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At least 1,225 records · Page 68

Velocity Structure and Plasma Properties in Halo CMES

We have identified a set of 23 Halo CMEs and 21 Partial Halo CMEs from the LASCO Halo CME Archive for which UVCS spectra exist through July 2002. For each event we have collected basic information such as the event speed, whether or not UVCS caught the bright front, lines detected, Doppler shift and associated flare class. We are currently analyzing the subset for which UVCS caught the CME front. We also obtained excellent observations of some of the spectacular events in November 2003, and we have made theoretical calculations pertaining to CME expansion at the heights observed by UVCS. In one event we were able to analyze the properties of the current sheet in detail.

Raymond, John C.↗

Design of a Low-Energy FARAD Thruster

The design of an electrodeless thruster that relies on a pulsed, rf-assisted discharge and electromagnetic acceleration using an inductive coil is presented. The thruster design is optimized using known performance,scaling parameters, and experimentally-determined design rules, with design targets for discharge energy, plasma exhaust velocity; and thrust efficiency of 100 J/pulse, 25 km/s, and 50%, respectively. Propellant is injected using a high-speed gas valve and preionized by a pulsed-RF signal supplied by a vector inversion generator, allowing for current sheet formation at lower discharge voltages and energies relative to pulsed inductive accelerators that do not employ preionization. The acceleration coil is designed to possess an inductance of at least 700 nH while the target stray (non-coil) inductance in the circuit is 70 nH. A Bernardes and Merryman pulsed power train or a pulse compression power train provide current to the acceleration coil and solid-state components are used to switch both powertrains.

Polzin, K. A.↗

Testing and Performance Verification of a High Bypass Ratio Turbofan Rotor in an Internal Flow Component Test Facility

A 1/5 scale model rotor representative of a current technology, high bypass ratio, turbofan engine was installed and tested in the W8 single-stage, high-speed, compressor test facility at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The same fan rotor was tested previously in the GRC 9x15 Low Speed Wind Tunnel as a fan module consisting of the rotor and outlet guide vanes mounted in a flight-like nacelle. The W8 test verified that the aerodynamic performance and detailed flow field of the rotor as installed in W8 were representative of the wind tunnel fan module installation. Modifications to W8 were necessary to ensure that this internal flow facility would have a flow field at the test package that is representative of flow conditions in the wind tunnel installation. Inlet flow conditioning was designed and installed in W8 to lower the fan face turbulence intensity to less than 1.0 percent in order to better match the wind tunnel operating environment. Also, inlet bleed was added to thin the casing boundary layer to be more representative of a flight nacelle boundary layer. On the 100 percent speed operating line the fan pressure rise and mass flow rate agreed with the wind tunnel data to within 1 percent. Detailed hot film surveys of the inlet flow, inlet boundary layer and fan exit flow were compared to results from the wind tunnel. The effect of inlet casing boundary layer thickness on fan performance was quantified. Challenges and lessons learned from testing this high flow, low static pressure rise fan in an internal flow facility are discussed.

VanZante, Dale E.↗

Turbulent Reconnection Rates from Cluster Observations in the Magneto sheath

The role of turbulence in producing fast reconnection rates is an important unresolved question. Scant in situ analyses exist. We apply multiple spacecraft techniques to a case of nonlinear turbulent reconnection in the magnetosheath to test various theoretical results for turbulent reconnection rates. To date, in situ estimates of the contribution of turbulence to reconnection rates have been calculated from an effective electric field derived through linear wave theory. However, estimates of reconnection rates based on fully nonlinear turbulence theories and simulations exist that are amenable to multiple spacecraft analyses. Here we present the linear and nonlinear theories and apply some of the nonlinear rates to Cluster observations of reconnecting, turbulent current sheets in the magnetos heath. We compare the results to the net reconnection rate found from the inflow speed. Ultimately, we intend to test and compare linear and nonlinear estimates of the turbulent contribution to reconnection rates and to measure the relative contributions of turbulence and the Hall effect.

