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At least 469 records · Page 26

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NASA NTRS1992

A numerical study of two-dimensional vortex shedding from rectangular cylinders

An efficient time-marching, non-iterative calculation method is used to analyze time-dependent flows around rectangular cylinders. The turbulent flow in the wake region of a square section cylinder is analyzed using an anisotropic k-epsilon model. Initiation and subsequent development of the vortex shedding phenomenon is naturally captured once a perturbation is introduced in the flow. Transient calculations using standard eddy-viscosity and an anisotropic k-epsilon model averaged over an integral number of cycles to get the fluctuating energy (organized and turbulent) are compared with experimental data. It is shown that the anisotropic k-epsilon model resolves the anisotropy of the Reynolds stresses and gives mean energy distribution closer to the experiment than the standard k-epsilon model.

Hadid, A. H.↗

NASA NTRS2004

K-12 Students as Ground Observers of Contrails in Support of Scientific Research

Scientists are very interested in the formation of contrails, both the type and the coverage. To be detected by a satellite-born instrument, the contrail must be of a certain size, which means that some contrails go undetected. The K-12 education community is assisting with the study of contrails by participating in a network of student observers. To provide a venue for student contrail observations, the GLOBE Contrails protocol was developed as part of the GLOBE Atmospheric Science protocols. The first year of observations has provided a rich resource for researcher.

Chambers, Lin H.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Steady-state mixing state of black carbon aerosols from a particle-resolved model

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) exerts a notable warming effect due to its strong light absorption, largely influenced by its “mixing state”. However, due to computational constraints, the mixing state is challenging to accurately represent in large-scale models. In this study, we employ a particle-resolved model to simulate the evolution of BC mixing state based on field observation. Our result shows that aerosol compositions, coating thickness (CT) distribution, and optical properties of BC aerosols all exhibit a tendency toward a steady state with a characteristic timescale of less than 1 d, considerably shorter than the BC atmospheric lifetime. The rapid attainment of a steady state suggests that it is reasonable to disregard this pre-steady-state period and instead concentrate on the average properties of BC across extensive spatial and temporal scales. The distribution of CT follows an exponential linear distribution and can be characterized by a single slope parameter k. This distribution is independent of the BC core's distribution. In the model simulation, the mean CT, equivalent to the 1/k, is 62 nm, which is consistent with the statistical results indicating a mean CT of 63 nm. Utilizing the slope parameter k, which effectively characterizes the CT distribution under the steady-state simplifying assumption, the BC absorption enhancement closely corresponds to the results obtained via the particle-resolved method. This study simplifies the BC mixing state description and yields a precise evaluation of the BC optical properties, which has the potential utility for modeling efforts in the refinement of the assessment of BC's radiative effects.

Zhang, Zhouyang↗

NASA NTRS1989

K-distribution and polarimetric terrain radar clutter

A multivariate K-distribution is proposed to model the statistics of fully polarimetric radar data from earth terrain with polarizations HH, HV, VH, and VV. In this approach, correlated polarizations of radar signals, as characterized by a covariance matrix, are treated as the sum of N n-dimensional random vectors; N obeys the negative binomial distribution with a parameter alpha and mean N-bar. Subsequently, an n-dimensional K-distribution, with either zero or nonzero mean, is developed in the limit of infinite N-bar or illuminated area. The probability density function (PDF) of the K-distributed vector normalized by its Euclidean norm is independent of the parameter alpha and is the same as that derived from a zero-mean Gaussian-distributed random vector.

Yueh, S. H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Remote sensing of earth terrain

Two monographs and 85 journal and conference papers on remote sensing of earth terrain have been published, sponsored by NASA Contract NAG5-270. A multivariate K-distribution is proposed to model the statistics of fully polarimetric data from earth terrain with polarizations HH, HV, VH, and VV. In this approach, correlated polarizations of radar signals, as characterized by a covariance matrix, are treated as the sum of N n-dimensional random vectors; N obeys the negative binomial distribution with a parameter alpha and mean bar N. Subsequently, and n-dimensional K-distribution, with either zero or non-zero mean, is developed in the limit of infinite bar N or illuminated area. The probability density function (PDF) of the K-distributed vector normalized by its Euclidean norm is independent of the parameter alpha and is the same as that derived from a zero-mean Gaussian-distributed random vector. The above model is well supported by experimental data provided by MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the form of polarimetric measurements.

