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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 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

The neutral E region zonal winds during intense postmidnight diffuse aurora - Response to observed particle fluxes

Zonal winds associated with diffuse auroras were simulated using observed fluxes of electron precipitation and a high-resolution time-dependent numerical model described by Waltershcheid et al. (1985). A very strong dynamically unstable E region jet is simulated for an electric field of 50 mV/m, and the results suggest a connection with omega band. These zonal winds are not as strong as those reported by Lyons and Walterscheid (1985), but are much stronger (by a factor of 3 or greater) than the E region winds simulated by Fuller-Rowell (1985). The effects of large-scale cross-arc winds were simulated to evaluate their effect; it is shown that strong cross-arc winds are required to prevent the formation of a strong E zonal jet. The results agree qualitatively with radar observations of zonal winds by Johnson et al. (1987).

Walterscheid, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Modeling arcjet space thrusters

The UTSI arcjet model is used to compare the performance of a hydrogen and an ammonia arcjet in the same configuration and at the same electrical power. The predicted specific impulse is 50 percent higher for the hydrogen propellant. Numerical studies made of the effect of transport properties on the performance of a hydrogen arcjet indicate that diffusive transport is very significant even in the supersonic part of the flow, and that relatively small changes in transport properties can have a significant effect on performance. These studies also show that nonequilibrium recombination chemistry can have a large effect on the transport coefficients. This leads to the conclusion that finite rate chemical calculations are necessary if accurate arcjet performance is to be calculated.

Rhodes, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1991

Deuterium and hydrogen flows in the thermosphere

Processes that affect vertical distributions and flows of deuterium and hydrogen between 100 and 500 km in the daytime thermosphere are investigated using a steady state numerical model that includes HD and H2 molecular flows, relevant chemistry, and transport by both molecular and eddy diffusion. The results of calculations indicate that the outward thermospheric fuxes and, hence, the planetary loss rates for D must be large compared to evaporative escape (as is also the case for H), confirming the suggestion of Breig et al. (1987). Results of measurements of H in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and of H and D in the thermosphere were used to derive upward fluxes through the daytime thermosphere, showing that the upward fluxes exceeded the corresponding Jeans evaporative escape rates by factors of about 5 for H, and greater than 500 for D.

Breig, E. L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Steady induction effects in geomagnetism. Part 1A: Steady motional induction of geomagnetic chaos

Geomagnetic effects of magnetic induction by hypothetically steady fluid motion and steady magnetic flux diffusion near the top of Earth's core are investigated using electromagnetic theory, simple magnetic earth models, and numerical experiments with geomagnetic field models. The problem of estimating a steady fluid velocity field near the top of Earth's core which induces the secular variation indicated by broad-scale models of the observed geomagnetic field is examined and solved. In Part 1, the steady surficial core flow estimation problem is solved in the context of the source-free mantle/frozen-flux core model. In the first paper (IA), the theory underlying such estimates is reviewed and some consequences of various kinematic and dynamic flow hypotheses are derived. For a frozen-flux core, fluid downwelling is required to change the mean square normal magnetic flux density averaged over the core-mantle boundary. For surficially geostrophic flow, downwelling implies poleward flow. The solution of the forward steady motional induction problem at the surface of a frozen-flux core is derived and found to be a fine, easily visualized example of deterministic chaos. Geomagnetic effects of statistically steady core surface flow may well dominate secular variation over several decades. Indeed, effects of persistent, if not steady, surficially geostrophic core flow are described which may help explain certain features of the present broad-scale geomagnetic field and perhaps paleomagnetic secular variation.

Voorhies, Coerte V.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Extinguishment of a Diffusion Flame Over a PMMA Cylinder by Depressurization in Reduced-Gravity

