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At least 613 records · Page 34

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NASA NTRS1993

Preconditioning for the Navier-Stokes equations with finite-rate chemistry

The extension of Van Leer's preconditioning procedure to generalized finite-rate chemistry is discussed. Application to viscous flow is begun with the proper preconditioning matrix for the one-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. Eigenvalue stiffness is resolved and convergence-rate acceleration is demonstrated over the entire Mach-number range from nearly stagnant flow to hypersonic. Specific benefits are realized at the low and transonic flow speeds typical of complete propulsion-system simulations. The extended preconditioning matrix necessarily accounts for both thermal and chemical nonequilibrium. Numerical analysis reveals the possible theoretical improvements from using a preconditioner for all Mach number regimes. Numerical results confirm the expectations from the numerical analysis. Representative test cases include flows with previously troublesome embedded high-condition-number areas. Van Leer, Lee, and Roe recently developed an optimal, analytic preconditioning technique to reduce eigenvalue stiffness over the full Mach-number range. By multiplying the flux-balance residual with the preconditioning matrix, the acoustic wave speeds are scaled so that all waves propagate at the same rate, an essential property to eliminate inherent eigenvalue stiffness. This session discusses a synthesis of the thermochemical nonequilibrium flux-splitting developed by Grossman and Cinnella and the characteristic wave preconditioning of Van Leer into a powerful tool for implicitly solving two and three-dimensional flows with generalized finite-rate chemistry. For finite-rate chemistry, the state vector of unknowns is variable in length. Therefore, the preconditioning matrix extended to generalized finite-rate chemistry must accommodate a flexible system of moving waves. Fortunately, no new kind of wave appears in the system. The only existing waves are entropy and vorticity waves, which move with the fluid, and acoustic waves, which propagate in Mach number dependent directions. The nonequilibrium vibrational energies and species densities in the unknown state vector act strictly as convective waves. The essential concept for extending the preconditioning to generalized chemistry models is determining the differential variables which symmetrize the flux Jacobians. The extension is then straight-forward. This algorithm research effort will be released in a future version of the production level computational code coined the General Aerodynamic Simulation Program (GASP), developed by Walters, Slack, and McGrory.

Godfrey, Andrew G.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Three-dimensional solutions for coupled thermoelectroelastic response of multilayered plates

Analytic three-dimensional solutions are presented for the coupled thermoelectroelastic response of multilayered hybrid composite plates. The plates consist of a combination of fiber-reinforced cross-ply and piezothermoelastic layers. Both the thermoelectroelastic static response and its sensitivity coefficients are computed. The sensitivity coefficients measure the sensitivity of the response to variations in different mechanical, thermal and piezoelectric material properties of the plate. A linear constitutive model is used, and the material properties are assumed to be independent of the temperature and the electric field. The plates are assumed to have rectangular geometry and special material symmetries. A mixed formulation is used with the fundamental unknowns consisting of the three transverse stress components; three displacement components; transverse component of the electric displacement field; electric potential; transverse heat flux component, and temperature change. Each of the fundamental unknowns is expressed in terms of a double Fourier series in the Cartesian surface coordinates. A state space approach is used to generate the static response and to evaluate the sensitivity coefficients. Extensive numerical results are presented showing the effects of variation in the geometric parameters of the plate on the different response quantities and their sensitivity coefficients.

Xu, Kangming↗

NASA NTRS1995

Sensitivity analysis for the dynamic response of thermoviscoplastic shells of revolution

A computational procedure is presented for evaluating the sensitivity coefficients of the dynamic axisymmetric, fully-coupled, thermoviscoplastic response of shells of revolution. The analytical formulation is based on Reissner's large deformation shell theory with the effects of large-strain, transverse shear deformation, rotatory inertia and moments turning around the normal to the middle surface included. The material model is chosen to be viscoplasticity with strain hardening and thermal hardening, and an associated flow rule is used with a von Mises effective stress. A mixed formulation is used for the shell equations with the fundamental unknowns consisting of six stress resultants, three generalized displacements and three velocity components. The energy-balance equation is solved using a Galerkin procedure, with the temperature as the fundamental unknown. Spatial discretization is performed in one dimension (meridional direction) for the momentum and constitutive equations of the shell, and in two dimensions (meridional and thickness directions) for the energy-balance equation. The temporal integration is performed by using an explicit central difference scheme (leap-frog method) for the momentum equation; a predictor-corrector version of the trapezoidal rule is used for the energy-balance equation; and an explicit scheme consistent with the central difference method is used to integrate the constitutive equations. The sensitivity coefficients are evaluated by using a direct differentiation approach. Numerical results are presented for a spherical cap subjected to step loading.

