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At least 181 records · Page 10

Opening and closing of sea ice leads - Digital measurements from synthetic aperture radar

An algorithm that uses two sequential SAR digital images to measure the opening and closing of sea ice leads is introduced. The methods used to analyze the SAR images is described, including the mesh of tie points and the classification of leads and ice. The results of the anaylsis are compared with independent manual measurements, showing that the cells covering each lead are best interpreted as opening or closing in a group, rather than individually. Also, consideration is given to an automated algorithm for grouping cells, the possibility of simplifying the method, and the relationship between the opening and closing measurements and the theory of their parametric relation to mean deformation.

Fily, M.↗

On open and closed field line regions in Tsyganenko's field model and their possible associations with horse collar auroras

The boundary between open and closed field lines is investigated in the empirical Tsyganenko (1987) magnetic field model. All field lines extending to distances beyond -70 R(E), the tailward velocity limit of the Tsyganenko model are defined as open, while all other field lines, which cross the equatorial plane earthward of -70 R(E) and are connected with the earth at both ends, are assumed closed. It is found that this boundary at the surface of the earth, identified as the polar cap boundary, can exhibit the arrowhead shape, pointed toward the sun, which is found in horse collar auroras. For increasing activity levels, the polar cap increases in area and becomes rounder, so that the arrowhead shape is less pronounced. The presence of a net B(y) component can also lead to considerable rounding of the open flux region. The arrowhead shape is found to be closely associated with the increase of B(z) from the midnight region to the flanks of the tail, consistent with a similar increase of the plasma sheet thickness.

Birn, J.↗

Coupled elastic response of open section laminated composite beams subject to generalized beam loading

A generalized beam theory for arbitrary open section laminated composite beams subjected to generalized beam loading is developed using a strength of materials approach. At present, the theory is limited to statistically determinate beams. Solution of the general system of equations yields strain and curvature distributions as functions of the axial coordinate x and the contour coordinate s. Average stresses on a given cross section or ply stresses in a local coordinate system are determined using these distributions. Data obtained for thin-walled open section composite beams reveal that elastic coupling occurs among curvatures, shearing strains, and axial strain, depending on the laminate stiffness parameters. Laminate ply layup does not affect the location of the shear center in the thin-wall approximation, but may have a significant impact for thicker walled open sections. The average axial stress distribution is found to be distinctly different from the isotropic distribution, but the average shear stress distribution is the same as that in the isotropic case.

Zvarick, Albert G.↗

Instantaneous response of elastic thin-walled structures with arbitrary open cross section to rapid heating

A generalized modeling and analysis approach of thermally-induced coupled vibrations of elastic thin-walled configurations with arbitrary open cross sections are presented in conjunction with a unified implicit transient methodology. Limited research appears in literature which takes into account the influence of rapid thermal heating effects on structures involving various forms of coupling. As a consequence, the dynamic response of such thin-walled structures of arbitrary open cross section due to rapid heating are described here. Effects involving triple, double, and no coupling between bending and torsional vibrations caused by sudden heating on these structures are examined. Numerical test cases are presented which describe the influence of sudden heating on elastic thin-walled structures of arbitrary open cross sections.

Chen, Xiaoqin↗

Open System Architecture design for planet surface systems

The Open System Architecture is an approach to meeting the needs for flexibility and evolution of the U.S. Space Exploration Initiative program of the manned exploration of the solar system and its permanent settlement. This paper investigates the issues that future activities of the planet exploration program must confront, defines the basic concepts that provide the basis for establishing an Open System Architecture, identifies the appropriate features of such an architecture, and discusses examples of Open System Architectures.

Petri, D. A.↗

Investigations of detail design issues for the high speed acoustic wind tunnel using a 60th scale model tunnel. Part 1: Tests with open circuits

This report summarizes the tests on the 1:60 scale model of the High Speed Acoustic Wind Tunnel (HSAWT) performed during the period of November 1989 to December 1990. Throughout the testing the tunnel was operated in the 'open circuit mode', that is when the airflow was induced by a powerful exhaust fan located outside the tunnel circuit. The tests were first performed with the closed test section and were subsequently repeated with the open test section. While operating with the open test section, a novel device, called the 'nozzle-diffuser,' was also tested in order to establish its usefulness of increasing pressure recovery in the first diffuser. The tests established the viability of the tunnel design. The flow distribution in each tunnel component was found acceptable and pressure recovery in the diffusers were found satisfactory. The diffusers appeared to operate without flow separation. All tests were performed at NASA LaRC.