Kong, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The thermal structure and energy balance of the Uranian upper atmosphere

Uranus upper atmosphere occultation observations are reported for August 15-16, 1980, and April 26, 1981. Mean atmospheric light curves of 154 + or - 15 K and 132 + or - 15 K, respectively, are derived from the light curves. A comparison of all available Uranus occultation data since March 1977 suggests a significant mean atmospheric temperature change, with a typical 15 K/year variation. It is suggested that molecular and eddy diffusion, together with atmospheric dynamics, are potentially as important as radiation in the upper atmosphere heat balance of Uranus. The close agreement of occultation immersion and emersion temperatures further suggests that effective meridional transport occurs on Uranus.

French, R. G.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Estimating Soil Thermal Inertia Profiles From the Passive Equilibration of a Temperature Probe

Knowledge of the distribution of soil thermal properties is important for understanding subsurface hydrological and biogeochemical processes. This study describes and evaluates quick thermal profiling (QTP), a new measurement technique aimed at providing rapid, depth-resolved measurements of soil thermal inertia at numerous locations across the landscape. A cylindrical probe with temperature sensors at multiple depths is quickly inserted into the ground, and soil thermal inertia is estimated from how quickly the probe temperature equilibrates with the soil. To this end, a finite volume heat transfer model is used to generate temperature equilibration time series across combinations of controlling factors, and a gridded search inversion approach is applied to infer soil thermal inertia. Field tests in the Arctic indicate that QTP measurements have a minimum uncertainty of 0.14 J m −2 K −1 s −1/2 and covary with dual-probe heat pulse thermal analyzer measurements (concordance correlation coefficient = 0.56) with a root-mean-square error of 0.40 J m −2 K −1 s −1/2 . Besides demonstrating the value of QTP for estimating thermal inertia, this study identifies various sources of measurement uncertainty, particularly probe-soil contact resistance and frictional heating. Further, analysis of soil samples indicates that thermal inertia can be used to estimate thermal conductivity and dry bulk density in the studied area, although such inferences are highly site-specific. Overall, the QTP method holds promise to generate thermal inertia data products and to complement other characterization approaches for advancing understanding of soil properties across far more locations than is currently possible.

Lamb, J. R. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory↗

DOE OSTI2021

Electronic and optical properties of plutonium metal and oxides from Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy

Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectra (REELS) have been acquired on plutonium δ-Pu-Ga alloys, α-Pu 2 O 3 and PuO 2 . The position of the peaks attributable to the Pu 6p excitation can be used as ‘fingerprint’ for these species. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy has been used to aid interpretation of the REELS spectra. The band gap of PuO 2 was determined from the onset of the energy loss in the REELS spectrum. The REELS data have been evaluated within the dielectric response theory by means of the QUEELS-ε(k, w)-REELS software. In this work, the Energy Loss Function, dielectric function, refractive index and extinction coefficient for these materials have been determined in the ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet range and are compared to previously reported results.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2026

Development and assessment of models for turbulent Rayleigh-Taylor mixing using the macroscopic forcing method

Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations are a popular method for designing ICF experiments, and accurate mixing models are crucial for these simulations to give good predictions. To this end, the present work seeks to demonstrate the Macroscopic Forcing Method (MFM) as a tool for both improving existing RANS models as well as assessing RANS model forms. First, MFM analysis from Lavacot et al. (Phys. Rev. Fluids, 2025) is used to develop the k–L–F model, an extension of the k–L model of Dimonte and Tipton (Phys. Fluids, 2006) that incorporates nonlocality through addition of a turbulent species flux transport equation. MFM is then applied to the k–L–F model along with the k–L and BHR–4 models to assess their forms and compare the model-implied eddy diffusivity moments to those measured from high-fidelity simulations. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that models incorporating nonlocality (k–L–F and BHR–4) match the high-fidelity simulation data better than purely local models (k–L), both in terms of mean fields and eddy diffusivity moments. However, all of the considered RANS models struggle to match temporal moments at high Atwood numbers, highlighting the importance of temporal nonlocality in these regimes and the need for additional improvement even among models incorporating nonlocality.

general physics↗

DOE OSTI2022

A physical method for downscaling land surface temperatures using surface energy balance theory

