Supersonic axial-flow fan flutter

Lane's (1957) analytical formulation of the unsteady pressure distribution on an oscillating two-dimensional flat plate cascade in supersonic axial flow has been developed into a computer code. This unsteady aerodynamic code has shown good agreement with other published data. This code has also been incorporated into an existing aeroelastic code to analyze the NASA Lewis supersonic through-flow fan design

Influence of thickness and camber on the aeroelastic stability of supersonic throughflow fans: An engineering approach

An engineering approach was used to include the nonlinear effects of thickness and camber in an analytical aeroelastic analysis of cascades in supersonic acial flow (supersonic leading-edge locus). A hybrid code using Lighthill's nonlinear piston theory and Lanes's linear potential theory was developed to include these nonlinear effects. Lighthill's theory was used to calculate the unsteady pressures on the noninterference surface regions of the airfoils in cascade. Lane's theory was used to calculate the unsteady pressures on the remaining interference surface regions. Two airfoil profiles was investigated (a supersonic throughflow fan design and a NACA 66-206 airfoil with a sharp leading edge). Results show that compared with predictions of Lane's potential theory for flat plates, the inclusion of thickness (with or without camber) may increase or decrease the aeroelastic stability, depending on the airfoil geometry and operating conditions. When thickness effects are included in the aeroelastic analysis, inclusion of camber will influence the predicted stability in proportion to the magnitude of the added camber. The critical interblade phase angle, depending on the airfoil profile and operating conditions, may also be influenced by thickness and camber. Compared with predictions of Lane's linear potential theory, the inclusion of thickness and camber decreased the aerodynamic stifness and increased the aerodynamic damping at Mach 2 and 2.95 for a cascade of supersonic throughflow fan airfoils oscillating 180 degrees out of phase at a reduced frequency of 0.1

Post clamp

A pair of spaced collars are mounted at right angles on a clamp body by retaining rings which enable the collars to rotate with respect to the clamp body. Mounting posts extend through aligned holes in the collars and clamp body. Each collar can be clamped onto the inserted post while the clamp body remains free to rotate about the post and collar. The clamp body is selectively clamped onto each post

Optical measurement of propeller blade deflections in a spin facility

A nonintrusive optical system for measuring propeller blade deflections has been used in the NASA Lewis dynamic spin facility. Deflection of points at the leading and trailing edges of a blade section can be obtained with a narrow light beam from a low power helium-neon laser. A system used to measure these deflections at three spanwise locations is described. Modifications required to operate the lasers in a near-vacuum environment are also discussed

Element Load Data Processor (ELDAP) Users Manual

Often, the shear and tensile forces and moments are extracted from finite element analyses to be used in off-line calculations for evaluating the integrity of structural connections involving bolts, rivets, and welds. Usually the maximum forces and moments are desired for use in the calculations. In situations where there are numerous structural connections of interest for numerous load cases, the effort in finding the true maximum force and/or moment combinations among all fasteners and welds and load cases becomes difficult. The Element Load Data Processor (ELDAP) software described herein makes this effort manageable. This software eliminates the possibility of overlooking the worst-case forces and moments that could result in erroneous positive margins of safety and/or selecting inconsistent combinations of forces and moments resulting in false negative margins of safety. In addition to forces and moments, any scalar quantity output in a PATRAN report file may be evaluated with this software. This software was originally written to fill an urgent need during the structural analysis of the Ares I-X Interstage segment. As such, this software was coded in a straightforward manner with no effort made to optimize or minimize code or to develop a graphical user interface

Experimental Microfluidic System

The ultimate goal of this project is to integrate microfluidic devices with NASA's space bioreactor systems. In such a system, the microfluidic device would provide realtime feedback control of the bioreactor by monitoring pH, glucose, and lactate levels in the cell media; and would provide an analytical capability to the bioreactor in exterrestrial environments for monitoring bioengineered cell products and health changes in cells due to environmental stressors. Such integrated systems could be used as biosentinels both in space and on planet surfaces. The objective is to demonstrate the ability of microfabricated devices to repeatedly and reproducibly perform bead cytometry experiments in micro, lunar, martian, and hypergravity (1.8g)

