SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Particle Methods”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

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

At least 1,603 records · Page 89

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1984

Life test results of hydride compressors for cryogenic refrigerators

A development status assessment is made, from the viewpoint of system durability, for the hydride compressors used in such cryogenic refrigerators as that of the JPL, which has operated at 29 K for 500 hours and at lower temperatures for over 1000. Attention is given to a novel hydride compressor unit which has operated through 35,000 cycles and exhibits negligible degradation of check valves, hydride particle size, and expansion valves. The power requirement for liquid hydrogen cooling can be halved through the use of recuperative hot water heating methods, making this system comparable in power use to liquid hydrogen refrigeration systems operating on electricity. Due to the lack of moving parts in hydride refrigerator designs, potential service lifetimes of many years, and perhaps decades, are being projected.

Jones, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Construction of a cosmic ray air shower telescope

The telescope under construction is mainly for the purpose of locating the arrival directions of energetic particles and quanta which generate air showers of sizes 10 to the 5th power to 10 to the 6th power. Both fast timing method and visual track method are incorporated in determining the arrival directions. The telescope is composed of four stations using scintillators and neon flash tubes as detectors. The system directional resolution is better than 1.5 deg.

Ng, L. K.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Chemical components of the Apollo 15 regolith

The lunar regolith is a complex mixture of many components. Compositional data is used to identify and estimate the relative importance of the various chemical components of the regolith. The results and conclusions of four methods that were applied to Apollo 15 regolith data were reviewed to determine the important chemical components: graphical techniques, analysis of individual soil particles, factor analysis, and multicomponent mixing models. This synthesis relies heavily on data and conclusions from the literature as well as new analyses on 28 regolith breccia samples, 28 soil samples, and 50 individual 1 to 2 mm particles from soil 15272.

Korotev, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Measuring Fluid Velocities With Glowing Particles

Particle trajectories recorded photographically. Directions and magnitudes of velocities in unsteady liquid flow measured with aid of fluorescent- and phosphorescent-tracing technique. Method accurate and proceeds automatically, requiring minimal labor.

Gharib, M.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Stability of polar rings around Neptune

An analytical and numerical study of the stability of polar rings around Neptune is presented. The stability proofs are based on various methods used to study gas disks in galaxies. It is shown that stable polar rings can exist despite energy dissipation by collisions between particles. Also, four equilibrium orientations which pass nearly over the pole of Neptune are found, two of which are stable in the presence of dissipation.

Dobrovolskis, Anthony R.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Direct simulation of rarefied hypersonic flows

As the capability of the space transportation vehicles (STV's) expand to meet the requirements for future space exploration and utilization, the effects of rarefied hypersonic flows will play a more significant role in defining the aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic performance of STV's. This is particularly true of the low lift/drag aeroassisted STV's where aerobraking occurs at relatively high altitudes and high velocity. Because of the limitations of the continuum description as expressed by the Navier-Stokes equations and the difficulties of solving the Boltzmann equation, the particle of molecular approach has been developed over the last three decades for modeling rarefied gas effects. The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method of Bird is the most used method today for simulating rarefied flows. The DSMC method provides a direct physical simulation as opposed to a numerical solution of a set of model equations. This is accomplished by developing phenomenological models of the relevant physical events. The DSMC method accounts for translational, thermal, chemical, and radiative nonequilibrium effects. The general features of the DSMC method, the numerical requirements for obtaining meaningful results, the modeling used to simulate high temperature gas effects, and applications of the method to calculate the flow about an aeroassist flight experiment vehicle (AFE) are reviewed. The AFE simulates a geosynchronous return while entering the Earth's upper atmosphere at approximately 10 km/s. Results obtained using a general 3-D code are presented for the more rarefied portion of the atmospheric encounter (altitudes of 200 to 100 km) emphasizing surface, flowfield, and aerodynamic characteristics of the AFE. Finally, results obtained using axisymmetric and 1-D versions of the code are presented for lower altitude conditions.

