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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 1,243 records · Page 69

Lunar soil properties and soil mechanics

The long-range objectives were to develop methods of experimentation and analysis for the determination of the physical properties and engineering behavior of lunar surface materials under in situ environmental conditions. Data for this purpose were obtained from on-site manned investigations, orbiting and softlanded spacecraft, and terrestrial simulation studies. Knowledge of lunar surface material properties are reported for the development of models for several types of lunar studies and for the investigation of lunar processes. The results have direct engineering application for manned missions to the moon.

Mitchell, J. K.↗

Temperature responses to infusion of electrolytes during exercise

To gain more insight into the ion-osmotic influence on temperature regulation, the rectal temperature responses of mongrel dogs were measured during one hour of treadmill-running at 1.2 m/sec up a 12 deg slope. Results indicate that as in man, the rise in body temperature during exercise appears to be a regulated process. There is a direct relationship between the rise and equilibrium levels of rectal temperature and the plasma sodium and osmotic concentrations. It remains to be determined if the hypernatremic-osmolality inhibits peripheral blood flow, the panting, salivation response, or both. Some background on previous experiments on resting and exercising dogs and men is recounted.

Greenleaf, J. E.↗

Molecular fluxes from a spacecraft measured with quartz microbalances

A technique has been developed to obtain a characterization of the self-generated environment of a spacecraft and its variation with time, angular position, and distance. The density, pressure, outgassing flux, total weight loss, and other important parameters were obtained from data provided by two mass measuring crystal microbalances, mounted back to back, at a distance of 1 m from the spacecraft equivalent surface. The strongest source appeared to be caused by a material diffusion process which produced a directional density at 1 m distance of about 160 billion molecules per cu cm after 1 h in vacuum and decayed to 1.6 billion molecules per cu cm after 200 h. Self-contamination of the spacecraft was equivalent to that which occurs in a 300-km altitude orbit.

Scialdone, J. J.↗

Taurus-Littrow chronology - Some constraints on early lunar crustal development

A number of samples obtained during the Apollo 17 mission give direct evidence of lunar processes occurring more than 4 aeons ago. The significance of Rb-Sr data for the history of the involved materials is discussed and mineral isochrons are presented for an Apollo 17 mare basalt. Data on a number of Apollo 17 soils and on some Apollo 15 and 16 whole-rock samples are also presented.

Nyquist, L. E.↗

A linearized theory method of constrained optimization for supersonic cruise wing design

A linearized theory wing design and optimization procedure which allows physical realism and practical considerations to be imposed as constraints on the optimum (least drag due to lift) solution is discussed and examples of application are presented. In addition to the usual constraints on lift and pitching moment, constraints are imposed on wing surface ordinates and wing upper surface pressure levels and gradients. The design procedure also provides the capability of including directly in the optimization process the effects of other aircraft components such as a fuselage, canards, and nacelles.

Miller, D. S.↗

Pressurized feeding on the GEGAS system

A continuous process to feed coal directly into a pressurized gasifier is described. Coal fines are heated and mixed with a recycled tar binder and extruded through a novel die system against gasifier pressure. Performance data on a 2 in. system is given and scale up to a larger 6 in. system is described.

Furman, A. H.↗

Shape of two-dimensional solidification interface during directional solidification by continuous casting

An analysis was made of the two-dimensional solidification of an ingot being cooled and withdrawn vertically downward from a mold consisting of parallel walls of finite length. Heat transfer analysis shows how the flatness of the interface is related to the ingot thickness, the withdrawal rate, the heat addition from the superheated liquid metal, and the temperature difference available for cooling. This provides an understanding of the conditions that will yield a maximum rate of casting while achieving the desired flatness of the interface. The results are interpreted with respect to the conditions for obtaining an aligned eutectic structure by directional solidification. In this process an additional constraint must be included that relates the ingot withdrawal rate and the heat transfer rate from the liquid metal to the solidification interface.

Siegel, R.↗

CMOS array design automation techniques

The design considerations and the circuit development for a 4096-bit CMOS SOS ROM chip, the ATL078 are described. Organization of the ATL078 is 512 words by 8 bits. The ROM was designed to be programmable either at the metal mask level or by a directed laser beam after processing. The development of a 4K CMOS SOS ROM fills a void left by available ROM chip types, and makes the design of a totally major high speed system more realizable.

