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At least 127 records · Page 7

Maximum Mean Lift Coefficient Characteristics at Low Tip Mach Numbers of a Hovering Helicopter Rotor Having an NACA 64(1)A012 Airfoil Section

An investigation has been conducted on the Langley helicopter test tower to determine experimentally the maximum mean lift-coefficient characteristics at low tip Mach number and a limited amount of drag- divergence data at high tip Mach number of a helicopter rotor having an NACA 64(1)AO12 airfoil section and 8 deg of linear washout. Data are presented for blade tip Mach numbers M(t) of 0.29 to 0.74 with corresponding values 6 6 of tip Reynolds number of 2.59 x 10(exp 6) and 6.58 x 10(exp 6). Comparisons are made between the data from the present rotor with results previously obtained from two other rotors: one having NACA 0012 airfoil sections and the other having an NACA 0009 airfoil tip section. At low tip Mach numbers, the maximum mean lift coefficient for the blade having the NACA 64(1)AO12 section was about 0.08 less than that obtained with the blade having the NACA 0009 tip section and 0.21 less than the value obtained with the blade having the NACA 0012 tip section. Blade maximum mean lift coefficient values were not obtained for Mach number values greater than 0.47 because of a blade failure encountered during the tests. The effective mean lift-curve slope required for predicting rotor thrust varied from 5.8 for the tip Mach nuniber range of 0.29 to 0.55 to a value of 6.65 for a tip Mach number of 0.71. The blade pitching-moment coefficients were small and relatively unaffected by changes in thrust coefficient and Mach number. In the instances in which stall was reached, the break in the blade pitching-moment curve was in a stable direction. The efficiency of the rotor decreased with an increase in tip speed. Expressed as figure of merit, at a tip Mach number of 0.29 the maximum value was about 0.74. Similar measurements made on another rotor having an NACA 0012 airfoil and with a rotor having an NACA 0009 tip section, showed a value of 0.75. Synthesized section lift and profile-drag characteristics for the rotor-blade airfoil section are presented as an aid in predicting the high-tip-speed performance of rotors having similar airfoils.

Powell, Robert D., Jr.↗

Quantifying Residual Stresses by Means of Thermoelastic Stress Analysis

This study focused on the application of the Thermoelastic Stress Analysis (TSA) technique as a tool for assessing the residual stress state of structures. TSA is based on the fact that materials experience small temperature changes when compressed or expanded. When a structure is cyclically loaded, a surface temperature profile results which correlates to the surface stresses. The cyclic surface temperature is measured with an infrared camera. Traditionally, the amplitude of a TSA signal was theoretically defined to be linearly dependent on the cyclic stress amplitude. Recent studies have established that the temperature response is also dependent on the cyclic mean stress (i.e., the static stress state of the structure). In a previous study by the authors, it was shown that mean stresses significantly influenced the TSA results for titanium- and nickel-based alloys. This study continued the effort of accurate direct measurements of the mean stress effect by implementing various experimental modifications. In addition, a more in-depth analysis was conducted which involved analyzing the second harmonic of the temperature response. By obtaining the amplitudes of the first and second harmonics, the stress amplitude and the mean stress at a given point on a structure subjected to a cyclic load can be simultaneously obtained. The experimental results showed good agreement with the theoretical predictions for both the first and second harmonics of the temperature response. As a result, confidence was achieved concerning the ability to simultaneously obtain values for the static stress state as well as the cyclic stress amplitude of structures subjected to cyclic loads using the TSA technique. With continued research, it is now feasible to establish a protocol that would enable the monitoring of residual stresses in structures utilizing TSA.

Gyekenyesi, Andrew L.↗

Unsteady Validation of a Mean Flow Boundary Condition for Computational Aeroacoustics

In this work, a previously developed mean flow boundary condition will be validated for unsteady flows. The test cases will be several reference benchmark flows consisting of vortical gusts convecting in a uniform mean flow, as well as the more realistic case of a vortical gust impinging on a loaded 2D cascade. The results will verify that the mean flow boundary condition both imposes the desired mean flow as well as having little or no effect on the instantaneous unsteady solution.

