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Results for “GRAVITATIONAL EFFECT”

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 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1973

Sonic boom analysis for high altitude flight at high Mach number

Numerical programs are presented which take into account the nonlinear effects of high Mach number, the entropy change across the shock, the entropy and enthalpy variations in the atmospheric layer and the gravitational effect. Extension of the programs for the axisymmetric problems to handle nonaxisymmetric terms is described. The asymmetry can be caused by the geometry of the body, the lift and also the fact that the variations in the atmospheric layer are two-dimensional. Numerical results demonstrating the influences of these effects and comparison with existing approximate theories are presented.

Ferri, A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Nonlinear sonic boom analysis including the asymmetric effects

A numerical program is developed which takes into account the nonlinear effects of high Mach number, the entropy change across the shock, the entropy and enthalpy variations in the atmospheric layer and the gravitational effect. The program differs from the existing ones by accounting for non-axisymmetric terms. The asymmetry can be caused by the geometry of the body, the lift and also the fact that the variations in the atmospheric layer are two-dimensional. Numerical results demonstrate that the influence of these asymmetric effects tends to lower the pressure signature.

Ferri, A.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Sonic boom analysis for high-altitude flight at high Mach number

Numerical programs for the computation of the flow field from the airplane at the flight altitude to the ground are presented. They take into account the nonlinear effects of high Mach number, the entropy change across the shock, the entropy and enthalpy variations in the atmospheric layer, and the gravitational effect. Extension of the programs for the axisymmetric problems to handle nonaxisymmetric terms is described. The asymmetry can be caused by the geometry of the body and the lift, and also by the fact that the variations in the atmospheric layer are two-dimensional. Numerical results for ground level signatures of several configurations at various flight conditions are presented and compared with existing approximate theories to demonstrate the influences of these nonlinear effects.

Ferri, A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Numerically Integrated Orbits of the Major Saturnian Satellites fit to Earthbased Observations

We have fit numerically integrated orbits of the eight major satellites of Saturn to all available astrometric and meridian circle observations for the period of 1971 to 1992. The integration was carried out in cartesian coordinates in the J2000 system. The force model included the gravitational effects of the oblate primary, the mutual perturbations of the satellites, and perturbations due to Jupiter and the Sun. Values of the gravitational parameters of the Saturnian system, e.g. planet and satellite masses, were taken from Campbell, et. al., 1989, only the epoch state vectors of the satellites were adjusted to obtain orbits which fit the observations. All astrometric data was processed in the form of satellite relative positions which were weighted according to observer and opposition to reflect the varying data quality...

Jacobson, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Biological research on Space Station Freedom

The paper discusses laboratory capabilities of the SSF which permit long-term, systematic investigations into the effects of the space environment, particularly the effect of microgravity, on a range of biological specimens. The ability to manipulate gravity levels between 0 and 2.0 g makes it possible to examine gravitational effects along a continuum. Space centrifuge research is expected to lead to practical applications in areas such as aging, treating malfunctions of the body regulatory and defense mechanisms, improving agricultural production, and extending human performance.

Chambers, L. P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Quantum wormholes and harmonic oscillators

The quantum state of a wormhole can be represented by a path integral over all asymptotically Euclidean four-geometries and all matter fields which have prescribed values, the arguments of the wave function, on a three-surface which divides the space time manifold into two disconnected parts. Minisuperspace models which consist of a homogeneous massless scalar field coupled to a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space time are considered. Once the path integral over the lapse function is performed, the requirement that the space time be asymptotically Euclidean can be accomplished by fixing the asymptotic gravitational momentum in the remaining path integral. It is argued that there does not exist any wave function which corresponds to asymptotic field configurations such that the effective gravitational constant is negative in the asymptotic region. Then, the wormhole wave functions can be written as linear combinations of harmonic oscillator wave functions.

Garay, Luis J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Buoyancy Effects on Flow Structure and Instability of Low-Density Gas Jets

