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At least 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Unusual features in the persistent emission of the Rapid Burster

Several distinct features in the persistent X-ray emission after long (greater than 30 s) type II bursts from the Rapid Burster were discovered in August 1985. A specific pattern characterized by a 'hump' was observed in the early portion of the persistent emission after type II bursts with integrated fluxes less than about 4.8 x 10 exp -6 erg/sq cm. This hump which typically lasts about 200 s is almost never observed after bursts with fluences greater than this value. The emission during the hump is found to be always harder than the average persistent emission. Quasi-periodic oscillations with frequencies of about 40 mHz observed in 10 cases occur exclusively during a hump. The persistent emission also exhibited sharp 'glitches' and small 'bumps' lasting about 20-100 s. The glitches always occurred at the same phase in the intervals between bursts. In seven cases the glitches were followed by a bump.

Lubin, Lori M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Using rapid infrared forming to control interfaces in titanium-matrix composites

Control of the fiber-matrix reaction during composite fabrication is commonly achieved by shortening the processing time, coating the reinforcement with relatively inert materials, or adding alloying elements to retard the reaction. To minimize the processing time, a rapid IR forming (RIF) technique for metal-matrix composite fabrication has been developed. Experiments have shown that the RIF technique is a quick, simple, and low-cost process to fabricate titanium-alloy matrix composites reinforced with either silicon carbide or carbon fibers. Due to short processing times (typically on the order of 1-2 minutes in an inert atmosphere for composites with up to eight-ply reinforcements), the interfacial reaction is limited and well controlled. Composites fabricated by this technique have mechanical properties that are comparable to (in several cases, superior to) those made with conventional diffusion-bonding techniques.

Warrier, Sunil G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Photometric light curves for ten rapidly rotating stars in Alpha Persei, the Pleiades, and the field

We present the results from a photometric monitoring program of ten rapidly rotating stars observed during 1991 using the FLWO 48-in. telescope. Brightness variations for an additional six cluster stars observed with the Lick 40-in. telescope are also given. The periods and light curves for seven Alpha Persei members, two Pleiades members, and one naked T Tauri field star are reported.

Prosser, Charles F.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Banded surface flow maintained by convection in a model of the rapidly rotating giant planets

In three-dimensional numerical simulations of a rapidly rotating Boussinesq fluid shell, thermally driven convection in the form of columns parallel to the rotation axis generates an alternately directed mean zonal flow with a cylindrical structure. The mean structure at the outer spherical surface consists of a broad eastward flow at the equator and alternating bands of westward and eastward flows at higher latitudes in both hemispheres. The banded structure persists even though the underlying convective motions are time-dependent. These results, although still far from the actual motions seen on Jupiter and Saturn, provide support for theoretical suggestions that thermal convection can account for the remarkable banded flow structures on these planets.

Sun, Zi-Ping↗
NASA NTRS1993

Radon measurements in the lower tropical stratosphere - Evidence for rapid vertical transport and dehydration of tropospheric air

During the tropical experiment of NASA's Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange Program (STEP), in situ radon and other trace constituent measurements were made aboard a NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft to investigate the mechanisms of irreversible transfers from the troposphere into the tropical stratosphere. Observations made in and downwind of the cirrus shields of three large tropical cyclones and downwind of the cirrus anvil of a large cumulonimbus cloud cluster showed several clear instances of elevated radon activity occurring simultaneously with low total water mixing ratios. These observations are unambiguous evidence of an effective dehydration process, capable of reducing total water vapor mixing ratios to less than 2.5 ppmv, occurring in conjunction with troposphere-to-stratosphere transport and indicate that rapid localized convection, rather than slow regional mean motions, was responsible for the observed transports and associated with the accompanying dehydration. Radon activities measured in regions of active or recent troposphere-to-stratosphere transport were consistent with the 17 pCi/scm mean value needed to support the observed abundance of stratospheric 210 Pb.

Kritz, Mark A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Formation of a 'planet' by rapid evaporation of a pulsar's companion

A model based on the binary configuration of the PSR1829-10 pulsar (Bailes et al., 1991) is used to show that the formation of a binary pulsar with a planet-size companion, large original separation, and small eccentricity could result from the rapid evaporation of a much more massive binary companion by the pulsar's radiation. Such an evaporation process is known to be taking place in at least two other binary pulsars: PSR1957 + 20 (Fruchter et al., 1990; Ryba and Taylor, 1991) and PSR1744 - 24A (Lyne et al., 1990). It is shown here that, about one million years ago, the companion mass and binary separation could have been comparable to those currently observed in the eclipsing binary pulsar PSR1957 + 20.

