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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Population studies in groups and clusters of galaxies. IV - Comparison of the luminosity functions and morphological-type distributions in seven nearby groups

Published observational data on the Leo, Dorado, NGC 1400, NGC 5044, Antlia, Fornax, and Virgo groups of galaxies are analyzed in terms of the luminosity functions and morphological types of their members. The data sets employed are characterized, and the results are presented in extensive tables and graphs and discussed in detail. While the fractions of early and late galaxies in the groups are similar, the ratio of dwarfs to giants (D/G) in the early galaxies varies monotonically with the richness of the cluster, leading to artificial flattening at the faint end of the total luminosity function in environments with low D/G. The luminosity function for dwarfs in all environments is found to have a slope of about -1.3.

Ferguson, Henry C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Seal-rotordynamic-coefficient test results for a model SSME ATD-HPFTP turbine interstage seal with and without a swirl brake

Results are presented from a test program that compares predictions and measurements for a model version of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Alternate Turbopump Development (ATD) High-Pressure Fuel Turbopump (HPFTP), with and without a swirl brake. The tests were conducted in order to establish a degree of confidence in seal calculations for the ATD turbopumps. Test results demonstrate that the proposed swirl brake design is effective in reducing the seal destabilizing forces. Without the swirl brake, the cross-coupled stiffness k increases monotonically with increasing inlet tangential velocity. With the swirl break, k tends to either be constant or decrease with increasing inlet tangential velocity. Comparisons between Scharrer's (1988) theory and measurements for the seal without a swirl brake indicate that the predictions can be used to provide design guidelines only.

Childs, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A description of the correlated k distributed method for modeling nongray gaseous absorption, thermal emission, and multiple scattering in vertically inhomogeneous atmospheres

A radiative transfer method for treating nongray gaseous absorption and thermal emission in vertically inhomogeneous multiple scattering atmospheres is described. Probability density distributions of absorption coefficient strength are derived from line-by-line calculations to construct line-by-line and band model based k distributions. The monotonic ordering of absorption coefficient strengths in these k distributions implicitly preserves the monochromatic structure of the atmosphere at different pressure levels, thus simulating monochromatic spectral integration at a fraction of the line-by-line computing cost. The k distribution approach also permits accurate modeling of overlapping absorption by different atmospheric gases and accurate treatment of nongray absorption in multiple scattering media. It is shown that the correlated k distribution method is capable of achieving numerical accuracy to within 1 percent of cooling rates obtained with line-by-line calculations throughout the troposphere and most of the stratosphere.

Lacis, Andrew A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Solar particle abundances at energies of greater than 1 MeV per nucleon and the role of interplanetary shocks

The abundances of elements in large solar energetic-particle events in the energy range of 2-12 MeV per nucleon are examined. It is confirmed that the abundances relative to mean values vary approximately monotonically as a function of mass, except for He-4; some events show a gradual depletion of heavy ions, whereas a small number displays a gradual increase. A further organization of abundance data is shown, which depends on the longitude of the source region. Enhancements in Fe/C and other heavy elements relative to C occur when source regions are near west 60 deg; the enhancements are attributed to the sampling of a flare-heated material. Depletions of these elements are found to be greatest for source regions near central meridian; they are matched by a steepening of the spectrum and can be understood in terms of diffusive shock acceleration.

Cane, H. V.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Application of path-independent integrals to elevated temperature crack growth

The applicability of the J-integral in elasto-plastic fracture mechanics is limited to isothermal, monotonic loading conditions from the theoretical viewpoint, while in many applications, for instance gas turbine engines, crack growth occurs in the presence of cyclic inelastic loading, thermomechanical loading and temperature gradients. A number of path-independent (P-I) integrals have been proposed which do not have the restrictions of the J-integral. A review indicates that four of these integrals, although they are not the classical conservation integrals, are path-independent under these complex loading conditions. This paper describes a combined analytical and experimental effort to evaluate the ability of these four P-I integrals to correlate the crack growth data of Alloy 718 at elevated temperatures. Results for uniform temperature, 538 C, cases indicate that all these integrals are capable of correlating the crack growth data over a wide range of cyclic plasticity.

Kim, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Thermal infrared properties of Titan's stratospheric aerosol

The monotonic increase with wavenumber of stratospheric IR opacities in the north polar neighborhood of Titan, in the 250-600/cm bandpass, becomes more extreme with decreasing altitude, consistent with an opacity that is primarily dependent on a high altitude photochemical aerosol, on the one hand, but which is moderated by condensed organics at lower altitudes. Because condensates exhibit a wavenumber dependence for opacity which is the opposite of that required, it is suggested that condensed nitriles may be prominent; either of these condensates may be acceptable for sufficiently large particles. While comparisons with low-latitude data indicate no clear dependence of vertically-integrated opacity on latitude above 80 km, indications of a particle size and/or composition gradient with latitude in the lower stratosphere are noted.

