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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 NTRS1974

U.S. National Congress of Applied Mechanics, 7th, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., June 3-7, 1974, Proceedings

A series of experimental, theoretical, and review papers dealing with various aspects of applied mechanics, including structural analysis, mathematical methods, and fluid dynamics. Some of the topics covered are: the direct formulation of two-dimensional mechanics problems, the mechanical aspects of athletics, Laplace's tidal equations, cochlear mechanics, dynamic constitutive equations, optical techniques for the determination of displacement and strain fields, chemical and biochemical problems involving nonlinear diffusion processes, thermal stresses, the rotating rod viscometer, finite-element methods in plasticity, ships of minimum resistance, and wide-band random vibration of structures. Individual items are announced in this issue.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1975

Molecular fluxes from a spacecraft measured with quartz microbalances

A technique has been developed to obtain a characterization of the self-generated environment of a spacecraft and its variation with time, angular position, and distance. The density, pressure, outgassing flux, total weight loss, and other important parameters were obtained from data provided by two mass measuring crystal microbalances, mounted back to back, at a distance of 1 m from the spacecraft equivalent surface. The strongest source appeared to be caused by a material diffusion process which produced a directional density at 1 m distance of about 160 billion molecules per cu cm after 1 h in vacuum and decayed to 1.6 billion molecules per cu cm after 200 h. Self-contamination of the spacecraft was equivalent to that which occurs in a 300-km altitude orbit.

Scialdone, J. J.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Recirculation of energetic particles in Jupiter's magnetosphere

A significant new finding from analysis of Pioneer 11 observations in the magnetosphere of Jupiter is that there is net streaming of both electrons E above 40 keV and E above 560 keV and protons in the range from .61 to 3.41 MeV away from the planet along high-latitude field lines. This result is compatible with the recent suggestion of Nishida that energetic particles undergo trans-L shell diffusion at low altitudes without significant change of energy. This provides a plausible explanation for the remarkable pitch angle distributions near the equator in the range of L values from 12 to 25; the presence of particles of about 1 MeV energy at the outer edge of the magnetosphere; and hence, via conventional inward diffusion processes, the presence of those having magnetic moments of several hundred MeV per gauss in the inner magnetosphere. The recirculation of energetic particles emerges as an important dynamical feature of the Jovian magnetosphere.-

Sentman, D. D.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Observations of large transient magnetospheric electric fields

Transient electric field events were observed with the long, double probe instrumentation carried by the IMP-6 satellite. Nine, clearly defined, exceptionally large amplitude events are presented here. The events are observed in the midnight sector at geocentric distances 3.5 to .5.5 R sub e at middle latitudes within a magnetic L-shell range of 4.8 to 7.5. They usually have a total duration of one to several minutes, with peak power spectra amplitudes occurring at a frequency of about 0.3 Hz. The events occur under magnetically disturbed conditions, and in most cases they can be associated with negative dH/dt excursions at magnetic observatories located near the foot of the magnetic field line intersecting IMP-6. The magnetospheric motions calculated for these electric fields indicated a quasi-stochastical diffusive process rather than the general inward magnetospheric collapsing motion expected during the expansive phases of auroral substorm activity.

Aggson, T. L.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Diffusion in mixed solvents. III - The heat of mixing parameter and the Soret coefficient

New evidence is presented that for aqueous glycerol solutions, the Soret coefficient of glycerol, sigma sub 1 = D sub 1 T/D sub 1 (where D sub 1 T and D sub 1 are the thermal and self-diffusion coefficients, respectively, of glycerol in aqueous solutions), is an integral part of the heat of mixing parameter. Expressions are presented indicating the importance of the Soret coefficients to correlations for diffusion processes in glycerol water solvents.

Carapellucci, P. A.↗

NASA NTRS1977

An approximate method for design and analysis of an ALOHA system

An approximate method for the design and performance prediction of a multiaccess communication system which employs the ALOHA packet-switching technique is developed, based on the use of a diffusion process approximation of an ALOHA-like system (with or without time-slotting). A simple closed-form solution for the variable Q(t), a variant of the number of backlog messages at time t, is given in terms of a few system and user parameters. Final results are expressed in terms of ordinary performance measures such as throughput and average delay. Several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the usefulness of the approximation technique developed.

