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JC Library University of Oklahoma ---.. -------)- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE SERVICES ADMINISTRATIQN INSTITUTES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH Institutes for Environmental Research Technical Memorandum -NSSL 34 NOTE ON PROBING BALLOON MOTION BY DOPPLER RADAR Roger M. Lhermitte property of NV>;JC Library University of Oklahoma NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM NO. 34 NORMAN, OKLAHOMA JULY 1967 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract 1 . 1 Introduction and Method 1 2 The Balloon Sel£-Induced Turbulence 2 3 Balloon Motion Variability and Its Relationship to 4 Balloon Size and Ascent Rate ,. 4 Conclusion 13 Acknowledgments 13 Re£erences 14 iii· LIST OF FIGURES Page 1 Effect on balloon motion caused by balloon burst 3 2 Time variations of velocity compared to the motion 5 of surrounding ice cryst~ls 3 Time variations of the radial speed of small 5 balloon (D = 12") 4 Helicoidal trajectory parameters~ associated with 6 the sinusoidal variation of balloon speed 5 Change of the 100-gm balloon motion with the 8 vertical lift or Reynolds number 6 Time variations of Doppler speed for 30-gm~ 24 inch 9 diameters with different vertical ascent rate 7 Relationship between A and Rd for 42 flights 10 8 Relationship between A and balloon diameter D 10 9 Relationship between A and w (24 flights) 10 10 Relationship between orbit radius and balloon 11 diameter for 26 flights 11 Relationship of orbit radius~ r~ to balloon 11 diameter~ D~ as a function of Reynolds number Rd 12 Relationship between riD and the balloon relative 12 mass as proposed by MacCready (15 flights) iv NOTE ON PROBING BALLOON MOTION BY DOPPLER RADARl ,2 RogerM. Lhermitte ~ National Severe Storms Laboratory5 ABSTRACT The motion of' free balloons has been analyzed with Doppler radar techniques. Balloons in the subcritical Reynolds regime exhibit periodic variations of' radial velocity. These vari­ ations are explained in terms of an helicoidal balloon motion with orbit radius approximately equal to the balloon diameter and vertical wavelength 10 to 15 times larger. Large irregular oscillations of balloon motion characterize flights with Reynolds number larger than 2 X 10? , 1. INTRODUCTION AND METHOD Free balloons, which can be tracked by optical methods or by radar, have been considered as acceptable tracers f'or air motion and are conventionally used f'or . wind measurement. Analysis of the small-scale variability of' the wind by use of very accurate automatic tracking radars have shown, however, that the wind measurements have a typical variability related to an erratic motion of' the balloons. Small-scale irregularities of the balloon motion can be conveniently analyzed with Doppler radar, which detects vari­ ations of' target range smaller than the radar wavelength. The Doppler-observed speed is the radial speed associated with the change of the balloon range as a function of.time. This paper reports investigations of' small-scale motions of balloons over a ran~e of' spherical balloon sizes (12" to 72") and ascent rates (0 to 6.5 m sec-I). Expandable neoprene balloons were used in experiments, but the data analysis was limited to altitudes where expansion of the balloon diameter was negligible. 1 In preliminary rorm, this paper was presented at the Conference of' the American Meteorological Society on Physical Processes in the Lower Atmosphere, March 20-22, ' 1967, Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2 The program of Doppler weather radar studies at the National Severe storms Laboratory has received substantial support from the Federal Aviation Agency. 3 Present aff'iliation: Institute for Telecoinmunicatlon Sciences and Aeronomy, ESSA, Boulder, Colorado. A balloon's erratic motion seems to be controlled by a sel~-induced turbulence originated by its vertical speed with respect to the surrounding air [Scoggins, 1964]. Scoggins noticed that i~ the balloon sur~ace in contact with the air is roughenect,the amplitude o~ the erratic displacement o~ the balloon decreases and the oscillation of balloon motion becomes more regular. The ~light trajectory characteristics ~or expandable neoprene balloons used in our experiments have also been analyzed by MacCready [1965]. In his work the average balloon speed was computed ~or time intervals of 4 seconds ~rom the position data provided by an automatic tracking FPS-16 radar. To separate the contribution to the Reynolds number~rom balloon si~ or balloon vertical velocity, we in~lated the balloons with a mixture o~ air and helium designed to control the li~ting ~orce with relative independence ~rom the balloon diameter. Such a method allows choice o~ a large range o~ vertical speeds ~or the same balloon size. The Doppler radar method requires