Samuelson, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Numerical flux formulas for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. II - Progress in flux-vector splitting

The accuracy of various numerical flux functions for the inviscid fluxes when used for Navier-Stokes computations is studied. The flux functions are benchmarked for solutions of the viscous, hypersonic flow past a 10 degree cone at zero angle of attack using first order, upwind spatial differencing. The Harten-Lax/Roe flux is found to give a good boundary layer representation, although its robustness is an issue. Some hybrid flux formulas, where the concepts of flux-vector and flux-difference splitting are combined, are shown to give unsatisfactory pressure distributions; there is still room for improvement. Investigations of low diffusion, pure flux-vector splittings indicate that a pure flux-vector splitting can be developed that eliminates spurious diffusion across the boundary layer. The resulting first-order scheme is marginally stable and not monotone.

Coirier, William J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The characterization of a crack-tip field

The stress intensity factor, K, has been successfully used as a measure of fracture toughness, and stress intensity factor range, Delta K, correlates well with the fatigue crack growth rate. This paper gives a deductive logic to demonstrate rigorously that, in the case of small-scale yielding, K and Delta K are capable of characterizing the elastic-plastic crack-tip field both under a monotonic loading and cyclic fatigue loading. This capability to characterize the entire crack-tip field is the underlying reason for the successful application of K and Delta K to linear fracture mechanics.

Liu, H. W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Anode power deposition in an applied-field segmented anode MPD thruster

Anode heat flux measurements of a water cooled segmented anode applied-field MPD thruster were made to investigate anode heat transfer phenomena. Pure argon and argon-hydrogen mixtures were used as propellants for a variety of thruster currents, propellant mass flow rates, and axial applied magnetic field strengths. The thruster was operated in two modes; with all four segments active, and with two of the segments floating. In addition, thrust and specific impulse were determined for each operating condition. The results show that the heat flux to the anode increases monotonically with axial magnetic field strength and thruster current. Between 50 and 75 percent of the anode heat flux is transported by the current carrying electrons. Convective and radiative heat transfer account for the remaining portion of the power deposited in the anode. The addition of hydrogen to the argon propellant results in the reduction of the fraction of anode power deposited by the anode fall to a level equivalent to that deposited by convection and radiation.

Myers, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A preliminary characterization of applied-field MPD thruster plumes

Electric probes, quantitative imaging, and emission spectroscopy were used to study the plume characteristics of applied-field MPD thrusters. The measurements showed that the applied magnetic field plays the dominant role in establishing the plume structure, followed in importance by the cathode geometry and propellant. The anode radius had no measurable impact on the plume characteristics. For all cases studied the plume was highly ionized, though spectral lines of neutral species were always present. Centerline electron densities and temperatures ranged from 2 x 10 to the 18th to 8 x 10 to the 18th cu m and from 7500 to 20,000 K, respectively. The plume was strongly confined by the magnetic field, with radial density gradients increasing monotonically with applied field strength. Plasma potential measurements show a strong effect of the magnetic field on the electrical conductivity and indicate the presence of radial current conduction in the plume.

Myers, Roger M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Applied-field MPD thruster geometry effects

Eight MPD thruster configurations were used to study the effects of applied-field strength, propellant, and facility pressure on thruster performance. Vacuum facility background pressures higher than about 0.12 Pa were found to significantly influence thruster performance and electrode power deposition. Thrust efficiency and specific impulse increased monotonically with increasing applied field strength. Both cathode and anode radii fundamentally influenced the efficiency-specific impulse relationship, while their lengths influenced only the magnitude of the applied magnetic field required to reach a given performance level. At a given specific impulse, large electrode radii result in lower efficiencies for the operating conditions studied. For all test conditions, anode power deposition was the largest efficiency loss, and represented between 50 percent and 80 percent of the input power. The fraction of the input power deposited into the anode decreased with increasing applied field and anode radius. The highest performance measured, 20 percent efficiency at 3700 seconds specific impulse, was obtained using hydrogen propellant.

Myers, Roger M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Observations of Scorpius X-1 with IUE - Ultraviolet results from a multiwavelength campaign

IUE UV results are presented for the low-mass X-ray binary Sco X-1. Models that predict UV continuum emission from the X-ray-heated surface from the companion star and from an X-ray illuminated accretion disk are adjusted for parameters intrinsic to Sco X-1, and fitted to the data. X-ray heating is found to be the dominant source of UV emission; the mass-accretion rate increases monotonically along the 'Z-shaped' curve in an X-ray color-color diagram. UV emission lines from He, C, N, O, and Si were detected; they all increase in intensity from the HB to the FB state. A model in which emission lines are due to outer-disk photoionization by the X-ray source is noted to give good agreement with line fluxes observed in each state.