Kobayashi, H.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Preignition reactions of AP-HTPB propellants studied by IR spectrometry

IR absorption spectrometry was used to follow the disappearance of NH and CH bonds during the pyrolysis of a polymer film containing 30 weight percent ammonium perchlorate (AP). The remaining 70 weight percent consisted of a mixture of 92.5 weight percent hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and 7.5 weight percent isophrone diisocyanate (IPDI). The results indicate that polymer decomposition is induced by products of AP decomposition, and that about 2.5 CH bonds disappear for each NH bond that disappears. The diffusion process occurring in the later stages of the reaction is analyzed in an attempt to account for the unexpectedly low activation energy.

Law, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Al-26 in stony meteorites with gas losses

The Al-26 content of a group of stony meteorites with low levels of He-3 (implying outgassing caused by near approach to the sun) was analyzed in a test of the possible role of cosmic radiation in determining the radionuclide concentration of meteorites. The Al-26 contents of the meteorites with He-3 losses were found to be indistinguishable from the Al-26 contents of L- and H-chondrites. It is concluded that if the He-3 outgassing occurred near the sun, the flux of particles producing Al-26 must have been nearly normal, or the diffusion process must have taken place very rapidly.

Herzog, G. F.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Observations of large transient magnetospheric electric fields

Transient electric field events were studied by means of the long double-probe instrumentation carried by the Imp 6 satellite, and nine clearly defined exceptionally large amplitude events are described. The events were observed in the midnight sector at geocentric distances of 3.5 to 5.5 earth radii at middle latitudes within a magnetic L shell range of 4.8 to 7.5; the duration is from one to several minutes with peak power spectra amplitudes occurring at a frequency of about 0.3 Hz. The events occur under magnetically disturbed conditions and are often associated with negative dH/dt excursions. The magnetospheric motions calculated for these electric fields indicate a quasi-stochastical diffusive process rather than the general inward magnetospheric collapsing motion expected during the expansive phases of auroral substorm activity. It is likely that the transient electric fields are responsible for the impulsive acceleration and injection of plasma to populate the outer radiation belt.

Aggson, T. L.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Single-, two-, and three-phase binary-alloy systems

Series of three computer programs solves one-dimensional transient diffusion problems in single-and multiphase binary-alloy systems. Accurate understanding of diffusion process in binary-alloy system is important for development of metal matrix composites, some protective coatings, and thin-film technology.

Tenney, D. R.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Planetary ionospheres

An analogy is drawn between the Eath's ionosphere and the existence of ionospheres around other planets or natural satellites. An ionosphere is defined as a series of layers (D, E, E1, F2) and their characteristics are discussed. Emphasis is on the role of solar wind impacting with the potential ionosphere and the subsequent chemical and diffusion processes that can be observed. Data from the MARINER and PIONEER space programs are cited concerning measured electron density and ionospheric refractivity of extraterrestrial ionospheres, then an attempt is made to model these atmospheres based on Earth ionosphere theory.

Bauer, S. J.↗

NASA NTRS1980

A spectroscopic study of intermediates in the condensation of refractory smokes: Matrix isolation experiments SiO

The infrared and Raman spectra of N2 matrix isolated silicon oxides are investigated. The vibrational frequencies of SiO, Si2O2, and Si3O3 were identified and assigned on the basis of normal coordinate analyses. Heating the solid to 50 K (evaporating the matrix) leaves a residue whose infrared spectrum is identical to that of a smoke condensed at ambient temperatures. Further heating of the sample to 500 K leads to significant changes in the band shapes. Investigations of the infrared spectra at several stages of the diffusion process result in the proposal of a mechanism for the transition from molecular properties to those of the residue (bulk) material, which is characterized as Si2O3.

Khanna, R. K.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Ultraviolet spectrum synthesis of the helium white dwarf Ross 640

The UV spectrum of the He-rich white dwarf Ross 640 was used to derive Mg, Si, and Fe abundances by a spectrum synthesis technique. The values obtained were: Mg/He = 6.8 x 10 to the -8th; Si/He = 3.2 x 10 to the -8th; Ca/He = 7.6 x 10 to the -10th; and Fe/He = 2.0 x 10 to the -9th. The abundances indicate the operation of diffusion processes within a helium-rich atmosphere, provided some mechanism exists to deposit metals in the observable layers.

