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NASA NTRS1988

Applications of square-root information filtering and smoothing in spacecraft orbit determination

The JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) Orbit Determination Software System is a set of computer programs developed for the primary purpose of determining the flight path of deep-space mission spacecraft in NASA's Planetary Program and highly elliptical orbiting spacecraft in Earth orbit. The filtering processes available within the JPL Orbit Determination Software are discussed, and several examples are presented. In particular, solutions obtained by the Square Root Information Filter (SRIF) using Bierman's Estimation Subroutine Library (ESL) are discussed and compared with the solutions obtained by the singular value decomposition (SVD) technique. It is concluded that the SRIF filtering and smoothing algorithms are efficient and numerically stable for well-conditioned systems. The use of Bierman's ESL simplifies the task of maintaining the orbit determination software by providing efficient, tested filtering tools. For solving a large well-conditioned system (rank higher than 120), SRIF is approximately four times faster than SVD; however, for solving an ill-conditioned system, SVD is recommended.

Wang, Tseng-Chan↗

NASA NTRS1988

Smooth indentation of a composite laminate

Finite difference method is used to analyze the problem of smooth contact between a rigid indenter and a laminated circular plate clamped at the edges. The plate consists of transversely isotropic layers. The interlaminar shear stresses in the contact region are found to be much different from the laminate plate theory solutions. It has been found that low-modulus interlayers cause significant reduction in the maximum interlaminar shear stresses.

Sankar, B. V.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Smooth indentation of orthotropic beams

An approximate Green's function for surface displacements in an orthotropic beam is derived as the superposition of the half-plane solution for displacements and the beam theory deflections. The Green's function is used to formulate the integral equation for the problem of smooth contact between a rigid-cylinder and a simply supported orthotropic beam. The integral equation is solved using a least-squares approximation procedure. The contact stress distribution is presented for three materials with different degrees of orthotropy. Numerical results are given for contact force-contact length and contact force-indentation relations. The effects of curvature of the deflected beam, shear deformation and length-to-thickness ratio of the beam on the contact behavior are discussed.

Sankar, B. V.↗

NASA NTRS1989

An entrance region friction factor model applied to annular seal analysis - Theory versus experiment for smooth and honeycomb seals

A friction factor model is developed for the entrance-region of a duct. The model is used in an annular gas seal analysis similar to Nelson's (1984). Predictions of the analysis are compared to experimental results for a smooth-stator/smooth-rotor seal and three honeycomb-stator/smooth-rotor seals. The model predicts a leakage and direct damping well. The model overpredicts the dependence of cross-coupled stiffness on fluid prerotation. The model predicts direct stiffness poorly.

Elrod, D.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Source location of the smooth high-frequency radio emissions from Uranus

The source location of the smooth high-frequency radio emissions from Uranus has been determined. Specifically, by fitting the signal dropouts which occurred as Voyager traversed the hollow center of the emission pattern to a symmetrical cone centered on the source magnetic field direction at the cyclotron frequency, a southern-hemisphere (nightside) source was found at approximately 56 deg S, 219 deg W. The half-angle for the hollow portion of the emission pattern was found to be 13 deg.

Farrell, W. M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Design of optimally smoothing multi-stage schemes for the Euler equations

In this paper, a method is developed for designing multi-stage schemes that give optimal damping of high-frequencies for a given spatial-differencing operator. The objective of the method is to design schemes that combine well with multi-grid acceleration. The schemes are tested on a nonlinear scalar equation, and compared to Runge-Kutta schemes with the maximum stable time-step. The optimally smoothing schemes perform better than the Runge-Kutta schemes, even on a single grid. The analysis is extended to the Euler equations in one space-dimension by use of 'characteristic time-stepping', which preconditions the equations, removing stiffness due to variations among characteristic speeds. Convergence rates independent of the number of cells in the finest grid are achieved for transonic flow with and without a shock. Characteristic time-stepping is shown to be preferable to local time-stepping, although use of the optimally damping schemes appears to enhance the performance of local time-stepping. The extension of the analysis to the two-dimensional Euler equations is hampered by the lack of a model for characteristic time-stepping in two dimensions. Some results for local time-stepping are presented.

