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At least 1,027 records · Page 57

Geometric modeling of large space antenna deployment

A dynamic visualization of large antenna deployment was created to be used as a precursor to further analysis of the structure as it is being deployed. The configuration chosen for this investigation was a box-truss structure consisting of a large reflector 60 meters wide by 120 meters long with a 120-meter mast. The entire space structure is folded and compressed into a container 17.8 meters long by 3.75 meters in diameter for transportation to orbit by the Space Transportation System (STS). A geometric model of this structure was created using an interactive solid modeling package. The building blocks of the structure are boxes and cylinders which are put together to form elements connected by joints and hinges. The elements, joints, and hinges make up the box-truss structure. The geometric model was then passed to the MOVIE.BYU software package. The "utility" module of this program was used to manipulate the elements of the structure to represent 13 different stages of deployment. The "animate" command was then used to create a smooth sequence between stages. Each step in the sequence was recorded on magnetic tape and a short movie was produced.

Nazemetz, J.↗

Helicopter model rotor-blade vortex interaction impulsive noise: Scalability and parametric variations

Acoustic data taken in the anechoic Deutsch-Niederlaendischer Windkanal (DNW) have documented the blade vortex interaction (BVI) impulsive noise radiated from a 1/7-scale model main rotor of the AH-1 series helicopter. Averaged model scale data were compared with averaged full scale, inflight acoustic data under similar nondimensional test conditions. At low advance ratios (mu = 0.164 to 0.194), the data scale remarkable well in level and waveform shape, and also duplicate the directivity pattern of BVI impulsive noise. At moderate advance ratios (mu = 0.224 to 0.270), the scaling deteriorates, suggesting that the model scale rotor is not adequately simulating the full scale BVI noise; presently, no proved explanation of this discrepancy exists. Carefully performed parametric variations over a complete matrix of testing conditions have shown that all of the four governing nondimensional parameters - tip Mach number at hover, advance ratio, local inflow ratio, and thrust coefficient - are highly sensitive to BVI noise radiation.

Splettstoesser, W. R.↗

Helicopter model rotor-blade vortex interaction impulsive noise - Scalability and parametric variations

Acoustic data taken in the anechoic Deutsch-Niederlaendischer Windkanal (DNW) have documented the blade vortex interaction (BVI) impulsive noise radiated from a 1/7-scale model main rotor of the AH-1 series helicopter. Averaged model scale data were compared with averaged full scale, inflight acoustic data under similar nondimensional test conditions. At low advance ratios (mu = 0.164 to 0.194), the data scale remarkable well in level and waveform shape, and also duplicate the directivity pattern of BVI impulsive noise. At moderate advance ratios (mu = 0.224 to 0.270), the scalig deteriorates, suggesting that the model scale rotor is not adequately simulating the full scale BVI noise; presently, no proved explanation of this discrepancy exists. Carefully performed parametric variations over a complete matrix of testing conditions have shown that all of the four governing nondimensional parameters - tip Mach number at hover, advance ratio, local inflow ratio, and thrust coefficient - are highly sensitive to BVI noise radiation.

Boxwell, D. A.↗

Irreversible wave-mean flow interactions in a mechanistic model of the stratosphere

A wave-1 minor warming is simulated in a mechanistic, global, primitive equation model. The modification of the zonal flow by the rearrangement of potential vorticity on a middle stratopheric isentrope is compared in a fully nonlinear model and in a model with only one wave and the zonal flow (a quasi-linear model). The permanent rearrangement of potential vorticity during the wave episode is more intense and more localized meridionally in the fully nonlinear model, which is able to capture the process of planetary wave breaking in some detail. Additional experiments reveal that the differences between the quasi-linear and nonlinear models persist for a broad range of wave amplitudes, and that the quasi-linear model can qualitatively reproduce the modification of the zonal flow by the wave when the diffusive dissipation of the wave is enhanced. These results are discussed in the context of the theory of barotropic Rossby waves in shear flows, and in comparison with recent numerical simulations of the middle atmosphere.

