Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “exit time”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

Acoustic Study of B Helical Mode for Choked Axisymmetric Nozzle

An acoustic near-field study was performed for an axisymmetric conical convergent nozzle operating at a pressure ratio corresponding to a fully expanded Mach number of 1.3. The acoustic measurements were performed in the nozzle exit plane using multiple sensors arranged around the periphery of the nozzle. The acquired data were simultaneously digitized. The acoustic spatial characteristics, describing the large-scale structure associated with the preferred shear layer instability mode, were determined for the dominant B screech mode. The nozzle was fitted with a lip thickening device to determine the effect of this geometric variable on the spatial structure of the jet. For the thin-lipped configuration, the flapping structure of the B screech mode was found to precess in a time- dependent manner about the jet axis. Increasing of the nozzle exit lip thickness altered the spatial characteristics of this mode from a flapping to a time-dependent flapping or spinning. Using the autobicoherence spectrum, frequency dependencies were found to exist in the acoustic data of the thick-lipped configuration. These dependencies may be related to the nonlinearity of the jet and/or the time-dependent nature of the B mode spatial structure.

Ponton, Michael K.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Vortex simulation of the pressure field of a jet

Fluctuations of the pressure field of a jet are simulated numerically by a flow model consisting of axisymmetric vortex rings with viscous cores submerged in an inviscid uniform stream. Vortex shedding time intervals, randomly created to imitate the time-history characteristics of the pressure signals of a jet, are generated based on a probability distribution of the intervals between successive pressure peaks obtained from experiments. It is found that, up to five diameters downstream of the jet exit, the characteristics of the pressure fluctuations and the most probable time intervals between experimental and numerical results show good qualitative agreements. The role played by the axisymmetric vortex model in pressure field as well as extensions of the model is also discussed.

Fung, Y. T.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Swift and extensive Omicron outbreak in China after sudden exit from ‘zero-COVID’ policy

In late 2022, China transitioned from a strict ‘zero-COVID’ policy to rapidly abandoning nearly all interventions and data reporting. This raised great concern about the presumably-rapid but unreported spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in a very large population of very low pre-existing immunity. By modeling a combination of case count and survey data, we show that Omicron spread extremely rapidly, at a rate of 0.42/day (95% credibility interval: [0.35, 0.51]/day), translating to an epidemic doubling time of 1.6 days ([1.6, 2.0] days) after the full exit from zero-COVID on Dec. 7, 2022. Consequently, we estimate that the vast majority of the population (97% [95%, 99%], sensitivity analysis lower limit of 90%) was infected during December, with the nation-wide epidemic peaking on Dec. 23. Overall, our results highlight the extremely high transmissibility of the variant and the importance of proper design of intervention exit strategies to avoid large infection waves.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2017

Toward Understanding Tip Leakage Flows in Small Compressor Cores Including Stator Leakage Flow

The focus of this work was to provide additional data to supplement the work reported in NASA/CR-2015-218868 (Berdanier and Key, 2015b). The aim of that project was to characterize the fundamental flow physics and the overall performance effects due to increased rotor tip clearance heights in axial compressors. Data have been collected in the three-stage axial research compressor at Purdue University with a specific focus on analyzing the multistage effects resulting from the tip leakage flow. Three separate rotor tip clearances were studied with nominal tip clearance gaps of 1.5 percent, 3.0 percent, and 4.0 percent based on a constant annulus height. Overall compressor performance was previously investigated at four corrected speedlines (100 percent, 90 percent, 80 percent, and 68 percent) for each of the three tip clearance configurations. This study extends the previously published results to include detailed steady and time-resolved pressure data at two loading conditions, nominal loading (NL) and high loading (HL), on the 100 percent corrected speedline for the intermediate clearance level (3.0 percent). Steady detailed radial traverses of total pressure at the exit of each stator row are supported by flow visualization techniques to identify regions of flow recirculation and separation. Furthermore, detailed radial traverses of time-resolved total pressures at the exit of each rotor row have been measured with a fast-response pressure probe. These data were combined with existing three-component velocity measurements to identify a novel technique for calculating blockage in a multistage compressor. Time-resolved static pressure measurements have been collected over the rotor tips for all rotors with each of the three tip clearance configurations for up to five loading conditions along the 100 percent corrected speedline using fast-response piezoresistive pressure sensors. These time-resolved static pressure measurements reveal new knowledge about the trajectory of the tip leakage flow through the rotor passage. Further, these data extend previous measurements identifying a modulation of the tip leakage flow due to upstream stator wake propagation. Finally, a novel instrumentation technique has been implemented to measure pressures in the shrouded stator cavities. These data provide boundary conditions relating to the flow across the shrouded stator knife seal teeth. Moreover, the utilization of fast-response pressure sensors provides a new look at the time-resolved pressure field, leading to instantaneous differential pressures across the seal teeth. Ultimately, the data collected for this project represent a unique data set which contributes to build a better understanding of the tip leakage flow field and its associated loss mechanisms. These data will facilitate future engine design goals leading to small blade heights in the rear stages of high pressure compressors and aid in the development of new blade designs which are desensitized to the performance penalties attributed to rotor tip leakage flows.