Van Leer, Bram↗

NASA NTRS1990

Effect of wall cooling on the stability of compressible subsonic flows over smooth humps and backward-facing steps

The effect of wall cooling on the two-dimensional linear stability of subsonic flows over two-dimensional surface imperfections is investigated. Results are presented for flows over smooth humps and backward-facing steps with Mach numbers up to 0.8. The results show that, whereas cooling decreases the viscous instability, it increases the shear-layer instability and hence it increases the growth rates in the separation region. The coexistence of more than one instability mechanism makes a certain degree of wall cooling most effective. For the Mach numbers 0.5 and 0.8, the optimum wall temperatures are about 80 pct and 60 pct of the adiabatic wall temperature, respectively. Increasing the Mach number decreases the effectiveness of cooling slightly and reduces the optimum wall temperature.

Al-Maaitah, Ayman A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Wide-band array signal processing via spectral smoothing

A novel algorithm for the estimation of direction-of-arrivals (DOA) of multiple wide-band sources via spectral smoothing is presented. The proposed algorithm does not require an initial DOA estimate or a specific signal model. The advantages of replacing the MUSIC search with an ESPRIT search are discussed.

Xu, Guanghan↗

NASA NTRS1990

Offset, tilted dipole models of Uranian smooth high-frequency radio emission

The smooth high-frequency (SHF) component of the radio emission detected during the Voyager 2 encounter with Uranus (January 1986) is studied. An offset tilted dipole (OTD) investigation of the SHF emission at L shells is carried out within the range of the bursty source locations. A viable high L shell model is presented. It is suggested that Miranda, which reaches a minimum L shell at L = 5, may be related to the timing of several types of radio emissions.

Schweitzer, Andrea E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Effects of rotation on coolant passage heat transfer. Volume 1: Coolant passages with smooth walls

An experimental program was conducted to investigate heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of rotating multipass passages, for configurations and dimensions typical of modern turbine blades. The immediate objective was the generation of a data base of heat transfer and pressure loss data required to develop heat transfer correlations and to assess computational fluid dynamic techniques for rotating coolant passages. Experiments were conducted in a smooth wall large scale heat transfer model.

Hajek, T. J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Heat transfer in rotating passages with smooth walls and radial outward flow

Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of rotation on heat transfer in turbine blade internal coolant passages. The experiments were conducted with a smooth wall, large-scale heat transfer model. The objective was to obtain the heat transfer data base required to develop heat transfer correlations and to assess computational fluid dynamic techniques for rotating coolant passages. An analysis of the governing equations showed that four parameters influence the heat transfer in rotating passages (coolant density ratio, Rossby number, Reynolds number, and radius ratio). These four parameters were varied over ranges that exceed the ranges of current open literature results, but that are typical of current and advanced gas turbine engine operating conditions. Rotation affected the heat transfer coefficients differently for different locations in the coolant passage. For example, heat transfer at some locations increased with rotation, but decreased and then increased again at other locations. Heat transfer coefficients varied by as much as a factor of five between the leading and trailing surfaces for the same test condition and streamwise location. Comparisons with previous results are presented.

Wagner, J. H.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Studies of shock/shock interaction on smooth and transpiration-cooled hemispherical nosetips in hypersonic flow

Experimental studies are conducted to examine the utilization of transpiration cooling to reduce the peak-heating loads in areas of shock/shock interaction. Smooth and transpiration-cooled nosetip models, 12 inches in diameter, were employed in these studies, which focused on defining the pressure distributions and heat transfer in type III and IV interaction areas. Transpiration cooling was determined to significantly increase the size of the shock layer and to move the peak-heating point around the body. A transpiration-cooling rate of more than 30 percent of the freestream maximum flux did not lower the peak-heating level more than 10 percent, but the integrated heating loads were reduced.

