30,048 research outputs found
Internally insulated thermal storage system development program
A cost effective thermal storage system for a solar central receiver power system using molten salt stored in internally insulated carbon steel tanks is described. Factors discussed include: testing of internal insulation materials in molten salt; preliminary design of storage tanks, including insulation and liner installation; optimization of the storage configuration; and definition of a subsystem research experiment to demonstrate the system. A thermal analytical model and analysis of a thermocline tank was performed. Data from a present thermocline test tank was compared to gain confidence in the analytical approach. A computer analysis of the various storage system parameters (insulation thickness, number of tanks, tank geometry, etc.,) showed that (1) the most cost-effective configuration was a small number of large cylindrical tanks, and (2) the optimum is set by the mechanical constraints of the system, such as soil bearing strength and tank hoop stress, not by the economics
AIROscope: Ames infrared balloon-borne telescope
A balloon-borne telescope system designed for astronomical observations at infrared wavelengths is discussed. The telescope is gyro-stabilized with updated pointing information derived from television, star tracker, or ground commands. The television system furnishes both course and fine acquisition after initial orientation using a pair of fluxgate servo compasses. Command and control is by a UHF link with 256 commands available. Scientific and engineering data are telemetered to the ground station via narrow band F.M. in the L band. The ground station displays all scientific, engineering and status information during the flights and records the command and telemetry digital bit stream for detailed analysis. The AIROscope telescope has a 28-inch diameter primary mirror and Dall-Kirkham optics. The beam is modulated by oscillating a secondary mirror at 11 or 25 Hz with provision for left or right beam fixed positions by command
Detailed flow-field measurements over a 75 deg swept delta wing
Results from an experimental investigation documenting the flowfield over a 75 deg swept delta wing at an angle-of-attack of 20.5 deg are presented. Results obtained include surface flow visualization, off-body flow visualization, and detailed flowfield surveys for various Reynolds numbers. Flowfield surveys at Reynolds numbers of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 million based on the root chord were conducted with both a Pitot pressure probe and a 5-hole pressure probe; and 3-component laser velocimeter surveys were conducted at a Reynolds number of 1.0 million. The Pitot pressure surveys were obtained at 5 chordwise stations, the 5-hole probe surveys were obtained at 3 chordwise stations and the laser velocimeter surveys were obtained at one station. The results confirm the classical roll up of the flow into a pair of primary vortices over the delta wing. The velocity measurements indicate that Reynolds number has little effect on the global structure of the flowfield for the Reynolds number range investigated. Measurements of the non-dimensional axial velocity in the core of the vortex indicate a jet like flow with values greater than twice freestream. Comparisons between velocity measurements from the 5-hole pressure probe and the laser velocimeter indicate that the pressure probe does a reasonable job of measuring the flowfield quantities where the velocity gradients in the flowfield are low
Pseudodeterminants and perfect square spanning tree counts
The pseudodeterminant of a square matrix is the last
nonzero coefficient in its characteristic polynomial; for a nonsingular matrix,
this is just the determinant. If is a symmetric or skew-symmetric
matrix then .
Whenever is the boundary map of a self-dual CW-complex ,
this linear-algebraic identity implies that the torsion-weighted generating
function for cellular -trees in is a perfect square. In the case that
is an \emph{antipodally} self-dual CW-sphere of odd dimension, the
pseudodeterminant of its th cellular boundary map can be interpreted
directly as a torsion-weighted generating function both for -trees and for
-trees, complementing the analogous result for even-dimensional spheres
given by the second author. The argument relies on the topological fact that
any self-dual even-dimensional CW-ball can be oriented so that its middle
boundary map is skew-symmetric.Comment: Final version; minor revisions. To appear in Journal of Combinatoric
Developing a Draft Book Proposal for the Book Imagination Improvisation: The Creativity-Improvisation Link
This project contains a description of the process used to develop a draft proposal for a book idea that would be high enough quality for submission to a book publisher. The book is entitled Imagination Improvisation, and it is a culmination of my thinking about the link between creativity studies and musical improvisation. The text of the project includes the background research and incubation that I did to produce the draft proposal. It also includes pertinent literature for improvisation and creativity, the process plan that I followed in constructing the draft proposal, the outcomes of the entire project, and key learnings from the entire project. There is also a project bibliography that includes background reading for the project. There are three appendices: the first contains the draft book proposal, the second contains the evolution of the creativityimprovisation link model, and the third contains the original Power Point presentation in which the model was proposed. The final part of the project is the original concept paper for the project
The decay and collisions of dark solitons in superfluid Fermi gases
We study soliton collisions and the decay of solitons into sound in
superfluid Fermi gases across the Bose-Einstein condensate to
Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BEC-BCS) crossover by performing numerical
simulations of the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. This decay
process occurs when the solitons are accelerated to the bulk pair-breaking
speed by an external potential. A similar decay process may occur when solitons
are accelerated by an inelastic collision with another soliton. We find that
soliton collisions become increasingly inelastic as we move from the BEC to BCS
regimes, and the excess energy is converted into sound. We interpret this
effect as being due to evolution of Andreev bound states localized within the
soliton.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Random close packing of granular matter
We propose an interpretation of the random close packing of granular
materials as a phase transition, and discuss the possibility of experimental
verification.Comment: 6 page
Gravitational Microlensing Near Caustics I: Folds
We study the local behavior of gravitational lensing near fold catastrophes.
Using a generic form for the lensing map near a fold, we determine the
observable properties of the lensed images, focusing on the case when the
individual images are unresolved, i.e., microlensing. Allowing for images not
associated with the fold, we derive analytic expressions for the photometric
and astrometric behavior near a generic fold caustic. We show how this form
reduces to the more familiar linear caustic, which lenses a nearby source into
two images which have equal magnification, opposite parity, and are equidistant
from the critical curve. In this case, the simplicity and high degree of
symmetry allows for the derivation of semi-analytic expressions for the
photometric and astrometric deviations in the presence of finite sources with
arbitrary surface brightness profiles. We use our results to derive some basic
properties of astrometric microlensing near folds, in particular we predict for
finite sources with uniform and limb darkening profiles, the detailed shape of
the astrometric curve as the source crosses a fold. We find that the
astrometric effects of limb darkening will be difficult to detect with the
currently planned accuracy of the Space Interferometry Mission. We verify our
results by numerically calculating the expected astrometric shift for the
photometrically well-covered Galactic binary lensing event OGLE-1999-BUL-23,
finding excellent agreement with our analytic expressions. Our results can be
applied to any lensing system with fold caustics, including Galactic binary
lenses and quasar microlensing.Comment: 37 pages, 7 figures. Revised version includes an expanded discussion
of applications. Accepted to ApJ, to appear in the August 1, 2002 issue
(v574
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