Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “surrogates”

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 199 records · Page 11

Estimating solar radiation for plant simulation models

Five algorithms producing daily solar radiation surrogates using daily temperatures and rainfall were evaluated using measured solar radiation data for seven U.S. locations. The algorithms were compared both in terms of accuracy of daily solar radiation estimates and terms of response when used in a plant growth simulation model (CERES-wheat). Requirements for accuracy of solar radiation for plant growth simulation models are discussed. One algorithm is recommended as being best suited for use in these models when neither measured nor satellite estimated solar radiation values are available.

Hodges, T.↗

US monkey and rat experiments flown on the Soviet Satellite Cosmos 1514

On December 14, 1983, the U.S.S.R. launched Cosmos 1514, an unmanned spacecraft carrying biological and radiation physics experiments from nine countries, including five from the United States. This was the fourth flight with U.S. experiments aboard one of the Soviet unmanned spacecraft. The Cosmos 1514 flight was limited to five days duration because it was the first nonhuman primate flight. Cosmos 1514 marked a significant departure from earlier flights both in terms of Soviet goals and the degree of cooperation between the U.S.S.R. and the United States. This flight included more than 60 experiments on fish, crawfish eggs, plants and seeds, 10 Wistar pregnant rats, and 2 young adult rhesus monkeys as human surrogates. United States specialist participated in postflight data transfer and specimen transfer, and conducted rat neonatal behavioral studies. An overview of the mission is presented focusing on preflight, on-orbit, and postflight activites pertinent to the five U.S. experiments aboard Cosmos.

Mains, R. C.↗

Accelerated solution of the steady Euler equations

The present paper is concerned with two methods for the accelerated solution of the steady Euler equations. One method makes use of a second-order embedding to facilitate the derivation of the relaxation solution of the steady equations of motion, while the other method employs a multile-gridding concept to accelerate the convergence of a simple, explicit, time-marching scheme applied to the unsteady equations. It is pointed out that the surrogate equation technique provides a means for formulating problems involving the full steady Euler equations in such a way as to allow the use of relaxation solution procedures. It is, therefore, possible to solve either irrotational or rotational flow problems spanning the entire spectrum of subsonic, transonic, and supersonic conditions. The solutions can be obtained without an employement of either derived dependent variables, semidirect methods, or an unsteady formulation.

Johnson, G. M.↗

An embedding method for the steady Euler equations

Certain difficulties arise in connection with the numerical solution of a direct finite difference representation of the steady Euler equations. Johnson (1979, 1981, 1982) has, therefore, proposed a surrogate-equation technique, in which the first-order steady Euler equations are embedded in a certain second-order system of equations. The present paper is concerned with the theoretical justification for such an embedding approach. For the numerical solution of the two-dimensional steady Euler equations, it is shown that, under a continuity restriction, it is possible to solve a second-order embedded system together with appropriate additional boundary conditions. The result indicates that a more direct and potentially more efficient approach to the steady solutions exists than the alternative of solving the unsteady equations.

Chang, S.-H.↗

Use of SIR-A and Landsat MSS data in mapping shrub and intershrub vegetation at Koonamore, South Australia

Shrublands cover much of the interior of the Australian continent and support a large grazing industry. Distinguishing the woody perennial vegetation from the smaller herbaceous vegetation and soil-encrusting lichen found between the shrubs is critical for range management but is difficult to do using Landsat data alone. In this study Shuttle Imaging Radar-A (SIR-A) and Landsat data acquired over Koonamore Station are examined together. Given the low topography and fine textured soils at Koonamore, radar return should be primarily determined by the percent area occupied by shrubs. During periods when most of the vegetation was non-vigorous and spectrally homogeneous, SIR-A data, as a surrogate measure of shrub cover, allowed the reflectance due to shrubs in Landsat data to be separated from the reflectance due to the intervening ground. This method allows estimation of the intershrub reflectance properties that are related to herbaceous vegetation, lichen, and bare soil exposures.

Green, G. M.↗

Geobotanical information contained in Landsat Thematic Mapper images covering southern Missouri

Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data collected in the late summer, fall, and winter of 1982 over forested bedrocks in southeastern Missouri were used in conjunction with forest surveys, field work, aerial photographs, and laboratory analyses to evaluate multispectral and seasonal information from visible and reflected IR data. The forested bedrock included granites, rhyolites, carbonates, and sandstones. High reflectance in band 4 (760-900 nm) in the summer scene corresponds to regions of xeric forest type. The fact that the xeric regions tend to develop flat-topped canopies, as opposed to irregular canopy surfaces of the wetter mesic areas, may partially control the TM response in bands 4, 5 (155-175 nm) and 7 (208-235 nm). The xeric regions correlated with soils having poor water retention capabilities, such as rhyolites and certain carbonate rocks with nonporous residum layers. An opposite relationship between xeric and mesic forest biomass was noted, if the commonly used TM band ratio 4/3 was used as a surrogate biomass measure. The high band 4 response over xeric forests gives anomalously high biomass estimates.

