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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 991 records · Page 55
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NASA NTRS1986

A reformulation of the parabolic approximation for waves in stratified moving media

An asymptotic, large wave number approximation for the equations governing the propagation of acoustic disturbances through a stratified moving medium is developed. The theory is an extension of the geometric acoustics approximation and provides corrections to that approximation in the form of multiplicative functions which satisfy parabolic differential equations of second order. By properly accounting for variations in the acoustic field in directions normal to the rays both caustic surfaces and the secularity of the geometric theory may be avoided.

Mcaninch, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Electrostatic instabilities of velocity-space-shell distributions in magnetized plasmas

Electron instabilities of magnetized spherical shell distributions in velocity space with a colder Maxwellian background are investigated analytically with simulations using electrostatic particle codes. The resonant and nonresonant instabilities observed in the particle simulations are in agreement with zeros of the dielectric function, as found from the resonant approximations for waves with an electric field component along the magnetic field or by computation with a root solver code in the case of perpendicular propagation. Saturation of the instabilities is by nonlinear cyclotron resonance with the cold background in the resonant case or by nonstochastic cyclotron harmonic damping by the cold background in the nonresonant case. Instabilities invariably lead to perpendicular acceleration and heating of the cold background to velocities sometimes exceeding the shell velocity.

Sentman, D. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A rapid and accurate method for calculation of stratospheric photolysis rates with molecular scattering

A method for calculating the photodissociation rates needed for photochemical modeling of the stratosphere, which includes the effects of molecular scattering, is described. The procedure is based on Sokolov's method of averaging functional correction. The radiation model and approximations used to calculate the radiation field are examined. The approximated diffuse fields and photolysis rates are compared with exact data. It is observed that the approximate solutions differ from the exact result by 10 percent or less at altitudes above 15 km; the photolysis rates differ from the exact rates by less than 5 percent for altitudes above 10 km and all zenith angles, and by less than 1 percent for altitudes above 15 km.

Boughner, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Vibrations in a moving flexible robot arm

The vibration in a flexible robot arm modeled by a moving slender prismatic beam is considered. It is found that the extending and contracting motions have destabilizing and stabilizing effects on the vibratory motions, respectively. The vibration analysis is based on a Galerkin approximation with time-dependent basis functions. Typical numerical results are presented to illustrate the qualitative features of vibrations.

Wang, P. K. C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

On the theory of the conversion of metallic mixed phases. 5: Fluctuations and nucleation in sub-cooled phases

A comparison is made between fluctuation-theoretical calculations and empirical results. Concentration fluctuations and the resulting separation, and the distribution function of the reversible fluctuations are approximately calculated. The relation of this distribution to the concentration-dependence of the free energy is discussed. Possible effects of fluctuations are discussed, and other attempts to explain the sub-cooling are described.

Borelius, G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Some implications for cyclic plastic and viscoplastic equations based on nonproportional loading experiments

From cyclic, strain controlled, nonproportional tests on type 304 stainless steel and Hastelloy-X, the following statements may be made: (1) A dynamic recovery term is essential to properly model the backstress evolution. (2) From analysis of Hastelloy-X data obtained at 649 C, the inelastic strain rate appears to be a satisfactory directional index for direct hardening, but the backstress appears to be an inappropriate directional index of dynamic recovery. (3) Sinusoidal, 90 deg out-of-phase axial torsional tests can be very useful in aiding determination of backstress evolution functions, including both directional indices and scalar hardening functions, by virtue of the associated approximately constant magnitudes of overstress, inelastic strain rate, and effective stress. Such tests have previously been associated with the study of nonproportional hardening effects but have more far ranging applications.

Mcdowell, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A methodology for commonality analysis, with applications to selected space station systems

The application of commonality in a system represents an attempt to reduce costs by reducing the number of unique components. A formal method for conducting commonality analysis has not been established. In this dissertation, commonality analysis is characterized as a partitioning problem. The cost impacts of commonality are quantified in an objective function, and the solution is that partition which minimizes this objective function. Clustering techniques are used to approximate a solution, and sufficient conditions are developed which can be used to verify the optimality of the solution. This method for commonality analysis is general in scope. It may be applied to the various types of commonality analysis required in the conceptual, preliminary, and detail design phases of the system development cycle.

