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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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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1973

Lunar surface magnetometers

Discussion of the properties of both the stationary and portable magnetometers used in the Apollo program to measure static and dynamic fields on the lunar surface. A stationary magnetometer is described in which the three orthogonal vector components of the magnetic field are measured by three fluxgate sensors which are located at the ends of three orthogonal booms and contain ferromagnetic cores driven to saturation by means of a periodic current. In the Apollo 16 magnetometer special high-stability ring-core sensors were used which provided an output voltage to the analog-to-digital converter which is proportional to the magnetic field. A portable magnetometer is described which consists of a set of three orthogonal fluxgate sensors mounted on top of a tripod connected to an electronics box by a ribbon cable. The above-mentioned stationary magnetometer simultaneously measured the time-varying components of the field which were later subtracted from the portable magnetometer measurements to give the desired resultant steady field values caused by the magnetized crustal material.

Dyal, P.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Survey of adaptive control using Liapunov design

A survey of the literature in which Liapunov's second method is used in determining the control law is presented, with emphasis placed on the model-tracking adaptive control problem. Forty references are listed. Following a brief tutorial exposition of the adaptive control problem, the techniques for treating reduction of order, disturbance and time-varying parameters, multivariable systems, identification, and adaptive observers are discussed. The method is critically evaluated, particularly with respect to possibilities for application.

Lindorff, D. P.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Mariner 9 photometric observations of Mars from November 1971 through March 1972

The large quantity of Mariner 9 television pictures taken at phase angles ranging up to twice those accessible from earth has been used to describe integrated photometric properties of Mars. Although frame-to-frame variations emphasize the shortcomings of vidicon cameras when used in a photometric mode, statistical trends have yielded data comparable with earth-based observations. Analysis of atmospheric parameters over a period of changing opacity - November 1971 through March 1972 - has provided time-varying optical depths and light-scattering information. Linear function characterization of the Mars reflectance is clearly discrepant at large incidence or emission angles and at phase angles greater than 40 deg.

Thorpe, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Effects of changing canopy directional reflectance on feature selection

The use of a Monte Carlo model for generating sample directional reflectance data for two simplified target canopies at two different solar positions is reported. Successive iterations through the model permit the calculation of a mean vector and covariance matrix for canopy reflectance for varied sensor view angles. These data may then be used to calculate the divergence between the target distributions for various wavelength combinations and for these view angles. Results of a feature selection analysis indicate that different sets of wavelengths are optimum for target discrimination depending on sensor view angle and that the targets may be more easily discriminated for some scan angles than others. The time-varying behavior of these results is also pointed out.

Smith, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Limiting performance of ground transportation vehicles subject to transient loading

A computational approach to determining the limiting performance of vehicles subject to transient disturbances based on response variable criteria is set forth. For the purposes of a limiting performance study, the transportation system dynamics are described using second- or first-order equations in which the sought for quantity is a vector of time-varying functions called control or isolator forces that have replaced portions of the physical system. Computations are performed as a linear programming problem. As an example of the limiting performance of vehicles in protecting passengers or cargo under crash conditions, the problem of lading damage of a rail vehicle that is struck by another vehicle is considered.

Pilkey, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Investigation of nitric oxide decomposition in the temperature range 2500-4100 K

The decomposition of nitric oxide has been studied in the temperature range 2500-4100 K using a shock-tube technique. The principle result of the study was the determination of the rate constant (k) for the reaction O + NO yields N + O2. Mixtures of NO and N2O diluted in argon or krypton were heated by incident shock waves and the infrared emission from the fundamental vibration-rotation band of NO at 5.3 microns was used to monitor the time-varying NO concentration. The experimental values of k are fit closely by the expression k = (2.36 times 10 to the 9th power) x T x exp(-38,640/RT) cm cu/mole-sec, which also provides a good fit to previous data at higher and lower temperatures.

