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NASA NTRS1978

Evolution of rotating interstellar clouds. III - On the formation of multiple star systems

The evolution of a rotating massive cloud, starting at interstellar densities, continuing through a series of intermediate fragmentation stages, and ending with stellar multiple systems with components near the main sequence, is outlined. The scenario is based on results of two- and three-dimensional numerical hydrodynamical calculations of collapsing clouds. Transfer of spin angular momentum primarily into orbital motion is assumed to occur at each fragmentation stage. Expected initial conditions in the cloud lead to final fragments which have in many cases the masses and angular momenta appropriate to observed main-sequence systems. Other points of comparison with observations are briefly noted.

Bodenheimer, P.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Simulation of three-dimensional incompressible flows with a vortex-in-cell method

A new method for the numerical simulation of three-dimensional incompressible flows is described. The vortex-in-cell (VIC) method presented traces the motion of the vortex filaments in the velocity field which these filaments create. The velocity field is not calculated directly by the Biot-Savart law of interaction but by creating a mesh-record of the vorticity field, then integrating a Poisson's equation via the fast Fourier transform to generate a mesh-record of the velocity field. The computed scales of motion are assumed to be essentially inviscid. Viscous of subgrid-scale effects are incorporated into a filtering procedure in wave vector space. Results of tracing a periodic array of single vortex rings are compared with a Green's function calculation. The agreement is very good.

Couet, B.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Water facilities in retrospect and prospect: An illuminating tool for vehicle design

Water facilities play a fundamental role in the design of air, ground, and marine vehicles by providing a qualitative, and sometimes quantitative, description of complex flow phenomena. Water tunnels, channels, and tow tanks used as flow-diagnostic tools have experienced a renaissance in recent years in response to the increased complexity of designs suitable for advanced technology vehicles. These vehicles are frequently characterized by large regions of steady and unsteady three-dimensional flow separation and ensuing vortical flows. The visualization and interpretation of the complicated fluid motions about isolated vehicle components and complete configurations in a time and cost effective manner in hydrodynamic test facilities is a key element in the development of flow control concepts, and, hence, improved vehicle designs. A historical perspective of the role of water facilities in the vehicle design process is presented. The application of water facilities to specific aerodynamic and hydrodynamic flow problems is discussed, and the strengths and limitations of these important experimental tools are emphasized.

Erickson, G. E.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Duty cycle testing and performance evaluation of the SM-229 teleoperator

The first known experimental studies and analyses of teleoperator performance for specific duty cycles are discussed. The results are presented in two distinct areas as position usage patterns, and as three-dimensional power grids. The position usage patterns are a valuable means to assess the available motion range. The power grids are a unique concept for evaluating joint performance. Final conclusions contain recommendations to upgrade the teleoperator for optimum performance.

Stoughton, Robert S.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Perceiving environmental properties from motion information: Minimal conditions

The status of motion as a minimal information source for perceiving the environmental properties of surface segregation, three-dimensional (3-D) form, displacement, and dynamics is discussed. The selection of these particular properties was motivated by a desire to present research on perceiving properties that span the range of dimensional complexity.

Proffitt, Dennis R.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Methodology for simulation of unsteady flows to determine the time-dependent interference between stationary and moving boundaries

A new methodology is developed to simulate unsteady flows about prescribed and aerodynamically determined moving boundary problems. The method couples the fluid dynamics and rigid-body dynamics equations to capture the time-dependent interference between stationary and moving boundaries. The unsteady, compressible, inviscid (Euler) equations are solved on dynamic, unstructured grids by an explicit, finite-volume, upwind method. For efficiency, the grid adaptation is performed within a window around the moving object. The Eulerian equations of the rigid-body dynamics are solved by a Runge-Kutta method in a non-inertial frame of reference. The two-dimensional flow solver is validated by computing the flow past a sinusoidally-pitching airfoil and comparing these results with the experimental data. The overall methodology is used for two two-dimensional examples: the flow past an airfoil which is performing a three-degrees-of-freedom motion in a transonic freestream, and the free-fall of a store after separation from a wing-section. Then the unstructured mesh methodology is extended to three-dimensions to simulate unsteady flow past bodies in relative motion, where the trajectory is determined from the instantaneous aerodynamics. The flow solver and the adaptation scheme in three dimensions are validated by simulating the transonic, unsteady flow around a wing undergoing a forced, periodic, pitching motion, and comparing the results with the experimental data. To validate the trajectory code, the six-degrees-of-freedom motion of a store separating from a wing was computed using the experimentally determined force and moment fields, then comparing with an independently generated trajectory. Finally, the overall methodology was demonstrated by simulating the unsteady flowfield and the trajectory of a store dropped from a wing. The methodology, its computational cost notwithstanding, has proven to be accurate, automated, easy for dynamic gridding, and relatively efficient for the required man-hours.

