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At least 1,153 records · Page 64

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NASA NTRS1993

Shock tunnel studies of scramjet phenomena, supplement 6

Reports by the staff of the University of Queensland on various research studies related to the advancement of scramjet technology are presented. These reports document the tests conducted in the reflected shock tunnel T4 and supporting research facilities that have been used to study the injection, mixing, and combustion of hydrogen fuel in generic scramjets at flow conditions typical of hypersonic flight. In addition, topics include the development of instrumentation and measurement technology, such as combustor wall shear and stream composition in pulse facilities, and numerical studies and analyses of the scramjet combustor process and the test facility operation.

Wendt, M.↗

NASA NTRS1991

SRB Environment Evaluation and Analysis. Volume 3: ASRB Plume Induced Environments

Contract NAS8-37891 was expanded in late 1989 to initiate analysis of Shuttle plume induced environments as a result of the substitution of the Advanced Solid Rocket Booster (ASRB) for the Redesigned Solid Rocket Booster (RSRB). To support this analysis, REMTECH became involved in subscale and full-scale solid rocket motor test programs which further expanded the scope of work. Later contract modifications included additional tasks to produce initial design cycle environments and to specify development flight instrumentation. Volume 3 of the final report describes these analyses and contains a summary of reports resulting from various studies.

Bender, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

The MESUR Mission

The MESUR mission will place a network of small, robust landers on the Martian surface, making a coordinated set of observations for at least one Martian year. MESUR presents some major challenges for development of instruments, instrument deployment systems, and on board data processing techniques. The instrument payload has not yet been selected, but the straw man payload is (1) a three-axis seismometer; (2) a meteorology package that senses pressure, temperature, wind speed and direction, humidity, and sky brightness; (3) an alphaproton-X-ray spectrometer (APXS); (4) a thermal analysis/evolved gas analysis (TA/EGA) instrument; (5) a descent imager, (6) a panoramic surface imager; (7) an atmospheric structure instrument (ASI) that senses pressure, temperature, and acceleration during descent to the surface; and (8) radio science. Because of the large number of landers to be sent (about 16), all these instruments must be very lightweight. All but the descent imager and the ASI must survive landing loads that may approach 100 g. The meteorology package, seismometer, and surface imager must be able to survive on the surface for at least one Martian year. The seismometer requires deployment off the lander body. The panoramic imager and some components of the meteorology package require deployment above the lander body. The APXS must be placed directly against one or more rocks near the lander, prompting consideration of a micro rover for deployment of this instrument. The TA/EGA requires a system to acquire, contain, and heat a soil sample. Both the imagers and, especially, the seismometer will be capable of producing large volumes of data, and will require use of sophisticated data compression techniques.

Squyres, S. W.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Prediction of rocket plume radiative heating using backward Monte-Carlo method

A backward Monte-Carlo plume radiation code has been developed to predict rocket plume radiative heating to the rocket base region. This paper provides a description of this code and provides sample results. The code was used to predict radiative heating to various locations during test firings of 48-inch solid rocket motors at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Comparisons with test measurements are provided. Predictions of full scale sea level Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) and Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) plume radiative heating to the Space Shuttle external tank (ET) dome center were also made. A comparison with the Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) measurements is also provided.

Wang, K. C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Gas ionization solar spectral monitor (GISSMO)

We are currently developing an instrument free from optical components to measure the full-disk solar spectrum in the extreme ultraviolet regime covering wavelengths from 75-500 A. The instrument, which will be launched aboard a NASA Black Brant sounding rocket in September 1992, consists of a windowless noble gas ionization cell followed by a toroidal electrostatic analyzer to spatially disperse photoelectrons as a function of their energies. A microchannel plate based position sensitive detector will be used to detect individual electrons, indirectly returning the solar EUV spectrum.

Vickers, James S.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Network for the detection of stratospheric change (NDSC)

The notion of a ground-based long-term measuring network specifically designed to provide the earliest possible detection of changes in the composition and structure of the stratosphere and to understand the causes of those changes is examined. The network's short-term goals are: to study the temporal and spatial variability of atmospheric composition and structure; to provide the basis for ground truth and complementary measurements for satellite systems such as the NASA Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite; and to critically test multidimensional stratospheric models and provide the broad data base required for improved model development. Priorities, instrumentation, station considerations, and site requirements are also discussed.

