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At least 829 records · Page 46

On the spectrum of inhomogeneous turbulence

Inhomogeneous turbulence is defined as turbulence whose statistics are functions of spatial position. The turbulence spectrum, and particularly how the shape of the spectrum varies, from point to point in space, as a consequence of well defined spatial variations in the turbulence intensity and/or integral scale is investigated.

Trevino, G.↗

Residential photovoltaic module and array requirements study

Design requirements for photovoltaic modules and arrays used in residential applications were identified. Building codes and referenced standards were reviewed for their applicability to residential photovoltaic array installations. Four installation types were identified - integral (replaces roofing), direct (mounted on top of roofing), stand-off (mounted away from roofing), and rack (for flat or low slope roofs, or ground mounted). Installation costs were developed for these mounting types as a function of panel/module size. Studies were performed to identify optimum module shapes and sizes and operating voltage cost drivers. It is concluded that there are no perceived major obstacles to the use of photovoltaic modules in residential arrays. However, there is no applicable building code category for residential photovoltaic modules and arrays and additional work with standards writing organizations is needed to develop residential module and array requirements.

Nearhoof, S. L.↗

Controls for LSS

An overiew of control development for large space structures (LSS) is presented addressing the activities of LSS modeling for control synthesis, technology identification and development, and performance evaluation. Specifically discussed are a 100 meter wrap rib antenna, a multiple payload science application platform, and a solar power satellite. In addition, the static shape control of flexible space structures by utilizing the Green's function is described.

Tolivar, F.↗

SPS large array simulation

The computer programming efforts were directed primarily to beam pattern analysis. The computer programs used for simulation provide: verification of the reference design; definition of feasible departures such as quantized distributions; the study of far-out sidelobe roll-off characteristics; the analysis of errors and failures; illumination function analysis to develop beam patterns for efficient collection; and beam shaping synthesis to meet environmental constraints.

Rathjen, S.↗

Amalthea - Implications of the temperature observed by Voyager

The temperature profile of Amalthea's surface layer is modeled as a function of location and time of day, assuming a triaxial ellipsoid shape and thermal properties similar to those of the lunar soil. Although the major heat source is direct insolation, temperatures are slightly increased by thermal radiation from Jupiter, sunlight reflected from the planet, and charged particle bombardment. Possible sources of error in the model are discussed in detail, including satellite shape effects, unusually low emissivity, uncommonly rough surface, abnormal thermal inertia, charged particle flux variability, and Joule heating. Voyager 1 IRIS observations suggest that the Amalthean surface has an emissivity near unity, but cannot put any useful limits on the thermal inertia of the Amalthean surface layer.

Simonelli, D. P.↗

Center of mass estimation in closed vortices - A verification in principle and practice

The problem of tracking closed mesoscale vortices using center of mass estimation techniques is studied. Three estimators are evaluated using data from a warm core Gulf Stream ring. The comparisons show that a method based on the intersection of perpendicular bisectors and one using a least-squares fit of a conic section perform comparably. The perpendicular bisector algorithm is used in conjunction with a Gaussian ring model and a star-shaped survey pattern to produce an expected error curve as a function of vortex translation, survey speed and vortex size. For typical ring parameters, center estimation is usually possible to within + or - 5 km. The feasibility of using differing data sets to construct a history of ring motion based on a coordinate system moving with the ring is also investigated. In this way, the validity of using satellite-derived data and drifter trajectories to estimate the center of mass of a mesoscale feature is assessed. The results of the analysis demonstrate that the location of the deeper structure of the ring and the surface expression are sufficiently well correlated to permit dynamically relevant calculations based on surface measurements. It is shown that satellite-derived data can be used to approximate the center of mass trajectory to within the error in the individual center estimates for the period analyzed. The Lagrangian-drifter-derived centers are offset from the center of mass trajectory in a manner consistent with kinematic arguments.

Hooker, S. B.↗

The global distribution of nitric oxide in the thermosphere as determined by the Atmosphere Explorer D satellite

The ultraviolet nitric oxide spectrometer (UVNO) experiment on the Atmosphere Explorer D (AE-D) satellite measured thermospheric nitric oxide during the winter of 1974-1975 using resonant fluorescence from the 1-0 gamma band of the molecule. Almost complete latitude coverage was obtained, but the observations were confined to morning local times close to 0900. The 1-0 gamma band intensity profiles measured by the instrument were inverted to provide vertical profiles of the NO number density between about 90 and 200 km. Typically, the measured NO concentrations reached a maximum between altitudes of 100 and 110 km, and more NO was observed at higher latitudes than at low latitudes, in agreement with previous observational studies. The shape of the NO profile was also found to be a function of latitude, with a plateau appearing in the profile near 130 km for low latitudes and mid-latitudes in the winter hemisphere.

