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At least 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

A Measurement of the Eta Meson Radiative Decay Width via the Primakoff Effect

The ? meson is an interesting tool to study fundamental symmetries in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). In particular, its radiative decay width, ? p? Ñ ??q, is an important quantity that can be predicted in the framework of Chiral Perturbation Theory. A precision measurement of this quantity would provide critical inputs to understanding the mixing of the ? and ?1 mesons and extracting constants with wide-ranging applications in low-energy QCD. This decay width has been measured in the past using two different experimental techniques. The more popular technique utilized e`e´ collisions to produce ? mesons through electromagnetic interactions. Today, the Particle Data Group (PDG) averages the results of five such experiments to obtain their currently-accepted value of the decay width as: 0.515?0.018 keV. However the first measurement of this quantity was obtained from a fixed-target experiment that measured the cross section for photoproduction of ? mesons on a nuclear target via the Primakoff effect. Their result of 0.324?0.046 keV shows strong tension with the average of the collider measurements, motivating a new, high precision measurement using the Primakoff method. For this purpose, the PrimEx-eta experiment was conducted in Hall D of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab or JLab). The data is currently being analyzed to measure the differential cross section for the photoproduction of ? mesons on a liquid, 4He target. Preliminary results obtained from the analysis of the first phase of the PrimEx-eta experiment show reasonable agreement with the currently-accepted PDG value of the radiative decay width. However, as will be discussed, there are many challenges to this precision measurement which must be studied before any results can be finalized and compared with previous measurements. In parallel to the ? decay width measurement, the PrimEx-eta experiment measured the total cross section for the fundamental, Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) process of Compton scattering from the atomic electrons inside the target. The results obtained from this measurement are in strong agreement with the next-to-leading order QED calculations, and the total combined uncertainties are below 3% for incident photon energies between 7-10 GeV. In addition to providing the first precision measurement of the total Compton scattering cross section within this beam energy range, this measurement verifies the capability of the PrimEx-eta experimental setup to perform absolute cross section measurements at forward angles, and serves as a reference process for the calibration of systematic uncertainties.

Smith, Andrew↗
DOE OSTI2015

Determination of equilibrium electron temperature and times using an electron swarm model with BOLSIG+ calculated collision frequencies and rate coefficients

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) events produce low-energy conduction electrons from Compton electron or photoelectron ionizations with air. It is important to understand how conduction electrons interact with air in order to accurately predict EMP evolution and propagation. An electron swarm model can be used to monitor the time evolution of conduction electrons in an environment characterized by electric field and pressure. Here a swarm model is developed that is based on the coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) described by Higgins et al. (1973), hereinafter HLO. The ODEs characterize the swarm electric field, electron temperature, electron number density, and drift velocity. Important swarm parameters, the momentum transfer collision frequency, energy transfer collision frequency, and ionization rate, are calculated and compared to the previously reported fitted functions given in HLO. These swarm parameters are found using BOLSIG+, a two term Boltzmann solver developed by Hagelaar and Pitchford (2005), which utilizes updated cross sections from the LXcat website created by Pancheshnyi et al. (2012). We validate the swarm model by comparing to experimental effective ionization coefficient data in Dutton (1975) and drift velocity data in Ruiz-Vargas et al. (2010). In addition, we report on electron equilibrium temperatures and times for a uniform electric field of 1 StatV/cm for atmospheric heights from 0 to 40 km. We show that the equilibrium temperature and time are sensitive to the modifications in the collision frequencies and ionization rate based on the updated electron interaction cross sections.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Microparticle injection effects on microwave transmission through an overly dense plasma layer

Microparticles injected into a plasma have been shown to deplete the free electron population as electrons are collected through the process of microparticles charging to the plasma floating potential. However, these charged microparticles can also act to scatter electromagnetic signals. These experiments investigate microwave penetration through a previously impenetrable overly dense plasma layer as microparticles are injected and the physical phenomena associated with the competing processes that occur due to electron depletion and microwave scattering. The timescales for when each of these competing processes dominates is analyzed in detail. It was found that while both processes play a significant and dominant role at different times, ultimately, transmission through this impenetrable plasma layer can be significantly increased with microparticle injection.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Erratum: Weighing the giants – V. Galaxy cluster scaling relations