Robinson, Walter A.↗

Stratus: An interactive steady state mixed layer model for personal computers

A steady-state, horizontally homogeneous, cloud-topped marine boundary layer model based primarily on the work of Lilly (1968) and Schubert et al., (1979) is presented. The conservative thermodynamic variables are equivalent potential temperature, theta(sub e), and total water mixing ratio, q + l. Some of the differences between this and Lilly's (1968) model are: radiation is allowed to penetrate into the boundary layer; cloud top values of longwave radiation, equivalent potential temperature, and water vapor mixing ratio are linear functions of height derived from climatological data at California coastal stations; and the closure assumption assumes a weighted average of Lilly's (1968) maximum and minimum entrainment theories. This model was programmed in FORTRAN and will run interactively on an IBM-compatible personal computer. The program allows the user to specify the geographical location, the wind speed, the sea-surface temperature, the large scale horizontal divergence, and the initial guess for cloud top height. Output includes the steady state values of cloud top and cloud base height, mixed layer equivalent potential temperature and total water mixing ratio, and the associated convective and radiative fluxes.

Guinn, Thomas A.↗

A one-dimensional interactive soil-atmosphere model for testing formulations of surface hydrology

A model representing a soil-atmosphere column in a GCM is developed for off-line testing of GCM soil hydrology parameterizations. Repeating three representative GCM sensitivity experiments with this one-dimensional model demonstrates that, to first order, the model reproduces a GCM's sensitivity to imposed changes in parameterization and therefore captures the essential physics of the GCM. The experiments also show that by allowing feedback between the soil and atmosphere, the model improves on off-line tests that rely on prescribed precipitation, radiation, and other surface forcing.

Koster, Randal D.↗

Helicopter Model Rotor-Blade Vortex Interaction Impulsive Noise: Scalability and Parametric Variations

Acoustic data taken in the anechoic Deutsch-Niederlaendischer Windkanal (DNW) have documented the blade-vortex interaction (BVI) impulsive noise radiated from a 1/7-scale model main rotor of the AH-1 series helicopter. Averaged model-scale data were compared with averaged full-scale, in-flight acoustic data under similar non-dimensional test conditions using an improved data analysis technique. At low advance ratios (mu = 0.164 - 0.194), the BVI impulsive noise data scale remarkably well in level, waveform, and directivity patterns. At moderate advance ratios (mu = 0.224 - 0.270), the scaling deteriorates, suggesting that the model-scale rotor is not adequately simulating the full-scale BVI noise. Presently, no proved explanation of this discrepancy exists. Measured BVI noise radiation is highly sensitive to all of the four governing nondimensional parameters--hover tip Mach number, advance ratio, local inflow ratio, and thrust coefficient.

Boxwell, D. A.↗

Thresholds in Atmosphere-Soil Moisture Interactions: Results from Climate Model Studies

The potential predictability of the effects of warm season soil moisture anomalies over the central U.S. has been investigated using a series of GCM (Global Climate Model) experiments with the NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) CCM3 (Community Climate Model version 3)/LSM (Land Surface Model). Three different types of experiments have been made, all starting in either March (representing precursor conditions) or June (conditions at the onset of the warm season): (1) 'anomaly' runs with large, exaggerated initial soil moisture reductions, aimed at evaluating the physical mechanisms by which soil moisture can affect the atmosphere; (2) 'predictability' runs aimed at evaluating whether typical soil moisture initial anomalies (indicative of year-to-year variability) can have a significant effect, and if so, for how long; (3) 'threshold' runs aimed at evaluating if a soil moisture anomaly must be of a specific size (i.e., a threshold crossed) before a significant impact on the atmosphere is seen. The 'anomaly' runs show a large, long-lasting response in soil moisture and also quantities such as surface temperature, sea level pressure, and precipitation; effects persist for at least a year. The 'predictability' runs, on the other hand, show very little impact of the initial soil moisture anomalies on the subsequent evolution of soil moisture and other atmospheric parameters; internal variability is most important, with the initial state of the atmosphere (representing remote effects such as SST anomalies) playing a more minor role. The 'threshold' runs, devised to help resolve the dichotomy in 'anomaly' and 'predictability' results, suggest that, at least in CCM3/LSM, the vertical profile of soil moisture is the most important factor, and that deep soil zone anomalies exert a more powerful, long-lasting effect than do anomalies in the near surface soil zone. We therefore suggest that soil moisture feedbacks may be more important in explaining prolonged decadal to century-long droughts evident in the historic and recent prehistoric records, but less important on a seasonal to interannual time-scale.

