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Results for “finite size”

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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

Particle-in-cell simulations of the critical ionization velocity effect in finite size clouds

The critical ionization velocity (CIV) mechanism in a finite size cloud is studied with a series of electrostatic particle-in-cell simulations. It is observed that an initial seed ionization, produced by non-CIV mechanisms, generates a cross-field ion beam which excites a modified beam-plasma instability (MBPI) with frequency in the range of the lower hybrid frequency. The excited waves accelerate electrons along the magnetic field up to the ion drift energy that exceeds the ionization energy of the neutral atoms. The heated electrons in turn enhance the ion beam by electron-neutral impact ionization, which establishes a positive feedback loop in maintaining the CIV process. It is also found that the efficiency of the CIV mechanism depends on the finite size of the gas cloud in the following ways: (1) Along the ambient magnetic field the finite size of the cloud, L (sub parallel), restricts the growth of the fastest growing mode, with a wavelength lambda (sub m parallel), of the MBPI. The parallel electron heating at wave saturation scales approximately as (L (sub parallel)/lambda (sub m parallel)) (exp 1/2); (2) Momentum coupling between the cloud and the ambient plasma via the Alfven waves occurs as a result of the finite size of the cloud in the direction perpendicular to both the ambient magnetic field and the neutral drift. This reduces exponentially with time the relative drift between the ambient plasma and the neutrals. The timescale is inversely proportional to the Alfven velocity. (3) The transvers e charge separation field across the cloud was found to result in the modulation of the beam velocity which reduces the parallel heating of electrons and increases the transverse acceleration of electrons. (4) Some energetic electrons are lost from the cloud along the magnetic field at a rate characterized by the acoustic velocity, instead of the electron thermal velocity. The loss of energetic electrons from the cloud seems to be larger in the direction of plasma drift relative to the neutrals, where the loss rate is characterized by the neutral drift velocity. It is also shown that a factor of 4 increase in the ambient plasma density, increases the CIV ionization yield by almost 2 orders of magnitude at the end of a typical run. It is concluded that a larger ambient plasma density can result in a larger CIV yield because of (1) larger seed ion production by non-CIV mechanisms, (2) smaller Alfven velocity and hence weak momentum coupling, and (3) smaller ratio of the ion beam density to the ambient ion density, and therefore a weaker modulation of the beam velocity. The simulation results are used to interpret various chemical release experiments in space.

Moghaddam-Taaheri, E.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An analytic treatment of gravitational microlensing for sources of finite size at large optical depths

Statistical methods are developed for gravitational lensing in order to obtain analytic expressions for the average surface brightness that include the effects of microlensing by stellar (or other compact) masses within the lensing galaxy. The primary advance here is in utilizing a Markoff technique to obtain expressions that are valid for sources of finite size when the surface density of mass in the lensing galaxy is large. The finite size of the source is probably the key consideration for the occurrence of microlensing by individual stars. For the intensity from a particular location, the parameter which governs the importance of microlensing is determined. Statistical methods are also formulated to assess the time variation of the surface brightness due to the random motion of the masses that cause the microlensing.

Deguchi, Shuji↗
NASA NTRS1994

Radiative shock overstability of finite-sized objects

We investigate the radiative shock overstability for finite-sized objects. We follow the analysis of Chevalier & Imamura (1982), but we take into account the transverse flow of material out of the potshock region. The mass loss from the postshock region stabilizes the flow. As a rough estimate, the shock radiative instability takes place when the shock wave position with no radiative cooling (only mass loss present) is larger than the shock position with no mass loss (only radiative cooling present). For typical conditions of planetary nebulae we find that in order for the shock radiative overstability to occur, the nebular radius should be R approximately less than 10(exp 19) n(sub a)(exp -1) cm, where n(sub alpha) is the total number density of the interstellar medium (in units of cm(exp -3). We give several examples of interacting planetary nebulae in light of this condition.

Dgani, Ruth↗
NASA NTRS1987

Simulation of the electron acoustic instability for a finite-size electron beam system

Simulations of the electron acoustic instability for a finite-size electron beam system are performed with a particle-in-cell code to investigate the heating phenomena associated with the instability and the width of the heating region. The results show that the beam radiates electrostatic electron acoustic waves whose decay time outside the beam agrees with the spatial decay length derived from the linear dispersion equation. The ambient cold electrons in a diffusion region surrounding the beam are heated to a higher temperature by absorbing the radiated electron acoustic waves, with the heating occurring mainly in the parallel direction. In the heat diffusion region, the temperature of the cold electrons decreases with distance from the beam with a temperature gradient length smaller than the decay length of the wave energy. The results are discussed with respect to the DE 1 plasma and wave observations in the polar cusp region.

Lin, C. S.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Analysis of finite-size phased arrays of circular waveguide elements

A derivation is presented for the calculation of the interelement mutual coupling in a finite-size planar array of waveguide-fed apertures covered by a multilayered dielectric and/or plasma. The general mutual admittance expression is evaluated for circular apertures and the mutual coupling calculations are verified experimentally for two transverse electric circular waveguide mode excited apertures. A parametric study of higher order mode aperture fields indicates that the only significant change in the circular aperture mutual coupling is due to the transverse magnetic mode, which introduces an additional phase shift. Qualitative agreement between calculations for a 183-element array of circular apertures and an infinite array establishes the validity of the finite-array theoretical model.