We present constraints on the scaling relations of galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity, temperature and gas mass (and derived quantities) with mass and redshift, employing masses from robust weak gravitational lensing measurements. These are the first such results obtained from an analysis that simultaneously accounts for selection effects and the underlying mass function, and directly incorporates lensing data to constrain total masses. Our constraints on the scaling relations and their intrinsic scatters are in good agreement with previous studies, and reinforce a picture in which departures from self-similar scaling laws are primarily limited to cluster cores. However, the data are beginning to reveal new features that have implications for cluster astrophysics and provide new tests for hydrodynamical simulations. We find a positive correlation in the intrinsic scatters of luminosity and temperature at fixed mass, which is related to the dynamical state of the clusters. While the evolution of the nominal scaling relations over the redshift range 0.0 < z < 0.5 is consistent with self similarity, we find tentative evidence that the luminosity and temperature scatters respectively decrease and increase with redshift. Physically, this likely related to the development of cool cores and the rate of major mergers. We also examine the scaling relations of redMaPPer richness and Compton Y from Planck . While the richness{mass relation is in excellent agreement with recent work, the measured Y {mass relation departs strongly from that assumed in the Planck cluster cosmology analysis. Furthermore, the latter result is consistent with earlier comparisons of lensing and Planck scaling-relation-derived masses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Chemical/Optical Properties of Oliktok Aerosols Field Campaign Report

The arctic environment is changing at an alarming rate. During this time of escalation, it is important to understand the impacts of aerosols, both natural and anthropogenic. To support this effort, an aerosol sampling campaign was conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility third Mobile Facility (AMF3) at Oliktok Point on the North Slope of Alaska (NSA). The specific objectives of the campaign were to collect aerosol particles as a function of aerodynamic particle size in order to better understand the varying chemical and optical properties of the aerosols in the different particle size modes. A DRUM-style cascading impactor (Davis Rotating-Unit for Monitoring) was deployed at the beginning of March 2017 through the end of May 2017, collecting samples in eight size bins for each 12-hour period, thereby obtaining a diurnal signature. On March 6, a fire burned down the power generation shed at the sampling site. No samples were collected again until March 10. Due to DRUM sampler rotation issues, samples were collected intermittently until March 13. From March 14 through the end of the study, samples were collected with little interference. The size bins of the instrument range from approximately 10 to 0.09 μm; however, deployment at the Oliktok Point facility required an inlet configuration that effectively filtered out the coarsest size bin. Therefore, the reported size bins are 5.0 to 2.5, 2.5 to 1.15, 1.15 to 0.75, 0.75 to 0.56, 0.56 to 0.34, 0.34 to 0.26, and 0.26 to 0.09 μm. It is also possible that ultrafine particles were removed by electrostatic charging of the high-density polyethylene inlet tubing; however, confirmation of this would require further testing. The collected samples were returned to the University of California (UC), Davis for offline analysis. Particle mass concentrations were measured by soft-beta ray attenuation while optical attenuation was determined by broadband transmission spectrometry (10 wavelengths from 349 to 849 nm in 50 nm increments, minus 649 nm). The samples were then taken to the Advanced Light Source facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for synchrotron-induced X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (SXRF). Thirty elements were detected, from sodium to molybdenum plus lead. The polarized nature of the synchrotron beam eliminates 97.5% of the primary Compton background, providing approximately a factor of 10 greater sensitivity than unpolarized X-ray instruments (Barberie et al. 2013). The data were reduced using custom software packages and analyzed for any sources of contamination, sample damage, or other potential causes of data invalidation. The interpretation of the final data set is ongoing and only early results will be described in this report. In spite of power and instrumental issues at the start, the field campaign was largely successful. Excluding the first stage that did not receive sample and power/rotational issues, the remaining stages were 99.7% complete (number of valid measurements/total number of measurements made). The percent of measurements below detection were < 30% for all species with the exception of sodium, magnesium, arsenic, and scandium. Sodium and magnesium were expected to be difficult to measure using SXRF due to low sensitivity at that energy range. Scandium is very rare in ambient samples unless near a very strong source. Arsenic is fairly common in urban settings but is not expected in the arctic environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Weighing the giants– V. Galaxy cluster scaling relations