Moss, James N.↗

NASA NTRS1991

High-speed laser anemometry based on spectrally resolved Rayleigh scattering

Laser anemometry in unseeded flows based on the measurement of the spectrum of Rayleigh scattered laser light is reviewed. The use of molecular scattering avoids the well known problems (particle lag, biasing effects, seed generation, seed injection) of seeded flows. The fundamental limits on velocity measurement accuracy are determined using maximum likelihood methods. Measurement of the Rayleigh spectrum with scanning Fabry-Perot interferometers is analyzed and accuracy limits are established for both single pass and multipass configurations. Multipass configurations have much higher selectivity and are needed for measurements where there is a large amount of excess noise caused by stray laser light. It is shown that Rayleigh scattering is particularly useful for supersonic and hypersonic flows. The results of the analysis are compared with measurements obtained with a Rayleigh scattering diagnostic developed for study of the exhaust plume of a small hydrogen-oxygen rocket, where the velocities are in the range of 1000 to 5000 m/sec.

Seasholtz, Richard G.↗

NASA NTRS1992

An optical method for determining level in two-phase cryogenic fluids

A method was evaluated to measure the liquid-gas and the liquid-slush interfaces in two-phase cryogen systems using optical means. This method makes use of the attenuation of a directed light beam caused by the difference in the index of refraction between the solid particles and the surrounding liquid. Preliminary experimental results obtained in slush nitrogen are shown. The possibility of extending this technique to include a measure of solid fraction is also discussed.

Oberle, Lawrence G.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Accelerated simulation of near-Earth-orbit polymer degradation

There is a need to simulate the near-Earth-orbit environmental conditions, and it is useful to be able to monitor the changes in physical properties of spacecraft materials. Two different methods for simulating the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) and soft X-ray near-Earth-orbit flux are presented. Also, methods for monitoring the changes in optical ultraviolet transmission and mass loss are presented. The results of exposures to VUV photons and charged particles on these materials are discussed.

Laue, Eric↗

NASA NTRS1991

High-speed laser anemometry based on spectrally resolved Rayleigh scattering

Laser anemometry in unseeded flows based on the measurement of the spectrum of Rayleigh scattered laser light is reviewed. The use of molecular scattering avoids the well-known problems (particle lag, biasing effects, seed generation, seed injection) of seeded flows. The fundamental limits on velocity measurement accuracy are determined using maximum likelihood methods. Measurement of the Rayleigh spectrum with scanning Fabry-Perot interferometers is analyzed and accuracy limits are established for both single pass and multi-pass configurations. Multi-pass configurations have much higher selectivity and are needed for measurements where there is a large amount of excess noise caused by stray laser light. It is shown that Rayleigh scattering is particularly useful for supersonic and hypersonic flows. The results of the analysis are compared with measurements obtained with a Rayleigh scattering diagnostic developed for study of the exhaust plume of a small hydrogen-oxygen rocket, where the velocities are in the range 1000 to 5000 m/sec.

Seasholtz, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Laser-saturated fluorescence measurements in laminar sooting diffusion flames

The hydroxyl radical is known to be one of the most important intermediate species in the combustion processes. The hydroxyl radical has also been considered a dominant oxidizer of soot particles in flames. In this investigation the hydroxyl concentration profiles in sooting diffusion flames were measured by the laser-saturated fluorescence (LSF) method. The temperature distributions in the flames were measured by the two-line LSF technique and by thermocouple. In the sooting region the OH fluorescence was too weak to make accurate temperature measurements. The hydroxyl fluorescence profiles for all four flames presented herein show that the OH fluorescence intensities peaked near the flame front. The OH fluorescence intensity dropped sharply toward the dark region of the flame and continued declining to the sooting region. The OH fluorescence profiles also indicate that the OH fluorescence decreased with increasing height in the flames for all flames investigated. Varying the oxidizer composition resulted in a corresponding variation in the maximum OH concentration and the flame temperature. Furthermore, it appears that the maximum OH concentration for each flame increased with increasing flame temperature.