Thomas, Lawrence Dale↗
NASA NTRS1989

Some notes on shock resolving flux functions. Part 1: Stationary characteristics

Numerical flux functions for solving the Euler equations using exact and/or approximate solutions of the Riemann problem of gasdynamics are discussed. Under certain restrictive conditions, schemes using these flux functions produce systems of equations which can exhibit a single degree of freedom. In some instances, the solutions represented by this degree of freedom are unstable to perturbations. This local instability can seriously degrade the temporal convergence of numerical schemes. This point is demonstrated by numerical example.

Barth, Timothy J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Research on optimization-based design

Research on optimization-based design is discussed. Illustrative examples are given for cases involving continuous optimization with discrete variables and optimization with tolerances. Approximation of computationally expensive and noisy functions, electromechanical actuator/control system design using decomposition and application of knowledge-based systems and optimization for the design of a valve anti-cavitation device are among the topics covered.

Balling, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Electromagnetic wave scattering from some vegetation samples

For an incident plane wave, the field inside a thin scatterer (disk and needle) is estimated by the generalized Rayleigh-Gans (GRG) approximation. This leads to a scattering amplitude tensor equal to that obtained via the Rayleigh approximation (dipole term) with a modifying function. For a finite-length cylinder the inner field is estimated by the corresponding field for the same cylinder of infinite lenght. The effects of different approaches in estimating the field inside the scatterer on the backscattering cross section are illustrated numerically for a circular disk, a needle, and a finite-length cylinder as a function of the wave number and the incidence angle. Finally, the modeling predictions are compared with measurements.

Karam, Mostafa A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Retrieval of aerosol size distribution moments from multiwavelength particulate extinction measurements

Two methods for inferring aerosol size distribution moments from multiwavelength particulate extinction measurements are studied. The methods are an eigenvalue technique that approximates an appropriate moment-weighting function by a linear combination of kernel functions and a conversion ratio approach that uses the ratio of the particulate extinction measurements at two wavelengths to choose a model moment-to-extinction conversion ratio. The techniques are applied to infer the third moment, or volume, of the aerosol size distribution from actual particulate extinction measurements taken as part of the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II during a correlative measurement experiment in Brazil in April 1985.

Livingston, John M.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A hybrid perturbation-Galerkin technique for partial differential equations

A two-step hybrid perturbation-Galerkin technique for improving the usefulness of perturbation solutions to partial differential equations which contain a parameter is presented and discussed. In the first step of the method, the leading terms in the asymptotic expansion(s) of the solution about one or more values of the perturbation parameter are obtained using standard perturbation methods. In the second step, the perturbation functions obtained in the first step are used as trial functions in a Bubnov-Galerkin approximation. This semi-analytical, semi-numerical hybrid technique appears to overcome some of the drawbacks of the perturbation and Galerkin methods when they are applied by themselves, while combining some of the good features of each. The technique is illustrated first by a simple example. It is then applied to the problem of determining the flow of a slightly compressible fluid past a circular cylinder and to the problem of determining the shape of a free surface due to a sink above the surface. Solutions obtained by the hybrid method are compared with other approximate solutions, and its possible application to certain problems associated with domain decomposition is discussed.

Geer, James F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Semiclassical approach to atomic and molecular interactions

A general approach, combining quantum and classical mechanics, is used to determine the electron position and velocity distributions in atoms and atomic ions (positive and negative). The Hartree-Fock electronic wave functions and the classical central field approximation are used for evaluation of the dynamic properties of the localized electrons. The distributions, which are of fundamental importance in applications of the binary encounter approximation to description of atomic and ionic collissions, are obtained in the form of simple analytical expressions. The quantum-classical distributions of this work are compared with several other distributions in Ne, Ar, and Al atoms in the ground state.

