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At least 991 records · Page 55

Experimental study of two separating turbulent boundary layers

A detailed study of two strong adverse pressure gradient flows, one with a free-stream velocity of 35 m/sec, at throat (producing a Re sub theta of 27000 at detachment) and another with free-stream velocity of 22 m/sec, at throat (producing a Re sub theta of 19000 at detachment) is presented. In these examples flows separate slowly and reattach very rapidly over a very short distance in a streamwise direction. In the backflow region, there appears to be a semi-logarithmically flat region in the streamwise fluctuating velocity component, u', which spreads over a definite range of y/delta. In power spectra, the flow variables phi sub upsilon upsilon (kappa sub 1 delta)/ -uv bar sub max vs. kappa sub 1 delta forms a unique set of scaling parameters for adverse pressure gradient flows. Experimental results show good agreement with previous studies.

Nagabushana, K. A.↗

Vestibular system and neural correlates of motion sickness

Initial studies re-examine the role of certain central nervous system structures in the production of vestibular-induced vomiting and vomiting in general. All experiments were conducted using cats. Since these studies demonstrated that the essential role of various central structures in vestibular-induced vomiting is only poorly understood, efforts were re-directed to study the control of the effector muscles (diaphragm and abdominal muscles) that produce the pressure changes responsible for vomiting, with the goal of determining how this control mechanism is engaged during motion sickness. Experiments were conducted to localize the motoneurons that innervate the individual abdominal muscles and the portion of the diaphragm that surrounds the esophagus. A central question regarding respiratory muscle control during vomiting is whether these muscles are activated via the same brain stem pre-motor neurons that provide descending respiratory drive and/or by other descending input(s). In other experiments, the use of a combination of pitch and roll motions to produce motion sickness in unrestrained cats was evaluated. This stimulus combination can produce vomiting in only the most susceptible cats and is thus not as provacative a stimulus for cats as vertical linear acceleration.

Miller, Alan D.↗

ISEE-1 and -2 observations of magnetotail flux ropes - FTEs in the plasma sheet?

ISEE-1 and 2 observations from about 20 Re down the near-earth magnetotail indicate the presence of magnetic flux ropes in the neutral sheet. Magnetic and electric field and fast plasma data show that these structures convect across the spacecraft at speeds of 200-600-km/s, and have scale sizes of roughly 3 5-Re. The rope axis orientation is approximately cross-tail. Their magnetic structure is similar to Venus ionospheric flux ropes, and to flux transfer events at the dayside magnetopause. These structures may arise from patchy reconnection or tearing mode reconnection within the plasma sheet.

Elphic, R. C.↗

Coherent shedding from a circular cylinder at critical, supercritical, and transcritical Reynolds numbers

Results are summarized from NASA-Langley studies of the mean drag and unsteady flow parameters of the flow around a circular cylinder at critical, supercritical and transcritical Re. Flow velocities of Mach 0.05-0.40 in the Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel were used in conjunction with Re from 250,000-6.2 million. Data were collected in the wake and along the walls using pressure transducers. Corrections which were devised to calculate the Strouhal numbers in the presence of broadband signatures in the supercritical regime are described. The tests revealed, as found in previous tests, a discontinuity in the Strouhal number (from 0.2-0.43) in the supercritical regime.

Horvath, Thomas J.↗

Time-marching solution of incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for internal flow

Primitive variables with central differencing on a staggered grid are used in the present, factored ADI finite-difference scheme for artificial compressibility method solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, leading to a close coupling between velocity and pressure that both enhances stability and eliminates the need for artificial damping. Computational efficiency is enhanced through the use of a spatially variable, fixed Courant number-based time-step. The numerical results obtained for a driven cavity at Re of 10,000, with local cell Re as high as 100, exhibits no flow variable spatial oscillations on a 40 x 40 stretched grid solution.

Soh, W. Y.↗

An airfoil designed for a high-altitude, long endurance remotely piloted vehicle

The preliminary design of high-altitude, long-endurance RPVs is complicated by the paucity of data concerning airfoils with high lift coefficients at low Re numbers. Attention is presently given to a generic airfoil of this type for the design Re number range of 700,000 to 2 million. Low drag is predicted for lift coefficients from 0.4 (for high speed dashes) to 1.5 (for maximum mission endurance). The airfoil is such that its maximum lift coefficient, at 1.8, is unaffected by the surface contamination that would be encountered during takeoffs and landings in rain or over insect-infested runways.

Maughmer, Mark D.↗

Centrifugal acceleration of ions in the polar magnetosphere

The transport of ionospheric ions originating near the dayside cusp into the magnetotail is parametrically studied using a 3-D model of ion trajectories. It is shown that the centrifugal term in the guiding center parallel force equation dominates the parallel motion after about 4 Re geocentric distance. The dependence of the equatorial crossing distance on initial latitude, energy and convection electric field is presented for ions originating on the dayside ionosphere in the noon-midnight plane. It is also found that up to altitudes of about 5 Re, the motion is similar to that of a bead on a rotating rod, for which a simple analytical solution exists.

