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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2012

Inviscid Analysis of Extended Formation Flight

Flying airplanes in extended formations, with separation distances of tens of wingspans, significantly improves safety while maintaining most of the fuel savings achieved in close formations. The present study investigates the impact of roll trim and compressibility at fixed lift coefficient on the benefits of extended formation flight. An Euler solver with adjoint-based mesh refinement combined with a wake propagation model is used to analyze a two-body echelon formation at a separation distance of 30 spans. Two geometries are examined: a simple wing and a wing-body geometry. Energy savings, quantified by both formation drag fraction and span efficiency factor, are investigated at subsonic and transonic speeds for a matrix of vortex locations. The results show that at fixed lift and trimmed for roll, the optimal location of vortex impingement is about 10% inboard of the trailing airplane s wing-tip. Interestingly, early results show the variation in drag fraction reduction is small in the neighborhood of the optimal position. Over 90% of energy benefits can be obtained with a 5% variation in transverse and 10% variation in crossflow directions. Early results suggest control surface deflections required to achieve trim reduce the benefits of formation flight by 3-5% at subsonic speeds. The final paper will include transonic effects and trim on extended formation flight drag benefits.

Kless, James↗
DOE OSTI2017

An immersed boundary method for fluid–structure interaction with compressible multiphase flows

This paper presents a two-dimensional immersed boundary method for fluid–structure interaction with compressible multiphase flows involving large structure deformations. This method involves three important parts: flow solver, structure solver and fluid–structure interaction coupling. In the flow solver, the compressible multiphase Navier–Stokes equations for ideal gases are solved by a finite difference method based on a staggered Cartesian mesh, where a fifth-order accuracy Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillation (WENO) scheme is used to handle spatial discretization of the convective term, a fourth-order central difference scheme is employed to discretize the viscous term, the third-order TVD Runge–Kutta scheme is used to discretize the temporal term, and the level-set method is adopted to capture the multi-material interface. In this work, the structure considered is a geometrically non-linear beam which is solved by using a finite element method based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF). The fluid dynamics and the structure motion are coupled in a partitioned iterative manner with a feedback penalty immersed boundary method where the flow dynamics is defined on a fixed Lagrangian grid and the structure dynamics is described on a global coordinate. We perform several validation cases (including fluid over a cylinder, structure dynamics, flow induced vibration of a flexible plate, deformation of a flexible panel induced by shock waves in a shock tube, an inclined flexible plate in a hypersonic flow, and shock-induced collapse of a cylindrical helium cavity in the air), and compare the results with experimental and other numerical data. The present results agree well with the published data and the current experiment. Finally, we further demonstrate the versatility of the present method by applying it to a flexible plate interacting with multiphase flows.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

In Situ Indexing and Query Processing of AMR Data

We have developed the first, holistic, Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) capable, in situ query framework to ensure the tractability of the current- and next-generation AMR simulation analysis on the path to extreme scale. We have addressed key issues pertaining to in situ analysis, memory hierarchy, generalized parallel indexing, index-compression, and real-time access pattern detection. We have published the following research papers in high profile peer reviewed computer science conferences: (a) Parallel In Situ Detection of Connected Components in Adaptive Mesh Refinement Data; (b) AMR-aware In Situ Indexing and Scalable Querying; (c) Pattern-driven dynamic data layout optimization; (d) In situ Storage Layout Optimization for AMR Spatio-temporal Read Accesses; (e) AMRZone: A Runtime AMR Data Sharing Framework for Scientific Applications; (f) Exploring Memory Hierarchy and Network Topology for Runtime AMR Data Sharing Across Scientific Applications.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗
NASA NTRS1990

Integrated fluid-thermal-structural analysis using adaptive unstructured meshes

An integrated fluid-thermal-structural analysis approach using adaptive unstructured meshes is presented. The approach combines the finite-element method and an adaptive remeshing technique to solve the Navier-tokes equations for high-speed compressible flow, the energy equation for the thermal response of the structure, and the quasi-static equilibrium equations for the structural response. The analysis solution procedure and the adaptive unstructured remeshing technique are described. The effectiveness of the approach is evaluated with three application studies. The adaptive unstructured remeshing procedure and finite-element solution algorithms combine to yield increased accuracy and effiency over standard structured meshes.