Kurylo, Michael J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Proportional counter windows for the Bragg Crystal Spectrometer on AXAF

A Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS) using a gas flow proportional counter as its primary detector is among the instruments under development for AXAF. The BCS will employ windows of 1-micron-thick polyimide coated on both sides with 200 A of Al; this window composition, while X-ray transmitting, will leak gas at a lower rate than the polypropylene film-based windows formerly employed. Accounts are given of the results obtained with additional innovative X-ray window materials currently under development, including diamond and Si-enriched Si3N4.

Markert, T. H.↗

NASA NTRS1929

The measurement of maximum cylinder pressures

The work presented in this report was undertaken at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to determine a suitable method for measuring the maximum pressures occurring in aircraft engine cylinders. The study and development of instruments for the measurement of maximum cylinder pressures has been conducted in connection with carburetor and oil engine investigations on a single cylinder aircraft-type engine. Five maximum cylinder-pressure devices have been designed, and tested, in addition to the testing of three commercial indicators. Values of maximum cylinder pressures are given as obtained with various indicators for the same pressures and for various kinds and values of maximum cylinder pressures, produced chiefly by variation of the injection advance angle in high-speed oil engine. The investigations indicate that the greatest accuracy in determining maximum cylinder pressures can be obtained with an electric, balanced-pressure, diaphragm or disk-type indicator so constructed as to have a diaphragm or disk of relatively large area and minimum seat width and mass.

Hicks, Chester W↗

NASA NTRS1932

A New Principle of Sound Frequency Analysis

In connection with the study of aircraft and propeller noises, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics has developed an instrument for sound-frequency analysis which differs fundamentally from previous types, and which, owing to its simplicity of principle, construction, and operation, has proved to be of value in this investigation. The method is based on the well-known fact that the Ohmic loss in an electrical resistance is equal to the sum of the losses of the harmonic components of a complex wave, except for the case in which any two components approach or attain vectorial identity, in which case the Ohmic loss is increased by a definite amount. The principle of frequency analysis has been presented mathematically and a number of distinct advantages relative to previous methods have been pointed out. An automatic recording instrument embodying this principle is described in detail. It employs a beat-frequency oscillator as a source of variable frequency. A large number of experiments have verified the predicted superiority of the method. A number of representative records are presented.

Theodorsen, Theodore↗

NASA NTRS1940

Preliminary Investigation of the Flying Qualities of Airplanes

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is undertaking an investigation of the flying qualities of airplanes. The work consists in the determination of the significant qualities susceptible of measurement, the development of the instruments required to make the measurements, and the accumulation of data on the flying qualities of existing airplanes, which data are to serve as a basis for quantitative specifications for the flying qualities of future designs. A tentative schedule of measurable flying qualities has been prepared and the instruments needed for their measurements have been assembled. A trial of the schedule and the instruments has been made using the Stinson SR-8e airplane. The results showed that, although the original schedule and instruments are basically satisfactory some further development is required to eliminate nonessential items and to expedite flight testing. The report describes and discusses the work done with this airplane.

Soule, H A↗

NASA NTRS1993

The MRIS feasibility study

The Microwave Reflectometer Ionization Sensor (MRIS) is an instrument being developed for use in detecting and ranging of electron density layers in the reentry plasma of a space transfer vehicle. The rationale for the selection of the Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier (DSBSC) system used in the feasibility study for the MRIS is presented. A 25 GHz single-oscillator system and a 220 GHz double-oscillator system are described. The 25 GHz system was constructed and tested in the laboratory and test results are presented. As developed, the system employs a sideband spacing of 160 MHz. Based on an estimated electromagnetic wave velocity in the plasma, a round-trip phase shift measurement accuracy of +/- 7.6 degrees was required for the desired +/- 1/2 cm distance measurement accuracy. The interaction of parallel ground and reflecting planes produces interference that prevents the basic DSBSC system from meeting the accuracy goal so a frequency modulation was added to the system to allow averaging of the measured phase deviation. With an FM deviation of +/- 1 GHz, laboratory measurements were made for distances from 5 to 61 cm tip free space. Accounting for the plasma velocity factor, 82 percent of the data were equal to or better than the desired accuracy. Based on this measured result a sideband spacing to 250 MHz could be expected to yield data approximately 96 percent within the accuracy goal.

Neece, Robert T.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Effects of turbulence on the geodynamic laser ranging system

The Geodynamic Laser Ranging System (GLRS) is one of several instruments being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for implementation as part of the Earth Observing System in the mid-1990s (Cohen et al., 1987; Bruno et al., 1988). It consists of a laser transmitter and receiver in space and an array of retroreflectors on the ground. The transmitter produces short (100 ps) pulses of light at two harmonics (0.532 and 0.355 microns) of the Nd:YAG laser. These propagate to a retroreflector on the ground and return. The receiver collects the reflected light and measures the round-trip transit time. Ranging from several angles accurately determines the position of the retroreflector, and changes in position caused by geophysical processes can be monitored.

