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Some of the major questions concerning the reentry and breakup of the STS-31 external tank (ET), which had a deactivated tumble valve, are addressed. The time of breakup, the altitude, and the geographic location of the ET at breakup were determined. The tumble rate was estimated to be between 8.59 deg and 8.84 deg/s. The ET broke up into at least 50 pieces 7 s after initial rupture.
In this article we review recent results on the breakup of cylindrical jets of a Newtonian fluid. Capillary forces provide the main driving mechanism and our interest is in the description of the flow as the jet pinches to form drops. The approach is to describe such topological singularities by constructing local (in time and space) similarity solutions from the governing equations. This is described for breakup according to the Euler, Stokes or Navier-Stokes equations. It is found that slender jet theories can be applied when viscosity is present, but for inviscid jets the local shape of the jet at breakup is most likely of a non-slender geometry. Systems of one-dimensional models of the governing equations are solved numerically in order to illustrate these differences.
The breakup of a Pegasus hydrazine auxiliary propulsion system in June 1996, officially recognized as the worst satellite breakup in terms of cataloged debris, is considered. The fragmentation event is analyzed and it is discussed how these debris contribute to the current and future near earth space environment. The low altitude of the breakup and the large range of ejection velocities present concerns for other earth orbiting space vehicles, especially the Space Shuttle and the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition to orbit data collected by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, observations were conducted with ground-based radar observatories. These observations show that the overabundance of debris is not limited to the trackable population, but also extends down to debris with sizes of less than 1 cm. Attempts to detect the debris with optical sensors were less successful.
In February 2007 dedicated observations were made of the orbital space predicted to contain debris from the breakup of the Titan 3C-4 transtage back on February 21, 1992. These observations were carried out on the Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope (MODEST) in Chile with its 1.3deg field of view. The search region or orbital space (inclination and right ascension of the ascending node (RAAN) was predicted using NASA#s LEGEND (LEO-to-GEO Environment Debris) code to generate a Titan debris cloud. Breakup fragments are created based on the NASA Standard Breakup Model (including fragment size, area-to-mass (A/M), and delta-V distributions). Once fragments are created, they are propagated forward in time with a subroutine GEOPROP. Perturbations included in GEOPROP are those due to solar/lunar gravity, radiation pressure, and major geopotential terms. Barker, et. al, (AMOS Conference Proceedings, 2006, pp. 596-604) used similar LEGEND predictions to correlate survey observations made by MODEST (February 2002) and found several possible night-to-night correlations in the limited survey dataset. One conc lusion of the survey search was to dedicate a MODEST run to observing a GEO region predicted to contain debris fragments and actual Titan debris objects (SSN 25000, 25001 and 30000). Such a dedicated run was undertaken with MODEST between February 17 and 23, 2007 (UT dates). MODEST#s limiting magnitude of 18.0 (S\N approx.10) corresponds to a size of 22cm assuming a diffuse Lambertian albedo of 0.2. However, based on observed break-up data, we expect most debris fragments to be smaller than 22cm which implies a need to increase the effective sensitivity of MODEST for smaller objects. MODEST#s limiting size can be lowered by increasing the exposure time (20 instead of 5 seconds) and applying special image processing. The special processing combines individual CCD images to detect faint objects that are invisible on a single CCD image. Sub-images are cropped from six consecutive CCD images with pixel shifts between images being consistent with the predicted movement of a Titan object. A median image of all the sub-images is then created leaving only those objects with the proper Titan motion. Limiting the median image in this manner brings the needed computer time to process all images taken on one night down to about 50 hours of CPU time.
This work presents the results of an experimental study on droplet deformation and breakup near the leading edge of an airfoil. The experiment was conducted in the rotating rig test cell at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (INTA) in Madrid, Spain. An airfoil model placed at the end of the rotating arm was moved at speeds of 50 to 90 m/sec. A monosize droplet generator was employed to produce droplets that were allowed to fall from above, perpendicular to the path of the airfoil at a given location. High speed imaging was employed to observe the interaction between the droplets and the airfoil. The high speed imaging allowed observation of droplet deformation and breakup as the droplet approached the airfoil near the stagnation line. A tracking software program was used to measure from the high speed movies the horizontal and vertical displacement of the droplet against time. The velocity, acceleration, Weber number, Bond number, Reynolds number, and the drag coefficients were calculated along the path of a given droplet from beginning of deformation to breakup and/or hitting the airfoil. Results are presented for droplets with a diameter of 490 micrometers at airfoil speeds of 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 m/sec
The Droplet Deformation and Breakup Model was used to predict deformation of droplets approaching the leading edge stagnation line of an airfoil. The quasi-steady model was solved for each position along the droplet path. A program was developed to solve the non-linear, second order, ordinary differential equation that governs the model. A fourth order Runge-Kutta method was used to solve the equation. Experimental slip velocities from droplet breakup studies were used as input to the model which required slip velocity along the particle path. The center of mass displacement predictions were compared to the experimental measurements from the droplet breakup studies for droplets with radii in the range of 200 to 700 mm approaching the airfoil at 50 and 90 m/sec. The model predictions were good for the displacement of the center of mass for small and medium sized droplets. For larger droplets the model predictions did not agree with the experimental results.
