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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 217 records · Page 12
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NASA NTRS1992

Near-wall response in turbulent shear flows subjected to imposed unsteadiness

Rapid-distortion theory is adapted to introduce a truly unsteady closure into a simple phenomenological turbulence model in order to describe the unsteady response of a turbulent wall layer exposed to a temporarily oscillating pressure gradient. The closure model is built by taking the ratio of turbulent shear stress to turbulent kinetic energy to be a function of the effective strain. The latter accounts for the history of the flow. The computed unsteady velocity fluctuations and modulated turbulent stresses compare favorably in the 'non-quasi-steady' frequency range, where quasi-steady assumptions would fail. This suggests that the concept of rapid distortion is especially appropriate for unsteady flows. This paper forms the basis for acoustical studies of the problem to be reported elsewhere.

Mankbadi, Reda R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Improvement of persistent magnetic field trapping in bulk Y-Ba-Cu-O superconductors

For type-II superconductors, magnetic field can be trapped due to persistent internal supercurrent. Quasi-persistent magnetic fields near 2 T at 60 K (and 1.4 T at 77 K) have been measured in minimagnets made of proton-irradiated melt-textured Y-Ba-Cu-O (MT-Y123) samples. Using the trapping effect, high-field permanent magnets with dipole, quadrupole, or more complicated configurations can be made of existing MT-Y123 material, thus bypassing the need for high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wires. A phenomenological current model has been developed to account for the trapped field intensity and profile in HTS samples. This model is also a guide to select directions of materials development to further improve field trapping properties. General properties such as magnetic field intensities, spatial distributions, stabilities, and temperature dependence of trapped field are discussed.

Chen, In-Gann↗
NASA NTRS1995

Observations of the magnetopause current layer: Cases with no boundary layer and tests of recent models

Evidence for the probable existence of magnetospheric boundary layers was first presented by Hones, et al. (1972), based on VELA satellite plasma observations (no magnetic field measurements were obtained). This magnetotail boundary layer is now known to be the tailward extension of the high-latitude boundary layer or plasma mantle (first uniquely identified using HEOS 2 plasma and field observations by Rosenbauer et al., 1975) and the low-latitude boundary layer (first uniquely identified using IMP 6 plasma and field observations by Eastman et al., 1976). The magnetospheric boundary layer is the region of magnetosheath-like plasma located Earthward of, but generally contiguous with the magnetopause. This boundary layer is typically identified by comparing low-energy (less than 10 keV) ion spectra across the magnetopause. Low-energy electron measurements are also useful for identifying the boundary layer because the shocked solar wind or magnetosheath has a characteristic spectral signature for electrons as well. However, there are magnetopause crossings where low-energy electrons might suggest a depletion layer outside the magnetopause even though the traditional field-rotation signature indicates that this same region is a boundary layer Earthward of the current layer. Our analyses avoided crossings which exhibit such ambiguities. Pristine magnetopause crossings are magnetopause crossings for which the current layer is well defined and for which there is no adjoining magnetospheric boundary layer as defined above. Although most magnetopause models to date apply to such crossings, few comparisons between such theory and observations of pristine magnetopause crossings have been made because most crossings have an associated magnetospheric boundary layer which significantly affects the applicable boundary conditions for the magnetopause current layer. Furthermore, almost no observational studies of magnetopause microstructure have been done even though key theoretical issues have been discussed for over two decades. This is because plasma instruments deployed prior to the ISEE and AMPTE missions did not have the required time resolution and most ISEE investigations to-date have focused on tests of MHD plasma models, especially reconnection. More recently, many phenomenological and theoretical models have been developed to explain the existence and characteristics of the magnetospheric boundary layers with only limited success to date. The cases with no boundary layer treated in this study provide a contrary set of conditions to those observed with a boundary layer. For the measured parameters of such cases, a successful boundary layer model should predict no plasma penetration across the magnetopause. Thus, this research project provides the first direct observational tests of magnetopause models using pristine magnetopause crossings and provides important new results on magnetopause microstructure and associated kinetic processes.