Wendel, Deirdre↗

Evaluation and Windspeed Dependence of MODIS Aerosol Retrievals Over Open Ocean

The Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN) data set provides high quality ground-truth to validate the MODIS aerosol product over open ocean. Prior validation of the ocean aerosol product has been limited to coastal and island sites. Comparing MODIS Collection 5 ocean aerosol retrieval products with collocated MAN measurements from ships shows that MODIS is meeting the pre-launch uncertainty estimates for aerosol optical depth (AOD) with 64% and 67% of retrievals at 550 nm, and 74% and 78% of retrievals at 870 nm, falling within expected uncertainty for Terra and Aqua, respectively. Angstrom Exponent comparisons show a high correlation between MODIS retrievals and shipboard measurements (R= 0.85 Terra, 0.83 Aqua), although the MODIS aerosol algorithm tends to underestimate particle size for large particles and overestimate size for small particles, as seen in earlier Collections. Prior analysis noted an offset between Terra and Aqua ocean AOD, without concluding which sensor was more accurate. The simple linear regression reported here, is consistent with other anecdotal evidence that Aqua agreement with AERONET is marginally better. However we cannot claim based on the current study that the better Aqua comparison is statistically significant. Systematic increase of error as a function of wind speed is noted in both Terra and Aqua retrievals. This wind speed dependency enters the retrieval when winds deviate from the 6 m/s value assumed in the rough ocean surface and white cap parameterizations. Wind speed dependency in the results can be mitigated by using auxiliary NCEP wind speed information in the retrieval process.

Kleidman, Richard G.↗

Evaluation of the New Version of the Laser-Optical Disdrometer, OTT Parsivel2

A comparative study of raindrop size distribution measurements has been conducted at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center where the focus was to evaluate the performance of the upgraded laser-optical OTT Particle Size Velocity (Parsivel2; P2) disdrometer. The experimental setup included a collocated pair of tipping-bucket rain gauges, OTT Parsivel (P1) and P2 disdrometers, and Joss-Waldvogel (JW) disdrometers. Excellent agreement between the two collocated rain gauges enabled their use as a relative reference for event rain totals. A comparison of event total showed that the P2 had a 6%absolute bias with respect to the reference gauges, considerably lower than the P1 and JW disdrometers. Good agreement was also evident between the JW and P2 in hourly raindrop spectra for drop diameters between 0.5 and 4 mm. The P2 drop concentrations mostly increased toward small sizes, and the peak concentrations were mostly observed in the first three measurable size bins. The P1, on the other hand, underestimated small drops and overestimated the large drops, particularly in heavy rain rates. From the analysis performed, it appears that the P2 is an improvement over the P1 model for both drop size and rainfall measurements. P2 mean fall velocities follow accepted terminal fall speed relationships at drop sizes less than 1 mm. As a caveat, the P2 had approximately 1ms21 slower mean fall speed with respect to the terminal fall speed near 1 mm, and the difference between the mean measured and terminal fall speeds reduced with increasing drop size. This caveat was recognized as a software bug by the manufacturer and is currently being investigated.

disdrometers↗

Thermal Control in Hypersonic Leading Edges Using Liquid Metal High Temperature Oscillating Heat Pipes

The desire to increase the range and speed of hypersonic vehicles requires sharp, shape-stable Wing Leading Edges (WLE) with performance capabilities well beyond the current state of the art. The concentrated heat flux on sharp leading edges can lead to runaway thermal and mechanical failures. Heat pipes provide a passive solution to minimize the peak temperature, thermal gradients, and resulting thermal stresses near the WLE. Conventional heat pipes have been shown to address these issues at conditions as high as Mach 8. Oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) could be used to extend this benefit to missions with higher Mach numbers since their heat transport capacity typically exceeds that of conventional heat pipes. In the current investigation, several identical liquid metal high-temperature oscillating heat pipes (LMHOHPs) were constructed and tested to demonstrate the concept. The LMHOHPs had six turns, internal diameters of 2 mm, and total lengths of 100 mm. They were additively manufactured from C103 niobium alloy and charged with lithium to reach a fill ratio of approximately 50%. The boundary conditions of the experiment were designed to resemble those of various hypersonic flight profiles. Testing was performed with a system consisting of flow-controlled acetylene torch heating and radiation dominated heat rejection. The LMHOHP’s performance was measured using temperature data from an infrared camera and pyrometer. The experimental results were used to evaluate the capability of C103/lithium LMHOHPs under various flight regimes. A heat transfer model of the LMHOHP was proposed and validated against test data. Insights from the model were then extrapolated to evaluate a Tungsten-RHC/Gallium LMHOHP with anticipated capabilities beyond that of the C103/lithium system.

Max Pawlick↗

Overview of Community Response Testing Campaign with NASA's X-59 Aircraft

Prohibition of civil supersonic flight over land became federal regulation in 1973, currently codified in 14 CFR Part 91.817. Of concern, the sonic booms that result when aircraft travel at supersonic speeds were deemed an untenable source of noise affecting populations directly under and near flight paths. Over the past fifty years, research in aircraft design and shaping has led to the prospect of low-noise supersonic flight. As part of its Quesst mission, NASA is building an experimental aircraft, the X-59, to demonstrate this capability. After completing flight test and design validation phases, NASA will field a national community testing campaign in order to collect data on how people perceive the sound from low-noise supersonic flight. The collected data will be provided to national and international regulators as they consider replacing the overland speed limit with a noise-based limit. This presentation provides an overview of the community test campaign, and identifies some of the key objectives, plans, and anticipated challenges.