Hixon, R.↗

Validation of Interannual Differences of AIRS Monthly Mean Parameters

Monthly mean fields of select geophysical parameters derived from analysis of AIRS/AMSU data, and their interannual differences, are shown and compared with analogous fields derived from other sources. All AIRS fields are derived using the AIRS Science Team Version 4 algorithm. Monthly mean results are shown for January 2004, as are interannual differences between January 2004 and January 2003. AIRS temperature and water vapor profile fields are compared with monthly mean collocated ECMWF 3 hour forecast and monthly mean TOVS Pathfinder Path A data. AIRS Tropospheric and Stratospheric coarse climate indicators are compared with analogous MSU products derived by Spencer and christy and found in the TOVS Pathfinder Path A data set. Total ozone is compared with results produced by TOMS. OLR is compared with OLR derived using CERES data and found in the TOVS Pathfinder Path A data set. AIRS results agree well in all cases, especially in the interannual difference sense.

Susskind, Joel↗

Relationship between Mean Winds and Large 10-day Precipitation Anomalies over the Continental U.S.

To better understand the role of surface boundary forcing upon interannual and decadal variability of droughts and precipitation excesses over the continental U. S., an observational study has been carried out to better investigate the dynamical linkages between surface boundary forcing and droughts/floods. This study examines the relationship during the warm season between observed mean wind patterns on the 10-15 day time scale and anomalies in precipitation on that same time scale over the U. S. Each of the 7 cases of significant 10-day, warm-season drought over the U, S. since 1948 that has been investigated was accompanied by significant continental-scale ridging of the mean 10-day 250 mb wind pattern over the continental U.S. and a mid-Pacific relative maximum of 250 mb wind speed of at least 30 m/sec within 20 degrees of the international Date Line. This perhaps suggests the presence of a wave-guide phenomenon over the Pacific. The drought signal for each of these cases was still quite evident when averaged over the monthly time scale. While peak magnitudes of the precipitation anomalies were much larger for the 7 chosen cases of significant of precipitation excess were than for the drought cases none of the patterns of precipitation excess were as unambiguous or wide-spread as the drought cases. In only 2 to 3 cases was there evidence of a continental trough in the 250 mb winds. In fact, one case showed slight ridging over Canada and the extreme northern U.S. Strong southerly low-level jets, however, were evident in the 925 mb winds over south-central Texas or the nearby Gulf of Mexico in virtually all of the excessive precipitation cases, while the Great Plains LLJ was weak or displaced to the north of Texas in most of the drought cases. We will further investigate the asymmetry between droughts and precipitation excesses in their horizontal homogeneity and extent, in their temporal evolution, and in how the are forced by the combined effects of the mean 250 mb westerlies and the mean 925 mb southerly winds.

Helfand, H. Mark↗

A New Formulation of Time Domain Boundary Integral Equation for Acoustic Wave Scattering in the Presence of a Uniform Mean Flow

It has been well-known that under the assumption of a constant uniform mean flow, the acoustic wave propagation equation can be formulated as a boundary integral equation, in both the time domain and the frequency domain. Compared with solving partial differential equations, numerical methods based on the boundary integral equation have the advantage of a reduced spatial dimension and, hence, requiring only a surface mesh. However, the constant uniform mean flow assumption, while convenient for formulating the integral equation, does not satisfy the solid wall boundary condition wherever the body surface is not aligned with the uniform mean flow. In this paper, we argue that the proper boundary condition for the acoustic wave should not have its normal velocity be zero everywhere on the solid surfaces, as has been applied in the literature. A careful study of the acoustic energy conservation equation is presented that shows such a boundary condition in fact leads to erroneous source or sink points on solid surfaces not aligned with the mean flow. A new solid wall boundary condition is proposed that conserves the acoustic energy and a new time domain boundary integral equation is derived. In addition to conserving the acoustic energy, another significant advantage of the new equation is that it is considerably simpler than previous formulations. In particular, tangential derivatives of the solution on the solid surfaces are no longer needed in the new formulation, which greatly simplifies numerical implementation. Furthermore, stabilization of the new integral equation by Burton-Miller type reformulation is presented. The stability of the new formulation is studied theoretically as well as numerically by an eigenvalue analysis. Numerical solutions are also presented that demonstrate the stability of the new formulation.

