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At least 1,495 records · Page 83

Incoherent scatter radar observations of the ionosphere

Incoherent scatter radar (ISR) has become the most powerful means of studying the ionosphere from the ground. Many of the ideas and methods underlying the troposphere and stratosphere (ST) radars have been taken over from ISR. Whereas the theory of refractive index fluctuations in the lower atmosphere, depending as it does on turbulence, is poorly understood, the theory of the refractivity fluctuations in the ionosphere, which depend on thermal fluctuations, is known in great detail. The underlying theory is one of the most successful theories in plasma physics, and allows for many detailed investigations of a number of parameters such as electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, electron mean velocity, and ion mean velocity as well as parameters pertaining to composition, neutral density and others. Here, the author reviews the fundamental processes involved in the scattering from a plasma undergoing thermal or near thermal fluctuations in density. The fundamental scattering properties of the plasma to the physical parameters characterizing them from first principles. He does not discuss the observation process itself, as the observational principles are quite similar whether they are applied to a neutral gas or a fluctuating plasma.

Hagfors, Tor↗

Effect of Li level, artificial aging, and TiB2 reinforcement on the modulus of Weldalite (tm) 049

The dynamic Young's Modulus (E) was determined for (1) alloys 049(1.3)(heat 072), (2) 049(1.9), and (3) 049(1.3) TiB2 in the T3 temper and after aging at 160 C were made on a single 0.953 cm (0.375 in) cube to reduce scatter from microstructural inhomogeneities. Both shear and transverse wave velocities were measured for the L, LT, and ST directions by a pulse echo technique. These velocities were then used to calculate modulus. The change is shown in E with aging time at 160 C (320 F) for the three alloys. It is clear from the plots that aging has a minor, but measurable, influence on the E of alloys 049(1.3) and 049(1.9): E decreases by -2.5 pct. for 2 and 3 during the initial stages of artificial aging. This decrease in E generally follows the strength reversion. On further aging beyond the reversion well, E increases and then decreases again as the alloy overage. The slightly higher modulus in the T8 than in the T3 temper is consistent with the presence of the high modulus T sub 1 phase in the T8 temper. A similar change in E was observed on aging for the TiB2 reinforced variant that also follows the aging curve.

Source record↗

Investigation of the structure of the electromagnetic field and related phenomena, generated by the Active Satellite

The altitude dependencies of the moduli of the electric field E in the VLF and LF frequency bands (f sub B much less than F less than f sub B) and in the altitude range of the ionosphere Z equals (400 to 2500) km up to Z equals 6000 km (the bottom of the magnetosphere) were calculated by the linear theory. The amplitudes of the field have large maxima in four regions: the axis field (E sub o) close to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field line B sub o, beta approximately 0 degrees, the fields (E sub St), (E sub RevSt) and (E sub Res) in the Storey, Reversed Story and Resonance cones, beta approximately (0 approaches 20) degrees. Their maxima are very pronounced close to the low hybrid frequency F sub L. The nonlinear heating of the magnetoplasma under the action of an electric field Ee (sup iwt) was recently expanded by the macroscopic theory by the author. The velocities, collision frequencies and temperatures of all the constituents of a magnetoplasma - electrons, ions, and neutral particles - are taken into account. Formulae and numerical results are presented for the ionosphere in the frequency band F equals (1 to 10 exp 4) kHz and altitude range Z approximately (100 - 1000) km. Some results of calculations by the self consistent solution of the basis system of equations are also discussed.

Alpert, Yakov L.↗

Stennis Space Center test facilities

This paper describes the test-related facilities of the NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC), which is a national testing and research center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, with the collocation of 19 federal research agencies for studying the environment, the space, the earth, and the oceans. The SSC test facilities include four large rocket test stands, numerous laboratories and research facilities, and two new facilities being currently build, the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor test facility and the Component Test Facility for testing liquid propulsion components for the Advanced Launch System.

Adams, B.↗

A model for the production of cosmogenic nuclides in chondrites

A model is presented for calculating the production rates of cosmic-ray-produced He, Ne, and Ar as well as Be-10, Al-26, and Mn-53 in chondrites of variable size and shape. The predictions of this model are compared with published data for the meteorites ALH78084, St. Severin, and Keyes. The agreement is found to be about 5 percent for the concentrations of Be-10, Ne-21, Ne-22, Ar-38, and Mn-53, and to be better than 1 percent for the Ne-22/Ne-21 ratios. The correlation between P(Be-10)/P(Ne-21) and Ne-22/Ne-21 ratios is experimentally verified over a wide range of irradiation conditions.

