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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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NASA NTRS1987

Highly ionized interstellar gas located in the Galactic disk and halo

High-resolution IUE absorption line spectra have been obtained for 40 distant stars in order to study the distribution of interstellar H I, Si IV, C IV, and N V in the Galactic disk and lower halo. Respective midplane densities of 2 x 10 to the -9th, 7 x 10 to the -9th, and 3 x 10 to the -9th are found for Si IV, C IV, and Ni V. Both column density and velocity data indicate that the highly ionized gas (HIG) is considerably more extended in directions away from the Galactic plane than is H I or Si II. The absorption-line velocities for the halo HIG are consistent with the notion that halo gas in the inner Galaxy rotates more slowly than gas in the underlying disk. The derived column densities suggest an exponential scale height for the HIG of about 3 kpc; however, a simple exponential distribution is a poor representation of the distribution of the gas. It is concluded that a full explanation of the origin of the halo HIG will probably require a blending of ideas from the Galactic fountain and the photoionized halo models.

Savage, Blair D.↗

NASA NTRS1987

An interactive approach to surface-fitting complex geometries for flowfield applications

Numerical flowfield methods require a geometry subprogram which can calculate body coordinates, slopes, and radii of curvature for typical aircraft and spacecraft configurations. The objective of this paper is to develop a new surface-fitting technique which addresses two major problems with existing geometry packages: computer storage requirements and the time required of the user for the initial set-up of the geometry model. In the present method, coordinates of cross sections are fit in a least-squares sense using segments of general conic sections. After fitting each cross section, the next step is to blend the cross-sectional curve-fits in the longitudinal direction using general conics to fit specific meridional half-planes. For the initial setup of the geometry model, an interactive, completely menu-driven computer code has been developed to allow the user to make modifications to the initial fit for a given cross section or meridional cut. Graphic displays are provided to assist the user in the visualization of the effect of each modification. The completed model may be viewed from any angle using the code's three-dimensional graphics package. Geometry results for the modeling of the Space Shuttle and a proposed Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) geometry are presented, in addition to calculated heat-transfer rates based on these models.

Dejarnette, Fred R.↗

NASA NTRS1986

New measurements of photospheric magnetic fields in late-type stars and emerging trends

The magnetic fields of late-type stars are measured using the method of Saar et al. (1986). The method includes radiative transfer effects and compensation for line blending; the photospheric magnetic field parameters are derived by comparing observed and theoretical line profiles using an LTE code that includes line saturation and full Zeeman pattern. The preliminary mean active region magnetic field strengths (B) and surface area coverages for 20 stars are discussed. It is observed that there is a trend of increasing B towards the cooler dwarfs stars, and the linear correlation between B and the equipartition value of the magnetic field strength suggests that the photospheric gas pressure determines the photospheric magnetic field strengths. A tendency toward larger filling factors at larger stellar angular velocities is also detected.

Saar, S. H.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Fibers And Composites Derived From Silsesquioxanes

In new method, silsesquioxane powders blended to control ratio of carbon to silicon. Powders melted, and excess silanol groups condense with evolution of water. When melt attains suitable viscosity, extruded into fibers through die or drawn into fibers from melt at uniform rate. Fibers cured and heat treated. Enables easy fabrication of thermally stable fibers from inexpensive silsesquioxane precursors. Impregnation of fibers and preforms without solvent minimizes both shrinkage and formation of voids resulting from volatilization of trapped solvent.

Hurwitz, Frances I.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Physical properties of immiscible polymers

The demixing of immiscible polymers in low gravity is discussed. Applications of knowledge gained in this research will provide a better understanding of the role of phase segregation in determining the properties of polymer blends made from immiscible polymers. Knowledge will also be gained regarding the purification of biological materials by partitioning between the two liquid phases formed by solution of the polymers polyethylene glycol and dextran in water. Testing of new apparatus for space flight, extension of affinity phase partitioning, refinement of polymer chemistry, and demixing of isopycnic polymer phases in a one gravity environment are discussed.

Harris, J. Milton↗

NASA NTRS1986

Fabrication and testing of fire resistant graphite composite panels

Eight different graphite composite panels were fabricated using four different resin matrices. The resin matrices included Hercules 71775, a blend of vinylpolystyrpyridine and bismaleimide, H795, a bismaleimide, Cycom 6162, a phenolic, and PSP 6022m, a polystyrylpyridine. Graphite panels were fabricated using fabric or unidirectional tape. Described are the processes for preparing these panels and some of their mechanical, thermal and flammability properties. Panel properties are compared with state-of-the-art epoxy fiberglass composite panels.

