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At least 91 records · Page 5

Microwave thermal emission from a stratified medium with nonuniform temperature distribution

Using the dissipation-fluctuation approach, the brightness temperature of a stratified medium with inhomogeneous permittivities and nonuniform temperature profiles is solved. The solution is expressed in closed form ready for machine computation. Numerical results are illustrated and compared with closed-form analytical solutions and results obtained from the WKB method for simple profiles.

Tsang, L.↗

Design and simulation of stratified probability digital receiver with application to the multipath communication

One approach to the problem of simplifying complex nonlinear filtering algorithms is through using stratified probability approximations where the continuous probability density functions of certain random variables are represented by discrete mass approximations. This technique is developed in this paper and used to simplify the filtering algorithms developed for the optimum receiver for signals corrupted by both additive and multiplicative noise.

Deal, J. H.↗

Heat transport in a stratified two-phase fluid

A self-gravitating fluid, stratified into two phases of appreciably different densities and heated from within is considered. The heat flux, viscosity, and thermal diffusivity are assumed to be small enough so that, away from the interface between the phases, the flux is mainly carried by turbulent convection with a very small superadiabaticity. Different modes are investigated for transporting the heat flux across the interface, and both possible signs of the latent heat L are considered. A thermal boundary layer, distortion of the interface, and the nucleation, growth and motion of droplets and bubbles are included. It is shown that, under a specified range of conditions, the transition region near the interface is thin with a small change in the temperature T across it. The entropy difference between the two phases is then L/T. These considerations probably apply to the interior of Jupiter.

Salpeter, E. E.↗

Rotating stratified flow over finite isolated topography

Inviscid, steady, stratified rotating flow over a finite, isolated topographic feature is critically analyzed. The formulation is based on approximating the horizontal momentum by the geostrophic momentum. A boundary value problem governs the perturbation pressure field. The solution is an anticyclonic, topographically-bound vortex whose characteristics are independent of the upstream velocity but do depend on stratification, rotation, and the nature of the topography. The vortex is baroclinic in the vicinity of the mountain but barotropic in the far field. The velocity field is a combination of the bound vortex and an upstream velocity interacting with the perturbation pressure field. The effects of stratification, upstream velocity and the nature of the topography are investigated, and fluid trajectories are plotted.

Merkine, L.-O.↗

A spectral domain method for remotely probing stratified media

The problem of remotely probing a stratified, lossless, dielectric medium is formulated using the spectral domain method of probing. The response of the medium to a spectrum of plane waves incident at various angles is used to invert the unknown profile. For TE polarization, the electric field satisfies a Helmholtz equation. The inverse problem is solved by means of a new representation for the wave function. The principal step in this inversion is solving a second kind Fredholm equation which is very amenable to numerical computations. Several examples are presented including some which indicate that the method can be used with experimentally obtained data. When the fields exhibit a surface wave behavior, a unique inversion can be obtained only if information about the magnetic field is also available. In this case, the inversion is accomplished by a two-step procedure which employs a formula of Jost and Kohn. Some examples are presented, and an approach which greatly shortens the computations without greatly deteriorating the results is discussed.

Schaubert, D. H.↗

The parabolic approximation for sound propagation in a stratified moving medium

Propagation of sound in a stratified moving medium is discussed through an extension of the parabolic approximation to the acoustic equations of motion for short wavelengths. The parabolic approximation is related to the theory of geometric acoustics, and it is shown that it yields an improvement in accuracy over geometric theory. Also, the approximation corrects cumulative failures of geometric theory which occur when sound propagates many wavelengths from its source. The theory is illustrated by application to simple examples of quasi-plane wave propagation.

Myers, M. K.↗

Remote sensing of optical properties in continuously stratified waters

The radiative transfer equation is solved by Monte Carlo methods for natural waters in which the optical properties are distributed with depth. It is demonstrated that interpreting the reflectance of a continuously stratified ocean in terms of an equivalent homogeneous ocean yields the average of a particular combination of the water's optical properties over the dimensionless penetration depth. Although in general the dimensionless penetration depth cannot be remotely measured, a method is presented for estimating the actual penetration depth from the remote observations if the medium's absorption coefficient is known, independent of depth, and sufficiently large. The application of this to the remote measurement of the vertical distribution of suspended sediments is discussed in detail.

