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At least 469 records · Page 26

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NASA NTRS1984

The adiabatic energy change of plasma electrons and the frame dependence of the cross-shock potential at collisionless magnetosonic shock waves

The adiabatic energy gain of electrons in the stationary electric and magnetic field structure of collisionless shock waves was examined analytically in reference to conditions of the earth's bow shock. The study was performed to characterize the behavior of electrons interacting with the cross-shock potential. A normal incidence frame (NIF) was adopted in order to calculate the reversible energy change across a time stationary shock, and comparisons were made with predictions made by the de Hoffman-Teller (HT) model (1950). The electron energy gain, about 20-50 eV, is demonstrated to be consistent with a 200-500 eV potential jump in the bow shock quasi-perpendicular geometry. The electrons lose energy working against the solar wind motional electric field. The reversible energy process is close to that modeled by HT, which predicts that the motional electric field vanishes and the electron energy gain from the electric potential is equated to the ion energy loss to the potential.

Goodrich, C. C.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Theoretical and experimental study of unsteady rotor/body aerodynamic interactions

A systematic study is made of the unsteady interactions between a rotor and a body in order to assess the degree of sophistication necessary to accurately predict the unsteady pressure signatures on a helicopter fuselage due to the rotor and its wake. Experimental measurements and theoretical calculations were both made in order to clarify the nature of the unsteady interactions and to define the limitations of potential flow theory in modeling the various phenomena. An attempt is made to accurately model the geometry of vortex/surface interactions as well as to include the appropriate unsteady terms in the analysis. Unsteady pressure measurements from a series of wind tunnel experiments are also provided. Such data has allowed new conlusions on the nature of body pressure signatures which are due to blade passage effects, close wake interactions, and wake inmpingement on the fuselage. It is also concluded that the flowfield about the body is highly unsteady and cannot be modeled without the inclusion of the unsteady terms in the calculation of the local surface pressures and that theoretical modeling is still possible over most of the flow field using an unsteady inviscid analysis.

Crouse, G. L.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Evaluation of Methods for Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Ionic Liquid Electric Double Layers

We investigate how systematically increasing the accuracy of various molecular dynamics modeling techniques influences the structure and capacitance of ionic liquid electric double layers (EDLs). The techniques probed concern long-range electrostatic interactions, electrode charging (constant charge versus constant potential conditions), and electrolyte polarizability. Our simulations are performed on a quasi-two-dimensional, or slab-like, model capacitor, which is composed of a polarizable ionic liquid electrolyte, [EMIM][BF4], interfaced between two graphite electrodes. To ensure an accurate representation of EDL differential capacitance, we derive new fluctuation formulas that resolve the differential capacitance as a function of electrode charge or electrode potential. The magnitude of differential capacitance shows sensitivity to different long-range electrostatic summation techniques, while the shape of differential capacitance is affected by charging technique and the polarizability of the electrolyte. For long-range summation techniques, errors in magnitude can be mitigated by employing two-dimensional or corrected three dimensional electrostatic summations, which lead to electric fields that conform to those of a classical electrostatic parallel plate capacitor. With respect to charging, the changes in shape are a result of ions in the Stern layer (i.e. ions at the electrode surface) having a higher electrostatic affinity to constant potential electrodes than to constant charge electrodes. For electrolyte polarizability, shape changes originate from induced dipoles that soften the interaction of Stern layer ions with the electrode. The softening is traced to ion correlations vertical to the electrode surface that induce dipoles that oppose double layer formation. In general, our analysis indicates an accuracy dependent differential capacitance profile that transitions from the characteristic camel shape with coarser representations to a more diffuse profile with finer representations.

Haskins, Justin B.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Ground correlation investigation of thruster spacecraft interactions to be measured on the IAPS flight test

Preliminary ground correlation testing has been conducted with an 8 cm mercury ion thruster and diagnostic instrumentation replicating to a large extent the IAPS flight test hardware, configuration, and electrical grounding/isolation. Thruster efflux deposition retained at 25 C was measured and characterized. Thruster ion efflux was characterized with retarding potential analyzers. Thruster-generated plasma currents, the spacecraft common (SCC) potential, and ambient plasma properties were evaluated with a spacecraft potential probe (SPP). All the measured thruster/spacecraft interactions or their IAPS measurements depend critically on the SCC potential, which can be controlled by a neutralizer ground switch and by the SPP operation.

