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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 109 records · Page 6
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NASA NTRS1984

The production of ion conics by oblique double layers

Magnetized test ions are subjected to acceleration through a numerically simulated oblique double layer in order to determine whether they emerge with velocity vectors aligned with or oblique to the ambient magnetic field. A criterion for oblique alignment, depending on the double-layer parameters and on the external magnetization, is obtained. When it is applied to observed and theoretical auroral double layers, this criterion predicts that accelerated heavy ions will be substantially less magnetic field aligned than will accelerated hydrogen ions, thus suggesting auroral double layers as a source of high-energy ion conics. Test particle simulations are also used to investigate the perpendicular heating of ions at low altitudes by the electric fields associated with moving auroral arcs. The rapid motion of small-scale structures in the arcs is suggested as a source of low-energy conical ion distributions, and the slow drifts of the entire arc forms are inferred to heat ionospheric ions.

Borovsky, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Thermal response of an aeroassisted orbital-transfer vehicle with a conical drag brake

As an aeroassisted orbital-transfer vehicle (AOTV) goes through an aerobraking maneuver, a significant amount of heat is generated. In this paper, the thermal response of a specific AOTV to this aerobrake heating is examined. The vehicle has a 70 deg, conical drag-brake heat shield attached to a cylindrical body which contains the payload. The heat shield is made of silica fabric. The heat-shield thickness is varied from that of a thin cloth to a 1.5-cm blanket. The fabric thickness, the radiation absorptivity of the vehicle surface materials, and radiation from the wake are all significant parameters in the thermal response to the heating produced by the braking maneuver. The maximum temperatures occur in the vicinity of the interface between the body and the conical heat shield.

Pitts, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Energization of ions in the auroral plasma by broadband waves - Generation of ion conics

Nonresonant heating of plasma ions flowing along geomagnetic field lines by VLF waves is shown to generate ion conics. Ions with energies of less than 1 eV are proven capable of resonance with ionospheric VLF waves excited by electron beams with energies over 100 eV at lower hybrid frequencies (LHF) of 1-1.01. The variation of resonant ion energy with LHF wave frequency is formulated and an expression is derived for the heating rate. The heating rate is then applied to model ion acceleration along a dipole geomagnetic field in terms of the power spectral density of broadband waves, i.e., the VLF noise. Attention is given to ion energization at lower altitudes than the auroral acceleration region and examples of conic acceleration are cited.

Singh, N.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Circularly polarized conical patterns from circular microstrip antennas

A method is presented for generating circularly polarized conical patterns from circular microstrip antennas. These antennas are excited at higher order modes and require different feed arrangements for different mode excitations. It is determined that the peak direction of the conical pattern can be varied over a wide angular range. Modal expansion technique is employed to calculate the radiation patterns of these antennas.

Huang, J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Trapping of ion conics by downward parallel electric fields

Energetic particle data from electrostatic analyzers aboard the S3-3 satellite indicative of a downward parallel electric field at low altitudes are presented to argue for a causal connection between downward parallel electric fields and ion heating. The data include observations of upward field-aligned electron beams in regions where precipitating electron fluxes are suppressed. Evidence of downward acceleration of ions and locally mirroring ion conics is also presented. It is argued that the presence of a downward electric field may have important consequences for ion conic heating and might in fact be required for the observed heating of ions to several hundred electron volts.

Gorney, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Conical similarity of shock/boundary-layer interactions generated by swept and unswept fins

A parametric experimental investigation has been made of the class of three-dimensional shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions generated by swept and unswept leading-edge fins. The fin sweepback angles were 0-65 deg at 5, 9, and 15 deg angles of attack. Two equilibrium two-dimensional turbulent boundary layers with a freestream Mach number of 2.95 and a Reynolds number of 6.3 x 10 to the 7th/m were used as incoming flow conditions. All of the resulting interactions were found to possess conical symmetry of the surface flow patterns and pressures outside of an initial inception zone. Further, these interactions were found to obey a simple conical similarity rule based on inviscid shock wave strength, irrespective of fin sweepback or angle of attack. This is one of the first demonstrations of similarity among three-dimensional interactions produced by geometrically dissimilar shock generators.

Settles, G. S.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Total pressure loss in vortical solutions of the conical Euler equations

A technique for the solution of the conically self-similar form of the Euler equations is described. Solutions for the flow past a flat-plate delta wing at angle of attack are presented. These solutions show strong leading edge vortices with large total pressure losses in the cores. A study of the effects of various computational parameters on the total pressure loss is made. An explanation for the cause of the total pressure loss is presented. It is shown to be consistent with the results for both a quasi-one-dimensional model problem and the conically self-similar flow past the flat-plate delta wing.

