Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “accelerator modeling”

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.

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

At least 145 records · Page 8

Using Supra-Arcade Downflows as Probes of Electron Acceleration During Solar Flares

Extracting information from coronal features above flares has become more reliable with the availability of increasingly higher spatial and temporal-resolution data in recent decades. We are now able to sufficiently probe the region high above long-duration flaring active regions where reconnection is expected to be continually occurring. Flows in the supra-arcade region, first observed with Yohkoh/SXT, have been theorized to be associated with newly-reconnected outflowing loops. High resolution data appears to confirm these assertions. Assuming that these flows are indeed reconnection outflows, then the detection of those directed toward the solar surface (i.e. downflowing) should be associated with particle acceleration between the current sheet and the loop footpoints rooted in the chromosphere. RHESSI observations of highly energetic particles with respect to downflow detections could potentially constrain electron acceleration models. I will discuss measurements of these supra-arcade downflows (SADs) in relation to reconnection model parameters and present preliminary findings comparing the downflow timings with high-energy RHESSI lightcurves.

Savage, Sabrina L.↗

Using Supra-Arcade Downflows as Probes of Particle Acceleration in Solar Flares

Extracting information from coronal features above flares has become more reliable with the availability of increasingly higher spatial- and temporal-resolution data in recent decades. We are now able to sufficiently probe the region high above long-duration flaring active regions where reconnection is expected to be continually occurring. Flows in the supra-arcade region, first observed with Yohkoh/SXT, have been theorized to be associated with newly-reconnected outflowing loops. High resolution data appears to confirm these assertions. Assuming that these flows are indeed reconnection outflows, then the detection of those directed toward the solar surface (i.e. downflowing) should be associated with particle acceleration between the current sheet and the loop footpoints rooted in the chromosphere. RHESSI observations of highly energetic particles with respect to downflow detections could potentially constrain electron acceleration models. We provide measurements of these supra-arcade downflows (SADs) in relation to reconnection model parameters and present preliminary findings comparing the downflow timings with high-energy RHESSI lightcurves.

Savage, Sabrina↗

Effect of Inductive Coil Geometry on the Operating Characteristics of a Pulsed Inductive Plasma Accelerator

Operational characteristics of two separate inductive thrusters with coils of different cone angles are explored through thrust stand measurements and time-integrated, un- filtered photography. Trends in impulse bit measurements indicate that, in the present experimental configuration, the thruster with the inductive coil possessing a smaller cone angle produced larger values of thrust, in apparent contradiction to results of a previous thruster acceleration model. Areas of greater light intensity in photographs of thruster operation are assumed to qualitatively represent locations of increased current density. Light intensity is generally greater in images of the thruster with the smaller cone angle when compared to those of the thruster with the larger half cone angle for the same operating conditions. The intensity generally decreases in both thrusters for decreasing mass ow rate and capacitor voltage. The location of brightest light intensity shifts upstream for decreasing mass ow rate of propellant and downstream for decreasing applied voltage. Recognizing that there typically exists an optimum ratio of applied electric field to gas pressure with respect to breakdown efficiency, this result may indicate that the optimum ratio was not achieved uniformly over the coil face, leading to non-uniform and incomplete current sheet formation in violation of the model assumption of immediate formation where all the injected propellant is contained in a magnetically-impermeable current sheet.

Hallock, Ashley K.↗

Effect of Inductive Coil Geometry on the Operating Characteristics of an Inductive Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Operational characteristics of two separate inductive thrusters with conical theta pinch coils of different cone angles are explored through thrust stand measurements and time- integrated, unfiltered photography. Trends in impulse bit measurements indicate that, in the present experimental configuration, the thruster with the inductive coil possessing a smaller cone angle produced larger values of thrust, in apparent contradiction to results of a previous thruster acceleration model. Areas of greater light intensity in photographs of thruster operation are assumed to qualitatively represent locations of increased current density. Light intensity is generally greater in images of the thruster with the smaller cone angle when compared to those of the thruster with the larger half cone angle for the same operating conditions. The intensity generally decreases in both thrusters for decreasing mass flow rate and capacitor voltage. The location of brightest light intensity shifts upstream for decreasing mass flow rate of propellant and downstream for decreasing applied voltage. Recognizing that there typically exists an optimum ratio of applied electric field to gas pressure with respect to breakdown efficiency, this result may indicate that the optimum ratio was not achieved uniformly over the coil face, leading to non-uniform and incomplete current sheet formation in violation of the model assumption of immediate formation where all the injected propellant is contained in a magnetically-impermeable current sheet.

