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At least 361 records · Page 20

Characteristics of propeller sections tested in the variable density wind tunnel

Tests were carried out in the variable density wind tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics on six airfoil sections used by the Bureau of Aeronautics as propeller sections. The sections were tested at pressures of 1 and 20 atmospheres corresponding to Reynolds numbers of about 170,000 and 3,500,000. The results obtained, besides providing data for the design of propellers, should be of special interest because of the opportunity afforded for the study of scale effect on a family of airfoil sections having different thickness ratios. (author)

Jacobs, Eastman N↗

Minimum-drag ducted and pointed bodies of revolution based on linearized supersonic theory

The linearized drag integral for bodies of revolution at supersonic speeds is presented in a double-integral form which is not based on slender-body approximations but which reduces to the equal slender-body expression in the proper limit. With the aid of a suitably chosen auxiliary condition, the minimum-external-wave-drag problem is solved for a transition section connecting two semi-infinite cylinders. The projectile tip is a special case and is compared with the Von Karman projectile tip. Calculations are presented which indicate that the method of analysis gives good first-order results in the moderate supersonic range.

Parker, Hermon M↗

Airdata Measurement and Calibration

This Section provides a brief introduction to airdata measurement and calibration. Readers will learn about typical test objectives, quantities to measure, and flight maneuvers and operations for calibration. The Section informs readers about tower-flyby, trailing cone, pacer, radar-tracking, and dynamic airdata calibration maneuvers. Readers will also begin to understand how some data analysis considerations and special airdata cases, including high-angle-of-attack flight, high-speed flight, and nonobtrusive sensors are handled. This section is not intended to be all inclusive; readers should review AGARDograph 300, Volume 1, "Calibration of Airdata Systems and Flow Direction Sensors" for more detailed information. [11-1] References 11-2, 11-3, and 11-4 also supply pertinent information to better understand airdata measurement and calibration and related terminology. Airdata are vital to successfully complete an aircraft's mission and are derived from the air surrounding the aircraft. These airdata encompass indicated and true airspeed, pressure altitude, ambient air temperature, angles of attack and sideslip, Mach number, and rate of climb. Typically, pitot and static pressures are sensed and converted (by mechanical means in the instruments themselves) into indications on the altimeter, vertical speed indicator, airspeed indicator, and Machmeter. Similarly, measured local flow angles establish angles of attack and sideslip, and the outside air temperature is measured and indicated in the cockpit. (Instruments that can perform the conversion, such as airspeed indicators, altimeters, and Machmeters, do not correct for errors in the input values.) These measured parameters are commonly input to the airdata computer which, using appropriate algorithms and correction factors (or calibrations, as discussed later), can provide other parameters, such as true airspeed, required by the aircraft's avionics or flight control system. The presence of the aircraft in the airstream causes input errors to the measuring instruments - the aircraft disturbs the air that it flies through, thereby also disturbing the airdata measurements. Figure 11-1 shows the airflow around an airplane wing. The air above the wing has lower pressure than the ambient air, while the pressure below the wing is higher than the ambient air. Compressibility and shock waves also disturb the air and affect the measurements. Compressibility effects become important above approximately Mach number 0.3. As a result the static pressure around an airplane varies considerably with location. Local flow angles also differ from the free-stream flow direction. In straight-and-level flight the airflow rises to the wing leading edge and falls below the trailing edge, causing errors in flow direction measurements. To some extent these errors can be studied in wind tunnels, but wind-tunnel measurements cannot replace in-flight measurements.

Haering, Edward A., Jr.↗

The analytic solution for the power series expansion of Heun function

The Heun function generalizes all well-known special functions such as Spheroidal Wave, Lame, Mathieu, and hypergeometric {sub 2}F{sub 1}, {sub 1}F{sub 1} and {sub 0}F{sub 1} functions. Heun functions are applicable to diverse areas such as theory of black holes, lattice systems in statistical mechanics, solution of the Schrödinger equation of quantum mechanics, and addition of three quantum spins. In this paper I will apply three term recurrence formula (Y.S. Choun, (arXiv:1303.0806), 2013) to the power series expansion in closed forms of Heun function (infinite series and polynomial) including all higher terms of A{sub n}’s. Section 3 contains my analysis on applying the power series expansions of Heun function to a recent paper (R.S. Maier, Math. Comp. 33 (2007) 811–843). Due to space restriction final equations for the 192 Heun functions are not included in the paper, but feel free to contact me for the final solutions. Section 4 contains two additional examples using the power series expansions of Heun function. This paper is 3rd out of 10 in series “Special functions and three term recurrence formula (3TRF)”. See Section 5 for all the papers in the series. The previous paper in series deals with three term recurrence formula (3TRF). The next paper in the series describes the integral forms of Heun function and its asymptotic behaviors analytically. -- Highlights: •Power series expansion for infinite series of Heun function using 3 term rec. form. •Power series for polynomial which makes B{sub n} term terminated of Heun function. •Applicable to areas such as the Teukolsky equation in Kerr–Newman–de Sitter geometries.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