Berdanier, Reid A.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Fuel-Air Mixing and Combustion in Scramjets

At flight speeds, the residence time for atmospheric air ingested into a scramjet inlet and exiting from the engine nozzle is on the order of a millisecond. Therefore, fuel injected into the air must efficiently mix within tens of microseconds and react to release its energy in the combustor. The overall combustion process should be mixing controlled to provide a stable operating environment; in reality, however, combustion in the upstream portion of the combustor, particularly at higher Mach numbers, is kinetically controlled where ignition delay times are on the same order as the fluid scale. Both mixing and combustion time scales must be considered in a detailed study of mixing and reaction in a scramjet to understand the flow processes and to ultimately achieve a successful design. Although the geometric configuration of a scramjet is relatively simple compared to a turbomachinery design, the flow physics associated with the simultaneous injection of fuel from multiple injector configurations, and the mixing and combustion of that fuel downstream of the injectors is still quite complex. For this reason, many researchers have considered the more tractable problem of a spatially developing, primarily supersonic, chemically reacting mixing layer or jet that relaxes only the complexities introduced by engine geometry. All of the difficulties introduced by the fluid mechanics, combustion chemistry, and interactions between these phenomena can be retained in the reacting mixing layer, making it an ideal problem for the detailed study of supersonic reacting flow in a scramjet. With a good understanding of the physics of the scramjet internal flowfield, the designer can then return to the actual scramjet geometry with this knowledge and apply engineering design tools that more properly account for the complex physics. This approach will guide the discussion in the remainder of this section.

Drummond, J. Philip↗
DOE OSTI2021

LxCxD motif of the APC/C coactivator subunit FZR1 is critical for interaction with the retinoblastoma protein

Highlights: • Several oncogenic viral proteins bind to tumor suppressor pRB via LxCxE motif. • LxCxE present in many cellular proteins that interact with pRB. • APC/C interacts with pRB via this motif in its FZR1 subunit. • FZR1 LxCxE-like LxCxD critical for FZR1-pRB direct binding and SKP2 ubiquitylation. • Mutation of FZR1 LxCxD alters cell cycle. Retinoblastoma protein (pRB) regulates cell cycle by utilizing different regions of its pocket domain for interacting with E2F family of transcription factors and with cellular and viral proteins containing an LxCxE motif. An LxCxE-like motif, LxCxD, is present in FZR1, an adaptor protein of the multi-subunit E3 ligase complex anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C). The APC/C{sup FZR1} complex regulates the timely degradation of multiple cell cycle proteins for mitotic exit and maintains G1 state. We report that FZR1 interacts with pRB via its LxCxD motif. By using point mutations, we found that the cysteine residue in the FZR1 LxCxD motif is critical for direct interaction with pRb. The direct binding of the LxCxD motif of FZR1 to the pRB LxCxE binding pocket is confirmed by using human papillomavirus protein E7 as a competitor, both in vitro and in vivo. While mutation of the cysteine residue significantly disrupts FZR1 interaction with pRB, this motif does not affect FZR1 and core APC/C association. Expression of the FZR1 point mutant results in accumulation of S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (SKP2) and Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), while p27{sup Kip1} and p21{sup Cip1} proteins are downregulated, indicating a G1 cell cycle defect. Consistently, cells containing point mutant FZR1 enter the S phase prematurely. Together our results suggest that the LxCxD motif of FZR1 is a critical determinant for the interaction between FZR1 and pRB and is important for G1 restriction.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1974

High-response on-line gas analysis system for hydrogen-reaction combustion products

The results of testing an on-line quadrupole gas analyzer system are reported. Gas samples were drawn from the exhaust of a hydrogen-oxygen-nitrogen rocket which simulated the flow composition and dynamics at the combustor exit of a supersonic combustion ramjet engine. System response time of less than 50 milliseconds was demonstrated, with analytical accuracy estimated to be + or - 5 percent. For more complex chemical systems with interfering atom patterns, analysis would be more difficult. A cooled-gas pyrometer probe was evaluated as a total temperature indicator and as the primary mass flow measuring element for the total sample flow rate.

