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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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NASA NTRS1994

A comparison of Lorentz, planetary gravitational, and satellite gravitational resonances

We consider a charged dust grain whose orbital motion is dominated by a planet's point-source gravity, but perturbed by higher-order terms in the planet's gravity field as well as by the Lorentz force arising from an asymmetric planetary magnetic field. Perturbations to Keplerian orbits due to a nonspherical gravity field are expressed in the traditional way: in terms of a disturbing function which can be expanded in a series of spherical harmonics (W. M. Kaula, 1966). In order to calculate the electromagnetic perturbation, we first write the Lorentz force in terms of the orbital elements and then substitute it into Gauss' perturbation equations. We use our result to derive strengths of Lorentz resonances and elucidate their properties. In particular, we compare Lorentz resonances to two types of gravitational resonances: those arising from periodic tugs of a satellite and those due to the attraction of an arbitrarily shaped planet. We find that Lorentz resonances share numerous properties with their gravitational counterparts and show, using simple physical arguments, that several of these patterns are fundamental, applying not only to our expansions, but to all quantities expressed in terms of orbital elements. Some of these patterns have been previously called 'd'Alembert rules' for satellite resonances. Other similarities arise because, to first-order in the perturbing force, the three problems share an integral of the motion. Yet there are also differences; for example, first-order inclination resonances exist for perturbations arising from planetary gravity and from the Lorentz force, but not for those due to an orbiting satellite. Finally, we provide a heuristic treatment of a particle's orbital evolution under the influence of drag and resonant forces. Particles brought into mean-motion resonances experience either trapping or resonant 'jumps,' depending on the direction from which the resonance is approached. We show that this behavior does not depend on the details of the perturbing force but rather is fundamental to all mean-motion resonances.

Hamilton, Douglas P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A numerical model of nonmigrating diurnal tides between the surface and 65 km

Observations of surface pressure and middle atmosphere temperatures and winds indicate that a substantial nonmigrating component is present in the diurnal tide. The nonmigrating tides, which propagate with a zonal phase speed that is different from the earth's rotation, are attributed to the diurnal heating of geographically fixed sources. In this study we utilize a classical tidal model to examine the propagation characteristics of diurnal tides. The global fields of tropospheric sensible, radiative, and latent heating used to drive the model are supplied from summer and winter diurnal climatologies of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate Model (CCM2). A novel aspect of this study is the focus on the relative importance of the nonmigrating components. The classical model successfully reproduces many observed features of the low-latitude diurnal surface pressure tides. In the middle atmosphere, the simulated migrating (or sun-synchronous) tide shows qualitative agreement with November-March Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) observations. Tropospheric solar heating is clearly the dominant driving force for the migrating tide, with secondary contributions from boundary-layer sensible heating and tropospheric latent heat release. The leading modes of the zonal mean tide are also driven chiefly by tropospheric solar heating. The higher-order modes of the zonal mean and eastward propagating tides may be attributed to the joint effects of tropospheric solar heating, sensible heating, and latent heat release. The LIMS and other data reveal features that cannot be explained or examined within the context of the classical model used in the present study. These include upward phase propagation, vertical attenuation, and temporal variations in the migrating diurnal tide.

Lieberman, Ruth S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Transport theory and the WKB approximation for interplanetary MHD fluctuations

An alternative approach, based on a multiple scale analysis, is presented in order to reconcile the traditional Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin (WKB) approach to the modeling of interplanetary fluctuations in a mildly inhomogeneous large-scale flow with a more recently developed transport theory. This enables us to compare directly, at a formal level, the inherent structure of the two models. In the case of noninteracting, incompressible (Alven) waves, the principle difference between the two models is the presence of leading-order couplings (called 'mixing effects') in the non-WKB turbulence model which are absent in a WKB development. Within the context of linearized MHD, two cases have been identified for which the leading order non-WJB 'mixing term' does not vanish at zero wavelength. For these cases the WKB expansion is divergent, whereas the multiple-scale theory is well behaved. We have thus established that the WKB results are contained within the multiple-scale theory, but leading order mixing effects, which are likely to have important observational consequences, can never be recovered in the WKB style expansion. Properties of the higher-order terms in each expansion are also discussed, leading to the conclusion that the non-WKB hierarchy may be applicable even when the scale separation parameter is not small.