that the balloon be made a good isotropic target, i.e., a per~ect sphere with a uni~orm re~lective coating. When the balloon sur~ace re~lectivity is not uni~orm, balloon spinning and tumbling causes a smearing o~ the Doppler s~ectrum. In practice, .the balloon's inner wall was coated with 'cha~~" dipoles by placing a ~ew drops of oil with cha~f in the balloon, and agitating the inflated balloon. This method provides a uniform distribution o~ the chaff dipoles on the balloon wall and a Doppler smearing typically smaller than 0.5 m sec -1. The radial velocity information is obtained by processing the Doppler signal through a f'requency analyzing ~ilter bank. The spacing between filters corresponds to a velocity interval of O.2"m sec -1. [Lhermitte and Kessler, 1964] . Similar experiments have been done by McVehill . et aI, [1965]. The experiments described in this report,; however, cover a larger range o~ balloon size and vertical ascent rate and are aimed to def'ine a flight parameter which effectively controls the balloon self-induced turbulence. 2. THE BALLOON SELF-INDUCED TURBULENCE Figures la and Ib clearly show that the balloon's variable motion is caused by the balloon's spherical shape and ascent rate. 2 15 I U III 10 II) E o o 10 20 30 40 50 60 SECONDS Q. Oct. 3, 1966. Burst Altitude: 2,000 me 30 gm Balloon, starting Diameter: D=3211 o - -1 5 8=17.5 , w=4.25m.sec ,Rd=1.7XlO. 20 15 I U CLIen to E 5 20 30 40 50 60 SECONDS b. Oct. 11, 1966. Burst Altitude: 2,020 m. 100... gm Balloon, starting Diameter: D=48 11 0 l 9=31.0 , w=5. 0m.sec- , Rd=3e05XlO~ Figure 1. - E.f.fecton balloon motion caused by balloon burst. Note that the velocity oscillations disappear completely a.fter balloon burst at time 43/45 seconds. 3 In these two separate cases the radial velocity of the balloon is presented in the vicinity of the balloon burst. The characteristic variability of the balloon radlal motion completely disappears after the balloon burst pOint. The difference between the mean motion before burst and the steady motion after burst is the contribution from the target's vertical ascent rate to the Doppler-measured radial component of velocity. The vertical velocity changes from 4 or 5 m sec-l upward before burst to an estimated 2 m sec-l downward after burst. Steadi­ ness of the target motion after burst proves that the balloons moved in horizontal laminar flow and that the erratic component of the motion arose from a self-induced turbulence generated by the vertical motion relative to the air. The small-scale variability of the balloon motion is controlled by a self-induced turbulence; this is also apparent in figure 2, which shows data acquired when the balloon was . traced inside a cloud of ice crystals. Since the motion of the ice crystals was observed at the balloon location, such obser­ vations offer a basis for comparing steadiness of air motion and of balloon motion. The short-term time variations of the motion of ice . crystals are small (less than 0.5 tol m sec-I) and indicative of steady air flow. The balloon Doppler speed presents however, a large variability with peak-to-peak radial speed deviations reaching 5 to 6 m sec-I. The difference of approximately 3 m sec-l between the balloon's mean Doppler speed and the ice crystals' Doppler speed arises from the difference between their vertical motions and can be explained by a downward motion of ice crystals of 0.65 m sec-l and an upward balloon motion of 4.3 m sec-I. 3. BALLOON MOTION VARIABILITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO BALLOON SIZE AND ASCENT RATE Figure 3 shows an example of the results obtained by Doppler tracking of a small balloon. Notice that the balloon radial velocity shows peak-to-peaktime variations of 1.8 m sec-l with a period of 7.8 seconds. Note also the narrow Doppler spectrum, which is indicative of a good isotropic target. This type o£ speed variability is frequently observed for Reynolds number Rct smaller than 1 X 105 • . According to experiments in wind tunnels, this characterizes a subcritical .flow regime around the balloon. The Reynolds number is ..computed from: (1) 4 15 I U C1I 10 \II E 5 SECONDS Figure 2. - Time variations of velocity compared to the motion of surrounding ice crystals. The lower trace indicates steady ice crystal motion and the balloon's erratic motion is shown in the trace above. 20 15 -I ' U :: 10 E 5 o li'igure 3. - Time variation 'of the radial spe-ed of small balloon (D=12"). Note the sinusoidal shape indicative of the heli­ coidal traj ectory shol'm ,in Figure 4. 5 where V is the motion with respect to the air, D the balloon diameter" and -,) the kinematic viscosity of the air. Such sinusoidal variations of the balloon radial velocity would occur if the balloon's trajectory were helicoidal as shown in figure 4.
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