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At least 433 records · Page 24

Three-dimensional Hydrodynamical Simulations of Mass Transfer in Binary Systems by a Free Wind

A large fraction of stars in binary systems are expected to undergo mass and angular momentum exchange at some point in their evolution, which can drastically alter the chemical and dynamical properties and fates of the systems. Interaction by stellar wind is an important process in wide binaries. However, the details of wind mass transfer are still not well understood. We perform three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of wind mass transfer in binary systems to explore mass-accretion efficiencies and geometries of mass outflows, for a range of mass ratios from 0.05 to 1.0. In particular, we focus on the case of a free wind, in which some physical mechanism accelerates the expelled wind material balancing the gravity of the mass-losing star with the wind velocity comparable to the orbital velocity of the system. We find that the mass-accretion efficiency and accreted specific angular momentum increase with the mass ratio of the system. For an adiabatic wind, we obtain that the accretion efficiency onto the secondary star varies from about 0.1% to 8% for mass ratios between 0.05 and 1.0.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Preliminary investigation of the effect of a rotating cylinder in a wing

Into the leading edge of a wing with arbitrary cross-section, there is introduced a cylinder, which can be rotated by an electric motor by means of a cord. Observations were made in the wind tunnel on how the lift at different wind velocities was affected by rotating this cylinder.

AERODYNAMICS - WIND PROPULSION↗

Design study of an entry probe spectro-reflectometer

A wind tunnel was built to simulate the rapid movement of an entry probe through the Jupiter atmosphere. Wind speeds range from 1 to 50 meters per second in a closed system. Wind velocity and temperature probes as well as a cryogenically cooled cold finger can be placed in the 6 inch diameter viewing section. The initial testing of the wind tunnel involved running sectional profiles through the observation port of air currents of 0.1 to 3.0 atmosphere. The velocity profile was very uniform throughout the cross section of the experimental port, with the exception of the wall effects. The deposition of cooled volatiles using the wind tunnel was not performed. However, measurements of the deposition of H2O ice on a cryogenically cooled thickness modulator were made under ambient conditions, namely room temperature and pressure. In the Frost Depositon Test Facility, ice deposition was measured at thicknesses of about a half millimeter and frost was produced whose thickness reflectivity could easily be measured by reflectance spectroscopy.

Sill, G. T.↗

Quantifying wind plant blockage under stable atmospheric conditions

Wind plant blockage reduces the wind velocity upstream undermining turbine performance for the first row of the plant. We assess how atmospheric stability modifies the induction zone of a wind plant in flat terrain. We also explore different approaches to quantifying the magnitude and extent of the induction zone from field-like observations. To investigate the influence from atmospheric stability, we compare simulations of two stable boundary layers using the Weather Research and Forecasting model in large-eddy simulation mode, representing wind turbines using the generalized actuator disk approach. We find a faster cooling rate at the surface, which produces a stronger stably stratified boundary layer, amplifies the induction zone of both an isolated turbine and of a large wind plant. A statistical analysis on the hub-height wind speed field shows wind slowdowns only extend far upstream (up to 15D) of a wind plant in strong stable boundary layers. To evaluate different ways of measuring wind plant blockage from field-like observations, we consider various ways of estimating the freestream velocity upstream of the plant. Sampling a large area upstream is the most accurate approach to estimating the freestream conditions, and thus of measuring the blockage effect. Also, the choice of sampling method may induce errors of the same order as the velocity deficit in the induction zone.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Wind-enhanced escape with application to terrestrial helium

We derive a simple expression for the escape flux which takes into account horizontal winds at the exobase. The escape flux is shown to increase with the wind velocity and becomes much larger than the Jeans escape flux for velocities approaching the thermal velocity. This model is applied to terrestrial He-4, where we determine the conditions required for wind-enhanced escape to contribute to the overall He-4 budget. For completeness, we also derive an expression for the escape flux when only a vertical wind is present at the exobase.

Hartle, R. E.↗

Surface pressure measurements on the blade of an operating Mod-2 wind turbine with and without vortex generators

Pressure measurements covering a range of wind velocities were made at one span location on the surface of an operating Mod-2, 2500 kW, wind turbine blade. The data, which were taken with and without vortex generators installed on the leading edge, show the existence of higher pressure coefficients than would be expected from two-dimensional wind tunnel data. These high pressure ratios may be the result of three-dimensional flow over the blade, which delays flow separation. Data are presented showing the repetitiveness of abrupt changes in the pressure distribution that occur as the blade rotates. Calculated values of suction and flap coefficients are also presented.

