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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 91 records · Page 5

NASA/FAA general aviation crash dynamics program

The program involves controlled full scale crash testing, nonlinear structural analyses to predict large deflection elastoplastic response, and load attenuating concepts for use in improved seat and subfloor structure. Both analytical and experimental methods are used to develop expertise in these areas. Analyses include simplified procedures for estimating energy dissipating capabilities and comprehensive computerized procedures for predicting airframe response. These analyses are developed to provide designers with methods for predicting accelerations, loads, and displacements on collapsing structure. Tests on typical full scale aircraft and on full and subscale structural components are performed to verify the analyses and to demonstrate load attenuating concepts. A special apparatus was built to test emergency locator transmitters when attached to representative aircraft structure. The apparatus is shown to provide a good simulation of the longitudinal crash pulse observed in full scale aircraft crash tests.

Thomson, R. G.↗

The distant interplanetary wake of Venus - Plasma observations from Pioneer Venus

Observations by the Pioneer Vernus Orbiter plasma analyzer during passages through the Venus solar wind wake in June 1979 are reported. The spacecraft traveled 8-12 Venus radii behind the planet from the sun, detecting frequent, episodic disappearances of the plasma. The disappearance occurred inside the magnetotail, indicating a tattered, filamentary extension of the solar wind cavity. Positive oxygen ions were observed inside and outside of the magnetotail on some days, and were absent on others. The data indicate that the cavity contracts during high solar wind dynamic pressure, although the presence of 0(+) ions is not correlated well with the solar wind dynamic pressure. The most intense bursts originated from a flux of 10 million ions/sq cm per sec, with an 0(+) kinetic energy estimated to be 100,000-1,000,000 K.

Mihalov, J. D.↗

An optimist's guide to supernovae

There are some hints that a satisfactory agreement between observations and models is developing in several areas of supernova research. The light curves and spectra of Type I supernovae look so much like the models that they may well have their origin in the synthesis of Ni-56 in the explosion of a compact star. Type II supernovae are found where massive stars form, have light curves that correspond to 10 to the 51st ergs suddenly deposited inside a red supergiant, and may in fact be the explosions of massive stars. Some young supernova remnants, such as Cas A, show abundance patterns that bear a striking resemblance to those seen deep inside models of massive stars on the verge of destruction. Observations of old supernova remnants provide energy estimate of 10 to the 51st ergs - just the amount needed for the models of the outbursts.

Kirshner, R. P.↗

Upper limits on the total radiant energy of solar flares

Limits on the total radiant energy of solar flares during the period February-November 1980 are established using data collected by the solar-constant monitor (ACRIM) on the Solar Maximum Mission satellite. Results show typical limits of 6 x 10 to the 29th erg/sec for a 32-second integration time, with 5-sigma statistical significance, for an impulsive emission. For a gradual component, about 4 x 10 to the 32nd ergs total radiant energy is found. The limits are determined to lie about an order of magnitude higher than the total radiant energy estimated from the various known emission components, which indicates the presence of a heretofore unknown dominant component of flare radiation.

Hudson, H. S.↗

Japan - USSR joint emulsion chamber experiment at Pamir

The results are presented for the systematic measurement of cosmic ray showers in the first carbon chamber of Japan-USSR joint experiment at Pamir Plateau. The intensity and the energy distribution of electromagnetic particles, of hadrons and of families are in good agreement with the results of other mountain experiment if the relative error in energy estimation is taken into consideration.

Source record↗

A potential-energy surface study of the 2A1 and low-lying dissociative states of the methoxy radical

Accurate, ab initio quantum chemical techniques are applied in the present study of low lying bound and dissociative states of the methoxy radical at C3nu conformations, using a double zeta quality basis set that is augmented with polarization and diffuse functions. Excitation energy estimates are obtained for vertical excitation, vertical deexcitation, and system origin. The rate of methoxy photolysis is estimated to be too small to warrant its inclusion in atmospheric models.

Jackels, C. F.↗

Accurate boundary conditions for exterior problems in gas dynamics

The numerical solution of exterior problems is typically accomplished by introducing an artificial, far field boundary and solving the equations on a truncated domain. For hyperbolic systems, boundary conditions at this boundary are often derived by imposing a principle of no reflection. However, waves with spherical symmetry in gas dynamics satisfy equations where incoming and outgoing Riemann variables are coupled. This suggests that natural reflections may be important. A reflecting boundary condition is proposed based on an asymptotic solution of the far field equations. Nonlinear energy estimates are obtained for the truncated problem and numerical experiments presented to validate the theory.