Flower, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Numerical and experimental studies of the natural convection within a horizontal cylinder

Numerical solutions are obtained for the quasi-compressible Navier-Stokes equations governing the time-dependent natural convection within a horizontal cylinder. The early flow development and wall heat transfer are obtained after a uniformly cold wall is imposed as a boundary condition on the cylinder. Results are also obtained for a time-varying cold wall as a boundary condition with windward explicit differencing used for the numerical solutions. The viscous truncation error associated with this scheme is controlled so that first-order accuracy is maintained in time and space. Experiments within a small-scale instrumented horizontal cylinder revealed the time development of the temperature distribution across the boundary layer as well as the decay of wall heat transfer with time. Agreement between temperature distributions obtained experimentally and numerically was generally good. The time decay of the dimensionless ratio of the Nusselt number to the one-fourth power of the Grashof number is found both numerically and experimentally, and good agreement is obtained between these two results over most of the cylinder wall.

Stewart, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Application of a parameter identification technique to a hingeless helicopter rotor

A mathematical model of a gyro-controlled, three-bladed hingeless helicopter rotor was developed and parameters of the model were estimated using a parameter identification technique. The flapping and feathering degrees of freedom of the blades were modeled. The equations of the model contain time-varying, periodic coefficients due to the forward speed of the rotor. A digital simulation of the analytical model was compared with wind-tunnel measurements to establish the validity of the model. Comparisons of steady-state and transient solutions of the analytical model with the tunnel measurements gave reasonably good matching of gyro angle but less satisfactory matching of hub moment measurements. Further improvements were obtained by use of a parameter identification technique to adjust as many as 10 parameters of the analytical model. The sensitivity of the blade response to small changes in the parameters was also calculated.

Kanning, G.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Kinetics of the reaction of nitric oxide with hydrogen

Mixtures of NO and H2 diluted in argon or krypton were heated by incident shock waves, and the infrared emission from the fundamental vibration-rotation band of NO at 5.3 microns was used to monitor the time-varying NO concentration. The reaction kinetics were studied in the temperature range 2400-4500 K using a shock-tube technique. The decomposition of nitric oxide behind the shock was found to be modeled well by a fifteen-reaction system. A principle result of the study was the determination of the rate constant for the reaction H + NO yields N + OH, which may be the rate-limiting step for NO removal in some combustion systems. Experimental values of k sub 1 were obtained for each test through comparisons of measured and numerically predicted NO profiles.

Flower, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Dynamic response and stability of a gas-lubricated Rayleigh-step pad

The quasi-static, pressure characteristics of a gas-lubricated thrust bearing with shrouded, Rayleigh-step pads are determined for a time-varying film thickness. The axial response of the thrust bearing to an axial forcing function or an axial rotor disturbance is investigated by treating the gas film as a spring having nonlinear restoring and damping forces. These forces are related to the film thickness by a power relation. The nonlinear equation of motion in the axial mode is solved by the Ritz-Galerkin method as well as the direct, numerical integration. Results of the nonlinear response by both methods are compared with the response based on the linearized equation. Further, the gas-film instability of an infinitely wide Rayleigh step thrust pad is determined by solving the transient Reynolds equation coupled with the equation of the motion of the pad. Results show that the Rayleigh-step geometry is very stable for bearing number A up to 50. The stability threshold is shown to exist only for ultrahigh values of Lambda equal to or greater than 100, where the stability can be achieved by making the mass heavier than the critical mass.

Cheng, C.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Sequential Least-Squares Using Orthogonal Transformations

Square root information estimation, starting from its beginnings in least-squares parameter estimation, is considered. Special attention is devoted to discussions of sensitivity and perturbation matrices, computed solutions and their formal statistics, consider-parameters and consider-covariances, and the effects of a priori statistics. The constant-parameter model is extended to include time-varying parameters and process noise, and the error analysis capabilities are generalized. Efficient and elegant smoothing results are obtained as easy consequences of the filter formulation. The value of the techniques is demonstrated by the navigation results that were obtained for the Mariner Venus-Mercury (Mariner 10) multiple-planetary space probe and for the Viking Mars space mission.