Swinney, Kenneth R.↗

Method and apparatus for measuring distance

The invention employs a continuous wave radar technique and apparatus which can be used as a distance measuring system in the presence of background clutter by utilizing small passive transponders. A first continuous electromagnetic wave signal S sub 1 at a first frequency f sub 1 is transmitted from a first location. A transponder carried by a target object positioned at a second (remote) location receives the transmitted signal, phase-coherently divides the f sub 1 frequency and its phase, and re-transmits the transmitted signal as a second continuous electromagnetic wave signal S sub 2 at a lower frequency f sub 2 which is a subharmonic of f sub 1. The re-transmitted signal is received at the first location where a measurement of the phase difference is made between the signals S sub 1 and S sub 2, such measuremnt being indicative of the distance between the first and second locations.

Lichtenberg, Christopher L.↗

Viscous flow computations using a second-order upwind differencing scheme

In the present computations of a wide range of fluid flow problems by means of the primitive variables-incorporating Navier-Stokes equations, a mixed second-order upwinding scheme approximates the convective terms of the transport equations and the scheme's accuracy is verified for convection-dominated high Re number flow problems. An adaptive dissipation scheme is used as a monotonic supersonic shock flow capture mechanism. Many benchmark fluid flow problems, including the compressible and incompressible, laminar and turbulent, over a wide range of M and Re numbers, are presently studied to verify the accuracy and robustness of this numerical method.

Chen, Y. S.↗

Comparison of Space Shuttle Hot Gas Manifold analysis to air flow data

This paper summarizes several recent analyses of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Hot Gas Manifold and compares predicted flow environments to air flow data. Codes used in these analyses include INS3D, PAGE, PHOENICS, and VAST. Both laminar (Re = 250, M = 0.30) and turbulent (Re = 1.9 million, M = 0.30) results are discussed, with the latter being compared to data for system losses, outer wall static pressures, and manifold exit Mach number profiles. Comparison of predicted results for the turbulent case to air flow data shows that the analysis using INS3D predicted system losses within 1 percent error, while the PHOENICS, PAGE, and VAST codes erred by 31, 35, and 47 percent, respectively. The INS3D, PHOENICS, and PAGE codes did a reasonable job of predicting outer wall static pressure, while the PHOENICS code predicted exit Mach number profiles with acceptable accuracy. INS3D was approximately an order of magnitude more efficient than the other codes in terms of code speed and memory requirements. In general, it is seen that complex internal flows in manifold-like geometries can be predicted with a limited degree of confidence, and further development is necessary to improve both efficiency and accuracy of codes if they are to be used as design tools for complex three-dimensional geometries.

Mcconnaughey, P. K.↗

A statistical study of ion pitch-angle distributions

Preliminary results of a statistical study of energetic (34-50 keV) ion pitch-angle distributions (PADs) within 9 Re of earth provide evidence for an orderly pattern consistent with both drift-shell splitting and magnetopause shadowing. Normal ion PADs dominate the dayside and inner magnetosphere. Butterfly PADs typically occur in a narrow belt stretching from dusk to dawn through midnight, where they approach within 6 Re of earth. While those ion butterfly PADs that typically occur on closed drift paths are mainly caused by drift-shell splitting, there is also evidence for magnetopause shadowing in observations of more frequent butterfly PAD occurrence in the outer magnetosphere near dawn than dusk. Isotropic and gradient boundary PADs terminate the tailward extent of the butterfly ion PAD belt.

Sibeck, D. G.↗

Trace element partitioning between taenite and kamacite - Relationship to the cooling rates of iron meteorites

Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was used to determine Ni, Co, Cu, Ga, As, Au, W, Re and Ir in taenite lamellae isolated by acid dissolution from eight iron meteorites from groups IA, IIIAB and IVA. Taenite is enriched in Ni, Cu, Ga, As, Au, W, Re and Ir relative to kamacite, whereas taenite is depleted in Co. Taenite/kamacite partition ratios in slowly cooled IAB meteorites are farther from unity than those in rapidly cooled IVA meteorites. Taenite/kamacite partition ratios for Cu, Ir, Au and Co may be sensitive cooling rate indicators.

Rasmussen, Kaare L.↗

Zone measurements during wintertime in the Arctic. Comparision with recent measurements at the same places are made. Here the 30 hPa Temperatures are shown

Moon measurements made at Tromso, and at Spitzbergen, 70 and 78 N, back in the fifties have been re-evaluated. One has to take into account that the wedge calibration will change when the focussed image of the moon on the inlet slit is used. A correction was later decided to be used after several experiments in Dobsons Laboratory in Oxford. The absorption coefficients have been changed since the observations were taken and evaluated the first time. The re-evaluated ozone values have been plotted, in one diagram for Spitzbergen, and in one for Tromso. The zonal mean value for ozone is given as a reference. Ozone measurements from the winter season 1985/86 and 1986/87 made at the same places are presented. Here the daylight measurements are incorporated and also TIROS satellite data from single point data retrieval are given. The two winter seasons were very different. In the first we had a late final stratospheric warming, and in the other we had an early final stratospheric warming. This can be seen from the 30 millibar temperatures, provided by Barbara Naujokat, and plotted in the diagrams. Again the zonal mean values of ozone are given as reference.