Singh, Kamakhya Prasad↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mesh Deformation Boundary Conditions for Three-Dimensional Ablation Solvers

A method for determining boundary node displacements for three-dimensional ablation solvers is developed. The approach is applicable to a wide range of mesh motion algorithms used to determine internal node displacements. The method leverages radial basis functions to analytically define the geometry to which the boundary nodes should be constrained. Constrained optimization, elasticity, and spring analogy solvers are utilized to redistribute the nodes on the evolved geometry surface while maintaining mesh quality. The method is implemented in the CHarring Ablator Response (CHAR) code, and a realistic demonstration case is presented on the Boundary Layer Transition (BOLT) flight experiment configuration. The method is shown to be robust for highly-curved geometries with large domain deformations.

Adam J Amar↗

NASA NTRS2010

Turbulence and the Stabilization Principle

Further results of research, reported in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles, were obtained on a mathematical formalism for postinstability motions of a dynamical system characterized by exponential divergences of trajectories leading to chaos (including turbulence). To recapitulate: Fictitious control forces are introduced to couple the dynamical equations with a Liouville equation that describes the evolution of the probability density of errors in initial conditions. These forces create a powerful terminal attractor in probability space that corresponds to occurrence of a target trajectory with probability one. The effect in ordinary perceived three-dimensional space is to suppress exponential divergences of neighboring trajectories without affecting the target trajectory. Con sequently, the postinstability motion is represented by a set of functions describing the evolution of such statistical quantities as expectations and higher moments, and this representation is stable. The previously reported findings are analyzed from the perspective of the authors Stabilization Principle, according to which (1) stability is recognized as an attribute of mathematical formalism rather than of underlying physics and (2) a dynamical system that appears unstable when modeled by differentiable functions only can be rendered stable by modifying the dynamical equations to incorporate intrinsic stochasticity.

Zak, Michail↗

NASA NTRS1972

Spherical balloon response to three-dimensional time-dependent flows

The concept of the Lagrangian displacement of a balloon is introduced. It is shown that the general balloon response problem is extremely complicated because the wind-forcing functions in the balloon equations of motion are functions of the wind velocity vector and its Eulerian first derivatives evaluated at the location of the balloon. The linear perturbation equations for a spherical balloon are derived by perturbing the components of velocity of the balloon about a terminal velocity state which is in equilibrium with a space-time invariant mean horizontal flow. The atmospheric flow is also perturbed such that the resulting equations can be used to analyze the responses of spherical balloons to three-dimensional time-dependent flows. The wind field is represented in terms of a four-fold Fourier integral that involves three orthogonal wave numbers and a frequency, while the balloon components of velocity are represented as Fourier integrals involving a frequency which, in turn, is a function of the wind field wave numbers and frequency and the unperturbed flow components of velocity.

Fichtl, G. H.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Measurements of turbulence moments in boundary layers over transversely grooved surfaces

Wind tunnel measurements of second, third, and fourth order turbulence moments in turbulent boundary layers over d-types and k-types of grooved and smooth surfaces are discussed. The near-wall turbulence structure is found to vary with the spanwise aspect ratio. For decreasing height, the third moment of the normal velocity fluctuations is shown to become negative over crop canopies and model plant canopies, although not in smooth, two-dimensional, sandgrain or gravel roughness. The instantaneous motions related to the flux of shear stress near the wall in smooth and transversely grooved surfaces are shown to be opposite in sign to those in three-dimensional roughness.

Bandyopadhyay, P. R.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Anisotropic responses to motion toward and away from the eye

When a rigid object moves toward the eye, it is usually perceived as being rigid. However, in the case of motion away from the eye, the motion and structure of the object are perceived nonveridically, with the percept tending to reflect the nonrigid transformations that are present in the retinal image. This difference in response to motion to and from the observer was quantified in an experiment using wire-frame computer-generated boxes which moved toward and away from the eye. Two theoretical systems are developed by which uniform three-dimensional velocity can be recovered from an expansion pattern of nonuniform velocity vectors. It is proposed that the human visual system uses two similar systems for processing motion in depth. The mechanism used for motion away from the eye produces perceptual errors because it is not suited to objects with a depth component.

Perrone, John A.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Comparison of Acoustic Models and Trajectory Generation Methods for an Acoustically-Aware Aircraft

This paper presents a comparison of trajectory generation methodologies using acoustic source noise models of different fidelity for motion planning for an acoustically-aware aircraft subject to constraints on the vehicle dynamic performance, mission, and acoustic footprint of the vehicle at a set of (three-dimensional) observer locations. The performance of a pre-mission Bézier curve-based planner and a (near) real-time stochastic model predictive control planner are compared. Additionally, a comparison is made between the motion planning performance using a lower-fidelity acoustic model based on propeller tip Mach number and omni-directional sound power radiation, and a hemisphere-based higher-fidelity acoustic model. It is demonstrated that the asymmetry in hemisphere-based acoustic model can be exploited for improved flight path planning and trajectory-tracking performance in the presence of acoustic constraints.

