. Case studies were done for two notional landing sites, one in a site with only dry ground and one in a Titan lake district. In both cases, the filter error model shows 3 position error at touchdown on the order of 2 km. More work is needed to validate these results with higher fidelity camera models and larger data sets, but this is very promising.

Matthies, Larry↗
NASA NTRS2022

Winds at the Mars 2020 Landing Site. 2. Wind Variability and Turbulence

Wind speeds measured by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover in Jezero crater were fitted as a Weibull distribution. InSight wind data acquired in Elysium Planitia were also used to contextualize observations. Jezero winds were found to be much calmer on average than in previous landing sites, despite the intense aeolian activity observed. However, a great influence of turbulence and wave activity was observed in the wind speed variations, thus driving the probability of reaching the highest wind speeds at Jezero, instead of sustained winds driven by local, regional, or large-scale circulation. The power spectral density of wind speed fluctuations follows a power-law, whose slope deviates depending on the time of day from that predicted considering homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. Daytime wave activity is related to convection cells and smaller eddies in the boundary layer, advected over the crater. The signature of convection cells was also found during dust storm conditions, when prevailing winds were consistent with a tidal drive. Nighttime fluctuations were also intense, suggesting strong mechanical turbulence. Convective vortices were usually involved in rapid wind fluctuations and extreme winds, with variations peaking at 9.2 times the background winds. Transient high wind events by vortex-passages, turbulence, and wave activity could be driving aeolian activity at Jezero. We report the detection of a strong dust cloud of 0.75–1.5 km in length passing over the rover. The observed aeolian activity had major implications for instrumentation, with the wind sensor suffering damage throughout the mission, probably due to flying debris advected by winds.

D. Viúdez-moreiras↗
NASA NTRS1977

Coronal holes and high-speed wind streams

Coronal holes, regions of unusually low density and low temperature in the solar corona, are identified as Bartel's M regions, i.e., sources of high-speed wind streams that produce recurrent geomagnetic variations. Throughout the Skylab period the polar caps of the sun were coronal holes, and at lower latitudes the most persistent and recurrent holes were equatorial extensions of the polar caps. The holes rotated 'rigidly' at the equatorial synodic rate. They formed in regions of unipolar photospheric magnetic field, and their internal magnetic fields diverged rapidly with increasing distance from the sun. The geometry of the magnetic field in the inner corona seems to control both the physical properties of the holes and the global distribution of high-speed wind streams in the heliosphere. Phenomenological models for the birth and decay of coronal holes have been proposed.

Zirker, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Cruise Drag Results from High Speed Wind Tunnel Tests of NASA Refan JT8D Engine Nacelles on the Boeing 727-200

High speed wind tunnel test results are presented showing the cruise drag effect of installing JT8D-109 Refan engines on a Boeing 727-200. Incremental drags of a refan center inlet and side nacelles are presented for several configuration variations. Static pressure distributions were obtained on the side nacelle strut and on the fuselage (above and below the strut). Oil flow photographs of selected configurations are also presented. In general the drag level of the refan installation is slightly better than predicted prior to the test and the drag rise is favorable.

Easterbrook, W. G.↗
NASA NTRS1934

The NACA High-Speed Wind Tunnel and Tests of Six Propeller Sections

This report gives a description of the high-speed wind tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The operation of the tunnel is also described and the method of presenting the data is given. An account of an investigation of the aerodynamic properties of six propeller sections is included.

Stack, John↗
NASA NTRS1985

Contributions of high-altitude winds and atmospheric moment of inertia to the atmospheric angular momentum-earth rotation relationship

For many years it has been recognized that recurrent modulations occur in the time series of the earth's rotation rate or, alternatively, the change in the length of the day (Delta-LOD). Studies relating Delta-LOD to global patterns of zonal winds have confirmed that the variability of atmospheric angular momentum (M) is of sufficient magnitude to account for a large portion of the gross periodicities observed in the earth rotation. The present investigation is concerned with the importance of the contributions of the moment of inertia and high-altitude winds to the angular momentum budget. On the basis of an analysis of the various factors, it is found that within the available data, contributions of high-altitude winds and atmospheric moment of inertia reach levels detectable in the atmospheric angular momentum budget. Nevertheless, for the period December 1978 to December 1979 these contributions are not sufficient to resolve the apparent short-term discrepancies which are evident between Delta-LOD and M.

Taylor, H. A., Jr.↗