Nyland, Ted W.↗

Analysis of records from four airliners in the Denver microburst, July 11, 1988

Flight and radar position records are analyzed to determine the winds encountered by four airliners that penetrated a multicell microburst on approach to Denver's Stapleton International Airport. The results show significant expansion in the size of the microburst, and indicate that there were fluctuations in the internal wind velocity. At its peak strength, as experienced by the second aircraft, the microburst produced a head-wind-to-tail-wind shear of 115 ft/sec. The wind patterns derived from the flight-data analysis are in general agreement with results derived from Doppler weather radar and from a numerical microburst simulation.

Coppenbarger, R. A.↗

NASA/LMSC coherent LIDAR airborne shear sensor: System capabilities and flight test plans

The primary objective of the NASA/LMSC Coherent Lidar Airborne Shear Sensor (CLASS) system flight tests is to evaluate the capability of an airborne coherent lidar system to detect, measure, and predict hazardous wind shear ahead of the aircraft with a view to warning flight crew of any impending dangers. On NASA's Boeing 737 Transport Systems Research Vehicle, the CLASS system will be used to measure wind velocity fields and, by incorporating such measurements with real-time aircraft state parameters, identify regions of wind shear that may be detrimental to the aircraft's performance. Assessment is to be made through actual wind shear encounters in flight. Wind shear measurements made by the class system will be compared to those made by the aircraft's in situ wind shear detection system as well as by ground-based Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) and airborne Doppler radar. By examining the aircraft performance loss (or gain) due to wind shear that the lidar predicts with that actually experienced by the aircraft, the performance of the CLASS system as a predictive wind shear detector will be assessed.

Robinson, Paul↗

TPSAS-NF1676L-18834-DND

This presentation will give an overview of the 20-plus years of pulsed transmit laser development at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to enable a coherent Doppler wind lidar to measure global winds from earth orbit. Our group at LaRC has been developing the pulsed laser and other coherent lidar technologies for the global wind mission since the late 1980s. The causal path followed has been from space mission requirements to coherent lidar requirements to component requirements to technology development and finally to ground and aircraft validation. We will describe the development and deployment of Doppler Aerosols Wind Lidar (DAWN) for airborne measurement of wind velocity and direction. The will also present the status of ongoing fully conductively-cooled 2-micron wind lidar transmitter for NASA 3-D winds mission.

Upendra N Singh↗

A Green's Function Wind Turbine Induction Model That Incorporates Complex Inflow Conditions

ABSTRACT In this work, we develop a new analytical turbine induction model that can incorporate complex inflow conditions including cases where the wind velocity and temperature profiles can vary as functions of height. This induction model is derived from the linearized Navier–Stokes and leads to a second‐order ODE that can be solved using a Green's function formulation. The corresponding Green's function for several configurations are found including the infinite domain, semi‐infinite domain with ground plane, and a power law velocity inflow profile. The results of this approach are then compared with simulations of the turbine induction field using the AMR‐Wind CFD solver with a uniformly loaded actuator disk model. These comparisons show that the Green's function approach captures the centerline blockage, three‐dimensional blockage flow field, and streamwise velocity slow down, with very good agreement for lower thrust conditions and at larger distances away from rotor disk. The effects of shear on the turbine blockage were also compared using a power law inflow profile, and we show that this approach matches the CFD predictions for the cases considered.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Radar observations of inertial period waves in the lower stratosphere over Arecibo

Several hundred hours of wind velocity measurements made with the Arecibo 430-MHz radar during the past few years have indicated the presence of persistent wave like structures just above the tropopause. To further investigate these structures, a nearly continuous times series of wind measurements in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere was made from May 5 to May 12, 1982 at Arecibo. Each of 16 compass points was sampled as the 430-MHz feed was rotated in a velocity azimuth display (VAD) mode at a zenith angle of 15 degrees off-vertical. Using a nonlinear least squares parameter estimation technique line of sight velocities were calculated from Doppler shifts of the received spectra. These velocities were reduced to zonal and meridional components of the wind vector; the vertical component of the wind vector will be available after further reduction.