Dechaumphai, Pramote↗
NASA NTRS1985

High-speed compressible flow and other advection-dominated problems of fluid dynamics

Finite element methods are described for modeling high speed compressible flows with strong advection, problems important to aerodynamics. The situations are characterized by high pressure and temperature gradients, transients and the appearance of discontinuities, factors which require mesh refinement during computations. Techniques are developed for temporal and spatial discretization of a model problem. Several observations are made regarding the explicit and implicit features of the calculations, the use of the Lax-Wendroff scheme to produce a mass-matrix for obtaining accurate results for transients, methods of performing stability analyses, and simplification techniques. Examples are provided of solving the nonlinear shallow-water equations and describing compressible flows, particularly transonic flows. Domain splitting is defined for improving the calculations at each time step and in different parts of the flow regime while simultaneously advancing the calculations towards a solution.

Zienkiewicz, O. C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Finite element formulations for compressible flows

Researchers started their studies on the development and application of computational methods for compressible flows. Particular attention was given to proper numerical treatment of sharp layers occurring in such problems and to general mesh generation capabilities for intricate computational geometries. Mainly finite element methods enhanced with several state-of-the art techniques (such as the streamline-upwind/Petrov-Galerkin, discontinuity capturing, adaptive implicit-explicit, and trouped element-by-element approximate factorization schemes) were employed.

Tezduyar, Tayfun E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Line relaxation methods for the solution of 2D and 3D compressible flows

An implicit finite element based algorithm for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations is outlined, and the solution of the resulting equation by a line relaxation on general meshes of triangles or tetrahedra is described. The problem of generating and adapting unstructured meshes for viscous flows is reexamined, and an approach for both 2D and 3D simulations is proposed. An efficient approach appears to be the use of an implicit/explicit procedure, with the implicit treatment being restricted to those regions of the mesh where viscous effects are known to be dominant. Numerical examples demonstrating the computational performance of the proposed techniques are given.

Hassan, O.↗
NASA NTRS2000

A New Method for Accurate Treatment of Flow Equations in Cylindrical Coordinates Using Series Expansions

The motivation of this work is the ongoing effort at the Center for Turbulence Research (CTR) to use large eddy simulation (LES) techniques to calculate the noise radiated by jet engines. The focus on engine exhaust noise reduction is motivated by the fact that a significant reduction has been achieved over the last decade on the other main sources of acoustic emissions of jet engines, such as the fan and turbomachinery noise, which gives increased priority to jet noise. To be able to propose methods to reduce the jet noise based on results of numerical simulations, one first has to be able to accurately predict the spatio-temporal distribution of the noise sources in the jet. Though a great deal of understanding of the fundamental turbulence mechanisms in high-speed jets was obtained from direct numerical simulations (DNS) at low Reynolds numbers, LES seems to be the only realistic available tool to obtain the necessary near-field information that is required to estimate the acoustic radiation of the turbulent compressible engine exhaust jets. The quality of jet-noise predictions is determined by the accuracy of the numerical method that has to capture the wide range of pressure fluctuations associated with the turbulence in the jet and with the resulting radiated noise, and by the boundary condition treatment and the quality of the mesh. Higher Reynolds numbers and coarser grids put in turn a higher burden on the robustness and accuracy of the numerical method used in this kind of jet LES simulations. As these calculations are often done in cylindrical coordinates, one of the most important requirements for the numerical method is to provide a flow solution that is not contaminated by numerical artifacts. The coordinate singularity is known to be a source of such artifacts. In the present work we use 6th order Pade schemes in the non-periodic directions to discretize the full compressible flow equations. It turns out that the quality of jet-noise predictions using these schemes is especially sensitive to the type of equation treatment at the singularity axis. The objective of this work is to develop a generally applicable numerical method for treating the singularities present at the polar axis, which is particularly suitable for highly accurate finite-differences schemes (e.g., Pade schemes) on non-staggered grids. The main idea is to reinterpret the regularity conditions developed in the context of pseudo-spectral methods. A set of exact equations at the singularity axis is derived using the appropriate series expansions for the variables in the original set of equations. The present treatment of the equations preserves the same level of accuracy as for the interior scheme. We also want to point out the wider utility of the method, proposed here in the context of compressible flow equations, as its extension for incompressible flows or for any other set of equations that are solved on a non-staggered mesh in cylindrical coordinates with finite-differences schemes of various level of accuracy is straightforward. The robustness and accuracy of the proposed technique is assessed by comparing results from simulations of laminar forced-jets and turbulent compressible jets using LES with similar calculations in which the equations are solved in Cartesian coordinates at the polar axis, or in which the singularity is removed by employing a staggered mesh in the radial direction without a mesh point at r = 0.