Cravens, T. E.↗

Free-streamline analysis of deformation and dislodging by wind force of drops on a surface

Free-streamline theory is used to analyze the deformation and dislodging by wind pressure of drops of liquid adhered by surface tension to a solid surface. The critical Weber number for droplets to be dislodged is determined as a function of advancing and receding contact angle. Graphical results for drop shape are in good agreement with observation.

Durbin, P. A.↗

Determining microwave brightness temperatures from precipitating horizontally finite and vertically structured clouds

Microwave radiances that may be measured from satellite-borne radiometers operating at 37 GHz have been computed as a function of rainfall rates from horizontally finite precipitating clouds that contain both ice and liquid hydrometeors. It is found that precipitating ice at the top of the cloud depresses brightness temperatures significantly. Detailed comparison between finite clouds and the equivalent sections of plane-parallel clouds are made. Footprint averaged brightness temperatures from finite clouds are found to deviate considerably from the sectioned plane-parallel approximation, especially for large rain rates. Better agreement is achieved if a plane-parallel source function is used in the finite cloud model. The effect of shape and orientation of the precipitating cells with respect to the satellite has also been considered. It is found that the largest errors introduced by plane-parallel theory besides the footprint-filling errors are encountered when precipitating cells have large fractions of their surface below the freezing level or contain large amounts of ice.

Kummerow, C.↗

Effect of surface tension on the dynamical behavior of bubble in rotating fluids under low gravity environment

Time dependent evolutions of the profile of free surface (bubble shapes) for a cylindrical container partially filled with a Newtonian fluid of constant density, rotating about its axis of symmetry, have been studied. Numerical computations of the dynamics of bubble shapes have been carried out with the following situations: (1) linear functions of spin-up and spin-down in low and microgravity environments, (2) linear functions of increasing and decreasing gravity enviroment in high and low rotating cylidner speeds, (3) step functions of spin-up and spin-down in a low gravity environment, and (4) sinusoidal function oscillation of gravity environment in high and low rotating cylinder speeds. The initial condition of bubble profiles was adopted from the steady-state formulations in which the computer algorithms have been developed by Hung and Leslie (1988), and Hung et al. (1988).

Hung, R. J.↗

On the wind force needed to dislodge a drop adhered to a surface

The dislodging by dynamic pressure forces of a drop adhered by surface tension to a plane is considered. The method involves the numerical solution of the integrodifferential equation describing the drop shape and the obtaining of the critical Weber number as a function of contact angle hysteresis. The study assumes high-Reynolds-number free-streamline separation from the drop.

Durbin, Paul A.↗

Time-dependent dynamical behavior of surface tension on rotating fluids under microgravity environment

Time dependent evolutions of the profile of free surface (bubble shapes) for a cylindrical container partially filled with a Newtonian fluid of constant density, rotating about its axis of symmetry, have been studied. Numerical computations of the dynamics of bubble shapes have been carried out with the following situations: (1) linear functions of spin-up and spin-down in low and microgravity environments, (2) step functions of spin-up and spin-down in a low gravity environment, and (3) sinusoidal function oscillation of gravity environment in high and low rotating cylinder speeds.

Hung, R. J.↗

A proposed study of multiple scattering through clouds up to 1 THz

A rigorous computation of the electromagnetic field scattered from an atmospheric liquid water cloud is proposed. The recent development of a fast recursive algorithm (Chew algorithm) for computing the fields scattered from numerous scatterers now makes a rigorous computation feasible. A method is presented for adapting this algorithm to a general case where there are an extremely large number of scatterers. It is also proposed to extend a new binary PAM channel coding technique (El-Khamy coding) to multiple levels with non-square pulse shapes. The Chew algorithm can be used to compute the transfer function of a cloud channel. Then the transfer function can be used to design an optimum El-Khamy code. In principle, these concepts can be applied directly to the realistic case of a time-varying cloud (adaptive channel coding and adaptive equalization). A brief review is included of some preliminary work on cloud dispersive effects on digital communication signals and on cloud liquid water spectra and correlations.

Gerace, G. C.↗

X-ray bumps, iron K-alpha lines, and X-ray suppression by obscuring tori in Seyfert galaxies

We investigate the X-ray spectral properties of unobscured type 1 and obscured type 2 Seyferts as predicted by the unified Seyfert scheme. We consider the reprocessing of X-ray photons by photoelectric absorption, iron fluorescence, and Compton downscattering in the obscuring tori surrounding these active nuclei, and compute by Monte Carlo methods the reprocessed spectra as a function of the viewing angle. Depending on the optical depth and shape of the torus, and on the viewing angle, the X-ray flux can be suppressed by substantial factors when our line of sight is obscured. We show that an immediate consequence of the existence of an obscuring thick torus is the production in the spectra of type 1 Seyfert galaxies of a bump in the continuum above 10-20 keV and an Fe K-alpha line with significant equivalent width. In those type 2 Seyferts for which the hard X-ray spectrum has been substantially suppressed, the equivalent width of the Fe K-alpha line in the transmitted spectrum can be very large.