Gordon, H. R.↗

Irradiance attenuation coefficient in a stratified ocean - A local property of the medium

The influence of optically important constituents of water on the absorption (a) and scattering (b) coefficients and the backscattering probability is considered, with emphasis placed on measuring the volume scattering function (B/theta/). Two stratification models are examined; one in which the phase function (B(theta)/b) is depth independent and only b/c is allowed to vary with optical depth, and the other in which both b/c and the phase function depend on depth. The results demonstrate that Gordon's (1977) technique of estimating a and b is applicable without change to a stratified ocean.

Gordon, H. R.↗

Solitary waves in stratified shear flows

An analysis is described of long, finite-amplitude internal waves in a stratified shear flow. Both regular and singular modes are considered with a nonlinear critical layer employed in the latter case. A three-layer model is used to develop the theory and closed-form expressions are obtained relating the phase speed to the Richardson number, the latter quantity being taken as O(1). The amplitude evolution equation is found to be either the Korteweg-de Vries equation or the Benjamin-Davis-Ono equation depending upon the distance of the more remote boundary from the edge of the shear layer.

Maslowe, S. A.↗

Advanced stratified charge rotary aircraft engine design study

A technology base of new developments which offered potential benefits to a general aviation engine was compiled and ranked. Using design approaches selected from the ranked list, conceptual design studies were performed of an advanced and a highly advanced engine sized to provide 186/250 shaft Kw/HP under cruise conditions at 7620/25,000 m/ft altitude. These are turbocharged, direct-injected stratified charge engines intended for commercial introduction in the early 1990's. The engine descriptive data includes tables, curves, and drawings depicting configuration, performance, weights and sizes, heat rejection, ignition and fuel injection system descriptions, maintenance requirements, and scaling data for varying power. An engine-airframe integration study of the resulting engines in advanced airframes was performed on a comparative basis with current production type engines. The results show airplane performance, costs, noise & installation factors. The rotary-engined airplanes display substantial improvements over the baseline, including 30 to 35% lower fuel usage.

Badgley, P.↗

Numerical solutions for the spin-up of a stratified fluid

The model of Warn-Varnas et al. (1978) is used to numerically examine the spin-up flow of a thermally stratified fluid in a cylinder with an insulating side wall, and comparison of the results with the laser-Doppler measurements of Lee (1975) shows excellent agreement. It is shown that flow gradients are created in the interior of the fluid during the meridional circulation spin-up phase, and that the azimuthal flow decayed faster than has been predicted by Wallin (1969). It is established that viscous diffusion in the interior, arising from the interior-flow gradients, is the cause of the discrepancy with Wallin's theory.

Hyun, J. M.↗

White dwarf stars with chemically stratified atmospheres

Recent observations and theory suggest that some white dwarfs may have chemically stratified atmospheres - thin layers of hydrogen lying above helium-rich envelopes. Models of such atmospheres show that a discontinuous temperature inversion can occur at the boundary between the layers. Model spectra for layered atmospheres at 30,000 K and 50,000 K tend to have smaller decrements at 912 A, 504 A, and 228 A than uniform atmospheres would have. On the basis of their continuous extreme ultraviolet spectra, it is possible to distinguish observationally between uniform and layered atmospheres for hot white dwarfs.

Muchmore, D.↗

GD 323 - A white dwarf with a stratified H/He atmosphere?

New optical and ultraviolet (IUE) spectrophotometry of the hot white dwarf GD 323 are presented. The optical spectra exhibit broad, shallow Balmer lines, together with weaker He I lambda-4471, lambda-4921 lines. However, the effective temperature and helium abundance derived from the optical spectrum appear incompatible with parameters derived from the optical colors and the overall energy distribution - thus suggesting that GD 323 does not have a homogeneous, mixed composition atmosphere. The alternative interpretations of substantial reddening, a rapidly rotating subdwarf, an accreting short-period binary, and a detached DA + DB binary system are ruled out. It is suggested instead that GD 323 may have a stratified atmosphere, with an optically thin hydrogen layer overlying a helium envelope at T(e) about 30,000 K; however, this conclusion must be properly tested.