An updated estimate of the Mu2e experiment sensitivity

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab will search for the conversion of a negative muon into an electron inside the field of a nucleus. This process does not conserve charged-lepton flavour and is heavily suppressed in the Standard Model (SM), with a branching ratio < 10-50. Any evidence of it would be an undeniable evidence of new physics beyond the SM. The project sets out to achieve a single event sensitivity of $\sim 3 × 10^{-17}$ on the ratio between the probability for a conversion of a negative muon into an electron and the one for a muon capture by the nucleus. Such a sensitivity would represent a 4 orders of magnitude improvement on the previous upper limit for the process, making possible to test predictions of different extensions of the SM. Mu2e uses three superconducting solenoids to produce and measure the muon conversions. In the first solenoid, the Production Solenoid, pions and kaons are produced, together with other secondary products, by 8 GeV kinetic energy proton interactions in a tungsten target. A gradient magnetic field is specifically designed to direct low momentum particles into the Transport Solenoid, an S-shaped magnet that filters out particles with unwanted charge and momentum. Muons, produced by pion and kaon decays, finally reach the aluminum Stopping Target in the Detector Solenoid, where they eventually stop and convert. The result of the conversion process is a monochromatic electron of ~105 MeV/c momentum. The Detector Solenoid also hosts the two main detectors: a straw tube tracker and two CsI calorimeter disks, both providing measurement of event kinematics. A germanium detector and a LaBr crystal are located downstream of the Detector Solenoid to measure the X and gamma rays produced by the muon captures in the Stopping Target. A veto system of scintillators covering the Detector Solenoid and half of the Transport Solenoid is used to identify and reject cosmic rays interactions. With respect to the initial project, the Mu2e running plan has evolved to a staged configuration with 2 years at reduced intensity before the 2025 accelerator shutdown for the neutrino beam upgrade and 2 or 3 years at full intensity after that. This, together with geometry changes and a better knowledge of detector performances obtained by the first slice tests, has required a full revision of the signal over background selection that is the subject of this thesis. In order to achieve a new estimate of Mu2e sensitivity, the simulation of the data corresponding to the first 2 years of data acquisition has been performed. This includes both conversion electrons (CE) and the main sources of background: cosmics, decay-in orbits (DIO), radiative pion captures (RPC) and antiprotons. The characteristics of the signal and of the main backgrounds have been studied to define the best selection variables for CE. A special effort has been devoted to the evaluation of the antiproton background. The lack of experimental data for antiproton production cross section makes the systematic uncertainty on this background significant. A new parameterization of the cross section has been developed to fit the existing data and to provide a more reliable estimate of the systematic uncertainty by comparing the results of the old and the new model. A special effort has been devoted to the optimization of the antiprotons Monte Carlo generator. This study has also revealed that the dominant component within this background is represented by antiprotons produced in the opposite direction with respect to the Transport Solenoid entrance and then redirected to it by back-scattering processes in the Production Target. This ultimately highlights the sensitivity of the background estimate to the G4 handling of antiproton interactions in the 1 to 3 GeV/c momentum range. Finally, the final experimental sensitivity has been studied. The momentum and time selection have been optimized to obtain the 5-sigma discovery reach or, in case of no signal, the upper limit on conversion probability. The results confirm that, in the firs t two years of data taking, Mu2e will be able to improve the current experimental sensitivity for muon-to-electron conversion in an atomic field by more than 3 order of magnitudes.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Direct evidence for inelastic neutron 'acceleration' by {sup 177}Lu{sup m}

The inelastic neutron acceleration cross section on the long-lived metastable state of {sup 177}Lu has been measured using a direct method. High-energy neutrons have been detected using a specially designed setup placed on a cold neutron beam extracted from the ORPHEE reactor in Saclay. The 146{+-}19 b inelastic neutron acceleration cross section in the ORPHEE cold neutron flux confirms the high cross section for this process on the {sup 177}Lu{sup m} isomer. The deviation from the 258{+-}58 b previously published obtained for a Maxwellian neutron flux at a 323 K temperature could be explained by the presence of a low energy resonance. Resonance parameters are deduced and discussed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Thermocouple Testing in Support of the AGR-5/6/7 Experiment

