SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “wind”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,243 records · Page 69

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1984

Recombination stellar wind model for the coronae of early-type stars

The wind structures of early-type stars which have base coronal zones are discussed. The calculations give rise to what is called a recombination stellar wind structure because of the transition from a coronally driven wind to a radiatively driven wind. The coronal X-rays are a dominant factor in determining the wind structure because of their effect on the ionization structure, which in turn determines the heating, cooling, and the attenuating properties of the stellar wind. The decreased continuum opacity allows for an increase in the emergent X-ray flux at energies less than 1 keV. The X-ray spectra are compared with those observed with the IPC instrument on the Einstein Observatory and are found to be in excellent agreement. This shows that contrary to earlier analyses, base coronae are not ruled out by the existing IPC X-ray data. The predicted emergent X-ray luminosities are in agreement with the observed values. However, the incident X-ray luminosities from the base coronal zones can be three to four orders of magnitude larger. This suggests that the X-ray IPC spectra reflect the absorption properties of the wind and not the nature of the X-ray source.

Waldron, W. L.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Corotating interaction regions in stellar winds

In a stellar wind, a corotating interaction region (CIR) is formed when a rotating star emits wind in a non-spherically symmetric manner. CIRs have been studied in detail in the solar wind: here, their role in stellar winds is considered. The radial distance at which CIRs form (in terms of the stellar radius) is proportional to the ratio of wind speed to the rotational speed at the stellar surface: in the sun, this ratio is approximately 200, but it may be much smaller than that in other stars. The properties of CIRs appear to be able to account for certain features of 'hybrid stars' (i.e., cool giants with cool winds plus 'warm' lines in their UV spectra), for X-ray emitting structures in hot star winds, and for the appearance of extended chromospheres in cool supergiants.

Mullan, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Preliminary study of inphase gusts and moment force wind loads over the first 150 meters at KSC, Florida

A mathematical/statistical analysis of inphase gusts and wind velocity moment forces over the first 150 m at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is presented. The wind velocity profile data were acquired at the KSC 150 m ground wind tower. The results show that planetary boundary layer (PBL) winds can sustain near peak speeds for periods up to 60 sec and longer. This is proven from calculating the autocorrelation functions of moment forces for several 10 min cases of wind profile data. The results show that lower atmospheric planetary boundary layer winds have periodic variations for long periods of time. This flow characteristic is valuable as aerospace vehicle engineering and design criteria where wind loading must be determined.

Kaufman, J. W.↗

NASA NTRS1985

The HEAO-2 Guest Investigator Program: Non-linear growth of instabilities in line-driven stellar winds

The linear instability of line-driven stellar winds to take proper account of the dynamical effect of scattered radiation were analyzed. It is found that: (1) the drag effect of the mean scattered radiation does greatly reduce the contribution of scattering lines to the instability at the very base of the wind, but the instability growth rate associated with such lines rapidly increases as the flow moves outward from the base, reaching more than 50% of the growth rate for pure absorption lines within a stellar radius of the surface, and eventually reaching 80% of that rate at large radii; (2) perturbations in the scattered radiation field may be important for the propagation of wind disturbances, but they have little effect on the wind instability; and (3) the contribution of strongly shadowed lines to the wind instability is often reduced compared to that of unshadowed lines, but their overall effect is not one of damping in the outer parts of the wind. It is concluded that, even when all scattering effects are taken into account, the bulk of the flow in a line-driven stellar wind is still highly unstable.

Rybicki, G. B.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Relativistic charge-separated winds

An investigation is made into the effects of including charge separation in three-dimensional MHD wind models. Attention is focused on the energy gain experienced by particles in the wind zone of a magnetized rotator, e.g., a pulsar. An expression is defined for the energy gained by a particle emitted from the polar cap of a rotating neutron star while crossing the polar axis from the wind zone to the equatorial plane. The stellar wind is treated in terms of global electrodynamics and solutions are obtained for a neutral sheet wind, a monopole wind, and a simple wind model. The particle acceleration Lorentz factors are found to be a quadratic of those formerly predicted by MHD theory and in agreement with observations of energies around the Crab pulsar.