Hu, Fang↗

Local and Remote Mean and Extreme Temperature Response to Regional Aerosol Emissions Reductions

The climatic implications of regional aerosol and precursor emissions reductions implemented to protect human health are poorly understood. We investigate the mean and extreme temperature response to regional changes in aerosol emissions using three coupled chemistry–climate models: NOAA GFDL CM3, NCAR CESM1, and NASA GISS-E2. Our approach contrasts a long present-day control simulation from each model (up to 400 years with perpetual year 2000 or 2005 emissions) with 14 individual aerosol emissions perturbation simulations (160–240 years each). We perturb emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and/or carbonaceous aerosol within six world regions and assess the statistical significance of mean and extreme temperature responses relative to internal variability determined by the control simulation and across the models. In all models, the global mean surface temperature response (perturbation minus control) to SO2 and/or carbonaceous aerosol is mostly positive (warming) and statistically significant and ranges from +0.17 K (Europe SO2) to -0.06 K (US BC). The warming response to SO2 reductions is strongest in the US and Europe perturbation simulations, both globally and regionally, with Arctic warming up to 1 K due to a removal of European anthropogenic SO2 emissions alone; however, even emissions from regions remote to the Arctic, such as SO2 from India, significantly warm the Arctic by up to 0.5 K. Arctic warming is the most robust response across each model and several aerosol emissions perturbations. The temperature response in the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes is most sensitive to emissions perturbations within that region. In the tropics, however, the temperature response to emissions perturbations is roughly the same in magnitude as emissions perturbations either within or outside of the tropics. We find that climate sensitivity to regional aerosol perturbations ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 K (W m(exp -2))(exp -1) depending on the region and aerosol composition and is larger than the climate sensitivity to a doubling of CO2 in two of three models. We update previous estimates of regional temperature potential (RTP), a metric for estimating the regional temperature responses to a regional emissions perturbation that can facilitate assessment of climate impacts with integrated assessment models without requiring computationally demanding coupled climate model simulations. These calculations indicate a robust regional response to aerosol forcing within the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes, regardless of where the aerosol forcing is located longitudinally. We show that regional aerosol perturbations can significantly increase extreme temperatures on the regional scale. Except in the Arctic in the summer, extreme temperature responses largely mirror mean temperature responses to regional aerosol perturbations through a shift of the temperature distributions and are mostly dominated by local rather than remote aerosol forcing.

Westervelt, Daniel M.↗

Understanding the Global Three-Dimensional Distribution of Precipitation Mean Particle Size with the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission

This study addresses the global distribution of precipitation mean particle size using data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The mass-weighted mean diameter Dm is a characteristic parameter of the precipitation particle size distribution (PSD), estimated from the GPM Combined Radar–Radiometer Algorithm (CORRA) using data from GPM’s dual-frequency precipitation radar and microwave imager. We examine Dm in individual precipitation systems in different climate regimes and investigate a 6-yr (2014–20) global climatology within 70°N–70°S. The vertical structure of Dm is demonstrated with cases of deep convection, frontal rain and snow, and stratocumulus light rain. The Dm values, detectable by GPM, range from ~0.7 mm in stratocumulus precipitation to >3.5 mm in the ice layers of intense convection. Within the constraint of the 12-dBZ detectability threshold, the smallest annual mean Dm (~0.8 mm) are found in the eastern oceans, and the largest values (~2 mm) occur above the melting levels in convection over land in summer. The standard deviation of the annual mean is generally <0.45 mm below 6 km. Climate regimes are characterized with Dm annual/seasonal variations, its convective/stratiform components, and vertical variabilities (2–10 km). The U.S. Central Plains and Argentina are associated with the largest Dm in a deep layer. Tropical Africa has larger Dm and standard deviation than Amazon. Large convective Dm occurs at high latitudes of Eurasia and North America in summer; the Southern Hemisphere high latitudes have shallower systems with smaller Dm. Oceanic storm tracks in both hemispheres have relatively large Dm, particularly for convective Dm in winter. Relatively small Dm occurs over tropical oceans, including ITCZ, requiring further investigation.

