Results for “Recession tracking” — Page 2

NASA NTRS1990

Low-noise nozzle valve

A low noise, variable discharage area, valve is constructed having opposed recesses within which a pair of gates are slidably disposed. Each of the gates is provided with upstream edges having a radius thereon, the radius enabling smooth, accelerated, low noise flow therebetween. The gates are further provided with tracks along each side, which in turn slide along splines set in the side walls of the valve. A threaded rod which rotates in a threaded insert in a rear wall of each of the gates, serves to move the gates within their respective recesses.

Gwin, Hal S.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Thermal protection system ablation sensor

An isotherm sensor tracks space vehicle temperatures by a thermal protection system (TPS) material during vehicle re-entry as a function of time, and surface recession through calibration, calculation, analysis and exposed surface modeling. Sensor design includes: two resistive conductors, wound around a tube, with a first end of each conductor connected to a constant current source, and second ends electrically insulated from each other by a selected material that becomes an electrically conductive char at higher temperatures to thereby complete an electrical circuit. The sensor conductors become shorter as ablation proceeds and reduced resistance in the completed electrical circuit (proportional to conductor length) is continually monitored, using measured end-to-end voltage change or current in the circuit. Thermocouple and/or piezoelectric measurements provide consistency checks on local temperatures.

Gorbunov, Sergey↗

NASA NTRS1983

Stagnation-point ablation of carbonaceous flat disks. II Experiment

Six flat-disk models made of carbon-carbon and carbon-phenolic materials were launched in an argon-filled track-range facility to test ablation characteristics in a radiation-dominated, massive-blowing environment. The shock standoff distances deduced from the shadowgraphs agree with theoretical predictions during the earlier portion of the flight, while the wall temperatures determined by the image-converter photographs agree with predictions during the later portion. The measured surface recessions exceed the calculated values by about 60 percent for carbon-phenolic and 30 percent for carbon-carbon. The discrepancies are attributed to spallation. The measured char thicknesses agree with theoretical predictions.

Park, C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Observing the advection of sea ice in the Weddell Sea using buoy and satellite passive microwave data

Data from four buoys tracked by Nimbus 6 and concurrent ice concentrations retrieved from Nimbus 7 scanning multichannel microwave radiometer data are used to investigate the progress and behavior of an area of sea ice as it drifts from the southwestern Weddell Sea. The overall drift characteristics and their relationship to ice edge displacement are examined within the framework of four zones. Three phases are identified in the large-scale behavior of the Weddell Sea ice cover, namely, a rapid equatorward and eastward advance, a quasi-equilibrium phase, and a period of rapid recession. Outbreaks of cold continental air alternate with incursions of relatively warm air from the north; warm conditions are recorded as far as 1200 km in from the ice edge in winter. Closed loops in the buoy trajectories, which are clockwise to the south of 63 deg S, reverse to become anticlockwise to the north. A coherence is observed in the response of the buoys to the passage of storms, even though the buoys separated by a distance of over 100 km.

Massom, Robert A.↗

DOE OSTI2026

Impact of in situ nuclear networks and atomic opacities on neutron star merger ejecta dynamics, nucleosynthesis, and kilonovae

Context. Binary neutron star merger (BNSM) ejecta are key sites of rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis and they produce kilonovae powered by the radioactive decay of freshly synthesized nuclei. Modeling their evolution requires multi-physics simulations involving hydrodynamics, nuclear reactions, and radiative processes. The impact of nuclear burning and atomic opacity is poorly understood and often treated with simplified prescriptions. Aims. We systematically investigate different treatments of nuclear heating, particle thermalization, and atomic opacities in radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of BNSM ejecta and kilonova light curves. Methods. Ejecta profiles from long-term numerical-relativity simulations of asymmetric neutron star binaries with a massive neutron star remnant were evolved to ∼30 days using a 2D ray-by-ray approach. We compared simplified heating-rate and thermalization prescriptions with in situ Nuclear reaction Network (NN) calculations that track nuclear energy deposition and include a composition-dependent thermalization scheme. We also contrasted various gray opacity models with a frequency-dependent treatment based on atomic calculations. Results. Coupling NN and hydrodynamics significantly affects nucleosynthesis and kilonova emission. Assuming homologous expansion alters abundance evolution and produces a narrower, less populated second r-process peak and a third peak shifted to higher mass numbers. The back-reaction of nuclear heating affects the temperature evolution enough to delay and redden the early (t∼ hours) kilonova peaks. A constant thermalization efficiency underestimates and reddens the early emission while overestimating the late-time luminosity compared to the composition-dependent treatment. Analytical opacity prescriptions yield a more extended, colder photosphere, resulting in dimmer, redder kilonovae at early times (t≲ hour), while the delayed recession of the photosphere prolongs the red emission at t ≳ 5 days. Conclusions. Coupling hydrodynamics to an in situ NN is crucial for reliable nucleosynthesis and kilonova predictions. Resolving the first several hundred milliseconds of the hydrodynamics is essential for robust nucleosynthesis calculations. Composition-dependent thermalization and frequency-dependent, atomic-physics-based opacities are needed to accurately capture the temperature evolution of the ejecta and the brightness and color evolution of the kilonova. Calibrated analytic nuclear-power fits with simplified thermalization and opacity prescriptions can still reproduce the density and temperature evolution of the ejecta.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermo-Poro-Mechanical Modeling of RTV Intumescence

