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At least 1,369 records · Page 76
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NASA NTRS1991

The Eckhaus and the Benjamin-Feir instability near a weakly inverted bifurcation

We investigate how the criteria for two prototype instabilities in one dimensional pattern forming systems, namely for the Eckhaus instability and for the Benjamin-Feir instability, change as one goes from a continuous bifurcation, to a spatially periodic or spatially and/or time periodic state, to the corresponding weakly inverted, i.e., hysteretic, cases. We also give the generalization to two dimensional patterns in systems with anisotropy as they arise from hydrodynamic instabilities in nematic liquid crystals.

Brand, Helmut R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A weakly nonlinear theory for wave-vortex interactions in curved channel flow

A weakly nonlinear theory is developed to study the interaction of Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) waves and Dean vortices in curved channel flow. The predictions obtained from the theory agree well with results obtained from direct numerical simulations of curved channel flow, especially for low amplitude disturbances. Some discrepancies in the results of a previous theory with direct numerical simulations are resolved.

Singer, Bart A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Milliarcsecond radio structure of weak-lined T Tauri stars

VLBI and VLA observations of six radio-bright weak-lined T Taur (WTT) stars are reported, as well as direct measurements of the sizes of the emitting regions. VLBI measurements established that essentially all the radio emission from these premain-sequence stars originates in regions 15 stellar radii or less in size. Corresponding brightness temperatures ranged from 10 exp 7.5 to not less than 10 exp 9 K, ruling out a thermal process such as free-free bremsstrahlung radiation from a circumstellar wind. The radio luminosity and structure of several stars changed significantly between measurements separated by 1 day. HD 283447 showed intraday radio variability on time scales as short as 1 hr. Corresponding VLBI measurements show a new unresolved component appearing after an increase in flux density, possibly indicating that the driving agent for larger radio flares originates close to the star. The high conformation rate of nonthermal radio emission from this initial sample of radio-bright WTT stars show that these solar-type premain-sequence stars alter their immediate environments via magnetic processes to an extent comparable to that shown by RS CVn or Algol close binaries.

Phillips, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A weakly nonlinear theory based explanation for wave interactions in rotating channel flow

A weakly nonlinear wave-interaction theory is used to explain the decay of linearly unstable oblique waves in rotating channel flow at low Reynolds number. At the low Reynolds number studied, the waves tend to stabilize each other and therefore when no waves are preferentially excited, the linearly most unstable mode reaches a nonlinear amplitude first and causes the stabilization of all competing modes.

Singer, Bart A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Application of the Stogryn-Hirschfelder treatment of weak dimers to planetary atmospheres

The thermodynamics of carbon dioxide dimerization is treated as an example of the evaluation of weak dimer populations in planetary atmospheres (e.g., Mars and Venus). Two approaches considered are the Stogryn-Hirschfelder (1960) treatment using the Lennard-Jones interaction and calculations based on recent quantum chemical data. Several improvements of these treatments are developed. It is indicated that carbon dioxide dimers may be less or more abundant at the surfaces of Mars or Venus, respectively, than is suggested by previous calculations.

Slanina, Zdenek↗
NASA NTRS1992

All-YBa2Cu3O(7-x) edge-geometry weak links

High quality YBa2Cu3O(7-x)/normal-metal/YBa2Cu3O(7-x) edge-geometry weak links are fabricated using nonsuperconducting Y-Ba-Cu-O barrier layers deposited by laser ablation at reduced growth temperatures. Devices incorporating 25-100-A-thick barrier layers exhibit current-voltage characteristics consistent with the resistively-shunted-junction model, as well as ac Josephson steps. Magnetic field modulation of the critical currents shows Fraunhofer-like behavior with a periodicity which scales with device area. The critical currents vary exponentially with barrier thickness indicating an effective normal metal coherence length of 20 A. The average resistances scale linearly with Y-Ba-Cu-O interlayer thickness and device area. The scaling behavior of the device parameters combined with the well-behaved magnetic field modulation of the critical currents demonstrates good barrier-layer uniformity with low pinhole densities. Near the transition temperature, the critical currents exhibit a temperature dependence proportional to (1 - T/Tc) squared.