A low-density gas jet injected into a high-density ambient gas is known to exhibit self-excited global oscillations accompanied by large vortical structures interacting with the flow field. The primary objective of the proposed research is to study buoyancy effects on the origin and nature of the flow instability and structure in the near-field of low-density gas jets. Quantitative rainbow schlieren deflectometry, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and Linear stability analysis were the techniques employed to scale the buoyancy effects. The formation and evolution of vortices and scalar structure of the flow field are investigated in buoyant helium jets discharged from a vertical tube into quiescent air. Oscillations at identical frequency were observed throughout the flow field. The evolving flow structure is described by helium mole percentage contours during an oscillation cycle. Instantaneous, mean, and RMS concentration profiles are presented to describe interactions of the vortex with the jet flow. Oscillations in a narrow wake region near the jet exit are shown to spread through the jet core near the downstream location of the vortex formation. The effects of jet Richardson number on characteristics of vortex and flow field are investigated and discussed. The laminar, axisymmetric, unsteady jet flow of helium injected into air was simulated using CFD. Global oscillations were observed in the flow field. The computed oscillation frequency agreed qualitatively with the experimentally measured frequency. Contours of helium concentration, vorticity and velocity provided information about the evolution and propagation of vortices in the oscillating flow field. Buoyancy effects on the instability mode were evaluated by rainbow schlieren flow visualization and concentration measurements in the near-field of self-excited helium jets undergoing gravitational change in the microgravity environment of 2.2s drop tower at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center. The jet Reynolds number was varied from 200 to 1500 and jet Richardson number was varied from 0.72 to 0.002. Power spectra plots generated from Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis of angular deflection data acquired at a temporal resolution of 1000Hz reveal substantial damping of the oscillation amplitude in microgravity at low Richardson numbers (~0.002). Quantitative concentration data in the form of spatial and temporal evolutions of the instability data in Earth gravity and microgravity reveal significant variations in the jet flow structure upon removal of buoyancy forces. Radial variation of the frequency spectra and time traces of helium concentration revealed the importance of gravitational effects in the jet shear layer region. Linear temporal and spatio-temporal stability analyses of a low-density round gas jet injected into a high-density ambient gas were performed by assuming hyper-tan mean velocity and density profiles. The flow was assumed to be non parallel. Viscous and diffusive effects were ignored. The mean flow parameters were represented as the sum of the mean value and a small normal-mode fluctuation. A second order differential equation governing the pressure disturbance amplitude was derived from the basic conservation equations. The effects of the inhomogeneous shear layer and the Froude number (signifying the effects of gravity) on the temporal and spatio-temporal results were delineated. A decrease in the density ratio (ratio of the density of the jet to the density of the ambient gas) resulted in an increase in the temporal amplification rate of the disturbances. The temporal growth rate of the disturbances increased as the Froude number was reduced. The spatio-temporal analysis performed to determine the absolute instability characteristics of the jet yield positive absolute temporal growth rates at all Fr and different axial locations. As buoyancy was removed (Fr . 8), the previously existing absolute instability disappeared at all locations establhing buoyancy as the primary instability mechanism in self-excited low-density jets.

Pasumarthi, Kasyap Sriramachandra↗
NASA NTRS1981

Geoid anomalies in the vicinity of subduction zones

In the considered investigation, attention is given to the line source model, a surface source model, an application of the model, and a model of the thermal lithosphere associated with marginal basins. It is found that undulations in the altimetrically observed geoid of the southwest Pacific are strongly controlled by positive density anomalies in the subducting slabs of the region and the effects of elevation of the geotherm in behind arc lithosphere (corresponding to young marginal basins). Finer details of slab geometry do not obviously manifest themselves in the observed geoid. Such gravitational effects are quite attenuated at sea level and are apparently mixed with crustal effects, oceanographic noise, etc. It appears that slabs in global composite may contribute substantially to intermediate and long wavelength portions (down to spherical harmonic degree 3 or 4) of the earth's gravity field.

Mcadoo, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Architectural study of the design and operation of advanced force feedback manual controllers

A teleoperator system consists of a manual controller, control hardware/software, and a remote manipulator. It was employed in either hazardous or unstructured, and/or remote environments. In teleoperation, the main-in-the-loop is the central concept that brings human intelligence to the teleoperator system. When teleoperation involves contact with an uncertain environment, providing the feeling of telepresence to the human operator is one of desired characteristics of the teleoperator system. Unfortunately, most available manual controllers in bilateral or force-reflecting teleoperator systems can be characterized by their bulky size, high costs, or lack of smoothness and transparency, and elementary architectures. To investigate other alternatives, a force-reflecting, 3 degree of freedom (dof) spherical manual controller is designed, analyzed, and implemented as a test bed demonstration in this research effort. To achieve an improved level of design to meet criteria such as compactness, portability, and a somewhat enhanced force-reflecting capability, the demonstration manual controller employs high gear-ratio reducers. To reduce the effects of the inertia and friction on the system, various force control strategies are applied and their performance investigated. The spherical manual controller uses a parallel geometry to minimize inertial and gravitational effects on its primary task of transparent information transfer. As an alternative to the spherical 3-dof manual controller, a new conceptual (or parallel) spherical 3-dof module is introduced with a full kinematic analysis. Also, the resulting kinematic properties are compared to those of other typical spherical 3-dof systems. The conceptual design of a parallel 6-dof manual controller and its kinematic analysis is presented. This 6-dof manual controller is similar to the Stewart Platform with the actuators located on the base to minimize the dynamic effects. Finally, a combination of the new 3-dof and 6-dof concepts is presented as a feasible test-bed for enhanced performance in a 9-dof system.

