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NASA NTRS2000

Efficient Simulation of Wing Modal Response: Application of 2nd Order Shape Sensitivities and Neural Networks

At the preliminary design stage of a wing structure, an efficient simulation, one needing little computation but yielding adequately accurate results for various response quantities, is essential in the search of optimal design in a vast design space. In the present paper, methods of using sensitivities up to 2nd order, and direct application of neural networks are explored. The example problem is how to decide the natural frequencies of a wing given the shape variables of the structure. It is shown that when sensitivities cannot be obtained analytically, the finite difference approach is usually more reliable than a semi-analytical approach provided an appropriate step size is used. The use of second order sensitivities is proved of being able to yield much better results than the case where only the first order sensitivities are used. When neural networks are trained to relate the wing natural frequencies to the shape variables, a negligible computation effort is needed to accurately determine the natural frequencies of a new design.

Kapania, Rakesh K.↗

DOE OSTI2017

Social relations: A critical reflection on the notion of social impacts as change

This article seeks to reflect upon the dominant conception of social impacts as the change produced by development projects and programs, and the ways in which those affected perceive and experience them. Identifying change may be a necessary but not sufficient step in acknowledging the complexity of social life. Engaging with critical scholarship produced in the fields of both social impact assessment (SIA) and of the social studies of technical/planned interventions, I discuss how the understanding of social impacts as change responds ultimately to a causal–instrumental logic that, in order to make sense of the complexity of social life, tends to reduce it to a series of variables and matrices. I suggest a complementary dialectical approach focusing on social relations. This approach, allows an alternative means of analysing social impacts concerning the way policies and projects reconfigure conditions and possibilities on a societal level. To accomplish this, and in order to go beyond the sequence of potential impacts (or changes) and their generic indicators, I propose a set of analytical questions that highlight how social relations are structured. Besides, on the assumption that development is both a form of governance and a space of contestation, negotiation, and activism, this approach may contribute to further the potential for reflection and mobilisation that the practice of SIA presents. - Highlights: •Change, which is inherent to social life, is insufficient to determine social impacts. •The critique of causal-instrumental logic provides insights to reflect on social impacts. •Social impacts should rather refer to how interventions reconfigure social relations. •The complex, mutually constitutive nature of social phenomena may thus be recognized. •SIA should go beyond change to the understanding of its socio-political significance.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1978

External bulb variable volume maser

A maser functioning as a frequency standard stable to one part in 10 to the 14th power includes a variable volume, constant surface area storage bulb having a fixed volume portion located in a resonant cavity from which the frequency standard is derived. A variable volume portion of the bulb, exterior to the resonant cavity, has a maximum volume on the same order of magnitude as the fixed volume bulb portion. The cavity has a length to radius ratio of at least 3:1 so that the operation is attained without the need for a feedback loop. A baffle plate, between the fixed and variable volume bulb portions, includes apertures for enabling hydrogen atoms to pass between the two bulb portions and is an electromagnetic shield that prevents coupling of the electromagnetic field of the cavity into the variable volume bulb portion.

Reinhardt, V. S.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Testing of a Loop Heat Pipe Subjective to Variable Accelerations: Start-up - Part 1

The effect of accelerating forces on the performance of loop heat pipes (LHP) is of interest and importance to terrestrial and space applications. They are being considered for cooling of military combat vehicles and for spinning spacecraft. In order to investigate the effect of an accelerating force on LHP operation, a miniature LHP was installed on a spin table. Variable accelerating forces were imposed on the LHP by spinning the table at different angular speeds. Several patterns of accelerating forces were applied, i.e. continuous spin at different speeds and periodic spin at different speeds and frequencies. The resulting accelerations ranged from 1.17 g's to 4.7 g's. This paper presents the first part of the experimental study, i.e. the effects of a centrifugal force on the LHP start-up. Tests were conducted by varying the heat load to the evaporator, sink temperature, magnitude and frequency of centrifugal force, and LHP orientation relative to the direction of the accelerating force. The accelerating force seems to have little effect on the loop start-up in terms of temperature overshoot and superheat at boiling incipience. Changes in these parameters seem to be stochastic with or without centrifugal accelerating forces. The LHP started successfully in all tests.

