SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Direct observational evidence of stellar chromospheres is provided by H and K lines and their relationships to mass flux, mechanical dissipation and magnetic fields. Interpretation of half widths of these lines and of the H alpha lines provides indirect indications of potential chromospheric heating in the presence of velocity fields.
Microgravity droplet combustion experiments were performed in elevated concentrations of CO2 at pressures of 1.0 atm, 3.0 atm, and 5.0 atm to examine the effects of a radiatively participating suppression agent in space applications. Methanol and n-heptane droplets, with an initial diameter of 2.0 mm supported on a quartz fiber, were used in these experiments. The ambient O2 concentration was held constant at 21% and the CO2 concentrations ranged from 0% to a maximum of 70%, by volume with the balance consisting of N2 . Results from the methanol tests showed slight decreases in burning rates with increased CO2 concentrations at all ambient pressures. The n-heptane tests show slight increases in burning rates with increasing CO2 concentrations at each pressure level. Instantaneous radiative heat flux was also measured using both a broadband radiometer (i.e., wavelengths from 0.6 microns to 40.0 microns) and a narrowband radiometer (i.e., centered at 5.6 microns with a filter width at half maximum of 1.5 microns). Radiative exchanges between the droplet and surrounding gases as well as the soot field produce departures from the classical quasisteady theory which would predict a decrease in burning rates with increasing CO2 concentrations in microgravity.
Our analysis of high-resolution Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) spectra of late-type stars shows that the Si IV and C IV lines formed near 10(exp 5) K can be decomposed into the sum of two Gaussians, a broad component and a narrow component. We find that the flux contribution of the broad components is correlated with both the C IV and X-ray surface fluxes. For main-sequence stars, the widths of the narrow components suggest subsonic nonthermal velocities, and there appears to be a tight correlation between these nonthermal velocities and stellar surface gravity [xi(sub nc) varies as g(sup (-.68 +/-.07))]. For evolved stars with lower surface gravities, the nonthermal velocities suggested by the narrow components are at or just above the sound speed. Nonthermal velocities computed from the widths of the broad components are always highly supersonic. We propose that the broad components are diagnostics for microflare heating. Turbulent dissipation and Alfven waves are both viable candidates for the narrow component heating mechanism. A solar analog for the broad components might be the 'explosive events' detected by the High-Resolution Telescope and Spectrograph (HRTS) experiment. The broad component we observe for the Si IV lambda 1394 line of alpha Cen A, a star that is nearly identical to the Sun, has a FWHM of 109 +/- 10 km/s and is blueshifted by 9 +/- 3 km/s relative to the narrow component. Both of these properties are consistent with the properties of the solar explosive events. However, the alpha Cen A broad component accounts for 25% +/- 4% of the total Si IV line flux, while solar explosive events are currently thought to account for no more than 5% of the Sun's total transition region emission. This discrepancy must be resolved before the connection between broad components and explosive events can be positively established. In addition to our analysis of the Si IV and C IV lines of many stars, we also provide a more thorough analysis of all of the available GHRS data for alpha Cen A (G2 V) and alpha Cen B (K1 V). We find that the transition region lines of both stars have redshifts almost identical to those observed on the Sun: showing an increase with line formation temperature up to about log T = 5.2 and then a rapid decrease. Using the O IV] lines as density diagnostics, we compute electron densities of log n(sub e) = 9.65 +/- 0.20 and log n(sub e) = 9.50 +/- 0.30 for alpha Cen A and alpha Cen B, respectively.
Results are reported for HEAO 1 observations of Her X-1 which confirm the existence of the iron line-emission feature discovered with OSO 8 in the high-state spectrum and also reveal an iron emission feature in the low-state spectrum. The iron line-emission feature in the low-state spectrum was detected at a significance level greater than 5 sigmas and is characterized by a line energy of 6.4 keV, an equivalent width larger than that of the high-state line, a binary phase dependence of the line intensity, and a line width that is intrinsically narrow in contrast to the broad high-state line. The observed line energy and narrow line width are shown to be consistent with an interpretation in terms of fluorescence emission due to X-ray heating. It is suggested that HZ Her contributes no more than about 10% of the predicted line flux, that this emission is reflected from a highly ionized plasma, and that a hot coronal gas is an important source of the low-state X-rays.
