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NASA NTRS1989

Electrocatalysts for oxygen electrodes in fuel cells and water electrolyzers for space applications

In most instances separate electrocatalysts are needed to promote the reduction of O2 in the fuel cell mode and to generate O2 in the energy storage-water electrolysis mode in aqueous electrochemical systems operating at low and moderate temperatures (T greater than or equal to 200 C). Interesting exceptions are the lead and bismuth ruthenate pyrochlores in alkaline electrolytes. These catalysts on high area carbon supports have high catalytic activity for both O2 reduction and generation (1,2). Rotating ring-disk electrode measurements provide evidence that the O2 reduction proceeds by a parallel four-electron pathway. The ruthenates can also be used as self-supported catalysts to avoid the problems associated with carbon oxidation, but the electrode performance so far achieved in the research at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is considerably less. At the potentials involved in the anodic mode the ruthenate pyrochlores have substantial equilibrium solubility in concentrated alkaline electrolyte. This results in the loss of catalyst into the bulk solution and a decline in catalytic activity. Furthermore, the hydrogen generation counter electrode may become contaminated with reduction products from the pyrochlores (lead, ruthenium). A possible approach to this problem is to immobilize the pyrochlore catalyst within an ionic-conducting solid polymer, which would replace the fluid electrolyte within the porous gas diffusion O2 electrode. For bulk alkaline electrolyte, an anion-exchange polymer is needed with a transference number close to unity for the Oh(-) ion. Preliminary short-term measurements with lead ruthenates using a commercially available partially-fluorinated anion-exchange membrane as an overlayer on the porous gas-fed electrode indicate lower anodic polarization and virtually unchanged cathodic polarization.

Prakash, Jai↗

NASA NTRS1988

Cut-and-connect of two antiparallel vortex tubes

Motivated by an early conjecture that vortex cut-and-connect plays a key role in mixing and production of turbulence, helicity and aerodynamic noise, the cross-linking of two antiparallel viscous vortex tubes via direct numerical simulation is studied. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved by a dealiased pseudo-spectral method with 64 cubed grid points in a periodic domain for initial Reynolds numbers Re up to 1000. The vortex tubes are given an initial sinusoidal perturbation to induce a collision and keep the two tubes pressed against each other as annihilation continues. Cross-sectional and wire plots of various properties depict three stages of evolution: (1) Inviscid induction causing vortex cores to first approach and form a contact zone with a dipole cross-section, and then to flatten and stretch; (2) Vorticity annihilation in the contact zone accompanied by bridging between the two vortices at both ends of the contact zone due to a collection of cross-linked vortex lines, now orthogonal to the initial vortex tubes. The direction of dipole advection in the contact zone reverses; and (3) Threading of the remnants of the original vortices in between the bridges as they pull apart. The crucial stage 2 is shown to be a simple consequence of vorticity annihilation in the contact zone, link-up of the un-annihilated parts of vortex lines, and stretching and advection by the vortex tube swirl of the cross-linked lines, which accumulate at stagnation points in front of the annihilating vortex dipole. It is claimed that bridging is the essence of any vorticity cross-linking and that annihilation is sustained by stretching of the dipole by the bridges. Vortex reconnection details are found to be insensitive to asymmetry. Modeling of the reconnection process is briefly examined. The 3D spatial details of scalar transport (at unity Schmidt number), enstrophy production, dissipation and helicity are also examined.

Melander, Mogens V.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Manipulator control by exact linearization

Comments on the application to rigid link manipulators of geometric control theory, resolved acceleration control, operational space control, and nonlinear decoupling theory are given, and the essential unity of these techniques for externally linearizing and decoupling end effector dynamics is discussed. Exploiting the fact that the mass matrix of a rigid link manipulator is positive definite, a consequence of rigid link manipulators belonging to the class of natural physical systems, it is shown that a necessary and sufficient condition for a locally externally linearizing and output decoupling feedback law to exist is that the end effector Jacobian matrix be nonsingular. Furthermore, this linearizing feedback is easy to produce.

