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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.

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At least 1,297 records · Page 72
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

Combustion of Interacting Droplet Arrays in a Microgravity Environment

Investigations into droplet interactions date back to Rex et al. Recently, Annamalai and Ryan and Annamalai published extensive reviews of droplet array and cloud combustion studies. The authors studied the change in the burning rate constant, k, (relative to that of the single droplet) that results from interactions. Under certain conditions, there exists a separation distance where the droplet lifetime reaches a minimum, or average burning rate constant is a maximum . Additionally, since inter-droplet separation distance, L, increases relative to the droplet size, D, as the burning proceeds, the burning rate is not constant throughout the burn, but changes continuously with time. Only Law and co-workers and Mikami et al. studied interactions under conditions where buoyant forces were negligible. Comparing their results with existing theory, Law and co-workers found that theory over predicted the persistency and intensity of droplet interactions. The droplet interactions also depended on the initial array configuration as well as the instantaneous array configuration. They also concluded that droplet heating was retarded due to interactions and that the burning process did not follow the "D-squared" law. Mikami et al. studied the combustion of a two-droplet array of heptane burning in air at one atm pressure in microgravity. They showed that the instantaneous burning rate constant increases throughout the droplet lifetime, even for a single droplet. Also, the burn time of the array reached a minimum at a critical inter-droplet spacing. In this article, we examine droplet interactions in normal and microgravity environments. The microgravity experiments were in the NASA GRC 2.2 and 5.2 second drop towers, and the JAMIC (Japan Microgravity Center) 10 second drop tower. Special emphasis is directed to combustion under conditions that yield finite extinction diameters, and to determine how droplet interactions affect the extinction process.

Dietrich, D. L.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electric-field–induced assembly and propulsion of chiral colloidal clusters

Chiral molecules with opposite handedness exhibit distinct physical, chemical, or biological properties. They pose challenges as well as opportunities in understanding the phase behavior of soft matter, designing enantioselective catalysts, and manufacturing single-handed pharmaceuticals. Microscopic particles, arranged in a chiral configuration, could also exhibit unusual optical, electric, or magnetic responses. In this paper, we report a simple method to assemble achiral building blocks, i.e., the asymmetric colloidal dimers, into a family of chiral clusters. Under alternating current electric fields, two to four lying dimers associate closely with a central standing dimer and form both right- and left-handed clusters on a conducting substrate. The cluster configuration is primarily determined by the induced dipolar interactions between constituent dimers. Our theoretical model reveals that in-plane dipolar repulsion between petals in the cluster favors the achiral configuration, whereas out-of-plane attraction between the central dimer and surrounding petals favors a chiral arrangement. It is the competition between these two interactions that dictates the final configuration. The theoretical chirality phase diagram is found to be in excellent agreement with experimental observations. We further demonstrate that the broken symmetry in chiral clusters induces an unbalanced electrohydrodynamic flow surrounding them. As a result, they rotate in opposite directions according to their handedness. Both the assembly and propulsion mechanisms revealed here can be potentially applied to other types of asymmetric particles. Lastly, such kinds of chiral colloids will be useful for fabricating metamaterials, making model systems for both chiral molecules and active matter, or building propellers for microscale transport.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1993

A parametric study of bleed in shock boundary layer interactions

A numerical investigation was conducted to study the effect of bleed configuration on oblique-shock wave/turbulent boundary-layer interactions. Bleed is applied through a normal slot across the shock impingement location. The numerical solution to the compressible Navier-Stokes equations is obtained for the turbulent flow throughout the interaction zone and inside the bleed slot for bleed mass flow rates up to 57 percent of the boundary layer mass flow upstream of the interaction. The results indicate that the bleed slot performance improves as the slot width decreases and the length to width ratio increases. This is reflected as an increase in the bleed discharge coefficient and total pressure, and a reduction in the boundary layer momentum and displacement thickness downstream.