An experiment was performed to assess CFD modeling of a hypersonic-vehicle breach, boundary-layer flow ingestion and internal surface impingement. Tests were conducted in the NASA Langley Research Center 31-Inch Mach 10 Tunnel. Four simulated breaches were tested and impingement heat flux data was obtained for each case using both phosphor thermography and thin film gages on targets placed inside the model. A separate target was used to measure the surface pressure distribution. The measured jet impingement width and peak location are in good agreement with CFD analysis.
This study investigates flow boiling of n-Perfluorohexane with saturated two-phase mixture inlet in a rectangular channel of dimensions 114.6-mm heated length, 2.5-mm width, and 5 mm-height. The experiments were performed as part of the Mission Sequence Testing of the Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment’s (FBCE) Flow Boiling Module (FBM) in the vertical upflow configuration in Earth gravity using the same experimental system that was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in August 2021. The operating parameters varied are heating configuration (single- and double-sided), mass velocity (380 – 2400 kg/m2s), inlet quality (0.011 – 0.519), and inlet pressure (120 – 179 kPa). High-speed video photographs are presented to explain the two-phase flow patterns within the channel’s heated length. Flow patterns are constituted by low-density and high-density fronts moving along the channel, with the high-density fronts gradually reducing in length due to evaporation. Heat transfer results in terms of flow boiling curves, streamwise wall temperature profiles, streamwise heat transfer coefficient profiles, and average heat transfer coefficients are presented and trends discussed. CHF data from the present experiments are combined with prior databases to compile a consolidated FBCE-CHF database for saturated inlet to expand the ranges of operating conditions and include other flow orientations in Earth gravity. Experimental CHF trends are also discussed. The interfacial lift-off model shows a good CHF predictive accuracy evidenced by a mean absolute error of 11.97% for this consolidated database after constraining it to mass velocities greater than or equal to 500 kg/m2s. Finally, this study confirmed reliability of the upcoming ISS experiments for saturated inlet conditions and the collected Earth-gravity data will be compared to ISS microgravity data.
IUE Explorer data with a 6-A resolution are reported for Ly-alpha, C IV 1550 A, C III semiforbidden line 1909 A, and Mg II 2800 A, as well as the continuum at 1450 A, for 20 Seyfert galaxies and one quasar. Good correlation is found between the continuum and the line fluxes, indicating that photoionization is the dominant heating mechanism for these active galactic nuclei. A combination of the data for Seyferts and high redshift quasars covering five orders of magnitude in continuum luminosity shows the lower luminosity objects to have higher equivalent widths for their emission lines, suggesting that the covering factor increases with decreasing luminosity.
Near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the central regions of the luminous radio galaxy Cygnus A are presented and interpreted in terms of an obscured quasar nucleus. Strong emission is detected in the molecular hydrogen lines 1-0 S(1) and 1-0 S(3), the strengths of which are accounted for through heating by the nuclear hard X-ray source. The large equivalent widths of these molecular hydrogen lines and the near-infrared narrow hydrogen recombination lines suggest that the observed nuclear continuum is strongly attenuated at 2 microns. The observed upper limit to the flux of broad Pa-alpha implies an extinction to the putative broad line region AV(BL) of at least 24 mag, and the observed continuum intensity of the nuclear point source at 2.2 microns gives an extinction of 43 +/-9 mag toward the optical-infrared continuum. These estimates are consistent with the gas column density inferred from the low-energy X-ray cutoff. Strong forbidden Si VI 1.962-micron line emission from Cygnus A is also reported.