Metzler, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Smoke-Point Properties of Nonbuoyant Round Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames

The laminar smoke-point properties of nonbuoyant round laminar jet diffusion flames were studied emphasizing results from long duration (100-230 s) experiments at microgravity carried -out on- orbit in the Space Shuttle Columbia. Experimental conditions included ethylene-and propane-fueled flames burning in still air at an ambient temperature of 300 K, initial jet exit diameters of 1.6 and 2.7 mm, jet exit velocities of 170-1630 mm/s, jet exit Reynolds numbers of 46-172, characteristic flame residence times of 40-302 ms, and luminous flame lengths of 15-63 mm. The onset of laminar smoke-point conditions involved two flame configurations: closed-tip flames with first soot emissions along the flame axis and open-tip flames with first soot emissions from an annular ring about the flame axis. Open-tip flames were observed at large characteristic flame residence times with the onset of soot emissions associated with radiative quenching near the flame tip; nevertheless, unified correlations of laminar smoke-point properties were obtained that included both flame configurations. Flame lengths at laminar smoke-point conditions were well-correlated in terms of a corrected fuel flow rate suggested by a simplified analysis of flame shape. The present steady and nonbuoyant flames emitted soot more readily than earlier tests of nonbuoyant flames at microgravity using ground-based facilities and of buoyant flames at normal gravity due to reduced effects of unsteadiness, flame disturbances and buoyant motion. For example, laminar smoke-point flame lengths from ground-based microgravity measurements were up to 2.3 times longer and from buoyant flame measurements were up to 6.4 times longer than the present measurements at comparable conditions. Finally, present laminar smoke-point flame lengths were roughly inversely proportional to pressure, which is a somewhat slower variation than observed during earlier tests both at microgravity using ground-based facilities and at normal gravity.

Urban, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Smoke-Point Properties of Non-Buoyant Round Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames

The laminar smoke-point properties of non-buoyant round laminar jet diffusion flames were studied emphasizing results from long-duration (100-230 s) experiments at microgravity carried out in orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Experimental conditions included ethylene- and propane-fueled flames burning in still air at an ambient temperature of 300 K, pressures of 35-130 kPa, jet exit diameters of 1.6 and 2.7 mm, jet exit velocities of 170-690 mm/s, jet exit Reynolds numbers of 46-172, characteristic flame residence times of 40-302 ms, and luminous flame lengths of 15-63 mm. Contrary to the normal-gravity laminar smoke point, in microgravity, the onset of laminar smoke-point conditions involved two flame configurations: closed-tip flames with soot emissions along the flame axis and open-tip flames with soot emissions from an annular ring about the flame axis. Open-tip flames were observed at large characteristic flame residence times with the onset of soot emissions associated with radiative quenching near the flame tip: nevertheless, unified correlations of laminar smoke-point properties were obtained that included both flame configurations. Flame lengths at laminar smoke-point conditions were well correlated in terms of a corrected fuel flow rate suggested by a simplified analysis of flame shape. The present steady and non-buoyant flames emitted soot more readily than non-buoyant flames in earlier tests using ground-based microgravity facilities and than buoyant flames at normal gravity, as a result of reduced effects of unsteadiness, flame disturbances, and buoyant motion. For example, present measurements of laminar smoke-point flame lengths at comparable conditions were up to 2.3 times shorter than ground-based microgravity measurements and up to 6.4 times shorter than buoyant flame measurements. Finally, present laminar smoke-point flame lengths were roughly inversely proportional to pressure to a degree that is a somewhat smaller than observed during earlier tests both at microgravity (using ground-based facilities) and at normal gravity.

