Development of a small telescope like PZT and effects of vibrations of mercury surface and ground noise

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. A PZT type telescope for observations of gravity gradient and lunar rotation was developed, and a Bread Board Model (BBM) for ground experiments was completed. Some developments were made for the BBM such as a tripod with attitude control system, a stable mercury pool and a method for collecting the effects of vibrations. Laboratory experiments and field observations were performed from August to September of 2014, in order to check the entire system of the telescope and the software, and the results were compared to the centroid experiments which pursue the best accuracy of determination of the center of star images with a simple optical system. It was also investigated how the vibrations of mercury surface affect the centroid position on Charge Coupled Device (CCD). The results of the experiments showed that the effects of vibrations are almost common to stars in the same view, and they can be corrected by removing mean variation of the stars; and that the vibration of mercury surface can cause errors in centroid as large as 0.2 arcsec; and that there is a strong correlation between the Standard Deviation (SD) of variation of the centroid position and signal to noise ratio (SNR) of star images. It is likely that the accuracy of one (1) milli arcsecond is possible if SNR is high enough and the effects of vibrations are corrected

Development of a digital zenith telescope for advanced astrometry

Like other optical astrometric techniques, the Photographic Zenith Tube (PZT) has played a key role in the past observations of the Earth rotation, and it also has a potential to be applied to several other observations by taking advantage of automatic observations with self compensation of tilt of the tube. We here propose In-situ Lunar Orientation Measurement (ILOM) to study lunar rotational dynamics by direct observations of the lunar rotation from the lunar surface by using a small telescope like PZT with an accuracy of 1 milli-seconds of arc (1 mas) in the post-SELENE mission. Our second application is to obtain local gravity field on the Earth by combining deflection of the vertical measured by PZT and the position measured by Global Positioning System (GPS) or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The accuracy required for this purpose is not as strict as ILOM. We have already developed a Bread Board Model (BBM) of the telescope for ILOM and made some experiments in order to know the performance of the driving mechanism under a similar condition to the lunar environment showing high vacuum, large temperature change and dusty condition. We have also shown that it is possible to correct the effects of uniform temperature change upon the optical system by using a simple model with an accuracy of better than 1 mas. This model has the potential to attain the accuracy of 1 mas, based on the results of the experiments and the simulations. © 2012 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Unsteady Boundary Layers on a Flat Plate Disturbed by Periodic Wakes: Part I — Measurement of Wake-Affected Heat Transfer and Wake-Induced Transition Model

Measurements of wake-affected heat transfer distributions on a flat plate are made by use of a wake generator that consists of a rotating disk and several types of circular cylinders. The main purpose of this study is to construct a wake-induced transition model in terms of an intermittency factor, considering the evolution of the wake-induced turbulent region, a so-called turbulent patch in a distance-time diagram. A comparison between the proposed transition model and the measured heat transfer data reveals that the transition model yields good agreement with the measured data of all test conditions in this study.</jats:p

Studies on Wake-Affected Heat Transfer Around the Circular Leading Edge of Blunt Body

Detailed measurements are performed about time-averaged beat transfer distributions around the leading edge of a blunt body which is affected by incoming periodic wakes from the upstream moving bars. The blunt body is a test model of a front portion of a turbine blade in gas turbines and consists of a semicircular cylindrical leading edge and a flat plate afterbody. A wide range of the steady and unsteady flow conditions are adopted as for the Reynolds number based on the diameter of the leading edge and the bar-passing Strouhal number. The measured heat transfer distributions indicate that the wakes passing over the leading edge cause significant increase in beat transfer before the separation and the higher Strouhal number results in higher heat transfer. From this experiment, a correlation for the heat transfer enhancement around the leading edge due to the periodic wakes is deduced as a function of the Stanton number and it is reviewed by comparison with the other experimental works.</jats:p

Unsteady Boundary Layers on a Flat Plate Disturbed by Periodic Wakes: Part II — Measurements of Unsteady Boundary Layers and Discussion

As the second part of the study, detailed hot-wire anemometry measurements of wake-affected boundary layers on the flat plate are made. These measurements are organized in order, first, to check the standpoint of the modeling of the wake-induced transition proposed in Part I, and second, to observe wake-boundary layer interaction in detail from a viewpoint of direct and indirect effect of the wake passage upon turbulent spot generation within the boundary layer, as described by Walker (1993). The validity of the presumed state of the wake-affected boundary layer in the distance-time domain, which constitutes the basis of the transition model, is confirmed to great extent. However, it is also found that the criterion for the onset of the wake-induced transition adopted in Part I should be reconsidered. Some successful attempts are therefore made to specify the transition onset.</jats:p