Kruetz, K.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Light propagation and the distance-redshift relation in a realistic inhomogeneous universe

The propagation of light rays in a clumpy universe constructed by cosmological version of the post-Newtonian approximation was investigated. It is shown that linear approximation to the propagation equations is valid in the region where zeta is approximately less than 1 even if the density contrast is much larger than unity. Based on a gerneral order-of-magnitude statistical consideration, it is argued that the linear approximation is still valid where zeta is approximately greater than 1. A general formula for the distance-redshift relation in a clumpy universe is given. An explicit expression is derived for a simplified situation in which the effect of the gravitational potential of inhomogeneities dominates. In the light of the derived relation, the validity of the Dyer-Roeder distance is discussed. Also, statistical properties of light rays are investigated for a simple model of an inhomogeneous universe. The result of this example supports the validity of the linear approximation.

Futamase, Toshifumi↗

NASA NTRS1989

Oxidation of silicon with a 5 eV O(-) beam

A silicon wafer has been oxidized at room temperature in vacuum using a pure, ground-state beam of O(-) ions. The beam was of sufficiently low energy that no displacement damage or implantation was energetically possible. The resulting SiO2 films were analyzed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A logarithmic dependence of oxide thickness on dose was observed, with an extrapolated oxidation efficiency of unity for the clean silicon surface. A distinct initial oxidation phase was observed, with an anomalously high level of silicon suboxides. In addition, the valence-band offset between the silicon and the oxide was unusually small, suggesting a large interfacial dipole.

Hecht, M. H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Simultaneous axial conduction in the fluid and the pipe wall for forced convective laminar flow with blowing and suction at the wall

Numerical solutions are reported for conjugate heat transfer in a porous pipe having an internal flow with blowing or suction at the inner surface of the pipe and constant heat flux at the outer surface. The effect of the simultaneous axial conduction through the wall and the fluid has been studied for the combined hydrodynamic and thermal entry lengths. The results show that the ratio of the thermal conductivities of the pipe wall to the fluid and the thickness of the pipe wall may become significant factors on the heat transfer when the Peclet number is small, especially for the case when fluid is injected into the pipe. It is also shown that the effect of axial wall conduction for the case of constant heat flux at the outer wall surface can be neglected when the wall thickness is small and the ratio of the conductivities of the wall to the fluid approaches unity.

Faghri, Amir↗

NASA NTRS1989

Sequential design of discrete linear quadratic regulators via optimal root-locus techniques

A sequential method employing classical root-locus techniques has been developed in order to determine the quadratic weighting matrices and discrete linear quadratic regulators of multivariable control systems. At each recursive step, an intermediate unity rank state-weighting matrix that contains some invariant eigenvectors of that open-loop matrix is assigned, and an intermediate characteristic equation of the closed-loop system containing the invariant eigenvalues is created.

Shieh, Leang S.↗

NASA NTRS1989

A reevaluation of the infrared-radio correlation for spiral galaxies

The infrared radio correlation has been reexamined for a sample of 237 optically bright spiral galaxies which range from 10 to the 8th to 10 to the 11th solar luminosities in far-infrared luminosity. The slope of the correlation is not unity. A simple model in which dust heating by both star formation and the interstellar radiation field contribute to the far-infrared luminosity can account for the nonunity slope. The model differs from previous two component models, however, in that the relative contribution of the two components is independent of far-infrared color temperature, but is dependent on the far-infrared luminosity.

Devereux, Nicholas A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The Wasilewski sample of emission-line galaxies - Follow-up CCD imaging and spectroscopic and IRAS observations

The results of an extensive imaging and spectroscopic follow-up of the objective prism-selected emission line galaxy (ELG) sample of Wasilewski (1982) are presented. Fluxes at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns were also obtained from the coadded IRAS survey data. ELGs found by objective prism surveys are found to be generally small and underluminous galaxies which usually have higher than average optical surface brightness. The Seyfert detection rate in objective prism surveys is roughly 10 percent and the ratio of the space densities of Seyfert 2 to Seyfert 1 galaxies is significantly larger than unity. Most of the galaxies selected by objective prism surveys are star-forming, late-type spirals which often show disturbed morphology. About 25 percent of the galaxies detected by the surveys are faint, high-excitation metal-poor compact H II regions.

