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At least 433 records · Page 24

Jet-noise reduction through liquid-base foam injection.

An experimental investigation has been made of the sound-absorbing properties of liquid-base foams and of their ability to reduce jet noise. Protein, detergent, and polymer foaming agents were used in water solutions. A method of foam generation was developed to permit systematic variation of the foam density. The investigation included measurements of sound-absorption coefficents for both plane normal incidence waves and diffuse sound fields. The intrinsic acoustic properties of foam, e.g., the characteristic impedance and the propagation constant, were also determined. The sound emitted by a 1-in.-diam cold nitrogen jet was measured for subsonic (300 m/sec) and supersonic (422 m/sec) jets, with and without foam injection. Noise reductions up to 10 PNdB were measured.

Manson, L.↗

Universal instability associated with the plasmapause and its role in geomagnetic micropulsations.

The observed close correlation between the plasmapause and micropulsations is explained on the basis of a universal instability model. Both theoretical and experimental studies of a nonhomogeneous magnetoplasma indicate that a steep plasma density gradient at the plasmapause is likely the origin of the universal instability in the magnetosphere. Drift waves excited at the plasmapause may be unstable in the direction of the electron drift and propagate eastward nearly perpendicularly to the magnetic field. The drift waves, however, tend to convert very quickly to ion sound or Alfven waves with a much larger phase velocity parallel to the magnetic field. This may be a possible source mechanism for rather regular geomagnetic micropulsations, and specific mechanisms are identified for the long- and short-period cases.

Kikuchi, H.↗

1989 Seattle Household Travel Survey Wave 1

The Puget Sound Transportation Panel was initiated in the fall of 1989. The Seattle Household Travel Survey Wave 1, conducted in 1989, was the first wave in a ten-part longitudinal panel survey initiated by the Puget Sound Regional Council to assess the travel patterns of households in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. The panel intended to serve three basic objectives: 1) to be a metropolitan “current population survey” to track changes in employment, work characteristics, household composition, and vehicle availability; 2) to monitor changes in travel behavior and responses to changes in the transportation environment; and 3) to examine changes in attitudes and values as they affect mode choice and travel behavior. This collection contains the first set of panel data for households in King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. A total of 1,687 households successfully completed a phone survey and returned completed travel diaries for household members age 15 and older. Respondents were instructed to record their mode of transportation, trip purpose, number of vehicle passengers, departure and arrival times, ride fare, and parking costs in a two-day trip diary. Demographic information for this study includes age, gender, education, employment status, and household income.

1Hz data↗

Sound radiation from an infinite elastic cylinder with dual-wave propagation-intensity distributions

The radiation of sound from an elastic cylindrical shell filled with fluid and supporting multiwave propagation is studied analytically. Combinations of supersonic and subsonic shell waves are considered. The radiated field is mapped by using acoustic intensity vectors evaluated at various locations. Both time averaged and instantaneous intensity are investigated. The acoustic intensity is seen to vary markedly with axial distance down the cylinder. The effect is shown to be associated with cross terms in the intensity relations, and its magnitude and location to depend upon the relative phase and amplitudes of individual waves. Subsonic shell waves are demonstrated to interact strongly with supersonic shell waves to cause a large modification in the radiated intensity distributions near the shell surface.

Fuller, C. R.↗

Electric Field Observations of Plasma Convection, Shear, Alfven Waves, and other Phenomena Observed on Sounding Rockets in the Cusp and Boundary Layer