Wey, Changlie↗

NASA NTRS1995

Transmission electron microscope studies of extraterrestrial materials

Transmission Electron Microscopy, X-Ray spectrometry and electron-energy-loss spectroscopy are used to analyse carbon in interplanetary dust particles. Optical micrographs are shown depicting cross sections of the dust particles embedded in sulphur. Selected-area electron diffraction patterns are shown. Transmission Electron Microscope specimens of lunar soil were prepared using two methods: ion-milling and ultramicrotomy. A combination of high resolution TEM imaging and electron diffraction is used to characterize the opaque assemblages. The opaque assemblages analyzed in this study are dominated by ilmenite with lesser rutile and spinel exsolutions, and traces of Fe metal.

Keller, Lindsay P.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Laser diagnostics for microgravity droplet studies

An instrument has been designed, built, and tested for performing laser diagnostic measurements of droplet combustion in low-gravity-flight aircraft. Nonintrusive measurements are of particular importance for droplet combustion (the simplest example of non-premixed combustion) and transport in microgravity environments, where physical contact would introduce an unacceptable level of perturbations. The resolution of these diagnostics can also isolate transport to length scales much smaller than the droplet diameter. These techniques can be configured to instantaneously map an entire flow field in two and three dimensions, providing either qualitative or quantitative information on the distribution of a desired scalar or vector quantity. Detailing the gas-phase flow field and position of the flame front can be achieved using planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) of OH or another flame front marker. An alternative approach is to obtain LIF from a diagnostic seed included in the liquid phase fuel; it would be consumed at the flame front. The main advantage to this approach is that it is easier to choose the wavelength of the molecular absorption which coincides with convenient laser wavelengths rather than finding lasers which can be configured to access OH. Our present method uses a nitrogen-pumped dye laser tuned to a sodium absorption and addition of small concentrations of NaCl to the fuel. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is a laser-based technique which has recently had its practicality greatly enhanced by the development of high-resolution CCD cameras and the increase in speed and capacity of computer systems. With this technique, a seeded flow is illuminated with a double-pulsed laser sheet to generate a double exposure image on a film or CCD camera. Computer analysis of the image is used to determine the particle velocity vectors and, thus, the gas velocity within the plane of the laser sheet. Our current experiment uses PIV for measuring relative droplet gas-phase velocities in a parabolic flight environment. The results show successful application of PLIF relative to luminosity and radical emission near 308 nm. PIV results are less successful due to gas thermal expansion deflecting the seed particles away from the measurement volume. PIV is applicable for measurements in the absence of combustion.

Winter, Michael↗

NASA NTRS1996

Wake Geometry Measurements and Analytical Calculations on a Small-Scale Rotor Model

An experimental investigation was conducted in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel to quantify the rotor wake behind a scale model helicopter rotor in forward level flight at one thrust level. The rotor system in this test consisted of a four-bladed fully articulated hub with blades of rectangular planform and an NACA 0012 airfoil section. A laser light sheet, seeded with propylene glycol smoke, was used to visualize the vortex geometry in the flow in planes parallel and perpendicular to the free-stream flow. Quantitative measurements of wake geometric proper- ties, such as vortex location, vertical skew angle, and vortex particle void radius, were obtained as well as convective velocities for blade tip vortices. Comparisons were made between experimental data and four computational method predictions of experimental tip vortex locations, vortex vertical skew angles, and wake geometries. The results of these comparisons highlight difficulties of accurate wake geometry predictions.

Ghee, Terence A.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Plasma Pressure in the Topside Ionosphere

A previous three year NASA-funded project resulted in the first 2-D maps of magnetotail pressure, density and temperature. A proposal to continue the work was declined, but modest funding was provided for one year to ramp down of the work. During the phase-out year, we used a time when 5 DMSP satellites were simultaneously active to produce the first instantaneous partial image of the magnetotail. The results have been submitted to the proceedings of the 1998 Huntsville Meeting on "The New Millennium Magnetosphere: Integrating Imaging, Discrete Observations and Global Simulations". A method of inferring central plasma sheet (CPS) temperature, density, and pressure from ionospheric observations was developed under a previous 3-year grant. These particles properties are calculated from data taken by particle instruments on DMSP satellites. Ion spectra occurring in conjunction with electron acceleration events are excluded. Because of the variability of magnetotail stretching, mapping to the plasma sheet was done using a modified Tsyganenko 1989 magnetic field model adjusted to agree with the actual magnetotail stretch. On May 25, 1997, five DMSP satellites (F10-F14) passed through the southern hemisphere nightside oval within a 19 minute period. Attached is the first magnetotail image, which results from applying our technique to that data set.

