Inferring Nighttime Ionospheric Parameters with the Far Ultraviolet Imager Onboard the Ionospheric Connection Explorer

The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) Far Ultraviolet (FUV) imager, ICON FUV, will measure altitude profiles of OI 135.6 nm emissions to infer nighttime ionospheric parameters. Accurate estimation of the ionospheric state requires the development of a comprehensive radiative transfer model from first principles to quantify the effects of physical processes on the production and transport of the 135.6 nm photons in the ionosphere including the mutual neutralization contribution as well as the effect of resonant scattering by atomic oxygen and pure absorption by oxygen molecules. This forward model is then used in conjunction with a constrained optimization algorithm to invert the anticipated ICON FUV line-of-sight integrated measurements. In this paper, we describe the connection between ICON FUV measurements and the nighttime ionosphere, along with the approach to inverting the measured emission profiles to derive the associated O⁺ profiles from 150–450 km in the nighttime ionosphere that directly reflect the electron density in the F-region of the ionosphere.     

Empirical model of cosmic ray spectrum in energy interval 1 MeV–100 GeV during 11-year solar cycle

The galactic cosmic rays (GCR) are the main ionization source at altitude of ∼3–35 km in the atmosphere. For high latitude anomalous cosmic ray (ACR) component has also a significant influence on the atmospheric ionization. We propose an empirical model for differential spectra D(E) of galactic and anomalous cosmic rays in energy interval 1 MeV–100 GeV during solar cycle. In the model data are used which cover three solar cycles: 20, 22 and 23. The LEAP87, IMAX92, CAPRICE94, AMS98 and BESS experimental spectra for protons and alpha particles are fitted to the proposed empirical model. The modulated GCR differential spectra are compared with force-field approximation to the one-dimensional transport equation and with solutions of two-dimensional cosmic ray transport equation. For experimental spectra, the calculation of the model parameters is performed by Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm, applied to the special case of least squares. Algorithm that combines the rapid local convergence of Newton–Raphson method with globally convergent method for non-linear systems of equations is applied for theoretically obtained differential spectra. The described programmes are realized in algorithmic language C++. The proposed model gives practical possibility for investigation of experimental data from measurements of galactic cosmic rays and their anomalous component.     

Simulation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis>-crimp shaping with the use of the ansys finite element software

A finite element model of the Z-crimp shaping from a hard sheet blank is developed and a number of calculations using the ANSYS finite element software is conducted. The calculations are carried out in the framework of elastoplastic behavior of the blank material using the classical model of bilinear kinematic (translational) hardening with corresponding parameters of elasticity and plasticity. The model takes into account kinematics of spatial transformation of the shaping equipment as well as the time-variable conditions of its contact interaction with the blank.     

Investigation of power gas turbine drives on the basis of mathematical models

A method for investigation of power gas turbine drives on the basis of mathematical models that makes it possible to enhance an information content and precision of existing techniques of power audit is proposed.     

A Method for Designing the Helicopter Skid Landing Gear by a Criterion of Landing Impact Energy Absorption

This paper presents the results of calculating the energy criterion being proposed by an example of two types of skid landing gear for a multipurpose helicopter of transport category.     

Improving the Positional Accuracy of the Airborne Vehicle during Its Motion along the Predetermined Path

The method of improving the positional accuracy of the airborne vehicle that moves along a great circle path is considered due to the analytical three-dimensional projection of its current coordinate position, determined from the measurements of the satellite navigation system under the conditions of high-amplitude noise to the true guide path.     

Electric field effect on the diffusion flame structure at different oxidizer excess coefficients

Thermal and electric structures of diffusion coaxial jet flames determined experimentally are presented. The Burke-Shumann problem is solved taking into account electrostatic forces appearing under imposition of an external electric field on the flame. The excessive concentration of negative charges in the flame plasma with oxidizer deficiency is evaluated.     

Properties and relationship between solar eruptive flares and Coronal Mass Ejections during rising phase of Solar Cycles 23 and 24

Statistical relationship between major flares and the associated CMEs during rising phases of Solar Cycles 23 and 24 are studied. Totally more than 6000 and 10,000 CMEs were observed by SOHO/LASCO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph) during 23rd [May 1996–June 2002] and 24th [December 2008–December 2014] solar cycles, respectively. In particular, we studied the relationship between properties of flares and CMEs using the limb events (longitude 70–85°) to avoid projection effects of CMEs and partial occultation of flares that occurred near 90°. After selecting a sample of limb flares, we used certain spatial and temporal constraints to find the flare-CME pairs. Using these constraints, we compiled 129 events in Solar Cycle 23 and 92 events in Solar Cycle 24. We compared the flare-CME relationship in the two solar cycles and no significant differences are found between the two cycles. We only found out that the CME mean width was slightly larger and the CME mean acceleration was slightly higher in cycle 24, and that there was somewhat a better relation between flare flux and CME deceleration in cycle 24 than in cycle 23.     

Coordinate Conversion and Tracking for Very Long Range Radars

The problem of tracking with very long range radars is studied in this paper. First, the measurement conversion from a radar's r-u-v coordinate system to the Cartesian coordinate system is discussed. Although the nonlinearity of this coordinate transformation appears insignificant based on the evaluation of the bias of the converted measurements, it is shown that this nonlinearity can cause significant covariance inconsistency in the conventionally converted measurements (CM1). Since data association depends critically on filter consistency, this issue is very important. Following this, it is shown that a suitably corrected conversion (CM2) eliminates the inconsistency. Then, initialized with the converted measurements (using CM2), four Cartesian filters are evaluated. It is shown that, among these filters, the converted measurement Kalman filter with second order Taylor expansion (CM2KF) is the only one that is consistent for very long range tracking scenarios. Another two approaches, the range-direction-cosine extended Kalman filter (ruvEKF) and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) are also evaluated and shown to suffer from consistency problems. However, the CM2KF has the disadvantage of reduced accuracy in the range direction. To fix this problem, a consistency-based modification for the standard extended Kalman filter (E1KF) is proposed. This leads to a new filtering approach, designated as measurement covariance adaptive extended Kalman filter (MCAEKF). For very long range tracking scenarios, the MCAEKF is shown to produce consistent filtering results and be able to avoid the loss of accuracy in the range direction. It is also shown that the MCAEKF meets the posterior Carmer-Rao lower bound for the scenarios considered.     

Simulation of unsteady combustion in a LOX-GH2 fueled rocket engine

This paper presents results from an investigation of unsteady combustion inside a small-scale, multi-injector liquid rocket engine. A time-accurate approach in an axisymmetric geometry is employed to capture the unsteady flow features, as well as the unsteady heat transfer to the walls of the combustion chamber. Both thermally perfect gas (TPG) and real gas (RG) formulations are evaluated for this LOX-GH₂ system. The Peng–Robinson cubic equation of state (EoS) is used to account for real gas effects associated with the injection of oxygen. Realistic transport properties are computed but simplified chemistry is used in order to achieve a reasonable turnaround time. Results show the importance of the unsteady dynamics of the flow, especially the interaction between the different injectors. The RG EoS, despite a limited zone of influence, is shown to govern the overall chamber behavior. The sensitivity of the results to changes in the system parameters is studied and some general trends are discussed. Although several features of the simulations agree well with past experimental observations, prediction of heat flux using a simplified flux boundary condition is not completely satisfactory. Reasons for this discrepancy are discussed in the context of the current axisymmetric approach.