Cottrell, P. L.↗

NASA NTRS1981

A spectroscopic study of intermediates in the condensation of refractory smokes - Matrix isolation experiments of SiO

The infrared and Raman spectra of N2 matrix-isolated silicon oxides were investigated. The vibrational frequencies of SiO, Si2O2, and Si3O3 were identified and assigned on the basis of normal coordinate analyses. Heating the solid to approximately 50 K (evaporating the matrix) leaves a residue whose infrared spectrum is identical to that of a smoke condensed at ambient temperatures. Further heating of the sample to approximately 500 K leads to significant changes in the band shapes. Investigations of the infrared spectra at several stages of the diffusion process enable a mechanism to be proposed for the transition from molecular properties to those of the residue (bulk) material, which has been characterized as Si2O3.

Khanna, R. K.↗

NASA NTRS1981

An advective model for two-dimensional transport of stratospheric trace species

A parameterization of two-dimensional transport is applied to photochemical models of stratospheric trace species. It is shown that in a first approximation, tracer transport in the meridional plane may be treated as an advective rather than a diffusive process. The concept of residual mean meridional circulation (Andrews and McIntyre, 1976; Boyd, 1976) is used in the model and shown to be a modified Eulerian mean, a good approximation to the Lagrangian mean motion. A simple example in which the equilibrium distribution is computed for a tracer with a uniform tropospheric source and a stratospheric sink proportional to the local mixing ratio demonstrates the potential of the proposed parameterization. The resulting distribution is found to agree qualitatively with the observed stratospheric distribution of trace species whose sources are in the troposphere.

Holton, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Large sounding rockets as a base for probing the distant magnetosphere

The Echo program's use of large sounding rockets to inject electron beams into the outer trapping region where the earth's plasma sheet interacts with the inner magnetosphere is discussed. The beams pass through the plasma sheet and the trapping region, reflect at the southern hemisphere conjugate point and return to the vicinity of the rocket where they are detected and analyzed for acceleration and diffusion processes which may also be responsible for the radiation belts. The motion of electron beams in the magnetosphere is discussed from the standpoint of single particle motion, and the trajectories of electrons injected with known energy, known angle between the electron velocity vector and the local magnetic field vector, and known position are examined. The interaction between the rocket motion and the electron drift motion is described, and the advantages and drawbacks of beam detection by optical methods and by throwaway detectors are compared. Planned Echo experiments using the Space Shuttle are discussed

Winckler, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Analytical modeling of operating characteristics of premixing-prevaporizing fuel-air mixing passages. Volume 1: Analysis and results

A model for predicting the distribution of liquid fuel droplets and fuel vapor in premixing-prevaporizing fuel-air mixing passages of the direct injection type is reported. This model consists of three computer programs; a calculation of the two dimensional or axisymmetric air flow field neglecting the effects of fuel; a calculation of the three dimensional fuel droplet trajectories and evaporation rates in a known, moving air flow; a calculation of fuel vapor diffusing into a moving three dimensional air flow with source terms dependent on the droplet evaporation rates. The fuel droplets are treated as individual particle classes each satisfying Newton's law, a heat transfer, and a mass transfer equation. This fuel droplet model treats multicomponent fuels and incorporates the physics required for the treatment of elastic droplet collisions, droplet shattering, droplet coalescence and droplet wall interactions. The vapor diffusion calculation treats three dimensional, gas phase, turbulent diffusion processes. The analysis includes a model for the autoignition of the fuel air mixture based upon the rate of formation of an important intermediate chemical species during the preignition period.

Anderson, O. L.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Analytical Modeling of Operating Characteristics of Premixing-prevaporizing Fuel-air Mixing Passages

A model for predicting the distribution of liquid fuel droplets and fuel vapor in premixing-prevaporizing fuel-air mixing passages of the direct injection type is described. This model consists of three computer programs: a calculation of the two dimensional or axisymmetric air flow field neglecting the effects of fuel; a calculation of the three dimensional fuel droplet trajectories and evaporation rates in a known, moving air flow; and a calculation of fuel vapor diffusing into a moving three dimensional air flow with source terms dependent on the droplet evaporation rates. The air flow calculation can treat compressible swirling flows in arbitrary ducts with arbitrary distributions of temperature and velocity as initial conditions. The fuel droplets are treated as initial conditions. The fuel droplets are treated as individual particle classes each satisfying Newton's law, a heat transfer, and a mass transfer equation. The vapor diffusion calculation treats three dimensional, gas phase, turbulent diffusion processes with the turbulence level determined by the air flow calculations and the source terms determined by the droplet evaporation rates.

Anderson, O. L.↗