Here, we present constraints on the scaling relations of galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity, temperature and gas mass (and derived quantities) with mass and redshift, employing masses from robust weak gravitational lensing measurements. These are the first such results obtained from an analysis that simultaneously accounts for selection effects and the underlying mass function, and directly incorporates lensing data to constrain total masses. Our constraints on the scaling relations and their intrinsic scatters are in good agreement with previous studies, and reinforce a picture in which departures from self-similar scaling laws are primarily limited to cluster cores. However, the data are beginning to reveal new features that have implications for cluster astrophysics and provide new tests for hydrodynamical simulations. We find a positive correlation in the intrinsic scatters of luminosity and temperature at fixed mass, which is related to the dynamical state of the clusters. While the evolution of the nominal scaling relations over the redshift range 0.0 < z < 0.5 is consistent with self-similarity, we find tentative evidence that the luminosity and temperature scatters, respectively, decrease and increase with redshift. Physically, this likely related to the development of cool cores and the rate of major mergers. We also examine the scaling relations of redMaPPer richness and Compton Y from Planck . While the richness–mass relation is in excellent agreement with recent work, the measured Y–mass relation departs strongly from that assumed in the Planck cluster cosmology analysis. Furthermore, the latter result is consistent with earlier comparisons of lensing and Planck scaling relation-derived masses.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1998

Use of a Passive Reaction Wheel Jitter Isolation System to Meet the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility Imaging Performance Requirements

Third in the series of NASA great observatories, the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) is scheduled for launch from the Space Shuttle in November of 1998. Following in the path of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, this observatory will image light at X-ray wavelengths, facilitating the detailed study of such phenomena as supernovae and quasars. The AXAF project is sponsored by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Because of exacting requirements on the performance of the AXAF optical system, it was necessary to reduce the transmission of reaction wheel jitter disturbances to the observatory. This reduction was accomplished via use of a passive mechanical isolation system to interface the reaction wheels with the spacecraft central structure. In addition to presenting a description of the spacecraft, the isolation system, and the key image quality requirement flowdown, this paper details the analyses performed in support of system-level imaging performance requirement verification. These analyses include the identification of system-level requirement suballocations, quantification of imaging and pointing performance, and formulation of unit-level isolation system transmissibility requirements. Given in comparison to the non-isolated system imaging performance, the results of these analyses clearly illustrate the effectiveness of an innovative reaction wheel passive isolation system.

Pendergast, Karl J.↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Spectral Energy Distribution of Fermi Bright Blazars

We have conducted a detailed investigation of the broadband spectral properties of the gamma-ray selected blazars of the Fermi LAT Bright AGN Sample (LBAS). By combining our accurately estimated Fermi gamma-ray spectra with Swift, radio, infra-red, optical, and other hard X-ray /gamma-ray data, collected within 3 months of the LBAS data taking period, we were able to assemble high-quality and quasi-simultaneous spectral energy distributions (SED) for 48 LBAS blazars. The SED of these gamma-ray sources is similar to that of blazars discovered at other wavelengths, clearly showing, in the usual log v-log v Fv representation, the typical broadband spectral signatures normally attributed to a combination of low-energy synchrotron radiation followed by inverse Compton emission of one or more components. We have used these SED to characterize the peak intensity of both the low- and the high-energy components. The results have been used to derive empirical relationships that estimate the position of the two peaks from the broadband colors (i.e., the radio to optical, alpha(sub ro) , and optical to X-ray, alpha(sub ox), spectral slopes) and from the gamma-ray spectral index. Our data show that the synchrotron peak frequency (v(sup S) (sub peak)) is positioned between 10(exp 12.5) and 10(exp 14) Hz in broad-lined flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and between 10(exp 13) and 10(exp 17) Hz in featureless BL Lacertae objects. We find that the gamma-ray spectral slope is strongly correlated with the synchrotron peak energy and with the X-ray spectral index, as expected at first order in synchrotron-inverse Compton scenarios. However, simple homogeneous, one-zone, synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) models cannot explain most of our SED, especially in the case of FSRQs and low energy peaked (LBL) BL Lacs. More complex models involving external Compton radiation or multiple SSC components are required to reproduce the overall SED and the observed spectral variability. While more than 50% of known radio bright high energy peaked (HBL) BL Lacs are detected in the LBAS sample, only less than 13% of known bright FSRQs and LBL BL Lacs are included. This suggests that the latter sources, as a class, may be much fainter gamma-ray emitters than LBAS blazars, and could in fact radiate close to the expectations of simple SSC models. We categorized all our sources according to a new physical classification scheme based on the generally accepted paradigm for Active Galactic Nuclei and on the results of this SED study. Since the LAT detector is more sensitive to flat spectrum gamma-ray sources, the correlation between v(sup S) (sub peak) and gamma-ray spectral index strongly favors the detection of high energy peaked blazars, thus explaining the Fermi overabundance of this type of sources compared to radio and EGRET samples. This selection effect is similar to that experienced in the soft X-ray band where HBL BL Lacs are the dominant type of blazars.