The NASA breakup model prediction was close to the observed population for catalog objects. The NASA breakup model predicted a larger population than was observed for objects under 10 cm. The stare technique produces low observation counts, but is readily comparable to model predictions. Customized stare parameters (Az, El, Range) were effective to increase the opportunities for HAX to observe the debris cloud. Other techniques to increase observation count will be considered for future breakup events.
To replicate a hyper-velocity fragmentation event using modern-day spacecraft materials and construction techniques to better improve the existing DoD and NASA breakup models: DebriSat is intended to be representative of modern LEO satellites. Major design decisions were reviewed and approved by Aerospace subject matter experts from different disciplines. DebriSat includes 7 major subsystems. Attitude determination and control system (ADCS), command and data handling (C&DH), electrical power system (EPS), payload, propulsion, telemetry tracking and command (TT&C), and thermal management. To reduce cost, most components are emulated based on existing design of flight hardware and fabricated with the same materials. center dotA key laboratory-based test, Satellite Orbital debris Characterization Impact Test (SOCIT), supporting the development of the DoD and NASA satellite breakup models was conducted at AEDC in 1992. Breakup models based on SOCIT have supported many applications and matched on-orbit events reasonably well over the years.
Existing DOD and NASA satellite breakup models are based on a key laboratory test, the 1992 Satellite Orbital debris Characterization Impact Test, which has supported many applications and matched on-orbit events involving older satellite designs reasonably well over the years. In 2014, the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, in collaboration with the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, The Aerospace Corporation, and the University of Florida, conducted a hypervelocity impact test using a high-fidelity, mock-up satellite, DebriSat, in controlled and instrumented laboratory conditions to update and improve these models. DebriSat is representative of present-day, low Earth orbit satellites, having been constructed with modern spacecraft materials and techniques. The DebriSat fragment ensemble provided a variety of shapes, bulk densities, and dimensions. Fragments down to 2 mm in size are being characterized by their physical and derived properties. The data will inform updates to the current NASA Standard Satellite Breakup Model (SSBM), which was formulated using laboratory and ground-based measurements of on-orbit fragmentation events to describe an average breakup for spacecraft and upper-stage collisions and explosions. Although individual fragment collection and characterization is still ongoing, this paper will present the status of the DebriSat fragment data analysis including cumulative characteristic length and cumulative mass distributions, area-to-mass distributions, and characteristic length versus mass distributions. Additionally, comparisons to the NASA SSBM will be presented.
The equations for the stresses in a homogeneous shell of uniform thickness caused by a shift of the axis of rotation are derived. The magnitude of these stresses reaches a maximum value of the order of 10 to the 9th power dyn/sq cm, which is sufficient for explaining a tectonic breakup. In order to deduce the fracture pattern according to which the breakup of tectonic plates can be expected the theory of plastic deformation of shells is applied. The analysis of this pattern gives an explanation of the existing boundary systems of the major tectonic plates as described by Morgan (1968), LePichon (1968) and Isacks et al. (1968).
Jeffreys (1947) estimated the size of fragments resulting from breakup of a satellite inside the Roche limit, obtaining a result of about 100 km. This result does not allow for the further breakup of the fragments due to collisions among themselves, which should reduce the maximum size to less than about 3 km for rock, or less than about 1 km for ice. This result affects not only Jeffreys' speculations as to the origin of Saturn's rings, but also recent speculations on the origin of the moon by capture and the possible tidal destruction of satellites of Mercury or Venus.
Experiments have been performed to determine the influence of a moving airstream on jet and drop breakup of fuel containing small concentrations of antimisting polymers. This study was motivated by the needs to inhibit the ignition of fuel during a survivable aircraft crash landing. High speed motion pictures of initial deformation rates and instant pictures of initial deformation rates and instant pictures of the drop breakup suggest that the enormous resistance to the sudden deformation of fuel containing antimisting polymer is related to the development of high tensile viscosity, even though the shear viscosity is not markedly affected. Study of a pendant drop fiber was undertaken to determine this tensile viscosity of antimisting fuel as a function of temperature and of polymer concentration.