Cornish, C. R.↗

Sensitivity analysis of numerical modeling input parameters on floating offshore wind turbine loads

Abstract. Floating wind turbines must withstand a unique and challenging set of loads from the wind and ocean environment. To de-risk development, accurate predictions of these loads are necessary. Uncertainty in modeling predictions leads to larger required safety factors, increasing project costs and the levelized cost of energy. Complex aero-hydro-elastic modeling tools use many input parameters to represent the wind, waves, current, aerodynamic loads, hydrodynamic loads, and structural properties. It is helpful to understand which of these parameters ultimately drives a design. In this work, an ultimate and fatigue-proxy load sensitivity analysis was performed with 35 different input parameters, using an elementary effects approach to identify the most influential parameters for a case study involving the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5 MW baseline wind turbine atop the OC4-DeepCwind semisubmersible during normal operation. The importance of each parameter was evaluated using 14 response quantities of interest across three operational wind speed conditions. The study concludes that turbulent wind velocity standard deviation is the parameter with the strongest sensitivity; this value is important not just for turbine loads, but also for the global system response. The system center of mass in the wind direction is found to have the highest impact on the system rotation and tower loads. The current velocity is found to be the most dominating parameter for the system global motion and consequently the mooring loads. All tested wind turbulence parameters in addition to the standard deviation are also found to be influential. Wave characteristics are influential for some fatigue-proxy loading but do not significantly impact the extreme ultimate loads in these operational load cases. The required number of random seeds for stochastic environmental conditions is considered to ensure that the sensitivities are due to the input parameters and not due to the seed. The required number of analysis points in the parameter space is identified so that the conclusions represent a global sensitivity. The results are specific to the platform, turbine, and choice of parameter ranges, but the demonstrated approach can be applied widely to guide focus in parameter uncertainty.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Field Deployment of a Portable Optical Spectrometer for Methane Fugitive Emissions Monitoring on Oil and Gas Well Pads

We present field deployment results of a portable optical absorption spectrometer for localization and quantification of fugitive methane (CH 4 ) emissions. Our near-infrared sensor targets the 2$ν_3$ R(4) CH 4 transition at 6057.1 cm −1 (1651 nm) via line-scanned tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), with Allan deviation analysis yielding a normalized 2.0 ppmv∙Hz −1/2 sensitivity (4.5 × 10 −6 Hz −1/2 noise-equivalent absorption) over 5 cm open-path length. Controlled CH 4 leak experiments are performed at the METEC CSU engineering facility, where concurrent deployment of our TDLAS and a customized volatile organic compound (VOC) sensor demonstrates good linear correlation (R 2 = 0.74) over high-flow (>60 SCFH) CH 4 releases spanning 4.4 h. In conjunction with simultaneous wind velocity measurements, the leak angle-of-arrival (AOA) is ascertained via correlation of CH 4 concentration and wind angle, demonstrating the efficacy of single-sensor line-of-sight (LOS) determination of leak sources. Finally, source magnitude estimation based on a Gaussian plume model is demonstrated, with good correspondence (R 2 = 0.74) between calculated and measured release rates.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Impact dynamics research facility for full-scale aircraft crash testing

An impact dynamics research facility (IDRF) was developed to crash test full-scale general aviation aircraft under free-flight test conditions. The aircraft are crashed into the impact surface as free bodies; a pendulum swing method is used to obtain desired flight paths and velocities. Flight paths up to -60 deg and aircraft velocities along the flight paths up to about 27.0 m/s can be obtained with a combination of swing-cable lengths and release heights made available by a large gantry. Seven twin engine, 2721-kg aircraft were successfully crash tested at the facility, and all systems functioned properly. Acquisition of data from signals generated by accelerometers on board the aircraft and from external and onboard camera coverage was successful in spite of the amount of damage which occurred during each crash. Test parameters at the IDRF are controllable with flight path angles accurate within 8 percent, aircraft velocity accurate within 6 percent, pitch angles accurate to 4.25 deg, and roll and yaw angles acceptable under wind velocities up to 4.5 m/s.

Vaughan, V. L. J.↗

Some characteristics of electric field momentum coupling with the neutral atmosphere

A three-dimensional model has been developed to describe momentum coupling between high-latitude electric fields, neutral winds, temperature, and composition. The Hall drag is found to be the main source for atmospheric winds and the small divergence component of winds is due to the Pedersen drag and the Hall drag. Adiabatic heat transfer is responsible for the back pressure which damps the divergence field and for the reversal in circulation of the divergence field at higher altitudes. Back pressure causes a decrease in total wind velocity of about 10% at exospheric heights and by a factor of about 2 at 120 km. The wind field with the pressure feedback may be simulated by neglecting pressure variations and the Coriolis force. Density variations of Ar, N2, O, and He, induced by the momentum source, are in phase above 120 km and out of phase with the temperature amplitude above 150 km. The electrostatic field momentum source is ineffective for directly inducing density and temperature variations in the upper thermosphere.

Mayr, H. G.↗