SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Breakup”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 631 records · Page 35

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1977

Size distribution of particles in planetary rings

Harris (1975) has suggested that the maximum size of particles in a planetary ring is controlled by collisional fragmentation rather than tidal stress. While this conclusion is probably true, estimated radius limits must be revised upward from Harris' values of a few kilometers by at least an order of magnitude. Accretion of particles within the Roche limit is also possible. These considerations affect theories concerning the evolution of Saturn's rings, of the moon, and of possible former satellites of Mercury and Venus. In the case of Saturn's rings, comparison of various theoretical scenarios with available observational evidence suggests that the rings formed from the breakup of larger particles rather than from original condensation as small particles. This process implies a distribution of particle sizes in Saturn's rings possibly ranging up to about 100 km but with most of the cross section in centimeter-scale particles.

Greenberg, R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Tumbling-vehicle entry heating

Programs rapidly determines heating rate for any point on vehicle at any angle of attack or roll position during reentry into earth's atmosphere. Package can be used to accurately find heating environment for numerous points on vehicle as function of time for thermal protection systems or structural breakup studies.

Engel, C. D.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Cloud physics laboratory project science and applications working group

The conditions of the expansion chamber under zero gravity environment were simulated. The following three branches of fluid mechanics simulation under low gravity environment were accomplished: (1) oscillation of the water droplet which characterizes the nuclear oscillation in nuclear physics, bubble oscillation of two phase flow in chemical engineering, and water drop oscillation in meteorology; (2) rotation of the droplet which characterizes nuclear fission in nuclear physics, formation of binary stars and rotating stars in astrophysics, and breakup of the water droplet in meteorology; and (3) collision and coalescence of the water droplets which characterizes nuclear fusion in nuclear physics and processes of rain formation in meteorology.

Hung, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Recent turbulent drag reduction research at Langley Research Center

Three areas are discussed: oscillatory longitudinal curvature, large eddy breakup devices, and small longitudinal surface striations. The first two concepts produced sizable local turbulent skin friction reductions, but further research is required to optimize the effect, reduce parasitic device drag, and provide a net increase in vehicle performance. The surface striations, due to large wetted area increased for a given planform, have not yet yielded a planform-averaged skin friction reduction. Heat transfer data indicated such surfaces may have useful application in heat exchangers.

Bushnell, D. M.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Nitric oxide formation in gas turbine engines: A theoretical and experimental study

A modified Zeldovich kinetic scheme was used to predict nitric oxide formation in the burned gases. Nonuniformities in fuel-air ratio in the primary zone were accounted for by a distribution of fuel-air ratios. This was followed by one or more dilution zones in which a Monte Carlo calculation was employed to follow the mixing and dilution processes. Predictions of NOX emissions were compared with various available experimental data, and satisfactory agreement was achieved. In particular, the model is applied to the NASA swirl-can modular combustor. The operating characteristics of this combustor which can be inferred from the modeling predictions are described. Parametric studies are presented which examine the influence of the modeling parameters on the NOX emission level. A series of flow visualization experiments demonstrates the fuel droplet breakup and turbulent recirculation processes. A tracer experiment quantitatively follows the jets from the swirler as they move downstream and entrain surrounding gases. Techniques were developed for calculating both fuel-air ratio and degree of nonuniformity from measurements of CO2, CO, O2, and hydrocarbons. A burning experiment made use of these techniques to map out the flow field in terms of local equivalence ratio and mixture nonuniformity.

Mikus, T.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Geography of the asteroid belt

The CSM classification serves as the starting point on the geography of the asteroid belt. Raw data on asteroid types are corrected for observational biases (against dark objects, for instance) to derive the distribution of types throughout the belt. Recent work on family members indicates that dynamical families have a true physical relationship, presumably indicating common origin in the breakup of a parent asteroid.