Urban, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Smoke-Point Properties of Nonbuoyant Round Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames

The laminar smoke-point properties of non-buoyant round laminar jet diffusion flames were studied emphasizing results from long-duration (100-230 s) experiments at microgravity carried out in orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Experimental conditions included ethylene- and propane-fueled flames burning in still air at an ambient temperature of 300 K, pressures of 35-130 kPa, jet exit diameters of 1.6 and 2.7 mm, jet exit velocities of 170-690 mm/s, jet exit Reynolds numbers of 46-172, characteristic flame residence times of 40-302 ms, and luminous flame lengths of 15-63 mm. Contrary to the normal-gravity laminar smoke point, in microgravity the onset of laminar smoke-point conditions involved two flame configurations: closed-tip flames with soot emissions along the flame axis and open-tip flames with soot emissions from an annular ring about the flame axis. Open-tip flames were observed at large characteristic flame residence times with the onset of soot emissions associated with radiative quenching near the flame tip: nevertheless, unified correlations of laminar smoke-point properties were obtained that included both flame configurations. Flame lengths at laminar smoke-point conditions were well correlated in terms of a corrected fuel flow rate suggested by a simplified analysis of flame shape. The present steady and nonbuoyant flames emitted soot more readily than non-buoyant flames in earlier tests using ground-based microgravity facilities and than buoyant flames at normal gravity, as a result of reduced effects of unsteadiness, flame disturbances, and buoyant motion. For example, present measurements of laminar smokepoint flame lengths at comparable conditions were up to 2.3 times shorter than ground-based microgravity measurements and up to 6.4 times shorter than buoyant flame measurements. Finally, present laminar smoke-point flame lengths were roughly inversely proportional to pressure to a degree that is a somewhat smaller than observed during earlier tests both at microgravity (using ground-based facilities) and at normal gravity,

Urban, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Effect of Hole Quality on the Bearing Strength of Carbon Fiber Laminates

On programs involving flight hardware for launch vehicles that the author has been involved in over the years, the question always arises as to how to best machine and inspect holes drilled for fasteners. While common sense dictates that ‘well-drilled’ holes are desired over ‘poorly drilled’ holes for bolt bearing applications, the effect of hole quality on the bearing strength of carbon fiber laminates has not been extensively studied in the open literature. If this effect is not quantitatively known, the question of what hole quality needs to be required for the flight hardware cannot be answered. In addition, the function of the part with respect to the holes needs to be taken into account. There is no such thing as a defect-free hole since some chip-out of fibers within the hole will occur regardless of drill bit and backing plate pressure. For most holes machined in a carbon fiber laminate, some extent of delamination and fiber breakout on the entrance and exit of the hole is going to occur. Much time and money can be spent on trying to perfect the drilling technique and subsequent inspection of holes in carbon fiber laminates, including adding extra plies of cloth to the surfaces to help prevent fiber breakout; but is this effort really justified if little-to-no increase in bearing strength is realized by good-quality holes over those of lesser quality?

Nettles, A. T.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Combustor-Turbine Interactions By Using the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC) and the Glenn-HT Code

We develop the methodology of coupling two different computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes, OpenNCC and Glenn-HT, in order to investigate the unsteady flow fields inside the combustor and around the first-stage stator of a high-pressure turbine (HPT) from the energy efficient engine (E 3 ) program. In our coupling strategy, OpenNCC, a time accurate unstructured mesh multi-phase combustion CFD code, is applied to the combustor region and Glenn-HT, a structured mesh CFD code designed for turbine applications, is utilized inside the HPT region. As a proof of concept, we first simulate the three-dimensional airflow over the backward facing step and compared the predicted pressure coefficient against experimental data. We then considered a Jet-A/Air combustor with the NASA single learn direct injector (LDI) as a reacting flow test case. Here, Glenn-HT is used in the downstream of the combustor and assumes that the working fluid is a single gas (i.e., air) where the properties of the gas are taken from time- and area-averaged values at the combustor exit. A fully coupled combustor-turbine simulation using both OpenNCC and Glenn-HT was conducted on the E 3 combustor and a detailed analysis done pertaining to how a realistic combustor outflow affects migration of hot-streaks and its impact on the aerodynamic behavior inside the HPT. It is found that the combustion dynamics (i.e., the switching main and pilot flame strength) significantly alters the aerodynamic behavior inside the HPT including hot-streak migration. Variations of the temperature and the velocity magnitude in the passage could be up to ±75 and ±15. These large variations are an important part of the combustor-turbine interactions, which are overlooked by a single component simulation of the HPT while imposing the steady inflow boundary condition at the HPT inlet. Finally, it is observed the strong density gradient associated with the hot-streaks and the pressure gradient at the passage significantly enhances the baroclinic torque, affecting the vorticity field.

