Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “QUEST”

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.

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

662 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Simulation and non-linear stage of the electrostatic waves observed during the AMPTE lithium release in the solar wind

During the AMPTE lithium releases in the solar wind intense electrostatic waves with frequencies between a few tens of Hz to several kHz were observed outside the diamagnetic cavity. The results of linear Vlasov theory have suggested that these waves may be generated through two types of instabilities. One is the ion-ion instability associated with the relative drift between the lithium ions and the solar wind protons, and the other is the ion-acoustic instability due to the relative drift between the electrons and the ions. In order to look at the non-linear behavior of the wave-particle interactions, and discern the effect of waves on the particles, full particle electrostatic simulations have been performed, and the results are presented here. It is shown that the ion-ion instability whose phase velocity is oblique to the solar wind velocity can cause considerable anisotropic 'heating' of both the lithium ions and the solar wind protons.

Omidi, N.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Theory and simulation of collisionless parallel shocks

This paper presents a self-consistent theoretical model for collisionless parallel shock structure, based on the hypothesis that shock dissipation and heating can be provided by electromagnetic ion beam-driven instabilities. It is shown that shock formation and plasma heating can result from parallel propagating electromagnetic ion beam-driven instabilities for a wide range of Mach numbers and upstream plasma conditions. The theoretical predictions are compared with recently published observations of quasi-parallel interplanetary shocks. It was found that low Mach number interplanetary shock observations were consistent with the explanation that group-standing waves are providing the dissipation; two high Mach number observations confirmed the theoretically predicted rapid thermalization across the shock.

Quest, K. B.↗
NASA NTRS1988

On the origin of hot diamagnetic cavities near the earth's bow shock

The origin of hot diamagnetic cavities (HDCs) observed occasionally upstream from the earth's bow shock is investigated by examining the results of November 16, 1977, observation, when four of these events occurred on a single day, as well as plasma and field data from that day. The results suggest that HDCs may form as a result of an unusually strong interaction between shock-reflected ions and the incoming solar wind. It is proposed that this interaction stems from a temporary and localized reflection of a larger-than-normal fraction of the incident ions, which is stimulated by sudden changes in the upstream field orientation; the consequences of such a temporary overreflection are found to be consistent with many of the observed features of HDCs, including the strong slowing, deflection, and heating of the flow, as well as the localization, internal recoveries, and occasional formation upstream from the shock itself.

Thomsen, M. F.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Re-forming supercritical quasi-parallel shocks. II - Mechanism for wave generation and front re-formation

This paper continues the study of Thomas et al. (1990) in which hybrid simulations of quasi-parallel shocks were performed in one and two spatial dimensions. To identify the wave generation processes, the electromagnetic structure of the shock is examined by performing a number of one-dimensional hybrid simulations of quasi-parallel shocks for various upstream conditions. In addition, numerical experiments were carried out in which the backstreaming ions were removed from calculations to show their fundamental importance in reformation process. The calculations show that the waves are excited before ions can propagate far enough upstream to generate resonant modes. At some later times, the waves are regenerated at the leading edge of the interface, with properties like those of their initial interactions.

Winske, D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Low Mach number parallel and quasi-parallel shocks

The properties of low-Mach-number parallel and quasi-parallel shocks are studied using the results of one-dimensional hybrid simulations. It is shown that both the structure and ion dissipation at the shocks differ considerably. In the parallel limit, the shock remains coupled to the piston and consists of large-amplitude magnetosonic-whistler waves in the upstream, through the shock and into the downstream region, where the waves eventually damp out. These waves are generated by an ion beam instability due to the interaction between the incident and piston-reflected ions. The excited waves decelerate the plasma sufficiently that it becomes stable far into the downstream. The increase in ion temperature along the shock normal in the downstream region is due to superposition of incident and piston-rflected ions. These two populations of ions remain distinct through the downstream region. While they are both gyrophase-bunched, their counterstreaming nature results in a 180-deg phase shift in their perpendicular velocities.