Hunt, B. D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Model of an axially strained weakly guiding optical fiber modal pattern

Axial strain can be determined by monitoring the modal pattern variation of an optical fiber. The results of a numerical model developed to calculate the modal pattern variation at the end of a weakly guiding optical fiber under axial strain is presented. Whenever an optical fiber is under stress, the optical path length, the index of refraction, and the propagation constants of each fiber mode change. In consequence, the modal phase term for the fields and the fiber output pattern are also modified. For multimode fibers, very complicated patterns result. The predicted patterns are presented, and an expression for the phase variation with strain is derived.

Egalon, Claudio O.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Wave diffraction in weak cosmic-ray-modified shocks

Weakly multidirectional, long-wavelength cosmic-ray-modified shocks are studied via multiple scale perturbation techniques. The effects of diffraction are discussed in terms of Green's function solutions of the linearized 1 + 3D Burgers and 1 + 3D KdVB equations, and also in terms of solutions with singular Dirac delta initial distributions. The solutions show a monotonic decrease of the wave-front curvature with increasing time owing to the effects of wave diffraction. The shape of the wave surface is discussed in terms of solutions S to the wave eikonal equation corresponding to singular initial conditions. For the fast magnetosonic wave propagating in the positive x-direction, the wave phase surface S = 0 has elliptic cross sections with the planes x = constant and has a convex paraboloidal shape. Plane-wave solutions of the 1 + 3D KdVB equation are discussed.

Webb, G. M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

VLBI phase-referencing for observations of weak radio sources

Phase-referencing is a technique used in VLBI to extend the signal coherence time from a few minutes to a few hours in order to enhance significantly its sensitivity. With this technique, VLBI observations of milliJansky radio sources can be conducted for high-accuracy differential astrometry as well as imaging. We describe the technique in some details and present, as an example, a submilliarcsecond differential astrometric experiment design to identify the star responsible for the weak radio emission in the binary system Algol.

Lestrade, J.-F.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The use of satellite altimetry in the study of weakly defined and variable oceanic gyres

Most of what is known about oceanic gyres comes from studies of the two main Northern Hemisphere subtropical gyres. Also important in the overall circulation of the world's oceans are the Southern Hemisphere subtropical gyres and the cyclonic Alaskan Gyre in the northern Pacific. Due in part to their weaker surface topography signatures and their variable character, these gyres have not been observed and studied as well as the northern subtropical gyres. The combination of satellite altimetry with in situ ocean measurements will lead to improved resolution of the interannual and seasonal change in the circulation of these ocean gyres. Also, it will provide initialization input and verification for numerical modeling work designed to better understand internal gyre dynamics. The objective of this proposal is to combine satellite and in situ data in a study dedicated to a better understanding of the basic structure and dynamics of the weakly defined Southern Hemisphere gyres and the Alaskan Gyre and their roles in oceanic heat and mass transport of the world ocean. Emphasis will be on description of the Alaskan Gyre.

Born, George H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Virtually-synchronous communication based on a weak failure suspector

Failure detectors (or, more accurately Failure Suspectors (FS)) appear to be a fundamental service upon which to build fault-tolerant, distributed applications. This paper shows that a FS with very weak semantics (i.e., that delivers failure and recovery information in no specific order) suffices to implement virtually-synchronous communication (VSC) in an asynchronous system subject to process crash failures and network partitions. The VSC paradigm is particularly useful in asynchronous systems and greatly simplifies building fault-tolerant applications that mask failures by replicating processes. We suggest a three-component architecture to implement virtually-synchronous communication: (1) at the lowest level, the FS component; (2) on top of it, a component (2a) that defines new views; and (3) a component (2b) that reliably multicasts messages within a view. The issues covered in this paper also lead to a better understanding of the various membership service semantics proposed in recent literature.

Schiper, Andre↗
NASA NTRS1993

Enhanced plasma current collection from weakly conducting solar array blankets

Among the solar cell technologies to be tested in space as part of the Solar Array Module Plasma Interactions Experiment (SAMPIE) will be the Advanced Photovoltaic Solar Array (APSA). Several prototype twelve cell coupons were built for NASA using different blanket materials and mounting techniques. The first conforms to the baseline design for APSA which calls for the cells to be mounted on a carbon loaded Kapton blanket to control charging in GEO. When deployed, this design has a flexible blanket supported around the edges. A second coupon was built with the cells mounted on Kapton-H, which was in turn cemented to a solid aluminum substrate. A final coupon was identical to the latter but used germanium coated Kapton to control atomic oxygen attack in LEO. Ground testing of these coupons in a plasma chamber showed considerable differences in plasma current collection. The Kapton-H coupon demonstrated current collection consistent with exposed interconnects and some degree of cell snapover. The other two coupons experienced anomalously large collection currents. This behavior is believed to be a consequence of enhanced plasma sheaths supported by the weakly conducting carbon and germanium used in these coupons. The results reported here are the first experimental evidence that the use of such materials can result in power losses to high voltage space power systems.