Power, J. L.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Ground correlation investigation of thruster/spacecraft interactions to be measured on the IAPS flight test

Power, J. L.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Earth Systems Digital Twins (ESDT)

"Similarly to artificial intelligence, which is now revolutionizing many aspects of our daily lives, Earth system digital twin technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way Earth Science research will be conducted in the future, and how results and knowledge from this research will provide information to support decision making and yield impactful societal benefits. An Earth System Digital Twin or ESDT is a dynamic and interactive information system that first provides a digital replica of the past and current states of the Earth or Earth system as accurately and timely as possible; second, allows for computing forecasts of future states under nominal assumptions and based on the current replica; and third, offers the capability to investigate many hypothetical scenarios under varying impact assumptions. In other words, an ESDT provides the integrated What-Now, What-Next, and What-If pictures of the Earth or Earth system, by continuously ingesting newly observed data and by leveraging multiple interconnected models, machine learning as well advanced computing and visualization capabilities. Digital twins have been developed in engineering since 2002, but the interest in digital twins for the Earth domain is more recent and stems from the convergence of several developments: - The huge amount of diverse data that has now been collected continuously for more than 50 years, and that is becoming more and more difficult to access, understand, and utilize. - At the same time, because of climate change and its impacts the information produced by all of this data is becoming of interest to many new non-traditional users for analyzing and predicting various phenomena. - Because of advances in computational and visualization capabilities and the parallel unprecedented development of machine learning (ML), extracting relevant information from these large amounts of data and running complex models faster has become possible. As a result, it is becoming necessary and possible to build intuitive and interactive frameworks that will enable users with various skill levels and/or organizational hierarchy levels to easily access large amounts of targeted information along with the relevant tools and models (Earth system and human activity models), to support them in analyzing and visualizing this information, to help them understand interactions among models, to visualize the potential outcomes of various impacts, and to support decision or policy making. The full power of digital twins is that, through an integrated representation and standardized tools and software technologies, the same digital replica can address the needs of multiple users at various resolutions (spatial and temporal) and for various applications (science, economic, policy, etc.) – “from farmer to scientist”. With all these interests at stake, the challenges of building optimal digital twins are many and complex. The first challenge is to determine if a Digital Twin should be global or local, and multi-domain or thematic. For example, some domains such as Climate or Weather will require a global Digital Twin or Digital Twin capabilities while science areas such as Biodiversity might be more local. We can also envision that multiple thematic ESDTs, e.g., Air Quality, Wildfires, Hydrology could be federated or provide input to other ESDTs, either on a regional level or to a more global ESDT. Overall, we can imagine a future “web” of Digital Twins co-existing in a hierarchy or in a network, and capable of being connected or federated depending on the needs. This last point brings up the very important challenge of interoperability, including standards and protocols that will need to be built into these systems from the beginning. Each individual digital twin would have full flexibility in internal construction but would need standards-based interfaces (input and output) or hooks to make it compatible with others. Another challenge when building digital twins will be to decide how to organize each digital replica. Based on the applications targeted by the DT under implementation, various amounts and types of raw data, Analysis Ready Data (ARD) and information will need to be incorporated. Depending on the required latencies and needs of the users, various solutions can be considered, including Data Cubes, Data Lakes, pointers, or computing information on demand. We envision that each ESDT will choose a solution adapted to its specific objectives. Another important challenge is the type(s) of visualization that will be used, as well as the level of interactivity and refresh rate that will be required. Again, this will depend on the objectives of the ESDT, but also on the various users’ needs. In most cases, several types of visualizations and human interfaces will need to be offered depending on the projected users of that system. In parallel to the challenges highlighted above, there are also many tools and technologies that will need to be developed or improved for all types of digital twins. Among those are improved machine learning technologies, for example providing explainability, but also ML techniques for causality and providing a better integration of physics models. Additionally, reliable uncertainty quantification methods will be needed for all ESDT components, from validating data fusion and assimilation to assessing the accuracy of ML models and weighing the values of decisions supported by those systems. This presentation introduces the ESDT concept, presents several ESDT use cases, and a proposed ESDT architecture framework, as well as various technologies being developed by the Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program."

Earth Science Remote Sensing; Information Systems↗

NASA NTRS1990

A summary of the CHARGE-2 electron beam rocket experiment

The major purpose of the CHARGE-2 experiment was to study the interaction of a vehicle at high potential (up to 1 kV) with the ionosphere. The payload consisted of two parts that were separated during the flight. The high potential was obtained by electron emission from the mother vehicle, and by voltage-biasing of the daughter vehicle. Measurements of transient vehicle potential were obtained with a sample internal of 100 ns. The mother current collection exhibited magnetic limitations above 240 km. Below 240 km the mother collected a current far in excess of the magnetically limited models. This demonstrates the ability of an electron beam to interact with the neutral atmosphere at altitudes below 240 km.

Myers, Neil B.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Particle-in-cell simulations of sheath formation around biased interconnectors in a low-earth-orbit plasma

The interaction between satellite solar arrays and the LEO plasma is presently studied with particle-in-cell simulations in which an electrical potential was suddenly applied to the solar cell interconnector. The consequent temporal response was followed for the real O(+)-electron mass ratio in the cases of 100- and 250-V solar cells, various solar cell thicknesses, and solar cells with secondary electron emission. Larger applied potentials and thinner solar cells lead to greater initial polarization surface charges, and therefore longer discharging and shielding times. When secondary electron emission from the cover glass is brought to bear, however, the potential structure is nearly planar, allowing constant interaction between plasma electrons and cover glass; a large fraction of the resulting secondary electrons is collected by the interconnector, constituting an order-of-magnitude increase in collected current.

Thiemann, H.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Inverse transonic airfoil design including viscous interaction

A numerical technique was developed for the analysis of specified transonic airfoils or for the design of airfoils having a prescribed pressure distribution, including the effect of weak viscous interaction. The method uses the full potential equation, a stretched Cartesian coordinate system, and the Nash-MacDonald turbulent boundary layer method. Comparisons with experimental data for typical transonic airfoils show excellent agreement. An example shows the application of the method to design a thick aft-cambered airfoil, and the effects of viscous interaction on its performance are discussed.

Carlson, L. A.↗

NASA NTRS1978

The interaction between a magnetized plasma flow and a magnetized celestial body - A review of magnetospheric studies

Previous studies of solar-system magnetospheres are reviewed. Attention is given to the internal structure of the magnetospheres of earth and Mercury, the open structure of the terrestrial magnetosphere, aurorae, functions of the terrestrial magnetosphere, the disklike outer structure of Jupiter's magnetosphere, and the plasma processes involved in the development of a magnetospheric potential drop and electric field. The interaction between a turbulent magnetized plasma flow and a magnetosphere is discussed on the basis of studies of the solar-wind interaction with the terrestrial magnetosphere. A 'gathered' or folded magnetic equatorial plane is suggested for the sun, coronal holes are identified as the source region for fast solar-wind streams, and magnetic energy conversion processes of relevance to earth and the sun are considered. Two models of a magnetospheric substorm are examined, and difficulties encountered in understanding substorm processes are summarized.

Akasofu, S.-I.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Safety Analysis of FMS/CTAS Interactions During Aircraft Arrivals

This grant funded research on human-computer interaction design and analysis techniques, using future ATC environments as a testbed. The basic approach was to model the nominal behavior of both the automated and human procedures and then to apply safety analysis techniques to these models. Our previous modeling language, RSML, had been used to specify the system requirements for TCAS II for the FAA. Using the lessons learned from this experience, we designed a new modeling language that (among other things) incorporates features to assist in designing less error-prone human-computer interactions and interfaces and in detecting potential HCI problems, such as mode confusion. The new language, SpecTRM-RL, uses "intent" abstractions, based on Rasmussen's abstraction hierarchy, and includes both informal (English and graphical) specifications and formal, executable models for specifying various aspects of the system. One of the goals for our language was to highlight the system modes and mode changes to assist in identifying the potential for mode confusion. Three published papers resulted from this research. The first builds on the work of Degani on mode confusion to identify aspects of the system design that could lead to potential hazards. We defined and modeled modes differently than Degani and also defined design criteria for SpecTRM-RL models. Our design criteria include the Degani criteria but extend them to include more potential problems. In a second paper, Leveson and Palmer showed how the criteria for indirect mode transitions could be applied to a mode confusion problem found in several ASRS reports for the MD-88. In addition, we defined a visual task modeling language that can be used by system designers to model human-computer interaction. The visual models can be translated into SpecTRM-RL models, and then the SpecTRM-RL suite of analysis tools can be used to perform formal and informal safety analyses on the task model in isolation or integrated with the rest of the modeled system. We had hoped to be able to apply these modeling languages and analysis tools to a TAP air/ground trajectory negotiation scenario, but the development of the tools took more time than we anticipated.

