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At least 433 records · Page 24

Finite Element Stability Analysis for Coupled Rotor and Support Systems

The effects of fuselage motions on stability and random response were analytically assessed. The feasibility of adequate perturbation models from non-linear trim conditions was studied by computer and hardware experiments. Rotor wake-blade interactions were assessed by using a 4-bladed rotor model with the capability of progressing and regressing blade pitch excitation (cyclic pitch stirring), by using a 4-bladed rotor model with hub tilt stirring, and by testing rotor models in sinusoidal up or side flow.

Hohenemser, K. H.↗

Search strategy effects on PN acquisition performance

The present paper focusses on 'random' and 'expanding window' PN acquisition search strategies and analytically develops the PN acquisition time statistics as functions of salient system parameters such as prediction SNR, detection and false alarm probabilities and a priori information on epoch location. The significance of this analysis is its general applicability to arbitrary postdetection processing schemes. Computed performance results account for the above salient parameters, wherein sequential detection is employed in conjunction with random and selected expanding window search strategies.

Weinberg, A.↗

Cut-off rate calculations for the outer channel in a concatenated cooling system

Concatenated codes were long used as a practical means of achieving long block or constraint lengths for combating errors on very noisy channels. The inner and outer encoders are normally separated by an interleaver, so that decoded error bursts coming from the inner decoder are randomized before entering the outer decoder. The effectiveness of this interleaver is examined by calculating the cut-off rate of the outer channel seen by the outer decoder with and without interleaving. Interleaving never hurts the performance of a concatenated code, and when the inner code rate is near the cut-off rate of the inner channel, interleaving significantly improves code performance.

Herro, M. A.↗

Computation of asymmetric supersonic flows around cones at large incidence

The Schiff-Steger parabolized Navier-Stokes (PNS) code has been modified to allow computation of conical flowfields around cones at high incidence. The improved algorithm of Degani and Schiff has been incorporated with the PNS code. This algorithm adds the cross derivative and circumferential viscous terms to the original PNS code and modifies the algebraic eddy viscosity turbulence model to take into account regions of so called cross-flow separation. Assuming the flowfield is conical (but not necessarily symmetric) a marching stepback procedure is used: the solution is marched one step downstream using improved PNS code and the flow variables are then scaled to place the solution back to the original station. The process is repeated until no change in the flow variables is observed with further marching. The flow variables are then constant along rays of the flowfield. The experiments obtained by Bannik and Nebbeling were chosen as a test case. In these experiments a cone of 7.5 deg. half angle at Mach number 2.94 and Reynolds number 1.372 x 10(7) was tested up 34 deg. angle of attack. At high angle of attack nonconical asymmetric leeward side vortex patterns were observed. In the first set of computations, using an earlier obtained solution of the above cone for angle of attack of 22.6 deg. and at station x=0.5 as a starting solution, the angle of attack was gradually increased up to 34 deg. During this procedure the grid was carfully adjusted to capture the bow shock. A stable, converged symmetric solution was obtained. Since the numerical code converged to a symmetric solution which is not the physical one, the stability was tested by a random perturbation at each point. The possible effect of surface roughness or non perfect body shape was also investigated. It was concluded that although the assumption of conical viscous flows can be very useful for certain cases, it can not be used for the present case. Thus the second part of the investigation attempted to obtain a marching (in space) solution with the PNS method using the conical solution as initial data. Finally, the solution of the full Navier-Stokes equations was carried out.

Degani, David↗

A study of the XY model by the Monte Carlo method

The massively parallel processor is used to perform Monte Carlo simulations for the two dimensional XY model on lattices of sizes up to 128 x 128. A parallel random number generator was constructed, finite size effects were studied, and run times were compared with those on a CRAY X-MP supercomputer.

Suranyi, Peter↗

Computational methods for structural load and resistance modeling

An automated capability for computing structural reliability considering uncertainties in both load and resistance variables is presented. The computations are carried out using an automated Advanced Mean Value iteration algorithm (AMV +) with performance functions involving load and resistance variables obtained by both explicit and implicit methods. A complete description of the procedures used is given as well as several illustrative examples, verified by Monte Carlo Analysis. In particular, the computational methods described in the paper are shown to be quite accurate and efficient for a material nonlinear structure considering material damage as a function of several primitive random variables. The results show clearly the effectiveness of the algorithms for computing the reliability of large-scale structural systems with a maximum number of resolutions.

Thacker, B. H.↗

The response of an airplane to random atmospheric disturbances

The statistical approach to the gust-load problem which consists in considering flight through turbulent air to be a stationary random process is extended by including the effect of lateral variation of the instantaneous gust intensity on the aerodynamic forces. The forces obtained in this manner are used in dynamic analyses of rigid and flexible airplanes free to move vertically, in pitch, and in roll. The effect of the interaction of longitudinal, vertical, and lateral gusts on the wing stresses is also considered.