A computational simulation, based on Mariner 9 data, was performed for the thermal characteristics of the Martian atmospheric surface boundary layer in clear and dust-filled conditions. A radiative transfer model consisting of the atmospheric enthalpy rate equation, the radiative flux integrated over the 0.2-50 microns, the solid angle interval, and 0.50 km altitudes, broken into 52 levels. Mariner 9 IR data for CO2 absorption lines were included in the form of a temperture-dependent equation, while the line-widths were interpreted in terms of the pressure dependene as well as temperature. The lines covered the regions from 1-50 microns and varying conditions of dust content in the atmosphere. Attention was given to the thermal coupling between the ground and the atmosphere. It was found that convective heat exchange develops quickly due to radiative heating of the Martian desert surface, but does not cool the surface because of the attenuated atmosphere. The model predictd the 100 K temperature variations in the dusty atmosphere, as observed by the Viking thermal mapper. It is suggested that radiative flux convergence is as important as convection at equivalent efficiencies.
A simple parameterization of ozone absorption in the 9.6-micron region which is suitable for two- and three-dimensional stratospheric and tropospheric models is presented. The band is divided into two parts, a brand center region and a band wing region, grouping together regions for which the temperature dependence of absorption is similar. Each of the two regions is modeled with a function having the form of the Goody random model, with pressure and temperature dependent band parameters chosen by empirically fitting line-by-line equivalent widths for pressures between 0.25 and 1000 mbar and ozone absorber amounts between 1.0 x 10 to the -7th and 1.0 cm atm. The model has been applied to calculations of atmospheric heating rates using an absorber amount weighted mean pressure and temperature along the inhomogeneous paths necessary for flux computations. In the stratosphere, maximum errors in the heating rates relative to line-by-line calculations are 0.1 K/d, or 5 percent of the peak cooling at the stratopause. In the troposphere the errors are at most 0.005 K/d.
Consideration is given to emission from the outer atmospheres of M-type dwarfs in several spectral lines originating from the chromosphere, the transition-region, and the soft X-ray emission from the corona. It is shown that M-type dwarfs systematically deviate from relations between flux densities in soft X-rays and chromospheric and transition-region emission lines. The quantitative relation between the equivalent width of H-alpha and the Ca II, H, and K emission index is determined. It is suggested that the emission in the Balmer spectrum may result from back heating by coronal soft X-rays.
High-dispersion spectra taken with the IUE are used to examine the temperature stratification of the wind of the hybrid atmosphere star Alpha TrA (K4 II). C IV emission is shown to have a line width of 150-200 km/s, with Si III and C III exhibiting 100 km/s widths. It is suggested that the line widths reflect wind expansion, with C IV formed in an extended region flowing near the wind terminal velocity of 85 km/s. It is shown that the observed line widths can be accounted for by the stellar wind theory of Hartmann and MacGregor, in which the schematic dissipation of Alfven waves drives the outflow in addition to heating the wind. The observations of the warm expanding corona in Alpha TrA suggest a continuous progression between the high temperature low-mass-flux solar wind and the winds of luminous cool stars.
