Analytical and experimental studies of shock interference heating in hypersonic flows

An analytical and experimental study is presented of the aerodynamic heating resulting from six types of shock interference patterns encountered in high speed flow. Centerline measurements of pressure and heat transfer distributions on basic bodies were obtained in four wind tunnels for Mach numbers from 6 to 20, specific heat ratios from 1.27 to 1.67, and free stream Reynolds numbers from 3 million to 25.6 million per meter. Peak heating and peak pressures up to 17 and 7.5 times stagnation values, respectively, were measured. In general, results obtained from semiempirical methods developed for each of the six types of interference agreed with the experimental peaks

Radiation therapy calculations using an on-demand virtual cluster via cloud computing

Computer hardware costs are the limiting factor in producing highly accurate radiation dose calculations on convenient time scales. Because of this, large-scale, full Monte Carlo simulations and other resource intensive algorithms are often considered infeasible for clinical settings. The emerging cloud computing paradigm promises to fundamentally alter the economics of such calculations by providing relatively cheap, on-demand, pay-as-you-go computing resources over the Internet. We believe that cloud computing will usher in a new era, in which very large scale calculations will be routinely performed by clinics and researchers using cloud-based resources. In this research, several proof-of-concept radiation therapy calculations were successfully performed on a cloud-based virtual Monte Carlo cluster. Performance evaluations were made of a distributed processing framework developed specifically for this project. The expected 1/n performance was observed with some caveats. The economics of cloud-based virtual computing clusters versus traditional in-house hardware is also discussed. For most situations, cloud computing can provide a substantial cost savings for distributed calculations.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Approaches and Stumbling Blocks to Integration of Skills Training and the Traditional Methods of Teaching Law

Having practiced for many years before becoming a law professor, the author felt compelled to look at the problem of how to integrate practical training into traditional methods for teaching law. It was soon evident that the solution could not be found if one took a pejorative attitude, dwelling on negative terminology such as anti-intellectualism, but only if it was recognized that law study has little meaning without a concurrent study of its practice. This commentary will propose a mode for accomplishing this integration

Approaches and Stumbling Blocks to Integration of Skills Training and the Traditional Methods of Teaching Law

Having practiced for many years before becoming a law professor, the author felt compelled to look at the problem of how to integrate practical training into traditional methods for teaching law. It was soon evident that the solution could not be found if one took a pejorative attitude, dwelling on negative terminology such as anti-intellectualism, but only if it was recognized that law study has little meaning without a concurrent study of its practice. This commentary will propose a mode for accomplishing this integration

Current Concepts of Metabolic Functional Imaging with Positron Emitters

Positron emitting radionuclides have unique properties that make them nearly ideal as radioactive tracers for in vivo metabolic studies. Using positron emission tomographic (PET) scanning and positron-labeled radiopharmaceuticals, one can study local glucose metabolism in tissues, blood flow, oxygen utilization, protein synthesis, and many other functions noninvasively in normal subjects and patients who have various diseases. A review of some of these techniques and the relative advantages and problems associated with the PET approach is presented

Modifications to the nozzle test chamber to extend nozzle static-test capability

The nozzle test chamber was modified to provide a high-pressure-ratio nozzle static-test capability. Experiments were conducted to determine the range of the ratio of nozzle total pressure to chamber pressure and to make direct nozzle thrust measurements using a three-component strain-gage force balance. Pressure ratios from 3 to 285 were measured with several axisymmetric nozzles at a nozzle total pressure of 15 to 190 psia. Devices for measuring system mass flow were calibrated using standard axisymmetric convergent choked nozzles. System mass-flow rates up to 10 lbm/sec are measured. The measured thrust results of these nozzles are in good agreement with one-dimensional theoretical predictions for convergent nozzles

Off-center-line shock interference heating patterns on basic shapes in hypersonic flows

The results of an experimental study of off-center-line shock-interference heating on basic shapes at hypersonic speeds are presented. The study covered three types of shock-interference patterns over a range of nominal Mach numbers (6 to 20), specific heat ratios (1.40 and 1.67), free-stream Reynolds numbers(8 million to 26 million per meter), and impinging shock strengths. Heat-transfer rates higher than stagnation levels were measured over much of the off-center-line model surface. Peak heating up to 17 times the stagnation heating was measured

Noise reduction in a Mach 5 wind tunnel with a rectangular rod-wall sound shield

A rod wall sound shield was tested over a range of Reynolds numbers of 0.5 x 10 to the 7th power to 8.0 x 10 to the 7th power per meter. The model consisted of a rectangular array of longitudinal rods with boundary-layer suction through gaps between the rods. Suitable measurement techniques were used to determine properties of the flow and acoustic disturbance in the shield and transition in the rod boundary layers. Measurements indicated that for a Reynolds number of 1.5 x 10 to the 9th power the noise in the shielded region was significantly reduced, but only when the flow is mostly laminar on the rods. Actual nozzle input noise measured on the nozzle centerline before reflection at the shield walls was attenuated only slightly even when the rod boundary layer were laminar. At a lower Reynolds number, nozzle input noise at noise levels in the shield were still too high for application to a quiet tunnel. At Reynolds numbers above 2.0 x 10 the the 7th power per meter, measured noise levels were generally higher than nozzle input levels, probably due to transition in the rod boundary layers. The small attenuation of nozzle input noise at intermediate Reynolds numbers for laminar rod layers at the acoustic origins is apparently due to high frequencies of noise