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At least 397 records · Page 22

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NASA NTRS1985

A theory of satellite sweeping

A theory of energetic charged particle absorption by insulating moons is presented that includes gyrophase dependence of the absorption probability when the gyroradius is not small compared to the satellite radius. This effect increases the average lifetime against absorption by factors of approximately 2 to 6 above previous estimates at Saturn. The sweeping lifetime then becomes significantly greater than the strong diffusion lifetime. A rigorous expression for the average lifetime against absorption, appropriate for a drift phase averaged radial diffusion equation, is derived assuming (1) a uniform distribution of gyrocenter equatorial plane crossing points in the sweeping corridor and (2) randomization of gyrophase. The pitch angle and energy dependences of the sweeping lifetime are found to be significantly different from the predictions of previous analytical estimates.

Paonessa, M.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Heat generation in aircraft tires

A method was developed for calculating the internal temperature distribution in an aircraft tire while free rolling under load. The method uses an approximate stress analysis of each point in the tire as it rolls through the contact patch, and from this stress change the mechanical work done on each volume element may be obtained and converted into a heat release rate through a knowledge of material characteristics. The tire cross-section is then considered as a body with internal heat generation, and the diffusion equation is solved numerically with appropriate boundary conditions of the wheel and runway surface. Comparison with data obtained with buried thermocouples in tires shows good agreement.

Clark, S. K.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Ostwald ripening theory

The Ostwald-ripening theory is deduced and discussed starting from the fundamental principles such as Ising model concept, Mayer cluster expansion, Langer condensation point theory, Ginzburg-Landau free energy, Stillinger cutoff-pair potential, LSW-theory and MLSW-theory. Mathematical intricacies are reduced to an understanding version. Comparison of selected works, from 1949 to 1984, on solution of diffusion equation with and without sink/sources term(s) is presented. Kahlweit's 1980 work and Marqusee-Ross' 1954 work are more emphasized. Odijk and Lekkerkerker's 1985 work on rodlike macromolecules is introduced in order to simulate interested investigators.

Baird, J. K.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A perturbation approach to cosmic ray transients in interplanetary space

A perturbation approach is used to model the linear response of the cosmic ray distribution as a function of perturbations in the solar wind transport parameters. The analytical technique permits examination of the effects of the different solar wind parameters, i.e., velocity, drift velocity and the diffusion tensor, which are additive. Cosmic ray changes in the solar wind are neglected. Variations in the diffusion coefficient and the convection-diffusion equation are applied to describing Forbush decreases and the 11-yr solar cycle variations. The treatment is limited to energies above 100 MeV, yet is considered valid enough to have identified a hysteresis effect in the 11-yr variation, wherein high-energy particles lead low-energy particles to a magnitude that increases with increasing heliocentric distance within the inner heliosphere. The calculations also indicate that the Forbush decreases are a cumulative effect of precipitous precursors accompanied by slow recoveries from travelling solar wind perturbations.

Chih, P. P.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Medium-energy electrons and heavy ions in Jupiter's magnetosphere - Effects of lower hybrid wave-particle interactions

A theory of medium-energy (about keV) electrons and heavy ions in Jupiter's magnetosphere is presented. Lower hybrid waves are generated by the combined effects of a ring instability of neutral wind pickup ions and the modified two-stream instability associated with transport of cool Iogenic plasma. The quasi-linear energy diffusion coefficient for lower hybrid wave-particle interactions is evaluated, and several solutions to the diffusion equation are given. Calculations based on measured wave properties show that the noise substantially modifies the particle distribution functions. The effects are to accelerate superthermal ions and electrons to keV energies and to thermalize the pickup ions on time scales comparable to the particle residence time. The S(2+)/S(+) ratio at medium energies is a measure of the relative contribution from Iogenic thermal plasma and neutral wind ions, and this important quantity should be determined from future measurements. The theory also predicts a preferential acceleration of heavy ions with an accleration time that scales inversely with the root of the ion mass. Electrons accelerated by the process contribute to further reionization of the neutral wind by electron impact, thus providing a possible confirmation of Alfven's critical velocity effect in the Jovian magnetosphere.

Barbosa, D. D.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Three-dimensional computation of mixing of transverse injector in a ducted supersonic airstream

Numerical solutions of the three-dimensional mass-averaged elliptic Navier-Stokes equations, including species transport, are obtained for nonreacting, turbulent, mixing flow fields for the case of transverse sonic injection of a secondary gas into a supersonic airstream through a circular orifice injector. Results are presented for flow through a constant area duct and through a duct with a rearward-facing step upstream of the injector. The equations are numerically integrated using MacCormack's explicit method and turbulence is included using the Baldwin-Lomax algebraic eddy viscosity model. In the species transport and energy equations, diffusion coefficients based on Fick's law and an assumption of unit Lewis number are applied. The computations were performed on a CDC-VPS-32 (extended version of Cyber-205) using a grid consisting of approximately 200,000 points. The computed results are compared with experimentally observed penetration and spreading boundaries for an injected gas at two dynamic pressure ratios. Three-dimensional flow field structures are dipicted in terms of static pressure, mass fractions of species and velocity vectors.