Omidi, N.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Two-dimensional simulations of the ion/ion acoustic instability and electrostatic shocks

A newly developed 2D electrostatic code with particle ions and Boltzmann electrons is used to investigate the details of the ion/ion acoustic instability and the structure of electrostatic shocks. The simulation results show that, for the parameters relevant to the plasma sheet boundary layer, the saturation mechanism of the ion/ion acoustic instability is ion trapping. It is also shown that the 2D structure of electrostatic shocks is considerably different from that suggested by previous 1D simulations. The main reason for this difference is the presence of shock reflected ions, which through the ion/ion acoustic instability lead to the generation of large amplitude waves in the upstream region propagating obliquely to the shock normal. These waves play an important role in the shock dissipation process.

Karimabadi, H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Weak, quasiparallel profiles of earth's bow shock - A comparison between numerical simulations and ISEE 3 observations on the far flank

Over 200 crossings of the distant downwind flanks of earth's magnetosonic bow shock by ISEE 3 included many cases of weak, or low Mach number, quasi-parallel shocks. A consistent feature of the magnetic field profiles was the presence of large amplitude, near periodic to irregular transverse oscillations downstream from even the weakest Q-parallel shocks. Large downstream perturbations with whistler-like features similar to those of the observations appear in 1D simulations when the Alfven Mach number M(A) is greater than 2.5 but not when M(A) = 2.1. The observed cases with downstream waves also occurred when M(A) is greater than about 2.5, suggesting the importance of the Alfven as opposed to magnetosonic Mach number in determining the signature of weak, Q-parallel shocks.

Greenstadt, E. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Numerical Studies of Collisionless Current Layers

The purpose of this proposal was to investigate collisionless current layers using a variety of analytic and numerical tools. The first year of the contract was dedicated to analytical studies, to the porting and adaption of codes being used in this study, and to the numerical simulation of collisionless current layers. The second year entailed the development of multi-dimensional hybrid algorithms as well as the re-examination of the problem of integro-differential equations that occur in the linear stage of plasma instabilities.

Quest, Kevin B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Mode properties of low-frequency waves: Kinetic theory versus Hall-MHD

In fluid theory, the ordering of low-frequency modes in a homogeneous plasma is based on the phase velocity, since modes do not intersect each other in dispersion diagrams as a function of wavenumber or other parameters. In linear kinetic theory, modes cross each other. Thus a consistent and useful classification should be based on the physical properties of the modes instead. This paper attempts such a classification by documeting the dispersion and general mode properties of the low-frequency waves (omega much less than (OMEGA(sub ci) OMEGA(sub ce) (exp 1/2)), where OMEGA(sub ci), OMEGA(sub ce) are the cyclotron frequencies of the ions and electrons, respectively) in kinetic theory, and by comparing them to the results of two-fluid theory. Kinetic theory gives a seperate Alfven/ion-cyclotron (A/IC) wave with phase speed Omega/k approximately = v(sub A) cos theta for omega much less than OMEGA(sub ci), where v(sub A) is the Alfven velocity and theta the angle of propagation between wave vector k and background magnetic field B(sub o). For a given wavenumber, the magnetosonic mode is a double-valued solution with a singular point in theta, beta parameter space, where beta is the ratio of thermal pressure to magnetic pressure. It is shown that a branch cut starting at the singular point theta approximately 30 deg, beta approximately 3 and leading to larger beta gives a practical and consitent seperation of this double-valued magnetosonic solution. Selection of this branch cut results in a moderately damped fast/magnetos onic and a heavily damped slow/sound wave. A comprehensive review of the polarization, compressibility and other mode properties is given and shown to be consistent with the selected branch cut. At small wavenumbers, the kinetic mode properties typically start to deviate significantly from their fluid counterparts at beta approximately 0.5. At larger beta, there is no longer a consistent correspondence between the fluid and kinetic modes. Kinetic theory also dictates the use of different mode properties to distinguish between them in observational data. For example, the phase between the density and magnetic field perturbation may become useless at high beta, whereas the direction of the magnetic field perturbations with respect to k and B(sub o) remains a useful characteristic. Two quantities based on this characteristic are suggested and are shown to be useful also to distinguish between the mirror mode and A/IC waves in a plasma with temperature anisotropy.

