28,247 research outputs found
Electricity from photovoltaic solar cells: Flat-Plate Solar Array Project final report. Volume VI: Engineering sciences and reliability
The Flat-Plate Solar Array (FSA) Project, funded by the U.S. Government and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was formed in 1975 to develop the module/array technology needed to attain widespread terrestrial use of photovoltaics by 1985. To accomplish this, the FSA Project established and managed an Industry, University, and Federal Government Team to perform the needed research and development.
This volume of the series of final reports documenting the FSA Project deals with the Project's activities directed at developing the engineering technology base required to achieve modules that meet the functional, safety and reliability requirements of large-scale terrestrial photovoltaic systems applications. These activities included: (1) development of functional, safety, and reliability requirements for such applications; (2) development of the engineering analytical approaches, test techniques, and design solutions required to meet the requirements; (3) synthesis and procurement of candidate designs for test and evaluation; and (4) performance of extensive testing, evaluation, and failure analysis to define design shortfalls and, thus, areas requiring additional research and development.
During the life of the FSA Project, these activities were known by and included a variety of evolving organizational titles: Design and Test, Large-Scale Procurements, Engineering, Engineering Sciences, Operations, Module Performance and Failure Analysis, and at the end of the Project, Reliability and Engineering Sciences.
This volume provides both a summary of the approach and technical outcome of these activities and provides a complete Bibliography (Appendix A) of the published documentation covering the detailed accomplishments and technologies developed
Flat-plate solar array project. Volume 6: Engineering sciences and reliability
The Flat-Plate Solar Array (FSA) Project activities directed at developing the engineering technology base required to achieve modules that meet the functional, safety, and reliability requirements of large scale terrestrial photovoltaic systems applications are reported. These activities included: (1) development of functional, safety, and reliability requirements for such applications; (2) development of the engineering analytical approaches, test techniques, and design solutions required to meet the requirements; (3) synthesis and procurement of candidate designs for test and evaluation; and (4) performance of extensive testing, evaluation, and failure analysis of define design shortfalls and, thus, areas requiring additional research and development. A summary of the approach and technical outcome of these activities are provided along with a complete bibliography of the published documentation covering the detailed accomplishments and technologies developed
Civil Space Technology Initiative: a First Step
This is the first published overview of OAST's focused program, the Civil Space Technology Initiative, (CSTI) which started in FY88. This publication describes the goals, technical approach, current status, and plans for CSTI. Periodic updates are planned
Clay fine fissuring monitoring using miniature geo-electrical resistivity arrays
Abstract This article describes a miniaturised electrical imaging (resistivity tomography) technique to map the cracking pattern of a clay model. The clay used was taken from a scaled flood embankment built to study the fine fissuring due to desiccation and breaching process in flooding conditions. The potential of using a miniature array of electrodes to follow the evolution of the vertical cracks and number them during the drying process was explored. The imaging technique generated two-dimensional contoured plots of the resistivity distribution within the model before and at different stages of the desiccation process. The change in resistivity associated with the widening of the cracks were monitored as a function of time. Experiments were also carried out using a selected conductive gel to slow down the transport process into the cracks to improve the scanning capabilities of the equipment. The main vertical clay fissuring network was obtained after inversion of the experimental resistivity measurements and validated by direct observations
Aeronautical Engineering: A special bibliography with indexes, supplement 72, July 1976
This bibliography lists 184 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 1976
Estimating the effects of water-induced shallow landslides on soil erosion
Rainfall induced landslides and soil erosion are part of a complex system of
multiple interacting processes, and both are capable of significantly affecting
sediment budgets. These sediment mass movements also have the potential to
significantly impact on a broad network of ecosystems health, functionality and
the services they provide. To support the integrated assessment of these
processes it is necessary to develop reliable modelling architectures. This
paper proposes a semi-quantitative integrated methodology for a robust
assessment of soil erosion rates in data poor regions affected by landslide
activity. It combines heuristic, empirical and probabilistic approaches. This
proposed methodology is based on the geospatial semantic array programming
paradigm and has been implemented on a catchment scale methodology using
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis tools and GNU Octave. The
integrated data-transformation model relies on a modular architecture, where
the information flow among modules is constrained by semantic checks. In order
to improve computational reproducibility, the geospatial data transformations
implemented in ESRI ArcGis are made available in the free software GRASS GIS.
The proposed modelling architecture is flexible enough for future
transdisciplinary scenario analysis to be more easily designed. In particular,
the architecture might contribute as a novel component to simplify future
integrated analyses of the potential impact of wildfires or vegetation types
and distributions, on sediment transport from water induced landslides and
erosion.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, published in IEEE Earthzine 2014 Vol. 7
Issue 2, 910137+ 2nd quarter theme. Geospatial Semantic Array Programming.
Available: http://www.earthzine.org/?p=91013
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