49,112 research outputs found
The effect of helicopter configuration on the fluid dynamics of brownout
Brown’s Vorticity Transport Model, coupled to an additional particle transport model, is used to simulate
the development of the dust cloud that can form around a helicopter when operating in dusty or desert
conditions. The flow field around a tandem rotor configuration is simulated during the final stages of
landing. The time-averaged flow field around the helicopter is characterised by the existence of two
stationary points immediately adjacent to the ground plane. Almost all entrainment of dust into the flow
takes place forward of the rearmost stationary point; the dust initially remains in a thin, sheet-like layer
above the ground. As the dust sheet approaches the forward stationary point, the layer thickens and
forms a characteristic wedge-shaped ‘separation zone’. The amount of sand that is subsequently drawn
up away from the ground then appears to be critically dependent on the strength and position relative to
the separation zone of strong regions of recirculation. VTM simulations suggest that, for a tandem rotor
helicopter at least, the sudden growth of the dust cloud that is responsible for the onset of brownout may
be due to a change in mode within the flow field surrounding the aircraft. At higher advance ratios the
flow is dominated by a strong ground vortex that is created by the rear rotor. The forward extent of the
resultant dust cloud is limited though by the absence of any strong recirculation within the flow below
the front rotor of the system. At lower forward speed the ground vortex of the rear rotor is replaced
by a strong vortex that lies just below the leading edge of the front rotor. This vortex is responsible for
drawing a significant amount of dust out of the surface layer of entrained particulates to form a dense
wall of dust some distance upstream of the helicopter. A study of the effect of blade twist on the strength
and shape of the dust cloud formed in the flow surrounding helicopters with tandem rotors suggests that
systems with smaller blade twist but the same disc loading might produce denser dust clouds than those
with high blade twist
Experiences with Problem-Based Learning: Virginia Initiative for Science Teaching and Achievement
The Virginia Initiative for Science Teaching and Achievement (VISTA) provides high-quality professional development for teachers and administrators to enhance the quality of their science instructional programs. One emphasis of this program is helping teachers learn to implement Problem-Based Learning in the elementary science classroom. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) has the potential to produce significant positive outcomes for students, such as increased student engagement, and opportunities for in-depth critical thinking [1]. Teachers find PBL challenging because it does take additional time for planning and material acquisition, but experience has shown that the benefits outweigh these challenges. Setting clear goals, identifying specific learning objectives, and developing big questions that tie these together help increase the success of the unit. Additionally, administrators can help teachers succeed in implementing a Problem-Based Learning unit by understanding the dynamic nature of the PBL environment, providing flexibility with unit pacing, and setting aside time for refining, reflection, and revision of the unit
The longitudinal response function of the deuteron in chiral effective field theory
We use chiral effective field theory (EFT) to make predictions for the
longitudinal electromagnetic response function of the deuteron, f_L, which is
measured in d(e,e'N) reactions. In this case the impulse approximation gives
the full chiral EFT result up to corrections that are of O(P^4) relative to
leading. By varying the cutoff in the chiral EFT calculations between 0.6 and 1
GeV we conclude that the calculation is accurate to better than 10 % for values
of q^2 within 4 fm^{-2} of the quasi-free peak, up to final-state energies
E_{np}=60 MeV. In these regions chiral EFT is in reasonable agreement with
predictions for f_L obtained using the Bonn potential. We also find good
agreement with existing experimental data on f_L, albeit in a more restricted
kinematic domain.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in EPJA, with a few
further correction
Satellite magnetic modeling of north African hot spots
The primary objectives of the MAGSAT mission was to measure the intensity and direction of magnetization of the Earth's crust. A significant effort was directed to the large crustal anomalies first delineated by the POGO mission. The MAGSAT data are capable of spatial resolution of the crustal field to 250 km wavelength with reliability limits to less than 1 nT in the mean. The difficulties of dealing with less than the most robust of the MAGSAT anomalies is that often there is no more than the magnetic fields themselves to constrain geophysical models of the interior, and no independent means of assessing the quality of the crustal anomaly data in interpreting the subsurface are available
Determining the Shallow Surface Velocity at the Apollo 17 Landing Site
Many studies have been performed to determine the shallow surface velocity model at the Apollo 17 landing site. The Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment (LSPE) had both an active component with eight explosive packages (EPs) and a passive experiment collecting data at various time intervals. Using the eight EPs, the initial shallow surface velocity model was determined to be 250 m/s in the first layer of depth 248 m, 1200 m/s with a depth of 927 m in the second layer, and 4000 m/s down to a depth of 2 km in the third layer. Have performed variations on this study to produce new velocity models shown. Recent studies have also been reanalyzing the passive LSPE data and have found three different thermal moonquake event types occurring at different times within the lunar day. The current goal of the project is to collocate the thermal moonquakes to physical surface features to determine the breakdown of lunar rocks. However, to locate shallow surface events, an accurate velocity model is needed. Presented a thermal moonquake location algorithm using first order approximation, including surface events only. To improve these approximations, a shallow surface velocity is needed
Topological derivation of shape exponents for stretched exponential relaxation
In homogeneous glasses, values of the important dimensionless
stretched-exponential shape parameter beta are shown to be determined by magic
(not adjusted) simple fractions derived from fractal configuration spaces of
effective dimension d* by applying different topological axioms (rules) in the
presence (absence) of a forcing electric field. The rules are based on a new
central principle for defining glassy states: equal a priori distributions of
fractal residual configurational entropy. Our approach and its beta estimates
are fully supported by the results of relaxation measurements involving many
different glassy materials and probe methods. The present unique topological
predictions for beta typically agree with observed values to ~ 1% and indicate
that for field-forced conditions beta should be constant for appreciable ranges
of such exogenous variables as temperature and ionic concentration, as indeed
observed using appropriate data analysis. The present approach can also be
inverted and used to test sample homogeneity and quality.Comment: Original 13 pages lengthened to 21 pages (longer introduction, added
references and discussion of new experimental data published since original
submission
Effective field theory description of halo nuclei
Nuclear halos emerge as new degrees of freedom near the neutron and proton
driplines. They consist of a core and one or a few nucleons which spend most of
their time in the classically-forbidden region outside the range of the
interaction. Individual nucleons inside the core are thus unresolved in the
halo configuration, and the low-energy effective interactions are short-range
forces between the core and the valence nucleons. Similar phenomena occur in
clusters of He atoms, cold atomic gases near a Feshbach resonance, and some
exotic hadrons. In these weakly-bound quantum systems universal scaling laws
for s-wave binding emerge that are independent of the details of the
interaction. Effective field theory (EFT) exposes these correlations and
permits the calculation of non-universal corrections to them due to
short-distance effects, as well as the extension of these ideas to systems
involving the Coulomb interaction and/or binding in higher angular-momentum
channels. Halo nuclei exhibit all these features. Halo EFT, the EFT for halo
nuclei, has been used to compute the properties of single-neutron, two-neutron,
and single-proton halos of s-wave and p-wave type. This review summarizes these
results for halo binding energies, radii, Coulomb dissociation, and radiative
capture, as well as the connection of these properties to scattering
parameters, thereby elucidating the universal correlations between all these
observables. We also discuss how Halo EFT's encoding of the long-distance
physics of halo nuclei can be used to check and extend ab initio calculations
that include detailed modeling of their short-distance dynamics.Comment: 104 pages, 31 figures. Topical Review for Journal of Physics G. v2
incorporates several modifications, particularly to the Introduction, in
response to referee reports. It also corrects multiple typos in the original
submission. It corresponds to the published versio
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