Nancy G. Leveson↗

NASA NTRS1999

Cathodes Delivered for Space Station Plasma Contactor System

The International Space Station's (ISS) power system is designed with high-voltage solar arrays that typically operate at output voltages of 140 to 160 volts (V). The ISS grounding scheme electrically ties the habitat modules, structure, and radiators to the negative tap of the solar arrays. Without some active charge control method, this electrical configuration and the plasma current balance would cause the habitat modules, structure, and radiators to float to voltages as large as -120 V with respect to the ambient space plasma. With such large negative floating potentials, the ISS could have deleterious interactions with the space plasma. These interactions could include arcing through insulating surfaces and sputtering of conductive surfaces as ions are accelerated by the spacecraft plasma sheath. A plasma contactor system was baselined on the ISS to prevent arcing and sputtering. The sole requirement for the system is contained within a single directive (SSP 30000, paragraph 3.1.3.2.1.8): "The Space Station structure floating potential at all points on the Space Station shall be controlled to within 40 V of the ionospheric plasma potential using a plasma contactor." NASA is developing this plasma contactor as part of the ISS electrical power system. For ISS, efficient and rapid emission of high electron currents is required from the plasma contactor system under conditions of variable and uncertain current demand. A hollow cathode plasma source is well suited for this application and was, therefore, selected as the design approach for the station plasma contactor system. In addition to the plasma source, which is referred to as a hollow cathode assembly, or HCA, the plasma contactor system includes two other subsystems. These are the power electronics unit and the xenon gas feed system. The Rocketdyne Division of Boeing North American is responsible for the design, fabrication, assembly, test, and integration of the plasma contactor system. Because of technical and schedule considerations, the NASA Lewis Research Center was asked to manufacture and deliver the engineering model, the qualification model, and the flight HCA units for the plasma contactor system as government furnished equipment. To date, multiple units have been built. One cathode has demonstrated approximately 28 000-hr lifetime, two development HCA units have demonstrated over 15 000-hr lifetime, and one HCA unit has demonstrated more than 38 000 ignitions. All eight flight HCA's have been manufactured, acceptance tested, and are ready for delivery to the flight contractor.

Patterson, Michael J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Effects of leading and trailing edge flaps on the aerodynamics of airfoil/vortex interactions

A numerical procedure based on the unsteady 2D full potential equation is presently used to simulate the effects of leading-edge and trailing-edge flaps on the aerodynamics of airfoil-vortex interactions. Attention is given to unsteady flap-motion effects, which alleviate those interactions at sub- and supercritical onset flows. For subcritical interactions, the results obtained indicate that trailing-edge flaps can be used to alleviate the impulsive loads experienced by the airfoil; for supercritical interactions, a leading- rather than trailing-edge flap must be used to alleviate the interaction.

Hassan, Ahmed A.↗

NASA NTRS1987

High temperature transport properties of air

A general computer code was developed to allow calculation of atom-atom and ion-atom transport collision integrals from accurate potential energy curves described by a set of discrete data points for a broad range of scattering conditions. This code is based upon semiclassical approximations that properly account for quantum mechanical behavior such as tunneling effects near a barrier maximum, resonance charge exchange, and nuclear symmetry effects. Transport collision integrals were determined for N-N, O-O, N(+)-N, and O(+)-O interactions from complete sets of accurate potential functions derived from combined experimental and ab initio structure calculations. For the O-O case, this includes results for excited states. The calculated values of the N(+)-N and O(+)-O resonance charge exchange cross section Q(ex) agree well with measurements from beam experiment that are available at high energies where the diffusion cross section Q(d) satisfies Q(d) approximately equal to 2Q(ex).

