Influence of mass moment of inertia on the normal modes of a preloaded solar array mast

Earth-orbiting spacecraft often contain solar arrays or antennas supported by a preloaded mast. Due to weight and cost considerations, the supporting structures of the spacecraft appendages are made extremely light and flexible. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the influence of all physical and structural parameters on the dynamic behavior of the overall structure. The governing equation of motion and its general solution for the preloaded mast are developed. Furthermore, the mass moment of inertia of the mast subjected to bending vibrations is included in the governing equation of motion to investigate its influence on determining the circular frequencies. To verify the developed formulations, a finite element technique was implemented. The accuracy and limitation of the technique on calculating the circular frequencies are discussed. Although the study described in this paper primarily focuses on the mast for the space station solar arrays, the developed formulations and techniques can be applied to any large and flexible beam in zero gravity.     

How to Exhibit Toroidal Maps in Space

Steinitz's theorem states that a graph is the 1-skeleton of a convex polyhedron if and only if it is 3-connected and planar. The polyhedron is called a geometric realization of the embedded graph. Its faces are bounded by convex polygons whose points are coplanar. A map on the torus does not necessarily have such a geometric realization. In this paper we relax the condition that faces are the convex hull of coplanar points. We require instead that the convex hull of the points on a face can be projected onto a plane so that the boundary of the convex hull of the projected points is the image of the boundary of the face. We also require that the interiors of the convex hulls of different faces do not intersect. Call this an exhibition of the map. A map is polyhedral if the intersection of any two closed faces is simply connected. Our main result is that every polyhedral toroidal map can be exhibited. As a corollary, every toroidal triangulation has a geometric realization.     

A comparison of spin relaxation and local motion between symmetrically and asymmetrically ring-substituted bisphenol units in dissolved polycarbonates

Carbon-13 and proton spin-lattice relaxation times were measured at two field strengths on solutions 10% by weight of two polycarbonates in C₂D₂Cl₄ from ?20 to +120°C. The first polycarbonate is an asymmetrically substituted form with one chlorine on one of the two phenylene aromatic rings of the bisphenol unit, whereas the second polycarbonate is symmetrically substituted with two chlorines on each of the two rings. The nuclear spin relaxation data are interpreted in terms of several local motions likely in these polymers. Segmental motion was described by the Hall–Helfand correlation function. Segmental motion in the monosubstituted polycarbonate is somewhat slower than in unsubstituted polycarbonate, whereas segmental motion in the tetrasubstituted polycarbonate is considerably slower. Phenylene ring rotation is observed in unsubstituted polycarbonate and in the monosubstituted polycarbonate above 40°C. Below 40°C in the monosubstituted species, and at all temperatures in the tetrasubstituted species, ring rotation is replaced by ring libration as the predominant motion contributing to spin lattice relaxation. In addition, the rotational motion of the two types of rings in the asymmetric monosubstituted form are very similar although not identical. The substituted ring is slightly less mobile than the rings of unsubstituted polycarbonate. This indicates a strong coupling of ring motion, although the coupling leads to less than synchronous motion. Methyl group rotation is present in both polymers and is little affected by the various structural modifications.     

Necessary conditions and duality for inexact nonlinear semi-infinite programming problems

First order necessary conditions and duality results for general inexact nonlinear programming problems formulated in nonreflexive spaces are obtained. The Dubovitskii–Milyutin approach is the main tool used. Particular cases of linear and convex programs are also analyzed and some comments about a comparison of the obtained results with those existing in the literature are given.     

A search for fractional electric charge in sea water

The magnetic levitation technique has been used to test for fractional electric charge in sea water, using steel balls coated with sea water residue by evaporation. The objective was to reach concentration levels below 1 g^?1 which might result from cosmic ray interactions. Four stages of increasing sensitivity are reported: (1) residue from direct evaporation of unprocessed sea water, (2) residue from sea water samples enriched by ion exchangen, (3) residue reduced by high temperature evaporation, and (4) hypothetical enrichment by dilution and separation of soluble residue. Stages 1–3 are based on the generally accepted preferential retention of fractional charge during evaporation, but stage 4 limits are subject to uncertainties in the enrichment process. No evidence for fractional charge was found in a total of about 130 samples tested in these four stages. Samples containing positive and negative ions were tested separately, and concentration limits are reported for each of the stages. Levels in the region 0.01–0.1g^?1 were reached in stage 3, and 0.001 g^?1 in stage 4.