Uenishi, K.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Calculating Transport Of Moisture Through Honeycomb Panels

Diffusion equations solved for steady-state and transient conditions. HUMID is computer program for predicting moisture gradients and internal bursting pressure in composite honeycomb-sandwich panels. Designed to monitor ebb and flow of moisture in Space Shuttle Orbiter payload bay doors, but applicable for general use. Written in FORTRAN.

Martin, R. T.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Implementation of an ADI method on parallel computers

The implementation of an ADI method for solving the diffusion equation on three parallel/vector computers is discussed. The computers were chosen so as to encompass a variety of architectures. They are: the MPP, an SIMD machine with 16K bit serial processors; FLEX/32, an MIMD machine with 20 processors; and CRAY/2, an MIMD machine with four vector processors. The Gaussian elimination algorithm is used to solve a set of tridiagonal systems on the FLEX/32 and CRAY/2 while the cyclic elimination algorithm is used to solve these systems on the MPP. The implementation of the method is discussed in relation to these architectures and measures of the performance on each machine are given. Simple performance models are used to describe the performance. These models highlight the bottlenecks and limiting factors for this algorithm on these architectures. Finally, conclusions are presented.

Fatoohi, Raad A.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Three-dimensional computations of transverse hydrogen jet combustion in a supersonic airstream

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is being developed to compute the mixing and combustion of hydrogen fuel in the turbulent flow fields of supersonic combustion ramjets (scramjet). The code solves the three-dimensional Reynolds time-averaged complete Navier-Stokes equations including transport equations for a four species, two reaction, global finite rate chemistry model. The code was applied to the case of transverse injection of hydrogen from a sonic circular orifice into a supersonic airstream. The equations were numerically integrated using MacCormack's explicit method, and the algebraic eddy viscosity model of Baldwin-Lomax was used to model the turbulence. In the species transport and energy equations, diffusion coefficients based on Fick's Law and an assumption of unit Lewis number were applied. Computed features of the three-dimensional flow field are depicted by static pressure, static temperature, mass fraction of species, and velocity vectors. For engineering interest, mixing and combustion parameters were examined to assess the effect of injector diameter, injected fuel pressure, fuel-air ratio, and spacing of fuel injectors. The objective of the present paper is to demonstrate the capability of the present three-dimensional spatially elliptic, CFD code for turbulent, reacting flow. Application of the code to specific supersonic combustion configurations is planned.

Uenishi, K.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Chemical zoning and homogenization of olivines in ordinary chondrites and implications for thermal histories of chondrules

The extent and degree of homogenization of chemical zoning of olivines in type 3 ordinary chondrites is studied in order to obtain some constraints on cooling histories of chondrites. Based on Mg-Fe and CaO zoning, olivines in type 3 chondrites are classified into four types. A single chondrule usually contains olivines with the same type of zoning. Microporphyritic olivines show all four zoning types. Barred olivines usually show almost homogenized chemical zoning. The cooling rates or burial depths needed to homogenize the chemical zoning are calculated by solving the diffusion equation, using the zoning profiles as an initial condition. Mg-Fe zoning of olivine may be altered during initial cooling, whereas CaO zoning is hardly changed. Barred olivines may be homogenized during initial cooling because their size is relatively small. To simulated microporphyritic olivine chondrules, cooling from just below the liquidus at moderately high rates is preferable to cooling from above the liquidus at low rates. For postaccumulation metamorphism of type 3 chondrites to keep Mg-Fe zoning unaltered, the maximum metamorphic temperature must be less than about 400 C if cooling rates based on Fe-Ni data are assumed. Calculated cooling rates for both Fa and CaO homogenization are consistent with those by Fe-Ni data for type 4 chondrites. A hot ejecta blanket several tens of meters thick on the surface of a parent body is sufficient to homogenize Mg-Fe zoning if the temperature of the blanket is 600-700 C. Burial depths for petrologic types of ordinary chondrites in a parent body heated by Al-26 are broadly consistent with those previously proposed.

Miyamoto, Masamichi↗

NASA NTRS1986

Fluctuation and rotation in diffusion-influenced monomolecular reactions

Models of partially absorbing boundaries for calculating diffusion-influenced chemical reactions are examined analytically. The limitations of diffusion-equation and random-walk models are indicated; the presence of an ambiguous length parameter in a standard radiation-boundary-condition (RBC) model is demonstrated; the RBC model for a boundary with oscillation (at a rate much faster than the rate of thermal collisions) between absorbing and nonabsorbing states is considered; an alternative stochastically switching absorber (SSA) model is introduced and shown to be physically consistent; the equivalence of one-dimensional RBC and SSA models under some conditions is shown; one time passage is calculated for an axially symmetric three-dimensional SSA model with anisotropic absorption; and the analogy between rotation and stochastic switching is explored.