Matthaeus, William H.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Unique determination of solutions to the Burnett equations

Recent success in applying the Burnett equations to the one-dimensional shock-structure problem has raised the issue of whether the full Burnett equations can be used replace the Navier-Stokes equations for solving boundary-value problems in rarefied gasdynamics. As is familiar from the classical rarefied gasdynamics literature, the Burnett equations, if not solved as a successive approximation to the Navier-Stokes equations for a small Knudsen number, would require more boundary conditions than those in the Navier-Stokes system, owing to the presence of the higher-order derivatives. In this paper, this issue is examined with concrete solution examples for the steady Couette flows, addressing specifically whether solutions to the full Burnett equations can be uniquely determined without adding more boundary conditions than those in the Navier-Stokes system. The analysis, supported by detailed numerical solutions, confirms that additional boundary conditions are needed as long as the Knudsen number is not identically zero, lest the solution to the Burnett equations is not unique.

Lee, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Distributions of the interplanetary magnetic field revisited

The adequacy of the power spectrum to characterize the variations of a parameter depends on whether or not the parameter has a Gaussian distribution. We here perform very simple tests of Gaussianity on the distribution. We here perform very simple tests of Gaussianity on the distributions of the magnitudes of the interplanetary magnetic field, and on the distributions of the components; that is, we find the first four cumulants of the distributions (mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis) and their solar cycle variations. We find, consistent with other recent analyses, that the traditional distributions of the 1-hour averaged magnitude are not distributed normally or lognomally as has often been assumed and the 1-hour averaged z component is found to have a nonzero kurtosis. Thus the power spectrum is insufficient to completely characterize these variations and polyspectra are needed. We have isolated variations in the 1/f frequency region of the spectrum and show that the distributions of the magnitudes have nonzero skewness and kurtosis, the magnitudes are not distributed lognormally, and the distributions of the components have nonzero kurtosis. Thus higher-order spectra are again needed for a full characterization.

Feynman, Joan↗
NASA NTRS1995

Interpretation of IEEE-854 floating-point standard and definition in the HOL system

The ANSI/IEEE Standard 854-1987 for floating-point arithmetic is interpreted by converting the lexical descriptions in the standard into mathematical conditional descriptions organized in tables. The standard is represented in higher-order logic within the framework of the HOL (Higher Order Logic) system. The paper is divided in two parts with the first part the interpretation and the second part the description in HOL.

MULTIPLICATION SUBTRACTION↗
NASA NTRS1995

Adaptively-refined overlapping grids for the numerical solution of systems of hyperbolic conservation laws

Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) in conjunction with higher-order upwind finite-difference methods have been used effectively on a variety of problems in two and three dimensions. In this paper we introduce an approach for resolving problems that involve complex geometries in which resolution of boundary geometry is important. The complex geometry is represented by using the method of overlapping grids, while local resolution is obtained by refining each component grid with the AMR algorithm, appropriately generalized for this situation. The CMPGRD algorithm introduced by Chesshire and Henshaw is used to automatically generate the overlapping grid structure for the underlying mesh.

Brislawn, Kristi D.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Adaptive unstructured triangular mesh generation and flow solvers for the Navier-Stokes equations at high Reynolds number

A method for generating high quality unstructured triangular grids for high Reynolds number Navier-Stokes calculations about complex geometries is described. Careful attention is paid in the mesh generation process to resolving efficiently the disparate length scales which arise in these flows. First the surface mesh is constructed in a way which ensures that the geometry is faithfully represented. The volume mesh generation then proceeds in two phases thus allowing the viscous and inviscid regions of the flow to be meshed optimally. A solution-adaptive remeshing procedure which allows the mesh to adapt itself to flow features is also described. The procedure for tracking wakes and refinement criteria appropriate for shock detection are described. Although at present it has only been implemented in two dimensions, the grid generation process has been designed with the extension to three dimensions in mind. An implicit, higher-order, upwind method is also presented for computing compressible turbulent flows on these meshes. Two recently developed one-equation turbulence models have been implemented to simulate the effects of the fluid turbulence. Results for flow about a RAE 2822 airfoil and a Douglas three-element airfoil are presented which clearly show the improved resolution obtainable.

Ashford, Gregory A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Experimental investigation of flow through an asymmetric plane diffuser

There is a need for experimental measurements in complex turbulent flows that originate from very well-defined initial conditions. Testing of large-eddy simulations and other higher-order computation schemes requires inlet boundary condition data that are not normally measured. The use of fully developed upstream conditions offers a solution to this dilemma so that the upstream conditions can be adequately computed at any level of sophistication. The plane diffuser experiment by Obi et al. (1993) has received a lot of attention because it has fully-developed inlet conditions and it includes separation from a smooth wall, subsequent reattachment and redevelopment of the downstream boundary layer. The objective of this study is to provide careful qualification and detailed measurements in a recreation of the Obi experiment. The work will include extensive documentation of the flow two-dimensionality and detailed measurements required for testing of flow computations.