Room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone is a high-temperature adhesive used as a gap-filler between heatshield tiles in numerous entry missions. Its propensity to intumesce, or swell upon exposure to heat, is a well-known effect that needs to be carefully quantified during design. At tile interfaces of charring ablators, intumescence, combined with differential recession, could cause the gap filler to protrude past the ablator outer mold line, forming a “fence”. Fencing can in turn cause transition to turbulence of the flow wetting the heat shield, leading to augmented surface heating. Recent experiments conducted at the Plasmatron X facility, the high enthalpy wind tunnel of the Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies, have shown prominent fencing of RTV gap fillers in PICA, under both nitrogen and air plasmas. Similar observations are well known in the arcjet literature. Further experiments under controlled environment, performed using in situ X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), have shown heating rate-dependent swelling and shrinkage of RTV during pyrolysis. To simulate RTV intumescence, a novel model was introduced in the Porous Materials Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM, PATO, to account for pore-pressure buildup within both closed- and open-pores. The governing equation for the thermo-poro-mechanical response were developed, assuming linear elasticity for the charring silicone. A new multi-pyrolysis model that tracks non-monotonic advancement of material properties with pyrolysis was proposed. This model addresses the limitations of state-of-the-art ablator models to capture the different stages of thermal degradation and coupled thermomechanics. Swelling of RTV was simulated using the new thermo-poro-mechanical model and compared against in situ micro-CT data. Results showed good agreement in intumescence height and temperature profiles at all heating rates, indicating that the key factor contributing to RTV swelling is the internal pressure build-up within closed- and open-pores. As RTV is cured into a soft (rubbery) compound with low-porosity and permeability, initial temperature increase and pyrolysis gas production cause a significant increase of internal pressure, causing a pronounced volume growth. As thermal degradation progresses, rigidization of the silicone occurs due to char hardening which counteract volume shrinkage after gas pressure relief. Overall, our model shows that accounting for changes in properties such porosity, permeability and key thermomechanical coefficients is crucial for capturing the RTV volume change during ablation and enable a predictive capability for heatshield tile interface response. A plan for future calibration of thermomechanical properties evolution during degradation is discussed, as a key next step to close the new model.

RTV↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermo-Poro-Mechanical Modeling of RTV Intumescence

Room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone is a high-temperature adhesive used as a gap-filler between heatshield tiles in numerous entry missions. Its propensity to intumesce, or swell upon exposure to heat, is a well-known effect that needs to be carefully quantified during design. At tile interfaces of charring ablators, intumescence, combined with differential recession, could cause the gap filler to protrude past the ablator outer mold line, forming a “fence”. Fencing can in turn cause transition to turbulence of the flow wetting the heat shield, leading to augmented surface heating. Recent experiments conducted at the Plasmatron X facility, the high enthalpy wind tunnel of the Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies, have shown prominent fencing of RTV gap fillers in PICA, under both nitrogen and air plasmas. Similar observations are well known in the arcjet literature. Further experiments under controlled environment, performed using in situ X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), have shown heating rate-dependent swelling and shrinkage of RTV during pyrolysis. To simulate RTV intumescence, a novel model was introduced in the Porous Materials Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM, PATO, to account for pore-pressure buildup within both closed- and open-pores. The governing equation for the thermo-poro-mechanical response were developed, assuming linear elasticity for the charring silicone. A new multi-pyrolysis model that tracks non-monotonic advancement of material properties with pyrolysis was proposed. This model addresses the limitations of state-of-the-art ablator models to capture the different stages of thermal degradation and coupled thermomechanics. Swelling of RTV was simulated using the new thermo-poro-mechanical model and compared against in situ micro-CT data. Results showed good agreement in intumescence height and temperature profiles at all heating rates, indicating that the key factor contributing to RTV swelling is the internal pressure build-up within closed- and open-pores. As RTV is cured into a soft (rubbery) compound with low-porosity and permeability, initial temperature increase and pyrolysis gas production cause a significant increase of internal pressure, causing a pronounced volume growth. As thermal degradation progresses, rigidization of the silicone occurs due to char hardening which counteract volume shrinkage after gas pressure relief. Overall, our model shows that accounting for changes in properties such porosity, permeability and key thermomechanical coefficients is crucial for capturing the RTV volume change during ablation and enable a predictive capability for heatshield tile interface response. A plan for future calibration of thermomechanical properties evolution during degradation is discussed, as a key next step to close the new model.

