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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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NASA NTRS1999

Infrared Solar Spectroscopic Measurements of Free Tropospheric CO, C2H6, and HCN above Mauna Loa, Hawaii: Seasonal Variations and Evidence for Enhanced Emissions from the Southeast Asian Tropical Fires of 1997-1998

High spectral resolution (0.003 per cm) infrared solar absorption measurements of CO, C2H6, and HCN have been recorded at the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change station on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, (19.5N, 155.6W, altitude 3.4 km). The observations were obtained on over 250 days between August 1995 and February 1998. Column measurements are reported for the 3.4-16 km altitude region, which corresponds approximately to the free troposphere above the station. Average CO mixing ratios computed for this layer have been compared with flask sampling CO measurements obtained in situ at the station during the same time period. Both show asymmetrical seasonal cycles superimposed on significant variability. The first 2 years of observations exhibit a broad January-April maximum and a sharper CO minimum during late summer. The C2H6 and CO 3.4-16 km columns were highly correlated throughout the observing period with the C2H6/CO slope intermediate between higher and lower values derived from similar infrared spectroscopic measurements at 32'N and 45'S latitude, respectively. Variable enhancements in CO, C2H6, and particularly HCN were observed beginning in about September 1997. The maximum HCN free tropospheric monthly mean column observed in November 1997 corresponds to an average 3.4-16 km mixing ratio of 0.7 ppbv (1 ppbv = 10(exp -9) per unit volume), more than a factor of 3 above the background level. The HCN enhancements continued through the end of the observational series. Back-trajectory calculations suggest that the emissions originated at low northern latitudes in southeast Asia. Surface CO mixing ratios and the C2H6 tropospheric columns measured during the same time also showed anomalous autumn 1997 maxima. The intense and widespread tropical wild fires that burned during the strong El Nino warm phase of 1997- 1998 are the likely source of the elevated emission products.

Rinsland, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Infrared Solar Spectroscopic Measurements of Free Tropospheric CO, C2H6, and HCN above Mauna Loa, Hawaii: Seasonal Variations and Evidence for Enhanced Emissions from the Southeast Asian Fires of 1997-1998

High spectral resolution (0.003/ cm) infrared solar absorption measurements of CO, C2H6, and HCN have been recorded at the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change station on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, (19.5 deg N, 155.6 deg W, altitude 3.4 km). The observations were obtained on over 250 days between August 1995 and February 1998. Column measurements are reported for the 3.4 - 16 km altitude region, which corresponds approximately to the free troposphere above the station. Average CO mixing ratios computed for this layer have been compared with flask sampling CO measurements obtained in situ at the station during the same time period. Both show asymmetrical seasonal cycles superimposed on significant variability. The first two years of observations exhibit a broad January-April maximum and a sharper CO minimum during late summer. The C2H6 and CO 3.4 - 16 km columns were highly correlated throughout the observing period with the C2H6/CO slope intermediate between higher and lower values derived from similar infrared spectroscopic measurements at 32 deg N and 45 deg S latitude, respectively. Variable enhancements in CO, C2H6, and particularly HCN were observed beginning in about September 1997. The maximum HCN free tropospheric monthly mean column observed in November 1997 corresponds to an average 3.4 - 16 km mixing ratio of 0.7 ppbv (1 ppbv = 10(exp -9) per unit volume), more than a factor of 3 above the background level. The HCN enhancements continued through the end of the observational series. Back-trajectory calculations suggest that the emissions originated at low northern latitudes in southeast Asia. Surface CO mixing ratios and the C2H6 tropospheric columns measured during the same time also showed anomalous autumn 1997 maxima. The intense and widespread tropical wild fires that burned during 3 the strong El Nino warm phase of 1997-1998 are the likely source of the elevated emission products.