Extinction of a diffusion flame burning over horizontal PMMA (Polymethyl methacrylate) cylinders in low-gravity was examined experimentally and via numerical simulations. Low-gravity conditions were obtained using the NASA Lewis Research Center's reduced-gravity aircraft. The effects of velocity and pressure on the visible flame were examined. The flammability of the burning solid was examined as a function of pressure and the solid-phase centerline temperature. As the solid temperature increased, the extinction pressure decreased, and with a centerline temperature of 525 K, the flame was sustained to 0.1 atmospheres before extinguishing. The numerical simulation iteratively coupled a two-dimensional quasi-steady, gas-phase model with a transient solid-phase model which included conductive heat transfer and surface regression. This model employed an energy balance at the gas/solid interface that included the energy conducted by the gas-phase to the gas/solid interface, Arrhenius pyrolysis kinetics, surface radiation, and the energy conducted into the solid. The ratio of the solid and gas-phase conductive fluxes Phi was a boundary condition for the gas-phase model at the solid-surface. Initial simulations modeled conditions similar to the low-gravity experiments and predicted low-pressure extinction limits consistent with the experimental limits. Other simulations examined the effects of velocity, depressurization rate and Phi on extinction.

Goldmeer, Jeffrey Scott↗
NASA NTRS1997

Transport Phenomena During Equiaxed Solidification of Alloys

Recent progress in modeling of transport phenomena during dendritic alloy solidification is reviewed. Starting from the basic theorems of volume averaging, a general multiphase modeling framework is outlined. This framework allows for the incorporation of a variety of microscale phenomena in the macroscopic transport equations. For the case of diffusion dominated solidification, a simplified set of model equations is examined in detail and validated through comparisons with numerous experimental data for both columnar and equiaxed dendritic growth. This provides a critical assessment of the various model assumptions. Models that include melt flow and solid phase transport are also discussed, although their validation is still at an early stage. Several numerical results are presented that illustrate some of the profound effects of convective transport on the final compositional and structural characteristics of a solidified part. Important issues that deserve continuing attention are identified.

Beckermann, C.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Radiative Smoothing in Clouds at Transparent and Absorbing Wavelengths

For absorbing and transparent wavelengths, we discuss the effect of horizontal solar radiative fluxes in clouds on the accuracy of a conventional plane-parallel radiative transfer calculations for a single pixel, known as the Independent Pixel Approximation (IPA). We address the question of correlations between horizontal fluxes, IPA accuracies and radiative smoothing. By smoothing we understand a radiative transfer process whereby radiation does not follow the small-scale fluctuations of cloud structure, producing much smoother radiation fields. The scale eta that characterizes this process is called "radiative smoothing scale." We relate radiative smoothing to the photon's horizontal displacement that characterizes a "spot" of reflected light associated with a point source. We generalize the "spot-size" estimate derived for conservative scattering using the diffusion theory to the case of non-conservative scattering. For reflected light, theoretical results are confirmed with numerical simulations. The radiative smoothing scale eta is a critical value where IPA effectively breaks down; for scales smaller than TI, real radiation field are much smoother than their IPA counterparts for the same cloud structure. In addition to the estimate of il for absorbing wavelengths, we show that: (1) with more absorption, the scale break determined by eta in a log-log plot of wavenumber spectra moves towards smaller scales and (2) the smaller eta the flatter the small-scale slope which means less radiative smoothing, thus more accuracy in the IPA reflection.

Marshak, A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Badhwar-O'Neill 2014 Galactic Cosmic Ray Flux Model Description

The Badhwar-O'Neill (BON) Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) model is based on GCR measurements from particle detectors. The model has mainly been used by NASA to certify microelectronic systems and the analysis of radiation health risks to astronauts in space missions. The BON14 model numerically solves the Fokker-Planck differential equation to account for particle transport in the heliosphere due to diffusion, convection, and adiabatic deceleration under the assumption of a spherically symmetric heliosphere. The model also incorporates an empirical time delay function to account for the lag of the solar activity to reach the boundary of the heliosphere. This technical paper describes the most recent improvements in parameter fits to the BON model (BON14). Using a comprehensive measurement database, it is shown that BON14 is significantly improved over the previous version, BON11.

O'Neill, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS2015

NASA Galactic Cosmic Radiation Environment Model: Badhwar - O'Neill (2014)

The Badhwar-O'Neill (BON) Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) flux model has been used by NASA to certify microelectronic systems and in the analysis of radiation health risks for human space flight missions. Of special interest to NASA is the kinetic energy region below 4.0 GeV/n due to the fact that exposure from GCR behind shielding (e.g., inside a space vehicle) is heavily influenced by the GCR particles from this energy domain. The BON model numerically solves the Fokker-Planck differential equation to account for particle transport in the heliosphere due to diffusion, convection, and adiabatic deceleration under the assumption of a spherically symmetric heliosphere. The model utilizes a comprehensive database of GCR measurements from various particle detectors to determine boundary conditions. By using an updated GCR database and improved model fit parameters, the new BON model (BON14) is significantly improved over the previous BON models for describing the GCR radiation environment of interest to human space flight.

