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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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A self-pulsing oscillator transmits a pulsed signal. The time between pulses and the frequency are controlled by two networks. Variations in the component values in each of the two networks, due to environmental changes, appear as changes in frequency and time between pulses in the transmitted signal. Such a sensor is used to measure physical magnitudes.
Attitude control for earth satellite in elliptic orbit, linearization in attitude control, and computation of optimal controls by method based on second variations
Parametric input/output relation of approximate controller with optimized performance index, obtaining specific optimal control designed in regard to worst initial state
Bolza problem of calculus of variations in terms of control coding applied to trajectories
Feedback optimal control design minimizing parameter variations effects on system performance
Description of a device for simulation of the human breathing and metabolic parameters required for the evaluation of respiratory diagnostic, monitoring, support and resuscitation equipment. The remotely controlled device allows wide variations in breathing rate and depth, breath velocity contour, oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide release to simulate conditions from sleep to hard work, with respiration exchange ratios ranging from hypoventilation to hyperventilation. It also reduces the cost of prolonged testing when simulation chambers with human subjects require three shifts of crews and standby physicians. Several block diagrams of the device and subsystems are given.
Derivation of N-burn analytic solutions for propellant-optimal transfer trajectories of a vehicle in a vacuum between arbitrary boundary conditions. Variational changes in the desired boundary conditions are expressed, in general, in terms of variational changes in the control vector and in the initial state vector. All coefficient matrices are computed recursively in terms of the analytic matrices established from the subarcs of the N-burn solution. The solution is applicable to shuttle ascent (exoatmospheric), rendezvous, and deorbit problems. Consideration is also given to state-variable and control-variable inequality constraints.
Simulations of V/STOL aircraft for autopilot research were introduced as examples of large scale systems. A hierarchy of simulations was assembled, and a modular organization was given to the simulations. The dynamics of the system were subdivided into translational and rotational degrees of freedom, based on the different frequencies at which significant variations in motion variables, control forces and moments occur in two subsystems. This is the basis of the autopilot partitioning into two smaller control problems.
The enhanced sonic boom or supersonic boom generated as a result of atmospheric refraction in threshold Mach number flights was recreated in a ballistic range by firing projectiles at low supersonic speeds into a stratified medium obtained by slowly injecting carbon dioxide into air. The range was equipped with a fast-response dynamic pressure transducer and schlieren photographic equipment, and the sound speed variation with height was controlled by regulating the flow rate of the CO2. The schlieren observations of the resulting flow field indicate that the generated shocks are reflected near the sonic cutoff altitude where local sound speed equals body speed, provided such an altitude exists. Maximum shock strength occurs very nearly at the point where the incident and reflected shocks join, indicating that the presence of the reflected shock may have an appreciable effect on the magnitude of the focus factor. The largest focus factor detected was 1.7 and leads to an estimate that the constant in the Guiraud-Thery scaling law should have a value of 1.30.
Results are reported for 469 photoelectric spectral scans of the Doppler-shifted Martian water lines (at 8197.704 and 8176.975 A), which were obtained during the 1972-74 apparition with an echelle-coude scanner mounted on a 107-in. telescope. These observations covered almost an entire Martian year and were made in three ways: pole to pole on the central meridian, parallel to the equator at various latitudes, and parallel to the terminator at various positions between the limb and the terminator. Previous observations of Martian water vapor are reviewed, and the data-reduction procedures used in the present study are described in detail. The major conclusions are: (1) both seasonal and diurnal variations seem to be controlled by insolation rather than by local topography relative to the 6.1-mb surface; (2) there was a slight negative correlation with elevation, but this improved during seasons of greater water content; (3) the planetwide abundance is low during both equinoctical periods; (4) the maximum abundance occurs at about 40 deg latitude in each hemisphere after solstice; and (5) during the 'drier' seasons near the equinoxes, the atmospheric water vapor content changes by a factor of 2 to 3 over a diurnal cycle with the maximum near local noon.
In singular perturbation problems, control of zone size variation can affect the effort required to obtain accurate, numerical solutions of finite difference equations. The mesh is generated by the solution of potential equations. Numerical results for a singular perturbation problem in two dimensions are presented. The mesh was used in calculations of resistive magnetohydrodynamic flow in two dimensions.
The purpose of the Thermal Canister Experiment carried by the Space Shuttle STS-3 flight was to determine the ability of a device using controllable heat pipes to maintain simulated instruments at selected temperature levels, in zero gravity and under varying internal and external thermal loads. A total of 11 data points were achieved during the flight, including the control of canister walls, of instrument simulators and of temperatures in two different zones, as well as passive thermal control. The set point variation ranged from 5 to 23 C, with power changes of 165-325 watts. Better fluid distribution in the heat pipes during zero-g operation showed improved performance over ground tests, and a temperature stability of + or - 2 C was demonstrated between Orbiter maneuvers in which the cargo bay was shadowed from the sun and those in which full solar exposure of the cargo bay existed.
