8,423 research outputs found
X-29A technology demonstrator flight test program overview
An overview of the X-29A functional flight program and concept evaluation program is presented, including some of the unique and different preparations for the first flight. Included are a discussion of the many organizational responsibilities and a description of the program management structure for the test team. Also discussed are preflight ground, flight functional envelope expansion, and flight research test objectives and qualitive results to date for both a limited-envelope flight control system and an expanded-envelope system. The aircraft, including the instrumentation system and measurements, is described. In addition, a discussion is included regarding the use of major support facilities, such as ground and flight simulators, the NASA Western Aeronautical Test Range and mission control center, and the Grumman automated telemetry station. An overview of the associated real-time and postflight batch data processing software approaches is presented. The use of hardware-in-the-loop simulation for independent verification and validation and mission planning and practice is discussed. Also included is a description of the flight-readiness review, the airworthiness and flight safety review, work scheduling, technical briefings, and preflight and postflight crew briefings. The configuration control process used on the X-29A program is described, and its relationship to both simulation and aircraft operations is discussed. An X-29A schedule overview is presented with an outline of a proposed follow-on program
On the rigidity of a hard sphere glass near random close packing
We study theoretically and numerically the microscopic cause of the
mechanical stability of hard sphere glasses near their maximum packing. We show
that, after coarse-graining over time, the hard sphere interaction can be
described by an effective potential which is exactly logarithmic at the random
close packing . This allows to define normal modes, and to apply recent
results valid for elastic networks: mechanical stability is a non-local
property of the packing geometry, and is characterized by some length scale
which diverges at [1, 2]. We compute the scaling of the bulk and
shear moduli near , and speculate on the possible implications of these
results for the glass transition.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Figure 4 had a wrong unit in abscissa, which was
correcte
Geometric origin of excess low-frequency vibrational modes in amorphous solids
Glasses have a large excess of low-frequency vibrational modes in comparison
with crystalline solids. We show that such a feature is a necessary consequence
of the geometry generic to weakly connected solids. In particular, we analyze
the density of states of a recently simulated system, comprised of weakly
compressed spheres at zero temperature. We account for the observed a)
constancy of the density of modes with frequency, b) appearance of a
low-frequency cutoff, and c) power-law increase of this cutoff with
compression. We predict a length scale below which vibrations are very
different from those of a continuous elastic body.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Argument rewritten, identical result
Different Scenarios for Critical Glassy Dynamics
We study the role of different terms in the -body potential of glass
forming systems on the critical dynamics near the glass transition. Using a
simplified spin model with quenched disorder, where the different terms of the
real -body potential are mapped into multi-spin interactions, we identified
three possible scenarios. For each scenario we introduce a ``minimal'' model
representative of the critical glassy dynamics near, both above and below, the
critical transition lin e. For each ``minimal'' model we discuss the low
temperature equilibrium dynamics.Comment: Completely revised version, 8 pages, 5 figures, typeset using
EURO-LaTeX, Europhysics Letters (in press
Perfect imaging with positive refraction in three dimensions
Maxwell's fish eye has been known to be a perfect lens within the validity
range of ray optics since 1854. Solving Maxwell's equations we show that the
fish-eye lens in three dimensions has unlimited resolution for electromagnetic
waves
Is the electrostatic force between a point charge and a neutral metallic object always attractive?