Hagstrom, Thomas↗

Accurate boundary conditions for exterior problems in gas dynamics

The numerical solution of exterior problems is typically accomplished by introducing an artificial, far-field boundary and solving the equations on a truncated domain. For hyperbolic systems, boundary conditions at this boundary are often derived by imposing a principle of no reflection. However, waves with spherical symmetry in gas dynamics satisfy equations where incoming and outgoing Riemann variables are coupled. This suggests that natural reflections may be important. A reflecting boundary condition is proposed based on an asymptotic solution of the far-field equations. Nonlinear energy estimates are obtained for the truncated problem and numerical experiments presented to validate the theory.

Hagstrom, Thomas↗

Anisotropy of thermal infrared exitance above and within plant canopies

Any significant angular dependence of the emitted long wave radiation could result in errors in remotely estimated energy budgets or evapotranspiration. Empirical data and thermal infrared radiation models are reviewed in reference to anisotropic emissions from the plant canopy. The biometeorological aspects of linking longwave models with plant canopy energy budgets and micrometeorology are discussed. A new soil plant atmosphere model applied to anisotropic longwave emissions from a canopy is presented. Time variation of thermal infrared emission measurements is discussed.

Pawu, Kyaw Tha↗

Gamma ray and microwave emission from 1991 June events

The Sun showed unprecedented microwave activities in Jun. 1991, which produced four major and numerous weaker bursts and gamma ray emission measured by the Gamma Ray Observatory. The 4 Jun. 1991 event shows a sharp maximum around 03:41 UT and weak emission a few minutes before the maximum in the gamma ray record of the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE), with a preliminary estimated energy of 5 MeV. Although the 80-GHz and possible 35-GHz records show more prominent emission in the pre-maximum stage. This strongly suggests the first observational evidence for gamma ray and mm-wave emission from relativistic electrons. Comparisons of the other three major events on 6 Jun. at 01:00 UT, 9 Jun. at 01:34 UT, and 11 Jun. at 01:51 UT between gamma ray and microwave emission are also in progress.

Enome, Shinzo↗

Development of models for thermal infrared radiation above and within plant canopies

Any significant angular dependence of the emitted longwave radiation could result in errors in remotely estimated energy budgets or evapotranspiration. Empirical data and thermal infrared radiation models are reviewed in reference to anisotropic emissions from the plant canopy. The biometeorological aspects of linking longwave models with plant canopy energy budgets and micrometeorology are discussed. A new soil plant atmosphere model applied to anisotropic longwave emissions from a canopy is presented. Time variation of thermal infrared emission measurements is discussed.

Paw u, Kyaw T.↗

Low power signal processing research at Stanford

This paper gives an overview of the research being conducted at Stanford University's Space, Telecommunications, and Radioscience Laboratory in the area of low energy computation. It discusses the work we are doing in large scale digital VLSI neural networks, interleaved processor and pipelined memory architectures, energy estimation and optimization, multichip module packaging, and low voltage digital logic.

Burr, J.↗

Pseudo-time methods for constrained optimization problems governed by PDE

In this paper we present a novel method for solving optimization problems governed by partial differential equations. Existing methods are gradient information in marching toward the minimum, where the constrained PDE is solved once (sometimes only approximately) per each optimization step. Such methods can be viewed as a marching techniques on the intersection of the state and costate hypersurfaces while improving the residuals of the design equations per each iteration. In contrast, the method presented here march on the design hypersurface and at each iteration improve the residuals of the state and costate equations. The new method is usually much less expensive per iteration step since, in most problems of practical interest, the design equation involves much less unknowns that that of either the state or costate equations. Convergence is shown using energy estimates for the evolution equations governing the iterative process. Numerical tests show that the new method allows the solution of the optimization problem in a cost of solving the analysis problems just a few times, independent of the number of design parameters. The method can be applied using single grid iterations as well as with multigrid solvers.

Taasan, Shlomo↗

A gigantic coronal jet ejected from a compact active region in a coronal hole

A gigantic coronal jet greater than 3 x 10(exp 5) km long (nearly half the solar radius) has been found with the soft X-ray telescope (SXT) on board the solar X-ray satellite, Yohkoh. The jet was ejected on 1992 January 11 from an 'anemone-type' active region (AR) appearing in a coronal hole and is one of the largest coronal X-ray jets observed so far by SXT. This gigantic jet is the best observed example of many other smaller X-ray jets, because the spatial structures of both the jet and the AR located at its base are more easily resolved. The range of apparent translational velocities of the bulk of the jet was between 90 and 240 km s(exp -1), with the corresponding kinetic energy estimated to be of order of 10(exp 28) ergs. A detailed analysis reveals that the jet was associated with a loop brightening (a small flare) that occurred in the active region. Several features of this observation suggest and are consistent with a magnetic reconnection mechanism for the production of such a 'jet-loop-brightening' event.