Kulkarni, Makarand↗

NASA NTRS1995

Attitude determination using an adaptive multiple model filtering Scheme

Attitude determination has been considered as a permanent topic of active research and perhaps remaining as a forever-lasting interest for spacecraft system designers. Its role is to provide a reference for controls such as pointing the directional antennas or solar panels, stabilizing the spacecraft or maneuvering the spacecraft to a new orbit. Least Square Estimation (LSE) technique was utilized to provide attitude determination for the Nimbus 6 and G. Despite its poor performance (estimation accuracy consideration), LSE was considered as an effective and practical approach to meet the urgent need and requirement back in the 70's. One reason for this poor performance associated with the LSE scheme is the lack of dynamic filtering or 'compensation'. In other words, the scheme is based totally on the measurements and no attempts were made to model the dynamic equations of motion of the spacecraft. We propose an adaptive filtering approach which employs a bank of Kalman filters to perform robust attitude estimation. The proposed approach, whose architecture is depicted, is essentially based on the latest proof on the interactive multiple model design framework to handle the unknown of the system noise characteristics or statistics. The concept fundamentally employs a bank of Kalman filter or submodel, instead of using fixed values for the system noise statistics for each submodel (per operating condition) as the traditional multiple model approach does, we use an on-line dynamic system noise identifier to 'identify' the system noise level (statistics) and update the filter noise statistics using 'live' information from the sensor model. The advanced noise identifier, whose architecture is also shown, is implemented using an advanced system identifier. To insure the robust performance for the proposed advanced system identifier, it is also further reinforced by a learning system which is implemented (in the outer loop) using neural networks to identify other unknown quantities such as spacecraft dynamics parameters, gyro biases, dynamic disturbances, or environment variations.

Lam, Quang↗

NASA NTRS1993

Resolved stars in nearby galaxies: Ground-based photometry of M81

Using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) we have obtained three closely spaced epochs of calibrated Blue Violet Red Infrared (BVRI) CCD imaging of two fields in M81, each known to contain a thirty-day Cepheid. Calibrated BVRI photometry of the brightest stars in these fields is presented. The slope of the luminosity function from the brightest 3-4 mag of the main-sequence blue plume is consistent with similar determinations of the apparent luminosity function in other resolved galaxies, thereby removing the one potential deviation from universality noted by Freedman in a photographic study of luminosity functions in nearby resolved galaxies. Under the assumption that the two Cepheids are representative, a reddening-law fit to the multiwavelength BVRI period-luminosity moduli give a true distance modulus of (m-M)sub 0 = 27.79 mag for M81, corresponding to a linear distance of 3.6 Mpc. An error analysis shows that the derived true distance modulus has a random error of +/- 0.28 mag (due to the photometric uncertainties in the BVRI data), with a systematic uncertainty of +/- 0.10 mag (accounting for the combined effects of unknown phasing of the data points, and the unknown positioning of these particular stars within the Cepheid instabiliy strip).

Madore, Barry F.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Optically thick winds: How is the mass flux determined?

Expanding envelopes of compact objects that possess a buring region at the base of the envelope are commonly observed and modeled. In many cases, such as the late stages of classical nova, the expanding envelope develops into a stationary, optically thick wind of matter escaping from the star. In the usual theoretical formalism there is one more unknown than equations, with closure being obtained by the requirement that the solution pass through the singularity at the sonic point. It is shown analytically that the mass flux, which is one of the unknowns, is almost completely determined by the physical conditions near the base of the envelope just above the burning zone. The sonic point closure relation determines whether the expanding solution can develop into a wind solution. For a given core mass the range of possible wind solutions is an outcome of the great sensitivity of the mass flux to the inner luminosity. Solutions determined through numerical integrations are shown to lie entirely within the narrow analytic boundaries.