Liebert, J.↗

Design of a high-performance rotary stratified-charge research aircraft engine

The power section for an advanced rotary stratified-charge general aviation engine has been designed under contract to NASA. The single-rotor research engine of 40 cubic-inches displacement (RCI-40), now being procured for test initiation this summer, is targeted for 320 T.O. horse-power in a two-rotor production engine. The research engine is designed for operating on jet-fuel, gasoline or diesel fuel and will be used to explore applicable advanced technologies and to optimize high output performance variables. Design of major components of the engine is described in this paper.

Jones, C.↗

Sulfur transformations at the hydrogen sulfide/oxygen interface in stratified waters and in cyanobacterial mats

Stratified water bodies allow the development of several microbial plates along the water column. The microbial plates develop in relation to nutrient availability, light penetration, and the distribution of oxygen and sulfide. Sulfide is initially produced in the sediment by sulfate-reducing bacteria. It diffuses along the water column creating a zone of hydrogen sulfide/oxygen interface. In the chemocline of Solar Lake oxygen and sulfide coexist in a 0 to 10 cm layer that moves up and down during a diurnal cycle. The microbial plate at the chemocline is exposed to oxygen and hydrogen sulfide, alternating on a diurnal basis. The cyanobacteria occupying the interface switch from anoxygenic photosynthesis in the morning to oxygenic photosynthesis during the rest of the day which results in a temporal build up of elemental sulfur during the day and disappears at night due to both oxidation to thiosulfate and sulfate by thiobacilli, and reduction to hydrogen sulfide by Desulfuromonas sp. and anaerobically respiring cyanobacteria. Sulfate reduction was enhanced in the light at the surface of the cyanobacterial mats. Microsulfate reduction measurements showed enhanced activity of sulfate reduction even under high oxygen concentrations of 300 to 800 micrometer. Apparent aerobic SO sub 4 reduction activity is explained by the co-occurrence of H sub 2. The physiology of this apparent sulfate reduction activity is studied.

Cohen, Y.↗

Higher-order parabolic approximations for sound propagation in stratified moving media

Asymptotic solutions of order k-n are developed for the equations governing the propagation of sound through a stratified moving medium. Here k is a dimensionless wave number and n is the arbitrary order of the approximation. These approximations are an extension of geometric acoustics theory and provide corrections to that theory in the form of multiplicative functions which satisfy parabolic partial differential equations. These corrections account for the diffraction effects caused by variation of the field normal to the ray path and the interaction of these transverse variations with the variation of the field along the ray. The theory is illustrated by application to simple examples.

Mcaninch, G. L.↗

A reformulation of the parabolic approximation for waves in stratified moving media

An asymptotic, large wave number approximation for the equations governing the propagation of acoustic disturbances through a stratified moving medium is developed. The theory is an extension of the geometric acoustics approximation and provides corrections to that approximation in the form of multiplicative functions which satisfy parabolic differential equations of second order. By properly accounting for variations in the acoustic field in directions normal to the rays both caustic surfaces and the secularity of the geometric theory may be avoided.

Mcaninch, G. L.↗

On the generation of magnetohydrodynamic waves in a stratified and magnetized fluid. I - Vertical propagation

The generation of MHD waves by turbulent motions in a stratified medium with an embedded uniform magnetic field, a topic which is relevant to the study of the solar atmosphere, is considered. Both compressible and incompressible MHD waves are treated in a one-dimensional approach; however, the direction of the background magnetic field is permitted to vary in an arbitrary direction. Theoretical expressions for MHD energy fluxes are obtained as a function of wave frequency and multipole coefficients. It is shown that monopole, dipole, and quadrupole emissions are responsible for the generation of the compressible components of the fast and slow modes. However, the incompressible components and the Alfven modes can be generated by the dipole emission only. Specific results obtained for special magnetic field geometries are discussed for the fast and slow modes.

Musielak, Z. E.↗