Graf, TH.↗

Streaming effect of wall oscillation to boundary layer separation

This paper presents a preliminary theoretical result on the time averaged streaming effect of local forcing excitation to the boundary layer separation from smooth surface. The problem is formulated as a periodic disturbance to a basic steady breakaway separating flow, for which the data are taken from a numerical triple-deck solution. The ratio of Strouhal number St and Reynolds number Re plays an important role, both being assumed sufficiently high. The analytical and numerical results show that this streaming effect is quite strong at proper values of St/Re exp 1/4, which may delay or even suppress the separation.

Wu, X. H.↗

Integrated force method versus displacement method for finite element analysis

A novel formulation termed the integrated force method (IFM) has been developed in recent years for analyzing structures. In this method all the internal forces are taken as independent variables, and the system equilibrium equations (EEs) are integrated with the global compatibility conditions (CCs) to form the governing set of equations. In IFM the CCs are obtained from the strain formulation of St. Venant, and no choices of redundant load systems have to be made, in constrast to the standard force method (SFM). This property of IFM allows the generation of the governing equation to be automated straightforwardly, as it is in the popular stiffness method (SM). In this report IFM and SM are compared relative to the structure of their respective equations, their conditioning, required solution methods, overall computational requirements, and convergence properties as these factors influence the accuracy of the results. Overall, this new version of the force method produces more accurate results than the stiffness method for comparable computational cost.

Patnaik, S. N.↗

Cataclysmic variable evolution - Clues from the underlying white dwarf

This paper presents an update of determinations of the CV white dwarf effective-temperature, T(eff), together with an initial exploration of the possible implications and constraints on the CV lifetimes and evolution based on the ensemble of white dwarf T(eff) values as a function of orbital period. The CV dwarf luminosities are derived by using the T(eff) data and adopting the masses of individual CV white dwarfs determined by Webbink (1990). The present ensemble of empirically determined white dwarf effective temperatures reveals a distribution centered near 16,000 K, implying a mean lower limit total cooling lifetime of 5 x 10 to the 8th yr for the majority of CV degenerates. The two coolest CV degenerates, VV Puppis and St LMi, were found among the strongly magnetic AM Her CVs.

Sion, Edward M.↗

A new technique to study transient conductivity under pulsed monochromatic light in Cr-doped GaAs using acoustoelectric voltage measurement

The transient conductivity of high-resistivity Bridgman-grown Cr-doped GaAs under pulsed monochromatic light is monitored using transverse acoustoelectric voltage (TAV) at 83 K. Keeping the photon flux constant, the height and transient time constant at the TAV are used to calculate the energy dependence of the trap density and its cross section, respectively. Two prominent trap profiles with peak trap densities of approximately 10 to the 17th/cu cm eV near the valence and the conduction bands are detected. These traps have very small capture cross sections in the range of 10 to the -23 to 10 to the -21st cm sq. A phenomenon similar to the persistent photoconductivity with transient time constants in excess of a few seconds in high-resistivity GaAs at T = 83 K is also detected using this technique. These long relaxation times are readily explained by the spatial separation of the photo-excited electron-hole pairs and the small capture cross section and large density of trap distribution near the conduction band.

Tabib-Azar, Massood↗

Models of the diffuse radar backscatter from Mars

The topographies of several debris flow units near the Mount St. Helens Volcano were measured at lateral scales of millimeters to meters in September 1990. The objective was to measure the surface roughness of the debris flows at scales smaller than, on the order of, and larger that the radar wavelength of common remote sensing radars. A laser profiling system and surveying instruments were used to obtain elevation data for square areas that varied in size from 10 to 32 cm. The elevation data were converted to estimates of the power spectrum of surface roughness. The conversions were based upon standard periodogram techniques, and upon a modified spectral estimation technique that was developed.