Newell, Patrick T.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Exploiting Quantum Resonance to Solve Combinatorial Problems

Quantum resonance would be exploited in a proposed quantum-computing approach to the solution of combinatorial optimization problems. In quantum computing in general, one takes advantage of the fact that an algorithm cannot be decoupled from the physical effects available to implement it. Prior approaches to quantum computing have involved exploitation of only a subset of known quantum physical effects, notably including parallelism and entanglement, but not including resonance. In the proposed approach, one would utilize the combinatorial properties of tensor-product decomposability of unitary evolution of many-particle quantum systems for physically simulating solutions to NP-complete problems (a class of problems that are intractable with respect to classical methods of computation). In this approach, reinforcement and selection of a desired solution would be executed by means of quantum resonance. Classes of NP-complete problems that are important in practice and could be solved by the proposed approach include planning, scheduling, search, and optimal design.

Zak, Michail↗

NASA NTRS2004

Pumping Liquid Oxygen by Use of Pulsed Magnetic Fields

An effort is underway to develop a method of pumping small amounts of liquid oxygen by use of pulsed magnetic fields. This development is motivated by a desire to reduce corrosion and hazards of explosion and combustion by eliminating all moving pump parts in contact with the pumped oxygen. The method exploits the known paramagnetism of liquid oxygen. Since they both behave similarly, the existing theory of ferrofluids (liquids with colloidally suspended magnetic particles) is directly applicable to paramagnetic liquid oxygen. In general, the force density of the paramagnetic interaction is proportional to the magnetic susceptibility multiplied by the gradient of the square of the magnitude of the magnetic field. The local force is in the direction of intensifying magnetic field. In the case of liquid oxygen, the magnetic susceptibility is large enough that a strong magnetic-field gradient can lift the liquid in normal Earth gravitation.

Youngquist, Robert↗

NASA NTRS2012

Mechanical and Combustion Performance of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as an Additive to Paraffin-Based Solid Fuels for Hybrid Rockets

Paraffin-based solid fuels for hybrid rocket motor applications are recognized as a fastburning alternative to other fuel binders such as HTPB, but efforts to further improve the burning rate and mechanical properties of paraffin are still necessary. One approach that is considered in this study is to use multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) as an additive to paraffin wax. Carbon nanotubes provide increased electrical and thermal conductivity to the solid-fuel grains to which they are added, which can improve the mass burning rate. Furthermore, the addition of ultra-fine aluminum particles to the paraffin/MWNT fuel grains can enhance regression rate of the solid fuel and the density impulse of the hybrid rocket. The multi-walled carbon nanotubes also present the possibility of greatly improving the mechanical properties (e.g., tensile strength) of the paraffin-based solid-fuel grains. For casting these solid-fuel grains, various percentages of MWNT and aluminum particles will be added to the paraffin wax. Previous work has been published about the dispersion and mixing of carbon nanotubes.1 Another manufacturing method has been used for mixing the MWNT with a phenolic resin for ablative applications, and the manufacturing and mixing processes are well-documented in the literature.2 The cost of MWNT is a small fraction of single-walled nanotubes. This is a scale-up advantage as future applications and projects will require low cost additives to maintain cost effectiveness. Testing of the solid-fuel grains will be conducted in several steps. Dog bone samples will be cast and prepared for tensile testing. The fuel samples will also be analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis and a high-resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM). The SEM will allow for examination of the solid fuel grain for uniformity and consistency. The paraffin-based fuel grains will also be tested using two hybrid rocket test motors located at the Pennsylvania State University s High Pressure Combustion Lab.

Larson, Daniel B.↗