Development of buried wire gages for measurement of wall shear stress in Blastane experiments

Buried Wire Gages operated from a Constant Temperature Anemometer System are among the special types of instrumentation to be used in the Boundary Layer Apparatus for Subsonic and Transonic flow Affected by Noise Environment (BLASTANE). These Gages are of a new type and need to be adapted for specific applications. Methods were developed to fabricate Gage inserts and mount those in the BLASTANE Instrumentation Plugs. A large number of Gages were prepared and operated from a Constant Temperature Anemometer System to derive some of the calibration constants for application to fluid-flow wall shear-stress measurements. The final stage of the calibration was defined, but could not be accomplished because of non-availability of a suitable flow simulating apparatus. This report provides a description of the Buried Wire Gage technique, an explanation of the method evolved for making proper Gages and the calibration constants, namely Temperature Coefficient of Resistance and Conduction Loss Factor

Computer studies of hybrid-slotted working sections with minimum interference at subsonic speeds

A series of computations on tunnel boundary-interference effects for hybrid-slotted working sections was performed using the WALINT code. The slots were modeled as lines of porosity with linear crossflow characteristics. The basic shape evaluated was for a rectangular section with height-to-width ratio = 0.835 and its companion in the duplex mode (half model testing) with height-to-width ratio = 0.6. A best overall basic configuration was determined with seven slots on each wall with open area ratio on each wall of 17.5%. For both full-span and half-model testing, the optimum solution required closing all but two slots on each of the half-walls parallel to the plane of the wing (equivalent to four slots on the full floor and ceiling). The results are presented here for the best configurations and are shown to be within the figure-of-merit range of + or - 0.04 in upwash, and + or - 0.1 in curvature for the Mach number range 0.6 to 0.85. Blockage effects are shown to be small

Correlation of Preston-tube data with laminar skin friction (Log No. J12984)

Preston tube data within laminar boundary layers obtained on a sharp ten-degree cone in the NASA Ames eleven-foot transonic wind tunnel are correlated with the corresponding values of theoretical skin friction. Data were obtained over a Mach number range of 0.30 to 0.95 and unit Reynolds numbers of 9.84, 13.1, and 16.4 million per meter. The rms scatter of skin friction coefficient about the correlation is of the order of one percent, which is comparable to the reported accuracy for calibrations of Preston tubes in incompressible pipe flows. In contrast to previous works on Preston tube/skin friction correlations, which are based on the physical height of the probe's face, this satisfactory correlation for compressible boundary layer flows is achieved by accounting for the effects of a variable "effective" height of the probe. The coefficients, which appear in the correlation, are dependent on the particular tunnel environment. The general procedure can be used to define correlations for other wind tunnels

Increasing Efficiency at the NTF by Optimizing Model AoA Positioning

The National Transonic Facility (NTF) at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is a national resource for aeronautical research and development. The government, military and private industries rely on the capability of this facility for realistic flight data. Reducing the operation costs and keeping the NTF affordable is essential for aeronautics research. The NTF is undertaking an effort to reduce the time between data points during a pitch polar. This reduction is being driven by the operating costs of a cryogenic facility. If the time per data point can be reduced, a substantial cost savings can be realized from a reduction in liquid nitrogen (LN2) consumption. It is known that angle-of-attack (AoA) positioning is the longest lead-time item between points. In January 2005 a test was conducted at the NTF to determine the cause of the long lead-time so that an effort could be made to improve efficiency. The AoA signal at the NTF originates from onboard instrumentation then travels through a number of different systems including the signal conditioner, digital voltmeter, and the data system where the AoA angle is calculated. It is then fed into a closed loop control system that sets the model position. Each process along this path adds to the time per data point affecting the efficiency of the data taking process. Due to the nature of the closed loop feed back AoA control and the signal path, it takes approximately 18 seconds to take one pitch pause point with a typical AoA increment. Options are being investigated to reduce the time delay between points by modifying the signal path. These options include: reduced signal filtering, using analog channels instead of a digital volt meter (DVM), re-routing the signal directly to the AoA control computer and implementing new control algorithms. Each of these has potential to reduce the positioning time and together the savings could be significant. These timesaving efforts are essential but must be weighed against possible loss of data quality. For example, a reduction in filtering can introduce noise into the signal and using analog channels could result in some loss of accuracy. Data quality assessments need to be performed concurrently with timesaving techniques since data quality parameters are essential in maintaining facility integrity. This paper will highlight time saving efforts being undertaken or studied at the NTF. It will outline the instrumentation and computer systems involved in setting of the model pitch attitude then suggest changes to the process and discuss how these system changes would effect the time between data points. It also discusses the issue of data quality and how the potential efficiency changes in the system could affect it. Lastly, it will discuss the possibility of using an open loop control system and give some pros and cons of this method