CFD hot-streaks↗
NASA NTRS1991

The spatial characteristics of the B helical mode for a choked axisymmetric nozzle

An acoustic near-field study was performed for an axisymmetric conical nozzle operated at a fully expanded Mach number of 1.3. The acoustic measurements were performed in the nozzle exit plane using multiple sensors arranged around the periphery of the nozzle. The acquired data were simultaneously digitized. The acoustic spatial characteristics, describing the large scale structure associated with the preferred shear layer instability mode, were determined for the dominant B screech mode. The nozzle was fitted with a lip thickening device to determine the effect of this geometric variable on the spatial structure of the jet. For the thin-lipped configuration, the flapping structure of the B screech mode was found to precess in a time-dependent manner about the jet axis. An increasing of the nozzle exit lip thickness altered the spatial characteristics of this mode from a flapping to a time-dependent flapping or spinning. Using the auto-bicoherence spectrum, frequency dependencies were found to exist in the acoustic data of the thick-lipped configuration. These dependencies may be related to the nonlinearity of the jet and/or the time-dependent nature of the B mode spatial structure.

Ponton, Michael K.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Sequential Precipitation Input Tagging (SPIT) to Estimate Water Transit Times and Hydrologic Tracer Dynamics Within Water‐Tagging Enabled Hydrologic Models

Determining the age distribution of water exiting a catchment is important for understanding groundwater storage and mixing. New water-tagging capabilities within models track precipitation events as they move through simulated storages, yet forward modeling of individual events may not systematically capture the full transit time distribution (TTD). Here, we present a “sequential precipitation input tagging” (SPIT) framework to tag all input precipitation at regular intervals during extended model simulations. Monthly tags over 7 years were applied at six National Ecological Observatory Network sites to calculate TTDs and derive mean virtual tracer age, $\overline{T_{V}}$, fractions of young water, F yw , and hydrologic tracer concentrations (water isotopes δ 18 O and δ 2 H) within a tagging enabled version of the Weather Research and Forecast hydrologic model (WRF-Hydro). Throughout seven simulation years, the fraction of simulated discharge derived from tagged events, F tag , increased each year, with the final year's F tag ranging from 66% to 100% and highlights the need to apply SPIT over many years to understand TTDs. When the F tag was >75%, simulated $\overline{T_{V}}$ ranged 179–923 days and F yw 0.6%–23.9%, with daily values exhibiting a power-law relationship with precipitation, discharge, and groundwater. Through implementation of SPIT, we find this hydrologic model configuration performs poorly in estimation of $\overline{T_{V}}$ and F yw (root mean squared error of 469 days and 14.4% respectively), suggesting it misrepresents subsurface mixing. Thus, the SPIT framework provides a reproducible approach to calculate watershed transit times within tagging enabled models and thereby assess and improve representation of hydrologic processes.

fraction of young water↗
NASA NTRS1981

Influence of exit impedance on finite difference solutions of transient acoustic mode propagation in ducts

The time-dependent governing acoustic-difference equations and boundary conditions are developed and solved for sound propagation in an axisymmetric (cylindrical) hard-wall duct without flow and with spinning acoustic modes. The analysis begins with a harmonic sound source radiating into a quiescent duct. This explicit iteration method then calculates stepwise in real time to obtain the steady solutions of the acoustic field. The transient method did not converge to the steady-state solution for cutoff acoustic duct modes. This has implications as to its use in a variable-area duct, where modes may become cutoff in the smal-area portion of the duct. For single cutoff mode propagation the steady-state impedance boundary condition produced acoustic reflections during the initial transient that caused finite instabilities in the numerical calculations. The stability problem is resolved by reformulating the exit boundary condition. Example calculations show good agreement with exact analytical and numerical results for forcing frequencies above, below, and nearly at the cutoff frequency.

Baumeister, K. J.↗
NASA NTRS1983

A computational investigation of supersonic axisymmetric flow over boattails containing a centered propulsive jet

The influence of underexpanded jets on a supersonic afterbody flow field is investigated using computational techniques. The thin-shear-layer formulation of the compressible, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations is solved using a time-dependent, implicit numerical algorithm. Solutions are obtained for supersonic flow over an axisymmetric conical afterbody containing a centered propulsive jet where the free-stream Mach number is 2.0 and the jet exit Mach number is 2.5. Exhaust-jet static pressures are considered in the range of 2 to 9 times the free-stream static pressure and with nozzle-exit half-angles from 15 deg to 43 deg. Comparisons are made with experimental results for base pressure, separation distance, afterbody pressure distribution, anf flow-field structure. Although good quantitative agreement with experimental separation distance and base pressure level is not observed, the parametric trends induced by exhaust-jet pressure level and nozzle-exit angle are well predicted, as are the flow-field details in the vicinity of the afterbody and in the exhaust plume.