Powell, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Simple construction and performance of a conical plastic cryocooler

Low power cryocoolers with conical displacers offer several advantages over stepped displacers. The described fabrication process allows quick and reproducible manufacturing of plastic conical displacer units. This could be of commercial interest, but it also makes systematic optimization feasible by constructing a number of different models. The process allows for a wide range of displacer profiles. Low temperature performance as dominated by regenerator losses, and several effects are discussed. A simple device is described which controls gas flow during expansion.

Lambert, N.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Study of lee-side flows over conically cambered delta wings at supersonic speeds, part 1

An experimental investigation was performed in which surface pressure data, flow visualization data, and force and moment data were obtained on four conical delta wing models which differed in leading-edge camber only. Wing leading-edge camber was achieved through a deflection of the outboard 30% of the local wind semispan of a reference 75 degrees swept flat delta wing. The four wing models have leading-edge deflection angles delta sub F of 0, 5, 10, and 15 degrees measured streamwise. Data for the wings with delta sub F = 10 and 15 degrees showed that hinge-line separation dominated the lee-side wing loading and prohibited the develpment of leading-edge separation on the deflected portion of wing leading edge. However, data for the wing with delta sub F = 5 degrees, a vortex was positioned on the deflected leading edge with reattachment at the hinge line. Flow visualization results were presented which detail the influence of Mach number, angle of attack, and camber on the lee-side flow characteristics of conically cambered delta wings. Analysis of photgraphic data identified the existence of 12 distinctive lee-side flow types. In general, the aerodynamic force and moment data correlated well with the pressure and flow visualization data.

Wood, Richard M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Study of lee-side flows over conically cambered Delta wings at supersonic speeds, part 2

An experimental investigation was performed in which surface pressure data, flow visualization data, and force and moment data were obtained on four conical delta wing models which differed in leading edge camber only. Wing leading edge camber was achieved through a deflection of the outboard 30% of the local wing semispan of a reference 75 deg swept flat delta wing. The four wing models have leading edge deflection angles delta sub F of 0, 5, 10, and 15 deg measured streamwise. Data for the wings with delta sub F = 10 and 15 deg showed that hinge line separation dominated the lee-side wing loading and prohibited the development of leading edge separation on the deflected portion of wing leading edge. However, data for the wing with delta sub F = 5 deg showed that at an angle of attack of 5 deg, a vortex was positioned on the deflected leading edge with reattachment at the hinge line. Flow visualization results were presented which detail the influence of Mach number, angle of attack, and camber on the lee-side flow characteristics of conically cambered delta wings. Analysis of photographic data identified the existence of 12 distinctive lee-side flow types.

Wood, Richard M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Generation of electron conical distributions by upper hybrid waves in the earth's polar region

The heating of electron populations through resonant wave-particle interaction with upper hybrid turbulence is examined. It is first demonstrated that upper hybrid waves are easily excited by a population of warm electrons with a loss cone type distribution in a background of cold electron plasma. Quasi-linear theory is then used to show that the upper hybrid turbulence can preferentially heat the warm electrons in the perpendicular direction. In analogy to ion conic formation, this perpendicular heating process is a viable mechanism of generating electron conical distributions observed in the Earth's midaltitude polar regions.

Wong, H. K.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Chemical nonequilibrium and viscous flow computation for conic aerobrake bodies

Three-dimensional analyses are presented for the viscous, reactive flow over a complete entry-body configuration with a wide-angle conic surface. The predictive method uses a split approach that solves iteratively the Navier-Stokes and the continuity equations of chemical species. The finite-difference formulation and the computational grid are adapted to the bow shock and the conformally mapped body such that the velocity components are in the computational spherical-polar space. Combinations of several conic forebody and afterbody configurations have been studied using wind-tunnel, Space Shuttle, and aerobraking orbital transfer vehicle (AOTV) entry conditions. The effects of the borebody bluntness and of finite-rate chemical reactions on the shock layer, the wall catalycity on the boundary layer, the shear-layer impingement on the afterbody, and the base-flow environment are discussed.