Mei Han↗

Reducing Earth Topography Resolution for SMAP Mission Ground Tracks Using K-Means Clustering

The K-means clustering algorithm is used to reduce Earth topography resolution for the SMAP mission ground tracks. As SMAP propagates in orbit, knowledge of the radar antenna footprints on Earth is required for the antenna misalignment calibration. Each antenna footprint contains a latitude and longitude location pair on the Earth surface. There are 400 pairs in one data set for the calibration model. It is computationally expensive to calculate corresponding Earth elevation for these data pairs. Thus, the antenna footprint resolution is reduced. Similar topographical data pairs are grouped together with the K-means clustering algorithm. The resolution is reduced to the mean of each topographical cluster called the cluster centroid. The corresponding Earth elevation for each cluster centroid is assigned to the entire group. Results show that 400 data points are reduced to 60 while still maintaining algorithm performance and computational efficiency. In this work, sensitivity analysis is also performed to show a trade-off between algorithm performance versus computational efficiency as the number of cluster centroids and algorithm iterations are increased.

ground tracks↗

Hanle-effect mean-life measurements on aligned fast ions.

Mean lives of several levels of the first two ionized states of argon were obtained by Hanle-effect measurements on the fast-beam particles, following coherent alignment of the magnetic substates by beam-foil interaction. The g factors of the levels were obtained by observation of quantum beats. Mean lives are compared with results of the usual beam-foil mean-life measurement technique. We show that the Hanle effect can sometimes clarify beam-foil results.

Church, D. A.↗

Root mean square fluctuation of a weak magnetic field in an infinite medium of homogeneous stationary turbulence.

The generation of a magnetic field by statistically homogeneous, stationary velocity turbulence is considered. The generation of rms magnetic fluctuation is explicitly demonstrated in the limit of short turbulence correlation time. It is shown that the fluctuation associated with a growing or stationary mean field grows with time such that the ratio of the fluctuation and the square of the mean field tends to a steady value, which is a monotonically decreasing function of the growth rate of the mean field.

Low, B.-C.↗

The Mean Ozone Distribution from Several Series of Rocket Sounding to 52 Km at Latitudes from 58 Deg S to 64 Deg N

The results of 21 rocket flights of Arcas optical ozonesondes were combined to produce estimates of the mean ozone distribution and its variability; these estimates apply to a broad range of latitudes. The flights were launched from sites near the equator to 58 S and to 64 N, in the years from 1965 to 1971. The local-noon mean ozone densities in molecules/cubic centimeter are 7.0 to the 10th power at 50 km, 6.7 x 10 to the 11th power at 40 km, 3.1 x 10 to the 12th power at 30 km, and 3.1 x 10 to the 12th power at 20 km. The range of observed densities is about + or - 30 percent of the mean value at 50 km; + or 40 percent at 40 km; + or - 40 percent at 30 km; and +200 percent, -66 percent at 20 km. The variabilities in this set of observations are much smaller than those indicated by previous measurements.

Krueger, A. J.↗

Effect of mean-velocity profile shapes on sound transmission through two-dimensional ducts

Acoustic propagation through a lined two-dimensional duct is examined in order to assess the influence of the shape of the mean-velocity profile on the attenuation rate. Five mean-velocity profiles are considered: linear, parabolic, Pohlhausen, 1/7th power law with a linear sub-layer, and linear with slip at the wall. It is shown that when the attenuation rate is tabulated as a function of the boundary-layer thickness, as is usually done, substantially different results are obtained from the several mean profiles. However, when the displacement thickness is used, a considerable collapse is achieved in the attenuation curves that are obtained from the various profiles. For downstream propagation, all profiles produce essentially the same results over a reasonable range of boundary-layer thickness. However, for many cases of upstream propagation, the results from the 'turbulent' boundary-layer profiles differ significantly from the results of the other profiles even when compared on the basis of displacement thickness.