Buice, Carl U.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Effects of Tangential Edge Constraints on the Postbuckling Behavior of Flat and Curved Panels Subjected to Thermal and Mechanical Loads

A parametric study of the effects of tangential edge constraints on the postbuckling response of flat and shallow curved panels subjected to thermal and mechanical loads is presented. The mechanical loads investigated are uniform compressive edge loads and transverse lateral pressure. The temperature fields considered are associated with spatially nonuniform heating over the panels, and a linear through-the-thickness temperature gradient. The structural model is based on a higher-order transverse-shear-deformation theory of shallow shells that incorporates the effects of geometric nonlinearities, initial geometric imperfections, and tangential edge motion constraints. Results are presented for three-layer sandwich panels made from transversely isotropic materials. Simply supported panels are considered in which the tangential motion of the unloaded edges is either unrestrained, partially restrained, or fully restrained. These results focus on the effects of the tangential edge restraint on the postbuckling response. The results of this study indicate that tangentially restraining the edges of a curved panel can make the panel insensitive to initial geometric imperfections in some cases.

Lin, W.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Exhausted Plume Flow Field Prediction Near the Afterbody of Hypersonic Flight Vehicles in High Altitudes

A two-dimensional computer code to solve the Burnett equations has been developed which computes the flow interaction between an exhausted plume and hypersonic external flow near the afterbody of a flight vehicle. This Burnett-2D code extends the capability of Navier-Stokes solver (RPLUS2D code) to include high-order Burnett source terms and slip-wall conditions for velocity and temperature. Higher-order Burnett viscous stress and heat flux terms are discretized using central-differencing and treated as source terms. Blocking logic is adopted in order to overcome the difficulty of grid generation. The computation of exhaust plume flow field is divided into two steps. In the first step, the thruster nozzle exit conditions are computed which generates inflow conditions in the base area near the afterbody. Results demonstrated that at high altitudes, the computations of nozzle exit conditions must include the effects of base flow since significant expansion exists in the base region. In the second step, Burnett equations were solved for exhaust plume flow field near the afterbody. The free stream conditions are set at an altitude equal to 80km and the Mach number is equal to 5.0. The preliminary results show that the plume expansion, as altitude increases, will eventually cause upstream flow separation.

Chou, Lynn Chen↗
NASA NTRS1991

On the Power of Abstract Interpretation

Increasingly sophisticated applications of static analysis place increased burden on the reliability of the analysis techniques. Often, the failure of the analysis technique to detect some information my mean that the time or space complexity of the generated code would be altered. Thus, it is important to precisely characterize the power of static analysis techniques. We follow the approach of Selur et. al. who studied the power of strictness analysis techniques. Their result can be summarized by saying 'strictness analysis is perfect up to variations in constants.' In other words, strictness analysis is as good as it could be, short of actually distinguishing between concrete values. We use this approach to characterize a broad class of analysis techniques based on abstract interpretation including, but not limited to, strictness analysis. For the first-order case, we consider abstract interpretations where the abstract domain for data values is totally ordered. This condition is satisfied by Mycroft's strictness analysis that of Sekar et. al. and Wadler's analysis of list-strictness. For such abstract interpretations, we show that the analysis is complete in the sense that, short of actually distinguishing between concrete values with the same abstraction, it gives the best possible information. We further generalize these results to typed lambda calculus with pairs and higher-order functions. Note that products and function spaces over totally ordered domains are not totally ordered. In fact, the notion of completeness used in the first-order case fails if product domains or function spaces are added. We formulate a weaker notion of completeness based on observability of values. Two values (including pairs and functions) are considered indistinguishable if their observable components are indistinguishable. We show that abstract interpretation of typed lambda calculus programs is complete up to this notion of indistinguishability. We use denotationally-oriented arguments instead of the detailed operational arguments used by Selur et. al.. Hence, our proofs are much simpler. They should be useful for further future improvements.

Reddy, Uday S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Optical Analysis of an Ultra-High resolution Two-Mirror Soft X-Ray Microscope

This work has summarized for a Schwarzschild microscope some relationships between numerical aperture (NA), magnification, diameter of the primary mirror, radius of curvature of the secondary mirror, and the total length of the microscope. To achieve resolutions better than a spherical Schwarzschild microscope of 3.3 Lambda for a perfectly aligned and fabricated system. it is necessary to use aspherical surfaces to control higher-order aberrations. For an NA of 0.35, the aspherical Head microscope provides diffraction limited resolution of 1.4 Lambda where the aspherical surfaces differ from the best fit spherical surface by approximately 1 micrometer. However, the angle of incidence varies significantly over the primary and the secondary mirrors, which will require graded multilayer coatings to operate near peak reflectivities. For higher numerical apertures, the variation of the angle of incidence over the secondary mirror surface becomes a serious problem which must be solved before multilayer coatings can be used for this application. Tolerance analysis of the spherical Schwarzschild microscope has shown that water window operations will require 2-3 times tighter tolerances to achieve a similar performance for operations with 130 A radiation. Surface contour errors have been shown to have a significant impact on the MTF and must be controlled to a peak-to-valley variation of 50-100 A and a frequency of 8 periods over the surface of a mirror.