Lombardi, T.↗

Propagation of sound through the Earth's atmosphere. 1: Measurement of sound absorption in the air: 2: Measurement of ground impedance

Parts were fabricated for the acoustic ground impedance meter and the instrument was tested. A rubber hose was used to connect the resonator neck to the chamber in order to suppress vibration from the volume velocity source which caused chatter. An analog to digital converter was successfully hardwired to the computer detection system. The cooling system for the resonant tube was modified to use liquid nitrogen cooling. This produced the required temperature for the tube, but the temperature gradients within each of the four tube sections reached unacceptable levels. Final measurements of the deexcitation of nitrogen by water vapor indicate that the responsible physical process is not the direct vibration-translation energy transfer, but is a vibration-vibration energy transfer.

Meredith, R. W.↗

Radiance profile enhancement for solar occultation measurements

It is pointed out that distortions in received signals in solar occultation measurements made from space derive from the systematic motion of the electrooptical sensor. In a wide range of cases, the motion-related signal distortions brought about by the instrument's full modulation transfer function are as important as those from the optics. It is shown through simulation that existing techniques in the field of digital-image processing can be applied directly to solar occultation experiments to correct for these distortions. The resulting enhanced radiation profile is found to be much closer to the true radiance profile than is the sampled output of the instrument.

Gomberg, R. I.↗

Parabolic dish systems at work - Applying the concepts

An overview is given of parabolic dish solar concentrator application experiments being conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The 'engineering experiments' comprise the testing of (1) a small-community powerplant system, in conjunction with a grid-connected utility; (2) stand-alone applications at remote sites such as military installations, radar stations and villages; and (3) dish modules that can deliver heat for direct use in industrial processes. Applicability projections are based on a dish and receiver that use a Brayton engine with an engine/generator efficiency of 25% and a production level of up to 25,000 units per year. Analyses indicate that parabolic-dish power systems can potentially replace small, oil-fired power plants in all regions of the U.S. between 1985 and 1991.

Marriott, A. T.↗

Multipath induced errors in meteorological Doppler/interferometer location systems

One application of an RF interferometer aboard a low-orbiting spacecraft to determine the location of ground-based transmitters is in tracking high-altitude balloons for meteorological studies. A source of error in this application is reflection of the signal from the sea surface. Through propagating and signal analysis, the magnitude of the reflection-induced error in both Doppler frequency measurements and interferometer phase measurements was estimated. The theory of diffuse scattering from random surfaces was applied to obtain the power spectral density of the reflected signal. The processing of the combined direct and reflected signals was then analyzed to find the statistics of the measurement error. It was found that the error varies greatly during the satellite overpass and attains its maximum value at closest approach. The maximum values of interferometer phase error and Doppler frequency error found for the system configuration considered were comparable to thermal noise-induced error.

Wallace, R. G.↗

Geomorphology and Geology of the Southwestern Margaritifer Sinus and Argyre Regions of Mars. Part 3: Valley Types and Distribution

Three major valley tapes were identified in the SW Margaritefer Sinus and Argyre regions. Two are restricted to specific geologic units while the third is independent of the geology. The first type (the small valley networks) are found within the channeled and subdued plains unit in the eastern half of the map, in the grooved and channeled plains unit north of Nirgal Vallis, and in scattered instances in the cratered plateau unit north of Argyre. The even smaller valleys just inside Argyre's rim and on the inner slopes of many large craters are not directly related to the processes which formed the small valleys but are a result, instead, of post-impact modification of the crater walls. The second type of valley network is represented by Nirgal Vallis and the similar, shorter continuation of it to the west. This type is found only in the smooth plains material west of Uzboi Vallis in the map area. The third type of valley network is that of the Uzbol-Holden-Ladon valles system. This system is related to catastrophic outflow from Argyre Basin and is topographically rather than geologically controlled.