Krauss-Varban, D.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A new approach to the linear theory of single-species tearing in two-dimensional quasi-neutral sheets

We have developed the linear theory of collisionless ion tearing in a two-dimensional magnetotail equilibrium for a single resonant species. We have solved the normal mode problem for tearing instability by an algorithm that employs particle-in-cell simulation to calculate the orbit integrals in the Maxwell-Vlasov eigenmode equation. The results of our single-species tearing analysis can be applied to ion tearing where electron effects are not included. We have calculated the tearing growth rate as a function of the magnetic field component B(sub n) normal to the current sheet for thick and thin current sheets, and we show that marginal stability occurs when the normal gyrofrequency Omega(sub n) is comparable to the Harris neutral sheet growth rate. A cross-tail B(sub y) component has little effect on the growth rate for B(sub y) approximately = B(sub n). Even in the limit B(sub y) much greater than B(sub n), the mode is strongly stabilized by B(sub n). We report than random pitch angle scattering can overcome the stabilizing effect of B(sub n) and drive the growth rate up toward the Harris neutral sheet (B(sub n) = 0) value when the pitch angle diffusion rate is comparable to Omega(sub n).

Brittnacher, M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

On the energy principle and ion tearing in the magnetotail

We re-examine the use of the energy principle as applied to the tearing instability in the magnetotail. We demonstrate that when a magnetic field component normal to the current sheet is present, electron pitch-angle diffusion (PAD) either by micro-turbulence or by chaotic orbits cannot remove the strong stabilization of the tearing mode caused by electron compressibility. We find that our conclusions are in agreement with those of Pellat et al. (1991), who argued on the basis of canonical P(sub y) conservation that the stabilization of the ion tearing mode cannot be removed by the introduction of PAD. Our results are at variance with those of Kuznetsova and Zelenyi (1991), who argued that the application of the energy principle used by Pellat et al. (1991) is incorrect, and that tearing is in fact unstable in the limit of strong PAD. We show that the disagreement between these two studies can be traced to an incorrect orbit evaluation first introduced by Coroniti (1980) and subnsequently used by Kuznetsova and Zelenyi (1991).

Brittnacher, M.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Comparison of the NASA Common Research Model European Transonic Wind Tunnel Test Data to NASA Test Data

Experimental aerodynamic investigations of the NASA Common Research Model have been conducted in the NASA Langley National Transonic Facility, the NASA Ames 11-ft wind tunnel, and the European Transonic Wind Tunnel. In the NASA Ames 11-ft wind tunnel, data have been obtained at only a chord Reynolds number of 5 million for a wing/body/tail = 0 degree incidence configuration. Data have been obtained at chord Reynolds numbers of 5, 19.8 and 30 million for the same configuration in the National Transonic Facility and in the European Transonic Facility. Force and moment, surface pressure, wing bending and twist, and surface flow visualization data were obtained in all three facilities but only the force and moment, surface pressure and wing bending and twist data are presented herein.

Rivers, Melissa B.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Comparison of the NASA Common Research Model European Transonic Wind Tunnel Test Data to NASA Test Data

Experimental aerodynamic investigations of the NASA Common Research Model have been conducted in the NASA Langley National Transonic Facility, the NASA Ames 11-ft wind tunnel, and the European Transonic Wind Tunnel. In the NASA Ames 11-ft wind tunnel, data have been obtained at only a chord Reynolds number of 5 million for a wing/body/tail = 0 degree incidence configuration. Data have been obtained at chord Reynolds numbers of 5, 19.8 and 30 million for the same configuration in the National Transonic Facility and in the European Transonic Facility. Force and moment, surface pressure, wing bending and twist, and surface flow visualization data were obtained in all three facilities but only the force and moment and surface pressure data are presented herein.

Rivers, Melissa↗