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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 271 records · Page 15

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NASA NTRS1981

Concurrent radio, infrared, optical and X-ray observations of the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151

The nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151 was observed during May and June 1977 at X-ray energies from 20 to 200 keV using the high-energy X-ray spectrometer on OSO 8 at radio frequencies of 2695 and 8085. Data were also taken in the visual, and at infrared wavelengths of 1 to 2 microns, and from 2 to 6 keV using the OSO 8 proportional counter. Optical data showed variability by a factor of 2 within the observing period, which is comparable to the variability in the 2 to 6 keV X-ray flux. No variability, however, was measured at infrared or radio frequencies. The composite spectrum from radio to gamma-ray is plotted, and it is found that the optical and X-ray fluxes varied during the observing period, although it is not known if they varied concurrently.

Beall, J. H.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Transit telescope designs optimized for multiple object spectroscopy with fibers

Instruments to simultaneously study the spectra of many objects in the field of view of a telescope can be made using fused silica fibers. The spectrograph at the 2.3m telescope of the University of Arizona has been modified for such operation, and is used routinely to study the dynamics of galaxy clusters. Consideration has been given to how the multifiber technique can best be used to obtain spectra of the many faint objects identified by deep transit survey instruments and new space and radio telescopes. A transit survey such as that planned by McGraw et al. (1980), with CCDs at the focus of a 2m transit telescope, will identify objects down to 24th magnitude, and down to 22nd magnitude will give very complete data on variability and optical energy distribution. A telescope with much larger aperture is required for spectroscopic follow up. It is suggested that large telescopes dedicated to this type of work can be made and operated for only a fraction of the cost of a general-purpose telescope.

Angel, J. R. P.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Evaluation of 2 1-D cloud models for the analysis of VAS soundings

Evaluation of the satellite Visual Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer Atmospheric Sounder (VISSR) has begun to document several of its critical shortcomings as far as numerical cloud models are concerned: excessive smoothing of thermal inversions; imprecise measurement of boundary layer moisture; and tendency to exaggerate atmospheric stability. The sensitivity of 1-D cloud models to their required inputs is stressed with special attention to those parameters obtained from atmospheric soundings taken by the VAS or rawinsonde. In addition to performing model experiments using temperature and moisture profiles having the general characteristics of VAS soundings, standard input sensitivity tests were made and 1-D model performance was compared with observations and the results of a 2-D model experiment using AVE/VAS data (Atmospheric Variability Experiment). Although very encouraging, the results are not sufficient to make any specific conclusions. In general, the VAS soundings are likely to be inadequate to provide the cloud base (and subcloud layer) information needed for inputs to current cumulus models. Above cloud base, the tendency to exaggerate the stability of the atmosphere requires solution before meaningful model experiments are run.

Emmitt, G. D.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Turbofan noise generation. Volume 2: Computer programs

The use of a package of computer programs developed to calculate the in duct acoustic mods excited by a fan/stator stage operating at subsonic tip speed is described. The following three noise source mechanisms are included: (1) sound generated by the rotor blades interacting with turbulence ingested into, or generated within, the inlet duct; (2) sound generated by the stator vanes interacting with the turbulent wakes of the rotor blades; and (3) sound generated by the stator vanes interacting with the velocity deficits in the mean wakes of the rotor blades. The computations for three different noise mechanisms are coded as three separate computer program packages. The computer codes are described by means of block diagrams, tables of data and variables, and example program executions; FORTRAN listings are included.

Ventres, C. S.↗

NASA NTRS1985

A search in the COS-B data base for correlated time variability in regions containing objects of interest

As is well known, association of the gamma-ray sources with celestial objects is, in general, difficult on a pure positional basis, while correlated time variability could obviously provide such proof. This technique can be employed on regions of the gamma-ray sky containing interesting objects of known variability at some wavelength even in the absence of a recognized gamma-ray excess with the aim to extract a weak but predictable signal from the surrounding noise. This technique is applied here on a longer variability time scale, generally of the order of days. Photons coming from the sky regions centered on the various celestial objects considered were selected with energies 100 MeV and with arrival directions within an energy-dependent area of radius of approx 6 deg at 100 MeV. In order to construct a time profile of such photons, their arrival times were grouped in bins of dimensions defined by the available photons number and by the value of the period searched for.