Larsen, Soren H. H.↗

The causes for geographical variations in OS187/OS186 at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary

Researchers at Yale has approached the problem of the osmium isotopic composition of marine deposits formed in contact with both oxidized and reduced bottom waters. The measured (187) Os/(186) Os ratios of modern bulk sediment can be explained using mixing equations involving continental detrital, volcaniclastic, cosmogenic and hydrogeneous components. These studies show that sediments deposited under reducing marine conditions contain a hydrogenous component which is enriched in Re and has a radiogenic (187) Os/(186) Os ratio. The presence of such a hydrogenous component in the marine fish clay at Stevns Klint can account for the elevation of its (187) Os/(186) Os ration above the expected meteoritic value. Mass balance considerations require the Re/Os ratio of the phase precipitated from the terminal Cretaceous sea at Stevns Klint to have been about one tenth the value observed in contemporary deposits in the Black Sea, assuming Re has not been lost (or Os gained) subsequent to precipitation. In continental sections, the elevation of the (187) Os/(186) Os ratio in boundary layers may be due to precipitation from continental waters of crustally-derived radiogenic osmium either contemporaneous with the meteoritic (or mantle) osmium deposition or later during diagenesis.

Turekian, K. K.↗

Electrical structure and its implication across the lower- and upper-crustal settings of South India

Measurements of a large scale MMA experiment covering both the granulite and greenstone terrains of Archeans in the southern part of India is re-visited and re-analyzed. The induced field variations contain the signatures of crustal and subcrustal electrical conductivities, although substantially distorted by the sea-land interfaces and cenozoic sediments. However, through a selection of some reconnaissance profiles and temporal variations, an attempt is made to deduce whether: (1) significant differences exist between the electrical structures of the high and low grade complexes (i.e., if the electrical conductivity of the lower crust is due to minerological composition or is intrinsic to the positioning at depths greater than 15 km); (2) the probable seaward extension of the continental crust and its transition to oceanic type may also contribute (through intracrustal DC-like telluric sheets) to the induction field in addition to or rather than the sharply localized zones; (3) the observed parameters are indicative of a formal anisotropy and/or undulations in the deep crust; and (4) the postulate of relatively hotter Indian shield is reflected particularly with regard to differential metamorphism. In the last case, the crust-mantle coupling in this region - unlike other similar areas - seems to be markedly affected by the evolution of Ne-plate velocity field.

Raval, U.↗

NASA Lewis Stirling engine computer code evaluation

In support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Stirling Engine Highway Vehicle Systems program, the NASA Lewis Stirling engine performance code was evaluated by comparing code predictions without engine-specific calibration factors to GPU-3, P-40, and RE-1000 Stirling engine test data. The error in predicting power output was -11 percent for the P-40 and 12 percent for the Re-1000 at design conditions and 16 percent for the GPU-3 at near-design conditions (2000 rpm engine speed versus 3000 rpm at design). The efficiency and heat input predictions showed better agreement with engine test data than did the power predictions. Concerning all data points, the error in predicting the GPU-3 brake power was significantly larger than for the other engines and was mainly a result of inaccuracy in predicting the pressure phase angle. Analysis into this pressure phase angle prediction error suggested that improvements to the cylinder hysteresis loss model could have a significant effect on overall Stirling engine performance predictions.

Sullivan, Timothy J.↗

Navier-Stokes solutions for vortical flows over a tangent-ogive cylinder

Reynolds number (Re) effects on low-speed vortical flows over a 3.5 caliber tangent-ogive cylinders at two angles of attack (alpha = 20 and alpha = 30 degrees) are computationally assessed for Re(D) = 0.2 -3.0 million (D: maximum diameter). The flow field results are steady-state solutions to the three-dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in their thin-layer approximation. Using a properly modified algebraic turbulence model, the numerical results are in good to excellent agreement with experiments.

Hartwich, PETER-M.↗

Computational/experimental study of the flowfield on a body of revolution at incidence

A joint computational-experimental study of the vortical flowfield on a pointed body of revolution is undertaken. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved numerically for steady flow around an ogive-cylinder at angle of attack. The three-dimensional vortical flow is investigated, with emphasis on the tip and the near-wake region. Comparisons of computational results with results of a companion towing-tank experiment are presented at Re(L) = 1000. Results of a wind tunnel experiment at Re(L) = 820,000, featuring use of a seven-hole pressure probe, also are presented. It was observed that at the low Reynolds number of the towing tank study, the leeside flow was symmetric at the angles of attack considered. For the same configuration at the higher Reynolds number of the wind tunnel study, the flow was asymmetric under equivalenat conditions for some of the angles of attack studied. The topology of the flow is discussed and conclusions are drawn concerning the growth and stability of the primary vortices.

Zilliac, G. G.↗