Green, G.↗

The application of time series models to cloud field morphology analysis

A modeling method for the quantitative description of remotely sensed cloud field images is presented. A two-dimensional texture modeling scheme based on one-dimensional time series procedures is adopted for this purpose. The time series procedure used is the seasonal autoregressive, moving average (ARMA) process in Box and Jenkins. Cloud field properties such as directionality, clustering and cloud coverage can be retrieved by this method. It has been demonstrated that a cloud field image can be quantitatively defined by a small set of parameters and synthesized surrogates can be reconstructed from these model parameters. This method enables cloud climatology to be studied quantitatively.

Chin, Roland T.↗

A parametric LQ approach to multiobjective control system design

The synthesis of a constant parameter output feedback control law of constrained structure is set in a multiple objective linear quadratic regulator (MOLQR) framework. The use of intuitive objective functions such as model-following ability and closed-loop trajectory sensitivity, allow multiple objective decision making techniques, such as the surrogate worth tradeoff method, to be applied. For the continuous-time deterministic problem with an infinite time horizon, dynamic compensators as well as static output feedback controllers can be synthesized using a descent Anderson-Moore algorithm modified to impose linear equality constraints on the feedback gains by moving in feasible directions. Results of three different examples are presented, including a unique reformulation of the sensitivity reduction problem.

Kyr, Douglas E.↗

Diabatic initialization for a mesoscale model simulation experiment

A mesoscale model simulation of a 'surrogate' atmosphere designed for the evaluation of adiabatic initialization and moisture enhancement techniques is briefly described. The simulation provides mesoscale precipitation rates and associated diabatic heating fields which are known exactly and are internally consistent within the context of the model. The advantage of this approach is that a numerical model can easily serve as a source of mesoscale data in the usual absence of internally consistent mesoscale observed data sets.

Kalb, Michael W.↗

A parametric LQ approach to multiobjective control system design

The synthesis of a constant parameter output feedback control law of constrained structure is set in a multiple-objective linear quadratic regulator (MOLQR) framework. The use of intuitive objective functions such as model-following ability and closed-loop trajectory sensitivity allows multiple-objective decision-making techniques, such as the surrogate worth tradeoff method, to be applied. For the continuous-time deterministic problem with an infinite time horizon, dynamic compensators as well as static output feedback controllers can be synthesized using a descent Anderson-Moore algorithm modified to impose linear equality constraints on the feedback gains by moving in feasible directions. Results of three different examples are presented, including a unique reformulation of the sensitivity reduction problem.

Kyr, Doug↗

Rarefied gas dynamics

The current state of those aspects of rarefied gas dynamics research that appear to be most important to research planned over the next decade is evaluated. These aspects encompass assessments of computational rarefied-gas dynamics (CRGD) that will allows their use as surrogates for experiments, the development of hybris-flowfield computational techniques matching continuum computations with particle computations, and the validation of CRGD through the results of experimental studies of Knudsen layers in simple flows. The design of surfaces for the achievement of stable, low-momentum and thermal accommodation coefficients will be a major priority, together with theorization and experimentation on evaporation and condensation effects close to surfaces.

Muntz, E. P.↗

Interpretation of cloud-climate feedback as produced by 14 atmospheric general circulation models

Understanding the cause of differences among general circulation model projections of carbon dioxide-induced climatic change is a necessary step toward improving the models. An intercomparison of 14 atmospheric general circulation models, for which sea surface temperature perturbations were used as a surrogate climate change, showed that there was a roughly threefold variation in global climate sensitivity. Most of this variation is attributable to differences in the models' depictions of cloud-climate feedback, a result that emphasizes the need for improvements in the treatment of clouds in these models if they are ultimately to be used as climatic predictors.

Cess, R. D.↗

Estimation of the solar Lyman alpha flux from ground based measurements of the Ca II K line

Measurements of the solar Lyman alpha and Ca II K from October 1981 to April 1989 show a strong correlation (r = 0.95) that allows estimation of the Lyman alpha flux at 1 AU from 1975 to December 1989. The estimated Lyman alpha strength of 3.9 x 10 to the 11th + or - 0.15 x 10 to the 11th photons/s sq cm on December 7, 1989 is at the same maximum levels seen in Cycle 21. Relative to other UV surrogates (sunspot number, 10.7 cm radio flux, and He I 10830 line strength), Lyman alpha estimates computed from the K line track the SME measurements well from solar maximum, through solar minimum, and into Cycle 22.