Tesar, Delbert↗
DOE OSTI2020

Limited modified gravity

In this work, we systematically assess several limiting cases of modified gravity, where particular theoretical or observational conditions hold. This framework includes the well known scalar-tensor gravity and No Slip Gravity and No Run Gravity, and we extend it to three new limits: only Run, Only Light, and Only Growth Gravities. These limits give simplifications that allow deeper understanding of modified gravity, including demonstration that gravitational effects on light and matter can have opposite signs in their deviation from general relativity. We also show observational predictions for the different cosmic structure growth rates fσ8 and the ratio of gravitational wave standard siren luminosity to photon standard candle luminosity distance relations, defining a new statistic DG that emphasizes their complementarity and ability to distinguish models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2004

Tests of Mach's Principle With a Mechanical Oscillator

James F. Woodward has made a prediction, based on Sciama's formulation of Mach's Principle in the framework of general relativity, that in the presence of an energy flow the inertial mass of an object may undergo sizable variations, changing as the second time derivative of the energy. We describe an attempt to test for the predicted effect with a charging capacitor, using a technique that does not require an unbalanced force or any local violation of Newton s 3rd law of motion. We attempt to observe: (1) the gravitational effect of the varying mass and (2) the effect of the mass variation on a driven harmonic oscillator with the charging capacitor as the oscillating mass. We report on the predicted effect, the design and implementation of the measurement apparatus, and initial experience with the apparatus. At this time, however, we will not report on observations of the presence or absence of the Woodward effect.

Millis, Marc G.↗
DOE OSTI2012

WIDE BINARY EFFECTS ON ASYMMETRIES IN ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH CIRCUMSTELLAR ENVELOPES

Observations of increasingly higher spatial resolution reveal the existence of asymmetries in the circumstellar envelopes of a small fraction of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Although there is no general consensus for their origin, a binary companion star may be responsible. Within this framework, we investigate the gravitational effects associated with a sufficiently wide binary system, where Roche lobe overflow is unimportant, on the outflowing envelopes of AGB stars using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. The effects due to individual binary components are separately studied, enabling the investigation of the stellar and circumstellar characteristics in detail. The reflex motion of the AGB star alters the wind velocity distribution, thereby determining the overall shape of the outflowing envelope. On the other hand, the interaction of the companion with the envelope produces a gravitational wake, which exhibits a vertically thinner shape. The two patterns overlap and form clumpy structures. To illustrate the diversity of shapes, we present the numerical results as a function of inclination angle. Not only is spiral structure produced by the binary interaction, but arc patterns are also found that represent the former structure when viewed at different inclinations. The arcs reveal a systematic shift of their centers of curvature for cases when the orbital speed of the AGB star is comparable to its wind speed. They take on the shape of a peanut for inclinations nearly edge-on. In the limit of slow orbital motion of the AGB star relative to the wind speed, the arc pattern becomes nearly spherically symmetric. We find that the aspect ratio of the overall oblate shape of the pattern is an important diagnostic probe of the binary as it can be used to constrain the orbital velocity of the AGB star, and moreover, the binary mass ratio.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A precision test of averaging in AdS/CFT

We reconsider the role of wormholes in the AdS/CFT correspondence. We focus on Euclidean wormholes that connect two asymptotically AdS or hyperbolic regions with $\mathbb{S}$ 1 × $\mathbb{S}$ d-1 boundary. There is no solution to Einstein’s equations of this sort, as the wormholes possess a modulus that runs to infinity. To find on-shell wormholes we must stabilize this modulus, which we can do by fixing the total energy on the two boundaries. Such a wormhole gives the saddle point approximation to a non-standard problem in quantum gravity, where we fix two asymptotic boundaries and constrain the common energy. Crucially the dual quantity does not factorize even when the bulk is dual to a single CFT, on account of the fixed energy constraint. From this quantity we extract a smeared version of the microcanonical spectral form factor. For a chaotic theory this quantity is self-averaging, i.e. well-approximated by averaging over energy windows, or over coupling constants. We go on to give a precision test involving the microcanonical spectral form factor where the two replicas have slightly different coupling constants. In chaotic theories this form factor is known to smoothly decay at a rate universally predicted in terms of one replica physics, provided that there is an average either over a window or over couplings. We compute the expected decay rate for holographic theories, and the form factor from a wormhole, and the two exactly agree for a wide range of two-derivative effective field theories in AdS. This gives a precision test of averaging in AdS/CFT. Our results interpret a number of confusing facts about wormholes and factorization in AdS and suggest that we should regard gravitational effective field theory as a mesoscopic description, analogous to semiclassical mesoscopic descriptions of quantum chaotic systems.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A mathematical and numerical framework for the analysis of compressible thermal convection in gases at very high temperatures