Bashford, Donald↗

NASA NTRS1987

Numerical simulation of cometary nuclei. III - Internal temperatures of cometary nuclei

The thermal diffusion equation for the internal temperature of cometary nuclei is exactly solved by means of a one-dimensional numerical model in order to shed light on the complex behavior of these temperatures with varying orbital and thermal parameters and in order to consider possible cometary nucleus thermal evolution targets for comet rendezvous and/or sample-return missions. The concept of 'new' and 'old' comets, classified in terms of how many passages around the sun have been made, may take on new meaning in view of the present demonstration that differences in eccentricity between two comets having the same period and number of apparitions may yield significantly different internal temperature profiles.

Herman, Gary↗

NASA NTRS1987

Monte Carlo modeling of ionospheric oxygen acceleration by cyclotron resonance with broad-band electromagnetic turbulence

It is demonstrated that cyclotron resonance with observed electric field fluctuations is responsible for production of the oxygen-ion conics that are observed by the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite in the central plasma-sheet region of the earth's magnetosphere. The ion-velocity distribution is described by a quasi-linear diffusion equation which is solved by the Monte Carlo technique. The acceleration produced by the observed wave spectrum agrees well with the ion observations, in both form and magnitude. This is believed to represent the first successful comparison of an observed conic with any theoretical model.

Retterer, John M.↗

NASA NTRS1987

A ray tracing model for leaf bidirectional scattering studies

A leaf is modeled as a deterministic two-dimensional structure consisting of a network of circular arcs designed to represent the internal morphology of major species. The path of an individual ray through the leaf is computed using geometric optics. At each intersection of the ray with an arc, the specular reflected and transmitted rays are calculated according to the Snell and Fresnel equations. Diffuse scattering is treated according to Lambert's law. Absorption is also permitted but requires a detailed knowledge of the spectral attenuation coefficients. An ensemble of initial rays are chosen for each incident direction with the initial intersection points on the leaf surface selected randomly. The final equilibrium state after all interactions then yields the leaf bidirectional reflectance and transmittance distributions. The model also yields the internal two dimensional light gradient profile of the leaf.

Brakke, T. W.↗

NASA NTRS1987

A new method of boundary parameter estimation for a two-dimensional diffusion system under noisy observations

The purpose of this paper is to establish a method for identifying unknown parameters involved in the boundary state of a class of diffusion systems under noisy observations. A mathematical model of the system dynamics is given by a two-dimensional diffusion equation. Noisy observations are made by sensors allocated on the system boundary. Starting with the mathematical model mentioned above, an online parameter estimation algorithm is proposed within the framework of the maximum likelihood estimation. Existence of the optimal solution and related necessary conditions are discussed. By solving a local variation of the cost functional with respect to the perturbation of parameters, the estimation mechanism is proposed in a form of recursive computations. Finally, the feasibility of the estimator proposed here is demonstrated through results of digital simulation experiments.

Sunahara, Y.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Applications of an exponential finite difference technique

An exponential finite difference scheme first presented by Bhattacharya for one dimensional unsteady heat conduction problems in Cartesian coordinates was extended. The finite difference algorithm developed was used to solve the unsteady diffusion equation in one dimensional cylindrical coordinates and was applied to two and three dimensional conduction problems in Cartesian coordinates. Heat conduction involving variable thermal conductivity was also investigated. The method was used to solve nonlinear partial differential equations in one and two dimensional Cartesian coordinates. Predicted results are compared to exact solutions where available or to results obtained by other numerical methods.

Handschuh, Robert F.↗

NASA NTRS1988

An improvement in the numerical integration procedure used in the NASA Marshall engineering thermosphere model

A proposed replacement scheme for the integration of the barometric and diffusion equations in the NASA Marshall Engineering Thermosphere (MET) model is presented. This proposed integration scheme is based on Gaussian Quadrature. Extensive numerical testing reveals it to be faster, more accurate and more reliable than the present integration scheme (a modified form of Simpson's Rule) used in the MET model. Numerous graphical examples are provided, along with a listing of a modified form of the MET model in which subroutine INTEGRATE (using Simpson's Rule) is replaced by subroutine GAUSS (which uses Gaussian Quadrature). It is recommended that the Gaussian Quadrature integration scheme, as used here, be used in the MET model.

Hickey, Michael Philip↗

NASA NTRS1987

Heat transfer to and from vegetated surfaces - An analytical method for the bulk exchange coefficients

The semianalytical model outlined in a previous study (Massman, 1987) to describe momentum exchange between the atmosphere and vegetated surfaces is extended to include the exchange of heat. The methods employed are based on one-dimensional turbulent diffusivities, and use analytical solutions to the steady-state diffusion equation. The model is used to assess the influence that the canopy foliage structure and density, the wind profile structure within the canopy, and the shelter factor can have upon the inverse surface Stanton number (kB exp -1), as well as to explore the consequences of introducing a scalar displacement height which can be different from the momentum displacement height. In general, the triangular foliage area density function gives results which agree more closely with observations than that for constant foliage area density. The intended application of this work is for parameterizing the bulk aerodynamic resistances for heat and momentum exchange for use within large-scale models of plant-atmosphere exchanges.

Massman, William J.↗