Caraveo, P. A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

High speed inlet calculations with real gas effects

A 2-D steady-state Navier-Stokes solver has been upgraded to include the effects of frozen and equilibrium air chemistry for applications to high speed flight vehicles. To provide a computationally economical first order approximation to the high temperature physics, variable thermodynamic data is used for the chemically frozen mode to allow for a variation with temperature of the air specific heats and enthalpy. For calculations involving air in chemical equilibrium, a specially modified version of the NASA Lewis Chemical Equilibrium Code, CEC, is used to compute the chemical composition and resultant thermochemical properties. The upgraded solver is demonstrated by comparing results from calorically perfect (C sub p=constant), thermally perfect (frozen) and equilibrium air calculations for a variety of geometries, and flight Mach numbers.

Coirier, William J.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Estimating forest biomass and volume using airborne laser data

An airborne pulsed laser system was used to obtain canopy height data over a southern pine forest in Georgia in order to predict ground-measured forest biomass and timber volume. Although biomass and volume estimates obtained from the laser data were variable when compared with the corresponding ground measurements site by site, the present models are found to predict mean total tree volume within 2.6 percent of the ground value, and mean biomass within 2.0 percent. The results indicate that species stratification did not consistently improve regression relationships for four southern pine species.

Nelson, Ross↗

NASA NTRS1989

Tensil Film Clamps And Mounting Block For Viscoelastometers

Set of clamps and mounting block developed for use in determining tensile moduli and damping properties of films in manually operated or automated commercial viscoelastometer. These clamps and block provide uniformity of sample gripping and alignment in instrument. Dependence on operator and variability of data greatly reduced.

Stoakley, Diane M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Rocket measurements of electron density irregularities during MAC/SINE

Four Super Arcas rockets were launched at the Andoya Rocket Range, Norway, as part of the MAC/SINE campaign to measure electron density irregularities with high spatial resolution in the cold summer polar mesosphere. They were launched as part of two salvos: the turbulent/gravity wave salvo (3 rockets) and the EISCAT/SOUSY radar salvo (one rocket). In both salvos meteorological rockets, measuring temperature and winds, were also launched and the SOUSY radar, located near the launch site, measured mesospheric turbulence. Electron density irregularities and strong gradients were measured by the rocket probes in the region of most intense backscatter observed by the radar. The electron density profiles (8 to 4 on ascent and 4 on descent) show very different characteristics in the peak scattering region and show marked spatial and temporal variability. These data are intercompared and discussed.

Ulwick, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1988

High speed inlet calculations with real gas effects

Coirier, William J.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Ignition of nonmetallic materials by impact of high-pressure gaseous oxygen

The sources of variability in the pneumatic impact test commonly used to screen nonmetallic materials for oxygen service and to rank batches or lots of particular materials were investigated together with the mechanism of ignition. Tests were conducted at the NASA/White Sands Test Facility in which the standard test chamber was replaced by an instrumented chamber to obtain information on the rates of pressurization, specimen heating, and time to ignition. Results showed that much of the variability in test data could be traced to the variability in system cleanliness and in the opening time of the high-speed valve. The prinicipal mechanism of ignition in the test is considered to be the heating of the gas initially in the test chamber by adiabatic compression; the presence of voids in the test materials may also be important.

Moffett, Gary E.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Modeling of hypersonic reacting flows

The importance of thermochemical nonequilibrium in hypersonic flow is studied as well as the breakdown of a one-temperature kinetic model. Consideration is given to vibration relaxation, reaction rates, and conservation equations for chemical variables. Experimental data on the pitching moment characteristics of the raked-off blunted elliptic cone geometry proposed for use with an aeroassisted orbit transfer vehicle are presented.

Park, Chul↗

NASA NTRS1990

High-performance equation solvers and their impact on finite element analysis

The role of equation solvers in modern structural analysis software is described. Direct and iterative equation solvers which exploit vectorization on modern high-performance computer systems are described and compared. The direct solvers are two Cholesky factorization methods. The first method utilizes a novel variable-band data storage format to achieve very high computation rates and the second method uses a sparse data storage format designed to reduce the number of operations. The iterative solvers are preconditioned conjugate gradient methods. Two different preconditioners are included; the first uses a diagonal matrix storage scheme to achieve high computation rates and the second requires a sparse data storage scheme and converges to the solution in fewer iterations that the first. The impact of using all of the equation solvers in a common structural analysis software system is demonstrated by solving several representative structural analysis problems.