Kasey A Ackerman↗

NASA NTRS1990

On a class of unsteady three-dimensional Navier Stokes solutions relevant to rotating disc flows: Threshold amplitudes and finite time singularities

A class of exact steady and unsteady solutions of the Navier Stokes equations in cylindrical polar coordinates is given. The flows correspond to the motion induced by an infinite disc rotating with constant angular velocity about the z-axis in a fluid occupying a semi-infinite region which, at large distances from the disc, has velocity field proportional to (x,-y,O) with respect to a Cartesian coordinate system. It is shown that when the rate of rotation is large, Karman's exact solution for a disc rotating in an otherwise motionless fluid is recovered. In the limit of zero rotation rate a particular form of Howarth's exact solution for three-dimensional stagnation point flow is obtained. The unsteady form of the partial differential system describing this class of flow may be generalized to time-periodic equilibrium flows. In addition the unsteady equations are shown to describe a strongly nonlinear instability of Karman's rotating disc flow. It is shown that sufficiently large perturbations lead to a finite time breakdown of that flow whilst smaller disturbances decay to zero. If the stagnation point flow at infinity is sufficiently strong, the steady basic states become linearly unstable. In fact there is then a continuous spectrum of unstable eigenvalues of the stability equations but, if the initial value problem is considered, it is found that, at large values of time, the continuous spectrum leads to a velocity field growing exponentially in time with an amplitude decaying algebraically in time.

Hall, Philip↗

NASA NTRS1980

Numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for a family of three-dimensional corner geometries

Three-dimensional corners occur in many aerodynamic engineering situations. Supersonic flow about such geometries is characterized by strong inviscid-viscid interactions which are analyzed adequately only through the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. In this paper numerical solution for the laminar compressible Navier-Stokes equations are presented for a family of three-dimensional corners consisting of wedge-plate and wedge-cylinder intersecting boundaries. The equations of motion are transformed to a uniform rectangular computational domain. The computational technique is the MacCormack time-split algorithm vectorized and programmed to run on the CDD CYBER 203 computer. The metric data for the transformation is obtained from the 'two-boundary technique.'

Smith, R. E.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Computations of atmospheric angular momentum, with emphasis on the merit period

Three-dimensional wind and pressure fields used to calculate effective angular momentum functions (EAMFs) for earth rotation/polar motion are produced by a complex 3-step system at the U.S. National Meteorological Center. The resulting series of functions have errors which can be estimated by comparisons with similar series produced by the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. For the axial wind component, related to length of day (lod) changes, the small differences between the two series of atmospheric angular momentum (AAM) are confined to the tropics and the higher latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, differences between the seasonal components of the AAM series and those of lod are found to be significantly reduced by including the entire stratosphere's momentum. Comparisons of the EAMFs for 8 calendar years indicate substantial interannual variability exists in the annual amplitudes of these forcing terms. In particular, the axial AAM showed quite different behavior from normal in 1983 and 1984, the years of the MERIT campaign. These two years showed very high and low annual amplitudes for AAM, respectively, which can be attributed to the effect of the tropical Pacific sea surface warming (El Nino) and its aftermath.

Salstein, David A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Numerical simulation of aircraft rotary aerodynamics

A potential-flow based panel method was used to compute the aerodynamic loads along a three-dimensional flight path. Comparisons were made with rotary rig tests of an airplane performing a coning motion and found to compare well with the main components of the aerodynamic forces. The effect of the sting-type wind tunnel mounting of the model on the measured loads was briefly investigated, and the possible benefits of using this method combined with wind tunnel experiments were highlighted.

Katz, Joseph↗

NASA NTRS1991

Pictorial communication in virtual and real environments

Papers about the communication between human users and machines in real and synthetic environments are presented. Individual topics addressed include: pictorial communication, distortions in memory for visual displays, cartography and map displays, efficiency of graphical perception, volumetric visualization of 3D data, spatial displays to increase pilot situational awareness, teleoperation of land vehicles, computer graphics system for visualizing spacecraft in orbit, visual display aid for orbital maneuvering, multiaxis control in telemanipulation and vehicle guidance, visual enhancements in pick-and-place tasks, target axis effects under transformed visual-motor mappings, adapting to variable prismatic displacement. Also discussed are: spatial vision within egocentric and exocentric frames of reference, sensory conflict in motion sickness, interactions of form and orientation, perception of geometrical structure from congruence, prediction of three-dimensionality across continuous surfaces, effects of viewpoint in the virtual space of pictures, visual slant underestimation, spatial constraints of stereopsis in video displays, stereoscopic stance perception, paradoxical monocular stereopsis and perspective vergence. (No individual items are abstracted in this volume)

Ellis, Stephen R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

On the dynamics and control of tethered satellite systems

The rigid body dynamics and control of the tether, subsatellite and space platform are analyzed, during deployment, stationkeeping and retrieval phases using the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) approach, accounting for the mass of the tether as well as a three dimensional offset of its point of attachment. The strategies employ tension in the tether line, thrusters, motion of the offset of the tether attachment point or their hybrid combinations. An assessment of the relative merit suggests the thruster-offset hybrid controller to be the most effective in damping given disturbances.

Modi, Vinod J.↗