Bothun, Gregory D.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Fractal mapping of digitized images - Application to the topography of Arizona and comparisons with synthetic images

The concept of fractal mapping is introduced and applied to digitized topography of Arizona. It is shown that the fractal statistics satisfy the topography of the state to a good approximation. The fractal dimensions and roughness amplitudes from subregions are used to construct maps of these quantities. It is found that the fractal dimension of actual two-dimensional topography is not affected by the adding unity to the fractal dimension of one-dimensional topographic tracks. In addition, consideration is given to the production of fractal maps from synthetically derived topography.

Huang, J.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The spatially non-uniform convergence of the numerical solutions of flows

The spatial distribution of the numerical disturbances that are generated during the numerical solution of a flow is examined. It is shown that the distribution of the disturbances is not uniform. In regions where the structure of a flow is simple, the magnitudes of the generated disturbances is small and their decay is fast. However, in complex flow regions, as in separation and vortical areas, large magnitude disturbances appear and their decay may be very slow. The observed nonuniformity of the numerical disturbances makes possible the reduction of the calculation time by application of what may be called the partial-grid calculation technique, in which a major part of the calculation procedure is applied in selective subregions, where the velocity disturbances are large, and not within the whole grid. This technique is expected to prove beneficial in large-scale calculations such as the flow about complete aircraft configurations at high angle of attack. Also, it has been shown that if the Navier-Stokes equations are written in a generalized coordinate system, then in regions in which the grid is fine, such as near solid boundaries, the norms become infinitesimally small, because in these regions the Jacobian has very large values. Thus, the norms, unless they are unscaled by the Jacobians, reflect only the changes that happen at the outer boundaries of the computation domain, where the value of the Jacobian approaches unity, and not in the whole flow field.

Panaras, Argyris G.↗

NASA NTRS1989

On manipulator control by exact linearization

Comments are given on the application to rigid-link manipulators of geometric control theory, resolved acceleration control, operational space control, and nonlinear decoupling theory, and the essential unity of these techniques for externally linearizing and decoupling end-effector dynamics is discussed. Exploiting the fact that the mass matrix of a rigid-link manipulator is positive definite, and the fact that there is an independent input for each degree of freedom, it is shown that a necessary and sufficient condition for a locally externally linearizing and output decoupling feedback law to exist is that the end effector Jacobian matrix be nonsingular.

Kreutz, Kenneth↗

NASA NTRS1989

Theory of droplet. Part 1: Renormalized laws of droplet vaporization in non-dilute sprays

The vaporization of a droplet, interacting with its neighbors in a non-dilute spray environment is examined as well as a vaporization scaling law established on the basis of a recently developed theory of renormalized droplet. The interacting droplet consists of a centrally located droplet and its vapor bubble which is surrounded by a cloud of droplets. The distribution of the droplets and the size of the cloud are characterized by a pair-distribution function. The vaporization of a droplet is retarded by the collective thermal quenching, the vapor concentration accumulated in the outer sphere, and by the limited percolative passages for mass, momentum and energy fluxes. The retardation is scaled by the local collective interaction parameters (group combustion number of renormalized droplet, droplet spacing, renormalization number and local ambient conditions). The numerical results of a selected case study reveal that the vaporization correction factor falls from unity monotonically as the group combustion number increases, and saturation is likely to occur when the group combustion number reaches 35 to 40 with interdroplet spacing of 7.5 diameters and an environment temperature of 500 K. The scaling law suggests that dense sprays can be classified into: (1) a diffusively dense cloud characterized by uniform thermal quenching in the cloud; (2) a stratified dense cloud characterized by a radial stratification in temperature by the differential thermal quenching of the cloud; or (3) a sharply dense cloud marked by fine structure in the quasi-droplet cloud and the corresponding variation in the correction factor due to the variation in the topological structure of the cloud characterized by a pair-distribution function of quasi-droplets.