Hayfeh, A. H.↗

Evaluation of mean and turbulent velocity measurements in subsonic accelerated boundary layers

Exploratory measurements of the mean and turbulent flow in the wall boundary layer of a 15.5- by 10.2-cm channel were obtained as part of an instrumentation development program for measurements in compressible flow. Mean surface and flow-field surveys were obtained at channel Mach numbers ranging from 0.2 to 0.9. The mean velocity distributions were obtained with total pressure probes and a laser velocimeter. At a channel Mach number of 0.2, several types of hot-wire probes were used to obtain both velocity fluctuations and Reynolds shear-stress results.

Sandborn, V. A.↗

Meteorological adjustment of yearly mean values for air pollutant concentration comparison

Using multiple linear regression analysis, models which estimate mean concentrations of Total Suspended Particulate (TSP), sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide as a function of several meteorologic variables, two rough economic indicators, and a simple trend in time are studied. Meteorologic data were obtained and do not include inversion heights. The goodness of fit of the estimated models is partially reflected by the squared coefficient of multiple correlation which indicates that, at the various sampling stations, the models accounted for about 23 to 47 percent of the total variance of the observed TSP concentrations. If the resulting model equations are used in place of simple overall means of the observed concentrations, there is about a 20 percent improvement in either: (1) predicting mean concentrations for specified meteorological conditions; or (2) adjusting successive yearly averages to allow for comparisons devoid of meteorological effects. An application to source identification is presented using regression coefficients of wind velocity predictor variables.

Sidik, S. M.↗

Eigenvalue properties of structural mean-axis systems

The authors review some of the properties of the pseudoinverse and oblique pseudoinverse of a linear transformation T from one finite-dimensional inner-product space into another, and then use these properties and a theorem of Milne (1968), which states that the oblique pseudoinverse can be expressed in terms of a weak generalized inverse and two projection operators, in order to compute a mean-axis influence coefficient matrix for the dynamic analysis of an elastic body. Some eigenvalue invariance properties of the mean-axis structural dynamics equations are demonstrated, and on the simple example of a uniform beam, it is shown that the finite frequencies and mode shapes of the mean axis structural system are identical to the nonzero frequencies and mode shapes of the free structure.

Cavin, R. K., III↗

Evaluation of mean and turbulent velocity measurements in subsonic accelerated boundary layers

Exploratory measurements of the mean and turbulent flow in the wall boundary layer of a 15.2- by 10.2-cm channel were obtained as part of an instrumentation development program for measurements in compressible flow. Mean surface and flow field surveys were obtained at channel Mach numbers ranging from 0.2 to 0.9. The mean velocity distributions were obtained with total pressure probes and a laser velocimeter. At a channel Mach number of 0.2, several types of hot-wire probes were used to obtain both velocity fluctuations and Reynolds shear-stress results.

Sandborn, V. A.↗

The mean magnetic field of the sun: Observations at Stanford

A solar telescope was built at Stanford University to study the organization and evolution of large-scale solar magnetic fields and velocities. The observations are made using a Babcock-type magnetograph which is connected to a 22.9 m vertical Littrow spectrograph. Sun-as-a-star integrated light measurements of the mean solar magnetic field were made daily since May 1975. The typical mean field magnitude is about 0.15 gauss with typical measurement error less than 0.05 gauss. The mean field polarity pattern is essentially identical to the interplanetary magnetic field sector structure (seen near the earth with a 4 day lag). The differences in the observed structures can be understood in terms of a warped current sheet model.

Scherrer, P. H.↗