Pressure data from a 64A010 airfoil at transonic speeds in heavy gas media of ratio of specific heats from 1.67 to 1.12

A NACA 64A010 pressure-instrumented airfoil was tested at transonic speeds over a range of angle of attack from -1 to 12 degrees at various Reynolds numbers ranging from 2 to 6 million in air, argon, Freon 12, and a mixture of argon and Freon 12 having a ratio of specific heats corresponding to air. Good agreement of results is obtained for conditions where compressibility is not significant and for the air and comparable argon-Freon 12 mixture. Comparison of heavy gas results with air, when adjusted for transonic similarity, show improved, but less than desired agreement

On the nature of the ultraluminous X-ray transient in Cen~A (NGC 5128)

We combine 9 ROSAT, 9 Chandra, and 2 XMM-Newton observations of the Cen~A galaxy to obtain the X-ray light curve of 1RXH J132519.8-430312 (=CXOU J132519.9$-$430317) spanning 1990 to 2003. The source reached a peak 0.1-2.4 keV flux F_X>10^{-12} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1} during a 10~day span in 1995 July. The inferred peak isotropic luminosity of the source therefore exceeded 3 10^{39} ergs s^{-1}, which places the source in the class of ultra-luminous X-ray sources. Coherent pulsations at 13.264 Hz are detected during a second bright episode (F_X >3 times 10^{-13} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1}) in 1999 December. The source is detected and varies significantly within three additional observations but is below the detection threshold in 7 observations. The X-ray spectrum in 1999 December is best described as a cut-off power law or a disk-blackbody (multi-colored disk). We also detect an optical source, m_F555W ~ 24.1 mag, within the Chandra error circle of 1RXH J132519.8-430312 in HST images taken 195~days before the nearest X-ray observation. The optical brightness of this source is consistent with a late O or early B star at the distance of Cen A. If the optical source is the counterpart, then the X-ray and optical behavior of 1RXH J132519.8-430312 are similar to the transient Be/X-ray pulsar A 0538-66.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures. ApJ (accepted

Deep Observation of the Giant Radio Lobes of Centaurus A with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

The detection of high energy (HE) {\gamma}-ray emission up to about 3 GeV from the giant lobes of the radio galaxy Centaurus A has been recently reported by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration based on ten months of all-sky survey observations. A data set more than three times larger is used here to study the morphology and photon spectrum of the lobes with higher statistics. The larger data set results in the detection of HE {\gamma}-ray emission (up to about 6 GeV) from the lobes with a significance of more than 10 and 20 {\sigma} for the North and the South lobe, respectively. Based on a detailed spatial analysis and comparison with the associated radio lobes, we report evidence for a substantial extension of the HE {\gamma}-ray emission beyond the WMAP radio image in the case of the Northern lobe of Cen A. We reconstruct the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the lobes using radio (WMAP) and Fermi-LAT data from the same integration region. The implications are discussed in the context of hadronic and leptonic scenarios

Analysis of Flow Angularity Repeatability Tests in the NTF

An extensive data base of flow angularity repeatability measurements from four NTF check standard model tests is analyzed for statistical consistency and to characterize the results for prediction of angle-of-attack uncertainty for customer tests. A procedure for quality assurance for flow angularity measurements during customer tests is also presented. The efficacy of the procedure is tested using results from a customer test

Comment on "On the importance of the free energy for elasticity under pressure"

Marcus et al. (Marcus P, Ma H and Qiu S L 2002 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14 L525) claim that thermodynamic properties of materials under pressure must be computed using the Gibbs free energy $G$, rather than the internal energy $E$. Marcus et al. state that ``The minima of $G$, but not of $E$, give the equilibrium structure; the second derivatives of $G$, but not of $E$, with respect to strains at the equilibrium structure give the equilibrium elastic constants.'' Both statements are incorrect.Comment: Commen