Golge, S.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Budget of Turbulent Kinetic Energy in a Shock Wave Boundary-Layer Interaction

Implicit large-eddy simulation (ILES) of a shock wave/boundary-layer interaction (SBLI) was performed. Quantities present in the exact equation of the turbulent kinetic energy transport were accumulated and used to calculate terms like production, dissipation, molecular diffusion, and turbulent transport. The present results for a turbulent boundary layer were validated by comparison with direct numerical simulation data. It was found that a longer development domain was necessary for the boundary layer to reach an equilibrium state and a finer mesh resolution would improve the predictions. In spite of these findings, trends of the present budget match closely with that of the direct numerical simulation. Budgets for the SBLI region are presented at key axial stations. These budgets showed interesting dynamics as the incoming boundary layer transforms and the terms of the turbulent kinetic energy budget change behavior within the interaction region.

shock wave/boundary-layer interaction↗
NASA NTRS2012

The Extended Pulsar Magnetosphere

We present the structure of the 3D ideal MHD pulsar magnetosphere to a radius ten times that of the light cylinder, a distance about an order of magnitude larger than any previous such numerical treatment. Its overall structure exhibits a stable, smooth, well-defined undulating current sheet which approaches the kinematic split monopole solution of Bogovalov 1999 only after a careful introduction of diffusivity even in the highest resolution simulations. It also exhibits an intriguing spiral region at the crossing of two zero charge surfaces on the current sheet, which shows a destabilizing behavior more prominent in higher resolution simulations. We discuss the possibility that this region is physically (and not numerically) unstable. Finally, we present the spiral pulsar antenna radiation pattern.

Constantinos, Kalapotharakos↗
NASA NTRS1977

Systems improved numerical differencing analyzer

Analyzer is software system that possesses capabilities which make it well suited for solving lumped-parameter representations of physical problems governed by diffusion-type equations, such as Fourier, Poisson, or La Place.

Fink, L. C.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Multi-Scale Modeling of Magnetospheric Reconnection

One of the major challenges in modeling the magnetospheric magnetic reconnection is to quantify the interaction between large-scale global magnetospheric dynamics and microphysical processes in diffusion regions near reconnection sites. There is still considerable debate as to what degree microphysical processes on kinetic scales affect the global evolution and how important it is to substitute numerical dissipation and/or ad hoc anomalous resistivity by a physically motivated model of dissipation. Comparative studies of magnetic reconnection in small scale geometries demonstrated that MHD simulations that included non-ideal processes in terms of a resistive term $\eta J$ did not produce the fast reconnection rates observed in kinetic simulations. For a broad range of physical parameters in collisionless magnetospheric plasma, the primary mechanism controlling the dissipation in the vicinity of the reconnection site is non-gyrotropic effects with spatial scales comparable with the particle Larmor radius. We utilize the global MHD code BATSRUS and incorporate nongyrotropic effects in diffusion regions in terms of corrections to the induction equation. We developed an algorithm to search for magnetotail reconnection sites, specifically where the magnetic field components perpendicular to the local current direction approaches zero and form an X-type configuration. Spatial scales of the diffusion region and magnitude of the reconnection electric field are calculated selfconsistently using MHD plasma and field parameters in the vicinity of the reconnection site. The location of the reconnection sites is updated during the simulations. To clarify the role of nongyrotropic effects in diffusion region on the global magnetospheric dynamic we perform simulations with steady southward IMF driving of the magnetosphere. Ideal MHD simulations with magnetic reconnection supported by numerical resistivity produce steady configuration with almost stationary near-earth neutral line (NENL). Simulations with non-gyrotropic corrections demonstrate dynamic quasi-periodic response to the steady driving condition. The loading/unloading cycle in non-gyrotropic MHD results has a non-stationary reconnection site in the magnetotail, with the retreating during the stretching phase and then a new NENL forming in the resulting thin plasma sheet. We expect that this model will lead to improved representations of space weather event in the magnetosphere.