Vrtilek, S. D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Dust scattering in the high-state eclipse of Cen X-3

Exosat data from two high-state eclipses of Cen X-3 are analyzed for the effects of dust scattering. The light curves show bright (2 per cent of the out-of-eclipse flux), smoothly varying emission which reaches its minimum after mideclipse. Of this emission, the soft flux falls monotonically with orbital phase. This soft component with dust scattering is identified and spectral models are fitted to the asymmetric emission, that is, to spectra obtained by subtracting from a spectrum at a given orbital phase before phase zero the corresponding spectrum from the equal and opposite phase after phase zero. It is found that the model of Molnar and Mauche, used to fit dust scattering in Cyg X-3, can explain the observed spectra and yields values for the distance to Cen X-3 and for the size of the dust grains of 5.4 kpc and 0.33 micron, consistent with previous observations in other wavebands.

Day, C. S. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Interpretation of DTA experiments used for crystal nucleation rate determinations

An analysis is presented of two schemes which have been proposed for the determination of the temperature dependence of homogeneous crystal nucleation rates in glasses via DTA measurements. The first method is based upon the postulate that the inverse of the temperature at which the DTA crystallization rate is maximum, will increase monotonically as the number density of nucleated particles increases. The secone method is based on the observation that the intensity at T(p) (peak height) increases as T(p) grows. The validity of both of these methods is assessed for inorganic glasses for two specific crystal growth models.

Weinberg, Michael C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Horizontal wind fluctuations in the stratosphere during large-scale cyclogenesis

The meteorological measurement system (MMS) on the U-2 aircraft measured pressure, temperature, and the horizontal wind during a cyclogenesis event over western United States on April 20, 1984. The mean horizontal wind in the stratosphere decreases monotonically with altitude. Superimposed on the mean stratospheric wind is a perturbation wind vector, which is an elliptically polarized wave with an amplitude of 4 to 10 m/s and a vertical wavelength of 2 to 3 km. The perturbation wind vector rotates anticyclonically (clockwise) with altitude and produces alternating advection in the plane of the aircraft flight path. This differential advection folds surfaces of constant tracer mixing ratio and contributes to the observed tracer laminar structures and inferred cross-jet transport.

Chan, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Irreversible transport in the stratosphere by internal waves of short vertical wavelength

Measurements performed during stratospheric flights of the U-2 aircraft confirm that cross-jet transport is dominated by waves, not by large-scale circulations. Monotonic gradients of trace constituents normal to the jet axis, with upper stratospheric tracers increasing poleward and tropospheric tracers increasing equatorward, are augmented by large-scale confluence as the jet intensifies during cyclogenesis. These gradients are rotated, intensified, and significantly increased in areas as their mixing ratio surfaces are folded by the differential transport of a very low frequency transverse wave. The quasi-horizontal transport produces a laminar structure with stable layers rich in upper stratospheric tracers alternating vertically with less stable layers rich in tropospheric tracers. The transport proceeds toward irreversibility at higher frequency, shear-gravity waves extend the folding to smaller horizontal scales.

Danielsen, Edwin F.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Crystallization and properties of Sr-Ba aluminosilicate glass-ceramic matrices

Powders of roller quenched (Sr,Ba)O-Al2O3-2SiO2 glasses of various compositions were uniaxially pressed into bars and hot isostatically pressed at 1350 C for 4 hours or cold isostatically pressed and sintered at different temperatures between 800 to 1500 C for 10 or 20 hours. Densities, flexural strengths, and linear thermal expansion were measured for three compositions. The glass transition and crystallization temperatures were determined by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The liquidus and crystallization temperature from the melt were measured using high temperature Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA). Crystalline phases formed on heat treatment of the glasses were identified by powder X ray diffraction. In Sr containing glasses, the monoclinic celsian phase always crystallized at temperatures above 1000 C. At lower temperatures, the hexagonal analog formed. The temperature for orthorhombic to hexagonal structural transformation increased monotonically with SrO content, from 327 C for BaO-Al2O3-2SiO2 to 758 C for SrO-Al2O3-2SiO2. These glass powders can be sintered to almost full densities and monoclinic celsian phase at a relatively low temperature of 1100 C.

Bansal, Narottam P.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Effects of anisotropic conduction and heat pipe interaction on minimum mass space radiators

Equations are formulated for the two dimensional, anisotropic conduction of heat in space radiator fins. The transverse temperature field was obtained by the integral method, and the axial field by numerical integration. A shape factor, defined for the axial boundary condition, simplifies the analysis and renders the results applicable to general heat pipe/conduction fin interface designs. The thermal results are summarized in terms of the fin efficiency, a radiation/axial conductance number, and a transverse conductance surface Biot number. These relations, together with those for mass distribution between fins and heat pipes, were used in predicting the minimum radiator mass for fixed thermal properties and fin efficiency. This mass is found to decrease monotonically with increasing fin conductivity. Sensitivities of the minimum mass designs to the problem parameters are determined.

Baker, Karl W.↗