Abdo, A. A.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Large-scale Additive Manufacturing of Highly Exothermic Reactive Polymer Systems

Additive manufacturing (AM) of reactive polymer systems involves the deposition of materials at room temperature that either cure during printing through a chemically initiated reaction or require thermal initiation after printing. This presentation focuses on large-scale AM of chemically initiated thermosetting resins to characterize the effects of heat generation, temperature-dependent viscoelasticity, and crosslinking on the printing process. Real-time tracking of both temperature and cure fronts during the build process were investigated using infrared (IR) and optical vision systems in combination with selected material dyes. Heat generation within the previously-deposited layers was observed to cause significant reduction in the storage modulus (G’) and viscosity of newly-deposited layers, resulting in bead instabilities and failure of the print. Quantitative experimental observations on thin-wall structures suggest strategies for mitigating this failure mode through selection of print parameters and tailoring of viscoelastic properties of the feedstock resin.

Romberg, Stian↗
NASA NTRS1988

Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Assessment of the Orbiter Experiment (OEX) subsystem

The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA effort first completed an analysis of the Orbiter Experiments (OEX) hardware, generating draft failure modes and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. The IOA results were then compared to the NASA FMEA/CIL baseline with proposed Post 51-L updates included. A resolution of each discrepancy from the comparison is provided through additional analysis as required. The results of that comparison for the Orbiter OEX hardware are documented. The IOA product for the OEX analysis consisted of 82 failure mode worksheets that resulted in two potential critical items being identified.

Compton, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS2019

NICER Discovers Spectral Lines During Photospheric Radius Expansion Bursts from 4U 1820-30: Evidence for Burst-Driven Winds

We report the discovery with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) of narrow emission and absorption lines during photospheric radius expansion (PRE) X-ray bursts from the ultracompact binary 4U 1820 −30. NICER observed 4U 1820−30 in 2017 August during a low-flux, hard spectral state, accumulating about 60 ks of exposure. Five thermonuclear X-ray bursts were detected, of which four showed clear signs of PRE. We extracted spectra during the PRE phases and fit each to a model that includes a Comptonized component to describe the accretion-driven emission, and a blackbody for the burst thermal radiation. The temperature and spherical emitting radius of the fitted blackbody are used to assess the strength of PRE in each burst. The two strongest PRE bursts (burst pair 1) had blackbody temperatures of ≈0.6 keV and emitting radii of ≈100 km (at a distance of 8.4 kpc). The other two bursts (burst pair 2) had higher temperatures (≈0.67 keV) and smaller radii (≈75 km). All of the PRE bursts show evidence of narrow line emission near 1 keV. By coadding the PRE phase spectra of burst pairs 1 and, separately, 2, we find, in both coadded spectra, significant, narrow, spectral features near 1.0 (emission), 1.7, and 3.0 keV (both in absorption). Remarkably, all the fitted line centroids in the coadded spectrum of burst pair 1 appear systematically blueshifted by a factor of 1.046±0.006 compared to the centroids of pair 2, strongly indicative of a gravitational shift, a wind-induced blueshift, or more likely some combination of both effects. The observed shifts are consistent with this scenario in that the stronger PRE bursts in pair 1 reach larger photospheric radii, and thus have weaker gravitational redshifts, and they generate faster outflows, yielding higher blueshifts. We discuss possible elemental identifications for the observed features in the context of recent burst-driven wind models.