Barna, P. Stephen↗

Open systems storage platforms

The building blocks for an open storage system includes a system platform, a selection of storage devices and interfaces, system software, and storage applications CONVEX storage systems are based on the DS Series Data Server systems. These systems are a variant of the C3200 supercomputer with expanded I/O capabilities. These systems support a variety of medium and high speed interfaces to networks and peripherals. System software is provided in the form of ConvexOS, a POSIX compliant derivative of 4.3BSD UNIX. Storage applications include products such as UNITREE and EMASS. With the DS Series of storage systems, Convex has developed a set of products which provide open system solutions for storage management applications. The systems are highly modular, assembled from off the shelf components with industry standard interfaces. The C Series system architecture provides a stable base, with the performance and reliability of a general purpose platform. This combination of a proven system architecture with a variety of choices in peripherals and application software allows wide flexibility in configurations, and delivers the benefits of open systems to the mass storage world.

Collins, Kirby↗

A nonsingular model of the open magnetosphere

We present a modified version of the Toffoletto and Hill (1989) open magnetosphere model that incorporates a tail-like interconection field with a discontinuity 10 represent the slow-mode expansion fan that defines the high-latitude tail magnetopause. (The interconnection field is defined as the perturbation on an initially closed magnetosphere model to make it open.) The expansion fan controls the open field line region in the tail, and the intersection of the fan with the tail current sheet is, by design, the x line. The new interconnection field allows greater control of the tail field structure; in particular, it enables us to eliminate the nightside mapping singularity that occurs in previous models when the interplanetary magnetic field is nonsouthward. Also, in contrast to earlier models, the far tail x line extends farther downstream on the flanks than in the center of the tail, consistent with observations.

Toffoletto, F. R.↗

CCD photometry of Andromeda IV - Dwarf irregular galaxy or M31 open cluster?

CCD photometry of Andromeda IV was obtained during discretionary time in August of 1989 at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea and the data were reduced at CFHT during the summer of 1991. And IV has been catalogued both as a dwarf galaxy and as an open star cluster in M31. The color-magnitude diagrams presented indicate that this object has a young population of stars with a narrow age range, consistent with the characteristics of an open star cluster or stellar association. A radial velocity measurement taken from the literature and analyzed with respect to the rotation curve of M31 indicates this object resides in the disk of the Andromeda Galaxy, strengthening the conclusion that it is indeed a very large open star cluster or a densely populated stellar association rather than a dwarf irregular galaxy.

Jones, Joseph H.↗

Open-shell coupled-cluster theory

An efficient formulation of a recently proposed open-shell singles and doubles coupled-cluster (OCCSD) method is presented. This formulation is in terms of spatial orbital one- and two-electron integrals. Our new OCCSD method is based on 'symmetric spin orbitals' and is thus symmetric (or antisymmetric) in the spin indices. It therefore contains about half the number of independent parameters in the coupled-cluster wave function compared to other open-shell CCSD methods. It is shown that the formulation presented here contains less than half the number of n exp 6 steps (where n is the number of molecular orbitals) of other recently proposed open-shell CCSD methods. A new approach by which amplitudes in our method may be compared with amplitudes in a previous OCCSD method is examined.

Jayatilaka, Dylan↗

Wind-Tunnel Tests on Airfoil Boundary Layer Control Using a Backward-Opening Slot

This report presents the results of an investigation to determine the effect of boundary layer control on the lift and drag of an airfoil. Boundary layer control was accomplished by means of a backward-opening slot in the upper surface of the hollow airfoil. Air was caused to flow through this slot by a pressure which was maintained inside the airfoil by a blower. Various slot locations, slot openings, and wing pressures were used. The tests were conducted in the 5-foot atmospheric wind tunnel of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Under the test conditions, the maximum lift coefficient was increased about 96 per cent for one slot arrangement, and the minimum drag coefficient was decreased about 27 per cent for another, both being compared with the results obtained with the unslotted airfoil. It is believed from this investigation that the above effects may be increased by the use of larger slot openings, better slot locations, multiple slots, improved airfoil profiles, and trailing edge flaps.

Bamber, Millard J↗

An Airfoil Spanning an Open Jet

Proceeding from the fundamental problem on the mutual relation of a wing and free boundaries the distribution of the circulation is determined for an airfoil spanning an open jet of rectangular section at different aspect ratios, and then for an open jet of circular section. The solution is obtained by means of a Fourier series and computations have been performed for different values of the variables. The second part describes the experiments performed for the purpose of proving the theory. The results confirm the theory. In conclusion it defines the induced drag of a wing extending across an open jet and compares it with the drag of a monoplane having a span equal to the jet width at equal total lift.

Stuper, J↗

Open system environments

An open system is defined as a system that implements open specifications for interfaces, services, and supporting formats to enable properly engineered applications software to be ported with minimal changes across a wide range of systems; and to interact with users in a style which facilitates user portability. Based on that definition, a reference model for an open system environment is presented.

