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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 NTRS1979

A new technique for measuring solar rotation

A new technique for measuring solar photospheric and subphotospheric rotation rates is described. The technique utilizes the standing-wave nature of the nonradial p-mode oscillations of the whole sun. Specifically, the technique is based upon the observed concentration of p-mode oscillatory power into well defined ridges in two-dimensional wavenumber-frequency power spectra. The frequencies of the ridges in the eastward- and westward-traveling portions of an individual spectrum are systematically shifted in opposite directions by a drift of the standing-wave pattern across the observing field of view. The magnitudes of these frequency shifts are related to the drift velocity and to the horizontal wavenumber in such a way that measurement of the observed frequency shifts in a spectrum yields the drift velocity for that observing run. By guiding on the solar limbs and observing the velocity field at disk center, the observed drift velocity obtained in this way is exactly the rotational velocity of the solar p-mode pattern, and of the solar gas itself.

Rhodes, E. J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics of light, twin-engine, propeller-driven airplanes

Representative state-of-the-art analytical procedures and design data for predicting the longitudinal static and dynamic stability and control characteristics of light, propeller-driven airplanes are presented. Procedures for predicting drag characteristics are also included. The procedures are applied to a twin-engine, propeller-driven airplane in the clean configuration from zero lift to stall conditions. The calculated characteristics are compared with wind-tunnel and flight data. Included in the comparisons are level-flight trim characteristics, period and damping of the short-period oscillatory mode, and windup-turn characteristics. All calculations are documented.

Wolowicz, C. H.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Effects of asymmetry on the dynamic stability of aircraft

The oblique wing concept for transonic aircraft was proposed to reduce drag. The dynamic stability of the aircraft was investigated by analytically determining the stability derivatives at angles of skew ranging from 0 and 45 deg and using these stability derivatives in a linear analysis of the coupled aircraft behavior. The stability derivatives were obtained using a lifting line aerodynamic theory and found to give reasonable agreement with derivatives developed in a previous study for the same aircraft. In the dynamic analysis, no instability or large changes occurred in the root locations for skew angles varying from 0 to 45 deg with the exception of roll convergence. The damping in roll, however, decreased by an order of magnitude. Rolling was a prominent feature of all the oscillatory mode shapes at high skew angles.

Fantino, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Distinctive patterns on the surface of slowly rotating stars whose oscillations are nonlinearly coupled

Slowly rotating stars which are oscillating at small amplitude in a broad spectrum of g-modes should display strong surface nonuniformities if even weak nonlinear coupling exists between the modes. Oscillatory power will be concentrated into distinctive patterns which rotate rigidly in spite of differential rotation in the outer stellar layers. Each pattern rotates at a constant rate slower than the star as a whole according to a very simple law of rotation. Virtually all the rotation rates are within 9 per cent of the stellar rate. Evidence is cited that the sun may be oscillating, so other stars along the main sequence may be oscillating, also. If zones obeying the predicted rotation law can be detected in a star, then the rotation rate of the stellar interior becomes known, and differential rotation is negligible over most of the stellar mass.

Wolff, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

An approach to the determination of aircraft handling qualities using pilot transfer functions

It was shown that a correlation exists between pilot-aircraft system closed-loop characteristics, determined by using analytical expressions for pilot response along with the analytical expression for the aircraft response, and pilot ratings obtained in many previous flight and simulation studies. Two different levels of preferred pilot response were used. These levels were: (1) a static gain and a second-order lag function with a lag time constant of 0.2 second; and (2) a static gain, a lead time constant of 1 second, and a 0.2-second lag time constant. If a system response with a pitch-angle time constant of 2.6 seconds and a stable oscillatory mode of motion with a period of 2.5 seconds could be achieved with the first-level pilot model, it was shown that the pilot rating will be satisfactory for that vehicle.

Adams, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Control technology development

The main objectives of the control technology development task are given in the slide below. The first is to develop control design techniques based on flexible structural models, rather than simple rigid-body models. Since large space structures are distributed parameter systems, a new degree of freedom, that of sensor/actuator placement, may be exercised for improving control system performance. Another characteristic of large space structures is numerous oscillatory modes within the control bandwidth. Reduced-order controller design models must be developed which produce stable closed-loop systems when combined with the full-order system. Since the date of an actual large-space-structure flight is rapidly approaching, it is vitally important that theoretical developments are tested in actual hardware. Experimental verification is a vital counterpart of all current theoretical developments.