Hamed, A.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Controlling Interactions between Quantum Emitters Using Atom Arrays

We investigate the potential for two-dimensional atom arrays to modify the radiation and interaction of individual quantum emitters. Specifically, we demonstrate that control over the emission linewidths, resonant frequency shifts, and local driving field enhancement in impurity atoms is possible due to strong dipole-dipole interactions within ordered, subwavelength atom array configurations. We demonstrate that these effects can be used to dramatically enhance coherent dipole-dipole interactions between distant impurity atoms within an atom array. Possible experimental realizations and potential applications are discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Role of Capping Agents in the Synthesis of Salicylate-Capped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Capping agents are often used for controlling the size, aggregation, and properties of nanoparticles. To guide the design of improved nanomaterials for targeted performance, one can use mechanistic insights into the interactions between capping agents and nanoparticles. Here, we employ density functional theory (DFT), reactive force-field molecular dynamics (ReaxFF MD) simulations, and optical spectroscopy to study the interactions between salicylate, as a model capping agent, and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. In this work, we find that salicylate strongly interacts with the nanoparticle via the formation of O–Zn bonds in a distorted six-membered coordination ring structure. We describe the mechanisms of capping of ZnO nanoparticles by salicylate via three different binding modes. Simulations indicate that salicylate undergoes dissociative adsorption at the highly active surface Zn sites via a hydrogen-transfer process, thereby forming a tridentate configuration. The water-mediated interaction also facilitates the dissociative adsorption, leading to two salicylate O atoms coordinating with a surface Zn atom, while the other salicylate O atom bonds with another surface Zn atom. For molecular adsorption, binding free energies indicate that salicylate binds more strongly to ZnO, often in a bidentate configuration, than water does. The formation of the salicylate–ZnO complex is substantiated by UV–visible and Fourier transform infrared spectra. We find that the C=O stretching mode of salicylate becomes softened when it interacts with the nanoparticle, suggesting chemisorption of salicylate on ZnO. Although DFT predicts strong interaction between salicylate and ZnO, ReaxFF MD simulation indicates the moderate interaction between these two components in aqueous solution. Water molecules in close contact with the nanoparticle surface undergo dissociation, thus resulting in a surface hydroxyl, a reactive oxygen species that may influence the nanoparticle’s catalytic properties. Overall, the atomic-level information provided here can guide the selection process of salicylate as an appropriate agent for ZnO nanoparticle synthesis when strong interactions of particles with capping agents are required.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1987

The average configuration of the induced Venus magnetotail

The interaction of the solar-wind flow with Venus is discussed as well as the morphology of magnetic-field-line draping in the Venus magnetotail. Emphasis is placed on the importance of the interplanetary magnetic field X-component in controlling the configuration of field draping in this induced magnetotail. The average magnetic configuration of this magnetotail is studied. A connection is made between the derived consistent plasma flow speed and density and the observational energy/charge range and sensitivity of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter plasma analyzer.

Mccomas, D. J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Local Two- and Three-Nucleon Chiral Interactions

We report that understanding the structure and reactions of nuclei from first principles has been a long-standing goal of nuclear physics. In this respect, few- and many-body systems provide a unique laboratory for studying nuclear interactions. In the past couple of decades, the modeling of nuclear interactions has progressed significantly owing, in particular, to the development of chiral effective field theory (χEFT), a low-energy effective representation of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Within χEFT, many studies have dealt with the construction of both two- and three-nucleon interactions. The aim of the present article is to provide a concise account of chiral interaction models that are local in configuration space, and to report on a selection of recent results for nuclear systems obtained with these interactions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Microchannel plate detector and methods for their fabrication

A multi-component tunable resistive coating and methods of depositing the coating on the surfaces of a microchannel plate (MCP) detector. The resistive coating composed of a plurality of alternating layers of a metal oxide resistive component layer and a conductive component layer composed of at least one of a metal, a metal nitride and a metal sulfide. The coating may further include an emissive layer configured to produce a secondary electron emission in response to a particle interacting with the MCP and a neutron-absorbing layer configured to respond to a neutron interacting with the MCP.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1993

Stretch-induced quenching in flame-vortex interactions

The flame-vortex interaction problem is a natural configuration in which several issues relevant to turbulent combustion can be addressed: effect of strain-rate and curvature, effect of the Lewis number, effect of heat losses, effect of complex chemistry, and flame-generated turbulence. In such an approach, the interaction of an isolated vortex with a laminar premixed flame is viewed as a unit process of a turbulent premixed flame in which the reaction zone keeps a laminar like structure locally; this is precisely the case of the wrinkled flame or flamelet regime in turbulent combustion. The present work complements previous studies and involves the study of the interaction of a vortex pair and a laminar premixed flame in a planar two-dimensional geometry, together with numerical simulations. This geometry is quite unique since most studies have considered axisymmetric vortex rings. Such a geometry offers several advantages over previous studies.