Krolik, Julian H.↗

How cosmic microwave background correlations at large angles relate to mass autocorrelations in space

The Sachs-Wolfe effect is known to produce large angular scale fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) due to gravitational potential fluctuations. We show how the angular correlation function of the CMBR can be expressed explicitly in terms of the mass autocorrelation function xi(r) in the universe. We derive analytic expressions for the angular correlation function and its multipole moments in terms of integrals over xi(r) or its second moment, J(sub 3)(r), which does not need to satisfy the sort of integral constraint that xi(r) must. We derive similar expressions for bulk flow velocity in terms of xi and J(sub 3). One interesting result that emerges directly from this analysis is that, for all angles theta, there is a substantial contribution to the correlation function from a wide range of distance r and that radial shape of this contribution does not vary greatly with angle.

Blumenthal, George R.↗

Stress Determination of Micromembranes Using Laser Vibrometry

A laser vibrometry based dynamic technique for biaxial residual stress determination in micromembranes is reported. Layered, low pressure chemical vapor deposition grown, rectangular shaped micromembranes are ultrasonically excited. The resulting micromembrane displacement, as a function of frequency and position, is recorded to yield resonance frequencies and associated vibrational mode numbers. The stress is determined from this information. Vibrations forced from ultrasonic pressure (-25 Pa) resulted in peak displacements of tens of nanometers at resonance. For the sample set studied, the (3,1) mode resonance peak displayed the least damping in atmospheric testing and was used to establish stress levels approximately 10(exp 8)N/m2 . A trend for this stress showing an overall decrease by approximately 40% as a result of thermomechanical cycling was identified.

Biswas, Abhijit↗

X-Ray Constraints on the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium

Three observational constraints can be placed on a warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) using ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) pointed and survey data, the emission strength, the energy spectrum, and the fluctuation spectrum. The upper limit to the emission strength of the WHIM is 7.5 +/- 1.0 keV/(s*sq cm*sr*keV) in the 3/4 keV band, an unknown portion of which value may be due to our own Galactic halo. The spectral stape of the WHIM emission can be described as thermal emission with logT = 6.42, although the true spectrum is more likely to come from a range of temperatures. The values of emission strength and spectral shape are in reasonable agreement with hydrodynamical cosmological models. The autocorrelation function in the 0.44 keV < E < 1.21 keV band range, w(theta), for the extragalactic soft X-ray background (SXRB) which includes both the WHIM and contributions due to point sources, is approx. < 0.002 for 10 min < 0 < 20 min in the 3/4 keV band. This value is lower than the Croft et al. (2000) cosmological model by a factor of approx. 5, but is still not inconsistent with cosmological models. It is also found that the normalization of the extragalactic power law component of the soft X-ray background spectrum must be 9.5 +/- 0.9 keV/(s*sq cm*sr*keV) to be consistent with the ROSAT All-Sky Survey.

Kuntz, K. D.↗

Serendipitous Detections of XTE J1906+09 with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer

The 89 s X-ray pulsar XTE J1906+09 was discovered during Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations of SGR 1900+14 in 1996. Because of monitoring campaigns of SGR 1900+14, XTE J1906+09 was also monitored regularly in 1996 September, 1998 May-June, 1998 August-1999 July, and 2000 March-2001 January. A search for pulsations resulted in detections of only the two previously reported outbursts in 1996 September and 1998 August-September. Pulsed flux upper limits for the rest of the observations show that XTE J1906+09 is a transient X-ray pulsar and likely has a Be star companion. The RXTE all-sky monitor did not reveal XTE J1906+09. Pulse-timing analysis of the second outburst discovered a sinusoidal signature in the pulse frequencies that is likely produced by an orbital periastron passage. Fits to pulse phases using an orbital model and quadratic phase model have chi(exp 2) minima at orbital periods of 26-30 days for fixed mass functions of 5, 10, 15, and 20 solar masses. The pulse shape showed energy- and intensity-dependent variations. Pulse-phase spectroscopy quantified the energy-dependent variations. The phase-averaged spectrum used the pulse minimum spectrum as the background spectrum to eliminate effects from SGR 1900+14 and the Galactic ridge and was well fitted by an absorbed power law with a high-energy cutoff with column density N(sub H) = 6 +/- 1 x 10(exp 22)/sq cm, a photon index of 1.01 +/- 0.08, cutoff energy E(sub cut) = 11 +/- 1 keV, and e-folding energy E(sub fold) = 19 +/- 4 keV. Estimated 2-10 keV peak fluxes, corrected for contributions from the Galactic ridge and SGR 1900+14, are 6 x l0(exp -12) and 1.1 x 10(exp -10) ergs/sq cm/s for the 1996 and 1998 outbursts, respectively. XTE J1906+09 may be part of an unusual class of Be/X-ray binaries that do not lie on the general spin period versus orbital period correlation with the majority of Be/X-ray binaries.

Wilson, Colleen A.↗