Oglesby, Robert J.↗

A Framework for Modeling Human-Machine Interactions

Modern automated flight-control systems employ a variety of different behaviors, or modes, for managing the flight. While developments in cockpit automation have resulted in workload reduction and economical advantages, they have also given rise to an ill-defined class of human-machine problems, sometimes referred to as 'automation surprises'. Our interest in applying formal methods for describing human-computer interaction stems from our ongoing research on cockpit automation. In this area of aeronautical human factors, there is much concern about how flight crews interact with automated flight-control systems, so that the likelihood of making errors, in particular mode-errors, is minimized and the consequences of such errors are contained. The goal of the ongoing research on formal methods in this context is: (1) to develop a framework for describing human interaction with control systems; (2) to formally categorize such automation surprises; and (3) to develop tests for identification of these categories early in the specification phase of a new human-machine system.

Shafto, Michael G.↗

The Role of Olivine in Fe-Carbonate Formation in Gale Crater, Mars

Carbonates have been identified in remote sensing datasets, martian meteorites, and in-situ with rovers at Gale and Jezero craters. In Gale crater, traces of carbonate have been found by the SAM instrument throughout the Mars Science Laboratory mission, e.g., at Rocknest and Pahrump Hills, with models for carbonate formation at Pahrump Hills explored by [9]. Further up-section, CheMin data of clay-rich Glen Torridon (GT) samples show that five out of seven drill samples from GT contain Fe-carbonate alongside phyllosilicates. The GT sediments were deposited in a lacustrine environment and subsequently underwent multiple episodes of diagenesis. In this work, we explore the role of olivine in the formation of carbonates by modelling the interaction of different martian olivines with a previously modeled Gale groundwater. We then explore the incongruent dissolution of host rocks within the GT sediments by mixing olivine with quantities of the Kilmarie drill sample chemical composition as the reactant rock.

S M R Turner↗

Can general circulation models (GCMs) represent cloud liquid water path adjustments to aerosol–cloud interactions?

Abstract. General circulation models (GCMs), unlike other lines of evidence, indicate that anthropogenic aerosols cause a global-mean increase in cloud liquid water path (ℒ) and thus a negative adjustment to radiative forcing of the climate by aerosol–cloud interactions. In part 1 of this series of papers, we showed that this is true even in models that reproduce the negative correlation observed in present-day internal variability in ℒ and cloud droplet number concentration (Nd). We studied several possible confounding mechanisms that could explain the noncausal cloud–aerosol correlations in GCMs and that possibly contaminate observational estimates of radiative adjustments. Here, we perform single-column and full-atmosphere GCM experiments to investigate the causal model-physics mechanisms underlying the model radiative adjustment estimate. We find that both aerosol–cloud interaction mechanisms thought to be operating in real clouds – precipitation suppression and entrainment evaporation enhancement – are active in GCMs and behave qualitatively in agreement with physical process understanding. However, the modeled entrainment enhancement has a negligible global-mean effect. This raises the question of whether the GCM estimate is incorrect due to parametric or base-state representation errors or whether the process understanding gleaned from a limited set of canonical cloud cases is insufficiently representative of the diversity of clouds in the real climate. Regardless, even at limited resolution, the GCM physics appears able to parameterize the small-scale microphysics–turbulence interplay responsible for the entrainment enhancement mechanism. We suggest ways to resolve tension between current and future (storm-resolving) global modeling systems and other lines of evidence in synthesis climate projections.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Simulating the dynamic interaction of a robotic arm and the Space Shuttle remote manipulator system

Industrial robots are usually attached to a rigid base. Placing the robot on a compliant base introduces dynamic coupling between the two systems. The Vehicle Emulation System (VES) is a six DOF platform that is capable of modeling this interaction. The VES employs a force-torque sensor as the interface between robot and base. A computer simulation of the VES is presented. Each of the hardware and software components is described and Simulink is used as the programming environment. The simulation performance is compared with experimental results to validate accuracy. A second simulation which models the dynamic interaction of a robot and a flexible base acts as a comparison to the simulated motion of the VES. Results are presented that compare the simulated VES motion with the motion of the VES hardware using the same admittance model. The two computer simulations are compared to determine how well the VES is expected to emulate the desired motion. Simulation results are given for robots mounted to the end effector of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS). It is shown that for fast motions of the two robots studied, the SRMS experiences disturbances on the order of centimeters. Larger disturbances are possible if different manipulators are used.

Garrahan, Steven L.↗