Hallock, Ashley K.↗

Analysis of Alternative Architectures for Cargo Lunar Landers

NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program has been working with commercial partners to develop human-class lunar landers to return the first American woman and next American man to the lunar surface in the mid 2020’s. In an effort to expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit, NASA’s Artemis program aims to facilitate a sustainable, long-term human presence in cis-lunar space. A component of this will require significant infrastructure to be delivered to the lunar surface. Delivering this infrastructure will require a significant lander capability that has yet to be developed. A thorough understanding of cargo lunar lander architectures is required such that select alternatives can be identified that best support the Artemis program’s objective of sustainability. The goal of this study is to aid NASA and its partners in the understanding of the cargo lunar lander trades space, as well as identify potential robust alternatives. The results will support NASA as it moves forward with key activities such as requirements formulation, agency strategic planning, and potential cargo lunar lander procurements. The study builds off of recent work performed by the Human Landing System program’s Architecture and Systems Analysis group to encompass a broad trade space of cargo lunar lander architecture alternatives. The current trade space as depicted by the morphological matrix and mission graph in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, respectively, includes key alternative options that have become highly relevant due to current HLS activities and include on-orbit refueling, active cryogenic fluid management, Earth orbit aggregation, and global lunar access. The authors believe that there is also a statistically relevant impact of lander-payload configuration on the primary structure of the vehicle that could greatly impact alternative selection. Because of this, several conceptual lander-payload configurations will be evaluated to determine the level of impact. The current set of conceptual configurations are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. To aid the conceptual evaluation of these configurations, a catalogue of notional payloads has been developed that represent a wide range of masses and volumes that are expected to be delivered in support of a sustained human lunar presence, including pressurized and unpressurized rovers, surface habitats, power systems, and other support infrastructure. In order to execute this study in a timely fashion, a similar approach to that utilized in a similar 2019 study focused on 2024 human lunar sorties will be employed [1]. The team utilized a novel architecture synthesis framework currently being developed by NASA/MSFC to evaluate over 600,000 lunar lander architectures over a two month time frame [2]. From this large data set, varying ground rules and assumptions were applied as filters to explore the trade space to identify alternatives which exhibited robustness, as measured by launch vehicle payload margin, to absorb the natural growth that occurs during design maturation. The set of Earth-Moon system Delta-Vs assumed from the 2019 study, shown in Fig. 5, will be repurposed to accelerate model formulation for this effort. Additionally, current efforts in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Aerospace System Design Lab will be integrated to provide probabilistic modeling of the cargo lunar lander architectures to aid in identifying robust design alternatives [3]. The approach will help minimize potential impacts due to large levels of uncertainty inherent to pre phase-A conceptual design. By leveraging these past and present studies and partnerships, a highly detailed set of data can be generated in a short time period to aid NASA in the coming years to support the goal of a sustained human lunar presence.

Architectures↗

Flare Ribbon Signatures of Plasmoids

Solar flares are explosive space weather events that rapidly convert stored magnetic energy into bulk motion, plasma heating, and particle acceleration. Understanding the structure and dynamics of the magnetic reconnection that powers flares is critical for predicting the energy release. In particular, the amount of energy transferred to energetic particles is thought to be highly dependent on whether the reconnection is primarily turbulent (e.g., plasmoid dominated) or instead laminar. We present new high-resolution MHD simulations of three-dimensional reconnection in an eruptive flare and compare the results to recent data. Although flare reconnection is challenging to observe directly in the corona, highly detailed constraints on its dynamics can be obtained from observations of flare ribbons that track the chromospheric footpoints of newly reconnected field lines. The analogues of flare ribbons in our simulations are identified by tracking discontinuous changes in field-line magnetic connectivity due to the reconnection. In our highest-resolution calculations, we find that these ribbon analogues are highly structured and exhibit many ‘whorl’ patterns that are linked to turbulent plasmoids in the reconnecting current sheet. Such flare ribbon fine structure therefore reveals crucial information about the fundamental turbulent vs. laminar nature of the reconnection. Plasmoid-driven particle acceleration models would therefore predict co-location of energetic particle signatures with plasmoid-associated ribbon fine structure.