Schaechter, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Simulation investigation of the effects of helicopter hovering dynamics on pilot performance

A fixed base simulation has been performed to investigate the handling qualities requirements for the mid-term pitch response of a helicopter at hover and in low-speed flight. Pilot rating results from this simulation were compared with those from previous experiments to develop handling qualities limits on the frequency and damping of the oscillatory mode in the hovering cubic. Pilot performance data obtained during the experiment were used to confirm the pilot rating results. These data show the pilot performance to closely match that predicted by the theory of piloted control. A means of predicting pilot ratings from the open-loop aircraft dynamics is presented.

Aponso, Bimal L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Synchronization in neural nets

The paper presents an artificial neural network concept (the Synchronizable Oscillator Networks) where the instants of individual firings in the form of point processes constitute the only form of information transmitted between joining neurons. In the model, neurons fire spontaneously and regularly in the absence of perturbation. When interaction is present, the scheduled firings are advanced or delayed by the firing of neighboring neurons. Networks of such neurons become global oscillators which exhibit multiple synchronizing attractors. From arbitrary initial states, energy minimization learning procedures can make the network converge to oscillatory modes that satisfy multi-dimensional constraints. Such networks can directly represent routing and scheduling problems that consist of ordering sequences of events.

Vidal, Jacques J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Generation of dynamo magnetic fields in thin Keplerian disks

The combined action of nonuniform rotation and helical convection in protoplanetary disks, in the Galaxy, or in accretion disks surrounding black holes and other compact objects, enables an alpha-omega dynamo to generate a large-scale magnetic field. In this paper, the properties of such magnetic fields are investigated using a two-dimensional, partially numerical method. The structures of the lowest-order steady state and oscillatory modes are calculated for two kinds of external boundary conditions. A quadruple, steady state, highly localized mode is the most easily excited for low values of the dynamo number. The results indicate that, except under special conditions, disk dynamo modes tend to consist of relatively localized rings structures. For large values of the dynamo number, the magnetic field consists of a number of quasi-independent, spatially localized modes generated in various concentric rings filling the disk inward of a dynamo generation 'front'.

Stepinski, T. F.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Intraseasonal oscillations in the global atmosphere. I - Northern Hemisphere and tropics

Oscillatory modes in the Northern Hemisphere and in the tropics were examined systematically. The 700 mb heights were used to analyze extratropical oscillations, and the outgoing longwave radiation to study tropical oscillations in convection. All datasets were band-pass filtered to focus on the intraseasonal (IS) band of 10-120 days. Leading spatial patterns of variability were obtained by applying empirical orthogonal function analysis to these IS data. The leading principal components were subjected to singular spectrum analysis. In the Northern Hemisphere, there are two important modes of oscillation with periods near 48 and 23 days, respectively. The 48-day mode is the most important of the two. It has both traveling and standing components, and is dominated by a zonal wavenumber two. The 23-day mode has the spatial structure and propagation properties described by Branstator and by Kushnir (1987). In the tropics, the 40-50 day oscillation documented by Madden and Julian (1972), Weickmann (1983), Lau, and their colleagues, dominates the Indian and Pacific oceans from 60 deg E to the date line. From 170 deg W to 90 deg W, however, a 24-28 day oscillation is equally strong. The extratropical modes are often independent of, and sometimes lead, the tropical modes.

Ghil, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1991

Intraseasonal oscillations in the global atmosphere. II - Southern Hemisphere

A systematic examination of oscillatory modes in the global atmosphere is completed by studying 12 years of 500 mb geopotential heights in the Southern Hemisphere. The data were band-pass filtered to focus on intraseasonal (IS) phenomena, and spatial empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) were obtained. The leading principal components were subjected to singular spectrum analysis in order to identify nonlinear IS oscillations with high statistical confidence. In the Southern Hemisphere, the dominant mode has a period of 23 days, with spatial patterns carried by the second and third winter EOF of the IS band. It has a zonal wavenumber-four structure. The 40-day mode is second, and is dominated by wavenumbers three and four, while a 16-day mode is too weak to separate its spatial behavior from the previous two. The IS dynamics in the Southern Hemisphere is more complex and dominated by shorter wavenumbers than the Northern Hemisphere. No statistically significant correlations between the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics or the Northern Hemisphere are apparent in the IS band.

Ghil, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1947

A Comparison of the Lateral Motion Calculated for Tailless and Conventional Airplanes

Theoretical analysts of lateral dynamic motion of tailless and conventional airplanes was made for fighter and heavy transport. Their reactions to a lateral gust and control power required by each for simple maneuvers were determined and compared. Both types of airplanes require almost identical aileron control power to perform a given maneuver; tailless airplane requires about 1-2 to 1-3 directional control power of conventional airplane. Tailless airplane also shows greatest displacement for a given disturbance and has least damping in oscillatory mode.