This report documents thermocouple testing performed in IRC Lab C-15 over a period of seven years. This testing supported selection and characterization of the thermocouple set used in the AGR-5/6/7 experiment. The following summary was taken directly from the report. Temperature measurement is a challenging aspect of very high temperature irradiation experiments because commonly used high-temperature commercial thermocouples such as platinum-rhodium (Types S, R, and B) and tungsten-rhenium (Type C), suffer dramatic drift because of neutron-induced transmutation. As a result, these types of thermocouples, which are used routinely for industrial temperature measurements outside of reactors, are used only in very special circumstances for reactor experiments. Conversely, because of their low neutron cross-sections, Type N thermocouples are affected to only a limited extent by neutron irradiation. However, the use of these nickel-based thermocouples is limited when the temperature exceeds 1050°C due to drift arising from minor alloying elements migrating from the thermocouple's metal sheath to the thermoelements. This change in the composition of the thermo-elements results in significant decalibration of the signal. The issues described above were recognized during the early planning stages of the final AGR experiment (designated AGR-5/6/7), and a thermocouple furnace testing program was performed over a seven-year period (2014-2019, 2021) to first select and then characterize the best thermocouple set for the high temperature regions of the AGR-5/6/7 irradiation experiment. The calculated temperature range of the AGR-5/6/7 experiment was 600–1500°C. For temperatures below 1000°C standard Type N thermocouples were deemed adequate. The furnace testing campaign identified two thermocouple types suitable for measuring temperatures above 1000°C, a Mo/Nb thermocouple developed at INL called HTIR-TC, and a Type N thermocouple developed by Cambridge University (called herein Cambridge Type N), which featured a custom high nickel alloy sheath. One of the original goals of the furnace testing program was to identify a thermocouple capable of low drift operation near the peak temperature expected in AGR-5/6/7, i.e., about 1400°C. The HTIR-TC design appeared promising in this regard, however a manufacturing difficulty proved to be a barrier and instead the furnace testing focused on drift performance at 1250°C. The manufacturing difficulty was that the Nb sheaths of the HTIR-TCs experienced extreme embrittlement when heat treated at 1600°C or greater. Heat treatment is needed to stabilize the emf output of this TC type, and the higher the heat treatment temperature the higher the peak temperature of stable operation. Because of the sheath embrittlement the heat treatment temperature had to be lowered to 1450°C resulting in a stable operating temperature of about 1250°C. One of the successes of the furnace testing program was identification of a shortcoming in the heat treatment procedure that had been traditionally used in the production of HTIR-TCs. The shortcoming was that the entire heated length of the HTIR-TC sensor was not being heat treated, but rather only the part of the sensor expected to experience temperatures above 1000°C. The problem manifested itself when the thermocouples were removed from the heat treat furnace and placed in another furnace with a different geometry, their indicated temperatures would be widely scattered, but mostly in the negative direction. The solution was to heat treat the entire heated length of the sensor. Since the deepest immersion depth in the AGR-5/6/7 experiment was about 40 inches, a heat treatment length of 48 inches was used. After this change was implemented, thermocouples which were moved into a new environment with a different temperature profile (i.e., a different furnace), produced accurate temperature measurements. Although assembly of the AGR-5/6/7 experiment was completed in September of 2017 (and irradiation begun in 2018), furnace testing of thermocouples continued in 2018 and 2019. The main purpose of this testing was to establish very long-term drift characteristics of the HTIR and Cambridge Type N thermocouples installed in the experiment. Representative thermocouples from the same lots as those installed in the AGR-5/6/7 experiment were used. Additionally, thermocouples of different designs, (particularly variations on the HTIR-TC design) were "piggy-backed" on this testing program to provide insights for instrumenting future very high temperature irradiation experiments. This two-year testing program demonstrated that HTIR-TCs and Cambridge Type N TCs could operate at 1250°C for up to 10,000 hrs (and in some cases longer) while experiencing negative drifts on the order of 2-4°C/1000 hrs. This performance was considered acceptable given the extreme operating environment the sensors faced.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