Levin, E.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Adaptivity and smart algorithms for fluid-structure interaction

This paper reviews new approaches in CFD which have the potential for significantly increasing current capabilities of modeling complex flow phenomena and of treating difficult problems in fluid-structure interaction. These approaches are based on the notions of adaptive methods and smart algorithms, which use instantaneous measures of the quality and other features of the numerical flowfields as a basis for making changes in the structure of the computational grid and of algorithms designed to function on the grid. The application of these new techniques to several problem classes are addressed, including problems with moving boundaries, fluid-structure interaction in high-speed turbine flows, flow in domains with receding boundaries, and related problems.

Oden, J. Tinsley↗

NASA NTRS1992

Analysis of airframe/engine interactions for a STOVL aircraft with integrated flight/propulsion control

A multivariable analysis technique is used to evaluate the effects of the dynamic cross coupling between the airframe and engine subsystems in an advanced STOVL configuration. A critical frequency range is identified along with potentially poor stability robustness due to the airframe/engine interactions. Within the critical frequency range, stability and performance are found to be sensitive to variations in the coupling between the airframe's flight path angle and the engine's fuel flow rate. A stability sensitivity study indicates that the interactions between the flight path angle and the fuel flow rate are potentially the most critical with respect to stability and performance robustness.

Schierman, John D.↗

NASA NTRS2004

The North Pacific as a Regulator of Summertime Climate Over North America and the Asian Monsoon

The interannual variability of summertime rainfall over the U.S. may be linked to climate anomalies over Pacific and East Asia through teleconnection patterns that may be components of recurring global climate modes in boreal summer (Lau and Weng 2002). In this study, maintenance of the boreal summer teleconnection patterns is investigated. The particular focus is on the potential effects of North Pacific air-sea interaction on climate anomalies over the U.S. Observational data, reanalysis and outputs of a series of NASA NSIPP AGCM and AGCM coupled to NASA GSFC MLO model experiments are used. Statistical analysis of observations and NSIPP AMIP type simulations indicates that, the interannual variability of observed warm season precipitation over the U.S. is related to SST variation in both tropical and North Pacific, whereas the NSIPP AMIP simulated summertime US. precipitation variation mainly reflects impact of ENS0 in tropical Pacific. This implies the potential importance of air-sea interaction in North Pacific in contributing to the interannual variability of observed summer climate over the U.S. The anomalous atmospheric circulation associated with the dominant summertime teleconnection modes in both observations and NSIPP AMIP simulations are further diagnosed, using stationary wave modeling approach. In observations, for the two dominant modes, both anomalous diabatic heating and anomalous transients significantly contribute to the anomalous circulation. The distributions of the anomalous diabatic heating and transient forcing are quadrature configured over North Pacific and North America, so that both forcings act constructively to maintain the teleconnection patterns. The contrast between observations and NSIPP AMIP simulations from stationary wave modeling diagnosis confirms the previous conclusion based on statistical analysis. To better appreciate the role of extra-tropical air-sea interaction in maintaining the summertime teleconnection pattern, various dynamical and physical fields and their inter- linkage in the series of NSIPP AGCM and AGCM coupled to MLO model experiments are examined in-depth. Based on comparison between different model experiments, we will discuss the physical and dynamical mechanisms through which the air-sea interaction in extratropics, and transient mean flow interactions over the North Pacific, affects interannual variation of U.S. climate during boreal summer.

Lau, William K. M.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Interactive aircraft flight control and aeroelastic stabilization

The potential benefits and costs of optimizing both the structural stiffness and the active control of aircraft in a rational manner are investigated. The ultimate goal is to arrive at a unified treatment of structural and active control design for the stability augmentation of flexible aircraft. An exhaustive literature evaluation in the area of passive tailoring for aircraft performance is undertaken. A mathematical technique to be used for aeroservoelastic tailoring studies is described. Two analytical models, one elementary, the other sophisticated, are developed to illustrate the potential for aeroservoelastic tailoring. Both models have essential features of real world hardware, yet the physical understanding is not buried in a myriad of detail. These models are also described.

Weisshaar, T. A.↗