Eastman, Timothy E.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Solar variability in irradiance and oscillations

The signature of the solar cycle appears in helioseismic frequencies and splittings. It is known that the changing outer superadiabatic region of the sun is responsible for this. The deeper solar-cycle mechanism from the surface changes, and, in particular, how magnetic fields perturb the global modes, the solar irradiance and the luminosity, is discussed. The irradiance and helioseismic changes are described. The interpretation of seismic and photometric data is discussed, considering current one-dimensional models and phenomenology. It is discussed how the long term solar-cycle luminosity effect could be caused by changes occurring near the base of the convection zone (CZ). It is shown that a thin toroidal flux sheath at the top of the radiative zone changed the thermal stratification immediately below the CZ over a solar-cycle timescale in two ways: the temperature of the magnetized fluid becomes hotter than the surrounding fluid, and the temperature gradient steepens above the magnetized region. The testing of CZ dynamics and extension of numerical experiments to global scales are considered.

Kuhn, Jeff R.↗
NASA NTRS2003

RX J1856.5-3754: A Strange Star with Solid Quark Surface?

The featureless spectra of isolated 'neutron stars' may indicate that they are actually bare strange stars but a definitive conclusion on the nature of the compact objects cannot be reached until accurate and theoretically calculated spectra of the bare quark surface are known. However due to the complex nonlinearity of quantum chromodynamics it is almost impossible to present a definitive and accurate calculation of the density-dominated quark-gluon plasma from the first principles. Nevertheless it was suggested that cold quark matter with extremely high baryon density could be in a solid state. Within the realms of this possibility we have fitted the 500ks Chandra LETG/HRC data for the brightest isolated neutron star RX 51856.5-3754 with a phenomenological spectral model and found that electric conductivity of quark matter on the stellar surface is about 1.5 x 10(exp 16)/s.

Zhang, Xiaoling↗
NASA NTRS2004

Efficiency Analysis of a High-Specific Impulse Hall Thruster

Performance and plasma measurements of the high-specific impulse NASA-173Mv2 Hall thruster were analyzed using a phenomenological performance model that accounts for a partially-ionized plasma containing multiply-charged ions. Between discharge voltages of 300 to 900 V, the results showed that although the net decrease of efficiency due to multiply-charged ions was only 1.5 to 3.0 percent, the effects of multiply-charged ions on the ion and electron currents could not be neglected. Between 300 to 900 V, the increase of the discharge current was attributed to the increasing fraction of multiply-charged ions, while the maximum deviation of the electron current from its average value was only +5/-14 percent. These findings revealed how efficient operation at high-specific impulse was enabled through the regulation of the electron current with the applied magnetic field. Between 300 to 900 V, the voltage utilization ranged from 89 to 97 percent, the mass utilization from 86 to 90 percent, and the current utilization from 77 to 81 percent. Therefore, the anode efficiency was largely determined by the current utilization. The electron Hall parameter was nearly constant with voltage, decreasing from an average of 210 at 300 V to an average of 160 between 400 to 900 V. These results confirmed our claim that efficient operation can be achieved only over a limited range of Hall parameters.

Jacobson, David↗
NASA NTRS2004

Strange Quark Matter Status and Prospects

The existence of quark states with more than three quarks is allowed in QCD. The stability of such quark matter states has been studied with lattice QCD and phenomenological bag models, but is not well constrained by theory. The addition of strange quarks to the system allows the quarks to be in lower energy states despite the additional mass penalty. There is additional stability from reduced Coulomb repulsion. SQM is expected to have a low Z/A. Stable or metastable massive multiquark states contain u, d, and s quarks.

