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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

Fabrication of Hollow Spheres

Nozzle forms gas-filled spherical shells of high dimensional uniformity. Hollow-Sphere shell generator produces gas-filled metal sphere at rate of about 100 per second with repeat ability in all dimensions. Sphere filled with gas at pressure as high as 2,000psi. Process well suited for making targets for laser fusion.

Kendall, J. M.., Jr.↗

Pressures, forces, moments and shock shapes for a geometrically matched sphere-cone and hyperboloid at Mach 20.3 in helium

An investigation was conducted to compare measured and predicted pressure distributions, forces and moments, and shock shapes on a geometrically matched sphere-cone and hyperboloid. A hyperboloid with a nose radius of 0.5276 in. and an asymptotic angle of 39.9871 deg was matched to a sphere-cone with a nose radius of 0.750 in. and a cone half-angle of 45 deg. Experimental results in helium at a free-stream Mach number of 20.3 and a free-stream unit Reynolds number of 6.83 x 10 to the 6th power per foot were combined with predicted results from a theoretical method to compare the two shapes. Comparisons of experimental results showed small differences in the two shapes, but the prediction method provided better results for the hyperboloid than for the sphere-cone.

Calloway, R. L.↗

Method and apparatus for producing gas-filled hollow spheres

A system for forming hollow spheres containing pressured gas is described which includes a cylinder device containing a molten solid material with a nozzle at its end. A second gas nozzle, lying slightly upstream from the tip of the first nozzle, is connected to a source that applies pressured filler gas that is to fill the hollow spheres. High pressure is applied to the molten metal, as by moving a piston within the cylinder device, to force the molten material out of the first nozzle. At the same time, pressured gas fills the center of the extruded hollow liquid pipe that breaks into hollow spheres. The environment outside the nozzles contains gas at a high pressure such as 100 atmospheres. Gas is supplied to the gas nozzle at a slightly higher pressure such as 101 atmospheres. The pressure applied to the molten material is at a still higher pressure such as 110 atmospheres.

Wang, T. G.↗

Sphere forming method and apparatus

A system is provided for forming small accurately spherical objects. Preformed largely spherical objects are supported at the opening of a conduit on the update of hot gas emitted from the opening, so the object is in a molten state. The conduit is suddenly jerked away at a downward incline, to allow the molten object to drop in free fall, so that surface tension forms a precise sphere. The conduit portion that has the opening, lies in a moderate vacuum chamber, and the falling sphere passes through the chamber and through a briefly opened valve into a tall drop tower that contains a lower pressure, to allow the sphere to cool without deformation caused by falling through air.

Youngberg, C. L.↗

The formation of aligned spheres in miscibility gap systems

The development of regularly sized and spaced rods or spheres in a monotectic system is presently considered in terms of interface breakdown and capillary instability mechanisms between two liquid phases. The most important relationship, which governs the rod-to-aligned spheres transition, is the temperature gradient-to-growth rate ratio that determines the depth of the intercellular nodes. Rods will develop when these nodes are shallow by comparison to rod circumference, and spheres will develop when they are deep.

Schafer, C.↗

Coating a Sphere With Evaporated Metal

In vacuum coating apparatus, metal evaporated onto sphere from small source located some distance away. Sphere held in path of metal vapor while rotated about axis that rocks back and forth. One tilting motion particularly easy to produce is sinusoidal rocking with frequency much lower than rotational frequency. Apparatus developed for coating single-crystal sapphire spheres with niobium.

Strayer, D. M.↗

Electrostatic shielding of a charged conducting sphere by a fine-mesh grounded screen

A simple model of an electrostatic-shielding arrangement that will reduce the electric field from the Near Infrared Mapper Spectrometer aboard the Galileo spacecraft is presented. The system considered consists of a charged conducting sphere held at a fixed absolute potential via a power source. This system is screened by a larger, concentric sphere made of fine mesh which is grounded. A derivation based on elementary principles of electrostatics is used to show that the shielding effectiveness of the screen can be expressed in terms of the separation between the two spheres and another quantity B that is an intrinsic property of the screen. For a given screen, B can be determined by measuring the capacitance per unit area and separation between a flat piece of the screen and a parallel metal plate.

Edmonds, L.↗

Formation of metallic and metallic-glass hollow spheres and their solidification characteristics

Various metals and metallic glass systems have bene processed into hollow spheres with sizes ranging from 3 mm to 440 microns in diameter. The technique for the formation of the large hollow spheres, in general, is based on the fluid-dynamic instability of a hollow annular jet. A refined technique has also been developed for microshell formation, in which discrete bubbles are injected into the stream of the molten material and individually 'flushed' out at a frequency related to the Rayleigh jet instability. The surfaces of those spheres of all sizes exhibit a range of contrasting solidification behaviors and characteristics. Metal shells of varying materials, sizes, aspect ratios, sphericity and concentricity have many useful and novel applications.

Lee, M. C.↗

A Lagrangian method for the shallow water equations based on a Voronoi mesh - Flows on a rotating sphere

A Lagrangian scheme using the Voronoi mesh is applied to study shallow water flow on a sphere. Discrete approximations to the shallow water equations are obtained for the surfaces of a nonrotating and a rotating sphere, and discrete differential operators are defined for the gradient and the divergence on the sphere. Dissipation is put into the model, when needed, by merging fluid points when they get too close to each other. The full numerical scheme is described and results of numerical computations on various test cases are given, including zonal flow and the Riemann problem.