LOADS, GUST - WINGS↗

The response of an airplane to random atmospheric disturbances

The statistical approach to the gust-load problem, which consists in considering flight through turbulent air to be a stationary random process, is extended by including the effect of lateral variation of the instantaneous gust intensity on the aerodynamic forces. The forces obtained in this manner are used in dynamic analyses of rigid and flexible airplanes free to move vertically, in pitch, and in roll. The effect of the interaction of longitudinal, normal, and lateral gusts on the wind stresses is also considered.

Diederich, Franklin W↗

Simulation of wave propagation in three-dimensional random media

Quantitative error analysis for simulation of wave propagation in three dimensional random media assuming narrow angular scattering are presented for the plane wave and spherical wave geometry. This includes the errors resulting from finite grid size, finite simulation dimensions, and the separation of the two-dimensional screens along the propagation direction. Simple error scalings are determined for power-law spectra of the random refractive index of the media. The effects of a finite inner scale are also considered. The spatial spectra of the intensity errors are calculated and compared to the spatial spectra of intensity. The numerical requirements for a simulation of given accuracy are determined for realizations of the field. The numerical requirements for accurate estimation of higher moments of the field are less stringent.

Coles, William A.↗

Investigation of Near Shannon Limit Coding Schemes

Turbo codes can deliver performance that is very close to the Shannon limit. This report investigates algorithms for convolutional turbo codes and block turbo codes. Both coding schemes can achieve performance near Shannon limit. The performance of the schemes is obtained using computer simulations. There are three sections in this report. First section is the introduction. The fundamental knowledge about coding, block coding and convolutional coding is discussed. In the second section, the basic concepts of convolutional turbo codes are introduced and the performance of turbo codes, especially high rate turbo codes, is provided from the simulation results. After introducing all the parameters that help turbo codes achieve such a good performance, it is concluded that output weight distribution should be the main consideration in designing turbo codes. Based on the output weight distribution, the performance bounds for turbo codes are given. Then, the relationships between the output weight distribution and the factors like generator polynomial, interleaver and puncturing pattern are examined. The criterion for the best selection of system components is provided. The puncturing pattern algorithm is discussed in detail. Different puncturing patterns are compared for each high rate. For most of the high rate codes, the puncturing pattern does not show any significant effect on the code performance if pseudo - random interleaver is used in the system. For some special rate codes with poor performance, an alternative puncturing algorithm is designed which restores their performance close to the Shannon limit. Finally, in section three, for iterative decoding of block codes, the method of building trellis for block codes, the structure of the iterative decoding system and the calculation of extrinsic values are discussed.

Kwatra, S. C.↗

Rocket-in-a-Duct Performance Analysis

An axisymmetric, 110 N class, rocket configured with a free expansion between the rocket nozzle and a surrounding duct was tested in an altitude simulation facility. The propellants were gaseous hydrogen and gaseous oxygen and the hardware consisted of a heat sink type copper rocket firing through copper ducts of various diameters and lengths. A secondary flow of nitrogen was introduced at the blind end of the duct to mix with the primary rocket mass flow in the duct. This flow was in the range of 0 to 10% of the primary massflow and its effect on nozzle performance was measured. The random measurement errors on thrust and massflow were within +/-1%. One dimensional equilibrium calculations were used to establish the possible theoretical performance of these rocket-in-a-duct nozzles. Although the scale of these tests was small, they simulated the relevant flow expansion physics at a modest experimental cost. Test results indicated that lower performance was obtained at higher free expansion area ratios and longer ducts, while, higher performance was obtained with the addition of secondary flow. There was a discernable peak in specific impulse efficiency at 4% secondary flow. The small scale of these tests resulted in low performance efficiencies, but prior numerical modeling of larger rocket-in-a-duct engines predicted performance that was comparable to that of optimized rocket nozzles. This remains to be proven in large-scale, rocket-in-a-duct tests.

Schneider, Steven J.↗

ATM QoS Experiments Using TCP Applications: Performance of TCP/IP Over ATM in a Variety of Errored Links

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Quality of Service (QoS) experiments using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) were performed for various link delays. The link delay was set to emulate a Wide Area Network (WAN) and a Satellite Link. The purpose of these experiments was to evaluate the ATM QoS requirements for applications that utilize advance TCP/IP protocols implemented with large windows and Selective ACKnowledgements (SACK). The effects of cell error, cell loss, and random bit errors on throughput were reported. The detailed test plan and test results are presented herein.

Frantz, Brian D.↗

Digitally Enhanced Heterodyne Interferometry

Spurious interference limits the performance of many interferometric measurements. Digitally enhanced interferometry (DEI) improves measurement sensitivity by augmenting conventional heterodyne interferometry with pseudo-random noise (PRN) code phase modulation. DEI effectively changes the measurement problem from one of hardware (optics, electronics), which may deteriorate over time, to one of software (modulation, digital signal processing), which does not. DEI isolates interferometric signals based on their delay. Interferometric signals are effectively time-tagged by phase-modulating the laser source with a PRN code. DEI improves measurement sensitivity by exploiting the autocorrelation properties of the PRN to isolate only the signal of interest and reject spurious interference. The properties of the PRN code determine the degree of isolation.