Sandweiss, J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Boundary-Layer Transition Prediction Through Loose Coupling of OVERFLOW and LASTRAC

Transition prediction based on linear stability theory is expected to more accurately reflect the causality of transition onset than phenomenological transition models based on RANS-like transport equations. To help achieve the CFD vision 2030 aim of building a CFD tool chain with automated prediction of boundary layer transition, a technique to loosely tie the NASA OVERFLOW CFD solver with the LASTRAC stability analysis tool is described. The coupled solver is then used to compute transition over selected over a flat plate in a freestream with sufficiently low levels of turbulence, NLF(1)-0416 airfoil, the 6:1 prolate spheroid at an angle of attack, and a NASA juncture flow model with symmetric wing configuration. The findings show that the loosely coupled approach can reliably predict the transition location accurately in scenarios that are dominated by a single transition mechanism involving Tollmien-Schlichting instabilities, crossflow instabilities, or separation bubble-induced transition, or include a mixture of selected mechanisms. The toolset presents here appears to be robust to the prescription of the initial transition location, and it can lead to a converged solution in four or five rounds of the mean flow calculation and stability analysis, with minimal input from the user.

boundary layer transition↗
NASA NTRS1992

Track structure model of cell damage in space flight

The phenomenological track-structure model of cell damage is discussed. A description of the application of the track-structure model with the NASA Langley transport code for laboratory and space radiation is given. Comparisons to experimental results for cell survival during exposure to monoenergetic, heavy-ion beams are made. The model is also applied to predict cell damage rates and relative biological effectiveness for deep-space exposures.

Katz, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1983

Simple models of climate and radiation

The validity of several energy balance climate models and the infrared terrestrial radiation rule are reassessed in the context of determining the effect of the adjustable parameters present in phenomenological and semiempirical model on the validity of their predictions. The study includes comparisons between modeled and observed amplitudes of the annual and semiannual surface temperature cycles, phase lag of the annual surface temperature cycle, and amplitude response to a high-frequency solar constant oscillation of 0.8 percent.

North, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Multi-dimensional analysis of combustion instabilities in liquid rocket motors

A three-dimensional analysis of combustion instabilities in liquid rocket engines is presented based on a mixed finite difference/spectral solution methodology for the gas phase and a discrete droplet tracking formulation for the liquid phase. Vaporization is treated by a simplified model based on an infinite thermal conductivitiy assumption for spherical liquid droplets of fuel in a convective environment undergoing transient heating. A simple two parameter phenomenological combustion response model is employed for validation of the results in the small amplitude regime. The computational procedure is demonstrated to capture the phenomena of wave propagation within the combustion chamber accurately. Results demonstrate excellent amplitude and phase agreement with analytical solutions for properly selected grid resolutions under both stable and unstable operating conditions. Computations utilizing the simplified droplet model demonstrate stable response to arbitrary pulsing. This is possibly due to the assumption of uniform droplet temperature which removes the thermal inertia time-lag response of the vaporization process. The mixed-character scheme is sufficiently efficient to allow solutions on workstations at a modest increase in computational time over that required for two-dimensional solutions.

Grenda, Jeffrey M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Void probability as a function of the void's shape and scale-invariant models

The dependence of counts in cells on the shape of the cell for the large scale galaxy distribution is studied. A very concrete prediction can be done concerning the void distribution for scale invariant models. The prediction is tested on a sample of the CfA catalog, and good agreement is found. It is observed that the probability of a cell to be occupied is bigger for some elongated cells. A phenomenological scale invariant model for the observed distribution of the counts in cells, an extension of the negative binomial distribution, is presented in order to illustrate how this dependence can be quantitatively determined. An original, intuitive derivation of this model is presented.

Elizalde, E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Void probability as a function of the void's shape and scale-invariant models

The dependence of counts in cells on the shape of the cell for the large scale galaxy distribution is studied. A very concrete prediction can be done concerning the void distribution for scale invariant models. The prediction is tested on a sample of the CfA catalog, and good agreement is found. It is observed that the probability of a cell to be occupied is bigger for some elongated cells. A phenomenological scale invariant model for the observed distribution of the counts in cells, an extension of the negative binomial distribution, is presented in order to illustrate how this dependence can be quantitatively determined. An original, intuitive derivation of this model is presented.