Shibata, K.↗

[Results of the EGRET Detector Program]

This NASA grant has funded studies of cosmic objects observed by both the EGRET detector aboard the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory and Whipple Gamma-ray imaging telescope. The former has sensitivity up to a few GeV and latter has sensitivity starting at about 200 GeV extending up to beyond 10 TeV. Thus these instruments probe some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe. This program has been in place for several years and led to important results referred to below. The Whipple Observatory Imaging Cherenkov Telescope consists of a 10-meter reflector with a nanosecond photomultiplier-tube camera at the focal plane. During the time period covered by this grant, it had either 109 pixels or 151 pixels on a 1/4 degree hexagonal pattern. As a TeV gamma ray enters the atmosphere, it produces an electron/positron pair initiating an extensive air shower. Cherenkov light from the electrons and positrons in the shower form an image of the shower at the phototube camera. The shape and intensity of this image is used to distinguish gamma-ray initiated showers from cosmic-ray (largely proton and alpha-particle) background showers and to derive an energy estimate for the primary gamma-ray. The Whipple Observatory gamma-ray collaboration pioneered this imaging technique which normally rejects over 99 percent of the cosmic-ray background while keeping over 70 percent of the gamma-ray signal. One of its key features is 2 large collection area which can exceed 50,000 meters. This grant covered primarily correlated observations of Markarian 421 and observations of the Cygnus region. The former resulted in a multiwavelength campaign showing correlations in several wavebands. The TeV data showed dramatic variability with the emission characterized by day-scale flickering and with now well defined steady component.

Carter-Lewis, D. A.↗

Entropy Splitting for High Order Numerical Simulation of Compressible Turbulence

A stable high-order numerical scheme for direct numerical simulation (DNS) of shock-free compressible turbulence is presented. The method is applicable to general geometries. It contains no upwinding, artificial dissipation, or filtering. Instead the method relies on the stabilizing mechanisms of an appropriate conditioning of the governing equations and the use of compatible spatial difference operators for the interior points (interior scheme) as well as the boundary points (boundary scheme). An entropy-splitting approach splits the inviscid flux derivatives into conservative and nonconservative portions. The spatial difference operators satisfy a summation-by-parts condition, leading to a stable scheme (combined interior and boundary schemes) for the initial boundary value problem using a generalized energy estimate. A Laplacian formulation of the viscous and heat conduction terms on the right hand side of the Navier–Stokes equations is used to ensure that any tendency to odd–even decoupling associated with central schemes can be countered by the fluid viscosity. The resulting methods are able to minimize the spurious high-frequency oscillations associated with pure central schemes, especially for long time integration applications such as DNS. For validation purposes, the methods are tested in a DNS of compressible turbulent plane channel flow at low values of friction Mach number, where reference turbulence data bases exist. It is demonstrated that the methods are robust in terms of grid resolution, and in good agreement with published channel data. Accurate turbulence statistics can be obtained with moderate grid sizes. Stability limits on the range of the splitting parameter are determined from numerical tests.

N.D. Sandham↗

Heat Recovery System

Ball Metal's design of ducting and controls for series of roof top heat exchangers was inspired by Tech Briefs. Heat exchangers are installed on eight press and coating lines used to decorate sheet metal. The heat recovery system provides an estimated energy savings of more than $250,000 per year.

Source record↗

The Mercury Laser Altimeter Instrument for the MESSENGER Mission

The Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA) is one of the payload science instruments on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, which launched on 3 August 2004. The altimeter will measure the round trip time-of-flight of transmitted laser pulses reflected from the surface of the planet that, in combination with the spacecraft orbit position and pointing data, gives a high-precision measurement of surface topography referenced to Mercury's center of mass. The altimeter measurements will be used to determine the planet's forced librations by tracking the motion of large-scale topographic features as a function of time. MLA's laser pulse energy monitor and the echo pulse energy estimate will provide an active measurement of the surface reflectivity at 1064 nm. This paper describes the instrument design, prelaunch testing, calibration, and results of post-launch testing.

Cavanaugh, John F.↗