Strohmayer, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

An Experimental Study of Jet Exhaust Simulation

An investigation was conducted to determine the effect of varying the jet exhaust ratio of specific heats, gas constants, and temperatures on jet interference on afterbody drag. Jet exhaust simulation parameters were also evaluated. In addition to air, three other exhaust gases, each with a different value of each of the gas parameters, were tested. The range of the ratios of specific heats, gas constants, and total temperatures of the four gases are identified. Tests were made using a single nacelle model with afterbodies having boattail angles of 10 degrees and 20 degrees with sonic and Mach two jet exits. Wind tunnel tests were conducted through a Mach number range of 0.60 to 1.20 and a Reynolds number per meter from 10.06 million to 14.05 million.

Compton, W. B., III↗
DOE OSTI2025

Verifying LLM generative agents reflect human behavior in contested information environments to effectively simulate disinformation campaigns (Proteus)

Disinformation poses a significant and evolving threat to today’s online environment. Individuals encounter challenges in detecting disinformation, subsequently influencing their behavior and decision-making processes. Our research examines the potential use of large language model (LLM) generative agents (LGAs) to replicate human behavior to better understand how disinformation is spread in online environments. Using human subjects research, we first investigate how personality traits, individual differences, and demographic factors relate to decision-making in simulated online disinformation environments. Then, we examine whether LGAs can effectively replicate human responses in the same simulated online environments when assigned personality traits, demographic characteristics and behavioral attributes. Our findings indicate that LGAs can align with human decisions in these scenarios; however, alignment is contingent upon scenario context, persona settings and LLM selection. Results provide valuable insights for methodology refinement in future research and in utilizing LGAs to model complex national security challenges such as disinformation campaigns.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

FRIB Transition to User Operations, Power Ramp Up, and Upgrade Perspectives

After project completion on scope, on cost, and ahead of schedule, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams began operations for scientific users in May of 2022. During the first 12 months of user operations, the FRIB accelerator complex delivered 5250 beam hours, including 1528 hours to nine science experiments conducted with primary beams of 36Ar, 48Ca, 70Zn, 82Se, 124Xe, and 198Pt at beam energies >200 MeV/u; 2724 hours for beam developments, studies, and tuning; and 998 hours to industrial users and non-scientific programs using the FRIB Single Event Effect (FSEE) beam line. The ramp-up to a beam power of 400 kW is planned over a six-year period; 1 kW was delivered for initial user runs from in 2022, and 5 kW was delivered as of February 2023. Upgrade plans include doubling the primary-beam energy to 400 MeV/nucleon for enhanced discovery potential (¿FRIB 400¿). This talk reports on FRIB status and progress since SRF2021, emphasizing lessons learned during the transition from beam commissioning to machine operations, challenges and resolutions for the power ramp-up, progress with accelerator improvements, and R&D for the energy upgrade.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Retaining Systems Engineering Model Meaning Through Transformation: Demo 2

Digital engineering strategies typically assume that digital engineering models interoperate seamlessly across the multiple different engineering modeling software applications involved, such as model- based systems engineering (MBSE), mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD), electrical computer-aided design (ECAD), and other engineering modeling applications. The presumption is that the data schema in these modeling software applications are structured in the familiar flat- tabular schema like any other software application. Engineering domain-specific applications (e.g., systems, mechanical, electrical, simulation) are typically designed to solve domain-specific problems, necessarily excluding explicit representations of non-domain information to help the engineer focus on the domain problems (system definition, design, simulation). Such exclusions become problematic in inter-domain information exchange. The obvious assumptions of one domain might not be so obvious to experts in another domain. Ambiguity in domain-specific language can erode the ability to enable different domain modeling applications to interoperate, unless the underlying language is understood and used as the basis for translation from one application to another. The engineering modeling software application industry has struggled for decades to enable these applications to interoperate. Industry standards have been developed, but they have not unified the industry. Why is this? The authors assert that the industry has relied on traditional database integration methods. The basic issue prohibiting successful application integration then is that traditional database-driven integration does not consider the distinct languages of each domain. An engineering models meaning is expressed through the underlying language of that engineering domain. In essence, traditional integration methods do not retain the semantic context (meaning) of the model. The basis of this research stems from the widely held assumption that systems engineering models are (or can be) structured according to the underlying semantic ontology of the model. This assumption can be imagined from two thoughts. 1) Digital systems engineering models are often represented using graph theory (the graph of a complex systems model can contain millions of nodes and edges). When examining the nodes one at a time and following the outbound edges of each node one by one, one can end up with rudimentary statements about the model (i.e., node A relates to node B), as in a semantic graph. 2) Likewise, from the study of natural languages, a sentence can be structured into unambiguous triples of subject-predicate-object within formal and highly expressive semantic ontologies. The rudimentary statements about a systems model discerned with graph theory closely mimic the triples used in the ontologies that try to structure natural languages. In other words, a systems models semantic graph can be (or is) structured into an ontology. Additionally, it is well established in industry that through natural language processing (NLP), which provides the means to create language structures, that computers can interpret ontological graphs. Therefore, the authors hypothesized that if the integrity of the underlying semantic structure of a systems model is retained, the contextual meaning of the model is retained. By structuring system models into the triples of the underlying ontology during the transformation from one MBSE application to another, the authors have provided a proof of the concept that the meaning of a system model can be retained during transformation. The authors assert that this is the missing ingredient in effective systems model-to-model interoperability. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank the FY19 Model Interoperability team members who provided a solid foundation for the FY20 team to leverage: John McCloud, for the work he did to guide us toward the right use of technology that will appropriately discover and manipulate ontologies. Carlos Tafoya, for the work he did to develop an application programming interface (API)/Adapter that would export ontology-based data from GENESYS. Peter Chandler, for the work he did to architect our overall integration solution, with an eye toward the future that would influence a large-scale federated production-level systems engineering digital model ecosystem.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2005