Roper, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Advanced organic composite materials for aircraft structures: Future program

Revolutionary advances in structural materials have been responsible for revolutionary changes in all fields of engineering. These advances have had and are still having a significant impact on aircraft design and performance. Composites are engineered materials. Their properties are tailored through the use of a mix or blend of different constituents to maximize selected properties of strength and/or stiffness at reduced weights. More than 20 years have passed since the potentials of filamentary composite materials were identified. During the 1970s much lower cost carbon filaments became a reality and gradually designers turned from boron to carbon composites. Despite progress in this field, filamentary composites still have significant unfulfilled potential for increasing aircraft productivity; the rendering of advanced organic composite materials into production aircraft structures was disappointingly slow. Why this is and research and technology development actions that will assist in accelerating the application of advanced organic composites to production aircraft is discussed.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1987

Software for integrated manufacturing systems, part 1

For several years, a broad, unified approach to programming manufacturing cells, factory floors, and other manufacturing systems has been developed. It is based on a blending of distributed Ada, software components, generics and formal models. Among other things the machines and devices which make up the components, and the entire manufacturing cell is viewed as an assembly of software components. The purpose of this project is to reduce cost, increase the reliability and increase the flexibility of manufacturing software. An overview is given of the approach and an experimental generic factory floor controller that was developed using the approach is described. The controller is generic in the sense that it can control any one of a large class of factory floors making an arbitrary mix of parts.

Naylor, A. W.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Software for integrated manufacturing systems, part 2

Part 1 presented an overview of the unified approach to manufacturing software. The specific characteristics of the approach that allow it to realize the goals of reduced cost, increased reliability and increased flexibility are considered. Why the blending of a components view, distributed languages, generics and formal models is important, why each individual part of this approach is essential, and why each component will typically have each of these parts are examined. An example of a specification for a real material handling system is presented using the approach and compared with the standard interface specification given by the manufacturer. Use of the component in a distributed manufacturing system is then compared with use of the traditional specification with a more traditional approach to designing the system. An overview is also provided of the underlying mechanisms used for implementing distributed manufacturing systems using the unified software/hardware component approach.

Volz, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Total Variation Diminishing (TVD) schemes of uniform accuracy

Explicit second-order accurate finite-difference schemes for the approximation of hyperbolic conservation laws are presented. These schemes are nonlinear even for the constant coefficient case. They are based on first-order upwind schemes. Their accuracy is enhanced by locally replacing the first-order one-sided differences with either second-order one-sided differences or central differences or a blend thereof. The appropriate local difference stencils are selected such that they give TVD schemes of uniform second-order accuracy in the scalar, or linear systems, case. Like conventional TVD schemes, the new schemes avoid a Gibbs phenomenon at discontinuities of the solution, but they do not switch back to first-order accuracy, in the sense of truncation error, at extrema of the solution. The performance of the new schemes is demonstrated in several numerical tests.

Hartwich, PETER-M.↗

NASA NTRS1988

An interactive user-friendly approach to surface-fitting three-dimensional geometries

A surface-fitting technique has been developed which addresses two problems with existing geometry packages: computer storage requirements and the time required of the user for the initial setup of the geometry model. Coordinates of cross sections are fit using segments of general conic sections. The next step is to blend the cross-sectional curve-fits in the longitudinal direction using general conics to fit specific meridional half-planes. Provisions are made to allow the fitting of fuselages and wings so that entire wing-body combinations may be modeled. This report includes the development of the technique along with a User's Guide for the various menus within the program. Results for the modeling of the Space Shuttle and a proposed Aeroassist Flight Experiment geometry are presented.

Cheatwood, F. Mcneil↗

NASA NTRS1988

Availability and cost estimate of a high naphthene, modified aviation turbine fuel

Information from an Air Force study was used to determine the potential availability and cost of a modified conventional fuel with a naphthene content which could have a thermal stability near that of JP-7 for high-speed civil transports. Results showed sufficient capacity for a fuel made of a blend of 50 percent naphthenic straight run kerosene and 50 percent hydrocracked product, assuming a near-term requirement of 210,000 BBL per day. Fuel cost would be as low as 62.5 to 64.5 cents per gallon, assuming 20 dollars per barrel for crude.

Prok, George M.↗

NASA NTRS1988

A multivariate variational objective analysis-assimilation method. Part 2: Case study results with and without satellite data

The variational multivariate assimilation method described in a companion paper by Achtemeier and Ochs is applied to conventional and conventional plus satellite data. Ground-based and space-based meteorological data are weighted according to the respective measurement errors and blended into a data set that is a solution of numerical forms of the two nonlinear horizontal momentum equations, the hydrostatic equation, and an integrated continuity equation for a dry atmosphere. The analyses serve first, to evaluate the accuracy of the model, and second to contrast the analyses with and without satellite data. Evaluation criteria measure the extent to which: (1) the assimilated fields satisfy the dynamical constraints, (2) the assimilated fields depart from the observations, and (3) the assimilated fields are judged to be realistic through pattern analysis. The last criterion requires that the signs, magnitudes, and patterns of the hypersensitive vertical velocity and local tendencies of the horizontal velocity components be physically consistent with respect to the larger scale weather systems.