Samaniego, J.-M.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Installation and airspeed effects on jet shock-associated noise

Experimental acoustic data are presented to illustrate, at model scale, the effect of varying the nozzle-wing installation on shock-associated noise, statically and with airspeed. The variation in installations included nozzle only, nozzle under-the-wing (with and without flaps deflected), and nozzle over-the-wing (unattached flow). The nozzles used were a conical and a 6-tube mixer nozzle with a cold-flow nozzle pressure ratio of 2.1. A 33-cm diameter free jet was used to simulate airspeed. With the nozzle only, shock wave noise dominated the spectra in the forward quadrant, while jet mixing noise dominated in the rearward quadrant. Similar trends were observed when a wing (flaps retracted) was included. Shock noise was attenuated with an over-the-wing configuration and increased with an under-the-wing configuration (due to reflection from the wing surface). With increasing flap deflection (under-the-wing configuration), the jet-flap interaction noise exceeded the shock noise and became dominant in both quadrants. The free jet results showed that airspeed had no effect on shock noise. The free jet noise data were corrected for convective amplification to approximate flight and comparisons between the various configurations are made.

Vonglahn, U.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Electrically tuned hyperfine spectrum in neutral Tb( II )(Cp iPr5 ) 2 single-molecule magnet

Molecular spin qubits with long spin coherence time as well as non-invasive operation methods on such qubits are in high demand. It was shown that both molecular electronic and nuclear spin levels can be used as qubits. In solid state systems with dopants, an electric field was shown to effectively change the spacing between the nuclear spin qubit levels when the electron spin density is high at the nucleus of the dopant. Inspired by such solid-state systems, we propose that divalent lanthanide (Ln) complexes with an unusual electronic configuration of Ln 2+ have a strong interaction between the Ln nuclear spin and the electronic degrees of freedom, which renders electrical tuning of the interaction. Furthermore, as an example, we study electronic structure and hyperfine interaction of the 159 Tb nucleus in a neutral Tb(II)(Cp iPr5 ) 2 single-molecule magnet (SMM), which exhibits unusually long magnetization relaxation time, using the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method with spin–orbit interaction included within the restricted active space state interaction (RASSI). Our calculations show that the low-energy states arise from 4f 8 (6s,5d z 2 ) 1 , 4f 8 (5d x 2 -y 2 ) 1 , and 4f 8 (5d xy ) 1 configurations. We compute the hyperfine interaction parameters and the electronic–nuclear spectrum within our multiconfigurational approach. We find that the hyperfine interaction is about one order of magnitude greater than that for Tb(III)Pc 2 SMMs. This stems from the strong Fermi contact interaction between the Tb nuclear spin and the electron spin density at the nucleus that originates from the occupation of the (6s,5d) orbitals. We also uncover that the response of the Fermi contact term to electric field results in electrical tuning of the electronic–nuclear level separations. This hyperfine Stark effect may be useful for applications of molecular nuclear spins for quantum computing.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of aerosol activation in the double-moment Unified Model and evaluation with CLARIFY measurements

Representing the number and mass of cloud and aerosol particles independently in a climate, weather prediction or air quality model is important in order to simulate aerosol direct and indirect effects on radiation balance. Here we introduce the first configuration of the UK Met Office Unified Model in which both cloud and aerosol particles have “double-moment” representations with prognostic number and mass. The GLObal Model of Aerosol Processes (GLOMAP) aerosol microphysics scheme, already used in the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 3 (HadGEM3) climate configuration, is coupled to the Cloud AeroSol Interacting Microphysics (CASIM) cloud microphysics scheme. We demonstrate the performance of the new configuration in high-resolution simulations of a case study defined from the CLARIFY aircraft campaign in 2017 near Ascension Island in the tropical southern Atlantic. We improve the physical basis of the activation scheme by representing the effect of existing cloud droplets on the activation of new aerosol, and we also discuss the effect of unresolved vertical velocities. We show that neglect of these two competing effects in previous studies led to compensating errors but realistic droplet concentrations. While these changes lead only to a modest improvement in model performance, they reinforce our confidence in the ability of the model microphysics code to simulate the aerosol–cloud microphysical interactions it was designed to represent. Capturing these interactions accurately is critical to simulating aerosol effects on climate.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1980

Effect of three-body interactions on the structure of small clusters

Minimum energy configurations of microclusters (up to six atoms) have been calculated using two- and three-body interactions. Structural changes were parametrically analyzed as a function of the intensity of three-body forces. The results are qualitative in nature; they indicate, however, that three-body interactions play an important role in the equilibrium structure of microclusters. The effect of the intensity of the three-body interactions on the structure of small clusters is not manifested in a continuous manner. Rather, changes in the energetically most stable structure occur abruptly. The results are in qualitative agreement with experimental observations as well as other calculations.