Constantinescu, G.S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Progress Towards a Cartesian Cut-Cell Method for Viscous Compressible Flow

We present preliminary development of an approach for simulating high Reynolds number steady compressible flow in two space dimensions using a Cartesian cut-cell finite volume method. We consider both laminar and turbulent flow with both low and high cell Reynolds numbers near the wall. The approach solves the full Navier-Stokes equations in all cells, and uses a wall model to address the resolution requirements near boundaries and to mitigate mesh irregularities in cut cells. We present a quadratic wall model for low cell Reynolds numbers. At high cell Reynolds numbers, the quadratic is replaced with a newly developed analytic wall model stemming from solution of a limiting form of the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model which features a forward evaluation for flow velocity and exactly matches characteristics of the SA turbulence model in the field. We develop multigrid operators which attain convergence rates similar to inviscid multigrid. Investigations focus on preliminary verification and validation of the method. Flows over flat plates and compressible airfoils show good agreement with both theoretical results and experimental data. Mesh convergence studies on sub- and transonic airfoil flows show convergence of surface pressures with wall spacings as large as approx.0.1% chord. With the current analytic wall model, one or two additional refinements near the wall are required to obtain mesh converged values of skin friction.

Berger, Marsha↗
NASA NTRS2005

Influence of Compression and Shear on the Strength of Composite Laminates With Z-Pinned Reinforcement

The influence of compression and shear loads on the strength of composite laminates with z-pins is evaluated parametrically using a 2D Finite Element Code (FLASH) based on Cosserat couple stress theory. Meshes were generated for three unique combinations of z-pin diameter and density. A laminated plate theory analysis was performed on several layups to determine the bi-axial stresses in the zero degree plies. These stresses, in turn, were used to determine the magnitude of the relative load steps prescribed in the FLASH analyses. Results indicated that increasing pin density was more detrimental to in-plane compression strength than increasing pin diameter. Compression strengths of lamina without z-pins agreed well with a closed form expression derived by Budiansky and Fleck. FLASH results for lamina with z-pins were consistent with the closed form results, and FLASH results without z-pins, if the initial fiber waviness due to z-pin insertion was added to the fiber waviness in the material to yield a total misalignment. Addition of 10% shear to the compression loading significantly reduced the lamina strength compared to pure compression loading. Addition of 50% shear to the compression indicated shear yielding rather than kink band formation as the likely failure mode. Two different stiffener reinforced skin configurations with z-pins, one quasi-isotropic and one orthotropic, were also analyzed. Six unique loading cases ranging from pure compression to compression plus 50% shear were analyzed assuming material fiber waviness misalignment angles of 0, 1, and 2 degrees. Compression strength decreased with increased shear loading for both configurations, with the quasi-isotropic configuration yielding lower strengths than the orthotropic configuration.