X-59↗

Chalcogenide phase-change material advances programmable terahertz metamaterials: a non-volatile perspective for reconfigurable intelligent surfaces

Terahertz (THz) waves have gained considerable attention in the rising 6G communication due to their large bandwidth. However, the cost and power consumption become the major constraints for the commercialization of 6G THz systems as the frequency increases. Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) comprising active metasurfaces and digital controllers has been proposed for beamforming in the 6G multiple-input-multiple-output systems, showing good potential to suppress the system size, weight, and power consumption (SWaP). Currently, their controlling diodes can hardly work up to THz frequencies. Therefore, several active stimuli have been investigated as alternatives. Among them, chalcogenide phase-change material Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (GST) addresses large modulation depth, picosecond switching speed, and non-volatile properties. Notably, the non-volatile GST may enable RIS systems with memory and low control power. This work briefly reviews the advances of GST-tuned THz metamaterials (MTMs), discusses the current obstacles to overcome, and gives a perspective of GST applications in the rising 6G communications.

6G↗

Design and Performance Improvements of the Prototype Open Core Flywheel Energy Storage System

A prototype magnetically suspended composite flywheel energy storage (FES) system is operating at the University of Maryland. This system, designed for spacecraft applications, incorporates recent advances in the technologies of composite materials, magnetic suspension, and permanent magnet brushless motor/generator. The current system is referred to as an Open Core Composite Flywheel (OCCF) energy storage system. This paper will present design improvements for enhanced and robust performance. Initially, when the OCCF prototype was spun above its first critical frequency of 4,500 RPM, the rotor movement would exceed the space available in the magnetic suspension gap and touchdown on the backup mechanical bearings would occur. On some occasions it was observed that, after touchdown, the rotor was unable to re-suspend as the speed decreased. Additionally, it was observed that the rotor would exhibit unstable oscillations when the control system was initially turned on. Our analysis suggested that the following problems existed: (1) The linear operating range of the magnetic bearings was limited due to electrical and magnetic saturation; (2) The inductance of the magnetic bearings was affecting the transient response of the system; (3) The flywheel was confined to a small movement because mechanical components could not be held to a tight tolerance; and (4) The location of the touchdown bearing magnifies the motion at the pole faces of the magnetic bearings when the linear range is crucial. In order to correct these problems an improved design of the flywheel energy storage system was undertaken. The magnetic bearings were re-designed to achieve a large linear operating range and to withstand load disturbances of at least 1 g. The external position transducers were replaced by a unique design which were resistant to magnetic field noise and allowed cancellation of the radial growth of the flywheel at high speeds. A central rod was utilized to ensure the concentricity of the magnetic bearings, the motor/generator, and the mechanical touchdown bearings. In addition, the mechanical touchdown bearings were placed at two ends of the magnetic bearing stack to restrict the motion at pole faces. A composite flywheel was made using a multi-ring interference assembled design for a high specific energy density. To achieve a higher speed and better efficiency, a permanent magnet DC brushless motor was specially designed and fabricated. A vacuum enclosure was constructed to eliminate windage losses for testing at high speeds. With the new improvements the OCCF system was tested to 20,000 RPM with a total stored energy of 15.9 WH and an angular momentum of 54.8 N-m-s (40.4 lb-ft-s). Motor current limitation, caused by power loss in the magnetic bearings, was identified as causing the limit in upper operating speed.

Pang, D.↗

Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration

The Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) project addresses two cross-cutting capabilities of value to many future small spacecraft missions: high-speed optical transmission of data and small spacecraft proximity operations. Optical data rates demonstrated by OCSD are expected to be 200 megabits persecond (Mbs) or higher, a factor of 100 increase over current high-end CubeSat communications systems. The proximity sensors developed for this mission enable relative position measurement between two small satellites - a capability not previously demonstrated.

High-speed optical transmission of data↗

Application of stability theory to laminar flow control - Progress and requirements

Paper briefly summarizes the current status of linear stability theory as applied to laminar flow control for aerodynamics. Results indicate that the conventional 'N factor' method of correlating stability theory and transition has a broad application range, including low- and high-speeds, two- and three-dimensional mean flow and TS, Gortler and crossflow disturbance modes. Linear theory is particularly applicable to the laminar flow control problem as, for system efficiency, control must be exercised and disturbances maintained in the linear regime. Current areas of concern for LFC, which require further stability theory research, include TS-crossflow interaction, combined disturbance fields (roughness, waviness, noise) and suction-induced disturbances. Some results on wave-interactions are presented.