Michel, F. C.↗

NASA NTRS1985

A review of satellite altimeter measurement of sea surface wind speed - With a proposed new algorithm

The scheduled February 1985 launch of a radar altimeter aboard the U.S. Navy satellite Geosat has motivated an in-depth investigation of wind speed retrieval from satellite altimeters. The accuracy of sea surface wind speed estimated by the Seasat altimeter is examined by comparison with wind speed estimated by the Seasat scatterometer. The intercomparison is based on globally distributed spatial and temporal averages of the estimated wind speed. It is shown that there are systematic differences between altimeter and scatterometer wind speed estimates. These differences are traced to errors in the Seasat altimeter geophysical data record wind speed algorithm. A new algorithm is proposed which yields consistent estimates from the two satellite sensors. Using this new algorithm, the rms difference between spatial and temporal averages of the two wind speed estimates is less than 1 m/s, and their correlation is greater than 0.9.

Chelton, D. B.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Design and initial testing of a one-bladed 30-meter-diameter rotor on the NASA/DOE mod-O wind turbine

The concept of a one-bladed horizontal-axis wind turbine has been of interest to wind turbine designers for many years. Many designs and economic analyses of one-bladed wind turbines have been undertaken by both United States and European wind energy groups. The analyses indicate significant economic advantages but at the same time, significant dynamic response concerns. In an effort to develop a broad data base on wind turbine design and operations, the NASA Wind Energy Project Office has tested a one-bladed rotor at the NASA/DOE Mod-O Wind Turbine Facility. This is the only known test on an intermediate-sized one-bladed rotor in the United States. The 15.2-meter-radius rotor consists of a tip-controlled blade and a counterweight assembly. A rigorous test series was conducted in the Fall of 1985 to collect data on rotor performance, drive train/generator dynamics, structural dynamics, and structural loads. This report includes background information on one-bladed rotor concepts, and Mod-O one-bladed rotor test configuration, supporting design analysis, the Mod-O one-blade rotor test plan, and preliminary test results.

Corrigan, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Instabilities in line-driven stellar winds. II - Effect of scattering

An earlier analysis (Owocki and Rybicki) of the linear instability of line-driven stellar winds is extended to take proper account of the dynamical effect of scattered radiation. The principal findings are as follows: (1) the drag effect of the mean scattered radiation does indeed greatly reduce the contribution of scattering lines to the instability at the very base of the wind, but the instability growth rate associated with such lines rapidly increases as the flow moves outward from the base, reaching more than 50 percent of the growth rate for pure absorption lines within a stellar radius of the surface, and eventually reaching 80 percent of that rate at large radii; (2) perturbations in the scattered radiation field may be important for the propagation of wind disturbances, but they have little effect on the wind instability; (3) the contribution of a strongly shadowed line to the wind instability is often reduced compared to that of an unshadowed line, but its effect is not one of damping in the outer parts of the wind. The primary conclusion derived from these results is thus that, even when all scattering effects are taken into account, the bulk of the flow in a line-driven stellar wind is still highly unstable.

Owocki, S. P.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The influence of velocity variability on the determination of wind profiles

High sensitivity radars allow the determination of velocity estimates at time resolutions down to one minute or better. Because of the variability introduced to the mean wind due to turbulence and waves, the high resolution profiles may not be too useful for forecasting applications, although they yield the most realistic estimate of the instantaneous wind profile. Profiles of wind speed and direction, vertical velocity and echo power, which were deduced in real-time on 23 August 1981 with the spaced antenna drift mode of the SOUSY-VHF-Radar are shown. Whereas these profiles were measured within 1 minute, the operating routine allowed the selection of variable (longer) measuring periods, and one has to search for the optimum duration of the data averaging period. A high time resolution wind vector diagram is given which gives an idea of the temporal variability. The data were obtained with the spaced antenna technique, which allows a good estimate of the horizontal wind without having to correct for the vertical velocity component. The wind vectors specifically indicate a quasi-periodic variation in direction. This is assumed to be due to gravity waves since the vertical velocity also shows periodical variations with the same period. The consistency of these spaced-antenna VHF radar results along with the radiosonde data convinced researchers that the method is quite suitable for wind profiling applications.