J T Dahlin↗

Heavy Ion Acceleration in 3he-Rich Solar Energetic Particle Events: New Insights From Solar Orbiter

We present Solar Orbiter energetic particle observations of two 3 He-rich events with features more clearly observed than in prior studies. The event of 2022 November 9 observed from 0.59 au contained hundreds of ultra-heavy ions (UH, mass >78 amu) whereas previous observations at 1 au have shown only an occasional count or two. The event of 2023 April 8 observed from 0.29 au fortuitously had very low ambient activity, making it possible to observe spectra from the 3 He acceleration mechanism without contamination, revealing extremely low H and 4 He intensities arriving simultaneously with other ions observed in typical 3 He-rich events. Taken together with previous studies we believe these data show that 3 He-rich events have a single acceleration mechanism that is responsible for the unique abundance features of 3 He, heavy ions, and UH ions. Considering the acceleration model of Roth and Temerin (1997) that heats the ions over a broad range of gyrofrequencies away from those damped by H and 4 He, we calculate reasonable fits to the observed abundances O-Fe. A key result is that high values of, e.g., Fe/O typical of such events is not due to preferential Fe heating, but on the contrary is due mainly to the depletion of O which at elevated temperatures has a charge-to-mass ratio in the region of the waves damped by 4He. The model also naturally incorporates features of high ionization states and neutron-rich isotope enhancements that have been long-standing puzzles in observations of this type of flare.

Solar flares↗

Simple model of plasma acceleration in a magnetic nozzle

A collisionless, steady-state, cold-plasma model is used to calculate the three-dimensional trajectory of a plasma as it is accelerated through a diverging magnetic field. The magnetic field is assumed to be axisymmetric with nonzero radial and axial components and zero azimuthal component. Although random thermal motion of plasma species is neglected in the cold plasma approximation, an important effect of plasma thermal energy is accounted for in the model as the kinetic energy of electrons in their Larmor motion about magnetic field lines. Calculations based on this model confirm previous studies which suggested that plasma separation from the field of a magnetic nozzle can take place even in the absence of collisional diffusion. It is shown that plasma divergence in a magnetic nozzle can be controlled by tailoring the field geometry.

Sercel, Joel C.↗

A model of impulsive acceleration and transport of energetic particles in Mercury's magnetosphere

A qualitative model of substorm processes in the Mercury magnetosphere is presented based on Mariner 10 observations obtained in 1974-1975. The model is predicated on close analogies observed with the terrestrial case. Particular emphasis is given to energetic particle phenomena as observed by Mariner on March 29, 1974. The suggestion is supported that energetic particles up to about 500 keV are produced by strong induced electric fields at 3 to about 6 Mercury radii in the Hermean tail in association with substorm neutral line formation. The bursts of energetic particles produced are, in this model, subsequently confined on closed field lines near Mercury and drift adiabatically on quasi-trapped orbits for many tens of seconds. Such gradient and curvature drift of the particles can explain prominent periodicities of 5-10 s seen in the Mariner for greater than 170-keV electron flux profiles.

Baker, D. N.↗

Electron acceleration in Tycho's and Kepler's supernova remnants - Spectral evidence of Fermi shock acceleration

First model synchrotron spectra calculated with a self-consistent nonlinear shock model of first order Fermi acceleration are presented and compared with the observed radio spectra of Tycho's and Kepler's SNR. Excellent agreement is obtained, and the correct mean spectral indices of about -0.64 are easily reproduced. The model spectra are slightly concave, with hardening toward higher energies, and there is evidence for such an effect in the data, allowing the mean magnetic field strength to be estimated in each remnant. Improvements in both theory and observation could allow accurate values of magnetic fields to be inferred from sufficiently precise integrated synchrotron spectra.

Reynolds, Stephen P.↗

An asymmetric outgassing model for cometary nongravitational accelerations

The standard nongravitation force model has been modified by allowing the water-vaproization curve to peak a certain number of days (DT) either before or after perihelion, and the modification is shown to often improve the data fit. The best fit to the astrometric data is generally achieved for a value of DT corresponding to the offset in the comet's visual light curve. The asymmetric model, which more accurately mimics the comet's outgassing history, suggests only weakly that the rotation direction of Comet Halley is direct, and it does not provide evidence that the rotation axis of Comet Kopff passed through its orbit plane in the early twentieth century. Approximate lag angles of 4 deg for Comet Halley and 10 deg for Comet d'Arrest are found using the asymmetric model, and it is noted that these values are lower than those obtained with the standard model.

Yeomans, D. K.↗

A leaky magnetohydrodynamic waveguide model for the acceleration of high-speed solar wind streams in coronal holes

It is now reasonably well established that there is a correlation between high-speed solar wind streams and coronal holes. It has been concluded that a significant addition of momentum and/or energy in the region of supersonic flow is needed to explain the observed particle flux and flow speed observed in the high-speed streams. The most likely source of this additional momentum appears to be magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves propagating up from the solar surface. The present investigation is concerned with the propagation of MHD waves in a structure of finite transverse size, taking into account the consequences for the acceleration of high-speed solar wind streams. A waveguide solution for a model coronal hole is described, giving attention to a geometric or ray analysis of the slab waveguide, a wave mode analysis, an analytic solution of the dispersion relation for high-frequency waves, and the calculation of the time-averaged wave force.