The relevance of non-equilibrium phenomena, nonlinear behavior, gravitational effects and fluid compressibility in a wide range of problems related to high-temperature gas-dynamics, especially in thermal, mechanical and nuclear engineering, calls for a concerted approach using the tools of the kinetic theory of gases, statistical physics, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and mathematical modeling in synergy with advanced numerical strategies for the solution of the Navier–Stokes equations. The reason behind such a need is that in many instances of relevance in this field one witnesses a departure from canonical models and the resulting inadequacy of standard CFD approaches, especially those traditionally used to deal with thermal (buoyancy) convection problems. Starting from microscopic considerations and typical concepts of molecular dynamics, passing through the Boltzmann equation and its known solutions, we show how it is possible to remove past assumptions and elaborate an algorithm capable of targeting the broadest range of applications. Moving beyond the Boussinesq approximation, the Sutherland law and the principle of energy equipartition, the resulting method allows most of the fluid properties (density, viscosity, thermal conductivity, heat capacity and diffusivity, etc.) to be derived in a rational and natural way while keeping empirical contamination to the minimum. Special attention is deserved as well to the well-known pressure issue. With the application of the socalled multiple pressure variables concept and a projection-like numerical approach, difficulties with such a term in the momentum equation are circumvented by allowing the hydrodynamic pressure to decouple from its thermodynamic counterpart. The final result is a flexible and modular framework that on the one hand is able to account for all the molecule (translational, rotational and vibrational) degrees of freedom and their effective excitation, and on the other hand can guarantee adequate interplay between molecular and macroscopic-level entities and processes. Performances are demonstrated by computing some incompressible and compressible benchmark test cases for thermal (gravitational) convection, which are then extended to the high-temperature regime taking advantage of the newly developed features.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1990

Integrated modeling and analysis of a space-truss article

MSC/NASTRAN is being used in the Controls-Structures Interaction (CSI) program at NASA Langley Research Center as a key analytical tool for structural analysis as well as the basis for control law development, closed-loop performance evaluation, and system safety checks. Guest investigators from academia and industry are performing dynamics and control experiments on a flight-like deployable space truss called Mini-Mast to determine the effectiveness of various active-vibration control laws. MSC/NASTRAN was used to calculate natural frequencies and mode shapes below 100 Hz to describe the dynamics of the 20-meter-long lightweight Mini-Mast structure. Gravitational effects contribute significantly to structural stiffness and are accounted for through a two-phase solution in which the differential stiffness matrix is calculated and then used in the eigensolution. Reduced modal models are extracted for control law design and evaluation of closed-loop system performance. Predicted actuator forces from controls simulations are then applied to the extended model to predict member loads and stresses. These pre-test analyses reduce risks associated with the structural integrity of the test article, which is a major concern in closed-loop control experiments due to potential instabilities.

Alan E Stockwell↗
NASA NTRS2001

Some Novel Solidification Processing Techniques Being Investigated at MSFC: Their Extension for Study Aboard the ISS

The float-zone and the Bridgman techniques are two classical directional solidification processing methods that are used to improve materials properties. Unfortunately, buoyancy effects and gravity-driven convection due to unstable temperature and/or composition gradients still produce solidified products that exhibit segregation and, consequently, degraded properties. This presentation will briefly introduce how some novel processing applications can minimize detrimental gravitational effects and enhance microstructural uniformity. Discussion follows that to fully understand and model these procedures requires utilizing, in conjunction with a novel mixing technique, the facilities and quiescent microgravity environment available on the ISS.

Grugel, R. N.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Macroscopic dark matter detection with gravitational wave experiments

We study signatures of macroscopic dark matter (DM) in current and future gravitational wave (GW) experiments. Transiting DM with a mass of ~10 5 –10 15 kg that saturates the local DM density can be potentially detectable by GW detectors, depending on the baseline of the detector and the strength of the force mediating the interaction. In the context of laser interferometers, we derive the gauge invariant observable due to a transiting DM, including the Shapiro effect (gravitational time delay accumulated during the photon propagation), and adequately account for the finite photon travel time within an interferometer arm. In particular, we find that the Shapiro effect can be dominant for short-baseline interferometers such as Holometer and GQuEST. Here, we also find that proposed experiments such as Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope can constrain a fifth force between DM and baryons, at the level of strength ~10 3 times stronger than gravity for, e.g., kg mass DM with a fifth-force range of 10 6 m.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