Rottger, J.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Study of wind change for the development of loads reduction techniques for the space shuttle

Wind change statistics are analyzed for Vandenberg AFB, California (VAFB) and Kennedy Space Center, Florida (KSC). Means and standard deviations of wind component change and vector wind change modulus within 3-9 and 9-16 km altitude bands are tabulated. The contribution to 3.5 hr wind component change by wind perturbations in various wavelength bands is evaluated. Probability distributions of maximum 3.5 hr wind change in an altitude band are presented and a model for wind change at a specified altitude is tested with data derived from six data bases from VAFB and Santa Monica, California.

Adelfang, S. I.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Further development of an improved altimeter wind speed algorithm

A previous altimeter wind speed retrieval algorithm was developed on the basis of wind speeds in the limited range from about 4 to 14 m/s. In this paper, a new approach which gives a wind speed model function applicable over the range 0 to 21 m/s is used. The method is based on comparing 50 km along-track averages of the altimeter normalized radar cross section measurements with neighboring off-nadir scatterometer wind speed measurements. The scatterometer winds are constructed from 100 km binned measurements of radar cross section and are located approximately 200 km from the satellite subtrack. The new model function agrees very well with earlier versions up to wind speeds of 14 m/s, but differs significantly at higher wind speeds. The relevance of these results to the Geosat altimeter launched in March 1985 is discussed.

Chelton, Dudley B.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Power spectral density analysis of wind-shear turbulence for related flight simulations

Meteorological phenomena known as microbursts can produce abrupt changes in wind direction and/or speed over a very short distance in the atmosphere. These changes in flow characteristics have been labelled wind shear. Because of its adverse effects on aerodynamic lift, wind shear poses its most immediate threat to flight operations at low altitudes. The number of recent commercial aircraft accidents attributed to wind shear has necessitated a better understanding of how energy is transferred to an aircraft from wind-shear turbulence. Isotropic turbulence here serves as the basis of comparison for the anisotropic turbulence which exists in the low-altitude wind shear. The related question of how isotropic turbulence scales in a wind shear is addressed from the perspective of power spectral density (psd). The role of the psd in related Monte Carlo simulations is also considered.

Laituri, Tony R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Porous wind tunnel corrections for counterrotation propeller testing

Wind tunnel interference corrections have direct impact on measured propeller efficiency. A systematic series of wind tunnel tests was done in the porous-wall NASA Lewis 8- by 6-Foot Wind Tunnel to determine the wind tunnel interference corrections to the NASA Lewis counterrotation propeller test data. The test results were compared with calculations from a potential flow code to determine the interference corrections. At a Mach number of 0.8, the interference corrections resulted in a -0.008 Mach number correction which reduced the counterrotation propeller net efficiency data by 0.46 percent at the reduced Mach number. Additional wind tunnel tests were done to measure the effect of propeller thrust on wind tunnel wall interference. No wall interference corrections due to propeller thrust were found necessary for the high speed counterrotation propeller data obtained in the porous wall NASA Lewis 8- by 6-Foot Wind Tunnel.