Bushnell, D. M.↗

Parametric Analyses of Potential Effects on Stratospheric and Tropospheric Ozone Chemistry by a Fleet of Supersonic Business Jets Projected in a 2020 Atmosphere

A class of new supersonic aircraft for business purposes is currently under consideration for use starting around 2015 to 2020. These aircraft, which can accommodate about 12 to 13 passengers, will fly at a speed of Mach 1.6 to 2 and are commonly termed as Supersonic Business Jets (SSBJs). A critical issue that needs to be addressed during the conception phase of such aircraft is the potential impact of emissions from such aircraft on the atmosphere especially on stratospheric ozone. Although these SSBJs will be much smaller in size and will have smaller engines than the hypothetical fleets of commercial passenger High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) aircraft that we have studied previously, they will still emit nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O) and sulfur, the latter if it is still in the fuel. Thus, it is important to design these SSBJs in a manner so that a projected fleet of these aircraft will not have a significant effect on ozone or on climate. This report analyzes the potential impact of a fleet of SSBJs in a set of parametric analyses that examine the envelope of potential effects on ozone over a range of total fuel burns, emission indices of nitrogen oxides (E.I.(NOx)), and cruise altitudes, using the current version of the UIUC zonally-averaged two-dimensional model of the global atmosphere.

Wey, Chowen↗

Photonic Curing Enabling High-Speed Processing for Perovskite Solar Cells

The thermal annealing step is the bottleneck to high-throughput manufacturing of perovskite solar cells. In this work, we investigate photonic curing to replace thermal annealing for the sol gel NiO hole transport layer. Using solar cell device current density-voltage performance as a metric, we compare the effects of thermal annealing and photonic curing on the conversion of sol gel NiO films deposited on top of indium tin oxide coated Willow® glass substrates. The significant reduction in processing time validates photonic curing as the enabling tool for high-speed manufacturing.

Xu, Weijie↗

Performance of Julia for High Energy Physics Analyses

We argue that the Julia programming language is a compelling alternative to currently more common implementations in Python and C++ for common data analysis workflows in high energy physics. We compare the speed of implementations of different workflows in Julia with those in Python and C++. Furthermore, our studies show that the Julia implementations are competitive for tasks that are dominated by computational load rather than data access. For work that is dominated by data access, we demonstrate an application with concurrent file reading and parallel data processing.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Screening of resonant magnetic perturbation fields assuming various plasma flow models

A recently updated version of the MARS-F code [Y. Q. Liu et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 3681 (2000); L. Li et al., Phys. Plasmas 25, 082512 (2018); and G. L. Xia et al., Nucl. Fusion 59, 126035 (2019)] is utilized to numerically investigate the plasma screening effect on the applied resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) field, assuming various equilibrium flow models, including the toroidal flow, the parallel flow and their combinations, and poloidal and toroidal projections of the parallel flow. A parallel equilibrium flow with a uniform radial profile is found to have no effect on plasma screening of the RMP field. A sheared parallel flow, however, does change plasma screening. The poloidal projection of the parallel flow weakens plasma screening in the resistive-inertial regime. The effect on the favorable average curvature regime is found, however, to be non-monotonic. With the increasing flow speed, the poloidal projection first weakens Glasser-Green-Johnson (GGJ)-screening. Further increase in the flow speed results in enhanced GGJ-screening again. This non-monotonic behavior is related to the perturbed parallel shielding current, which appears also off the mode rational surface at fast flow due to additional resonances between the RMP perturbation and the sound wave continuum. These results indicate that flow induced plasma screening to the RMP field can have complicated characteristics, which, in turn, can have implications on the RMP field penetration into the plasma in experiments for controlling the edge localized modes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Gaussian FLOWERS: Wind-rose-based analytical integration of Gaussian wake model for extremely fast AEP estimation

A major cost in the study of wind farm layout optimization is the repeated evaluation of the annual energy production (AEP). The current approach to estimating AEP requires a large set of flow simulations to be performed that cover each discrete wind speed and direction combination contained within the wind rose, followed by a probability-weighted sum of the power production resulting from each simulation. Even with inexpensive engineering wake models, this numerical integration scheme can lead to high computational costs. In this paper, we derive an analytical formulation for estimating farm AEP across every wind direction, based on a Gaussian wake velocity model, which reduces the number of wind farm simulations to a single function evaluation. As a result, we find that the Gaussian-FLOWERS approach reduces the time for AEP calculations by more than two orders of magnitude with a small trade-off in accuracy when compared to a conventional approach. This massive reduction in computation cost is useful to reduce overall costs in wind farm layout optimization studies.

17 WIND ENERGY↗