Achtemeier, Gary L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

AI tools in computer based problem solving

The use of computers to solve value oriented, deterministic, algorithmic problems, has evolved a structured life cycle model of the software process. The symbolic processing techniques used, primarily in research, for solving nondeterministic problems, and those for which an algorithmic solution is unknown, have evolved a different model, much less structured. Traditionally, the two approaches have been used completely independently. With the advent of low cost, high performance 32 bit workstations executing identical software with large minicomputers and mainframes, it became possible to begin to merge both models into a single extended model of computer problem solving. The implementation of such an extended model on a VAX family of micro/mini/mainframe systems is described. Examples in both development and deployment of applications involving a blending of AI and traditional techniques are given.

Beane, Arthur J.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Is optical Fe II emission related to the soft X-ray properties of quasars?

Radio-quiet quasars generally show broad, blended multiplets of Fe II emission in their optical and UV spectra. Radio-loud quasars also show UV Fe II emission, but their optical Fe II emission is generally weaker. No satisfactory theory connecting the generation of Fe II and radio emission has been found to explain this effect. A second, well-established distinction between the two clases of quasar is in their X-ray properties: radio-loud quasars are more X-ray luminous, and recent results have shown that they also have systematically flatter soft X-ray slopes. Here it is proposed that the second effect causes the first; i.e., that the primary factor controlling the optical Fe II emission is the soft X-ray spectrum. This proposition is supported by X-ray and optical data for nine quasars, which shows a correlation between the soft X-ray slope and the strength of the optical Fe II emission. One of these quasars (1803+676) is radio-quiet, and yet its optical spectrum shows no evidence for Fe II emission. This quasar is also unusual in that it has a flat X-ray spectrum. This further supports the proposal that the X-ray spectrum is important in determining the relative strengths of UV and optical Fe II emission.

Wilkes, Belinda J.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Silsesquioxanes as precursors to ceramic composites

Silsesquioxanes having the general structure RSiO(1.5), where R = methyl, propyl, or phenyl, melt flow at 70 to 100 C. Above 100 C, free OH groups condense. At 225 C further crosslinking occurs, and the materials form thermosets. Pyrolysis, with accompanying loss of volatiles, takes place at nominally 525 C. At higher temperatures, the R group serves as an internal carbon source for carbo-thermal reduction to SiC accompanied by the evolution of CO. By blending silsesquioxanes with varying R groups, both the melt rheology and composition of the fired ceramic can be controlled. Fibers can be spun from the melt which are stable in argon in 1400 C. The silsesquioxanes also were used as matrix precursors for Nicalon and alpha-SiC platelet reinforced composites.

Hurwitz, F. I.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Absolute intensities of CO2 lines in the 3140-3410/cm spectral region

Absolute intensities for 430 transitions belonging to eleven rotation-vibration bands of (C-12)(O-16)2, (C-13)(O-16)2, and (O-16)(C-18)(O-18) in the 3140-3410/cm spectral region have been determined by analyzing spectra recorded at 0.01/cm resolution with the Fourier transform spectrometer in the McMath solar telescope complex at the National Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak. The data were recorded at room temperature and low pressures (less than 10 torr) using a natural sample of carbon dioxide. Intensities were derived using a nonlinear least-squares spectral fitting procedure, and the values obtained for each band have been analyzed to determine the vibrational band intensity and nonrigid rotor coefficients. An alternative mathematical formulation is shown in the case of bands for which the Coriolis effect is large and the Q-branch line intensities were not determinable either because they were severely blended or absent from the spectra. Comparison are made between the results obtained in this study and other published values.

Benner, D. Chris↗

NASA NTRS1987

Implementation and flight-test of a multi-mode rotorcraft flight-control system for single-pilot use in poor visibility

A flight investigation was conducted to evaluate a multi-mode flight control system designed according to the most recent recommendations for handling qualities criteria for new military helicopters. The modes and capabilities that were included in the system are those considered necessary to permit divided-attention (single-pilot) lowspeed and hover operations near the ground in poor visibility conditions. Design features included mode-selection and mode-blending logic, the use of an automatic position-hold mode that employed precision measurements of aircraft position, and a hover display which permitted manually-controlled hover flight tasks in simulated instrument conditions. Pilot evaluations of the system were conducted using a multi-segment evaluation task. Pilot comments concerning the use of the system are provided, and flight-test data are presented to show system performance.

Hindson, William S.↗