Churnside, James H.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Shock tunnel studies of scramjet phenomena, supplement 7

Bakos, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Shock tunnel studies of scramjet phenomena, supplement 8

Reports by the staff of the University of Oueensland on various research studies related to the advancement of scramjet technology are presented. These reports document the tests conducted in the reflected shock tunnel T4 and supporting research facilities that have been used to study the injection, mixing, and combustion of hydrogen fuel in generic scramjets at flow conditions typical of hypersonic flight. In addition, topics include the development of instrumentation and measurement technology, such as combustor wall shear and stream composition in pulse facilities, and numerical studies and analyses of the scramjet combustor process and the test facility operation. This research activity is Supplement 8 under NASA Grant NAGW-674.

Stalker, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Doppler global velocimetry: Development of a flight research instrumentation system for application to non-intrusive measurements of the flow field

Doppler Global Velocimetry (DGV) is a new diagnostic tool that offers potential for flow field measurements in flight by acquiring three-component velocity data in near real-time during flight maneuvers. The feasibility of implementation of a flight DGV system aboard NASA's High-Angle-of-Attack Research Vehicle (HARV) was addressed in this work by identifying the essential characteristics of a flight measurement system and by performing calibration and error tests. Results from this work were: an outline that establishes a preliminary basis for system configurations by analyzing measurement errors, installation issues, and operating requirements; measurement of the accuracy of the DGV technique using a laboratory breadboard DGV system based on a frequency-doubled Nd: YAG laser and iodine Absorption Line Filter (ALF), which showed excellent agreement between the DGV data and pilot measurements on a laminar flow jet with velocities of up to 150 m/sec; a survey of DGV system components and technologies that are relevant to the design of a flight measurement system, including a survey of cameras for the next generation DGV receivers; an assessment of the candidate lasers and absorption line filters for the flight system, resulting in a near-term recommendation of Nd: host lasers and an iodine ALF for both flight and wind tunnel applications.

Komine, Hiroshi↗

NASA NTRS1994

Small UHV compatible hyperthermal oxygen atom generator

A high purity, hyperthermal, continuous beam atomic oxygen source capable of retrofitting to existing UHV systems has been developed. The instrument complements a general system capability, while its small size and simplicity of design permits tailoring the instrument for most experimental geometries. The flux level presently available is near 1 x 10 (exp 14) cm(exp -2)s(exp -1)(3P) but may be extended toward the theoretical limit of 3x10(exp 15 cm(exp -2)s(exp -1). The energy distribution of the emitted neutrals shows that the mean kinetic energy is about the same as observed for the ions or about 4 eV. The energy of the oxygen atoms may be substantially reduced for other applications by collision with a temperature controlled, non-reactive surface (with a concomitant spread in the energy distribution).

Outlaw, Ronald A.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Shock Tunnel Studies of Scramjet Phenomena 1993

Reports by the staff of the University of Queensland on various research studies related to the advancement of scramjet technology and hypervelocity pulse test facilities are presented. These reports document the tests conducted in the reflected shock tunnel T4 and supporting research facilities that have been used to study the injection, mixing, and combustion of hydrogen fuel in generic scramjets at flow conditions typical of hypersonic flight. In addition, topics include the development of instrumentation and measurement technology, such as combustor wall shear and stream composition in pulse facilities, and numerical studies and analyses of the scramjet combustor process and the test facility operation. This research activity is Supplement 10 under NASA Grant NAGw-674.

Stalker, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Hydrogen film cooling with incident and swept-shock interactions in a Mach 6.4 nitrogen free stream

The effectiveness of slot film cooling of a flat plate in a Mach 6.4 flow with and without incident and swept oblique shock interactions was experimentally investigated. Hydrogen was the primary coolant gas, although some tests were conducted using helium as the coolant. Tests were conducted in the Calspan 48-Inch Shock Tunnel with a nitrogen flow field to preclude combustion of the hydrogen coolant gas. A two-dimensional highly instrumented model developed in a previous test series was used. Parameters investigated included coolant mass flow rate, coolant gas, local free-stream Reynolds number, incident oblique shock strength, and a swept oblique shock. Both gases were highly effective coolants in undisturbed flow; however, both incident and swept shocks degraded that effectiveness.

Olsen, George C.↗