We give an example of a geometry in which the electrostatic force between a
point charge and a neutral metallic object is repulsive. The example consists
of a point charge centered above a thin metallic hemisphere, positioned concave
up. We show that this geometry has a repulsive regime using both a simple
analytical argument and an exact calculation for an analogous two-dimensional
geometry. Analogues of this geometry-induced repulsion can appear in many other
contexts, including Casimir systems.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Secondary circulation in natural streams
Secondary circulation which is sometimes referred to as secondary flow, secondary current or transverse current is an important phenomenon in natural streams and plays an important role in many natural processes in streams such as stream channel meander, bank erosion, bed scour, resuspension, and movement of sediment. Secondary circulation is that component of flow which is not in the main flow direction and is small as compared to the main flow velocity. A computerized data collection system for secondary circulation data acquisition in natural streams was developed and utilized in the field. The system includes an electromagnetic current meter, a micro-computer, an interface between the computer and the current meter, and a specially designed supporting structure. Secondary circulation data was collected in the Sangamon River near Mahomet, Illinois, utilizing the data collection system. A mathematical model for secondary circulation based on an existing model has been developed and tested against the data collected in the field. Model results generally reproduce similar secondary circulation patterns as observed from the field data but over-estimate the magnitudes of the velocities.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe
Scaling of phononic transport with connectivity in amorphous solids
The effect of coordination on transport is investigated theoretically using
random networks of springs as model systems. An effective medium approximation
is made to compute the density of states of the vibrational modes, their energy
diffusivity (a spectral measure of transport) and their spatial correlations as
the network coordination is varied. Critical behaviors are obtained as
where these networks lose rigidity. A sharp cross-over from a regime
where modes are plane-wave-like toward a regime of extended but
strongly-scattered modes occurs at some frequency , which
does not correspond to the Ioffe-Regel criterion. Above both the
density of states and the diffusivity are nearly constant. These results agree
remarkably with recent numerical observations of repulsive particles near the
jamming threshold \cite{ning}. The analysis further predicts that the length
scale characterizing the correlation of displacements of the scattered modes
decays as with frequency, whereas for
Rayleigh scattering is found with a scattering length . It is argued that this description applies to silica glass
where it compares well with thermal conductivity data, and to transverse
ultrasound propagation in granular matter
Electronic response of aligned multishell carbon nanotubes
We report calculations of the effective electronic response of aligned
multishell carbon nanotubes. A local graphite-like dielectric tensor is
assigned to every point of the multishell tubules, and the effective transverse
dielectric function of the composite is computed by solving Maxwell's
equations. Calculations of both real and imaginary parts of the effective
dielectric function are presented, for various values of the filling fraction
and the ratio of the internal and external radii of hollow tubules. Our full
calculations indicate that the experimentally measured macroscopic dielectric
function of carbon nanotube materials is the result of a strong electromagnetic
coupling between the tubes, which cannot be accounted for with the use of
simplified effective medium theories. The presence of surface plasmons is
investigated, and both optical absorption cross sections and energy-loss
spectra of aligned tubules are calculated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Algorithms for 3D rigidity analysis and a first order percolation transition
A fast computer algorithm, the pebble game, has been used successfully to
study rigidity percolation on 2D elastic networks, as well as on a special
class of 3D networks, the bond-bending networks. Application of the pebble game
approach to general 3D networks has been hindered by the fact that the
underlying mathematical theory is, strictly speaking, invalid in this case. We
construct an approximate pebble game algorithm for general 3D networks, as well
as a slower but exact algorithm, the relaxation algorithm, that we use for
testing the new pebble game. Based on the results of these tests and additional
considerations, we argue that in the particular case of randomly diluted
central-force networks on BCC and FCC lattices, the pebble game is essentially
exact. Using the pebble game, we observe an extremely sharp jump in the largest
rigid cluster size in bond-diluted central-force networks in 3D, with the
percolating cluster appearing and taking up most of the network after a single
bond addition. This strongly suggests a first order rigidity percolation
transition, which is in contrast to the second order transitions found
previously for the 2D central-force and 3D bond-bending networks. While a first
order rigidity transition has been observed for Bethe lattices and networks
with ``chemical order'', this is the first time it has been seen for a regular
randomly diluted network. In the case of site dilution, the transition is also
first order for BCC, but results for FCC suggest a second order transition.
Even in bond-diluted lattices, while the transition appears massively first
order in the order parameter (the percolating cluster size), it is continuous
in the elastic moduli. This, and the apparent non-universality, make this phase
transition highly unusual.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figure
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