Zellner, B. H.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Applications of Seasat to the offshore oil, gas and mining industries

The NASA satellite Seasat-A (to be launched in 1978) has applications to the offshore oil, gas, and mining industries including: (1) improvements in weather and wave forecasting, (2) studies of past wind and wave statistics for planning design requirements, and (3) monitoring ice formation, breakup, and movement in arctic regions. The primary geographic areas which will be monitored by Seasat-A include: the Beaufort Sea, the Labrador Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. east coast, West Africa, Equatorial East Pacific, the Gulf of Alaska, and the North Sea. Seasat-A instrumentation used in ocean monitoring consists of a radar altimeter, a radar scatterometer, a synthetic aperture radar, a microwave radiometer, and a visible and infrared radiometer. The future outlook of the Seasat program is planned in three phases: measurement feasibility demonstration (1978-1980), data accessibility/utility demonstration (1980-1983), and operational system demonstration (1983-1985).

Mourad, A. G.↗

NASA NTRS1977

The relationship between field-aligned current, carried by suprathermal electrons, and the auroral arc

Data from four auroral sounding rockets, which directly measured field-aligned currents with particle detectors, are presented. The largest fraction of the field-aligned current carried by electrons was (1) due to precipitating electrons of energy less than 1 keV; (2) located spatially at the edges of the auroral luminosity. A model is suggested in which these currents couple the ionosphere to the magnetosphere and produce the pre-breakup auroral arc.

Arnoldy, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Differential nongravitational forces in the motions of the split comets

A model of comet splitting is discussed, whereby drifting apart of the two fragments of a split comet occurs because of a slight systematic difference between the effective solar attractions they are subjected to. The net force results from the difference between the momenta transferred to the fragments by outgassing. A great advantage of this model over the traditional model is its ability to fit observations with only two parameters to be adjusted. The model requires lower velocities of separation, which implies that the breakup mechanism is a nonviolent one.

Sekanina, Z.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Some opportunities in teleoperated mining

Processes involved in remote control mining (fragmentation, material handling, ground and environmental control) are discussed with reference to longwall shear mining, the method which affords the greatest potential for the use of teleoperated systems. The breakup and haulage procedures are outlined, with attention to environmental control subsystems, i.e., noise and dust abatement. A description of a four-legged chock, attached to a section of a face conveyor and operated remotely, is presented.

Palowitch, E. R.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Atomization of water jets and sheets in axial and swirling airflows

Axial and swirling airflows were used to break up water jets and sheets into sprays of droplets to determine the overall effects of orifice diameter, weight flow of air, and the use of an air swirler on fineness of atomization as characterized by mean drop size. A scanning radiometer was used to determine the mean drop diameter of each spray. Swirling airflows were produced with an axial combustor, 70 deg blake angle, air swirling. Water jets were injected axially upstream, axially downstream and cross stream into the airflow. In addition, pressure atomizing fuel nozzles which produced a sheet and ligament type of breakup were investigated. Increasing the weight flow rate of air or the use of an air swirling markedly reduced the spray mean drop size.

Ingebo, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1978

On the fine structure of cometary plasma tails

It is argued that the small-scale structures observed close to the plasma tail axis of comets may be a consequence of well-known finite-resistivity instabilities in the cometary cross-tail current sheet. While the 'tearing' mode instability, which causes a breakup of the layer along the current flow lines, may be responsible for the observed small condensation or 'knots' near the axis, the 'ripple' mode instability may give rise to the small-scale wavy structures.

Morrison, P. J.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Atomization of water jets and sheets in axial and swirling airflows

Ingebo, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Monte Carlo analysis of satellite debris footprint dispersion

A comprehensive study is performed to investigate satellite debris impact point dispersion using a combination of Monte Carlo statistical analysis and parametric methods. The Monte Carlo technique accounts for nonlinearities in the entry point dispersion, which is represented by a covariance matrix of position and velocity errors. Because downrange distance of impact is a monotonic function of debris ballistic coefficient, a parametric method is useful for determining dispersion boundaries. The scheme is applied in the present analysis to estimate the Skylab footprint dispersions for a controlled reentry. A significant increase in the footprint dispersion is noticed for satellite breakup above a 200,000-ft altitude. A general discussion of the method used for analysis is presented together with some typical results obtained for the Skylab deboost mission, which was designed before NASA abandoned plans for a Skylab controlled reentry.