Ku, Jentung↗

NASA NTRS2000

Testing of a Loop Heat Pipe Subjective to Variable Accelerations: Temperature Stability - Part 2

The effect of accelerating forces on the performance of loop heat pipes (LHP) is of interest and importance to terrestrial and space applications. LHP's are being considered for cooling of military combat vehicles and for spinning spacecraft. In order to investigate the effect of an accelerating force on LHP operation, a miniature LHP was installed on a spin table. Variable accelerating forces were imposed on the LHP by spinning the table at different angular speeds. Several patterns of accelerating forces were applied, i.e. continuous spin at different speeds and periodic spin at different speeds and frequencies. The resulting accelerations ranged from 1.17 g's to 4.7 g's. This paper presents the second part of the experimental study, i.e. the effect of an accelerating force on the LHP operating temperature. It has been known that in stationary tests the LHP operating temperature is a function of the evaporator power and the condenser sink temperature when the compensation temperature is not actively controlled. Results of this test program indicate that any change in the accelerating force will result in a chance in the LHP operating temperature through its influence on the fluid distribution in the evaporator, condenser and compensation chamber. However, the effect is not universal, rather it is a function of other test conditions. A steady, constant acceleration may result in an increase or decrease of the operating temperature, while a periodic spin will lead to a quasi-steady operating temperature over a sufficient time interval. In addition, an accelerating force may lead to temperature hysteresis and changes in the temperature oscillation. In spite of all these effects, the LHP continued to operate without any problems in all tests.

Ku, Jentung↗

NASA NTRS1985

Analysis of a two row hydrostatic journal bearing with variable properties, inertia effects and surface roughness

A computer algorithm for simulation of hydrostatic journal bearing pressure-flow behavior has been generated. The effects taken into account are inertia, cavitation, variable properties (isothermal bearing) and roughness. The program has been specifically tailored for simulation of the hybrid bearing of the cryogenic turbopumps of the main shuttle engine. Due to the high pressure (515 psia) of the supply line no cavitation has been found. The influence of the roughness effects have been found to become important only when the surface-roughness order of magnitude is comparable with that of the bearing clearance itself. Pocket edge inertia and variable properties have been found to have quite an important influence upon the pocket pressure, field pressure distribution and lubricant mass flow.

Braun, M. J.↗

NASA NTRS1980

A direct method for synthesizing low-order optimal feedback control laws with application to flutter suppression

A direct method of synthesizing a low-order optimal feedback control law for a high order system is presented. A nonlinear programming algorithm is employed to search for the control law design variables that minimize a performance index defined by a weighted sum of mean square steady state responses and control inputs. The controller is shown to be equivalent to a partial state estimator. The method is applied to the problem of active flutter suppression. Numerical results are presented for a 20th order system representing an aeroelastic wind-tunnel wing model. Low-order controllers (fourth and sixth order) are compared with a full order (20th order) optimal controller and found to provide near optimal performance with adequate stability margins.

Mukhopadhyay, V.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Guiding centre motion for particles in a ponderomotive magnetostatic end plug

The Hamiltonian dynamics of a single particle in a rotating plasma column, interacting with an magnetic multipole is perturbatively solved for up to second order, using the method of Lie transformations. First, the exact Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of canonical action-angle variables, and then an approximate integrable Hamiltonian is introduced, using another set of actions and angles, which describe the centre of oscillation for the particle. The perturbation introduces an effective ponderomotive potential, which to leading order is positive. At the second order, the pseudopotential consists of a sum of terms of the Miller form, and can have either sign. Additionally, at second order, the ponderomotive interaction introduces a modification to the particle effective mass, when considering the motion along the column axis. It is found that particles can be axially confined by the ponderomotive potentials, but acquire radial excursions which scale as the confining potential. The radial excursions of the particle along its trajectory are investigated, and a condition for the minimal rotation frequency for which the particle remains radially confined is derived. Last, we comment on the changes to the aforementioned solution to the pseudopotentials and particle trajectory in the case of resonant motion, that is, a motion which has the same periodicity as the perturbation.