England, A. W.↗

Massively parallel algorithms for trace-driven cache simulations

Trace driven cache simulation is central to computer design. A trace is a very long sequence of reference lines from main memory. At the t(exp th) instant, reference x sub t is hashed into a set of cache locations, the contents of which are then compared with x sub t. If at the t sup th instant x sub t is not present in the cache, then it is said to be a miss, and is loaded into the cache set, possibly forcing the replacement of some other memory line, and making x sub t present for the (t+1) sup st instant. The problem of parallel simulation of a subtrace of N references directed to a C line cache set is considered, with the aim of determining which references are misses and related statistics. A simulation method is presented for the Least Recently Used (LRU) policy, which regradless of the set size C runs in time O(log N) using N processors on the exclusive read, exclusive write (EREW) parallel model. A simpler LRU simulation algorithm is given that runs in O(C log N) time using N/log N processors. Timings are presented of the second algorithm's implementation on the MasPar MP-1, a machine with 16384 processors. A broad class of reference based line replacement policies are considered, which includes LRU as well as the Least Frequently Used and Random replacement policies. A simulation method is presented for any such policy that on any trace of length N directed to a C line set runs in the O(C log N) time with high probability using N processors on the EREW model. The algorithms are simple, have very little space overhead, and are well suited for SIMD implementation.

Nicol, David M.↗

Hubble Space Telescope: High speed photometer instrument handbook. Version 2.0

This manual is a guide for astronomers who intend to use the High Speed Photometer (HSP), one of the scientific instruments onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). All the information needed for ordinary uses of the HSP is presented, including: (1) an overview of the instrument; (2) a detailed description of some details of the HSP-ST system that may be important for some observations; (3) tables and figures describing the sensitivity and limitations of the HSP; (4) how to go about planning an observation with the HSP; and (5) a description of the standard calibration to be applied to HSP data and the resulting data products.

White, Richard L.↗

Long Term Stratospheric Aerosol Lidar Measurements in Kyushu

Lidar soundings of the stratospheric aerosols have been made since 1972 at Fukuoka, Kyushu Island of Japan. Volcanic clouds from eruptions of La Soufriere, Sierra Negra, St. Helens, Uluwan, Alaid, unknown volcano, and El Chichon were detected one after another in only three years from 1979 to 1982. In july 1991 strong scattering layers which were originated from the serious eruptions of Pinatubo in June and were almost comparable to the El Chichon clouds were detected. Volcanic clouds from pinatubo and other volcanos mentioned are examined and carefully compared to each other and to the wind and temperature which was measured by Fukuoka Meteorological Observatory almost at the same time as the lidar observation was made.

Fujiwara, Motowo↗

Investigation of the structure of the electromagnetic field and related phenomena, generated by the active satellite

A short review is given for the general frequency and angle distribution of the electric field radiated by an electric dipole E = E(sub 0)cos(omega)t, in a magnetoplasma. Detailed results of numerical calculations of (E) were made in the Very Low Frequency (VLF) and the Low Frequency (LF) bands 0.02f(sub b) is less than or equal to F is less than or equal to 0.5f(sub b) (F is approximately (4-500) kHz) in the ionosphere and magnetosphere in the altitude region Z = (800-6000) km; f(sub b) is the electron gyro-frequency of the plasmas in the discussed region f(sub b) is approximately equal to (1.1 to 0.2) MHz. The amplitudes of the electric field have large maxima in four regions: close to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field line (B(sub 0)), it is the so called Axis field (E(sub 0)) and in the Storey (E(sub St)), Reversed Storey (E(sub RevSt)), and Resonance (E(sub Res)) Cones. The maximal values of E(sub 0), E(sub Res), and E(sub RevSt) are very pronounced close to the low hybrid frequency, F approximately F(sub L). The flux of the electric field is concentrated in very narrow regions, the apex angles of the cones delta(beta) is approximately equal to (0.1 - 1) degree. The enhancement and focusing of the electric field is growing up, especially quickly at Z greater than 800 km. At Z is greater than 1000 up to 6000 km, the relative value of (E), in comparison with its value at Z = 800 km is about (10(exp 2) to 10(exp 4)) times larger. Thus, the flux of VLF and LF electromagnetic waves in the Earth magnetoplasma produces and is guided by very narrow pencil beams, similar, let us say, to laser beams.