This paper investigates the physics of meteoroid breakup in the atmosphere and its implications for the observed features of strewn fields. There are several effects which cause dispersion of the meteoroid fragments: gravity, differential lift of the fragments, bow shock interaction just after breakup, centripetal separation by a rotating meteroid, and possibly a dynamical transverse separation resulting from the crushing deceleration in the atmosphere. Of these, it is shown that gravity alone can produce the common pattern in which the largest crater occurs at the downrange end of the scatter ellipse. The average lift-to-drag ratio of the tumbling fragments must be less than about 0.001, otherwise small fragments would produce small craters downrange of the main crater, and this is not generally observed. The cross-range dispersion is probably due to the combined effects of bow shock interaction, crushing deceleration, and possibly spinning of the meteoroid. A number of terrestrial strewn fields are discussed in the light of these ideas, which are formulated quantitatively for a range of meteoroid velocities, entry angles, and crushing strengths. It is found that when the crater size exceeds about 1 km, the separation between the fragments upon landing is a fraction of their own diameter, so that the crater formed by such a fragmented meteoroid is almost indistinguishable from that formed by a solid body of the same total mass and velocity.
Empirical correlations of reciprocal mean drop diameter with airstream momentum were derived from capillary and acceleration wave breakup of liquid jets atomized by cross stream injection into axial flow airstreams. A scanning radiometer was used to obtain data over an airstream momentum range of 3.7 to 25.7 g/sq cm sec. Transition from capillary to acceleration wave breakup was obtained at a critical Weber-Reynolds number of 1,000,000.
Attention is confined to the extremely narrow auroral structures whose characteristic dimensions perpendicular to the magnetic fields are of the order of several hundred meters or even less. The starting point of the model used here is the assumption that discrete breakup arcs are caused by a change in the magnetosphere convection pattern that is localized in space. Particular attention is given to the shear Alfven mode. It is proposed that discrete breakup arcs are a direct manifestation of kinetic interaction between charged particles and an 'mhd' perturbation. It is stressed that the model applies only to narrow structures (thickness of the order of the plasma skin depth) and to short-lived phenomena (time scales shorter than a dispersion time). It is shown that a change of convection pattern in a spatially limited region leads to the emission of a shear-Alfven wave packet which propagates along the magnetic field line with a characteristic velocity.
Aerodynamic stresses are large enough to crush large meteoriods entering the earth's atmosphere. The fragments are dispersed after breakup, changing the shape and effective density of the meteoroid. This decreases the depth of penetration of the meteoroid when it strikes the ground and may influence the size and morphology of the resulting impact crater. This paper shows that meteoroids up to a kilometer in diameter may be significantly affected by this process when they enter the earth's atmosphere. Meteoroids up to ten kilometers in diameter are affected on Venus. The degree of fragment dispersion is independent of the meteoroid's velocity or altitude of breakup (if it is higher than about three scale heights); it depends mainly upon the meteoroid's initial diameter and the angle of atmospheric entry.
The breakup behavior and flammability of antimisting turbine fuels subjected to aerodynamic shear are investigated. Fuels tested were Jet A containing 0.3% FM-9 polymer at various levels of degradation ranging from virgin AMK to neat Jet A. The misting behavior of the fuels was quantified by droplet size distribution measurements. A technique based on high resolution laser photography and digital image processing of photographic records for rapid determination of droplet size distribution was developed. The flammability of flowing droplet-air mixtures was quantified by direct measurements of temperature rise in a flame established in the wake of a continuous ignition source. The temperature rise measurements were correlated with droplet size measurements. The flame anchoring phenomenon associated with the breakup of a liquid fuel in the wake of bluff body was shown to be important in the context of a survivable crash scenario. A pass/fail criterion for flammability testing of antimisting fuels, based on this flame-anchoring phenomenon, was proposed. The role of various ignition sources and their intensity in ignition and post-ignition behavior of antimisting fuels was also investigated.
The purpose of this study is to quantify the observations of the polar vortex breakup. The data used in this study consist of Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) data, and National Meteorological Center (NMC) analyses. The final warming is diagnosed using the difference between zonal means at 80 degrees and 50 degrees S for temperature, ozone, and layer mean temperature. The polar vortex breakup can also be diagnosed by the onset of weak zonal mean zonal winds (i.e., u, overbar denotes a zonal average) at 60 degrees S. Computations of the polar vortex breakdown date using NMC meteorological data and TOMS total ozone data indicate that the breakdown is occurring later in the spring in the lowest portion of the stratosphere. At altitudes above 100 mb, the large interannual variance of the breakdown date renders any trend determination of the breakdown date difficult. Individual plots of TOMS total ozone indicate that the total ozone minimum remains intact for a longer period of time than is observed in earlier years.