Glasner, S. Ami↗

NASA NTRS1995

Optimum detection of tones transmitted by a spacecraft

The performance of a scheme proposed for automated routine monitoring of deep-space missions is presented. The scheme uses four different tones (sinusoids) transmitted from the spacecraft (S/C) to a ground station with the positive identification of each of them used to indicate different states of the S/C. Performance is measured in terms of detection probability versus false alarm probability with detection signal-to-noise ratio as a parameter. The cases where the phase of the received tone is unknown and where both the phase and frequency of the received tone are unknown are treated separately. The decision rules proposed for detecting the tones are formulated from average-likelihood ratio and maximum-likelihood ratio tests, the former resulting in optimum receiver structures.

Simon, M. K.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Optimum combining of residual carrier array signals in correlated noises

An array feed combining system for the recovery of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) loss due to antenna reflector deformation has been implemented and is currently being evaluated on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 34-m DSS-13 antenna. The current signal-combining system operates under the assumption that the white Gaussian noise processes in the received signals from different array elements are mutually uncorrelated. However, experimental data at DSS 13 indicate that these noise processes are indeed mutually correlated. The objective of this work is to develop a signal-combining system optimized to account for the mutual correlations between these noise processes. The set of optimum combining weight coefficients that maximizes the combined signal SNR in the correlated noises environment is determined. These optimum weights depend on unknown signal and noise covariance parameters. A maximum-likelihood approach is developed to estimate these unknown parameters to obtain estimates of the optimum weight coefficients based on residual carrier signal samples. The actual combined signal SNR using the estimated weight coefficients is derived and shown to converge to the maximum achievable SNR as the number of signal samples increases. These results are also verified by simulation. A numerical example shows a significant improvement in SNR performance can be obtained, especially when the amount of correlation increases.

Liang, R.↗

NASA NTRS1995

A family of dynamic models for large-eddy simulation

Since its first application, the dynamic procedure has been recognized as an effective means to compute rather than prescribe the unknown coefficients that appear in a subgrid-scale model for Large-Eddy Simulation (LES). The dynamic procedure is usually used to determine the nondimensional coefficient in the Smagorinsky (1963) model. In reality the procedure is quite general and it is not limited to the Smagorinsky model by any theoretical or practical constraints. The purpose of this note is to consider a generalized family of dynamic eddy viscosity models that do not necessarily rely on the local equilibrium assumption built into the Smagorinsky model. By invoking an inertial range assumption, it will be shown that the coefficients in the new models need not be nondimensional. This additional degree of freedom allows the use of models that are scaled on traditionally unknown quantities such as the dissipation rate. In certain cases, the dynamic models with dimensional coefficients are simpler to implement, and allow for a 30% reduction in the number of required filtering operations.

Carati, D.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Conversion of Osculating Orbital Elements to Mean Orbital Elements

Orbit determination and ephemeris generation or prediction over relatively long elapsed times can be accomplished with mean elements. The most simple and efficient method for orbit determination, which is also known as epoch point conversion, performs the conversion of osculating elements to mean elements by iterative procedures. Previous epoch point conversion methods are restricted to shorter elapsed times with linear convergence. The new method presented in this paper calculates an analytic initial guess of the unknown mean elements from a first order theory of secular perturbations and computes a transition matrix with accurate numerical partials. It thereby eliminates the problem of an inaccurate initial guess and an identity transition matrix employed by previous methods. With a good initial guess of the unknown mean elements and an accurate transition matrix, converging osculating elements to mean elements can be accomplished over long elapsed times with quadratic convergence.