Parker, T. J.↗

Cell Partition in Two Polymer Aqueous Phases

In a reduced gravity environment the two polymer phases will not separate via density driven settling in an acceptably short length of time. It is to be expected that a certain amount of phase separation will take place, however, driven by the reduction in free energy gained when the interfacial area is reduced. This stage of separation process will therefore depend directly on the magnitude of the interfacial tension between the phases. In order to induce complete phase separation in a short time, electric field-induced separation which occurs because the droplets of one phase in the other have high electrophoretic mobilities which increase with droplet size was investigated. These mobilities are significant only in the presence of certain salts, particularly phosphates. The presence of such salts, in turn has a strong effect on the cell partition behavior in dextran-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) systems. The addition of the salts necessary to produce phase drop mobilities has a large effect on the interfacial tensions in the systems.

Brooks, D. E.↗

Earthquake deformation cycle in the Andean Back Arc, western Argentina

It is pointed out that the 1977 Caucete earthquake was an east-west compressive event which occurred at a depth of about 17 km in the Andean back arc approximately 450 km east of the Chile trench. The present study is primarily concerned with the mechanics of fault behavior prior to and after the 1977 earthquake, as evidenced by preseismic and postseismic vertical deformation. Simple fault models for each phase of deformation are presented. The models of preseismic slip, coseismic slip, and postseismic slip consist of uniform dislocations in an elastic half-space following the method of Chinnery (1961). The basically elastic models presented demonstrate that deformations in the vicinity of the 1977 Caucete, Argentina, earthquake are consistent with activity on some portion of the coseismic fault. This is evidence that these deformations are directly related to the processes of strain accumulation and release associated with the event.

Reilinger, R.↗

Preliminary design of turbopumps and related machinery

Pumps used in large liquid-fuel rocket engines are examined. The term preliminary design denotes the initial, creative phases of design, where the general shape and characteristics of the machine are determined. This compendium is intended to provide the design engineer responsible for these initial phases with a physical understanding and background knowledge of the numerous special fields involved in the design process. Primary attention is directed to the pumping part of the turbopump and hence is concerned with essentially incompressible fluids. However, compressible flow principles are developed. As much as possible, the simplicity and reliability of incompressible flow considerations are retained by treating the mechanics of compressible fluids as a departure from the theory of incompressible fluids. Five areas are discussed: a survey of the field of turbomachinery in dimensionless form; the theoretical principles of the hydrodynamic design of turbomachinery; the hydrodynamic and gas dynamic design of axial flow turbomachinery; the hydrodynamic and gas dynamic design of radial and mixed flow turbomachinery; and some mechanical design considerations of turbomachinery. Theoretical considerations are presented with a relatively elementary mathematical treatment.

Wislicenus, George F.↗

Orbital atmospheric physics and dynamics

There are two ways of modeling the upper atmosphere. One is the empirical model that makes use of experimental data on means and excursions from the mean and fits the data in a self-consistent manner. The other approach is to deal directly with the physical processes. This is difficult since what is happening is extremely complex. Data measured using an interferometer to give Doppler shifts of airglow lines showed 300 to 800 m/sec winds with a complex structure in the upper region of the thermosphere at high latitudes. Ionospheric electric fields, strongly influenced by interaction with the solar wind, drive the ionized component and large neutral winds result due to momentum transfer between the charged particles and the neutrals. Frictional heating results from movement of ions through the neutrals, which also influences the compositional structure. These are examples of the complex interactions involved. The NCAR General Circulation Model (tropospheric) was adapted for use at thermospheric altitudes: the Thermospheric General Circulation Model (TGCM). The model makes use partly of primitive equations and partly of empirical data for some quantities such as electron density, magnetic field, and ion drift.

Roble, Raymond↗

Shock drift acceleration

This is a review of the fundamental physics of the interactions of charged particles treated individually while they interact with fast mode magnetohydrodynamic shocks. Numerical simulation and analytical theory are used to develop predictions of the expected characteristics of this process strong upstream anisotropies directed along the magnetic field and downstream anisotropies tending to be peaked more perpendicular to the field; relatively more of the enhancement of higher-energy particles occurring upstream; sensitive dependence on shock normal to magnetic field angle of the efficiency of energization. Observations which display all of the above characteristics are reviewed. Also discussed is the relationship of shock drift acceleration to the models for stochastic transport of charged particles in the vicinity of shocks. Extensions of this work in both the observational and theoretical approaches are discussed.

Armstrong, Thomas P.↗