Rasio, F. A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Rapid transaction-undo recovery using twin-page storage management

This paper presents a twin-page storage method, which is an alternative to the TWIST (twin slot) approach by Reuter, for rapid transaction-undo recovery. In contrast to TWIST, our twin-page approach allows dirty pages in the buffer to be written at any instant onto disk without the requirement of undo logging, and, when a transaction is aborted, no explicit undo is required. As a result, all locks accumulated by the aborted transaction can be released earlier, allowing other transactions waiting for the locks to proceed. Through maintenance of aborted transaction identifiers, invalid pages written by the aborted transaction coexist with other valid pages and are guaranteed not be accessed by subsequent transactions. Instead of an explicit undo, most of the invalid pages are overwritten by subsequent normal updates. Performance in terms of disk I/O and CPU overhead for transaction-undo recovery is analyzed and compared with TWIST. It is shown that our scheme is particularly suited for applications where there are a large number of updates written onto disk when transactions are aborted, and there are frequent aborts. The approach, however, is not as applicable to environments where transactions are typically short or rarely aborted, or most updates are not written onto disk before a commitment.

Wu, Kun-Lung↗
NASA NTRS1993

Spiral density waves resonantly excited by a rapidly rotating bar

Recent observations at millimeter wavelengths have revealed bar-spiral structures in the central regions of several nearby spiral galaxies. Moreover, new infrared data and even COBE data seem to support the idea that there is a bar in the central regions of the Milky Way. All of these new findings have rekindled the interest in bar-driven spirals again. First, the mechanism that is responsible for exciting the spiral density waves near the resonances is reviewed, and then a theory to account for the highly nonlinear behavior of the gas associated with the waves is presented. The new results have again demonstrated that the 3 kpc arm phenomenon can be reproduced by a rapidly rotating bar in the galactic center. Similarly, in terms of the resonance excitation mechanism, the recent high-resolution radio observations of the bar-spiral structure in the central regions of nearby galaxies can be explained.

Yuan, Chi↗
NASA NTRS1991

An experimental study of the effects of rapid rotation on turbulence

The effects of rotation on grid turbulence were studied in a low speed tunnel. Results are presented for both axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric flows. As observed by previous workers, the cascade process was seen to be effectively blocked by rotation leading to reduced dissipation. In the non-axisymmetric case, rotation caused the flow to tend rapidly towards axisymmetry; however, for the length studied, the flow tended to move away from isotropy. Based on the results, some recommendations are made on the design of a larger facility for studying similar flows.

Veeravalli, Srinivas V.↗
NASA NTRS1932

Rapid chemical test for the identification of chromium-molybdenum steel

This note describes a simple, rapid, qualitative test which can be applied to solutions of drilling or chips for the identification of chromium-molybdenum steel. The test is based on the orange-red compound which is formed when thiocyanate and inequivalent molybdenum react. This test is much more reliable than the potassium ethylxanthate test which has been recommended for a like purpose. A list of the apparatus and reagents which are required, and a description of the procedure follows.

Redmond, John C↗
NASA NTRS1935

Flight Tests of a Balanced Split Flap with Particular Reference to Rapid Operation

The flight path of a small parasol monoplane equipped with a special type of balanced split flap was determined for a series of glides during which the time taken to deflect or retract the flap was varied from 1 to 15 seconds in order to study the effect of the time taken to complete a flap movement on the motion of an airplane between the start of a flap movement and the attainment of steady flight with the new flap setting. For flap movements accompanied by a change of lift characteristics, and consequently of velocity, there is an appreciable delay in obtaining a desired change in glide angle even though the flap is operated instantaneously. Immediate control of the glide path is obtained only when the speed is maintained during the flap movement. When the speed is changed, the deviation from the desired path during the transition increases in proportion to the rapidity with which the flap is moved so that, with a high-lift flap, abrupt retraction at speeds less than the minimum speed with the flap retracted may be dangerous if practiced close to the ground.