Davila, J. M.↗

Li-7 and Be-7 de-excitation lines - Probes for accelerated particle transport models in solar flares

The photon energy spectrum of a spectral feature composed of the 429 and 478 keV gamma-ray lines from Be-7 and Li-7 (produced by interactions of flare-accelerated alpha particles with ambient He in the solar atmosphere) depends on the angular distribution of the interacting accelerated particles. This spectrum is calculated for limb and disk-centered flares using a loop model for the transport of the ions. The resulting spectra are compared with data from the April 27, 1981 limb flare obtained with the gamma-ray spectrometer on SMM, providing convincing evidence for the existence of the (Li-7)-(Be-7) feature in this flare. By comparing the fluence of this feature with that of the 511 keV line, it is shown that the accelerated alpha particle abundance or the ambient He abundance, or both, must be enhanced.

Murphy, R. J.↗

The Li-7 and Be-7 deexcitation lines: Probes for accelerated particle transport models in solar flares

The photon energy spectrum of a spectral feature composed of the 429 and 478 keV gamma-ray lines from Li-7 and Be-7 (produced by interactions of flare-accelerated alpha particles with ambient He in the solar atmosphere) depends on the angular distribution of the interacting accelerated particles. This spectrum is calculated for limb and disc-centered flares using a loop model for the transport of the ions. In this model, the flux tube magnetic field is constant in the corona and converges in the chromosphere to the photosphere. Magnetic mirroring and MHD pitch-angle scattering are both taken into account. Comparison of these results with data from other experiments is presented.

Murphy, Ronald J.↗

Magnetospheric models for electron acceleration and transport in the heliosphere

Electron transport and acceleration processes in the earth's magnetosphere have correspondences to analogous processes affecting electrons in the solar magnetosphere (i.e., heliosphere). Energetic electrons in planetary magnetospheres and the heliosphere are test particles probing transport and acceleration dynamics with minimal effects on dominant magnetic field configurations. Parallels are discussed relating to electron entry into the magnetospheres from interplanetary and interstellar space, circulatory transport processes, and acceleration by electric fields in boundary regions including shocks and magnetotails.

Cooper, J. F.↗

Comparison of distributed acceleration and standard models of cosmic-ray transport

Recent cosmic-ray abundance measurements for elements in the range 3 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 28 and energies 10 MeV/n less than or equal to E less than or equal to 1 TeV/n have been analyzed with computer transport modeling. About 500 elemental and isotopic measurements have been explored in this analysis. The transport code includes the effects of ionization losses, nuclear spallation reactions (including those of secondaries), all nuclear decay modes, stripping and attachment of electrons, escape from the Galaxy, weak reacceleration and solar modulation. Four models of reacceleration (with several submodels of various reacceleration strengths) were explored. A chi (exp 2) analysis show that the reacceleration models yield at least equally good fits to the data as the standard propagation model. However, with reacceleration, the ad hoc assumptions of the standard model regarding discontinuities in the energy dependence of the mean path length traversed by cosmic rays, and in the momentum spectrum of the cosmic-ray source spectrum are eliminated. Futhermore, the difficulty between rigidity dependent leakage and energy independent anisotropy below energies of 10(exp 14) eV is alleviated.

Letaw, J. R.↗

The Use of a Vehicle Acceleration Exposure Limit Model and a Finite Element Crash Test Dummy Model to Evaluate the Risk of Injuries During Orion Crew Module Landings

A review of astronaut whole body impact tolerance is discussed for land or water landings of the next generation manned space capsule named Orion. LS-DYNA simulations of Orion capsule landings are performed to produce a low, moderate, and high probability of injury. The paper evaluates finite element (FE) seat and occupant simulations for assessing injury risk for the Orion crew and compares these simulations to whole body injury models commonly referred to as the Brinkley criteria. The FE seat and crash dummy models allow for varying the occupant restraint systems, cushion materials, side constraints, flailing of limbs, and detailed seat/occupant interactions to minimize landing injuries to the crew. The FE crash test dummies used in conjunction with the Brinkley criteria provides a useful set of tools for predicting potential crew injuries during vehicle landings.

Lawrence, Charles↗

A non-Fermi model of cosmic ray acceleration - The Vector-V x Vector-B

The Fermi model of cosmic ray acceleration is incomplete and frequently internally inconsistent in situations in which particles gradient B or curvature drift in a Vector-V x Vector-B electric field while interacting with moving magnetic field irregularities. In such situations particles can gain orders of magnitude more energy per reflection than predicted by the Fermi model.

Pesses, M. E.↗