Chiu, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Catadioptric Optics for laser Doppler velocimeter applications

In the design of a laser velocimeter system, attention must be given to the performance of the optical elements in their two principal tasks: focusing laser radiation into the probe volume, and collecting the scattered light. For large aperture applications, custom lens design and fabrication costs, long optical path requirements, and chromatic aberration (for two color operation) can be problematic. The adaptation of low cost Schmidt-Cassegrain astronomical telescopes to perform these laser beam manipulation and scattered light collection tasks is examined. A generic telescope design is analyzed using ray tracing and Gaussian beam propagation theory, and a simple modification procedure for converting from infinite to near unity conjugate ratio operation with image quality near the diffraction limit was identified. Modification requirements and performance are predicted for a range of geometries. Finally, a 200-mm-aperture telescope was modified for f/10 operation; performance data for this modified optic for both laser beam focusing and scattered light collection tasks agree well with predictions.

Dunagan, Stephen E.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Primary arm spacing in directionally solidified Pb-10 wt percent Sn alloys

The dependence of primary arm spacings on growth speed was investigated for cellular and dendritic arrays in Pb-10 wt percent Sn samples directionally solidified under a constant positive thermal gradient in the melt. The gradient of constitutional supercooling was varied from almost zero (near the break-down of the planar liquid-solid interface at small growth speeds, cellular morphology) to near unity (large growth speeds, dendritic morphology). The spatial arrangements of cells and dendrites, as given by their coordination number, are not very different from each other. It appears that primary arm spacing maxima and the cell to dendrite transition are strongly influenced by the magnitude of the solute partition coefficient. The planar to cellular bifurcation is supercritical in Pb-Sn which has a high partition coefficient, as compared to the subcritical behavior reported in Al-Cu and succinonitrile-acetone, both of which have low partition coefficients. The primary arm spacing model due to Hunt agrees with the experimentally observed trend for the whole growth regime. There is a good quantitative agreement at higher gradients of supercooling. However, the model overpredicts the primary arm spacings at low gradients of constitutional supercooling.

Chopra, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The disk-halo connection and the nature of the interstellar medium

Some results on the nature of the interstellar medium that are specifically concerned with the disk-halo interaction are discussed. Over the last five years or so it has become clear that the supernovae rate in our Galaxy is spatially clumped and the consequences of such clumping are superbubbles and supershells fed by tens or hundreds of supernovae per shell. These objects evolve and expand rapidly and soon break out of the disk of the Galaxy, feeding the halo with very significant mass, energy, and momentum. As cooling occurs, gas will rain down onto the disk of the Galaxy completing the cycle. The basic flow of physical quantities from disk to halo and vice versa are discussed. Some of the many implications are noted including aspects of dynamo theory, quasar absorption lines, the theory of galactic coronae, and the nature of the x ray background. The essential difference here with the McKee-Ostriker (1977) theory is that the filling factor of the hot gas in the disk is significantly less than unity.

Norman, Colin A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Germanium Blocked Impurity Band (BIB) detectors

Information is given in viewgraph form. The advantages of the Si blocked impurity band (BIB) detector invented by M. D. Petroff and M. G. Stabelbroek are noted: smaller detection volume leading to a reduction of cosmic ray interference, extended wavelength response because of dopant wavefunction overlap, and photoconductive gain of unity. It is argued that the stated advantages of Si BIB detectors should be realizable for Ge BIB detectors. Information is given on detector development, subtrate choice and preparation, wafer polising, epitaxy, characterization of epi layers, and preliminary Ge BIB detector test results.

Haller, E. E.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Self-calibration of robot-sensor system

The process of finding the coordinate transformation between a robot and an external sensor system has been addressed. This calibration is equivalent to solving a nonlinear optimization problem for the parameters that characterize the transformation. A two-step procedure is herein proposed for solving the problem. The first step involves finding a nominal solution that is a good approximation of the final solution. A varational problem is then generated to replace the original problem in the next step. With the assumption that the variational parameters are small compared to unity, the problem that can be more readily solved with relatively small computation effort.

Yeh, Pen-Shu↗