The capabilities of a quadcopter in the hover mode for low-altitude sensing of atmospheric turbulence with high spatial resolution in urban areas characterized by complex orography are investigated. The studies were carried out in different seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall), and the quadcopter hovered in the immediate vicinity of ultrasonic weather stations. The DJI Phantom 4 Pro quadcopter and AMK-03 ultrasonic weather stations installed in different places of the studied territory were used in the experiment. The smoothing procedure was used to study the behavior of the longitudinal and lateral spectra of turbulence in the inertial and energy production ranges. The longitudinal and lateral turbulence scales were estimated by the least-square fit method with the von Karman model as a regression curve. It is shown that the turbulence spectra obtained with DJI Phantom 4 Pro and AMK-03 generally coincide, with minor differences observed in the high-frequency region of the spectrum. In the inertial range, the behavior of the turbulence spectra shows that they obey the Kolmogorov–Obukhov “5/3” law. In the energy production range, the longitudinal and lateral turbulence scales and their ratio measured by DJI Phantom 4 Pro and AMK-03 agree to a good accuracy. Discrepancies in the data obtained with the quadcopter and the ultrasonic weather stations at the territory with complex orography are explained by the partial correlation of the wind velocity series at different measurement points and the influence of the inhomogeneous surface.

No abstract

We report the effect of ‘plasma pipe’ formation on pulsed laser ablation of organic polymers in air under normal conditions. Ablation of polymers (PMMA, polyimide) is carried out in a wide range of CO2 laser fluences with special attention to plasma formation in the ablation products. Evolution of laser ablation plumes in air under different pressures is investigated with simultaneous registration of radiation spectra of the ablation products. An analysis based on thermo-chemical modelling is performed to elucidate the effects of laser light attenuation upon ablation, including plasma and chemical processes in a near-target space. The analysis has shown that the experimental observations of plume development in air can be explained by a combination of processes including formation of a pre-ionized channel along the laser beam propagation, laser-supported detonation wave and effective combustion of the polymer ablation products. A scenario of a streamer-like polymer plasma flow within an air plasma pipe created via laser-induced breakdown is proposed.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract