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At least 1,063 records · Page 59

Comparison of computer codes for calculating dynamic loads in wind turbines

The development of computer codes for calculating dynamic loads in horizontal axis wind turbines was examined, and a brief overview of each code was given. The performance of individual codes was compared against two sets of test data measured on a 100 KW Mod-0 wind turbine. All codes are aeroelastic and include loads which are gravitational, inertial and aerodynamic in origin.

Spera, D. A.↗

A highly accurate method for the determination of mass and center of mass of a spacecraft

An extremely accurate method for the measurement of mass and the lateral center of mass of a spacecraft has been developed. The method was needed for the Voyager spacecraft mission requirement which limited the uncertainty in the knowledge of lateral center of mass of the spacecraft system weighing 750 kg to be less than 1.0 mm (0.04 in.). The method consists of using three load cells symmetrically located at 120 deg apart on a turntable with respect to the vertical axis of the spacecraft and making six measurements for each load cell. These six measurements are taken by cyclic rotations of the load cell turntable and of the spacecraft, about the vertical axis of the measurement fixture. This method eliminates all alignment, leveling, and load cell calibration errors for the lateral center of mass determination, and permits a statistical best fit of the measurement data. An associated data reduction computer program called MASCM has been written to implement this method and has been used for the Voyager spacecraft.

Chow, E. Y.↗

Acoustical effects of blade tip shape changes on a full scale helicopter rotor in a wind tunnel

Four tip shapes were tested. They were rectangular, swept, tapered, and swept-tapered. The measured data covered a wide range of operating conditions. The range of advancing tip Mach numbers were between 0.72 to 0.96, and the advance ratios were from 0.2 to 0.375. At low and moderate advancing tip Mach number, the data in the dbA scale appear to indicate the swept tip is the quietest, swept tapered the second, tapered third and rectangular the most noisy. Above an advancing tip Mach number of about 0.89, a distinct acoustical pulse can be observed, which dominates the acoustical waveform. The pulse shape is symmetric at moderate tip Mach number, changing to a sawtooth shape at high advancing tip Mach numbers. Based on the amplitude of the impulsive noise, it appears the swept-tapered tip is the quietest, tapered tip the second, swept tip third and square tip the most noisy. The data presented in this report should be useful as data bases for modeling and evaluating helicopter impulsive noise.

Lee, A.↗

Planned flight test of a mercury ion auxiliary propulsion system. 1: Objectives, systems descriptions, and mission operations

A planned flight test of an 8 cm diameter, electron-bombardment mercury ion thruster system is described. The primary objective of the test is to flight qualify the 5 mN (1 mlb.) thruster system for auxiliary propulsion applications. A seven year north-south stationkeeping mission was selected as the basis for the flight test operating profile. The flight test, which will employ two thruster systems, will also generate thruster system space performance data, measure thruster-spacecraft interactions, and demonstrate thruster operation in a number of operating modes. The flight test is designated as SAMSO-601 and will be flown aboard the shuttle-launched Air Force space test program P80-1 satellite in 1981. The spacecraft will be 3- axis stabilized in its final 740 km circular orbit, which will have an inclination of approximately greater than 73 degrees. The spacecraft design lifetime is three years.

Power, J. C.↗

AGRESTE project: Agricultural resources investigations in northern Italy and southern France

The author has identified the following significant results. Recognition of rice varieties at the flowering stage by using airborne scanner data at low altitude (1500 m) seems to be feasible. The accuracies obtained on a reduced test area (3 sq km) range from 65% to 83%. Variations of a single cultural factor, such as nitrogen fertilization, induce variations of the total rice biomass at harvest, which can be correlated closely to the values of the reflectance ratio at earing. When grain production is correlated to total biomass, prediction of yield can be achieved based on reflectance data measured two months before harvest.

Berg, A.↗

Use of coherence and phase data between two receivers in evaluation of noise environments

For certain types of noise control problems, where transducers cannot be mounted on suspected sources, valuable information can often be obtained by comparing the coherence and phase data measured between two closely spaced microphones with analytical models deduced from the physics of the problem. However, the application of such analysis techniques must be pursued with care, particularly when the measurements are made in a reverberant area. A simple illustration is presented where the acoustic field in the test section of a wind tunnel is evaluated by modelling the field as a combination of diffuse noise due to the boundary layer turbulence in the test section and propagating noise generated by the tunnel fan and possible flow disturbances outside the test section. The coherence and phase between two closely spaced microphones in the tunnel test section are predicted for various ratios of diffuse to propagating noise contributions and compared to actual measurements under several different tunnel operating conditions.