Cavallo's Multiplier for in situ Generation of High Voltage

A classic electrostatic induction machine, Cavallo's multiplier, is suggested for in situ production of very high voltage in cryogenic environments. The device is suitable for generating a large electrostatic field under conditions of very small load current. Operation of the Cavallo multiplier is analyzed, with quantitative description in terms of mutual capacitances between electrodes in the system. A demonstration apparatus was constructed, and measured voltages are compared to predictions based on measured capacitances in the system. The simplicity of the Cavallo multiplier makes it amenable to electrostatic analysis using finite element software, and electrode shapes can be optimized to take advantage of a high dielectric strength medium such as liquid helium. A design study is presented for a Cavallo multiplier in a large-scale, cryogenic experiment to measure the neutron electric dipole moment.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Loading of a surface-electrode ion trap from a remote, precooled source

We demonstrate loading of ions into a surface-electrode trap (SET) from a remote, laser-cooled source of neutral atoms. We first cool and load $\sim$ $10^6$ neutral $^{88}$Sr atoms into a magneto-optical trap from an oven that has no line of sight with the SET. The cold atoms are then pushed with a resonant laser into the trap region where they are subsequently photoionized and trapped in an SET operated at a cryogenic temperature of 4.6 K. We present studies of the loading process and show that our technique achieves ion loading into a shallow (15 meV depth) trap at rates as high as 125 ions/s while drastically reducing the amount of metal deposition on the trap surface as compared with direct loading from a hot vapor. Furthermore, we note that due to multiple stages of isotopic filtering in our loading process, this technique has the potential for enhanced isotopic selectivity over other loading methods. Rapid loading from a clean, isotopically pure, and precooled source may enable scalable quantum information processing with trapped ions in large, low-depth surface trap arrays that are not amenable to loading from a hot atomic beam

The effects of more realistic forms of lead heterogeneity in soil on uptake, biomass and root response of two brassica species

The spatial heterogeneity of soil constituents is known to have significant impacts on plant growth and plant uptake of nutrients and contaminants, yet studies have rarely used patterns of heterogeneity based on those found in the field. Heterogeneity refers to how lumpy materials are distributed in the soil, whilst homogeneity is the uniformity in the distribution of such materials. We identified patterns of lead contamination at historically polluted field sites and conducted pot trials using field–based parameters to determine the pattern of distribution of lead within the pots. We examined plant Pb uptake and growth in simulated low, medium and high heterogeneity environments as well as a control homogeneous treatment. We found a significant effect of Pb spatial heterogeneity on uptake and biomass of two Brassica species (Brassica napus and Brassica juncea), both candidate species for phytoremediation projects. Biomass was 4 to 5 fold lower in the high heterogeneity treatment and total plant Pb uptake as Pb mass in (µg) was 40 to 80% lower, compared to the homogeneous treatment. Plant lead concentration (mg/kg) increased by a factor of 2 with increasing heterogeneity. Peak uptake was observed in low and medium heterogeneity treatments of B. napus and B. juncea respectively. We also explored roots behaviour in the high heterogeneity treatment and found variation in root mass by 20 to 80% between concentric patches with significant (P < 0.05) differences between patches and species. High proportion of roots (40 to 50%) were proliferated in patches of lower Pb concentration. The tap root was a greater proportion of root in B. napus, which was absent in B. juncea. Results suggest that root morphology of this plant species might be a factor influencing the placement of roots in concentric patches and consequently the overall root response to Pb spatial heterogeneity. This is an indication that the root response could be realistic of that experienced by plants in field conditions. Generally result showed that spatial heterogeneity of Pb has a significant effect on plant growth and biomass. This study also demonstrated that the presence and extent of in situ heterogeneity of Pb in soil plays an important role in Pb uptake by plants. This work has implications for improving the phytoremediation of Pb contaminated land, phytomining, the reliability of risk assessment/models of human exposure to Pb and the quality of trace mineral content of agricultural produce