Simulation of Range Safety for the NASA Space Shuttle

This paper describes a simulation environment that seamlessly combines a number of safety and environmental models for the launch phase of a NASA Space Shuttle mission. The components of this simulation environment represent the different systems that must interact in order to determine the Expectation of casualties (E(sub c)) resulting from the toxic effects of the gas dispersion that occurs after a disaster affecting a Space Shuttle within 120 seconds of lift-off. The utilization of the Space Shuttle reliability models, trajectory models, weather dissemination systems, population models, amount and type of toxicants, gas dispersion models, human response functions to toxicants, and a geographical information system are all integrated to create this environment. This simulation environment can help safety managers estimate the population at risk in order to plan evacuation, make sheltering decisions, determine the resources required to provide aid and comfort, and mitigate damages in case of a disaster. This simulation environment may also be modified and used for the landing phase of a space vehicle but will not be discussed in this paper.

Rabelo, Luis↗
NASA NTRS1984

Shuttle 'Challenger' aerodynamic performance from flight data - Comparisons with predicted values and 'Columbia' experience

Longitudinal aerodynamic performance comparisons between flight extracted and predicted values are presented for the first eight NASA Space Shuttle entry missions. Challenger results are correlated with the ensemble five flight Columbia experience and indicate effects due to differing angle-of-attack and body flap deflection profiles. An Appendix is attached showing the results of each flight using both the LaRC LAIRS and NOAA atmospheres. Discussions are presented which review apparent density anomalies observed in the flight data, with particular emphasis on the suggested shears and turbulence encountered during STS-2 and STS-4. Atmospheres derived from Shuttle data are presented which show structure different than that remotely sensed and imply regions of unstable air masses as a plausible explanation. Though additional aerodynamic investigations are warranted, an added benefit of Shuttle flight data for atmospheric research is discussed, in particular, as applicable to future NASA space vehicles such as AOTVs and tethered satellites.

Findlay, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Effect of nonsymmetrical flow resistance upon orifice impedance

Previous laboratory work has indicated that an orifice in a thin sheet behaves in a quasisteady manner under acoustical excitation. Also, it has been found that the steady flow resistance of an orifice may be dependent upon the direction of flow, especially in the presence of a crossflow on one side of the hole. An analytical study is presented which assumes a nonreactive orifice in an infinite baffle. The pressure difference across the orifice varies sinusoidally with amplitude 1.0 and average value -P. The orifice resistance is discontinuous at zero velocity and exhibits the constant values when the velocity is nonzero. The resultant velocity has power in all harmonics of the excitation frequency, providing an explanation of the even harmonic excitation observed by other investigators, but not predicted by symmetric nonlinearity. A quasilinear resistance is defined and found to be relatively insensitive to the presence or absence of a resonant backing cavity.

Posey, J. W.↗