Schulz, Fritz↗

Open architectures for formal reasoning and deductive technologies for software development

The objective of this project is to develop an open architecture for formal reasoning systems. One goal is to provide a framework with a clear semantic basis for specification and instantiation of generic components; construction of complex systems by interconnecting components; and for making incremental improvements and tailoring to specific applications. Another goal is to develop methods for specifying component interfaces and interactions to facilitate use of existing and newly built systems as 'off the shelf' components, thus helping bridge the gap between producers and consumers of reasoning systems. In this report we summarize results in several areas: our data base of reasoning systems; a theory of binding structures; a theory of components of open systems; a framework for specifying components of open reasoning system; and an analysis of the integration of rewriting and linear arithmetic modules in Boyer-Moore using the above framework.

Mccarthy, John↗

Shear-induced opening of the coronal magnetic field

This work describes the evolution of a model solar corona in response to motions of the footpoints of its magnetic field. The mathematics involved is semianalytic, with the only numerical solution being that of an ordinary differential equation. This approach, while lacking the flexibility and physical details of full MHD simulations, allows for very rapid computation along with complete and rigorous exploration of the model's implications. We find that the model coronal field bulges upward, at first slowly and then more dramatically, in response to footpoint displacements. The energy in the field rises monotonically from that of the initial potential state, and the field configuration and energy appraoch asymptotically that of a fully open field. Concurrently, electric currents develop and concentrate into a current sheet as the limiting case of the open field is approached. Examination of the equations shows rigorously that in the asymptotic limit of the fully open field, the current layer becomes a true ideal MHD singularity.

Wolfson, Richard↗

Calculating 3-D Crack-Opening Behavior Of A Fatigue Crack

Method for calculating through-the-thickness, three-dimensional (3-D) crack-opening behavior in standard fatigue-crack-growth test specimens devised. Involves determination of crack-opening loads from crack-propagation data and finite-element analyses. In method, one considers variation in rate of crack growth along crack front, relationship between rate of crack growth and effective stress intensity factor, and variation in three-dimensional stress-intensity factor along crack front. Developed to provide simpler means for obtaining fatigue-crack-opening behavior loads.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

Standard methods for open hole tension testing of textile composites

Sizing effects have been investigated by comparing the open hole failure strengths of each of the four different braided architectures as a function of specimen thickness, hole diameter, and the ratio of specimen width to hole diameter. The data used to make these comparisons was primarily generated by Boeing. Direct comparisons of Boeing's results were made with experiments conducted at West Virginia University whenever possible. Indirect comparisons were made with test results for other 2-D braids and 3-D weaves tested by Boeing and Lockheed. In general, failure strength was found to decrease with increasing plate thickness, increase with decreasing hole size, and decreasing with decreasing width to diameter ratio. The interpretation of the sensitive to each of these geometrical parameters was complicated by scatter in the test data. For open hole tension testing of textile composites, the use of standard testing practices employed by industry, such as ASTM D5766 - Standard Test Method for Open Hole Tensile Strength of Polymer Matrix Composite Laminates should provide adequate results for material comparisons studies.

Portanova, M. A.↗

Cosmic Ray Energy Determination by the Reduced-Opening Angle Method

Accurate measurement of the primary galactic cosmic ray species energy dependence in the regime beyond approx. 500 GeV/a is difficult due to the low flux and the limitations of energy measurement techniques. However, such observations are essential to resolve several questions of current interest such as: Is the enrichment of heavy species (Z greater that or equal to 6) cosmic rays first reported at higher energies by the proton satellite' and then later at lower energies real? The results from a previous deployment of the reduced opening angle technique are inconclusive but the authors do point to limitations in the previous techniques. Another intriguing puzzle is the energy dependence of silicon cosmic rays. Two independent experiments using different experimental techniques indicate that silicon is under-abundant. At present the observation is limited by statistics; it could still be a three sigma fluctuation. However, if confirmed the current models of acceleration and propagation which are species independent are seriously inadequate. To progress further the species and energy dependence must be accurately measured in a manner that is free from systematic uncertainty. In this report we show that the reduced opening angle method offers a simple and relatively inexpensive method to answer these questions. First we present the physics of the reduced opening angle and indicate the expected energy and charge resolution. The proposed detector design is then presented followed by the expected performance. Where ever possible simple phenomenological expressions that allow 'back of the envelope' estimates are given. More details are presented in the appendices. The limit of the energy resolution and the expected event rates for iron cosmic rays are calculated. Salient points are summarized in the conclusions.

Smith, Arthur E.↗