GAS PHASE ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY OF C{sub 60}{sup +} AND C{sub 70}{sup +} IN A CRYOGENIC ION TRAP: COMPARISON WITH ASTRONOMICAL MEASUREMENTS

Recent low-temperature laboratory measurements and astronomical observations have proved that the fullerene cation C{sub 60}{sup +} is responsible for four diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). These absorptions correspond to the strongest bands of the lowest electronic transition. The gas phase spectrum below 10 K is reported here for the full wavelength range encompassed by the electronic transition. The absorption spectrum of C{sub 70}{sup +}, with its origin band at 7959.2 A-ring , has been obtained under similar laboratory conditions. Observations made toward the reddened star HD 183143 were used in a specific search for the absorption of these fullerene cations in diffuse clouds. In the case of C{sub 60}{sup +}, one further band in the astronomical spectrum at 9348.5 A-ring is identified, increasing the total number of assigned DIBs to five. Numerous other C{sub 60}{sup +} absorptions in the laboratory spectrum are found to lie below the astronomical detection limit. Special emphasis is placed on the laboratory determination of absolute absorption cross-sections. For C{sub 60}{sup +} this directly yields a column density, N(C{sub 60}{sup +}), of 2×10{sup 13} cm{sup −2} in diffuse clouds, without the need to rely on theoretical oscillator strengths. The intensity of the C{sub 70}{sup +} electronic transition in the range 7000–8000 Å is spread over many features of similar strength. Absorption cross-section measurements indicate that even for a similar column density, the individual absorption bands of C{sub 70}{sup +} will be too weak to be detected in the astronomical spectra, which is confirmed giving an upper limit of 2 m A-ring to the equivalent width.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Testing methods and techniques: Strength of materials and components. A compilation

The methods, techniques, and devices used in testing the mechanical properties of various materials are presented. Although metals and metal alloys are featured prominently, some of the items describe tests on a variety of other materials, from concrete to plastics. Many of the tests described are modifications of standard testing procedures, intended either to adapt them to different materials and conditions, or to make them more rapid and accurate. In either case, the approaches presented can result in considerable cost savings and improved quality control. The compilation is presented in two sections. The first deals specifically with material strength testing; the second treats the special category of fracture and fatigue testing.

Source record↗

High-pressure combustor exhaust emissions with improved air-atomizing and conventional pressure-atomizing fuel nozzles

A high-pressure combustor segment 0.456 meter (18 in.) long with a maximum cross section of 0.153 by 0.305 meter (6 by 12 in.) was tested with specially designed air-atomizing and conventional pressure-atomizing fuel nozzles at inlet-air temperatures of 340 to 755 k (610 deg to 1360 R), reference velocities of 12.4 to 26.1 meters per second (41 to 86 ft/sec), and fuel-air ratios of 0.008 to 0.020. Increasing inlet-air pressure from 4 to 20 atmospheres generally increased smoke number and nitric oxide, but decreased carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon concentrations with air-atomizing and pressure-atomizing nozzles. Emission indexes for carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons were lower at 4, 10, and 20 atmospheres, and nitric oxide emission indexes were lower at 10 and 20 atmospheres with air-atomizing than with pressure-atomizing nozzles.

Ingebo, R. D.↗

Power from the Space Shuttle

The use of the Space Shuttle to provide avionics and electrical power accommodations to a large dedicated payload and/or to multiple smaller payloads throughout the flight is studied. The payload equipment can be mounted in the Shuttle Orbiter aft flight deck and middeck portions of the crew cabins and in the Orbiter cargo bay. The Orbiter provides avionics services to the following major payload classes: the single-section payload, the small payload, the middeck payload, and the Get-Away Special payload.

Speier, William M.↗

Determinants of Long Bone Structural Properties

The objective of our research is to determine whether a non-invasive determination of long bone cross-sectional areal properties using only the mineral component of bone accurately predicts the true structural properties. In this study section properties of a whole long bone were compared using two methods: (1) special analysis of bone densitometry data, and (2) experimental determination of flexural rigidities from bone surface strain measurements during controlled loading.

