45,300 research outputs found

    Experimental studies of vortex flows

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    This final report describes research work on vortex flows done during a four-year period beginning in March 1984 and funded by NASA Grant NCC2-294 from the Fluid Dynamics Research Branch of NASA Ames Research Center. After a brief introduction of the main topics addressed by the completed research, the accomplishments are summarized in chronological order

    Robust and Fast 3D Scan Alignment using Mutual Information

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    This paper presents a mutual information (MI) based algorithm for the estimation of full 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) rigid body transformation between two overlapping point clouds. We first divide the scene into a 3D voxel grid and define simple to compute features for each voxel in the scan. The two scans that need to be aligned are considered as a collection of these features and the MI between these voxelized features is maximized to obtain the correct alignment of scans. We have implemented our method with various simple point cloud features (such as number of points in voxel, variance of z-height in voxel) and compared the performance of the proposed method with existing point-to-point and point-to- distribution registration methods. We show that our approach has an efficient and fast parallel implementation on GPU, and evaluate the robustness and speed of the proposed algorithm on two real-world datasets which have variety of dynamic scenes from different environments

    Double-branched vortex generator

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    In order to assess the suitability of using a double branched vortex generator in parametric studies involving vortex interactions, an experimental study of the main vortex and secondary flows produced by a double branched vortex generator was conducted in a 20-by-40 cm indraft wind tunnel. Measurements of the cross flow velocities were made with a five hole pressure probe from which vorticity contours and vortex parameters were derived. The results showed that the optimum configuration consisted of chord extensions with the absence of a centerbody

    Detailed studies of aviation fuel flowability

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    Six Jet A fuels, with varying compositions, were tested for low temperature flowability in a 190-liter simulator tank that modeled a section of a wing tank of a wide-body commercial airplane. The insulated tank was chilled by circulating coolant through the upper and lower surfaces. Flow-ability was determined as a function of fuel temperature by holdup, the fraction of unflowable fuel remaining in the tank after otherwise complete withdrawal. In static tests with subfreezing tank conditions, hold up varied with temperature and fuel composition. However, a general correlation of two or three classes of fuel type was obtained by plotting holdup as a function of the difference between freezing point and boundary-layer temperature, measured 0.6 cm above the bottom tank surface. Dynamic conditions of vibrations and slosh or rate of fuel withdrawal had very minor effects on holdup. Tests with cooling schedules to represent extreme, cold-day flights showed, at most, slight holdup for any combination of fuel type or dynamic conditions. Tests that superimposed external fuel heating and recirculation during the cooldown period indicates reduced hold up by modification of the low-temperature boundary layer. Fuel heating was just as effective when initiated during the later times of the tests as when applied continuously

    A study of the factors affecting boundary layer two-dimensionality in wind tunnels

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    The effect of screens, honeycombs, and centrifugal blowers on the two-dimensionality of a boundary layer on the test section floors of low-speed blower tunnels is studied. Surveys of the spanwise variation in surface shear stress in three blower tunnels revealed that the main component responsible for altering the spanwise properties of the test section boundary layer was the last screen, thus confirming previous findings. It was further confirmed that a screen with varying open-area ratio, produced an unstable flow. However, contrary to popular belief, it was also found that for given incoming conditions and a screen free of imperfections, its open-area ratio alone was not enough to describe its performance. The effect of other geometric parameters such as the type of screen, honeycomb, and blower were investigated. In addition, the effect of the order of components in the settling chamber, and of wire Reynolds number were also studied

    A two-species continuum model for aeolian sand ripples

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    We formulate a continuum model for aeolian sand ripples consisting of two species of grains: a lower layer of relatively immobile clusters, with an upper layer of highly mobile grains moving on top. We predict analytically the ripple wavelength, initial ripple growth rate and threshold saltation flux for ripple formation. Numerical simulations show the evolution of realistic ripple profiles from initial surface roughness via ripple growth and merger.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

    A Model for Scattering with Proliferating Resonances: Many Coupled Square Wells

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    We present a multichannel model for elastic interactions, comprised of an arbitrary number of coupled finite square-well potentials, and derive semi-analytic solutions for its scattering behavior. Despite the model's simplicity, it is flexible enough to include many coupled short-ranged resonances in the vicinity of the collision threshold, as is necessary to describe ongoing experiments in ultracold molecules and lanthanide atoms. We also introduce a simple, but physically realistic, statistical ensemble for parameters in this model. We compute the resulting probability distributions of nearest-neighbor resonance spacings and analyze them by fitting to the Brody distribution. We quantify the ability of alternative distribution functions, for resonance spacing and resonance number variance, to describe the crossover regime. The analysis demonstrates that the multichannel square-well model with the chosen ensemble of parameters naturally captures the crossover from integrable to chaotic scattering as a function of closed channel coupling strength.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

    Does decentralization work? Forest conservation in the Himalayas

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    This paper studies the effect of decentralization of management and control on forest conservation in the central Himalayas. The density of forest cover (measured with satellite images and field surveys) in forests managed by village councils is compared with that in state-managed forests and in unmanaged village commons. Geographic proximity and historical and ecological information are used to identify the effects of the three types of management regimes. Village council management does no worse, and possibly better, at conservation than state management and costs an order of magnitude less per unit area. Relative to unmanaged commons, village council management raises crown cover in broadleaved forests (the type of forest that may provide the most benefits to villagers under the rules) but not in pine forests.
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