Rinsland, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Employing Sensitivity Derivatives for Robust Optimization under Uncertainty in CFD

A robust optimization is demonstrated on a two-dimensional inviscid airfoil problem in subsonic flow. Given uncertainties in statistically independent, random, normally distributed flow parameters (input variables), an approximate first-order statistical moment method is employed to represent the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code outputs as expected values with variances. These output quantities are used to form the objective function and constraints. The constraints are cast in probabilistic terms; that is, the probability that a constraint is satisfied is greater than or equal to some desired target probability. Gradient-based robust optimization of this stochastic problem is accomplished through use of both first and second-order sensitivity derivatives. For each robust optimization, the effect of increasing both input standard deviations and target probability of constraint satisfaction are demonstrated. This method provides a means for incorporating uncertainty when considering small deviations from input mean values.

Newman, Perry A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Aggregates and Superaggregates of Soot with Four Distinct Fractal Morphologies

Soot formed in laminar diffusion flames of heavily sooting fuels evolves through four distinct growth stages which give rise to four distinct aggregate fractal morphologies. These results were inferred from large and small angle static light scattering from the flames, microphotography of the flames, and analysis of soot sampled from the flames. The growth stages occur approximately over four successive orders of magnitude in aggregate size. Comparison to computer simulations suggests that these four growth stages involve either diffusion limited cluster aggregation or percolation in either three or two dimensions.

Sorensen, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Modeling the spatiotemporal organization of velocity storage in the vestibuloocular reflex by optokinetic studies

1. A generalized three-dimensional state space model of visual vestibular interaction was developed. Matrix and dynamical system operators associated with inputs from the semicircular canals, otolith velocity estimator, and the visual system have been incorporated into the model, which focus on their relationship to the velocity storage integrator. 2. A relationship was postulated between the eigenvalues and the direction of the eigenvectors of the system matrix and the orientation of the spatial vertical. It was assumed that the system matrix for a tilted position was a composition of two linear transformations of the system matrix for the upright position. One transformation modifies the eigenvalues of the system matrix, whereas another rotates the eigenvectors of the system matrix. The pitch and roll eigenvectors rotate with the head, whereas the yaw axis eigenvector remains approximately spatially invariant. 3. Based on the three-dimensional model, a computational procedure was formulated to identify the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the system matrix with the use of a modification of the marquardt algorithm. With the use of data obtained from a monkey, it was shown that the three-dimensional behavior of velocity storage cannot be predicted solely in terms of its time constants, i.e., the inverse of its eigenvalues. With the use of the same eigenvalues the data could either be fit or not fit, depending on the eigenvector directions. Therefore, it is necessary to specify eigenvector directions when characterizing velocity storage in three dimensions. 4. Parameters found with the use of the Marquardt algorithm were incorporated into the model. Diagonal matrices in a head coordinate frame were introduced for coupling the visual system to the integrator and to the direct optokinetic pathway. Simulations of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN) were run. The model predicted the behavior of yaw and pitch OKN and OKAN when the animal is upright. It also predicted the cross-coupling in the side down position. The trajectories in velocity space were also accurately simulated. 5. One of the predictions of the model is that when the stimulus direction is along an eigenvector, the trajectory in velocity space is a straight line. Using the "spectral width" of the residuals from a straight line sequence during OKAN, we developed a methodology to estimate how close the OKAN decay was to an eigenvector trajectory. 6. Thus we have developed a model-based approach for studying and interpreting the response characteristics of velocity storage in three dimensions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS).

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2004

Spatially Complete Global Surface Albedos Derived from Terra/MODIS Data

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. Recent production of land surface anisotropy, diffuse bihemispherical (white-sky) albedo and direct beam directional hemispherical (black-sky) albedo from observations acquired by the MODIS instruments aboard NASA s Terra and Aqua satellite platforms have provided researchers with unprecedented spatial, spectral, and temporal information on the land surface's radiative characteristics. Cloud cover, which cutails retrievals, and the presence of ephemeral and seasonal snow limit the snow-free data to approximately half the global land surfaces on an annual equal-angle basis. This precludes the MOD43B3 albedo products from being used in some remote sensing and ground-based applications, climate models, and global change research projects. An ecosystem-dependent temporal interpolation technique is described that has been developed to fill missing or seasonally snow-covered data in the official MOD43B3 albedo product. The method imposes pixel-level and local regional ecosystem-dependent phenological behavior onto retrieved pixel temporal data in such a way as to maintain pixel-level spatial and spectral detail and integrity. The phenological curves are derived from statistics based on the MODIS MOD12Q1 IGBP land cover classification product geolocated with the MOD43B3 data. The resulting snow-free value-added products provide the scientific community with spatially and temporally complete global white- and black-sky surface albedo maps and statistics. These products are stored on 1'(approximately 10 km) and coarser resolution equal-angle grids, and are computed for the first seven MODIS wavelengths, ranging from 0.47 through 2.1 microns, and for three broadband wavelengths, 0.3-0.7,0.3-5.0 and 0.7-5.0 microns.

King, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Fracture Strength of Single-Crystal Silicon Carbide Microspecimens at Room and Elevated Temperature

Three shapes of tensile specimens were tested--curved with a very low stress concentration factor and straight with either a circular hole or an elliptical hole. The nominal thickness was 125 micron with a net section 100 micron wide; the overall length of these microspecimens was 3.1 mm. They were fabricated by an improved version of deep reactive ion etching, which produced specimens with smooth sidewalls and cross-sections having a slightly trapezoidal shape that was exaggerated inside the holes. The novel test setup used a vertical load train extending into a resistance furnace. The specimens had wedge-shaped ends which fit into ceramic grips. The fixed grip was mounted on a ceramic post, and the movable grip was connected to a load cell and actuator outside the furnace with a ceramic-encased nichrome wire. The same arrangement was used for tests at 24 and at 1000 C. The strengths of the curved specimens for two batches of material (made with slightly different processes) were 0.66+/-0.12 GPa and 0.45+/-0.20 GPa respectively at 24 C with identical values at 1000 C. The fracture strengths of the circular-hole and elliptical-hole specimens (computed from the stress concentration factors and measured loads at failure) were approximately 1.2 GPa with slight decreases at the higher temperature. Fractographic examinations showed failures initiating on the surface--primarily at corners. Weibull predictions of fracture strengths for the hole specimens based on the properties of the curved specimens were reasonably effective for the circular holes, but not for the elliptical holes.

Nemeth, Noel N.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Electron-Molecule Col1isions: Quantitative Approaches, and the Legacy of Aaron Temkin

This article, on electron-molecule collisions, is dedicated to the legacy of my good friend and sometime collaborator, Aaron Temkin on his retirement from the NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center after many years of work at the highest intellectual level in the theoretical treatment of electron-atom and electron-molecule scattering. Aaron's contributions to the manner in which we think about electron-molecule collisions is clear to all of us who have worked in this field. I doubt that the great progress that has occurred in the computational treatment of such complex collision problems could have happened without these contributions. For a brief historical account, see the discussion of Temkin's contribution to electron-molecule scattering in the first article of this volume by Dr. A. K. Bhatia. In this article, I will concentrate on the application of the so called, non-adiabatic R-matrix theory, to vibrational excitation and dissociative attachment, although I will also present some results applying the Linear Algebraic and Kohn-Variational methods to vibrational excitation. As a starting point for almost all computationally effective approaches to electron-molecule collisions, is the fixed nuclei approximation. That is, one recognizes, just as one does with molecular bound states, that there is a separation of electronic(fast) and nuclear(s1ow) degrees of freedom. This separation makes it possible to "freeze" the nuclei in space, calculate the collision parameters for the frozen molecule and then, somehow to add back the vibrations and rotations. The manner in which this is done, depends on the details of the collision problem. It is the work of Aaron and a number of other researchers that has provided the guidance necessary to resolve these issues.

Schneider, B.I.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Two-Dimensional Quantum Model of a Nanotransistor

A mathematical model, and software to implement the model, have been devised to enable numerical simulation of the transport of electric charge in, and the resulting electrical performance characteristics of, a nanotransistor [in particular, a metal oxide/semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) having a channel length of the order of tens of nanometers] in which the overall device geometry, including the doping profiles and the injection of charge from the source, gate, and drain contacts, are approximated as being two-dimensional. The model and software constitute a computational framework for quantitatively exploring such device-physics issues as those of source-drain and gate leakage currents, drain-induced barrier lowering, and threshold voltage shift due to quantization. The model and software can also be used as means of studying the accuracy of quantum corrections to other semiclassical models.