Bailey, M. C.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Finite-Size Effects on the Behavior of the Susceptibility in van der Waals Films Bounded by Strongly Absorbing Substrates

We study critical point finite-size effects in the case of the susceptibility of a film in which interactions are characterized by a van der Waals-type power law tail. The geometry is appropriate to a slab-like system with two bounding surfaces. Boundary conditions are consistent with surfaces that both prefer the same phase in the low temperature, or broken symmetry, state. We take into account both interactions within the system and interactions between the constituents of the system and the material surrounding it. Specific predictions are made with respect to the behavior of 3He and 4He films in the vicinity of their respective liquid-vapor critical points.

phase-transition↗
NASA NTRS1973

Investigation of the Statistics of Pure Tone Sound Power Injection from Low Frequency, Finite Sized Sources in a Reverberant Room

The effect of finite source size on the power statistics in a reverberant room for pure tone excitation was investigated. Theoretical results indicate that the standard deviation of low frequency, pure tone finite sources is always less than that predicted by point source theory and considerably less when the source dimension approaches one-half an acoustic wavelength or greater. A supporting experimental study was conducted utilizing an eight inch loudspeaker and a 30 inch loudspeaker at eleven source positions. The resulting standard deviation of sound power output of the smaller speaker is in excellent agreement with both the derived finite source theory and existing point source theory, if the theoretical data is adjusted to account for experimental incomplete spatial averaging. However, the standard deviation of sound power output of the larger speaker is measurably lower than point source theory indicates, but is in good agreement with the finite source theory.

Smith, Wayne Farrior↗
NASA NTRS1986

Finite size corrections to Madelung number

It is customary in the study of ionic crystals to assume that the ions are point charges at their respective lattice sites; the corresponding electrostatic energy of one such ion is reducible to Madelung's form, where the Madelung number has a value of 1.7467. This paper considers the modifications in the electrostatic energy when the atomic finite size is treated in more detail. The results are tabulated as a direct correction to Madelung's number for alkali halide cubic crystals.

Wilson, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Finite-size effects on long-range correlations: implications for analyzing DNA sequences

We analyze the fluctuations in the correlation exponents obtained for noncoding DNA sequences. We find prominent sample-to-sample variations as well as variations within a single sample in the scaling exponent. To determine if these fluctuations may result from finite system size, we generate correlated random sequences of comparable length and study the fluctuations in this control system. We find that the DNA exponent fluctuations are consistent with those obtained from the control sequences having long-range power-law correlations. Finally, we compare our exponents for the DNA sequences with the exponents obtained from power-spectrum analysis and correlation-function techniques, and demonstrate that the original "DNA-walk" method is intrinsically more accurate due to reduced noise.

NASA Discipline Cardiopulmonary↗
NASA NTRS1994

The Influence of Finite-size Sources in Acousto-ultrasonics

This work explores the effects that the finite normal axisymmetric traction loading of an infinite isotropic plate has on wave propagation in acousto-ultrasonics (AU), in which guided waves are created using two normal incidence transducers. Although the work also addresses the effects of the transducer pressure distribution and pulse shape, this thesis concentrates on two main questions: how does the transducer's diameter control the phase velocity and frequency spectrum of the response, and how does the plate thickness relate to the plate's excitability? The mathematics of the time-harmonic solution and the physical principles and the practical considerations for AU wave generation are explained. Transient sources are modeled by the linear superposition of the time-harmonic solutions found using the Hankel transform and they are then compared to experimental data to provide insight into the relation between the size of the transducer and the preferred phase velocity.

Pavlakovic, Brian N.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Computing Gravitational Fields of Finite-Sized Bodies

A computer program utilizes the classical theory of gravitation, implemented by means of the finite-element method, to calculate the near gravitational fields of bodies of arbitrary size, shape, and mass distribution. The program was developed for application to a spacecraft and to floating proof masses and associated equipment carried by the spacecraft for detecting gravitational waves. The program can calculate steady or time-dependent gravitational forces, moments, and gradients thereof. Bodies external to a proof mass can be moving around the proof mass and/or deformed under thermoelastic loads. An arbitrarily shaped proof mass is represented by a collection of parallelepiped elements. The gravitational force and moment acting on each parallelepiped element of a proof mass, including those attributable to the self-gravitational field of the proof mass, are computed exactly from the closed-form equation for the gravitational potential of a parallelepiped. The gravitational field of an arbitrary distribution of mass external to a proof mass can be calculated either by summing the fields of suitably many point masses or by higher-order Gauss-Legendre integration over all elements surrounding the proof mass that are part of a finite-element mesh. This computer program is compatible with more general finite-element codes, such as NASTRAN, because it is configured to read a generic input data file, containing the detailed description of the finiteelement mesh.

Quadrelli, Marco↗