Holden, M. S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Heat transfer in rotating serpentine passages with smooth walls

Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of buoyancy and Coriolis forces on heat transfer in turbine blade internal coolant passages. The experiments were conducted with a large scale, multi-pass, smooth-wall heat transfer model with both radially inward and outward flow. An analysis of the governing flow equations showed that four parameters influence the heat transfer in rotating passages (coolant-to-wall temperature ratio, Rossby number, Reynolds number and radius-to-passage hydraulic diameter ratio). These four parameters were varied over ranges which are typical of advanced gas turbine engine operating conditions. It was found that both Coriolis and buoyancy effects must be considered in turbine blade cooling designs and that the effect of rotation on the heat transfer coefficients was markedly different depending on the flow direction. Local heat transfer coefficients were found to decrease by as much as 60 percent and increase by 250 percent from no rotation levels. Comparisons with a pioneering stationary vertical tube buoyancy experiment showed reasonably good agreement. Correlation of the data is achieved employing dimensionless parameters derived from the governing flow equations.

Wagner, J. H.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The magnification of stars crossing a caustic. I - Lenses with smooth potentials

The possibility is explored of observing highly magnified images of individual stars within the long arcs that have been observed in rich clusters of galaxies. These images appear when a star crosses a caustic of the cluster's potential. When the cluster mass is distributed smoothly, the maximum magnification reached is typically of the order of 10 to the 7th. The star's image appears suddenly and reaches the maximum magnification in a few hours; then the magnification decreases slowly as the inverse of the square root of the time. This can also occur in the reverse order in time. For typical arcs, stars with bolometric luminosities of around 300 solar luminosities reach a maximum visual apparent magnitude of about 25. If brighter events are detected, the rate of detection is of the order of one every five years, for every arc intersecting a caustic. If the source galaxy is forming stars with a Saltpeter IMF, the probability that a 30-solar-mass star is magnified to a magnitude of 28 at any time is of the order of 20 percent.

Miralda-Escude, Jordi↗

NASA NTRS1992

Recursive Filtering And Smoothing In Robot Dynamics

Techniques developed originally for electronic systems also useful for multibody mechanical systems. Report summarizes methods developed to solve nonlinear forward-dynamics problem for robot of multiple-link arms connected by joints. Primary objective to show equivalence between recursive methods of dynamical analysis and some filtering and smoothing techniques from state-estimation theory.

Rodriguez, Guillermo↗

NASA NTRS1992

Smooth-Surfaced Carbon/Carbon Reflector Panels

Surface-densification technique integral to fabrication of reflective, lightweight, low-outgassing radio-antenna-reflector panels including carbon/carbon surface laminates supported by carbon/carbon core structures. Densification prevents "print-through" of carbon fibers on surface. When properly densified, surface polished to smooth finish.

Schmitigal, Wesley P.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Simulating hypervelocity impact effects on structures using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics code MAGI

Analysis of interaction occurring between space debris and orbiting structures is of great interest to the planning and survivability of space assets. Computer simulation of the impact events using hydrodynamic codes can provide some understanding of the processes but the problems involved with this fundamental approach are formidable. First, any realistic simulation is necessarily three-dimensional, e.g., the impact and breakup of a satellite. Second, the thickness of important components such as satellite skins or bumper shields are small with respect to the dimension of the structure as a whole, presenting severe zoning problems for codes. Thirdly, the debris cloud produced by the primary impact will yield many secondary impacts which will contribute to the damage and possible breakup of the structure. The problem was approached by choosing a relatively new computational technique that has virtues peculiar to space impacts. The method is called Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics.

Libersky, Larry↗

NASA NTRS1992

Electroform replication of smooth mirrors from sapphire masters

A sapphire master was used to produce mirrors that exhibit mid-to-high-frequency roughness as low as 3 A. The fabrication procedure and potential applications in X-ray astronomy are discussed. It is shown that foils replicated from flat smooth mandrels should offer at least equivalent HF roughness and significantly lower mid-frequency ripple than those coated with lacquer. A ceramic-surface mandrel could also be expected to last far longer without the need for repolishing than electroless nickel-coated mandrels.

Altkorn, R.↗