The primary objective was to develop a quantitative, single pulse, laser-saturated fluorescence (LSF) technique for measurement of radical species concentrations in practical flames. The species of immediate interest was the hydroxyl radical. Measurements were made in both turbulent premixed diffusion flames at pressures between 1 and 20 atm. Interferences from Mie scattering were assessed by doping with particles or by controlling soot loading through variation of equivalence ratio and fuel type. The efficacy of the LSF method at high pressure was addressed by comparing fluorescence and adsorption measurements in a premixed, laminar flat flame at 1-20 atm. Signal-averaging over many laser shots is sufficient to determine the local concentration of radical species in laminar flames. However, for turbulent flames, single pulse measurements are more appropriate since a statistically significant number of laser pulses is needed to determine the probability function (PDF). PDFs can be analyzed to give true average properties and true local kinetics in turbulent, chemically reactive flows.
Simulation of the reduced visibility tasks is effected by providing the pilot with a visually coupled, helmet-mounted display of flight-control symbols superimposed upon terrain-board imagery. Forward-flight, low-speed, and precision-hover control modes are implemented, and a method is developed for the blending of control laws between each control mode. An investigation is made of the variations in the level of integration of primary control functions on a single side-stick controller. For most of the flight tasks investigated, separated controller configurations are preferred to a single, fully integrated side-stick device. Satisfactory handling qualities over all controller configurations are attained only for a precision-hover task conducted with a high level of stability and control augmentation. For most tasks flown with the helmet-mounted display significant degradation in handling qualities occurs relative to the identical tasks flown under visual flight conditions.
Multivariate statistical techniques used on diogenite orthopyroxene analyses show the relationships that occur within diogenites and the two orthopyroxenite components (class I and II) in the polymict diogenite Garland. Cluster analysis shows that only Peckelsheim is similar to Garland class I (Fe-rich) and the other diogenites resemble Garland class II. The unique diogenite Y 75032 may be related to type I by fractionation. Factor analysis confirms the subdivision and shows that Fe does not correlate with the weakly incompatible elements across the entire pyroxene composition range, indicating that igneous fractionation is not the process controlling total diogenite composition variation. The occurrence of two groups of diogenites is interpreted as the result of sampling or mixing of two main sequences of orthopyroxene cumulates with slightly different compositions.
The microbial community of Alum Rock sulfur spring Site 3 was studied along one branch of the main stream and between the two branches, 150 cm distant from the source. The community at the source was dominated by green sulfur photosynthetic bacteria of the genus Chlorobium. At 15 cm to 35 cm from the source dominance in the community shifted to the genus Flexibacter at the surface of the mat and purple bacteria of the genus Chromatium underneath. At 50 cm to 80 cm colorless sulfur oxidizing bacteria of the genus Thiothrix began to appear. At 100 cm to 150 cm, the surface of the mat was still dominated by Flexibacter, but underneath dominance shifted to purple sulfur bacteria as above, as well as cyanobacteria of the genus Oscillatoria and Pseudonabaena. The measurements of temperature along the stream showed no significant gradient. Community variations appear to be controlled more by sulfide than temperature. Ten ml of the overlying water were taken and fixed immediately to determine the sulfide concentration by the methylene blue method. A sulfide concentration of 106 micro-m was calculated for the overlying water.
The objective is to develop models based on the mean field approximation of Ostwald ripening to describe the growth of second phase droplets or crystallites. The models will include time variations in nucleation rate, control of saturation through addition of solute, precipitating agents, changes in temperature, and various surface kinetic effects. Numerical integration schemes have been developed and tested against the asymptotic solution of Liftshitz, Slyozov and Wagner (LSW). A second attractor (in addition to the LSW distribution) has been found and, contrary to the LSW theory, the final distribution is dependent on the initial distribution. A series of microgravity experiments is being planned to test this and other results from this work.
Presented is structural dynamics modeling of two multibody space structural configurations. The first configuration is a generic space station model of a cylindrical habitation module, two solar array panels, radiator panel, and central connecting tube. The second is a 15-m hoop-column antenna. Discussed is the special joint elimination sequence used for these large finite element models, so that eigenvalues could be extracted. The generic space station model aided test configuration design and analysis/test data correlation. The model consisted of six finite element models, one of each substructure and one of all substructures as a system. Static analysis and tests at the substructure level fine-tuned the finite element models. The 15-m hoop-column antenna is a truss column and structural ring interconnected with tension stabilizing cables. To the cables, pretensioned mesh membrane elements were attached to form four parabolic shaped antennae, one per quadrant. Imposing thermal preloads in the cables and mesh elements produced pretension in the finite element model. Thermal preload variation in the 96 control cables was adjusted to maintain antenna shape within the required tolerance and to give pointing accuracy.