Hillard, G. Barry↗
NASA NTRS1993

The development of a mixing layer under the action of weak streamwise vortices

The action of weak, streamwise vortices on a plane, incompressible, steady mixing layer is examined in the large Reynolds-number limit. The outer, inviscid region is bounded by a vortex sheet to which the viscous region is confined. It is shown that the local linear analysis becomes invalid at streamwise distances O(epsilon(sup -1)), where epsilon is much less than 1 is the cross flow amplitude, and a new nonlinear analysis is constructed for this region. Numerical solutions of the nonlinear problem show that the vortex sheet undergoes an O(1) change in position and that the solution is ultimately terminated by the appearance of a singularity. The corresponding viscous layer shows downstream thickening, but appears to remain well behaved up to the singular location.

Goldstein, Marvin E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Composition of weakly altered Martian crust: Clues from imaging spectroscopy

Two of the fundamental questions regarding chemical weathering on Mars concern the following topics: the chemical pathways by which pristine crustal rocks are altered to produce observed ferric ironbearing assemblages and inferred clay silicate, sulfate, and magnetic oxide phases; and the timing of the oxidative weathering. High spatial- and spectral-resolution imaging spectrometer data provide a tool to investigate aspects of these questions for material exposed on the surface of Mars. In this study, ISM imaging spectrometer data are used to develop an inventory of least-altered crustal materials and to quantitatively model the mineralogic composition of the weakly altered crustal rocks.

Mustard, John F.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Resistivity due to weak double layers - A model for auroral arc thickness

We have calculated the resistivity due to a sequence of fluctuating weak double layers aligned parallel to the ambient magnetic field line. The average response of an electron drifting through a 1D randomly oriented array of WDLs is studied using a test particle approach. The average is taken over the randomly fluctuating values of the electric field associated with the double layers. Based on our calculations, we estimate that a 350 eV electron energy the thickness of the visual auroral arc is about 2.5 km and that of the auroral fine structure as about 250 m when mapped down to the ionosphere. The significance of our calculations is discussed in the context of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling.

Prakash, Manju↗
NASA NTRS1992

Weakly nonlinear models for turbulent mixing in a plane mixing layer

New closure models for turbulent free shear flows are presented in this paper. They are based on a weakly nonlinear theory with a description of the dominant large-scale structures as instability waves. Two models are presented that describe the evolution of the free shear flows in terms of the time-averaged mean flow and the dominant large-scale turbulent structure. The local characteristics of the large-scale motions are described using linear theory. Their amplitude is determined from an energy integral analysis. The models have been applied to the study of an incompressible mixing layer. For both models, predictions of the mean flow developed are made. In the second model, predictions of the time-dependent motion of the large-scale structures in the mixing layer are made. The predictions show good agreement with experimental observations.

Liou, William W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Model of an axially strained weakly guiding optical fiber modal pattern

Axial strain may be determined by monitoring the modal pattern variation of an optical fiber. In this paper we present the results of a numerical model that has been developed to calculate the modal pattern variation at the end of a weakly guiding optical fiber under axial strain. Whenever an optical fiber is under stress, the optical path length, the index of refraction and the propagation constants of each fiber mode change. In consequence, the modal phase term of the fields and the fiber output pattern are also modified. For multimode fibers, very complicated patterns result. The predicted patterns are presented, and an expression for the phase variation with strain is derived.

Egalon, Claudio O.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Deformation of a weak subducted slab and variation of seismicity with depth

Numerical simulations of slab evolution are used here to show that a weak slab model is consistent with seismic observations. Assuming that earthquakes occur at a rate proportional to deformation rate, the observed variation with depth of seismicity rate and focal mechanisms is reproduced along with the cessation of seismicity at 670 km depth. Provided that sinking material encounters resistance at depth, the pattern of seismicity can be explained by any mechanism for deep earthquakes in which the rate of seismicity is proportional to strain rate in the slab.

Tao, Winston C.↗