Estimation of Sounding Uncertainty from Measurements of Water Mass Variability

Analysis techniques are introduced that allow for estimation of potential sounding uncertainty due to water mass variability from reconnaissance campaigns in which oceanographic parameters are measured at a high temporal and spatial resolution. The analysis techniques do not require sounding data, thus analyses can be tailored to match any survey system; this allows for pre-analysis campaigns to optimize survey instrumentation and sound speed profiling rates such that a desired survey specification can be maintained. Additionally, the output of the analysis methods can potentially provide a higher fidelity estimation of sounding uncertainty due to water mass variability than uncertainty models in common use

Rotary balances: A selected, annotated bibliography

This bibliography on rotary balances contains 102 entries. It is part of NASA's support of the AGARD Fluid Dynamics Panel Working Group 11 on Rotary Balances. This bibliography includes works that might be useful to anyone interested in building or using rotor balances. Emphasis is on the rotary balance rigs and testing techniques rather than the aerodynamic data. Also included are some publications of historical interest which relate to key events in the development and use of rotary balances. The arrangement is chronological by date of publication in the case of reports and by presentation in the case of papers

Controlling evaporation loss from water storages

[Executive Summary]: Evaporation losses from on-farm storage can potentially be large, particularly in irrigation areas in northern New South Wales and Queensland where up to 40% of storage volume can be lost each year to evaporation. Reducing evaporation from a water storage would allow additional crop production, water trading or water for the environment. While theoretical research into evaporation from storages has previously been undertaken there has been little evaluation of current evaporation mitigation technologies (EMTs) on commercial sized water storages. This project was initiated by the Queensland Government Department of Natural Resources and Mines (NRM) with the express aim of addressing this gap in our knowledge. The report addressed i) assessment of the effectiveness of different EMT’s in reducing evaporation from commercial storages across a range of climate regions, ii) assessment of the practical and technical limitations of different evaporation control products, and iii) comparison of the economics of different EMT’s on water storages used for irrigation

Research on continuous and instantaneous heavy gas clouds

This report describes the contribution of Brunel University to the joint CEC project 'Research on Continuous and Instantaneous Heavy Gas Clouds' under the Major Technological Hazards programme (CEC Contract EV4T.0025.UK(H)). Brunel University's main task in this project was concerned with the analysis of experimental data provided by some of the other project collaborators. Liaison with these collaborators, and with others undertaking other aspects of data analysis, was obviously also important. The experimental data were obtained both from full-scale field trials (Tuv/Risφ) and from wind tunnel experiments (TNO, University of Hamburg, Warren Spring Laboratory). Some of the data sets are very large. The main effort of data analysis has been concentrated on the data from Tuv/Ris sφ and Warren Spring Laboratory. This was mainly because of the timely arrival of substantial quantities of data from these sources, and also to avoid direct duplication of work carried out by other collaborators. Nevertheless, some analyses were made of TNO and University of Hamburg data. The Tuv/Risφ data set had one extremely valuable property, namely that the concentrations were measured by several different methods. Analysis here confirmed the view - hitherto essentially a theoretical speculation with no substantial experimental support - that the instrumentation can itself have a significant effect on the measured concentration. One consequence of the results of Brunel's analysis of the Tuv/Risφ data set is therefore that caution must be exercised in validating practical models of hazard assessment. Interest also attaches to this data set in that, in some of the experiments, obstacles were removed while the experiment was running; some analysis of "before and after" effects has been undertaken. For example, comparisons were made of such effects on levels of concentration and concentration variability, and two different algorithms have been developed to illustrate these features and, indeed, to determine, simply from the time series, when the obstacles were removed. A major and most welcome feature of the Warren Spring Laboratory data set was that it recorded many repetitions of gas releases under identical experimental conditions. Because of this, it was possible to study the variations in the concentration data from one release to another and to build up an initial simple statistical understanding of the situation. In such circumstances, statistical measures such as mean and variance may be estimated as ensemble averages, rather than by considering them as time averages within a single release; this latter approach can be questionable, particularly if the data do not exhibit statistical stationarity. The results of Brunel's analysis of this data set, though not yet complete, amply justify the "repetitions" strategy. The report illustrates this conclusion by presenting typical results that could not otherwise have been obtained, and which have important implications for real-life. The TNO wind tunnel experiments were conducted both for the purpose of comparing results with those from other wind tunnels and to provide a simulation of one of the full-scale Tuv/Risø field trials. The resulting data set is potentially very valuable, but Brunei's analysis has identified a number of points for concern. Thus there are some doubts about the behaviour of the instrumentation, while some of the experimental results are atypical of those obtained by other collaborators and occasionally seem hard to reconcile with physical intuition. Concerning the University of Hamburg data set, Brunel was aware that extensive and detailed analyses had been carried out by the Health and Safety Executive. Brunel did not wish to essentially duplicate this effort. Brunei's work here was, therefore, largely confined to replicating some of the HSE analyses for the purpose of confirming results - an aim that was always achieved. The HSE analyses are discussed formally in HSE's report under this contract, and were presented informally to meetings of the collaborators during the summer. Unavoidable resource constraints have prevented much progress in moving forward from data analysis to the development of models. However, work of this nature is still in progress after the termination of the formal contract. Such work is justified by the quantity and quality of the data, and is expected to form an important input to research under the FLADIS contract

Preliminary estimates of environmental exposure for fuel and exhaust products, volume i. part i- methods and preliminary estimates for msfc. part 2- recommended experimental design for msfc

Environmental exposure for fuel and exhaust products with preliminary estimate

A determination of the molar gas constant R by acoustic thermometry in helium

We have determined the acoustic and microwave frequencies of a misaligned spherical resonator maintained near the temperature of the triple point of water and filled with helium with carefully characterized molar mass M = (4.002 6032 ± 0.000 0015) g mol-1, with a relative standard uncertainty ur(M) = 0.37×10-6. From these data and traceable thermometry we estimate the speed of sound in our sample of helium at TTPW = 273.16 K and zero pressure to be u0 2 = (945 710.45 ± 0.85) m2 s-2 and correspondingly deduce the value R = (8.314 4743 ± 0.000 0088) J mol-1 K-1 for the molar gas constant. We estimate the value k = R/NA = (1.380 6508 ± 0.000 0015) × 10-23 J K-1 for the Boltzmann constant using the currently accepted value of the Avogadro constant NA. These estimates of R and k, with a relative standard uncertainty of 1.06 × 10-6, are 1.47 parts in 106 above the values recommended by CODATA in 2010