Augenbaum, J. M.↗

Trace element analyses of spheres from the melt zone of the Greenland ice cap using synchrotron X ray fluorescence

Synchrotron X-ray fluorescence spectra of unpolished iron and chondritic spheres extracted from sediments collected on the melt zone of the Greenland ice cap allow the analysis of Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, Pb, and Se with minimum detection limits on the order of several parts per million. All detected elements are depleted relative to chondritic abundance with the exception of Pb, which shows enrichments up to a factor of 500. An apparent anticorrelation between the Ni-content and trace element concentration was observed in both types of spherules. The fractionation patterns of the iron and chondritic spheres are not complementary and consequently the two iron spheres examined in this study are unlikely to result from ejection of globules of Fe/Ni from parent chondritic micrometeoroids.

Chevallier, P.↗

Pool film boiling from rotating and stationary spheres in liquid nitrogen

Results are presented for a preliminary experiment involving a saturated pool boiling at 1 atm from rotating 2 and 3 inch diameter spheres which were immersed in LN2. Additional results are presented for a stationary 2 inch diameter sphere quenched in LN2, which were obtained with a more versatile and complete experimental apparatus. The speed of the rotational tests varied from 0 to 10,000 rpm. The stationary experiments parametrically varied pressure and subcooling levels from 0 to 600 psig and from 0 to 50 F, respectively. During the rotational tests, a high speed photographic analysis was undertaken to measure the thickness of the vapor film surrounding the sphere.

Cuan, Winston M.↗

Parametric study of power absorption from electromagnetic waves by small ferrite spheres

Algebraic expressions in terms of elementary mathematical functions are derived for power absorption and dissipation by eddy currents and magnetic hysteresis in ferrite spheres. Skin depth is determined by using a variable inner radius in descriptive integral equations. Numerical results are presented for sphere diameters less than one wavelength. A generalized power absorption parameter for both eddy currents and hysteresis is expressed in terms of the independent parameters involving wave frequency, sphere radius, resistivity, and complex permeability. In general, the hysteresis phenomenon has a greater sensitivity to these independent parameters than do eddy currents over the ranges of independent parameters studied herein. Working curves are presented for obtaining power losses from input to the independent parameters.

Englert, Gerald W.↗

Application of an optimal filter for inflatable sphere data processing

The improvement in the sphere data processing, concerning the signal to noise ratio, is discussed. Frequency analysis of the radar data is effectuated. It reveals a specific frequency component in the radar angle error, which may originate from the tracking radar mechanism itself. An optimal (Wiener) filter is applied to the radar data in order to suppress the systematic angular error components selectively. Using this technique, a significant improvement in the signal to noise ratio is achieved. The resolution of sphere measurements, previously limited by the length of the polynomial filter in the sphere data processing algorithm, is improved.

Lee, H. S.↗

Bounds on the thermoelastic properties of suspensions of spheres

Results are presented on computations of three-point upper and lower bounds on the effective thermal expansion coefficient, the effective constant-pressure specific heat, and the effective constant-volume specific heat of statistically isotropic suspensions of mutually impenetrable spheres. The effect of polydispersivity in sphere size on the thermoelastic properties is investigated by considering the cases of both equisized and multisized spheres. For reasons of mathematical analogy, the results obtained for the effective thermal expansion coefficient translate immediately into equivalent results for the hygroscopic expansion coefficient.

Torquato, S.↗

Aerothermodynamics of a 1.6-m-diameter sphere in hypersonic rarefied flow

Results of a numerical study using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method are presented for hypersonic rarefied flow about a 1.6-m-diameter sphere. The flow conditions considered are those experienced by a typical satellite in orbit or by a space vehicle during entry. The altitude range considered is that from 90 to 200 km, which encompasses the near continuum, transitional and free-molecular flow regimes. A freestream velocity of 7.5 km/s is assumed in the simulations. The results show that transitional effects are significant at all altitudes below 200 km, but at 200 km the flow about the sphere attains the free-molecular limit. Very little chemical activity is present above 120 km. Both the stagnation point heat transfer and the sphere drag approach their respective free molecule values at 200 km. Results highlight the thermal and chemical nonequilibrium nature of the flowfield. Nonequilibrium effects on the surface heating and body drag are also investigated.

Dogra, Virendra K.↗

The inflatable sphere - A technique for the accurate measurement of middle atmosphere temperatures

The present study illustrates the inflatable sphere's capability to produce accurate temperatures up to 85 km and higher, given that the necessary reduction initialization conditions are met. At heights below 60 km, comparison of sphere temperatures with in situ thermistor measurements obtained close in space and time shows good agreement. Comparison with OH-radical rotational temperatures also confirms excellent agreement at 86 km. It is concluded that the sphere technique is an independent and highly accurate source of temperature measurement, is unique in being the only low-cost source of in situ measurement of temperature throughout the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, and qualifies as an intrinsic method to establish the accuracy of other atmosphere measurement systems.

Schmidlin, F. J.↗

High voltage spheres in an unmagnetized plasma - Fluid and PIC simulations

The basic physics involving the interaction of a high voltage sphere with a LEO-Plasma was investigated via computer experiments. Two approaches were used: the fluid description and the more general particle pushing method. Both techniques displayed qualitatively similar features. Thus, the initial time-dependent response of the plasma predicted by the fluid model, including the initial current surge and sheath formation, the formation of ion and electron density shells about the sphere with a double layer potential structure, and the subsequent propagation of the density shells away from the sphere. The PIC results also displayed an oscillatory character and slightly different time constants for the growth and decay mechanisms involved.

Thiemann, H.↗

Damping and scattering of electromagnetic waves by small ferrite spheres suspended in an insulator

The intentional degradation of electromagnetic waves by their penetration into a media comprised of somewhat sparsely distributed energy absorbing ferrite spheres suspended in an electrical insulator is investigated. Results are presented in terms of generalized parameters involving wave length and sphere size, sphere resistivity, permeability, and spacing; their influence on dissipation of wave power by eddy currents, magnetic hysteresis, and scattering is shown.

Englert, Gerald W.↗