Soule, H A↗
NASA NTRS1938

A method of rapidly estimating the position of the laminar separation point

A method is described of rapidly estimating the position of the laminar separation point from the given pressure distribution along a body; the method is applicable to a fairly wide variety of cases. The laminar separation point is found by the von Karman-Millikan method for a series of velocity distributions along a flat plate, which consist of a region of uniform velocity followed by a region of uniform decreased velocity. It is shown that such a velocity distribution can frequently replace the actual velocity distribution along a body insofar as the effects on laminar separation are concerned. An example of the application of the method is given by using it to calculate the position of the laminar separation point on the NACA 0012 airfoil section at zero lift. The agreement between the position of the separation point calculated according to the present method and that found from more elaborate computations is very good.

Von Doenhoff, Albert E↗
NASA NTRS1953

Effect of a Rapid Blade-Pitch Increase on the Thrust and Induced-Velocity Response of a Full-Scale Helicopter Rotor

A method has been proposed for predicting the effect of a rapid blade-pitch increase on the thrust and induced-velocity response of a helicopter rotor. General equations have been derived for the ensuing motion of the helicopter. These equations yield time histories of thrust, induced velocity, and helicopter vertical velocity for given rates of blade-pitch-angle changes and given rotor-angular-velocity time histories. The results of the method have been compared with experimental results obtained with a rotor mounted on the Langley helicopter test tower. The calculated and experimental results are in good agreement, although, in general, the calculated thrust-coefficient overshoots are about 10 percent greater than those obtained experimentally.

Carpenter, Paul J↗
NASA NTRS1955

Behavior of a Cantilever Plate Under Rapid-heating Conditions

The temperature distributions encountered in thin solid wings subjected to aerodynamic heating induce thermal stresses that may effectively reduce the stiffness of the wing. The effects of this reduction in stiffness were investigated experimentally by rapidly heating the edges of a cantilever plate. The midplane thermal stresses imposed by the nonuniform temperature distribution caused the plate to buckle torsionally, increased the deformations of the plate under a constant applied torque, and reduced the frequency of the first two natural modes of vibration. By using small-deflection theory and employing energy methods, the effect of nonuniform heating on the plate stiffness was calculated. The theory predicts the general effects of the thermal stresses, but becomes inadequate as the temperature difference increases and plate deflections become large.

Vosteen, Louis F↗
NASA NTRS1954

Rapid estimation of bending frequencies of rotating beams

A procedure is presented in the form of charts which permits the rapid estimation of the natural bending frequencies of helicopter rotor blades, both rotating and nonrotating. Since the approach is based on Southwell's equation, an evaluation of the method with regard to such things as higher modes, blade offset, and variable mass and stiffness distributions is also given. The evaluation shows that when nonrotating beam bending modes are used, Southwell's equation yields reasonably accurate bending frequencies for rotating helicopter blades. Example comparisons of frequencies estimated using the charts with values given by the manufacturer for several actual blades show that the simplified procedure yields good practical results.

Robert T Yntema↗
NASA NTRS1951

Equations and charts for the rapid estimation of hinge-moment and effectiveness parameters for trailing-edge controls having leading and trailing edges swept ahead of the Mach lines

Existing conical-flow solutions have been used to calculate the hinge-moments and effectiveness parameters of trailing-edge controls having leading and trailing edges swept ahead of the Mach lines and having streamwise root and tip chords. Equations and detailed charts are presented for the rapid estimation of these parameters. Also included is an approximate method by which these parameters may be corrected for airfoil-section thickness.

Goin, Kennith L↗
NASA NTRS1932

Methods of Recording Rapid Wind Changes

The purpose of our research was to determine the rapid changes of air currents which impose varying stresses on the wings of airplanes. We attempted to express in figures the turbulence of the air, which perhaps plays some role in the behavior of airplanes in flight, as well as in the realization of certain methods of gliding flight. This is the reason which led us to conceive and develop the experimental equipment (hot-wire anemometer) described herein.

Magnan, A↗
NASA NTRS1994

New Remote Gas Sensor Using Rapid Electro-Optical Path Switching

Innovative gas filter correlation radiometer (GFCR) features nonmechanical switching of internal optical paths. Incoming radiation switched electro-optically, by means of polarization, between two optical paths, one of which contains correlation gas cell while other does not. Advantages include switching speed, 2 to 3 orders of magnitude faster than mechanical techniques, and high reliability. Applications include regional studies of atmospheric chemistry from either manned or unmanned aircraft as well as satellite studies of global distributions, sources and sink mechanisms for key species involved in chemistry of troposphere. Commercial applications: ability to survey many miles of natural gas pipelines rapidly from aircraft, pinpointing gas leaks by measuring methane at 2.3 micrometers.

Sachse, G. W.↗