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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

Simulated Active Region Emission and Dynamics: A STEREO Perspective

We present detailed three-dimensional simulations of active regions resulting from numerical models of sunspots coupled to coronal excitation and emission. The models incorporate a fully three-dimensional magnetoconvection calculation, described in a poster by Hurlburt and Rucklidge, potential field extrapolations from the sunspot model boundary conditions, steady-state coronal loops powered by the convective motions at the surface, EUV and X-ray instrument response functions, and a full voxel rendering. The result is a simulated dynamical active region in three dimensions which enables us to explore coronal heating and its relationship to the dynamics of the photosphere and convection zone. The 3D rendering of the resulting EUV emission allows us to investigate the expected coronal signatures of the EUVI instruments on board the twin STEREO spacecraft to be launched in 2004. The hybrid model developed here also provides a simulation testbed for the development of future STEREO image reconstruction tools: an integral component in the access to STEREO data by the solar physics community.

Alexander, David↗
NASA NTRS1995

Comments on the Rotational State and Non-Gravitational Forces of Comet 46/WIRTANEN

We apply our experience of modeling the rotational state and non-gravitational forces of comet 1 P/Halley and other comets to comet 46P/Wirtanen. While the paucity of physical data on 46P/Wirtanen makes this process somewhat speculative, this comet's place as target for the important Rosetta mission gives significance to such a study. Our arguments are based on the summary of observational data provided by Jorda and Rickman (1995) and a comparative study of the behavior of other periodic comets. We find 46P/Wirtanen to have a level of surface activity relative to its mass that is dynamically more akin to that found in comet 1 P/Halley than in a typical periodic comet. We show through an illustrative numerical example that this apparent fact should likely lead to an excited spin state for this comet and that significant changes in the spin period could occur in a single pass through perihelion. We argue that the available observations are not sufficient to substantiate the claim of Jorda and Rickman (1995) that the nucleus is undergoing retrograde rotation and it is possible that the rotation is either prograde as well as retrograde. The substantial requirements that must be placed on any future observing program necessary to determine the precise rotational state are outlined. We advocate an extended (approx. two month) southern hemisphere observing campaign to determine the nuclear rotational state in 1996 if possible before activity turns on.

Samarasinha, Nalin H.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Feasibility of hydroxyl concentration measurements by laser-saturated fluorescence in high-pressure flames

The effect of pressure on the laser-saturated fluorescence method for measuring OH concentration in high-pressure flames is studied using calculations for the burned-gas region of a stoichiometric H2-O2 flame at 2000 K. A numerical model of the excitation dynamics of OH is developed to explore the validity of the balanced cross-rate model at higher pressures. It is shown that depopulation of the laser-coupled levels is sensitive to collisions which depopulate v-double-prime (VDP) = 0 and to rate coefficients for rotational transfer in the ground state which are smaller than those in the excited state. In particular, it is shown that the depopulation of VDP = 0, and hence the laser-coupled levels, depends on the probability of electronic quenching to vibrational levels for which VDP is greater than 0 and vibrational relaxation to VDP = 0.

Carter, Campbell D.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Robust adaptive regulation without persistent excitation

A globally convergent adaptive regulator for minimum or nonminimum phase systems subject to bounded distrubances and unmodeled dynamics is presented. The control strategy is designed for a particular input-output representation obtained from the state space representation of the system. The leading coefficient of the new representation is the product of the observability and controllability matrices of the system. The controller scheme uses a Least Squares identification algorithm with a dead zone. The dead zone is chosen to obtain convergence properties on the estimates and on the covariance matrix as well. This allows the definition of modified estimates which secure well-conditioned matrices in the adaptive control law. Explicit bounds on the plant output are given.

Lozano-Leal, Rogelio↗
NASA NTRS1989

Robust adaptive regulation without persistent excitation

A globally convergent adaptive regulator for minimum- or nonminimum-phase systems subject to bounded disturbances and unmodeled dynamics is presented. The control strategy is designed for a particular input-output representation obtained from the state space representation of the system. The leading coefficient of the representation is the product of the observability and controllability matrices of the system. The controller scheme uses a Least-Squares identification algorithm a with dead zone. The dead zone is chosen to obtain convergence properties on the estimates and on the covariance matrix as well. This allows the definition of modified estimates which secure well-conditioned matrices in the adaptive control law. Explicit bounds on the plant output are given.