On December 14,2002, a NASA Black Brant X sounding rocket was launched equatorward from Ny Alesund, Spitzbergen (79 N) into the dayside cusp and subsequently cut across the open/closed field line boundary, reaching an apogee of771 km. The launch occurred during Bz negative conditions with strong By negative that was changing during the flight. SuperDarn (CUTLASS) radar and subsequent model patterns reveal a strong westward/poleward convection, indicating that the rocket traversed a rotational reversal in the afternoon merging cell. The payload returned DC electric and magnetic fields, plasma waves, energetic particle, suprathermal electron and ion, and thermal plasma data. We provide an overview of the main observations and focus on the DC electric field results, comparing the measured E x B plasma drifts in detail with the CUTLASS radar observations of plasma drifts gathered simultaneously in the same volume. The in situ DC electric fields reveal steady poleward flows within the cusp with strong shears at the interface of the closed/open field lines and within the boundary layer. We use the observations to discuss ionospheric signatures of the open/closed character of the cusp/low latitude boundary layer as a function of the IMF. The electric field and plasma density data also reveal the presence of very strong plasma irregularities with a large range of scales (10 m to 10 km) that exist within the open field line cusp region yet disappear when the payload was equatorward of the cusp on closed field lines. These intense low frequency wave observations are consistent with strong scintillations observed on the ground at Ny Alesund during the flight. We present detailed wave characteristics and discuss them in terms of Alfven waves and static irregularities that pervade the cusp region at all altitudes.

Pfaff, R. F.↗

Intensity moments by path integral techniques for wave propagation through random media, with application to sound in the ocean

A theory is developed which describes intensity moments for wave propagation through random media. It is shown using the path integral technique that these moments are significantly different from those of a Rayleigh distribution in certain asymptotic regions. The path integral approach is extended to inhomogeneous, anisotropic media possessing a strong deterministic velocity profile. The behavior of the corrections to Rayleigh statistics is examined, and it is shown that the important characteristics can be attributed to a local micropath focusing function. The correction factor gamma is a micropath focusing parameter defined in terms of medium fluctuations. The value of gamma is calculated for three ocean acoustic experiments, using internal waves as the medium fluctuations. It is found that all three experiments show excellent agreement as to the relative values of the intensity moments. The full curved ray is found to yield results that are significantly different from the straight-line approximations. It is noted that these methods are applicable to a variety of experimental situations, including atmospheric optics and radio waves through plasmas.

Bernstein, D. R.↗

On the sound field of a point-shaped sound source in uniform translatory motion

A rigorous analysis presented of the excitation of sound by point sources moving in uniform translatory motion at subsonic or supersonic velocities through a two- or three-dimensional medium at rest. The construction of surfaces of constant phase is based upon Huyghens' principle in such a manner that the propagation in the medium at rest of the elementary waves emanating from the sound source is independent of the momentary state of motion of the sound source. Hence, characteristic traits of the sound propagation may be understood even on the basis of simple geometric constructions.

SOUND↗

An upward looking airborne millimeter wave radiometer for atmospheric water vapor sounding and rain detection

A 90/180 GHz multichannel radiometer is currently under development for NASA's 1985 Hurricane Mission onboard the Convair 990 research aircraft. The radiometer will be a fixed beam instrument with dual corrugated horns and a common lens antenna designed to operate simultaneously at 90 and 180 GHz. The all solid state front-end will contain three double side band data channels at 90 + or - 3 GHz, 180 + or - 3 GHz, and 180 + or - 7 GHz. The airborne radiometer will mount in a window port on the CV-990 and will maintain a fixed beam view approximately 14 degrees off zenith. The radiometer design is a Dicke chopper arrangement selected to achieve maximum absolute temperature accuracy and minimum brightness temperature sensitivity. Analog outputs of the three data channels will be calibrated dc voltages representing the observed radiometric brightness temperatures over the selected integration time.

Gagliano, J. A.↗

High-speed helicopter rotor noise - Shock waves as a potent source of sound

In this paper we discuss the problem of high speed rotor noise prediction. In particular, we propose that from the point of view of the acoustic analogy, shocks around rotating blades are sources of sound. We show that, although for a wing at uniform steady rectilinear motion with shocks the volume quadrupole and shock sources cancel in the far field to the order of 1/r, this cannot happen for rotating blades. In this case, some cancellation between volume quadrupoles and shock sources occurs, yet the remaining shock noise contribution is still potent. A formula for shock noise prediction is presented based on mapping the deformable shock surface to a time independent region. The resulting equation is similar to Formulation 1A of Langley. Shock noise prediction for a hovering model rotor for which experimental noise data exist is presented. The comparison of measured and predicted acoustic data shows good agreement.