Fine-resolution land surface temperature (LST) derived from thermal infrared remote sensing images is a good indicator of surface water status and plays an essential role in the exchange of energy and water between land and atmosphere. A physical surface energy balance (SEB)-based LST downscaling method (DTsEB) is developed to downscale coarse remotely sensed thermal infrared LST products with fine-resolution visible and near-infrared data. Here, the DTsEB method is advantageous for its ability to mechanically interrelate surface variables contributing to the spatial variation of LST, to quantitatively weigh the contributions of each related variable within a physical framework, and to efficaciously avoid the subjective selection of scaling factors and the establishment of statistical regression relationships. The applicability of the DTsEB method was tested by downscaling 12 scenes of 990 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and aggregated Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) LST products to 90 m resolution at six overpass times between 2005 and 2015 over three 9.9 km by 9.9 km cropland (mixed by grass, tree, and built-up land) study areas. Three typical LST downscaling methods, namely the widely applied TsHARP, the later developed least median square regression downscaling (LMS) and the geographically weighted regression (GWR), were introduced for intercomparison. The results showed that the DTsEB method could more effectively reconstruct the subpixel spatial variations in LST within the coarse-resolution pixels and achieve a better downscaling accuracy than the TsHARP, LMS and GWR methods. The DTsEB method yielded, on average, root mean square errors (RMSEs) of 2.01 K and 1.42 K when applied to the MODIS datasets and aggregated ASTER datasets, respectively, which were lower than those obtained with the TsHARP method, with average RMSEs of 2.41 K and 1.71 K, the LMS method, with average RMSEs of 2.35 K and 1.63 K, and the GWR method, with average RMSEs of 2.38 K and 1.64 K, respectively. The contributions of the related surface variables to the subpixel spatial variation in the LST varied both spatially and temporally and were different from each other. In summary, the DTsEB method was demonstrated to outperform the TsHARP, LMS, and GWR methods and could be used as a good alternative for downscaling LST products from coarse to fine resolution with high robustness and accuracy.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

The stellar parameters and elemental abundances from low-resolution spectra – I. 1.2 million giants from LAMOST DR8

As a typical data-driven method, deep learning becomes a natural choice for analysing astronomical data. In this study, we built a deep convolutional neural network (NN) to estimate basic stellar parameters $T\rm {_{eff}}$, log g , metallicity ([M/H] and [Fe/H]) and [α/M] along with nine individual elemental abundances ([C/Fe], [N/Fe], [O/Fe], [Mg/Fe], [Al/Fe], [Si/Fe], [Ca/Fe], [Mn/Fe], and [Ni/Fe]). The NN is trained using common stars between the APOGEE survey and the LAMOST survey. We used low-resolution spectra from LAMOST survey as input, and measurements from APOGEE as labels. For stellar spectra with the signal-to-noise ratio in g band larger than 10 in the test set, the mean absolute error (MAE) is 29 K for $T\rm {_{eff}}$, 0.07 dex for log g , 0.03 dex for both [Fe/H] and [M/H], and 0.02 dex for [α/M]. The MAE of most elements is between 0.02 and 0.04 dex. The trained NN was applied to 1210 145 giants, including sub-giants, from LAMOST DR8 within the range of stellar parameters 3500 K < $T\rm {_{eff}}$ < 5500 K, 0.0 dex < log g < 4.0 dex, −2.5 dex < [Fe/H] < 0.5 dex. The distribution of our results in the chemical spaces is highly consistent with APOGEE labels and stellar parameters show consistency with external high-resolution measurements from GALAH. The results in this study allow us to further studies based on LAMOST data and deepen our understanding of the accretion and evolution history of the Milky Way. The electronic version of the value added catalog is available at http://www.lamost.org/dr8/v1.1/doc/vac.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Kaonic Hanbury-Brown–Twiss radii at 200 GeV and 5.02 TeV

Here, we use 3 + 1 dimensional quasiparticle anisotropic hydrodynamics (aHydroQP) to make predictions for kaon Hanbury-Brown–Twiss (HBT) radii in 200 GeV and 5.02 TeV heavy-ion collisions. Using previously determined aHydroQP parameters, we compute kaonic HBT radii and their ratios as a function of the mean transverse momentum of the pair k T . We first consider Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV, finding good agreement between aHydroQP predictions and experimental data up to k T ≈ 0.8 GeV. We then present predictions for kaonic HBT radii and their ratios in 5.02 TeV Pb-Pb collisions. Our aHydroQP predictions do not exhibit a clear k T scaling of the pion and kaon source radii, however, an approximate transverse mass m T scaling is observed, particularly at 200 GeV.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

