7,872 research outputs found
Shuttle active thermal control system development testing. Volume 2: Modular radiator system tests
Tests were designed to investigate the validity of the "modular" approach to space radiator system design for space shuttle and future applications by gathering performance data on various systems comprised of different numbers of identical panels, subject to nominal and extreme heat loads and environments. Both one-sided and two-sided radiation was tested, and engineering data was gathered on simulated low a/e coatings and system response to changes in outlet temperature control point. The results of the testing showed system stability throughout nominal orbital transients, unrealistically skewed environments, freeze-thaw transients, and rapid changes in outlet temperature control point. Various alternative panel plumbing arrangements were tested with no significant changes in performance being observed. With the MRS panels arranged to represent the shuttle baseline system, a maximum heat rejection of 76,600 Btu/hr was obtained in segmented tests under the expected worst case design environments. Testing of an alternate smaller two-sided radiation configuration yielded a maximum heat rejection of 52,931 Btu/hr under the maximum design environments
Alternate high capacity heat pipe
The performance predictions for a fifty foot heat pipe (4 foot evaporator - 46 foot condensor) are discussed. These performance predictions are supported by experimental data for a four foot heat pipe. Both heat pipes have evaporators with axial groove wick structures and condensers with powder metal external artery wick structures. The predicted performance of a rectangular axial groove/external artery heat pipe operating in space is given. Heat transport versus groove width is plotted for 100, 200 and 300 grooves in the evaporator. The curves show that maximum power is achieved for groove widths from 0.040 to 0.053 as the number of grooves varies from 300 to 100. The corresponding range of maximum power is 3150 to 2400 watts. The relationships between groove width and heat pipe evaporate diameter for 100, 200 and 300 grooves in the evaporator are given. A four foot heat pipe having a three foot condenser and one foot evaporator was built and tested. The evaporator wick structure used axial grooves with rectangular cross sections, and the condenser wick structure used powder metal with an external artery configuration. Fabrication drawings are enclosed. The predicted and measured performance for this heat pipe is shown. The agreement between predicted and measured performance is good and therefore substantiates the predicted performance for a fifty foot heat pipe
Vortex-glass transition in superconducting Nb/Cu superlattices
Nb/Cu superconducting superlattices have been fabricated by dc magnetron
sputtering. This system shows a vortex glass transition with critical exponents
similar to high temperatures superconductors exponents. The transition
dymensionality is governed by the superconducting coupling regime. The vortex
glass transition shows a pure two dimensional behavior in decoupled
superlattices and a quasi-two dimensional behavior in the superlattice coupling
regime.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
A nova origin of the gas cloud at the Galactic Center ?
The recent discovery by Gillessen and collaborators of a cloud of gas falling
towards the Galactic Center on a highly eccentric orbit, diving nearly straight
into the immediate neighborhood of the central supermassive black hole, raises
the important question of its origin. Several models have already been
proposed. Here we suggest that a recent nova outburst has ejected a ring-like
shell of gas. Viewed at high inclination, that could account for the mass, head
and tail structure, and the unusually high eccentricity of the observed cloud
in a natural way, even as the nova moves on an orbit quite normal for the young
stars in the close neighborhood of the Galactic Center. We illustrate this by
calculating orbits for the head and tail parts of the ejecta and the nova that
has produced it. We briefly discuss some of the questions that this model, if
true, raises about the stellar environment close to the Galactic Center.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, Journal reference, correction of a minor erro
Shuttle active thermal control system development testing. Volume 4, Book 1: Modular radiator system test data
A three-week test of a modular radiator system was conducted and plots of all key data recorded during the three-week test are presented
When fair is not equal: compassion and politeness predict allocations of wealth under different norms of equity and need
Growing evidence has highlighted the importance of social norms in promoting prosocial behaviors in economic games. Specifically, individual differences in norm adherence—captured by the politeness aspect of Big Five agreeableness—has been found to predict fair allocations of wealth to one’s partner in the dictator game. Yet most studies have used neutrally-framed paradigms, where players may default to norms of equality in the absence of contextual cues. In this study (N = 707), we examined prosocial personality traits and dictator allocations under salient real-world norms of equity and need. Extending on previous research, we found that—in addition to politeness—the compassion aspect of agreeableness predicted greater allocations of wealth when they were embedded in real-world norms. These results represent an important step in understanding the real-world implications of laboratory-based research, demonstrating the importance of both normative context and prosocial traits
Towards a modeling of the time dependence of contact area between solid bodies
I present a simple model of the time dependence of the contact area between
solid bodies, assuming either a totally uncorrelated surface topography, or a
self affine surface roughness. The existence of relaxation effects (that I
incorporate using a recently proposed model) produces the time increase of the
contact area towards an asymptotic value that can be much smaller than
the nominal contact area. For an uncorrelated surface topography, the time
evolution of is numerically found to be well fitted by expressions of
the form [, where the exponent depends on
the normal load as , with close to 0.5. In
particular, when the contact area is much lower than the nominal area I obtain
, i.e., a logarithmic time increase of the
contact area, in accordance with experimental observations. The logarithmic
increase for low loads is also obtained analytically in this case. For the more
realistic case of self affine surfaces, the results are qualitatively similar.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure
Burst dynamics during drainage displacements in porous media: Simulations and experiments
We investigate the burst dynamics during drainage going from low to high
injection rate at various fluid viscosities. The bursts are identified as
pressure drops in the pressure signal across the system. We find that the
statistical distribution of pressure drops scales according to other systems
exhibiting self-organized criticality. The pressure signal was calculated by a
network model that properly simulates drainage displacements. We compare our
results with corresponding experiments.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Europhys. Let
The Gaia spectrophotometric standard stars survey -II. Instrumental effects of six ground-based observing campaigns
The Gaia SpectroPhotometric Standard Stars (SPSS) survey started in 2006, it
was awarded almost 450 observing nights, and accumulated almost 100,000 raw
data frames, with both photometric and spectroscopic observations. Such large
observational effort requires careful, homogeneous, and automated data
reduction and quality control procedures. In this paper, we quantitatively
evaluate instrumental effects that might have a significant (i.e.,1%)
impact on the Gaia SPSS flux calibration. The measurements involve six
different instruments, monitored over the eight years of observations dedicated
to the Gaia flux standards campaigns: DOLORES@TNG in La Palma, EFOSC2@NTT and
ROSS@REM in La Silla, [email protected] in Calar Alto, BFOSC@Cassini in Loiano, and
[email protected] in San Pedro Martir. We examine and quantitatively evaluate the
following effects: CCD linearity and shutter times, calibration frames
stability, lamp flexures, second order contamination, light polarization, and
fringing. We present methods to correct for the relevant effects, which can be
applied to a wide range of observational projects at similar instruments.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Astron. Nach
- …