Halicioglu, T.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Unsteady Flowfield Around Tandem Cylinders as Prototype for Component Interaction in Airframe Noise

Synergistic application of experiments and numerical simulations is crucial to understanding the underlying physics of airframe noise sources. The current effort is aimed at characterizing the details of the flow interaction between two cylinders in a tandem configuration. This setup is viewed to be representative of several component-level flow interactions that occur when air flows over the main landing gear of large civil transports. Interactions of this type are likely to have a significant impact on the noise radiation associated with the aircraft undercarriage. The paper is focused on two-dimensional, time-accurate flow simulations for the tandem cylinder configuration. Results of the unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) computations with a two-equation turbulence model, at a Reynolds number of 0.166 million and a Mach number of 0.166, are presented. The experimental measurements of the same flow field are discussed in a separate paper by Jenkins, Khorrami, Choudhari, and McGinley (2005). Two distinct flow regimes of interest, associated with short and intermediate separation distances between the two cylinders, are considered. Emphasis is placed on understanding both time averaged and unsteady flow features between the two cylinders and in the wake of the rear cylinder. Predicted mean flow quantities and vortex shedding frequencies show reasonable agreement with the measured data for both cylinder spacings. Computations for short separation distance indicate decay of flow unsteadiness with time, which is not unphysical; however, the predicted sensitivity of mean lift coefficient to small angles of attack explains the asymmetric flowfield observed during the experiments.

Khorrami, Meldi R.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of tert -Butyl Substitution on the Interactions of Cobalt Phthalocyanine with a Carbon Monoxide-Functionalized Tip

Supported cobalt phthalocyanines (CoPc) are promising catalysts for CO 2 reduction, a critical process for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Enhancing the catalytic performance of CoPc involves modifying the interaction between the cobalt center and intermediate species. This study focuses on the effects of tert-butyl substitution on CoPc using (tert-butyl) 4 CoPc, where the substitution can both directly alter the molecule’s intramolecular electronic structure and indirectly alter it by the bulky group weakening the interaction with the support. Toward this end, we investigated the structural and chemical properties of (tert-butyl) 4 CoPc on a Ag(111) surface at the single-molecule level using three-dimensional atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a CO-terminated tip and discussed them in comparison with data for unmodified CoPc and amino-substituted CoPc. Notably, distance-dependent force measurements revealed anomalies in the tert-butyl groups’ force curves, attributed to their rotational flexibility. The tert-butyl (t-butyl) groups were also observed to increase the attraction of the central Co atom to CO, but this effect was attributed largely to enhanced interactions of the back of the tip with the peripheral t-butyl groups. In conclusion, while this longer-range interaction would not be expected to impact the interaction of small molecules with the catalytic center, the results reveal the ability of AFM to characterize longer range environmental interactions that can enhance adsorption and subsequent reactions of larger molecules, as well as the role side chains that offer configurational adaptability may play in these interactions.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Relativistic M-subshell radiationless transition probabilities and energies for Zn, Cd and Hg

Theoretical calculations of radiationless transition probabilities and energies for M-subshell vacancies in Zn, Cd, and Hg are tabulated using the Dirac–Fock method. Transition probabilities between an initial vacancy state and a final two-vacancies state are presented for each initial and final atomic angular momentum quantum number. Calculations were performed in the single configuration approach with the Breit interaction, self-energy and (Uehling) vacuum polarization corrections included in the self-consistent method. Higher-order retardation corrections and QED effects were also included as perturbations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1979

Aerodynamic interactions from reaction controls for lateral control of the M2-F2 lifting-body entry configuration at transonic and supersonic and supersonic Mach numbers

Tests were conducted in the Ames 6 by 6 foot wind tunnel to determine the interaction of reaction jets for roll control on the M2-F2 lifting-body entry vehicle. Moment interactions are presented for a Mach number range of 0.6 to 1.7, a Reynolds number range of 1.2 x 10 to the 6th power to 1.6 x 10 to the 6th power (based on model reference length), an angle-of-attack range of -9 deg to 20 deg, and an angle-of-sideslip range of -6 deg to 6 deg at an angle of attack of 6 deg. The reaction jets produce roll control with small adverse yawing moment, which can be offset by horizontal thrust component of canted jets.

Bailey, R. O.↗