Kuznetsova, M. M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Design and calibration of a rocket-borne electron spectrometer for investigation of particle ionization in the nighttime midlatitude E region

An explanation was developed for the formation, near midnight at midlatitudes, of a broad electron density layer extending approximately from 120 to 180 km and usually referred to as the intermediate E layer. The responsible mechanism is believed to be the converging vertical ion drifts resulting from winds of the solar semidiurnal tide. Numerical solutions of the continuity equation appropriate to the intermediate layer is described for particular models of ion drift, diffusion coefficents, and ionization production. Analysis of rocket observations of the layer show that the ionization rate is highly correlated with the planetary geomagnetic index, K sub p. Particle flux measurements support the idea that energetic electrons are the principal source of this ionization. A semiconductor spectrometer experiment for investigation of the particle flux, spectrum, and angular properties was designed and successfully flown on a Nike Apache rocket. A detailed description of the theory, design, and calibration of the experiment and some preliminary results presented.

Voss, H. D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Development and application of a three dimensional numerical model for predicting pollutant and sediment transport using an Eulerian-Lagrangian marker particle technique

A computer coded Lagrangian marker particle in Eulerian finite difference cell solution to the three dimensional incompressible mass transport equation, Water Advective Particle in Cell Technique, WAPIC, was developed, verified against analytic solutions, and subsequently applied in the prediction of long term transport of a suspended sediment cloud resulting from an instantaneous dredge spoil release. Numerical results from WAPIC were verified against analytic solutions to the three dimensional incompressible mass transport equation for turbulent diffusion and advection of Gaussian dye releases in unbounded uniform and uniformly sheared uni-directional flow, and for steady-uniform plug channel flow. WAPIC was utilized to simulate an analytic solution for non-equilibrium sediment dropout from an initially vertically uniform particle distribution in one dimensional turbulent channel flow.

Pavish, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Application of the method of lines for solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations using a nonuniform grid distribution

The feasibility of the method of lines for solutions of physical problems requiring nonuniform grid distributions is investigated. To attain this, it is also necessary to investigate the stiffness characteristics of the pertinent equations. For specific applications, the governing equations considered are those for viscous, incompressible, two dimensional and axisymmetric flows. These equations are transformed from the physical domain having a variable mesh to a computational domain with a uniform mesh. The two governing partial differential equations are the vorticity and stream function equations. The method of lines is used to solve the vorticity equation and the successive over relaxation technique is used to solve the stream function equation. The method is applied to three laminar flow problems: the flow in ducts, curved-wall diffusers, and a driven cavity. Results obtained for different flow conditions are in good agreement with available analytical and numerical solutions. The viability and validity of the method of lines are demonstrated by its application to Navier-Stokes equations in the physical domain having a variable mesh.

Abolhassani, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Model structure of a cosmic-ray mediated stellar or solar wind

An idealized hydrodynamic model is presented for the mediation of a free-streaming stellar wind by galactic cosmic rays or energetic particles accelerated at the stellar wind termination shock. The spherically-symmetric stellar wind is taken to be cold; the only body force is the cosmic ray pressure gradient. The cosmic rays are treated as a massless fluid with an effective mean diffusion coefficient k proportional to radial distance r. The structure of the governing equations is investigated both analytically and numerically. Solutions for a range of values of k are presented which describe the deceleration of the stellar wind and a transition to nearly incompressible flow and constant cosmic ray pressure at large r. In the limit of small k the transition steepens to a strong stellar wind termination shock. For large k the stellar wind is decelerated gradually with no shock transition. It is argued that the solutions provide a simple model for the mediation of the solar wind by interstellar ions as both pickup ions and the cosmic ray anomalous component which together dominate the pressure of the solar wind at large r.

Lee, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A simple estimate of funneling-assisted charge collection

Funneling is qualitatively discussed in detail, and a quantitative analysis is given for the total (time-integrated) collected charge. It is shown that, for an n(+)/p junction, the total collected charge QT is given by QT = (1 + mu-n/mu-p) QD + 2Q(diff), where QD is the charge initially liberated in the depletion region and Qdiff is charge collected by diffusion. This equation does not apply to very short ion tracks or to devices having a thin epilayer. A numerical example is presented, and a comparison is made with PISCES results.

Edmonds, Larry D.↗