CEFR simulation using diffusion code system RAST-F

In this study, the RAST-F code system, which is based on the two-step approach that couples a multi-group cross-section generation Monte-Carlo (MC) code and a multi-group nodal diffusion solver, was used for the neutronic simulation of the CEFR start-up experiments. The numerical solution of the RAST-F system was verified against the full core MC solution MCS at all control rods fully inserted and withdrawn states. The RAST-F solution of the selected experimental simulations was compared against the measurement data. A good agreement between RAST-F and MCS solutions was observed with less than 120 pcm discrepancies and 1.2% root-mean-square error in terms of k{sub eff} and power distribution, respectively. Meanwhile, the RAST-F result agreed well with the experimental data within two-sigma of experimental uncertainty. The good agreement of these results indicates that RAST-F can be used to neutronic steady-state simulations for small core-size SFR, which was challenged to deterministic code systems. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

NASA NTRS1976

Direct observation of small cluster mobility and ripening

Direct evidence is reported for the simultaneous occurrence of Ostwald ripening and short-distance cluster mobility during annealing of discontinuous metal films on clean amorphous substrates. The annealing characteristics of very thin particulate deposits of silver on amorphized clean surfaces of single-crystalline thin graphite substrates have been studied by in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) under controlled environmental conditions in the temperature range from 25 to 450 C. It was possible to monitor all stages of the experiments by TEM observation of the same specimen area. Slow Ostwald ripening was found to occur over the entire temperature range, but the overriding surface transport mechanism was short-distance cluster mobility. This was concluded from in situ observations of individual particles during annealing and from measurements of cluster size distributions, cluster number densities, area coverages, and mean cluster diameters.

Heinemann, K.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Application of remote sensor data to geologic analysis of the Bonanza test site, Colorado

The author has identified the following significant results. The Hayden Pass (Orient mine area) includes 60 sq miles of the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains and San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado. Based on interpretation of the remote sensor data, a geologic map was prepared and compared with a second geologic map, prepared from interpretation of both remote sensor data and field data. Comparison of the two maps gives an indication of the usefulness and reliability of the remote sensor data. The relative utility of color and color infrared photography was tested. The photography was used successfully to locate 75% of all faults in a portion of the geologically complex Bonanza volcanic center and to map and correctly identify 93% of all quaternary deposits and 62% of all areas of tertiary volcanic outcrop. Using a filter wheel photometer, more than 8,600 measurements of band reflectance of several sedimentary rocks were performed. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) the typical spectral reflectance curve shows a gradual increase with increasing wavelength; (2) the average band reflectance is about 0.20; and (3) within a formation, the minimum natural variation is about 0.04, or about 20% of the mean band reflectance.

Lee, K.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Early meteorological results from the Viking 2 lander

Early results from the meteorological instruments on the Viking 2 lander are presented. As on lander 1, the daily patterns of temperature, wind, and pressure have been highly repetitive during the early summer period. The average daily maximum temperature was 241 K and the diurnal minimum was 191 K. The wind has a vector mean of 0.7 meter per second from the southeast with a diurnal amplitude of 3 meters per second. Pressure exhibits both diurnal and semidiurnal oscillations, although of substantially smaller amplitude than those of lander 1. Departures from the repetitive diurnal patterns begin to appear on sol 37.

Hess, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Compatibility of seasonal variations in mid-latitude thermospheric models at solar maximum and low geomagnetic activity

Satellite drag data, in situ mass spectrometer data, Fabry Perot interferometer data, and incoherent scatter data were used to produce models of the concentration of atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen in the thermosphere and of the exospheric temperature. Incoherent scatter data from two stations near 45 deg N were used. The three techniques provide similar patterns for the annual variations of the atomic oxygen concentration at 400 km, and the mean annual temperatures are within 20 K of each other for five of the six models involved. Four of the models are in good agreement concerning the annual temperature variation. There is fair agreement between incoherent scatter models and mass spectrometer models for the N2 concentrations at 400 km but disagreement between these models and the satellite drag model. It is shown that most disagreements can be resolved by changing both the vertical temperature profile and the lower-thermosphere oxygen concentration in the direction indicated by previous incoherent scatter measurements.

Alcayde, D.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Application of finite element techniques in predicting the acoustic properties of turbofan inlets

An analytical technique was developed for predicting the acoustic performance of turbofan inlets carrying a subsonic axisymmetric steady flow. The finite element method combined with the method of weighted residuals is used in predicting the acoustic properties of variable area, annular ducts with or without acoustic treatments along their walls. An approximate solution for the steady inviscid flow field is obtained using an integral method for calculating the incompressible potential flow field in the inlet with a correction to account for compressibility effects. The accuracy of the finite element technique was assessed by comparison with available analytical solutions for the problems of plane and spinning wave propagation through a hard walled annular cylinder with a constant mean flow.

Majjigi, R. K.↗