Alpert, Yakov L.↗

Subsonic flight test evaluation of a propulsion system parameter estimation process for the F100 engine

Integrated engine-airframe optimal control technology may significantly improve aircraft performance. This technology requires a reliable and accurate parameter estimator to predict unmeasured variables. To develop this technology base, NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility (Edwards, CA), McDonnell Aircraft Company (St. Louis, MO), and Pratt & Whitney (West Palm Beach, FL) have developed and flight-tested an adaptive performance seeking control system which optimizes the quasi-steady-state performance of the F-15 propulsion system. This paper presents flight and ground test evaluations of the propulsion system parameter estimation process used by the performance seeking control system. The estimator consists of a compact propulsion system model and an extended Kalman filter. The extended Laman filter estimates five engine component deviation parameters from measured inputs. The compact model uses measurements and Kalman-filter estimates as inputs to predict unmeasured propulsion parameters such as net propulsive force and fan stall margin. The ability to track trends and estimate absolute values of propulsion system parameters was demonstrated. For example, thrust stand results show a good correlation, especially in trends, between the performance seeking control estimated and measured thrust.

Orme, John S.↗

Canadian Space Agency Space Station Freedom utilization plans

Under the terms of the NASA/CSA Memorandum of Understanding, Canada will contribute the Mobile Servicing System and be entitled to use 3 percent of all Space Station utilization resources and user accommodations over the 30 year life of the Station. Equally importantly Canada, like NASA, can begin to exploit these benefits as soon as the Man-Tended Capability (MTC) phase begins, in early 1997. Canada has been preparing its scientific community to fully utilize the Space Station for the past five years; most specifically by encouraging, and providing funding, in the area of Materials Science and Applications, and in the area of Space Life Sciences. The goal has been to develop potential applications and an experienced and proficient Canadian community able to effectively utilize microgravity environment facilities such as Space Station Freedom. In addition, CSA is currently supporting four facilities; a Laser Test System, a Large Motion Isolation Mount, a Canadian Float Zone Furnace, and a Canadian Protein Crystallization Apparatus. In late April of this year CSA sent out a Solicitation of Interest (SOI) to potential Canadian user from universities, industry, and government. The intent of the SOI was to determine who was interested, and the type of payloads which the community at large intended to propose. The SOI will be followed by the release of an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) following governmental approval of the Long Term Space plan later this year, or early next year. Responses to the AO will be evaluated and prioritized in a fair and impartial payload selection process, within the guidelines set by our international partners and the Canadian Government. Payload selection is relatively simple compared to the development and qualification process. An end-to-end user support program is therefore also being defined. Much of this support will be provided at the new headquarters currently being built in St. Hubert, Quebec. It is recognized that utilizing the Space Station could be expensive for users; costing in many cases millions of dollars to get a payload from conception to retrieval. It is also recognized that some of the potential users cannot or will not invest a lot of money or effort into Space Station utilization, unless there is a perceived significant commercial potential. How best to fund Space Station payloads is under study. Space Station Freedom will provide the first opportunity for Canada to conduct experiments in a long-duration microgravity environment. CSA have been developing and funding potential users for some time, and considerable interest has been shown by the response to our SOI earlier this year. Canada can be one of the two earliest users for the Space Station, along with NASA. We hope to take full advantage of this opportunity.

Faulkner, James↗

Composites technology for transport primary structure

The ACT contract activity being performed by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation is divided into two separate activities: one effort by Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California with a focus on Transport Primary Wing and Fuselage Structure, and the other effort by McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, Missouri with a focus on Advanced Combat Aircraft Center Wing-Fuselage Structure. This presentation is on the Douglas Aircraft Transport Structure portion of the ACT program called ICAPS - Innovative Composite Aircraft Primary Structure.

Chen, Victor↗

Delaminations in composite plates under impact loads

A method is presented for calculating the locations, shapes, and sizes of delaminations which occur in a fiber reinforced composite plate subjected to non-penetrating (low velocity) impact of a solid object. The plate may be simply supported, clamped, or free along its edges. A failure model of the delamination formation was developed. This model was then coupled with a finite element analysis. The model and the finite element analysis were then implemented by a computer code (IMPACT-ST) which can be used to estimate the damage initiation load and the locations, shapes, and sizes of the delaminations. Tests were performed measuring the geometries of the delaminations in graphite-epoxy, graphite-toughened epoxy, and graphite-PEEK plates impacted by a projectile with a spherical tip having masses ranging from 0.355 lbm to 0.963 lbm and velocities from 50 in/sec to 225 in/sec. The data were compared to the results of the model, and good agreements were found between the measured and the calculated delamination lengths and widths.

Finn, Scott R.↗