Govindan, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS2009

A State-Space Approach to Optimal Level-Crossing Prediction for Linear Gaussian Processes

In many complex engineered systems, the ability to give an alarm prior to impending critical events is of great importance. These critical events may have varying degrees of severity, and in fact they may occur during normal system operation. In this article, we investigate approximations to theoretically optimal methods of designing alarm systems for the prediction of level-crossings by a zero-mean stationary linear dynamic system driven by Gaussian noise. An optimal alarm system is designed to elicit the fewest false alarms for a fixed detection probability. This work introduces the use of Kalman filtering in tandem with the optimal level-crossing problem. It is shown that there is a negligible loss in overall accuracy when using approximations to the theoretically optimal predictor, at the advantage of greatly reduced computational complexity. I

Martin, Rodney Alexander↗
NASA NTRS2010

Performance Analysis of Scientific and Engineering Applications Using MPInside and TAU

In this paper, we present performance analysis of two NASA applications using performance tools like Tuning and Analysis Utilities (TAU) and SGI MPInside. MITgcmUV and OVERFLOW are two production-quality applications used extensively by scientists and engineers at NASA. MITgcmUV is a global ocean simulation model, developed by the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) Consortium, for solving the fluid equations of motion using the hydrostatic approximation. OVERFLOW is a general-purpose Navier-Stokes solver for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) problems. Using these tools, we analyze the MPI functions (MPI_Sendrecv, MPI_Bcast, MPI_Reduce, MPI_Allreduce, MPI_Barrier, etc.) with respect to message size of each rank, time consumed by each function, and how ranks communicate. MPI communication is further analyzed by studying the performance of MPI functions used in these two applications as a function of message size and number of cores. Finally, we present the compute time, communication time, and I/O time as a function of the number of cores.

Saini, Subhash↗
NASA NTRS2004

Polymorphic Electronic Circuits

Polymorphic electronics is a nascent technological discipline that involves, among other things, designing the same circuit to perform different analog and/or digital functions under different conditions. For example, a circuit can be designed to function as an OR gate or an AND gate, depending on the temperature (see figure). Polymorphic electronics can also be considered a subset of polytronics, which is a broader technological discipline in which optical and possibly other information- processing systems could also be designed to perform multiple functions. Polytronics is an outgrowth of evolvable hardware (EHW). The basic concepts and some specific implementations of EHW were described in a number of previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. To recapitulate: The essence of EHW is to design, construct, and test a sequence of populations of circuits that function as incrementally better solutions of a given design problem through the selective, repetitive connection and/or disconnection of capacitors, transistors, amplifiers, inverters, and/or other circuit building blocks. The evolution is guided by a search-and-optimization algorithm (in particular, a genetic algorithm) that operates in the space of possible circuits to find a circuit that exhibits an acceptably close approximation of the desired functionality. The evolved circuits can be tested by computational simulation (in which case the evolution is said to be extrinsic), tested in real hardware (in which case the evolution is said to be intrinsic), or tested in random sequences of computational simulation and real hardware (in which case the evolution is said to be mixtrinsic).

Stoica, Adrian↗
NASA NTRS2016

Numerical Simulation of Bolide Entry with Ground Footprint Prediction

As they decelerate through the atmosphere, meteors deposit mass, momentum and energy into the surrounding air at tremendous rates. Trauma from the entry of such bolides produces strong blast waves that can propagate hundreds of kilometers and cause substantial terrestrial damage even when no ground impact occurs. We present a new simulation technique for airburst blast prediction using a fully-conservative, Cartesian mesh, finite-volume solver and investigate the ability of this method to model far- field propagation over hundreds of kilometers. The work develops mathematical models for the deposition of mass, momentum and energy into the atmosphere and presents verification and validation through canonical problems and the comparison of surface overpressures, and blast arrival times with actual results in the literature for known bolides. The discussion also examines the effects of various approximations to the physics of bolide entry that can substantially decrease the computational expense of these simulations. We present parametric studies to quantify the influence of entry-angle, burst-height and other parameters on the ground footprint of the airburst, and these values are related to predictions from analytic and handbook-methods.