Li, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Vortex-dominated conical-flow computations using unstructured adaptively-refined meshes

A conical Euler/Navier-Stokes algorithm is presented for the computation of vortex-dominated flows. The flow solver involves a multistage Runge-Kutta time stepping scheme which uses a finite-volume spatial discretization on an unstructured grid made up of triangles. The algorithm also employs an adaptive mesh refinement procedure which enriches the mesh locally to more accurately resolve the vortical flow features. Results are presented for several highly-swept delta wing and circular cone cases at high angles of attack and at supersonic freestream flow conditions. Accurate solutions were obtained more efficiently when adaptive mesh refinement was used in contrast with refining the grid globally. The paper presents descriptions of the conical Euler/Navier-Stokes flow solver and adaptive mesh refinement procedures along with results which demonstrate the capability.

Batina, John T.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Generation models of electron conics

Electron distribution functions (EDFs) with a peak oblique to the magnetic field, adjacent to but distinct from loss-cone features, have been observed by the DE 1, Viking, and S3-3 spacecraft in passes through the nightside auroral zone, polar cap, dayside cusp, and extended dayside auroral oval. Using particle simulations, two types of wave excitation and particle acceleration mechanisms which may contribute to producing these electron conic distributions are investigated. The first involves excitation of upper-hybrid waves by the electron loss cone, and the subsequent perpendicular heating of the background and thermal electrons. The second involves excitation of downward propagating parallel modes by an auroral electron beam which frequently accompanies the upflowing electron conics. These modes provide parallel acceleration, which modifies the GDF. Those electrons which are not lost to the atmosphere and mirror back up the magnetic field line give rise to enhancements in the GDF at the edge of the loss cone.

Roth, I.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Ion cyclotron resonance heated conics - Theory and observations

A general theoretical treatment of energetic oxygen ion conic formation through cyclotron resonance with magnetospheric electromagnetic plasma turbulence is presented. With suitable assumptions, there exists a similarity regime in which the process may be profitably characterized by two parameters corresponding roughly to the velocity scale and pitch angle of the ion distribution. These may be independently determined from the wave and particle observations of a conic event, as is illustrated here using typical auroral passes of the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite. The predictions of the theory are found to be in excellent agreement with the observations.

Crew, G. B.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Conical Euler simulation and active suppression of delta wing rocking motion

A conical Euler code was developed to study unsteady vortex-dominated flows about rolling highly-swept delta wings, undergoing either forced or free-to-roll motions including active roll suppression. The flow solver of the code involves a multistage Runge-Kutta time-stepping scheme which uses a finite volume spatial discretization of the Euler equations on an unstructured grid of triangles. The code allows for the additional analysis of the free-to-roll case, by including the rigid-body equation of motion for its simultaneous time integration with the governing flow equations. Results are presented for a 75 deg swept sharp leading edge delta wing at a freestream Mach number of 1.2 and at alpha equal to 10 and 30 deg angle of attack. A forced harmonic analysis indicates that the rolling moment coefficient provides: (1) a positive damping at the lower angle of attack equal to 10 deg, which is verified in a free-to-roll calculation; (2) a negative damping at the higher angle of attack equal to 30 deg at the small roll amplitudes. A free-to-roll calculation for the latter case produces an initially divergent response, but as the amplitude of motion grows with time, the response transitions to a wing-rock type of limit cycle oscillation. The wing rocking motion may be actively suppressed, however, through the use of a rate-feedback control law and antisymmetrically deflected leading edge flaps. The descriptions of the conical Euler flow solver and the free-to-roll analysis are presented. Results are also presented which give insight into the flow physics associated with unsteady vortical flows about forced and free-to-roll delta wings, including the active roll suppression of this wing-rock phenomenon.

Lee, Elizabeth M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Conical Euler simulation of wing rock for a delta wing planform

Unsteady, vortex-dominated flowfields are presently studied by using the conical Euler equations as an efficient first step toward investigation of the full three-dimensional problem, under the assumption that the supersonic flow about a delta wing is conical and therefore allows the three-dimensional problem to be reduced to a two-dimensional one. Attention is given to the case of a delta wing undergoing wing-rock motion. The code developed has also been modified to allow treatment of the 'free-to-roll' case.

Lee, Elizabeth M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Short conical solid/perforated plug-nozzle as supersonic jet noise suppressor

Experimental studies of the acoustic far field, and the nature of the repetitive shock structure in cold jet flows from an externally expanded plug-nozzle having a short conical plug with a pointed termination, operated in a range of supercritical pressure ratios of 2.0 to 4.5, are reported. The overall sound pressure levels of a short solid conical plug-nozzle (CPN) are found to be within 3 dB of those of the baseline noise levels of a minimum length contoured plug-nozzle operated at the same pressure ratio and having the same annular throat area. As compared to an equivalent convergent nozzle, the noise reductions achieved through the use of a short solid CPN are of the order of 5 dB.

Das, I. S.↗