Rubin, T. (ORCID:0000000164850096)↗

NASA NTRS1997

Wave Driven Exothermic Heating in the Mesopause Region

A full-wave propagation model was developed that describes the propagation of gravity waves from the Earth's surface to the upper boundary, which can be placed anywhere between 150 and 500 km altitude. The model includes a realistic background atmosphere, and includes the effects of mean horizontal winds and their vertical shears, mean vertical temperature gradients, the eddy and molecular diffusion of heat and momentum, and the effects of ion-drag. This model solves five coupled second-order differential equations (continuity, momentum, and energy) in the vertical coordinate to derive the perturbation variables u', v', w' (horizontal and vertical velocity components), T' (temperature) and p' (pressure). The upper boundary can be automatically selected based on tests using the radiation condition at the upper boundary, wherein the height is increased until the wave is experiencing severe dissipation at the upper boundary, ensuring that substantial absorption occurs for any waves reflected from the upper boundary. The determination of wave amplitude is a key requirement of wave energetics. Therefore, the fullwave model has been applied to airglow observations in order to determine wave amplitudes as a function of altitude. This was accomplished by using the full-wave model output to drive a chemistry perturbation module that describes minor species perturbations and the resulting airglow perturbations. The full-wave output was multiplied by an altitude-independent factor such that the modeled and observed relative airglow intensity perturbations were equal. The effects of mean winds were included in these studies, and found to be the most important model input affecting the calculations (being more important than the choice of eddy diffusion profiles and chemical kinetic coefficients). In one study (Hickey et al., 1997a) these winds could not be well estimated from the measurements, whereas in the second study (Hickey et al.,1997b) the mean were well defined with a sodium wind-temperature lidar.

Hickey, Michael P.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Dome-like pressure-temperature phase diagram of the cooperative Jahn–Teller distortion in NaNiO 2

NaNiO 2 is a Ni 3+ -containing layered material consisting of alternating triangular networks of Ni and Na cations, separated by octahedrally-coordinated O anions. At ambient pressure, it features a collinear Jahn–Teller distortion below $T^{JT}_{onset} ≈ 480$ K, which disappears in a first-order transition on heating to $T^{JT}_{onset} ≈ 500$ K, corresponding to the increase in symmetry from monoclinic to rhombohedral. It was previously studied by variable-pressure neutron diffraction (Nagle-Cocco et al 2022 ACS Inorg. Chem. 61 4312) and found to exhibit an increasing $T^{JT}_{onset}$ with pressure up to ∼5 GPa. In this work, powdered NaNiO 2 was studied via variable-pressure synchrotron x-ray diffraction up to pressures of ∼67 GPa at 294 K and 403 K. Suppression of the collinear Jahn–Teller ordering is observed via the emergence of a high-symmetry rhombohedral phase, with the onset pressure occurring at ∼18 GPa at both studied temperatures. Further, a discontinuous decrease in unit cell volume is observed on transitioning from the monoclinic to the rhombohedral phase. These results taken together suggest that in the vicinity of the transition, application of pressure causes the Jahn–Teller transition temperature, $T^{JT}_{onset}$, to decrease rapidly. We conclude that the pressure-temperature phase diagram of the cooperative Jahn–Teller distortion in NaNiO 2 is dome-like.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

NASA NTRS2001

Formation of Electrostatic Potential Drops in the Auroral Zone

In order to examine the self-consistent formation of large-scale quasi-static parallel electric fields in the auroral zone on a micro/meso scale, a particle in cell simulation has been developed. The code resolves electron Debye length scales so that electron micro-processes are included and a variable grid scheme is used such that the overall length scale of the simulation is of the order of an Earth radii along the magnetic field. The simulation is electrostatic and includes the magnetic mirror force, as well as two types of plasmas, a cold dense ionospheric plasma and a warm tenuous magnetospheric plasma. In order to study the formation of parallel electric fields in the auroral zone, different magnetospheric ion and electron inflow boundary conditions are used to drive the system. It has been found that for conditions in the primary (upward) current region an upward directed quasi-static electric field can form across the system due to magnetic mirroring of the magnetospheric ions and electrons at different altitudes. For conditions in the return (downward) current region it is shown that a quasi-static parallel electric field in the opposite sense of that in the primary current region is formed, i.e., the parallel electric field is directed earthward. The conditions for how these different electric fields can be formed are discussed using satellite observations and numerical simulations.

Schriver, D.↗

NASA NTRS1981

A method for obtaining reduced-order control laws for high-order systems using optimization techniques

A method of synthesizing reduced-order optimal feedback control laws for a high-order system is developed. A nonlinear programming algorithm is employed to search for the control law design variables that minimize a performance index defined by a weighted sum of mean-square steady-state responses and control inputs. An analogy with the linear quadractic Gaussian solution is utilized to select a set of design variables and their initial values. To improve the stability margins of the system, an input-noise adjustment procedure is used in the design algorithm. The method is applied to the synthesis of an active flutter-suppression control law for a wind tunnel model of an aeroelastic wing. The reduced-order controller is compared with the corresponding full-order controller and found to provide nearly optimal performance. The performance of the present method appeared to be superior to that of two other control law order-reduction methods. It is concluded that by using the present algorithm, nearly optimal low-order control laws with good stability margins can be synthesized.