Rottman, G. J.↗

Intercomparison and interpretation of climate feedback processes in 19 atmospheric general circulation models

The present study provides an intercomparison and interpretation of climate feedback processes in 19 atmospheric general circulation models. This intercomparison uses sea surface temperature change as a surrogate for climate change. The interpretation of cloud-climate interactions is given special attention. A roughly threefold variation in one measure of global climate sensitivity is found among the 19 models. The important conclusion is that most of this variation is attributable to differences in the models' depiction of cloud feedback, a result that emphasizes the need for improvements in the treatment of clouds in these models if they are ultimately to be used as reliable climate predictors. It is further emphazied that cloud feedback is the consequence of all interacting physical and dynamical processes in a general circulation model. The result of these processes is to produce changes in temperature, moisture distribution, and clouds which are integrated into the radiative response termed cloud feedback.

Cess, R. D.↗

Hot interstellar gas and ionization of embedded clouds

Researchers present detailed photoionization calculations for the instellar cloud in which the Sun is embedded. They consider the EUV radiation field with contribution from discrete stellar sources and from a thermal bremsstrahlung-radiative recombination spectrum emitted from the surrounding 10 to the 6th power k coronal substrate. They establish lower limits to the fractional ionization of hydrogen and helium of 0.17 and 0.29 respectively. The high He ionization fraction results primarily from very strong line emission below 500 A originating in the surrounding coronal substrate while the H ionization is dominated by the EUV radiation from the discrete stellar sources. The dual effects of thermal conduction and the EUV spectrum of the 10 to the 6th k plasma on ionization in the cloud skin are explored. The EUV radiation field and Auger ionization have insignificant effects on the resulting ionic column densities of Si IV, C IV, N V and O VI through the cloud skin. Calculations show that the abundances of these species are dominated by collisional ionization in the thermal conduction front. Because of a low charge exchange rate with hydrogen, the ionic column density ratios of N (CIII)/N (CII) and N (NII)/N (NI) are dominated by the EUV radiation field in the local interstellar medium. These ratios should be important diagnostics for the EUV radiation field and serve as surrogate indicators of the interstellar He and H ionization fraction respectively. Spacecraft such as Lyman which is designed to obtain high resolution spectral data down to the Lyman limit at 912 A could sample interstellar lines of these ions.

Cheng, K.-P.↗

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 5: Aerospace librarians and technical information specialists as information intermediaries: A report of phase 2 activities of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project

The flow of U.S. government-funded and foreign scientific and technical information (STI) through libraries and related facilities to users in government and industry is examined, summarizing preliminary results of Phase 2 of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project (NAKDRP). The design and objectives of NAKDRP are reviewed; the NAKDRP model of STI transfer among producers, STI intermediaries, surrogates (technical report repositories or clearinghouses), and users is explained and illustrated with diagrams; and particular attention is given to the organization and operation of aerospace libraries. In a survey of North American libraries it was found that 25-30 percent of libraries regularly receive technical reports from ESA and the UK; the corresponding figures for Germany and for France, Sweden, and Japan are 18 and 5 percent, respectively. Also included is a series of bar graphs showing the librarians' assessments of the quality and use of NASA Technical Reports.

Pinelli, Thomas E.↗

Man in space - The use of animal models

The use of animal surrogates as experimental subjects in order to provide essential missing information on the effects of long-term spaceflights, to validate countermeasures, and to test medical treatment techniques is discussed. Research needs also include the definition of biomedical adaptations to flight, and the developments of standards for safe space missions to assure human health and productivity during and following flight. NASA research plans in this area are outlined. Over the next 40 years, NASA plans to concentrate on the use of rodents and nonhuman primates as the models of choice for various physiological responses observed in humans during extended stays in space. This research will include flights on the Space Shuttle, unmanned biosatellites, and the Space Station Freedom.

Ballard, Rodney W.↗

MIT-NASA/KSC space life science experiments - A telescience testbed

Experiments performed at MIT to better define Space Station information system telescience requirements for effective remote coaching of astronauts by principal investigators (PI) on the ground are described. The experiments were conducted via satellite video, data, and voice links to surrogate crewmembers working in a laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Teams of two PIs and two crewmembers performed two different space life sciences experiments. During 19 three-hour interactive sessions, a variety of test conditions were explored. Since bit rate limits are necessarily imposed on Space Station video experiments surveillance video was varied down to 50 Kb/s and the effectiveness of PI controlled frame rate, resolution, grey scale, and color decimation was investigated. It is concluded that remote coaching by voice works and that dedicated crew-PI voice loops would be of great value on the Space Station.

Oman, Charles M.↗