Lozano-Leal, Rogelio↗
NASA NTRS1988

Quantum-classical electron distributions in atoms and atomic ions

A quantum-classical approach is used to obtain the velocity distributions in atoms and positive and negative ions in both ground and excited states. In the analysis, Hartree-Fock electronic wavefunctions are used to determine the radial electron distributions, and the central-field approximation is used to study the the dynamic properties of the localized electrons. The distributions for the outer and inner shells are found to agree well with exact results obtained by numerical calculations.

Kunc, Joseph A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Dynamic Modeling using Output-Error Parameter Estimation based on Frequency Responses Estimated with Multisine Inputs

A method is developed for estimating model parameters, such as nondimensional stability and control derivatives, by fitting transfer function or state-space models to empirical frequency response data using the output-error approach. The frequency response data were computed using Fourier transforms of measured input and output data. The control surfaces were excited with periodic multisine inputs which facilitated time-ecient estimation of multiple-input multiple-output frequency responses. The method was applied to lateral data from a nonlinear flight dynamics simulation of the F-16 aircraft, and to longitudinal data from multiple repeated flight test maneuvers of the NASA T-2 subscale aircraft. Results using simulation data showed the frequency response method compared well to other standard methods for parameter estimation. In addition to including all the available inputs, outputs, and harmonic frequencies in the estimation, relatively small subsets of the measured data could also be used to focus on identifying specific parts of the model. Results from flight test data showed that parameter estimates and uncertainties determined from repeated maneuvers were accurate and in statistical agreement with each other.

Grauer, Jared A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Closed-Loop System Identification Experience for Flight Control Law and Flying Qualities Evaluation of a High Performance Fighter Aircraft

This paper highlights some of the results and issues associated with estimating models to evaluate control law design methods and design criteria for advanced high performance aircraft. Experimental fighter aircraft such as the NASA-High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) have the capability to maneuver at very high angles of attack where nonlinear aerodynamics often predominate. HARV is an experimental F/A-18, configured with thrust vectoring and conformal actuated nose strakes. Identifying closed-loop models for this type of aircraft can be made difficult by nonlinearities and high order characteristics of the system. In this paper, only lateral-directional axes are considered since the lateral-directional control law was specifically designed to produce classical airplane responses normally expected with low-order, rigid-body systems. Evaluation of the control design methodology was made using low-order equivalent systems determined from flight and simulation. This allowed comparison of the closed-loop rigid-body dynamics achieved in flight with that designed in simulation. In flight, the On Board Excitation System was used to apply optimal inputs to lateral stick and pedals at five angles at attack : 5, 20, 30, 45, and 60 degrees. Data analysis and closed-loop model identification were done using frequency domain maximum likelihood. The structure of identified models was a linear state-space model reflecting classical 4th-order airplane dynamics. Input time delays associated with the high-order controller and aircraft system were accounted for in data preprocessing. A comparison of flight estimated models with small perturbation linear design models highlighted nonlinearities in the system and indicated that the closed-loop rigid-body dynamics were sensitive to input amplitudes at 20 and 30 degrees angle of attack.

Murphy, Patrick C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Near-infrared oxygen airglow from the Venus nightside

Groundbased imaging and spectroscopic observations of Venus reveal intense near-infrared oxygen airglow emission from the upper atmosphere and provide new constraints on the oxygen photochemistry and dynamics near the mesopause (approximately 100 km). Atomic oxygen is produced by the Photolysis of CO2 on the dayside of Venus. These atoms are transported by the general circulation, and eventually recombine to form molecular oxygen. Because this recombination reaction is exothermic, many of these molecules are created in an excited state known as O2(delta-1). The airglow is produced as these molecules emit a photon and return to their ground state. New imaging and spectroscopic observations acquired during the summer and fall of 1991 show unexpected spatial and temporal variations in the O2(delta-1) airglow. The implications of these observations for the composition and general circulation of the upper venusian atmosphere are not yet understood but they provide important new constraints on comprehensive dynamical and chemical models of the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere of Venus.