Bierman, G. J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Influence of solar wind variability on geomagnetic activity

A statistical study of solar wind data from the Explorer 33 satellite shows that interplanetary magnetic field irregularities are enhanced in the interaction region where a fast solar wind stream overtakes a slower solar wind stream. Comparison with geomagnetic AE and ap indexes further shows that these interplanetary irregularities enhance the level of geomagnetic disturbances. Thus while substorm occurrence is highly correlated with the dawn-dusk component of the solar wind electric field, the amplitude of the substorms is an increasing function of the variance in the interplanetary field. This result can be interpreted as a capacitative effect of the magnetopause that allows a time-varying solar wind electric field to penetrate the magnetosphere more effectively than a static solar wind electric field.

Garrett, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Preliminary measurements of plasma fluctuations in an 8-cm mercury ion thruster

The investigation considered included an observation of the effects on the plasma fluctuations of a variation of several neutralizer parameters. The apparatus used in the investigation and the experimental techniques are discussed, taking into account the thruster, the thruster power supply, questions of thruster operation, transducers, and an analysis of time-varying data. The results presented are related to rms magnitudes, spectral data, and fluctuation correlations.

Serafini, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Analysis and design of a surface-wave-scanned optical sensor array

This paper treats a scheme for converting the information of the spatial pattern of light of an image into a time-varying voltage pattern by the use of acoustic surface waves. After a brief review of earlier work, the application of the scheme to vidicon-type applications is tested by a feasibility calculation. This is followed by a consideration of various physical configurations possible and some experimental results. The rest of the paper deals with the subject of sensor array design. Included here are discussions of system components, methods of computation used, optimization, and the design of some integrated sensor arrays. The work shows that an integrated acoustically scanned array sensor of 250 or more elements per line in a 5 cm length, with scanning at TV frame rates, should be possible.

Shaw, K. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

On the design of optimal input signals in system identification

The problem of designing optimal inputs in the identification of multi-input multi-output linear systems with unknown time-varying parameters is considered using a Bayesian approach. A sensitivity index gives a measure of performance for the closed-loop system inputs. The computation of the optimal closed-loop mappings is shown to be a nontrivial exercise in stochastic control with no analytic solution, but optimal open-loop and affine laws yield much more tractable problems. For time-invariant systems, the sensitivity index considered is shown to be equivalent to the trace of the (strictly positive definite) information matrix associated with the system. Numerical examples are given. A Kalman filter is used to estimate the parameters. A necessary condition for the Kalman filter not to diverge when applying linear feedback is also given.

Lopez-Toledo, A. A.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Kinetics of the reaction of nitric oxide with hydrogen

The reaction of nitric oxide with hydrogen has been studied in the temperature range 2400-4500 K using a shock-tube technique. Mixtures of NO and H2 diluted in argon or krypton were heated by incident shock waves, and the infrared emission from the fundamental vibration-rotation band of NO at 5.3 microns was used to monitor the time-varying NO concentration. The decomposition of nitric oxide behind the shock was found to be modeled well by a fifteen-reaction system. A principal result of the study was the determination of the rate constant k1 for the reaction H + NO yields N + OH, which may be the rate-limiting step for NO removal in some combustion systems. Experimental values of k1 were obtained for each test through comparisons of measured and numerically predicted NO profiles. The data are fit closely by the expression k1 = 1.34 times 10 to the fourteenth power exp(-49 200/RT) cu cm/mole-sec. These data appear to be the first available for this rate constant.

Flower, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Connective stability of competitive equilibrium

The purpose of this paper is to derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the connective stability of nonlinear matrix systems described by the equation x-dot = A(t, x) x, where the matrix A(t, x) has time-varying nonlinear elements. The results obtained can be used to study the stability of competitive equilibrium in fields as diverse as economics and engineering, model ecosystems, and the arms race.-

Siljak, D. D.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Calculation of the radio emission from EAS

Time-varying features of an electron-photon cascade are considered, particularly those associated with radio emission. The cosmic ray shower is represented as a superposition of collinear 10 GeV electron-photon cascades launched at different heights in the atmosphere. Actual simulations are performed for only 10 cascades at each of 40 heights and the results are scaled to represent the total number of cascades required. The apparent angular motions of the cascade particles as detected by antennas located at various positions up to 300 m from the shower axis are simulated. The radio pulse waveform and the corresponding frequency spectrum are obtained from these motions.

Allan, H. R.↗