Poole, Eugene L.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Proposed reference models for nitrous oxide and methane in the middle atmosphere

Data from the Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder (SAMS) on the Nimbus 7 satellite, for the period from Jan. 1979 - Dec. 1981, are used to prepare a reference model for the long-lived trace gases, methane and nitrous oxide, in the stratosphere. The model is presented in tabular form on seventeen pressure surfaces from 20 to 0.1 mb, in 10 degree latitude bins from 50S to 70N, and for each month of the year. The means by which the data quality and interannual variability, and some of the more interesting globally and seasonally variable features of the data are discussed briefly.

Taylor, F. W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

High-performance equation solvers and their impact on finite element analysis

The role of equation solvers in modern structural analysis software is described. Direct and iterative equation solvers which exploit vectorization on modern high-performance computer systems are described and compared. The direct solvers are two Cholesky factorization methods. The first method utilizes a novel variable-band data storage format to achieve very high computation rates and the second method uses a sparse data storage format designed to reduce the number od operations. The iterative solvers are preconditioned conjugate gradient methods. Two different preconditioners are included; the first uses a diagonal matrix storage scheme to achieve high computation rates and the second requires a sparse data storage scheme and converges to the solution in fewer iterations that the first. The impact of using all of the equation solvers in a common structural analysis software system is demonstrated by solving several representative structural analysis problems.

Poole, Eugene L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Radar properties of several fluidized ejecta blankets on Venus

Magellan SAR imagery, altimetry, and radiometry are being analyzed to characterize the radar properties of the fluidized ejecta blankets (FEB's) that are associated with over 40 percent of the impact craters on Venus. The FEB flows and plains units surrounding the craters Isabella (175 km), Addams (90 km), Seymore (65 km), and a crater located at 4 S, 155.5 E (70 km) are examined here using the MIT-produced ARCDR and GxDR data. Individual orbital footprints obtained from the ARCDR's have been classified according to their dominant simple geologic unit (e.g., plains, FEB flows). This permits average values of reflectivity (corrected for diffuse scattering), rms meter-scale slopes, emissivity, and SAR backscatter to be calculated for each unit. GxDR images provide a means of visualizing the spatial relations between the various data sets. Variability of radar properties within the FEB's and relative to surrounding regions may have implications concerning the genesis and possible emplacement mechanisms of fluidized ejecta.

Johnson, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Relativistic induced Compton scattering in synchrotron self-absorbed sources

We present a model of the radio emission from synchrotron self-absorbed sources, including the effects of induced Compton scattering by the relativistic electrons in the source. Order of magnitude estimates show that stimulated scattering becomes the dominant absorption process when (kT(sub B)/m(sub e) c(exp 2))Tau(sub T) greater than or approximately 1.0. Numerical simulations demonstrate that relativistic induced Compton scattering limits the brightness temperature of a self-absorbed synchroton sources to T(sub B) less than or approximately 2 x 10(exp 11) nu(exp -1/p + 3) (sub zero, 9) gamma(exp p + 2/p + 5) (sub min) K, where gamma(sub min) is the low-energy cutoff to the relativistic electron distribution with a power-law index of p. It can also significantly flatten the radio spectrum. The radio spectrum of the core of 3C 279 is well matched by a model in which stimulated scattering is important, and the additional constraint T(sub B) less than 2 x 10(exp 11)K may be important to the interpretation of the broadband spectra in variable extragalactic compact radio sources. Stimulated scattering reduces the amplitude of the radio frequency variability relative to the X-ray variability, an effect which can be detected by multiwavelength variability studies. Data for a sample of resolved compact radio cores indicate that it is inconsistent to neglect induced Compton scattering when inferring the physical parameters of the sources. The necessary generalizations to the standard synchrotron self-Compton theory are p resented.

Sincell, Mark W.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Software For Uniaxial Mechanical Testing Of Materials

Materials Testing Software system designed to simplify and automate both routine and not-so-routine materials-testing tasks encountered in laboratory. Supports plan/test/analyze cycle through collection of programs, each optimized to specific task. Gives precise control over nature of command waveforms and acquisition of data, including dynamically variable waveform types, sets of data-acquisition channels, and data rates. Differing command and data-acquisition rates required for exploring creep and fatigue material behavior easily accommodated. Written in Modula-2.

Mcgaw, M. A.↗