Magnetic field rotations in the high ion beta magnetosheath that are part of the magnetopause structure are expected to have only a small normal component. We have studied the properties of rotational discontinuities (RDs) under these conditions, viewed as the limit of weak intermediate shocks (ISs), by performing hybrid simulations with a reflecting wall boundary condition (piston method). With this dynamic formation, the sense and size of rotation are not arbitrarily predetermined, but rather evolve from the given upstream (magnetosheath) and downstream (magnetospheric) boundary conditions, similar to what takes place at the magnetopause. This work focuses on several aspects: the observed minimum shear of RDs, their width, their internal signature, and their relation to ISs in isotropic plasmas. Our simulation results are in agreement with the minimum shear observations, that is, the RDs choose the sense of rotation that corresponds to the minimum angle between the upstream and downstream field vector. The RDs are stable, with a unique scale size. Typical gradient scale half widths are one to four ion inertial lengths with a total width up to ten times of that, in agreement with magnetopause observations. We develop a generalized fluid theory of RDs and discuss the characteristic internal signatures of the rotational layer, comparing the kinetic simulation results to predictions from the generalized fluid theory. The results show that ion inertia, anisotropic pressure, finite Larmor radius effects, nonzero ion heat flux, and reflected ions all contribute to the signatures of RDs on kinetic scales. The RDs may have upstream or downstream wave trains, which become weak for high ion beta and small normal components of the magnetic field. We explain the presence and direction of wave trains in terms of the kinetic properties of the Alfven/ion-cyclotron mode. Away from the RD limit there is a smooth transition to weak intermediate shocks, which have small jumps close to expected Rankine-Hugoniot values. Apart from that, there are few kinetic plasma signatures that distinguish RDs from their neighboring ISs. However, noncoplanar ISs evolve in time into thin RDs. Using the properties of RDs and ISs, we make specific suggestions how these discontinuities can be distinguished observationally in the case of an isotropic plasma.
We present and discuss an X-ray image and a medium-resolution X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 2110 obtained with the high-resolution imager (HRI) on ROSAT (0.1-2.4 keV) and Goddard's Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT; 0.3-11 keV), respectively. Spatially resolved soft X-ray emission, which peaks 4 arcsecs to the north of the nucleus and near the position of the highest excitation optical emission line gas is seen in the HRI observation. The extent has a flux of approximately 3 x 10(exp -13) ergs/sq cm/s and accounts for 11% +/- 3% of the total 0.1-2.4 keV flux. To model the BBXRT spectrum, a soft excess component is required which has a flux of approximately 3.5 x 10(exp -13) ergs/sq cm/s and accounts for approximately 14% +/- 6% of the total 0.1-2.4 keV flux. In addition, BBXRT confirms the presence of an approximately 175 eV equivalent width Fe K alpha flourescence line in NGC 2110. Because of the good agreement between their fluxes, we propose that the soft excess in NGC 2110 is due to leakage of the X-ray continuum through a patchy absorber. The temperature of the gas responsible for the soft excess is too high to be accounted for by local shock heating. In order to explain the soft excess and extent as either scattered continuum X-rays or flourescence from gas photoionized by the nuclear source, the hard X-rays must be emitted anisotropically. However, the soft excess and extent can be well modeled as thermal emission from a hot, outflowing wind, which may also be responsible for confirming at least some portion of the optical narrow line-emitting clouds.
Much attention has been given to the climate dynamics and habitable boundaries of synchronously rotating planets around low mass stars. However, other rotational states are possible, including spin–orbit resonant configurations, particularly when higher eccentricity orbits can be maintained in a system. Additionally, the oscillating strain as a planet moves from periastron to apoastron results in friction and tidal heating, which can be an important energy source. Here, we simulate the climate of ocean-covered planets near the inner edge of the habitable zone around M to solar stars with the NASA GISS ROCKE-3D general circulation model, and leverage the planetary evolution software package, VPLanet, to calculate tidal heating rates for Earth-sized planets orbiting 2600 and 3000 K stars. This study is the first to use a 3D general circulation model that implements tidal heating to investigate habitability for multiple resonant states. We find that for reference experiments without tidal heating, the resonant state has little impact on the radial position of the inner edge because for a given stellar flux, higher-order states tend to be warmer than synchronous rotators, but for a given temperature, have drier upper atmospheres. However, when strong tidal heating is present, the rotational component implies a strong dependence of habitable conditions on the system evolution and rotational state. Since tidal and stellar heating both decrease rapidly with orbital distance, this results in a compact orbital width separating temperate and uninhabitable climates. We summarize these results and also compare ROCKE-3D to previously published simulations of the inner edge.