Farassat, F.↗

IPS observations of the solar wind velocity and the acceleration mechanism

Coronal holes are well know sources of high speed solar wind, however, the exact acceleration mechanism of the wind is still unknown. Interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations indicate that the fast solar wind reaches an average velocity of 800 km s(exp -1) within several solar radii with large velocity fluctuations. However, the origin of the IPS velocity spread below 10 solar radii is unclear. A previously developed coronal home model with a more realistic initial state is applied, and time-dependent, nonlinear, resistive 2.5-DMHD equations are numerically solved. It is found that nonlinear solitary-like waves with a supersonic phase speed are generated in coronal holes by torisonal Alfven waves in the radial flow velocity. The outward propagating nonlinear waves are similar in properties to sound solitons. When these waves are present, the solar wind speed and density fluctuate considerably on a time scale of an hour and on spatial scales of several solar radii in addition to the Alfvenic fluctuations. This is in qualitative agreement with the IPS velocity observations beyond 10 solar radii.

Ofman, L.↗

Space-Borne Radio-Sounding Investigations Facilitated by the Virtual Wave Observatory (VWO)

The goal of the Virtual Wave Observatory (VWO) is to provide userfriendly access to heliophysics wave data. While the VWO initially emphasized the vast quantity of wave data obtained from passive receivers, the VWO infrastructure can also be used to access active sounder data sets. Here we use examples from some half-million Alouette-2, ISIS-1, and ISIS-2 digital topside-sounder ionograms to demonstrate the desirability of such access to the actual ionograms for investigations of both natural and sounder-stimulated plasma-wave phenomena. By this demonstration, we wish to encourage investigators to make other valuable space-borne sounder data sets accessible via the VWO.

Benson, Robert F.↗

Finite-difference theory for sound propagation in a lined duct with uniform flow using the wave envelope concept

Finite difference equations are derived for sound propagation in a two dimensional, straight, soft wall duct with a uniform flow by using the wave envelope concept. This concept reduces the required number of finite difference grid points by one to two orders of magnitude depending on the length of the duct and the frequency of the sound. The governing acoustic difference equations in complex notation are derived. An exit condition is developed that allows a duct of finite length to simulate the wave propagation in an infinitely long duct. Sample calculations presented for a plane wave incident upon the acoustic liner show the numerical theory to be in good agreement with closed form analytical theory. Complete pressure and velocity printouts are given to some sample problems and can be used to debug and check future computer programs.

Baumeister, K. J.↗

Basic experimental study of the coupling between flow instabilities and incident sound

Whether a solid trailing edge is required to produce efficient coupling between sound and instability waves in a shear layer was investigated. The differences found in the literature on the theoretical notions about receptivity, and a need to resolve them by way of well-planned experiments are discussed. Instability waves in the shear layer of a subsonic jet, excited by a point sound source located external to the jet, were first visualized using an ensemble averaging technique. Various means were adopted to shield the sound reaching the nozzle lip. It was found that the low frequency sound couples more efficiently at distances downstream of the nozzle. To substantiate the findings further, a supersonic screeching jet was tested such that it passed through a small opening in a baffle placed parallel to the exit plane. The measured feedback or screech frequencies and also the excited flow disturbances changed drastically on traversing the baffle axially thus providing a strong indication that a trailing edge is not necessary for efficient coupling between sound and flow.

Ahuja, K. K.↗

High-resolution sounding rocket observations of large-amplitude Alfven waves

Shear Alfven waves with amplitudes greater than 100 mV/m were observed on two recent sounding rocket flights. The largest waveforms are best described as a series of step functions, rather than as broadband noise or as single frequency waves. Complete two-dimensional E and B measurements at 4-ms time resolution were made, showing a downward propagation direction and implying insignificant reflection from the ionosphere at frequencies greater than 1 Hz. Intense, field-aligned, low-energy electron fluxes accompany the waves. Acceleration of these electrons by the Alfven waves is shown to be feasible. The waves in at least one case have a sufficently large ponderomotive potential to generate the observed density fluctuations of order one.

Boehm, M. H.↗