Mukhopadhyay, V.↗

DOE OSTI2023

ECCE sensitivity studies for single hadron transverse single spin asymmetry measurements

Here, we performed feasibility studies for various single transverse spin measurements that are related to the Sivers effect, transversity and the tensor charge, and the Collins fragmentation function. The processes studied include semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) where single hadrons (pions and kaons) were detected in addition to the scattered DIS lepton. The data were obtained in pythia6 and geant4 simulated e+p collisions at 18 GeV on 275 GeV, 18 on 100, 10 on 100, and 5 on 41 that use the ECCE detector configuration. Typical DIS kinematics were selected, most notably Q 2 >1 GeV 2 , and cover the x range from 10 -4 to 1. The single spin asymmetries were extracted as a function of x and Q 2 , as well as the semi-inclusive variables z, which corresponds to the momentum fraction the detected hadron carries relative to the struck parton, and P T , which corresponds to the transverse momentum of the detected hadron relative to the virtual photon. They are obtained in azimuthal moments in combinations of the azimuthal angles of the hadron transverse momentum and transverse spin of the nucleon relative to the lepton scattering plane. In order to extract asymmetries, the initially unpolarized MonteCarlo was re-weighted in the true kinematic variables, hadron types and parton flavors based on global fits of fixed target SIDIS experiments and e + e – annihilation data. The expected statistical precision of such measurements is extrapolated to 10 fb –1 and potential systematic uncertainties are approximated given the deviations between true and reconstructed yields. Similar neutron information is obtained by comparing the ECCE e+p pseudo-data with the same from the EIC Yellow Report and scaling the corresponding Yellow Report e+ 3 He pseudo-data uncertainties accordingly. The impact on the knowledge of the Sivers functions, transversity and tensor charges, and the Collins function has then been evaluated in the same phenomenological extractions as in the Yellow Report. Finally, the impact is found to be comparable to that obtained with the parametrized Yellow Report detector and shows that the ECCE detector configuration can fulfill the physics goals on these quantities.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS2012

Design of a Variable Thickness Plate to Focus Bending Waves

This paper describes the design of a thin plate whose thickness is tailored in order to focus bending waves to a desired location on the plate. Focusing is achieved by smoothly varying the thickness of the plate to create a type of lens, which focuses structural-borne energy. Damping treatment can then be positioned at the focal point to efficiently dissipate energy with a minimum amount of treatment. Numerical simulations of both bounded and unbounded plates show that the design is effective over a broad frequency range, focusing traveling waves to the same region of the plate regardless of frequency. This paper also quantifies the additional energy dissipated by local damping treatment installed on a variable thickness plate relative to a uniform plate.

Schiller, Noah H.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Global Positioning System (GPS) Precipitable Water in Forecasting Lightning at Spaceport Canaveral

This paper evaluates the use of precipitable water (PW) from Global Positioning System (GPS) in lightning prediction. Additional independent verification of an earlier model is performed. This earlier model used binary logistic regression with the following four predictor variables optimally selected from a candidate list of 23 candidate predictors: the current precipitable water value for a given time of the day, the change in GPS-PW over the past 9 hours, the KIndex, and the electric field mill value. This earlier model was not optimized for any specific forecast interval, but showed promise for 6 hour and 1.5 hour forecasts. Two new models were developed and verified. These new models were optimized for two operationally significant forecast intervals. The first model was optimized for the 0.5 hour lightning advisories issued by the 45th Weather Squadron. An additional 1.5 hours was allowed for sensor dwell, communication, calculation, analysis, and advisory decision by the forecaster. Therefore the 0.5 hour advisory model became a 2 hour forecast model for lightning within the 45th Weather Squadron advisory areas. The second model was optimized for major ground processing operations supported by the 45th Weather Squadron, which can require lightning forecasts with a lead-time of up to 7.5 hours. Using the same 1.5 lag as in the other new model, this became a 9 hour forecast model for lightning within 37 km (20 NM)) of the 45th Weather Squadron advisory areas. The two new models were built using binary logistic regression from a list of 26 candidate predictor variables: the current GPS-PW value, the change of GPS-PW over 0.5 hour increments from 0.5 to 12 hours, and the K-index. The new 2 hour model found the following for predictors to be statistically significant, listed in decreasing order of contribution to the forecast: the 0.5 hour change in GPS-PW, the 7.5 hour change in GPS-PW, the current GPS-PW value, and the KIndex. The new 9 hour forecast model found the following five independent variables to be statistically significant, listed in decreasing order of contribution to the forecast: the current GPSPW value, the 8.5 hour change in GPS-PW, the 3.5 hour change in GPS-PW, the 12 hour change in GPS-PW, and the K-Index. In both models, the GPS-PW parameters had better correlation to the lightning forecast than the K-Index, a widely used thunderstorm index. Possible future improvements to this study are discussed.