Kunc, Joseph A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A forward error correction technique using a high-speed, high-rate single chip codec

The authors describe an error-correction coding approach that allows operation in either burst or continuous modes at data rates of multiple hundreds of megabits per second. Bandspreading is low since the code rate is 7/8 or greater, which is consistent with high-rate link operation. The encoder, along with a hard-decision decoder, fits on a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip. Soft-decision decoding is possible utilizing applique hardware in conjunction with the hard-decision decoder. Expected coding gain is a function of the application and is approximately 2.5 dB for hard-decision decoding at 10-5 bit-error rate with phase-shift-keying modulation and additive Gaussian white noise interference. The principal use envisioned for this technique is to achieve a modest amount of coding gain on high-data-rate, bandwidth-constrained channels. Data rates of up to 300 Mb/s can be accommodated by the codec chip. The major objective is burst-mode communications, where code words are composed of 32 n data bits followed by 32 overhead bits.

Boyd, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Spectra of circularly polarized radiation from astrophysical OH masers

A striking feature of astrophysical masers is the tendency for either one or the other of the circular polarizations to dominate in the radiation from the strong, widely observed masing transitions of OH at 18 cm. Spectral line profiles are calculated for polarized maser radiation due to the combined effects of a velocity gradient and, as is indicated for these transitions, a Zeeman splitting that is at least comparable with the thermal contributions to the breadths of the spectral lines. The resulting spectral features are similar in appearance, including the presence of large net circular polarization and narrow line breadths, to the commonly observed spectra of OH masers in molecular clouds. The calculations presented here are performed as a function of frequency without making the approximations of a large velocity gradient. Rapid cross relaxation, which has been advocated by others for the OH masers, is assumed.

Nedoluha, Gerald E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Improved reference models for middle atmosphere ozone

Improvements are provided for the ozone reference model which is to be incorporated in the COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA). The ozone reference model will provide considerable information on the global ozone distribution, including ozone vertical structure as a function of month and latitude from approximately 25 to 90 km, combining data from five recent satellite experiments (Nimbus 7 LIMS, Nimbus 7 SBUV, AE-2 SAGE, Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) UVS, and SME IR). The improved models are described and use reprocessed AE-2 SAGE data (sunset) and extend the use of SAGE data from 1981 to the period 1981-1983. Comparisons are shown between the ozone reference model and various nonsatellite measurements at different levels in the middle atmosphere.

Keating, G. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

On the Gibbs phenomenon 1: Recovering exponential accuracy from the Fourier partial sum of a non-periodic analytic function

It is well known that the Fourier series of an analytic or periodic function, truncated after 2N+1 terms, converges exponentially with N, even in the maximum norm, although the function is still analytic. This is known as the Gibbs phenomenon. Here, we show that the first 2N+1 Fourier coefficients contain enough information about the function, so that an exponentially convergent approximation (in the maximum norm) can be constructed.

Gottlieb, David↗
NASA NTRS1992

Electronic and total energy properties of ternary and quaternary semiconductor compounds, alloys, and superlattices: Theoretical study of Cu/graphite bonding

The goals of the research were to provide a fundamental science basis for why the bonding of Cu to graphite is weak, to critically evaluate the previous analysis of the wetting studies with particular regard to the values used for the surface energies of Cu and graphite, and to make recommendations for future experiments or other studies which could advance the understanding and solution of this technological problem. First principles electronic structure calculations were used to study the problem. These are based on density functional theory in the local density approximation and the use of the linear muffin-tin orbital band structure method. Calculations were performed for graphite monolayers, single crystal graphite with the hexagonal AB stacking, bulk Cu, Cu(111) surface, and Cu/graphite superlattices. The study is limited to the basal plane of graphite because this is the graphite plane exposed to Cu and graphite surface energies and combined with the measured contact angles to evaluate the experimental adhesion energy.

Lambrecht, Walter R. L.↗