SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
All the publications were announced in the 1978 issues of STAR (Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports) and/or IAA (International Aerospace Abstracts). Included are research reports, journal articles, conference presentations, patents and patent applications, and theses.
Efforts in the DOE/NASA concept development and evaluation program are discussed for the solar power satellite power transmission and reception system. A technical summary is provided together with a summary of system assessment activities. System options and system definition drivers are described. Major system assessment activities were in support of the reference system definition, solid state system studies, critical technology supporting investigations, and various system and subsystem tradeoffs. These activities are described together with reference system updates and alternative concepts for each of the subsystem areas. Conclusions reached as a result of the numerous analytical and experimental evaluations are presented. Remaining issues for a possible follow-on program are identified.
This compilation of abstracts describes and indexes over 780 research reports, journal articles, conference presentations, patents and patent applications, and theses resulting from the scientific and engineering work performed and managed by the Lewis Research Center in 1980. All the publications were announced in Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports and/or International Aerospace Abstracts.
Instructors who are very familiar with a study area, as well as those who are not, find the field trip information acquisition and planning process speeded and made more effective by organizing it in stages. The stage follow a deductive progression: from the associated context region, to the study area, to the specific sample window sites, and from generalized background information on the study region to specific technical data on the environmental and human use systems to be interpreted at each site. On the class trip and in the follow up laboratory, the learning/interpretive process are at first deductive in applying previously learned information and skills to analysis of the study site, then inductive in reading and interpreting the landscape, imagery, and maps of the site, correlating them with information of other samples sites and building valid generalizations about the larger study area, its context region, and other (similar and/or contrasting) regions.
The project concerned with the evaluation of the Scientific and Technical Information (STI) program of the NASA Langley Research Center utilizes both survey research and system analysis techniques, includes all elements of the STI program, discloses the strengths and weaknesses of the STI program, and identifies ways in which the program could be modified to improve its overall efficiency and effectiveness. Phase I of the project employed survey research to assess the adequacy of the Langley STI program in meeting the information needs of Langley engineers and scientists. The results of the user survey provided information to aid management in choosing the services and processes which are likely to produce a high degree of user satisfaction and the most efficient use of resources.
The NASA Automatic Water Monitor System was installed in a water reclamation facility to evaluate the technical and cost feasibility of producing high quality reclaimed water. Data gathered during this field demonstration test are reported.
The use of the case method in teaching various technical communication skills is described. Features of the method considered include: solving communication problems, identifying an audience, planning written communications, presenting written communications, and using visual aids.
Graphic aids convey and clarify information more efficiently and accurately than words alone therefore, most technical writing includes the use of graphics. Ways of accumulating and presenting graphics illustrations on a shoestring budget are suggested. These include collecting graphics from companies, annual reports and laminating them for workshop use or putting them on a flip chart for classroom presentation, creating overhead transparencies to demonstrate different levels of effectiveness of graphic aids, and bringing in grahic artists for question/answer periods or in class workshops. Also included are an extensive handout as an introduction to graphics, sample assignments, and a selected and annotated bibliography.
The cultural and historical influences that students from foreign countries bring with them to technical and report writing classes, in particular those influences that would affect their receipt of instruction in American principles for written prose are examined. The grouping of sentences into idea units and into paragraphs, and the grouping of the paragraphs into whole structures are considered. The different cultures, different habits and norms for handling prose, and the dictates for style and structure and sufficiency and approach are also considered.
Integrating oral communication and technical writing instruction, to give students the opportunity to learn and practice interpersonal skills, is proposed. By linking speech and writing the importance of small-group interaction in developing transferrable ideas is acknowledged. Three reasons for integration are examined: workday activities, application of role-taking to writing, and conflict resolution. Four advantages of integration are stated.
The nature of the public policies which have influenced the pace and pattern of technical progress in a number of American industries is studied with the view of assessing the broad effects of these policies. The industries studied are agriculture, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, computers, civil aircraft, automobiles and residential construction. The policies considered include research and development funding as well as government procurement, education, information dissemination, patent protection, licensing, regulations, and anti-trust policies.
Sentence combining exercises are advanced as a way to teach technical writing style without reliance upon abstractions, from which students do not learn. Such exercises: (1) give students regular writing practice; (2) teach the logic of sentence structure, sentence editing, and punctuation; (3) paragraph development and organization; and (4) rhetorical stance. Typical sentence, paragraph, and discourse level sentence combining exercises are described.
Human error is a significant contributing factor in a very high proportion of civil transport, general aviation, and rotorcraft accidents. The technical details of a variety of proven approaches for the measurement of human errors in the context of the national airspace system are presented. Unobtrusive measurements suitable for cockpit operations and procedures in part of full mission simulation are emphasized. Procedure, system performance, and human operator centered measurements are discussed as they apply to the manual control, communication, supervisory, and monitoring tasks which are relevant to aviation operations.
The performance of the technology exhibited significant proportion estimation errors, specifically, high mean error in both corn and soybeans area estimation. The data systems, technical approaches, and data assessment of the pilot experiment were reviewed. Results of proportion estimations procedure performance evaluations, and sensitivity evaluations are presented. The role of the pilot experiment in foreign technology development is discussed.
Technical requirements for silicon-based bulk materials are presented, and related work on other materials and on thin layer silicon is summarized. Programs supported by the Wright-Patterson materials laboratory and the capabilities of the materials laboratory in house characterization facility are listed.
Included are citations for formal reports, quick-release technical memorandums, contractor reports, journal articles and periodical literature, meeting/conference papers, and computer programs. Tech briefs, patents, and oral presentations to conferences/workshops are also included.
Space and terrestrial applications remote sensor systems are described. Each sensor is presented separately. Information is included on its objectives, description, technical characteristics, data products obtained, data archives location, period of operation, and measurement and potential derived parameters. Each sensor is cross indexed.
A user's manual is provided which includes the technical approach for the Prescribed Wake Rotor Inflow and Flow Field Prediction Analysis. The analysis is used to provide the rotor wake induced velocities at the rotor blades for use in blade airloads and response analyses and to provide induced velocities at arbitrary field points such as at a tail surface. This analysis calculates the distribution of rotor wake induced velocities based on a prescribed wake model. Section operating conditions are prescribed from blade motion and controls determined by a separate blade response analysis. The analysis represents each blade by a segmented lifting line, and the rotor wake by discrete segmented trailing vortex filaments. Blade loading and circulation distributions are calculated based on blade element strip theory including the local induced velocity predicted by the numerical integration of the Biot-Savart Law applied to the vortex wake model.