Piersol, A. G.↗

The Wiener-Hermite expansion applied to decaying isotropic turbulence using a renormalized time-dependent base

The problem of decaying isotropic turbulence has been studied using a Wiener-Hermite expansion with a renormalized time-dependent base. The theory is largely deductive and uses no modeling approximations. It has been found that many properties of large-Reynolds-number turbulence can be calculated (at least for moderate time) using the moving-base expansion alone. Such properties found are the spectrum shape in the dissipation range, the Kolmogorov constant, and the energy cascade in the inertial subrange. Furthermore, by using a renormalization scheme, it is possible to extend the calculation to larger times and to initial conditions significantly different from the equilibrium form. If the initial spectrum is the Kolmogorov spectrum perturbed with a spike or dip in the inertial subrange, the process proceeds to eliminate the perturbation and relax to the preferred spectrum shape. The turbulence decays with the proper dissipation rate, and several other properties are found to agree with measured data. The theory is also used to calculate the energy transfer and the flatness factor of turbulence.

Hogge, H. D.↗

Planned flight test of a mercury ion auxiliary propulsion system. I - Objectives, systems descriptions, and mission operations

A planned flight test of an 8-cm diameter, electron-bombardment mercury ion thruster system is described. The primary objective of the test is to flight qualify the 5 mN thruster system for auxiliary propulsion applications. A seven year north-south stationkeeping mission was selected as the basis for the flight test operating profile. The flight test, which will employ two thruster systems, will also generate thruster system space performance data, measure thruster-spacecraft interactions, and demonstrate thruster operation in a number of operating modes. The flight test is designated as SAMSO-601 and will be flown aboard the Shuttle-launched Air Force Space Test Program P80-1 satellite in 1981. The spacecraft will be 3-axis stabilized in its final 740 km circular orbit, which will have an inclination of at least 73 degrees. The spacecraft design lifetime is three years.

Power, J. L.↗

On the shear pumping effect in rocket pump inducers

The momentum exchange between the fluid and the rotor via the shear stress in a rocket pump inducer is termed the shear pumping effect. This effect is investigated analytically in order to estimate the direct effect of shear stress in providing a head rise. An inducer with flat plates and one with cambered blades are considered. It is shown that the head rise coefficient and the relative velocities predicted from the theoretical analysis, based on momentum integral technique, seem to agree well with the measured data for a flat-plate inducer operated with open throttle and a cambered-blade inducer operated at a flow coefficient of 0.065. In particular, the flat-plate and the cambered-blade inducers have nearly the same performance, except for the axial velocity distribution. The former shows a tendency to separate in the hub region near the trailing edge, while the latter does not. Even far downstream, the flat-plate inducer has a larger separated zone near the hub.

Lakshminarayana, B.↗

SAGE to examine Earth's stratosphere

The SAGE mission is discussed along with the role of the Nimbus 7 experiment. Other topics discussed include: ground truth measurements, data collection and processing, SAGE instrumentation, and launch sequence.

Source record↗

Acoustic scattering by circular cylinders of various aspect ratios

The effects of acoustic scattering on the useful frequency range of pressure gradient microphones were investigated experimentally between ka values of 0.407 and 4.232 using two circular cylindrical models (L/D = 0.5 and 0.25) having a 25 cm outside diameter. Small condenser microphones, attached to preamplifiers by flexible connectors, were installed from inside the cylindrical bodies, and flush mounted on the exterior surface of the cylinders. A 38 cm diameter woofer in a large speaker enclosure was used as the sound source. Surface pressure augmentation and phase differences were computed from measured data for various sound wave incidence angles. Results are graphically compared with theoretical predictions supplied by NASA for ka = 0.407, 2.288, and 4.232. All other results are tabulated in the appendices. With minor exceptions, the experimentally determined pressure augmentations agreed within 0.75 dB with theoretical predictions. The agreement for relative phase angles was within 5 percent without any exceptions. Scattering parameter variations with ka and L/D ratio, as computed from experimental data, are also presented.