OBrien, T. Kevin↗
NASA NTRS2005

Influence of Compression and Shear on the Strength of Composite Laminates with Z-Pinned Reinforcement

The influence of compression and shear loads on the strength of composite laminates with z-pins is evaluated parametrically using a 2D Finite Element Code (FLASH) based on Cosserat couple stress theory. Meshes were generated for three unique combinations of z-pin diameter and density. A laminated plate theory analysis was performed on several layups to determine the bi-axial stresses in the zero degree plies. These stresses, in turn, were used to determine the magnitude of the relative load steps prescribed in the FLASH analyses. Results indicated that increasing pin density was more detrimental to in-plane compression strength than increasing pin diameter. Compression strengths of lamina without z-pins agreed well with a closed form expression derived by Budiansky and Fleck. FLASH results for lamina with z-pins were consistent with the closed form results, and FLASH results without z-pins, if the initial fiber waviness due to z-pin insertion was added to the fiber waviness in the material to yield a total misalignment. Addition of 10% shear to the compression loading significantly reduced the lamina strength compared to pure compression loading. Addition of 50% shear to the compression indicated shear yielding rather than kink band formation as the likely failure mode. Two different stiffener reinforced skin configurations with z-pins, one quaiisotropic and one orthotropic, were also analyzed. Six unique loading cases ranging from pure compression to compression plus 50% shear were analyzed assuming material fiber waviness misalignment angles of 0, 1, and 2 degrees. Compression strength decreased with increased shear loading for both configurations, with the quasi-isotropic configuration yielding lower strengths than the orthotropic configuration.

O'Brien, T. Kevin↗
DOE OSTI2019

Predicting the reliability of an additively-manufactured metal part for the third Sandia fracture challenge by accounting for random material defects

We describe an approach to predict failure in a complex, additively-manufactured stainless steel part as defined by the third Sandia Fracture Challenge. A viscoplastic internal state variable constitutive model was calibrated to fit experimental tension curves in order to capture plasticity, necking, and damage evolution leading to failure. Defects such as gas porosity and lack of fusion voids were represented by overlaying a synthetic porosity distribution onto the finite element mesh and computing the elementwise ratio between pore volume and element volume to initialize the damage internal state variables. These void volume fraction values were then used in a damage formulation accounting for growth of these existing voids, while new voids were allowed to nucleate based on a nucleation rule. Blind predictions of failure are compared to experimental results. The comparisons indicate that crack initiation and propagation were correctly predicted, and that an initial porosity field superimposed as higher initial damage may provide a path forward for capturing material strength uncertainty. Here, the latter conclusion was supported by predicted crack face tortuosity beyond the usual mesh sensitivity and variability in predicted strain to failure; however, it bears further inquiry and a more conclusive result is pending compressive testing of challenge-built coupons to de-convolute materials behavior from the geometric influence of significant porosity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Asynchronous distributed-memory task-parallel algorithm for compressible flows on unstructured 3D Eulerian grids

Here, we discuss the implementation of a finite element method, used to numerically solve the Euler equations of compressible flows, using an asynchronous runtime system (RTS). The algorithm is implemented for distributed-memory machines, using stationary unstructured 3D meshes, combining data-, and task-parallelism on top of the Charm++ RTS. Charm++’s execution model is asynchronous by default, allowing arbitrary overlap of computation and communication. Task-parallelism allows scheduling parts of an algorithm independently of, or dependent on, each other. Built-in automatic load balancing enables continuous redistribution of computational load by migration of work units based on real-time CPU load measurement. The RTS also features automatic checkpointing, fault tolerance, resilience against hardware failure, and supports power-, and energy-aware computation. We demonstrate scalability up to 25 x 10 9 cells at $\mathscr{O}$10 4 compute cores and the benefits of automatic load balancing for irregular workloads. The full source code with documentation is available at https://quinoacomputing.org.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Novel approach to single-screw compressors and expanders design

Single-screw machines are currently employed as both compressors and expanders in vapor compression systems and organic Rankine cycles (ORCs), respectively. The working principle of single-screw machines is based on the simultaneous meshing of two starwheels with one central grooved rotor. The performance of the machine is heavily affected by the wear of the tooth meshing profile after several hours of running. In order to improve the wear resistance of the conventional straight-line profile, multi-column tooth flank designs have been introduced and investigated by several researchers. Cylindrical multi-column envelope profiles are able to distribute the local contact over a larger surface area reducing the wear of the tooth flank profile. Nevertheless, the manufacturability of such profiles is directly linked to the accuracy and limitations of CNC machines. In this work, an attempt is made to overcome the aforementioned limitations. To push the boundaries of possible tooth and rotor profile designs, 3D printing is utilized as manufacturing technique. Such approach allows the investigation of more complex designs that improves the sealing lines during the meshing process. A detailed geometry model based on polygon intersections is utilized to calculate the sealing lines, groove volume curves, and surface areas of the different designs. As a result of this study, a novel rotor design has been manufactured.