Harper, Charles W.↗
NASA NTRS1949

Theoretical investigation of the dynamic lateral stability characteristics of Douglas design No. 39C, an early version of the X-3 research airplane

Contains results of calculations made to determine the neutral oscillatory stability boundaries, period and time to damp of the oscillatory mode, and motions following disturbances. The calculations were made for Mach numbers of 0.75 and 2.3 at an attitude of 35,000 feet and for the landing condition at sea level.

STABILITY - LATERAL AND DIRECTIONAL - DYNAMIC↗
NASA NTRS1944

Experimental Verification of the Rudder-Free Stability Theory for an Airplane Model Equipped with Rudders Having Negative Floating Tendency and Negligible Friction

An investigation has been made in the Langley free-flight tunnel to obtain an experimental verification of the theoretical rudder-free stability characteristics of an airplane model equipped with conventional rudders having negative floating tendencies and negligible friction. The model used in the tests was equipped with a conventional single vertical tail having rudder area 40 percent of the vertical tail area. The model was tested both in free flight and mounted on a strut that allowed freedom only in yaw. Tests were made with three different amounts of rudder aerodynamic balance and with various values of mass, moment of inertia, and center-of-gravity location of the rudder. Most of the stability derivatives required for the theoretical calculations were determined from forced and free-oscillation tests of the particular model tested. The theoretical analysis showed that the rudder-free motions of an airplane consist largely of two oscillatory modes - a long-period oscillation somewhat similar to the normal rudder-fixed oscillation and a short-period oscillation introduced only when the rudder is set free. It was found possible in the tests to create lateral instability of the rudder-free short-period mode by large values of rudder mass parameters even though the rudder-fixed condition was highly stable. The results of the tests and calculation indicated that for most present-day airplanes having rudders of negative floating tendency, the rudder-free stability characteristics may be examined by simply considering the dynamic lateral stability using the value of the directional-stability parameter Cn(sub p) for the rudder-free condition in the conventional controls-fixed lateral-stability equations. For very large airplanes having relatively high values of the rudder mass parameters with respect to the rudder aerodynamic parameters, however, analysis of the rudder-free stability should be made with the complete equations of motion. Good agreement between calculated and measured rudder-free stability characteristics was obtained by use of the general rudder-free stability theory, in which four degrees of lateral freedom are considered. When this assumption is made that the rolling motions alone or the lateral and rolling motions may be neglected in the calculations of rudder-free stability, it is possible to predict satisfactorily the characteristics of the long-period (Dutch roll type) rudder-free oscillation for airplanes only when the effective-dihedral angle is small. With these simplifying assumptions, however, satisfactory prediction of the short-period oscillation may be obtained for any dihedral. Further simplification of the theory based on the assumption that the rudder moment of inertia might be disregarded was found to be invalid because this assumption made it impossible to calculate the characteristics of the short-period oscillations.

STABILITY- FAIRCHILD R2K-1↗
NASA NTRS1994

Nonlinear dynamics of drops and bubbles and chaotic phenomena

Nonlinear phenomena associated with the dynamics of free drops and bubbles are investigated analytically, numerically and experimentally. Although newly developed levitation and measurement techniques have been implemented, the full experimental validation of theoretical predictions has been hindered by interfering artifacts associated with levitation in the Earth gravitational field. The low gravity environment of orbital space flight has been shown to provide a more quiescent environment which can be utilized to better match the idealized theoretical conditions. The research effort described in this paper is a closely coupled collaboration between predictive and guiding theoretical activities and a unique experimental program involving the ultrasonic and electrostatic levitation of single droplets and bubbles. The goal is to develop and to validate methods based on nonlinear dynamics for the understanding of the large amplitude oscillatory response of single drops and bubbles to both isotropic and asymmetric pressure stimuli. The first specific area on interest has been the resonant coupling between volume and shape oscillatory modes isolated gas or vapor bubbles in a liquid host. The result of multiple time-scale asymptotic treatment, combined with domain perturbation and bifurcation methods, has been the prediction of resonant and near-resonant coupling between volume and shape modes leading to stable as well as chaotic oscillations. Experimental investigations of the large amplitude shape oscillation modes of centimeter-size single bubbles trapped in water at 1 G and under reduced hydrostatic pressure, have suggested the possibility of a low gravity experiment to study the direct coupling between these low frequency shape modes and the volume pulsation, sound-radiating mode. The second subject of interest has involved numerical modeling, using the boundary integral method, of the large amplitude shape oscillations of charged and uncharged drops in the presence of a static or time-varying electric field. Theoretically predicted non linearity in the resonant frequency of the fundamental quadrupole mode has been verified by the accompanying experimental studies. Additional phenomena such as hysteresis in the frequency response of ultrasoncially levitated droplets in the presence of a time varying electric field, and mode coupling in the oscillations of ultrasonically modulated droplets, have also been uncovered. One of the results of this ground-based research has been the identification and characterization of phenomena strictly associated with the influence of the gravitational field. This has also allowed us to identify the specific requirements for potential microgravity investigations yielding new information not obtainable on Earth.