Der, Gim J.↗

NASA NTRS1996

The Surfaces of Pluto and Charon

Much of the surface of Pluto consists of high-albedo regions covered to an unknown depth by Beta-N2, contaminated with CH4, CO, and other molecules. A portion of the exposed surface appears to consist of solid H2O. The remainder is covered by lower albedo material of unknown composition. The N2 ice may occur as polar caps of large extent, leaving ices and other solids of lower volatility in the equatorial regions. The low-albedo material found primarily in the equatorial regions may consist in part of solid hydrocarbons and nitriles produced from N2 and CH4 in the atmosphere or in the surface ices. Alternatively, it may arise from deposition from impacting bodies and/or the chemistry of the impact process itself. Charon's surface is probably more compositionally uniform than that of Pluto, and is covered by H2O ice with possible contaminants or exposures of other materials that are as yet unidentified. The molecular ices discovered on Pluto and Charon have been identified from near-infrared spectra obtained with Earth-based telescopes. The quantitative interpretation of those data has been achieved through the computation of synthetic spectra using the Hapke scattering theory and the optical constants of various ices observed in the laboratory. Despite limitations imposed by the availability of laboratory data on ices in various mixtures, certain specific results have been obtained. It appears that CH4 and CO are trace constituents, and that some fraction of the CH4 (and probably the CO) on Pluto is dissolved in the matrix of solid N2. Pure CH4 probably also occurs on Pluto's surface, allowing direct access to the atmosphere. Study of the nitrogen absorption band at 2.148 micrometers shows that the temperature of the N2 in the present epoch is 40 +/-2 K. The global temperature regime of Pluto can be modeled from observations of the thermal flux at far-infrared and millimeter wavelengths. The low-albedo equatorial regions must be significantly warmer than the polar regions covered by N2 (at T = 40 K) to account for the total thermal flux measured. At the present season, the diurnal skin depth of the insolation-driven thermal wave is small, and the observed mm-wave fluxes may arise from a greater depth. Alternatively, the mm-wave flux may arise from the cool, sublimation source region. The surface microstructure in the regions covered by N2 ice is likely governed by the sintering properties of this highly volatile material. The observed nitrogen infrared band strength requires that expanses of the surface be covered with cm-sized crystals of N2. Grains of H2O ice on Charon, in contrast, are probably of order 50 micrometers in size, and do not metamorphose into larger grains at a significant rate. Because of the similarities in size, density, atmosphere and surface composition between Pluto and Neptune's satellite Triton, the surface structures observed by Voyager on Triton serve as a plausible paradigm for what might be expected on Pluto. Such crater forms, tectonic structures, aeolian features, cryovolcanic structures, and sublimation-degraded topography as are eventually observed on Pluto and Charon by spacecraft will give information on their interior compositions and structures, as well as on the temperature and wind regimes over the planet's extreme seasonal cycle.

Cruikshank, Dale P.↗

NASA NTRS1997

The Reduction of Ducted Fan Engine Noise Via A Boundary Integral Equation Method

The development of a Boundary Integral Equation Method (BIEM) for the prediction of ducted fan engine noise is discussed. The method is motivated by the need for an efficient and versatile computational tool to assist in parametric noise reduction studies. In this research, the work in reference 1 was extended to include passive noise control treatment on the duct interior. The BEM considers the scattering of incident sound generated by spinning point thrust dipoles in a uniform flow field by a thin cylindrical duct. The acoustic field is written as a superposition of spinning modes. Modal coefficients of acoustic pressure are calculated term by term. The BEM theoretical framework is based on Helmholtz potential theory. A boundary value problem is converted to a boundary integral equation formulation with unknown single and double layer densities on the duct wall. After solving for the unknown densities, the acoustic field is easily calculated. The main feature of the BIEM is the ability to compute any portion of the sound field without the need to compute the entire field. Other noise prediction methods such as CFD and Finite Element methods lack this property. Additional BIEM attributes include versatility, ease of use, rapid noise predictions, coupling of propagation and radiation both forward and aft, implementable on midrange personal computers, and valid over a wide range of frequencies.

Tweed, J.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Optimum Combining of Residual Carrier Array Signals in Correlated Noises

Tan, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Evidence for Life on Earth before 3,800 Million Years Ago

It is unknown when life first appeared on Earth. The earliest known microfossils (approx. 3,500 Myr before present) are structurally complex, and if it is assumed that the associated organisms required a long time to develop this degree of complexity, then the existence of life much earlier than this can be argued. But the known examples of crustal rocks older than approx. 3,500 Myr have experienced intense metamorphism, which would have obliterated any fragile microfossils contained therein. It is therefore necessary to search for geochemical evidence of past biotic activity that has been preserved within minerals that are resistant to metamorphism. Here we report ion-microprobe measurements of the carbon-isotope composition of carbonaceous inclusions within grains of apatite (basic calcium phosphate) from the oldest known sediment sequences a approx. 3,800 Myr-old banded iron formation from the Isua supracrustal belt, West Greenland, and a similar formation from the nearby Akilia island that is possibly older than 3,850 Myr. The carbon in the carbonaceous inclusions is isotopically light, indicative of biological activity; no known abiotic process can explain the data. Unless some unknown abiotic process exists which is able both to create such isotopically light carbon and then selectively incorporate it into apatite grains, our results provide evidence for the emergence of life on Earth by at least 3,800 Myr before present.