Elizalde, E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The phenomenological status of late time phase transition models after cosmic background radiation anisotropy measurements

Some relatively model-independent results for structure formation via late time phase transitions (LTPT) are discussed. In particular, generic LTPT power spectra are presented. The implication of the recent Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) detection of the cosmic background radiation (CBR) anisotropy at large angular scales (greater than or approximately equal to 7 deg) and the tight upper limits from small angular scales (approximately 1 deg) to LTPT models are discussed. Special attention is focused on the observational constraints and possible non-Gaussian signatures of CBR temperature anisotropies from LTPT and other non-Gaussian models. It is shown that while LTPT have been seriously constrained by the recent data, viable models do remain which provide more power on the 100-200 Mpc scales than do more traditional primordial Gaussian density fluctuation models. Tests for such models are presented, including possible anisotropies on angular scales less than 8 min.

Luo, Xiaochun↗
NASA NTRS1993

Time dependent turbulence modeling and analytical theories of turbulence

By simplifying the direct interaction approximation (DIA) for turbulent shear flow, time dependent formulas are derived for the Reynolds stresses which can be included in two equation models. The Green's function is treated phenomenologically, however, following Smith and Yakhot, we insist on the short and long time limits required by DIA. For small strain rates, perturbative evaluation of the correlation function yields a time dependent theory which includes normal stress effects in simple shear flows. From this standpoint, the phenomenological Launder-Reece-Rodi model is obtained by replacing the Green's function by its long time limit. Eddy damping corrections to short time behavior initiate too quickly in this model; in contrast, the present theory exhibits strong suppression of eddy damping at short times. A time dependent theory for large strain rates is proposed in which large scales are governed by rapid distortion theory while small scales are governed by Kolmogorov inertial range dynamics. At short times and large strain rates, the theory closely matches rapid distortion theory, but at long times it relaxes to an eddy damping model.

Rubinstein, R.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Understanding Black Hole X-ray Binaries: The Case of Cygnus X-1

Black Hole X-ray Binaries are known to display distinct emission states that differ in their X-ray spectra, their X-ray timing properties (on times scales less than 1 s) and their radio emission. In recent years monitoring observations, specially with NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), have provided us with detailed empirical modeling of the phenomenology of the different states as well as a unification scheme of the long term evolution of black holes, transient and persistent, in terms of these states. Observations of the persistent High Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB) Cygnus X-l have been at the forefront of learning about black hole states since its optical identification through a state transition in 1973. In this talk I will present in depth studies of several different aspects of the accretion process in this system. The main data base for these studies is an ongoing RXTE and Ryle radio telescope bi-weekly monitoring campaign that started in 1997. I will discuss high-resolution timing results, especially power spectra, which first gave rise to the Lorentzian description now widely used for black hole and neutron star binaries, and time lags, which we found to be especially well suited to identify state transitions. The evolution of spectral, timing, and radio parameters over years will be shown, including the rms-flux relation and the observation of a clearly correlated radio/x-ray flare. We also observed Cygnus X-1 with INTEGRAL, which allowed us to extend timing and spectral studies to higher energies, with XMM, which provided strong constraints on the parameters of the 6.4 keV iron fluorescence line, and with Chandra, which provided the most in depth study to date of the stellar wind in this system. Models based on the physical conditions in the accretion region are still mainly concentrated on the one or other of the observational areas but they are expanding: as an example I will review results from a jet model for the quantitative description of the radio through X-ray spectra. I will conclude with an outlook on a truly multi-instrument observing campaign of Cygnus X-1 that was performed in 2008 April in order to better constrain the jet models mentioned above (and provide a unique data set for cross-calibration).

Pottschmidt, Katja↗
NASA NTRS1973

The magnetotail and substorms

The tail plays a very active and important role in substorms. Magmetic flux eroded from the dayside magnetosphere is stored here. As more and more flux is transported to the magnetotail and stored, the boundary flares more, the field strength in the tail increases, and the currents strengthen and move closer to the earth. Further, the plasma sheet thins and the magnetic flux crossing the neutral sheet lessens. The experimental evidence for these processes is discussed and a phenomenological or qualitative model of the substorm sequence is presented. In this model, the flux transport is driven by the merging of the magnetospheric and interplanetary magnetic fields. During the growth phase of substorms the merging rate on the dayside magnetosphere exceeds the reconnection rate in the neutral sheet.

Russell, C. T.↗