Rao, P. P.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The ring systems of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus

The ring systems of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are compared, and their origins are discussed. The locations and widths of the rings are considered in relation to various theoretical limits, noting that all the rings lie outside the lower accretion limit and the limits at which incident and orbiting bodies will break up, and inside the upper accretion limit. The ring densities at which the rings lie within their respective Roche limits, however, are found to vary greatly among the various ring systems. The above considerations lead to the conclusions that the rings of Saturn are composed primarily of ice and are the products of condensation from the protoplanetary nebula, while those of Jupiter and Uranus are the products of the breakup of nonspherical bodies.

Smoluchowski, R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

A global geochemical model for the evolution of the mantle

It is proposed that the upper mantle transition region, 220 to 670 km, is composed of eclogite which has been derived from primitive mantle by about 20 percent partial melting and that this is the source and sink of oceanic crust. The remainder of the upper mantle is garnet peridotite which is the source of continental basalts and hotspot magmas. This region is enriched in incompatible elements by hydrous and CO2 rich metasomatic fluids which have depleted the underlying layers in the L.I.L. elements and L.R.E.E. The volatiles make this a low-velocity, high attenuation, low viscosity region. The eclogite layer is internally heated and its controls the convection pattern in the upper mantle. Plate tectonics is intermittent. The continental thermal anomaly at a depth of 150-220 km triggers kimberlite and carbonatite activity, alkali and flood basalt volcanism, vertical tectonics and continental breakup. Hot spots remain active after the continents leave and build the oceanic islands. Mantle plumes rise from a depth of about 220 km. Midocean ridge basalts rise from the depleted layer below this depth. Material from this layer can also be displaced upwards by subducted oceanic lithosphere to form back-arc basins.

Anderson, D. L.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Dominant partition method

By use of the L'Huillier, Redish, and Tandy (LRT) wave function formalism, a partially connected method, the dominant partition method (DPM) is developed for obtaining few body reductions of the many body problem in the LRT and Bencze, Redish, and Sloan (BRS) formalisms. The DPM maps the many body problem to a fewer body one by using the criterion that the truncated formalism must be such that consistency with the full Schroedinger equation is preserved. The DPM is based on a class of new forms for the irreducible cluster potential, which is introduced in the LRT formalism. Connectivity is maintained with respect to all partitions containing a given partition, which is referred to as the dominant partition. Degrees of freedom corresponding to the breakup of one or more of the clusters of the dominant partition are treated in a disconnected manner. This approach for simplifying the complicated BRS equations is appropriate for physical problems where a few body reaction mechanism prevails.

Dixon, R. M.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Analysis of nuclear waste disposal in space, phase 3. Volume 2: Technical report

The options, reference definitions and/or requirements currently envisioned for the total nuclear waste disposal in space mission are summarized. The waste form evaluation and selection process is documented along with the physical characteristics of the iron nickel-base cermet matrix chosen for disposal of commercial and defense wastes. Safety aspects of radioisotope thermal generators, the general purpose heat source, and the Lewis Research Center concept for space disposal are assessed as well as the on-pad catastrophic accident environments for the uprated space shuttle and the heavy lift launch vehicle. The radionuclides that contribute most to long-term risk of terrestrial disposal were determined and the effects of resuspension of fallout particles from an accidental release of waste material were studied. Health effects are considered. Payload breakup and rescue technology are discussed as well as expected requirements for licensing, supporting research and technology, and safety testing.

Rice, E. E.↗