Mojzsis, S. J.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Guest Investigator Studies with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

The cumulative all-sky survey by the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), composed of data acquired during the first three years of the mission, included a number of regions of very limited exposure. The most glaring deficiency in coverage was toward the region of the South Galactic Pole (SGP), which received significantly less exposure than other directions- by a factor of at least 2 to 3. Furthermore, nearly all of the SGP exposure was accumulated during the first year of the mission. Since blazars are known to be time-variable, and of unknown duty cycle, a pointing of the CCRO in that direction was considered highly desirable, and long overdue. In addition, data gathered from a pointing toward the SGP and its comparison with comprehensive data available for the North Galactic Pole would be extremely valuable to investigators studying the extragalactic diffuse emission. The reasons outlined above prompted our initiation of a Cycle 4 campaign to systematically search with EGRET and COMPTEL for gamma-ray emission from sources near the South Galactic Pole. The Cycle 4 SGP campaign consisted of tnvo 14-day observations separated in in time by approximately 10 months. The temporal separation of the observations was requested to allow a test for possible variations in the detected sources. Our primary targets were 38 FSRQs which lie within 30 degrees of the SGP, and which satisfy the basic criteria for candidate gamma-ray AGNs,flat-spectrum radio sources, many of which exhibit blazar-type properties). These targets were selected from the standard references, and from the available on-line databases (e.g., the NASA Extragalactic Database, NED), as the most promising AGN targets in the vicinity of the SGP. A 30 radius from the SGP was chosen as the boundary of our survey, since the selected targets would then fall within the most sensitive portion of the fields of view of EGRET and COMPTEL (i.e., within a 30 zenith angle), for a CGRO pointing directed exactly at the SGP. Our South Galactic Pole Survey yielded a number of exciting results. The EGRET data were analyzed using the maximum likelihood techniques to estimate the intensity, spectrum, and position of gamma-ray sources in the field of view. Our analysis revealed four sources at energies greater than 100 MeV with likelihood ratios corresponding to greater than 30 detections (Vestrand et al. 1996). One of the sources is associated with the well known gamma-ray blazar PKS 0208-512, but the other three were previously unknown. Among the new detections was PKS 2155-304 which is often considered a prototype of the x-ray selected BL Lacs. PKS 2155-304, which was also detected at hard x-ray energies by CGRO/OSSE, is one of the brightest BL Lac objects in the sky at optical through x-ray energies and has a history of rapid, strong multiwavelength variability. As such, it has been the subject of intensive, contemporaneous, multiwavelength monitoring covering radio frequencies to x-ray energies.

Vestrand, W. T.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Discovery of a New Cassini-Size Basin on Mars from MOLA Topographic Data

MOLA profile data collected during the Science Phasing Operations have revealed a previously unknown, 450 km wide, 2 km deep basin on Mars centered at 30N, 312W near the Phison Rupes. This structure, as large as and somewhat deeper than the very obvious Cassini impact basin located 1000 km to the SW, is not apparent in the existing good quality Viking imagery. Gridded MOLA data show the basin as a closed depression, but elevation contours show only weak correlation with what little structure exists in the area and with mapped geologic units. From analysis of slope breaks readily visible in two MOLA profiles we suggest this is at least a three-ring basin. Portions of rings from concentric fits to slope breaks align with some of the linear ridge-like structures of the Phison Rupes, and outline a region of lower crater density and smoother inter-crater plains. The discovery of such a pronounced topographic depression which lacks obvious visible structure suggests more such previously unknown features may exist on Mars, and that MOLA data may be useful in finding them.

Frey, H.↗

NASA NTRS1997

A Multi-Resolution Nonlinear Mapping Technique for Design and Analysis Application

This report describes a nonlinear mapping technique where the unknown static or dynamic system is approximated by a sum of dimensionally increasing functions (one-dimensional curves, two-dimensional surfaces, etc.). These lower dimensional functions are synthesized from a set of multi-resolution basis functions, where the resolutions specify the level of details at which the nonlinear system is approximated. The basis functions also cause the parameter estimation step to become linear. This feature is taken advantage of to derive a systematic procedure to determine and eliminate basis functions that are less significant for the particular system under identification. The number of unknown parameters that must be estimated is thus reduced and compact models obtained. The lower dimensional functions (identified curves and surfaces) permit a kind of "visualization" into the complexity of the nonlinearity itself.

Phan, Minh Q.↗

NASA NTRS1998

A Multi-Resolution Nonlinear Mapping Technique for Design and Analysis Applications

Phan, Minh Q.↗