Shealy, David L.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Theory of the Effects of Small Gravitational Levels on Droplet Gasification

A mathematical model taking into account small (and constant) gravitational levels is developed for vaporization of an isolated liquid droplet suspended in a stagnant atmosphere. A goal of the present analysis is to see how small gravitational levels affect droplet gasification characteristics. Attention is focused upon determining the effects on gas-phase phenomena. The conservation equations arc normalized and nondimensionalized, and a small parameter that accounts for the effects of gravity is identified. This parameter is the square of the inverse of a Froude number based on the gravitational acceleration, the droplet radius, and a characteristic gas-phase velocity at the droplet surface. Asymptotic analyses are developed in terms of this parameter. In the analyses, different spatial regions are identified. Near a droplet, gravitational effects are negligible in the first approximation, and the flowfield is spherically symmetric to the leading order. Analysis shows, however, that outer zones exist where gravitational effects cannot be neglected; it is expected that a stagnation point will be present in an outer zone that is not present when gravity is totally absent. The leading order and higher-order differential equations for each zone are derived and solved. The solutions allow the effects of gravity on vaporization rates and temperature, velocity and species fields to be determined.

Beitelmal, A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Handling Qualities Specifications for U.S. Military Helicopters

Inadequacies in the military specification for helicopter handling qualities, MIL-H-8501A, have long been recognized, and the latest procurements by the U.S. Army used special Prime Item Development Specifications (PIDS). This paper assesses the efficacy of these PIDS and suggests that changes should be made. In particular, the structure developed in MIL-F-8785B (ASG) (the specification for flying qualities of piloted airplanes) should be incorporated. Improved requirements must be based on a systematic data base and concentrated on topics most important in preliminary design: static and dynamic stability, control power and sensitivity, and interaction with controllers and displays. Emphasis should be on current military helicopter missions and helicopter idiosyncrasies such as cross-coupling, nonlinearities, and higher-order dynamics.

Key, David L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Analytic Sensitivities for Shape Optimization in Equivalent Plate Structural Wing Models

Equivalent plate modeling techniques based on Ritz analysis with simple polynomials prove to be efficient tools for structural modeling of wings in the preliminary design stage. Accuracy problems are encountered, however, when these models are used to obtain finite difference behavior sensitivities with respect to planform shape. The accuracy problems are associated with the poor numerical conditioning of static and eigenvalue equations. As higher-order polynomials are being used to Improve the analysis itself, the more sensitive is the finite difference derivative to the step size used. This article describes a formulation of wing equivalent plate modeling in which it is simple to obtain analytic, explicit expressions for stiffness and mass matrix elements without the need to perform numerical integration. This formulation leads naturally to analytic expressions for the derivatives of displacements, stresses, and natural frequencies with respect to shape design variables. This article examines the accuracy of finite difference derivatives compared with the analytic derivatives, and shows that In some cases it is impossible to obtain any information of value by finite differences. Analytic sensitivities, in this case, are still sufficiently accurate for design optimization.

Livne, Eli↗
NASA NTRS1991

A definition of the domains Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya in terms of small subunit ribosomal RNA characteristics

The number of small subunit rRNA sequences is now great enough that the three domains Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya (Woese et al., 1990) can be reliably defined in terms of their sequence "signatures". Approximately 50 homologous positions (or nucleotide pairs) in the small subunit rRNA characterize and distinguish among the three. In addition, the three can be recognized by a variety of nonhomologous rRNA characters, either individual positions and/or higher-order structural features. The Crenarchaeota and the Euryarchaeota, the two archaeal kingdoms, can also be defined and distinguished by their characteristic compositions at approximately fifteen positions in the small subunit rRNA molecule.

NASA Program Exobiology↗
NASA NTRS1992

Multiple-scattering effects in quasielastic alpha-4He scattering

A multiple-scattering series for describing the quasielastic peak in nucleus-nucleus collisions is derived using the high-energy optical model. The effects of multiple knockout of target nucleons and internal excitation of the projectile are studied and found to be important for large energy loss and momentum transfers in inclusive alpha-4He scattering at 7 GeV/c. An approximate evaluation of higher-order inelastic collision terms is considered for forward-peaked wave functions and is demonstrated to be accurate.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