silicone intumescence↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Phase transition energetics-based mass loss modeling of chondritic Near Earth Objects

Mitigating potentially hazardous asteroids relies on accurate knowledge of their composition and critical physical characteristics such as shape and mass. Ground-based observatories and sample return missions in recent years have focused on such characterization to track Near Earth Objects. Historically, entry speeds of asteroids or mass change due to break-up/airburst have been considered in risk assessment studies as critical parameters. To this effect, most hydrocode simulations that consider energy deposition techniques rely on gross meteor modeling with simplistic spherical shapes while neglecting heat of ablation considerations. This is the general approach for fragment-cloud, pancake and hybrid fragmentation models. Alternatively, aerothermal fragmentation modeling that accounts for meteoritic shape change have typically focused on environmental modeling to understand break-up points primarily due to radiative heating. A physics-based risk assessment could benefit by modeling the environment and material response of typical meteoroidal materials as precursors to fragmentation. A greater focus on the material response to applied environmental heating will be emphasized here. This work presents a forward analysis of thermal and material response of stony meteorites by ac-counting for mass loss and shape change effects through a boundary layer formalism. This allows for simulations starting from simplistic shapes that could eventually lead to alterations in contours due to ablation. These effects would be characterized through phase transitions of the surface, such as melting and vaporization, in response to aerodynamic heating. Coupled ablation and radiative heating effects have been found to lead to reduced heat transfer coefficients in the computation of meteor mass loss rates. This has the potential to increase ground damage footprints for hazardous impacts. The effort here quantifies the heat transfer coefficient by accounting for ablation assisted by phase transition. The melt and vaporization mediated ablation of chondritic meteors provides essential recession estimates based upon surface environments. The altered mass due to such phenomena would be presented for a H-chondrite meteoritic sample.

Pratibha Raghunandan↗

NASA NTRS2013

High-Reliability Waveguide Vacuum/Pressure Window

The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) uses commercial waveguide windows on the output waveguide of Ka-band (32 GHz) low-noise amplifiers. Mechanical failure of these windows resulted in an unacceptable loss in tracking time. To address this issue, a new Ka-band WR-28 waveguide window has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The window uses a slab of low-loss, low-dielectric constant foam that is bonded into a 1/2-wave-thick waveguide/flange. The foam is a commercially available, rigid, closed-cell polymethacrylimide. It has excellent electrical properties with a dielectric constant of 1.04, and a loss tangent of 0.01. It is relatively strong with a tensile strength of 1 MPa. The material is virtually impermeable to helium. The finished window exhibits a leak rate of less than 3x10(exp -3)cu cm/s with helium. The material is also chemically resistant and can be cleaned with acetone. The window is constructed by fabricating a window body by brazing a short length of WR-28 copper waveguide into a standard rectangular flange, and machining the resulting part to a thickness of 4.6 mm. The foam is machined to a rectangular shape with a dimension of 7.06x3.53 mm. The foam is bonded into the body with a two-part epoxy. After curing, the excess glue and foam are knife-trimmed by hand. The finished window has a loss of less than 0.08 dB (2%) and a return loss of greater than 25 dB at 32 GHz. This meets the requirements for the DSN application. The window is usable for most applications over the entire 26-to-40-GHz waveguide band. The window return loss can be tuned to a required frequency by var y in g the thickness of the window slightly. Most standard waveguide windows use a thin membrane of material bonded into a recess in a waveguide flange, or sandwiched between two flanges with a polymer seal. Designs using the recessed window are prone to mechanical failure over time due to constraints on the dimensions of the recess that allow the bond to fail. Designs using the sandwich method are often permeable to helium, which prohibits the use of helium leak detection. At the time of this reporting, 40 windows have been produced. Twelve are in operation with a combined operating time of over 30,000 hours without a failure.

Britcliffe, Michael J.↗