Quantitative Rock Abrasion on Earth & Mars
Research Log from 8/2/04 - 8/3/04
NASA ARC, Mountain View, CA
Abrasion Experiments for Laser Scanning
8/02/04 - 8/03/04, 8/10/04
Mean grain size: ~ 500 ?m
Wind speed: 11 m/s
Hopper Rate: 0.4 kg/minRocks (Plaster):
A- Hard
B- Soft, Homogeneous
C- Soft, Heterogeneous (wet, may have some drying
loss)
D- Soft, Layered
E- Soft, Stressed (softest)
5- diatomaceous shale (From Guadeloupe) –
small lavender
Run
1 (Aug. 2):
Total Time: 33 minutes
Total Sand: 13.43 kg
Rocks: A, B, E
Run
2 (Aug. 2):
Total Time: 36 minutes
Total Sand: 14.73 kg
Rocks: C, D, 5
Run
3 (Aug. 2):
Total Time: 34 minutes
Total Sand: 13.75 kg
Rocks: A, B, E
Run
4 (Aug. 3):
Total Time: 90 minutes
Total Sand: ~36 kg
Rocks: C, D, E
Run
5 (Aug. 3):
Total Time: 149 minutes
Total Sand: ~59.6 kg
Rocks: C, D, E
Run
6 (Aug. 3):
Total Time: 47 minutes
Total Sand: ~117.5 kg (Instead of Hopper,
used a fertilizer spreader with a flux of
2.5 kg/min – setting #5)
Rocks: C, D, E, 5
Run
7 (Aug. 10):
Total Time: 63 minutes
Total Sand: ~157.5 kg (Instead of Hopper,
used a fertilizer spreader with a flux of
2.5 kg/min – setting #5)
Rocks: C, E, 5, D (In order from right to
left when facing the hopper)
Images and Scans: (click
to enlarge)
Charts
from the data recorded:
Click on Chart to Enlarge
Click on Chart to Enlarge
QTVR Panoramas of Wind-tunnel Experiments:
 |
Wind-Tunnel View
During Abrasion Experiments High Resolution (3 MB) Low Resolution (500K) |
 |
Wind-Tunnel Inside View High Resolution (3 MB) Low Resolution (500K) |