Trinh, Eugene H.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Oscillatory/Chaotic Thermocapillary Flow Induced by Radiant Heating

There is a continuing need to understand the fluid physics occurring under low gravity conditions in processes such as crystal growth, materials processing, and the movement of bubbles or droplets. The fluid flow in such situations is often caused by a gradient in interfacial tension. If a temperature gradient is created due to a heat source, the resulting flow is called thermocapillary flow, a special case of Marangoni Convection. In this study, an experimental investigation was conducted using silicone oil in cylindrical containers with a laser heat source at the free surface. It was desired to determine the conditions under which steady, axisymmetrical thermocapillary flow becomes unstable and oscillatory three-dimensional flow states develop. The critical Marangoni number for each observed oscillatory state was measured as a function of the container aspect ratio and the dynamic Bond number, a measure of buoyant force versus ii thermocapillary force. Various oscillatory modes were observed during three- dimensional convection, and chaotic flow was reached in one test condition. The critical Marangoni numbers are compared with those measured in previous studies, and the power spectra and phase trajectories of the instantaneous surface temperature distributions are used to characterize the routes of transitions to the chaotic flow state. Results show that only superharmonic modes appear in the routes to chaos while infinite number of subharmonic modes occur in flow transitions for pure Rayleigh convection.

DeWitt, Kenneth J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Prospect of Continuous VLBI Measurement of Earth Rotation in Monitoring Geophysical Fluids

Large-scale mass transports in the geophysical fluids of the Earth system excite Earth's rotational variations in both length-of-day and polar motion. The excitation process is via the conservation of angular momentum. Therefore Earth rotation observations contain information about the integrated angular momentum (consisting of both the mass term and the motion term) of the geophysical fluids, which include atmosphere, hydrosphere, mantle, and the outer and inner cores. Such global information is often important and otherwise unattainable depending on the nature of the mass transport, its magnitude and time scale. The last few years have seen great advances in VLBI measurement of Earth rotation in precision and temporal resolution. These advances have opened new. areas in geophysical fluid studies, such as oceanic tidal angular momentum, atmospheric tides, Earth librations, and rapid atmospheric angular momentum fluctuations. Precision of 10 microseconds in UTI and 200 microarcseconds in polar motion can now be achieved on hourly basis. Building upon this heritage, the multi-network geodetic VLBI project, Continuous Observation of the Rotation of the Earth (CORE), promises to further these studies and to make possible studies on elusive but tell-tale geophysical processes such as oscillatory modes in the core and in the atmosphere. Currently the early phase of CORE is underway. Within a few years into the new mellinnium, the upcoming space gravity missions (such as GRACE) will measure the temporal variations in Earth's gravitational field, thus providing complementary information to that from Earth rotation study for a better understanding of global geophysical fluid processes.

Chao, Benjamin F.↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Influence of Current Density and Magnetic Field Topography in Optimizing the Performance, Divergence, and Plasma Oscillations of High Specific Impulse Hall Thrusters

Recent studies of xenon Hall thrusters have shown peak efficiencies at specific impulses of less than 3000 s. This was a consequence of modern Hall thruster magnetic field topographies, which have been optimized for 300 V discharges. On-going research at the NASA Glenn Research Center is investigating this behavior and methods to enhance thruster performance. To conduct these studies, a laboratory model Hall thruster that uses a pair of trim coils to tailor the magnetic field topography for high specific impulse operation has been developed. The thruster-the NASA-173Mv2 was tested to determine how current density and magnetic field topography affect performance, divergence, and plasma oscillations at voltages up to 1000 V. Test results showed there was a minimum current density and optimum magnetic field topography at which efficiency monotonically increased with voltage. At 1000 V, 10 milligrams per second the total specific impulse was 3390 s and the total efficiency was 60.8%. Plume divergence decreased at 400-1000 V, but increased at 300-400 V as the result of plasma oscillations. The dominant oscillation frequency steadily increased with voltage, from 14.5 kHz at 300 V, to 22 kHz at 1000 V. An additional oscillatory mode in the 80-90 kHz frequency range began to appear above 500 V. The use of trim coils to modify the magnetic field improved performance while decreasing plume divergence and the frequency and magnitude of plasma oscillations.

Hofer, Richard R.↗