Deiwert, G. S.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Heat transfer in directly-irradiated high-temperature solid–gas flows laden with polydisperse particles

Heat transfer in directly-irradiated high-temperature solid–gas flows laden with polydisperse particles is investigated using a novel transient three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model. The model couples particle–gas hydrodynamics of solid–gas flows laden with polydisperse particles, radiative heat transfer in non-grey absorbing, emitting and anisotropically-scattering multi-component participating media, conduction heat transfer in the gas phase, and interfacial convection heat transfer. The multiphase particle-in-cell method is used to predict high-fidelity solid–gas flow characteristics, such as the local discrete particle size distribution, with increased computational efficiency by combining the advantages of both Eulerian and Lagrangian methods. The multi-component radiative transfer model is implemented using an advanced collision-based Monte Carlo ray-tracing method. The number of the prescribed discrete particle components is found to be the key parameter affecting the computational accuracy and efficiency, which primarily depends on the size distribution of the particles. For the model particle–gas flow featuring free-falling Gamma-distributed ceramic particles exposed to concentrated solar irradiation, the particle volume fraction, radiative, fluid flow and thermal characteristics appear to converge with the increasing number of the discrete particle components. Five particle components are sufficient to obtain physically meaningful results. A further increase in the number of the particle components only slightly increases the accuracy of the numerical predictions at the expense of a rapidly increasing computational time. For five particle components, the particle vertical velocity at the receiver exit for particles with the diameter of 43.4 μm is 57% of that for the particles with the diameter of 202.8 μm. The temperatures of these two particle components increase from the initial ambient values by factors of 2 and 1.2, respectively, during the simulation time. In conclusion, the model developed allows for increased fidelity of particle–gas flow simulations with significant radiative effects.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2018

Characterization of Rapid Charging Events Due to Sheath Capacitance and Impact on the International Space Station Plasma Hazard Process

During an Extravehicular Activity (EVA), if the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) makes galvanic contact with the International Space Station (ISS), a negative Floating Potential (FP) can lead to an arcing hazard when it exceeds -45.5 V, and a positive FP can produce a DC current high enough to stimulate the astronaut’s muscles (5 mA), and also cause a hazard. The Boeing Space Environments team developed and utilizes a Plasma Interaction Model (PIM) in order to calculate the ISS FP based on the plasma environment, ISS velocity, geomagnetic field, solar array and ISS orientation, and solar array regulation to support EVA planning operations. Presently, the model excludes the sheath capacitance, resulting in the total potential drop being across the dielectric surface of the vehicle. Data from the Floating Potential Measurement Unit (FPMU) show this assumption to be generally true. However, Rapid Charging Events (RCE) are often observed in the FPMU data at eclipse exit when the electron number density, Ne, is low (less than 5(sub e)10 m (exp-3)). During these events, the FP can rise more than 40 V in one to five seconds. There is then a relaxation phase where the FP drops back to the normal FP values. The PIM model is not capable of producing these RCEs. It was thought that the inclusion of the sheath in PIM could improve the charging predictions, particularly as related to RCEs. A parametric study was performed to determine what portion of the measured FP is across the sheath for a range of Ne experienced by the ISS, and if the inclusion of the sheath in PIM is necessary. Results show that the potential drop across the sheath is negligible at times when the N(sub e) is greater than 1(sub e)11 m-3. However, there appears to be a transitional region between 1(sub e)10 m(exp -3) and 1(sub e)11 m(exp -3) where the sheath capacitance becomes more significant. During those conditions the potential drop across the sheath can be larger than the potential drop across the dielectric for short periods (1-5 seconds). These results agree remarkably well with measurements made by the FPMU. The inclusion of the sheath explains why high charging measurements occur when the Ne is low at eclipse exit and even times when the solar arrays are not a significant driver (i.e., potentials often rise as the ISS flies through spread-F). Results also show that the RCEs are not a safety concern because the potential drop across the dielectric surface does not exceed -45.5 V. In that case, the EMU would not arc. This gives high confidence in the low probability of an arcing hazard occurring.

plasma environment↗