Maciulaitis, A.↗

A control theoretic model of driver steering behavior

A quantitative description of driver steering behavior such as a mathematical model is presented. The steering task is divided into two levels: (1) the guidance level involving the perception of the instantaneous and future course of the forcing function provided by the forward view of the road, and the response to it in an anticipatory open-loop control mode; (2) the stabilization level whereby any occuring deviations from the forcing function are compensated for in a closed-loop control mode. This concept of the duality of the driver's steering activity led to a newly developed two-level model of driver steering behavior. Its parameters are identified on the basis of data measured in driving simulator experiments. The parameter estimates of both levels of the model show significant dependence on the experimental situation which can be characterized by variables such as vehicle speed and desired path curvature.

Donges, E.↗

Preliminary results of passive microwave snow experiment during February and March 1978

The purpose of the experiment was to determine if remote microwave sensing of snowpack data could be used to predict runoff, thereby allowing more efficient management of the water supply. A four-frequency microwave radiometer system was attached to a truck-mounted aerial lift and was used to gather data on snowpacks at three different sites in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Ground truth data measurements (density, temperature, grain size, hardness, and free-liquid water content) were taken at each site corresponding to each microwave scan.

Chang, A. T. C.↗

Infrared spectra of lunar soils

Measured data obtained by Michelson interferometer spectrometer were stored in a computer file and smoothed by being passed forward and backward through a digital four-pole low pass filter. Infrared spectra of the 10 lunar samples are presented in the format of brightness temperature versus frequency. The mol % of feldspar, pyroxene, olivine, ilmenite and ferromagnetic silicate in each sample is presented in tables. The reflectance spectra of ilmenite and enstatite are shown in graphs.

Aronson, J. R.↗

The effects of eccentricities on the fracture of off-axis fiber composites

Finite element analyses were performed to investigate theoretically the effects of in-plane and out-of plane eccentricities, bending or twisting, and thickness nonuniformity on the axial stress and strain variations across the width of off-axis specimens. The results are compared with measured data and are also used to access the effects of these eccentricities on the fracture stress of off-axis fiber composites. Guidelines for detecting and minimizing the presence of eccentricities are described.

Chamis, C. C.↗

Electrets used in measuring rocket exhaust effuents from a Space Shuttle model

The study evaluates the use of electrets as a new contamination-detecting device designed to assess the chemical composition of rocket effluents. Evaluation of electret effectiveness revealed that electrets have multipollutant-measuring capability, simplicity of deployment and rapidity of assessment. Advantages of electrets are small size, light weight and cost-effectiveness. It is shown that electrets compare favorably with other HCl measuring devices. In particular, the summary of the measured data from electrets and HCl detectors is within the limits of computed HCl concentrations from the NASA/MSFC multilayer diffusion model.

Susko, M.↗

Proton-driven electromagnetic instabilities in high-speed solar wind streams

Electromagnetic instabilities of the field-aligned, right-hand circularly polarized magnetosonic wave and the left-hand circularly polarized Alfven wave driven by two drifted proton components are analyzed for model parameters determined from Imp 7 solar wind proton data measured during high-speed flow conditions. Growth rates calculated using bi-Lorentzian forms for the main and beam proton as well as core and halo electron velocity distributions do not differ significantly from those calculated using bi-Maxwellian forms. Using distribution parameters determined from 17 measured proton spectra, we show that considering the uncertainties the magnetosonic wave may be linearly stable and the Alfven wave is linearly unstable. Because proton velocity distribution function shapes are observed to persist for times long compared to the proton gyroperiod, the latter result suggests that linear stability theory fails for proton-driven ion cyclotron waves in the high-speed solar wind.

Abraham-Shrauner, B.↗

Turbulence characteristics in the near wake of a compressor rotor blade

This paper is concerned with the turbulence properties in the near wake of a rotating compressor blade. The variation of the axial, tangential and radial intensities as well as stresses across the wake and its decay characteristics were measured with a triaxial hot wire probe rotating with the rotor downstream of an axial flow compressor. The turbulence intensities decay very rapidly in the near wake region. The radial component of intensity is found to be higher than the tangential and axial components. This is a consequence of the effect of rotation on the turbulence structure. A qualitative analysis is carried out to predict the effect of rotation on the turbulence structure. These are in general agreement with the measured data.

Lakshminarayana, B.↗