Crisp, D.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Collisional excitation of an asymmetric rotor, silicon dicarbide

Rotational excitation rates have been computed for the asymmetric top molecule SiC2 in collisions with low-energy He atoms. The intermolecular forces were obtained from an electron gas model, and collision dynamics were treated within the infinite-order sudden approximation. Total excitation rates, i.e., summed over final levels, are expected to be accurate to about 50 percent, and the larger state-to-state rates are likely to be within a factor of about 2 of the correct values, although some of the smaller (and less important) rates may be less accurate. These rates are also thought to reflect, within this level of accuracy, rates for excitation by collisions with H2 molecules.

Palma, Amedeo↗
NASA NTRS1999

Closed-Loop System Identification Experience for Flight Control Law and Flying Qualities Evaluation of a High Performance Fighter Aircraft

This paper highlights some of the results and issues associated with estimating models to evaluate control law design methods and design criteria for advanced high performance aircraft. Experimental fighter aircraft such as the NASA High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) have the capability to maneuver at very high angles of attack where nonlinear aerodynamics often predominate. HARV is an experimental F/A-18, configured with thrust vectoring and conformal actuated nose strakes. Identifying closed-loop models for this type of aircraft can be made difficult by nonlinearities and high-order characteristics of the system. In this paper only lateral-directional axes are considered since the lateral-directional control law was specifically designed to produce classical airplane responses normally expected with low-order, rigid-body systems. Evaluation of the control design methodology was made using low-order equivalent systems determined from flight and simulation. This allowed comparison of the closed-loop rigid-body dynamics achieved in flight with that designed in simulation. In flight, the On Board Excitation System was used to apply optimal inputs to lateral stick and pedals at five angles of attack: 5, 20, 30, 45, and 60 degrees. Data analysis and closed-loop model identification were done using frequency domain maximum likelihood. The structure of the identified models was a linear state-space model reflecting classical 4th-order airplane dynamics. Input time delays associated with the high-order controller and aircraft system were accounted for in data preprocessing. A comparison of flight estimated models with small perturbation linear design models highlighted nonlinearities in the system and indicated that the estimated closed-loop rigid-body dynamics were sensitive to input amplitudes at 20 and 30 degrees angle of attack.

Murphy, Patrick C.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Activated recombinative desorption: A potential component in mechanisms of spacecraft glow

The concept of activated recombination of atomic species on surfaces can explain the production of vibrationally and translationally excited desorbed molecular species. Equilibrium statistical mechanics predicts that the molecular quantum state distributions of desorbing molecules is a function of surface temperature only when the adsorption probability is unity and independent of initial collision conditions. In most cases, the adsorption probability is dependent upon initial conditions such as collision energy or internal quantum state distribution of impinging molecules. From detailed balance, such dynamical behavior is reflected in the internal quantum state distribution of the desorbing molecule. This concept, activated recombinative desorption, may offer a common thread in proposed mechanisms of spacecraft glow. Using molecular beam techniques and equipment available at Los Alamos, which includes a high translational energy 0-atom beam source, mass spectrometric detection of desorbed species, chemiluminescence/laser induced fluorescence detection of electronic and vibrationally excited reaction products, and Auger detection of surface adsorbed reaction products, a fundamental study of the gas surface chemistry underlying the glow process is proposed.

Cross, J. B.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Ab Initio Electronic Structure Calculations of CNN for CN Excitation Studies

Titan’s atmosphere is composed mostly of N 2 with a small amount of CH 4 , and so, shock layers around craft entering Titan’s atmosphere will contain a variety of molecules formed from H, C, and N atoms, including the cyanogen radical CN. Sensitivity analysis has shown that the radiative heat flux predicted by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of Titan entry has up to 14% uncertainty due to the rate coefficients for collisional (de)excitation reactions that control the population of CN in its first and second excited states. The red and violet emission bands from CN’s first and second excited states, respectively, are known to be large sources of radiative heat flux on capsules entering Titan’s atmosphere.[2, 3] So, the simulated population of CN in its first and second excited states is very important, but currently has some inherent uncertainty coming from the data for the rate coefficients for reaction 1. The goal of the present project is to provide improved rate coefficient data for these reactions from first principles quantum chemistry calculations. This work reports on preliminary electronic structure calculations generated at a large number of triatomic geometries of interest, which show multiple avoided crossings at collinear arrangements. This suggests that collisional (de)excitation of CN by N atoms is likely to proceed through these geometries.