Two-phase thermal management subsystems that take advantage of both the sensible and latent heat of a working fluid can potentially yield significant enhancements in overall performance by adopting heat transfer processes that are based on phase transition like boiling and condensation. Performance of terrestrial two-phase flow systems may be predictable because the hydrodynamic and body forces are understood, however, in microgravity, which is predominant during planetary space travel, forces that are masked by the strong body force on Earth (gravitational or buoyancy force) reappear with different magnitude and influence. The need arose for a facility that provides for two-phase flow with phase transition testing in microgravity. The Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) is a facility that was launched to the International Space Station in August of 2021 and is in operation since February of 2022. This facility enables investigators to perform two-phase flow and phase transition research in flow boiling and condensation. Along with the test module that is experiment specific, the FBCE system consists of the fluid, avionics, and software subsystems. Currently two test modules, namely, the Flow Boiling Module (FBM) and the Condensation Module for Heat Transfer (CM-HT) are available. A third module, the Transfer Line test Module (TL) is being developed. The fluid subsystem conditions and delivers the fluid at the desired thermodynamic state to the test module. It consists of two fluid modules and a heater module that are connected by flex hoses for fluid circulation and by data and electrical cables for control and data acquisition. Two avionics modules acquire pressure and temperature data from various sensors in the flow loop. For FBM, a high-speed camera is available to acquire images of the boiling process. Experiments are operated autonomously by software and are based on an Experiment Parameters Master Table (EPMT) that is uploaded to ISS and is executed by the FBCE flight software. This presentation briefly introduces the objectives of FBCE and provides a system description of the experiment onboard of the ISS/Fluid Integrated Rack (FIR). Results of the test campaign carried out using the FBM are presented. Specifically, microgravity flow boiling of n-perfluorohexane (test fluid) is discussed with subcooled inlet conditions in a single-side-heated rectangular channel of dimensions 114.6-mm heated length, 2.5-mm heated width, and 5.0-mm height. Key operating parameters investigated are mass velocity (199.90 – 3200.13 kg/m2s), inlet subcooling (0.10 – 45.76°C), and inlet pressure (113.30 – 164.29 kPa). Image sequences acquired via high-speed-video are shown to elucidate the interfacial flow physics. The effects of various parameters on flow boiling heat transfer in microgravity, from the onset of boiling to the critical heat flux are discussed. Heat transfer results are presented in terms of flow boiling curves, streamwise profiles of wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient, and parametric trends of local and averaged heat transfer coefficient, and the critical heat flux.
The consequences of magnetic fields for the atmospheres of cool stars are addressed based on IUE and Einstein Observatory observations. Gross atmospheric structure data for cool luminous stars are discussed, and the relevance of the observations for the energy balance and nonradiative heating rates is considered. Data from X-ray fluxes, low dispersion UV spectra, and high dispersion spectra in the region of the Mg II resonance lines are presented. New results on cool star atmospheres provided by high dispersion UV spectra are considered, including those pertaining to spectral line identification, identification of emission components in close binary systems, densities and atmospheric extension, emission line widths, properties of stellar winds as derived from IUE data, and systematic flows of transition region plasma. An explanation for the observed spectra of cool giants and supergiants is proposed in terms of active, quiet, and hybrid stars.
We report evidence for reconnection between colliding reconnection jets in a compressed current sheet at the center of a magnetic flux rope at Earth's magnetopause. The reconnection involved nearly symmetric Inflow boundary conditions with a strong guide field of two. The thin (2.5 ion-skin depth (d(sub i) width) current sheet (at approximately 12 d(sub i) downstream of the X line) was well resolved by MMS, which revealed large asymmetries in plasma and field structures in the exhaust. Ion perpendicular heating, electron parallel heating, and density compression occurred on one side of the exhaust, while ion parallel heating and density depression were shifted to the other side. The normal electric field and double out-of-plane (bifurcated) currents spanned almost the entire exhaust. These observations are in good agreement with a kinetic simulation for similar boundary conditions, demonstrating in new detail that the structure of large guide field symmetric reconnection is distinctly different from antiparallel reconnection.