Stefko, George L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Large-scale wind turbine structures

The purpose of this presentation is to show how structural technology was applied in the design of modern wind turbines, which were recently brought to an advanced stage of development as sources of renewable power. Wind turbine structures present many difficult problems because they are relatively slender and flexible; subject to vibration and aeroelastic instabilities; acted upon by loads which are often nondeterministic; operated continuously with little maintenance in all weather; and dominated by life-cycle cost considerations. Progress in horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT) development was paced by progress in the understanding of structural loads, modeling of structural dynamic response, and designing of innovative structural response. During the past 15 years a series of large HAWTs was developed. This has culminated in the recent completion of the world's largest operating wind turbine, the 3.2 MW Mod-5B power plane installed on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Some of the applications of structures technology to wind turbine will be illustrated by referring to the Mod-5B design. First, a video overview will be presented to provide familiarization with the Mod-5B project and the important components of the wind turbine system. Next, the structural requirements for large-scale wind turbines will be discussed, emphasizing the difficult fatigue-life requirements. Finally, the procedures used to design the structure will be presented, including the use of the fracture mechanics approach for determining allowable fatigue stresses.

Spera, David A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Monthly mean global climatology of temperature, wind, geopotential height, and pressure for 0 - 120 km

A monthly mean climatology is presented of temperature, wind, and geopotential height with nearly pole-to-pole coverage (80 S to 80 N) for 0 to 210 km, which can be used as a function of altitude and pressure. The purpose is to provide a reference for various atmospheric research and analysis activities. Data sources and methods of computation are described; in general, hydrostatic and thermal wind balance are maintained at all levels and latitudes. As observed in a series of cross-sectional plots, this climatology accurately reproduces most of the characteristic features of the atmosphere such as equatorial wind and the general structure of the tropopause, stratopause, and mesopause. A series of zonal wind profiles is also represented comparing this climatological wind with monthly mean climatological direct wind measurements in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. The temperature and zonal wind climatology at stratospheric levels is compared with corresponding data from the National Meteorological Center, and general agreement is observed between the two data sets. Tables of the climatological values as a function of latitude and height for each month are contained in Appendix B, and are also available in floppy disk.

Fleming, Eric L.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Measurements of wind friction speeds over lava surfaces and assessment of sediment transport

Wind velocity profiles were obtained over alluvial plains, lava flows, and a cinder cone in the Mojave Desert to determine the wind shear and the potential for particle transport. It was found that aerodynamic roughness for winds increases nearly a factor of 5 as flow crosses from the alluvium to the lava surface, resulting in wind shear that is 21 percent greater. Thus, wind erosion and sand flux may be substantially enhanced over the lava field. Moreover, wind flow turbulence is enhanced in the wake of the cinder cone, which also increases erosion and sediment transportation by the wind.

Greeley, Ronald↗

NASA NTRS1987

Wind-fetch dependence of Seasat scatterometer measurements

This work is focused on the effects of large-scale wind-generated gravity waves on scatterometer wind-measurement accuracy. Theoretical and experimental evidence of the important role played by the degree of wind-wave coupling in surface geometry and therefore in microwave signatures is presented. Seasat scatterometer wind-measurement errors are analyzed, and an error bias is found to be related to the degree of wind-wave development. Attention is focused on a dynamic measure of wind-wave development that characterizes the rate of energy transfer from the mean wind to the energy-carrying portion of the wave spectrum. An explanation of the bias is suggested based on the consideration of an additional component of surface scattering caused by electromagnetic-wave diffraction at the crests of individual, sufficiently steep wavelets.

Glazman, Roman E.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Scatterometer wind speed bias induced by the large-scale component of the wave field

In order to determine if an environmental bias exists in the winds measured by the Seasat A satellite scatterometer (SASS), the SASS wind speed observations, U(s), colocated with the buoy wind speed data, U(b), were analyzed. There was a trend in the SASS wind speed error, U(b) - U(s), which was found to be related to the degree of the development of wind-generated gravity waves; this trend (estimated to be 0.5 m/sec per 100 km of the generalized wind fetch) is capable of introducing a well-pronounced environmental bias into the scatterometer-produced global distributions of wind.

Glazman, R. E.↗