Shaddock, Daniel↗

Robust Thermal Control of Propulsion Lines for Space Missions

A document discusses an approach to insulating propulsion lines for spacecraft. In spacecraft that have propulsion lines that are located externally with open bus architecture, the lines are typically insulated by Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) blankets. MLI on propulsion lines tends to have large and somewhat random variances in its heat loss properties (effective emittance) from one location to the next, which makes it an un-robust approach to control propulsion line temperatures. The approach described here consists of a clamshell design in which the inner surface of the shell is coated with low-emissivity aluminized Kapton tape, and the outer surface is covered with black tape. This clamshell completely encloses the propulsion line. The line itself is covered with its heater, which in turn, is covered completely with black tape. This approach would be low in heater power needs because even though the outer surface of the prop line (and its heater) is covered with black tape as well as the outer surface of the clamshell, the inner surface of the clamshell is covered with low-emissivity aluminized Kapton tape. Hence, the heat loss from the line will be small and comparable to the MLI based one. In terms of contamination changing the radiative properties of surfaces, since the clamshell s inner surface is always protected during handling and is only installed after all the work on the prop line has been completed, the controlling surface, which is the clamshell s inner surface, is always in pristine condition. This proposed design allows for a much more deterministic and predictable design using a very simple and implementable approach for thermal control. It also uses low heater power and is robust to handling and contamination during and after implementation.

Bhandari, Pradeep↗

X-Ray Diffraction Reference Intensity Ratios of Amorphous and Poorly Crystalline Phases: Implications for CheMin on the Mars Science Laboratory

The CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity is an X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument capable of providing the mineralogical and chemical compositions of rocks and soils on the surface of Mars. CheMin uses a microfocus X-ray tube with a Co target, transmission geometry, and an energy-discriminating X-ray sensitive CCD to produce simultaneous 2-D XRD patterns and energy-dispersive X-ray histograms from powdered samples. Piezoelectric vibration of the cell is used to randomize the sample to reduce preferred orientation effects. Instrument details are provided in [1, 2, 3]. Analyses of rock and soil samples by the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) show nanophase ferric oxide (npOx) is a significant component of the Martian global soil [4] and is thought to be one of the major contributing phases that the Curiosity rover will encounter if a soil sample is analyzed in Gale Crater. Because of the nature of this material, npOx will likely contribute to an X-ray amorphous or short-order component of a XRD pattern measured by the CheMin instrument.

Morris, R. V.↗

Numerical Simulation of the Anomalous Transport of High-Energy Cosmic Rays in Galactic Superbubble

A continuous-time random-walk (CTRW) model to simulate the transport and acceleration of high-energy cosmic rays in galactic superbubbles has recently been put forward (Barghouty & Schnee 2102). The new model has been developed to simulate and highlight signatures of anomalous transport on particles' evolution and their spectra in a multi-shock, collective acceleration context. The superbubble is idealized as a heterogeneous region of particle sources and sinks bounded by a random surface. This work concentrates on the effects of the bubble's assumed astrophysical characteristics (cf. geometry and roughness) on the particles' spectra.

Barghouty, A. F.↗

The Dynamic Response of a Large Airplane to Continuous Random Atmospheric Disturbances

The statistical approach to the gust-loads problem, which consists in considering flight th1ough turbulent air to be a stationary random process, is extended by including the effect of lateral variations of the instantaneous gust intensity on the aerodynamic forces and on the resultant motions and stresses of rigid and flexible airplanes. By means of some calculations of normal and rolling accelerations, as well as of the root bending moment, it is shown that these effects may be significant for large airplanes.

Aeroplane↗

Satellite and In Situ Observations for Advancing Global Earth Surface Modelling: A Review

In this paper we review the use of satellite-based remote sensing in combination with in situ data to inform Earth surface modelling. This involves verification and optimization methods that can handle both random and systematic errors and result in effective model improvement for both surface monitoring and prediction applications. The reasons for diverse remote sensing data and products include (i) their complementary areal and temporal coverage, (ii) their diverse and covariant information content, and (iii) their ability to complement in situ observations, which are often sparse and only locally representative. To improve our understanding of the complex behavior of the Earth system at the surface and sub-surface, we need large volumes of data from high-resolution modelling and remote sensing, since the Earth surface exhibits a high degree of heterogeneity and discontinuities in space and time. The spatial and temporal variability of the biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and anthroposphere calls for an increased use of Earth observation (EO) data attaining volumes previously considered prohibitive. We review data availability and discuss recent examples where satellite remote sensing is used to infer observable surface quantities directly or indirectly, with particular emphasis on key parameters necessary for weather and climate prediction. Coordinated high-resolution remote-sensing and modelling/assimilation capabilities for the Earth surface are required to support an international application-focused effort.

Earth observations↗