Cleek, T. M.↗

APOLLO: a facility-scale differentiable virtual accelerator at Fermilab FAST/IOTA

As the design complexity of modern accelerators grows, there is more interest in using advanced simulations that have fast execution time or yield additional insights like gradients. The FAST/IOTA facility has been working on implementing and experimentally validating an end-to-end digital twin that is both fast and gradient-aware, allowing for rapid prototyping of new software and experiments with minimal beam time costs. Our framework integrates physics and ML codes for linac and ring simulation through a set of generic interfaces between surrogate and physics-based sections. To reproduce device inputs and outputs, system state is exposed as a deterministic event loop in a specialized discrete event simulator architecture. Because Fermilab is undergoing control system transition, several APIs were implemented as final user interfaces - a fully asynchronous EPICS soft IOC, a gRPC-based Data Pool Manager (DPM), and legacy ACNET protocols. We discuss implementation details as well as challenges handling live data assimilation and future plans to extend modelling to main complex proton accelerators like PIPII and Booster.

Kuklev, Nikita [Fermilab]↗

Space Transportation and Destination Facilities

The Space Transportation and Destination Facilities section focused on space transportation vehicles-from use of existing vehicles to development of specialized transports-and on space stations, space business parks, space hotels, and other facilities in space of the kind that eventually would provide services for general public space travel (PST) and tourism. For both transportation and destination facilities, the emphasis was on the identification of various strategies to enable a realistic incremental progression in the development and acquisition of such facilities, and the identification of issues that need resolution to enable formation of viable businesses. The approach was to determine the best: (1) Strategies for general PST and tourism development through the description and analysis of a wide range of possible future scenarios. With these scenarios in mind the section then identified. (2) Key issues to be explored. (3) opportunities to eliminate barriers. (4) Recommendations for future actions. (5) Top-level requirements and characteristics for general PST and tourism systems and services that would guide the development of transportation and destination facilities.

Smitherman, David↗

Atmospheric Boundary-Layer and Flutter Computations Using CFD Model of the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel

This paper presents two Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models of the flow in the NASA Langley Research Center Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT). The TDT is a continuous-flow, closed circuit wind tunnel with a 16- by 16-foot slotted test section with cropped corners. The tunnel was originally built as the 19-ft Pressure Tunnel in 1938, but it was converted to the current transonic tunnel in the 1950s, with capabilities to use either air or heavy gas as the test medium. The first computational model describes the generation of an atmospheric-boundary-layer (ABL) profile inside the tunnel. An ABL, which includes both a wind profile and turbulence content, is one of the aerodynamic characteristics affecting the occurrence of wind-induced oscillations for a launch vehicle sitting on a pad. The challenging part of this analysis was modeling the turbulent flow inside the tunnel. This is due to the special ABL-generating hardware that was installed at the entrance of the TDT test section in order to change the downstream velocity profile and to introduce velocity fluctuations into the flow. The second CFD model builds on the computational aeroelastic results that were generated in support of the second Aeroelastic Prediction Workshop (AePW) for the NASA Benchmark Supercritical Wing (BSCW) configuration. During the AePW, the wing-only configuration (classical free-air model) was analyzed. In the current study, the flutter computations were conducted on the configuration as it was mounted in the TDT during the experiment. This includes the wing attached to the splitter plate that was attached to the wind-tunnel walls. The preliminary results show that the wind-tunnel walls marginally affect flutter prediction.

Pawel Chwalowski↗

2008 NASA Range Safety Annual Report

Welcome to the 2008 edition of the NASA Range Safety Annual Report. Funded by NASA Headquarters, this report provides a NASA Range Safety overview for current and potential range users. This year, along with full length articles concerning various subject areas, we have provided updates to standard subjects with links back to the 2007 original article. Additionally, we present summaries from the various NASA Range Safety Program activities that took place throughout the year, as well as information on several special projects that may have a profound impact on the way we will do business in the future. The sections include a program overview and 2008 highlights of Range Safety Training; Range Safety Policy; Independent Assessments and Common Risk Analysis Tools Development; Support to Program Operations at all ranges conducting NASA launch operations; a continuing overview of emerging Range Safety-related technologies; Special Interests Items that include recent changes in the ELV Payload Safety Program and the VAS explosive siting study; and status reports from all of the NASA Centers that have Range Safety responsibilities. As is the case each year, contributors to this report are too numerous to mention, but we thank individuals from the NASA Centers, the Department of Defense, and civilian organizations for their contributions. We have made a great effort to include the most current information available. We recommend that this report be used only for guidance and that the validity and accuracy of all articles be verified for updates. This is the third year we have utilized this web-based format for the annual report. We continually receive positive feedback on the web-based edition, and we hope you enjoy this year's product as well. It has been a very busy and productive year on many fronts as you will note as you review this report. Thank you to everyone who contributed to make this year a successful one, and I look forward to working with all of you in the years to come.

Lamoreaux, Richard W.↗