Kehrer, Kristen C.↗

NASA NTRS1994

The optical polarization properties of X-ray-selected BL Lacertae objects

We discuss the optical polarization properties of X-ray-selected BL Lacertae objects (XSBLs) as determined from 3 yr of monitoring the polarization of 37 BL Lac objects and candidates. The observed objects include a complete X-ray flux limited sample drawn from the Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS). We find that the majority of the XSBLs classified solely on the appearance of their optical spectra are true members of the class of BL Lacertae objects since they possess intrinsically polarized and variable continua. The duty cycle of polarized emission (fraction of time spent with the degree of polarization greater than 4%) from XSBLs is 44%. The maximum observed percent polarizations are of order 10%, considerably below the maximum values observed for radio-selected BL Lacertae objects and blazars (30%-40%). While XSBLs have variable polarized emission, the majority (approximately equal to 85%) have preferred polarization position angles on timescales at least as long as 3 yr. This reflects stability in the geometry of the region emitting the linearly polarized optical emission. We describe the spectral dependence of the degree of polarization and discuss some of the possible mechanisms producing the observed characteristics. While dilution of the polarized emission by the host galaxy starlight is certainly present in some objects, we demonstrate that the average polarization properties of XSBLs derived from our observations are not drastically affected by this effect. While the confirmed BL Lac objects are shown to be photometric variables, the objects in our monitored sample did not display the larger than 1 mag variations generally used to characterize the optical variability of radio-selected BL Lacertae objects or blazars in general.

Jannuzi, Buell T.↗

NASA NTRS2021

Between-Simulator Comparison of Motion Filter Order and Break Frequency Interaction Effects on Pilot Control Behavior

This paper investigates the interaction effects of motion filter order and break frequency on pilots' manual control behavior and control performance using two simulators. Eighteen pilots performed the experiment in the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at NASA Ames Research Center and twenty pilots in the SIMONA Research Simulator at Delft University of Technology. The experiment used a full-factorial design with three motion filter orders (first-, second-, and third-order) and two filter break frequencies (0.5 and 2.0 rad/s), in addition to reference no-motion and full-motion conditions. Key task variables, such as the quality of the motion and visual cues and the characteristics of the sidestick, were matched across both simulators. Overall, the expected effects of filter order and break frequency variations were found, with both increasing order and increasing break frequency causing pilots to use less motion feedback in their control strategy, resulting in lower tracking performance. Furthermore, across the wide range of filter orders tested in the experiment, the existing Sinacori-Schroeder motion fidelity criterion was found to be a good predictor of the interaction effects of both filter settings on pilot control behavior. For the same motion condition, there was a consistent offset in the results between simulators, due to the more high-gain control strategy adopted by a number of the VMS pilots. Still, the observed relative trends in pilot control behavior and performance between motion conditions were equivalent in both simulators and thus accurately replicated.

manual control↗

DOE OSTI2024

Nonlinear Sigma model amplitudes to all loop orders are contained in the Tr ( Φ 3 ) theory

Scattering amplitudes for the simplest theory of colored scalar particles—the Tr ( Φ 3 ) theory—have recently been the subject of active investigations. In this work we describe an unanticipated wider implication of this work: the Tr ( Φ 3 ) theory secretly contains nonlinear sigma model (NLSM) amplitudes to all loop orders. The NLSM amplitudes are obtained from Tr ( Φ 3 ) amplitudes by a unique shift of kinematic variables. We show that this shifted kinematics produces amplitudes for a cubic theory with a linear term in the potential, with extrema spontaneously breaking U ( N ) → U ( N − k ) × U ( k ) . The Goldstone amplitudes for this theory coincide with those of pions in the U ( N ) × U ( N ) → U ( N ) chiral Lagrangian to all orders in the planar limit. We also give a purely on-shell understanding of this correspondence, showing that integrands defined by the kinematic shifts have the correct residues on poles and appropriately produce the Adler zero. Finally, we discuss how similar kinematic shifts produce certain infinite classes of mixed amplitudes of pions and Tr ( Φ 3 ) scalars, most of which are not interpretable from the Lagrangian description. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