Ziviani, Davide↗
DOE OSTI2012

Los Alamos National Laboratory Computational Physics Summer Student Workshop (Final Report)

The numerical solution of highly compressible, multi-material flows is an ongoing research area. These types of flows can be solved with a Lagrangian type mesh which moves with the material in a simulation to allow precise material interface tracking. Currently, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and elsewhere are investigating cell-centered Lagrangian algorithms with the aim of producing methods that have second-order accuracy, preserve symmetry, and do not generate spurious vorticity. The new cell-centered algorithms solve a Riemann-like problem at the vertex of a cell. Professor Phil Roe at the University of Michigan has proposed a new structure for Lagrangian hydrodynamic algorithms that does not rely on the solution of the Riemann problem. The new approach utilizes Flux Corrected Transport (FCT) and it implements a form of vorticity control. The first step in the development of this method has been to construct an algorithm that solves the acoustic equations on an Eulerian mesh. The algorithm, which builds on the work of Morton and Roe, calculates fluxes at cell vertices, attains second-order accuracy using FCT, and has the special property of preserving vorticity. Results are presented that confirm the second order accuracy of the scheme and the vorticity preserving properties. The results are compared to the output produced by a MUSCL-Hancock algorithm. Some discussion of limiting methods for the FCT algorithm is also given.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electromagnetic Extended Finite Elements for High-Fidelity Multimaterial Problems LDRD Final Report

Surface effects are critical to the accurate simulation of electromagnetics (EM) as current tends to concentrate near material surfaces. Sandia EM applications, which include exploding bridge wires for detonator design, electromagnetic launch of flyer plates for material testing and gun design, lightning blast-through for weapon safety, electromagnetic armor, and magnetic flux compression generators, all require accurate resolution of surface effects. These applications operate in a large deformation regime, where body-fitted meshes are impractical and multimaterial elements are the only feasible option. State-of-the-art methods use various mixture models to approximate the multi-physics of these elements. The empirical nature of these models can significantly compromise the accuracy of the simulation in this very important surface region. We propose to substantially improve the predictive capability of electromagnetic simulations by removing the need for empirical mixture models at material surfaces. We do this by developing an eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) and an associated Conformal Decomposition Finite Element Method (CDFEM) which satisfy the physically required compatibility conditions at material interfaces. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods for diffusion and diffusion-like problems on node, edge and face elements in 2D and 3D. We also present preliminary work on h -hierarchical elements and remap algorithms.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1986

Unsteady separated boundary layer in a transonic diffuser flow with self-excited oscillations

A numerical investigation of two-dimensional unsteady boundary layer in a transonic diffuser flow with self-excited oscillations and strong flow separation by solving the compressible, Reynolds-averaged, thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations with two-equations turbulence model is described. Three different meshes with constant streamwise mesh distribution and varying vertical mesh distribution were used. Results obtained indicate that a refinement of mesh studied here has minimal effect on the mean boundary layer flow but significantly increases the amplitude of oscillation of all flow variables. Comparisons of unsteady wall pressure, velocity profile, terminal shock, and separation pocket among computations and with experiment are presented.

Hsieh, T.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Adaptive unstructured mesh methods for steady viscous flow

The solution of the equations governing steady laminar viscous flows on unstructured triangular meshes is addressed. The shortcomings of the standard adaptivity approaches for this class of problems are highlighted and a modified method based upon the combined use of mesh enrichment, mesh movement, and adaptive remeshing, is proposed. The behavior of the proposed scheme is demonstrated by applying it in the solution of compression corner flows.

Hassan, O.↗