Simulation↗
NASA NTRS2016

Catastrophic Disruption of Comet ISON

We report submillimeter 450 and 850 microns dust continuum observations for comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) obtained at heliocentric distances 0.31-0.08 au prior to perihelion on 2013 November 28 (rh=0.0125 au). These observations reveal a rapidly varying dust environment in which the dust emission was initially point-like. As ISON approached perihelion, the continuum emission became an elongated dust column spread out over as much as 60″ (greater than 10(exp 5) km in the anti-solar direction. Deconvolution of the November 28.04 850 microns image reveals numerous distinct clumps consistent with the catastrophic disruption of comet ISON, producing approximately 5.2×10(exp 10) kg of submillimeter-sized dust. Orbital computations suggest that the SCUBA-2 emission peak coincides with the cometʼs residual nucleus.

comets: individual↗
NASA NTRS2019

Acoustic Analysis of Sensor Ports

Acquiring data in rocket engines that is representative of the actual dynamic environment can often be difficult due to a multitude of influences. One source of contamination that is often not considered entirely is the response associated with the acoustic cavity created by a sensor offset. It is common to offset a sensor due to various reasons such as for mounting accessibility, thermal isolation, shock reduction, or prevention of debris impingement. While estimating the natural frequency of the acoustic cavity is straightforward, limited analysis has been described on the determination of the overall frequency response. The sensor port design approach usually attempts to ensure the port is short enough such that the acoustic response is negligible near the frequency-of-interest, but this requires knowledge of the frequency response and simple rules-of-thumb are not always guaranteed. Data correction and/or data interpretation is also often desired for an unsatisfactory response. The limited response analysis in the literature only offers approximations or neglects important contributions. A new approach is devised theoretically and computationally that captures the true acoustic response of a sensor port. This paper summarizes the acoustics background, the port response theoretical development, and provides comparisons of a port acoustic response using an analytical model and computational acoustics. The effects of nonlinear acoustics are also examined. Additionally, the paper summarizes the design of a specialized filter using the predicted sensor port response that can be applied to data for correction.

Casiano, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Elliptic flow computation by low Reynolds number two-equation turbulence models

A detailed comparison of ten low-Reynolds-number k-epsilon models is carried out. The flow solver, based on an implicit approximate factorization method, is designed for incompressible, steady two-dimensional flows. The conservation of mass is enforced by the artificial compressibility approach and the computational domain is discretized using centered finite differences. The turbulence model predictions of the flow past a hill are compared with experiments at Re = 10 exp 6. The effects of the grid spacing together with the numerical efficiency of the various formulations are investigated. The results show that the models provide a satisfactory prediction of the flow field in the presence of a favorable pressure gradient, while the accuracy rapidly deteriorates when a strong adverse pressure gradient is encountered. A newly proposed model form that does not explicitly depend on the wall distance seems promising for application to complex geometries.

Michelassi, V.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Round-off errors in cutting plane algorithms based on the revised simplex procedure

This report statistically analyzes computational round-off errors associated with the cutting plane approach to solving linear integer programming problems. Cutting plane methods require that the inverse of a sequence of matrices be computed. The problem basically reduces to one of minimizing round-off errors in the sequence of inverses. Two procedures for minimizing this problem are presented, and their influence on error accumulation is statistically analyzed. One procedure employs a very small tolerance factor to round computed values to zero. The other procedure is a numerical analysis technique for reinverting or improving the approximate inverse of a matrix. The results indicated that round-off accumulation can be effectively minimized by employing a tolerance factor which reflects the number of significant digits carried for each calculation and by applying the reinversion procedure once to each computed inverse. If 18 significant digits plus an exponent are carried for each variable during computations, then a tolerance value of 0.1 x 10 to the minus 12th power is reasonable.

Moore, J. E.↗