Eric Geistfeld↗
NASA NTRS1986

The dynamics of Herbig-Haro objects

Radial-velocity and proper-motion information on Herbig-Haro (HH) objects is analyzed for clues to the character of the supersonic flows that produce the objects. The correlations among space velocities, excitation states, internal velocity dispersions, electron densities, and positions relative to the exciting stars for the emission knots of HH 1 and HH 2 is examined. Whereas the interstellar-bullet model may account for most of the phenomena in the HH 1-HH 2 system, HH 43 is found to show characteristics of a stellar wind shock against an obstacle cloudlet. By contrast, the HH 46-HH 47 system exhibits a continuous, well-collimated jet of emission with knots that may be due to instabilities in the confined, supersonic flow.

Schwartz, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Accurate quantum yields by laser gain vs absorption spectroscopy - Investigation of Br/Br(asterisk) channels in photofragmentation of Br2 and IBr

Various techniques have been used to study photodissociation dynamics of the halogens and interhalogens. The quantum yields obtained by these techniques differ widely. The present investigation is concerned with a qualitatively new approach for obtaining highly accurate quantum yields for electronically excited states. This approach makes it possible to obtain an accuracy of 1 percent to 3 percent. It is shown that measurement of the initial transient gain/absorption vs the final absorption in a single time-resolved signal is a very accurate technique in the study of absolute branching fractions in photodissociation. The new technique is found to be insensitive to pulse and probe laser characteristics, molecular absorption cross sections, and absolute precursor density.

Haugen, H. K.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Rotational and translational effects in collisions of electronically excited diatomic hydrides

Collisional quenching and vibrational energy proceed competitively with rotational energy transfer for several excited states of the diatomic radicals OH, NH, and CH. This occurs for a wide variety of molecular collision partners. This phenomenon permits the examination of the influence of rotational motion on the collision dynamics of these theoretically tractable species. Measurements can also be made as a function of temperature, i.e., collision velocity. In OH (sup 2 sigma +), both vibrational transfer and quenching are found to decrease with an increase in rotational level, while quenching decreases with increasing temperature. This behavior indicates that for OH, anisotropic attractive forces govern the entrance channel dynamics for these collisions. The quenching of NH (sup 3 pi sub i) by many (although not all) collision partners also decreases with increasing rotational and translational energy, and NH (sup 1 pi) behaves much like OH (sup 2 sigma +). However, the quenching of CH (sup 2 delta) appears to decrease with increasing rotation but increases with increasing temperature, suggesting in this case anisotropic forces involving a barrier or repulsive wall. Such similarities and differences should furnish useful comparisons with both simple and detailed theoretical pictures of the appropriate collision dynamics.

Crosley, David R.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Theoretical Studies of Chemical Reactions following Electronic Excitation

The use of multi-configurational wave functions is demonstrated for several processes: tautomerization reactions in the ground and excited states of the DNA base adenine, dissociation of glycine molecule after electronic excitation, and decomposition/deformation of novel rare gas molecules HRgF. These processes involve bond brealung/formation and require multi-configurational approaches that include dynamic correlation.

Chaban, Galina M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Quantum Scattering Study of Ro-Vibrational Excitations in N+N(sub 2) Collisions under Re-entry Conditions

A three-dimensional time-dependent quantum dynamics approach using a recently developed ab initio potential energy surface is applied to study ro-vibrational excitation in N+N2 exchange scattering for collision energies in the range 2.1- 3.2 eV. State-to-state integral exchange cross sections are examined to determine the distribution of excited rotational states of N(sub 2). The results demonstrate that highly-excited rotational states are produced by exchange scattering and furthermore, that the maximum value of (Delta)j increases rapidly with increasing collision energies. Integral exchange cross sections and exchange rate constants for excitation to the lower (upsilon = 0-3) vibrational energy levels are presented as a function of the collision energy. Excited-vibrational-state distributions for temperatures at 2,000 K and 10,000 K are included.

Wang, Dunyou↗