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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 253 records · Page 14

kasacrgridppi.c1

This datastream is made by kasacrgridppi VAP. It has (time, Y, X) gridded Ka-band PPI radar data, using nearest neighbor algorithm, with calibrated (.b1) input. This datastream is very similar to kasacrgridrhi, with the output grid changed from (time, height, h_distance) to (time, Y, X). output c1 level data use calibrated b1 data as input.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

xsacrgridppi.c1

This datastream is made by xsacrgridppi VAP. It has (time, Y, X) gridded Ka-band PPI radar data, using nearest neighbor algorithm, with calibrated (.b1) input.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Surface Modeling, Grid Generation, and Related Issues in Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Solutions

The NASA Steering Committee for Surface Modeling and Grid Generation (SMAGG) sponsored a workshop on surface modeling, grid generation, and related issues in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solutions at Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, May 9-11, 1995. The workshop provided a forum to identify industry needs, strengths, and weaknesses of the five grid technologies (patched structured, overset structured, Cartesian, unstructured, and hybrid), and to exchange thoughts about where each technology will be in 2 to 5 years. The workshop also provided opportunities for engineers and scientists to present new methods, approaches, and applications in SMAGG for CFD. This Conference Publication (CP) consists of papers on industry overview, NASA overview, five grid technologies, new methods/ approaches/applications, and software systems.

Choo, Yung K.↗

CurvilinearGrids.jl: A Julia package for curvilinear coordinate transformations

Finite-difference discretizations of partial differential equations are widespread throughout the scientific community. Oftentimes finite-differences are used to compute spatial gradients of fields on a discrete grid, which is typically a uniform or rectilinear Cartesian mesh. Arbitrary multidimensional geometry is difficult to discretize directly with finite differences, however, due to non-uniform grid spacing and non-orthogonality. Curvilinear coordinate transformations can be used as a strategy to enable arbitrary geometry. While these curvilinear transformations are straightforward, the governing PDEs require additional terms (metrics) and must adhere to strict conservation laws; these criteria complicate the application of the transformation and require careful implementation.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Numerical Simulations of STOVL Hot Gas Ingestion in Ground Proximity Using a Multigrid Solution Procedure

A multi grid solution procedure for the numerical simulation of turbulent flows in complex geometries has been developed. A Full Multigrid-Full Approximation Scheme (FMG-FAS) is incorporated into the continuity and momentum equations, while the scalars are decoupled from the multi grid V-cycle. A standard kappa-Epsilon turbulence model with wall functions has been used to close the governing equations. The numerical solution is accomplished by solving for the Cartesian velocity components either with a traditional grid staggering arrangement or with a multiple velocity grid staggering arrangement. The two solution methodologies are evaluated for relative computational efficiency. The solution procedure with traditional staggering arrangement is subsequently applied to calculate the flow and temperature fields around a model Short Take-off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft hovering in ground proximity.

Wang, Gang↗

Transonic flutter calculations using the Euler equations

In transonic flutter problems where shock motion plays an important part, it is believed that accurate predictions of the flutter boundaries will require the use of codes based on the Euler equations. Only Euler codes can obtain the correct shock location and shock strength, and the crucially important shock excursion amplitude and phase lag. The present study is based on the finite volume scheme developed by Jameson and Venkatakrishnan for the 2-D unsteady Euler equations. The equations are solved in integral form on a moving grid. The variable are pressure, density, Cartesian velocity components, and total energy.

Bendiksen, Oddvar O.↗

Choice of velocity variables for complex flow computation

The issue of adopting the velocity components as dependent velocity variables for the Navier-Stokes flow computations is investigated. The viewpoint advocated is that a numerical algorithm should preferably honor both the physical conservation law in differential form and the geometric conservation law in discrete form. With the use of Cartesian velocity vector, the momentum equations in curvilinear coordinates can retain the full conservation-law form and satisfy the physical conservation laws. With the curvilinear velocity components, source terms appear in differential equations and hence the full conservation law form can not be retained. In discrete expressions, algorithms based on the Cartesian components can satisfy the geometric conservation-law form for convection terms but not for viscous terms; those based on the curvilinear components, on the other hand, cannot satisfy the geometric conservation-law form for either convection or viscous terms. Several flow solutions for domain with 90 and 360 degree turnings are presented to illustrate the issues of using the Cartesian velocity components and the staggered grid arrangement.

Shyy, W.↗

Solutions to Three-Dimensional Thin-Layer Navier-Stokes Equations in Rotating Coordinates for Flow Through Turbomachinery

The viscous, Navier-Stokes solver for turbomachinery applications, MSUTC has been modified to include the rotating frame formulation. The three-dimensional thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations have been cast in a rotating Cartesian frame enabling the freezing of grid motion. This also allows the flow-field associated with an isolated rotor to be viewed as a steady-state problem. Consequently, local time stepping can be used to accelerate convergence. The formulation is validated by running NASA's Rotor 67 as the test case. results are compared between the rotating frame code and the absolute frame code. The use of the rotating frame approach greatly enhances the performance of the code with respect to savings in computing time, without degradation of the solution.

Ghosh, Amrit Raj↗

A solution-adaptive mesh algorithm for dynamic/static refinement of two and three dimensional grids

An adaptive grid algorithm has been developed in two and three dimensions that can be used dynamically with a solver or as part of a grid refinement process. The algorithm employs a transformation from the Cartesian coordinate system to a general coordinate space, which is defined as a parallelepiped in three dimensions. A weighting function, independent for each coordinate direction, is developed that will provide the desired refinement criteria in regions of high solution gradient. The adaptation is performed in the general coordinate space and the new grid locations are returned to the Cartesian space via a simple, one-step inverse mapping. The algorithm for relocation of the mesh points in the parametric space is based on the center of mass for distributed weights. Dynamic solution-adaptive results are presented for laminar flows in two and three dimensions.

Benson, Rusty A.↗

Entity—Hardware-agnostic Particle-in-cell Code for Plasma Astrophysics. I. Curvilinear Special Relativistic Module

Entity is a new-generation, fully open-source particle-in-cell (PIC) code developed to overcome key limitations in astrophysical plasma modeling, particularly the extreme separation of scales and the performance challenges associated with evolving, GPU-centric computing infrastructures. It achieves hardware-agnostic performance portability across various GPU and CPU architectures using the Kokkos library. Crucially, Entity maintains a high standard for usability, clarity, and customizability, offering a robust and easy-to-use framework for developing new algorithms and grid geometries, which allows extensive control without requiring edits to the core source code. This paper details the core general-coordinate special relativistic module. Entity is the first PIC code designed to solve the Vlasov–Maxwell system in general coordinates, enabling a coordinate-agnostic framework that provides the foundational structure for straightforward extension to arbitrary coordinate geometries. The core methodology achieves numerical stability by solving particle equations of motion in the global orthonormal Cartesian basis, despite using generalized coordinates like Cartesian, axisymmetric spherical, and quasi-spherical grids. Charge conservation is ensured via a specialized current deposition technique using conformal currents. The code exhibits robust scalability and performance portability on major GPU platforms (AMD MI250X, NVIDIA A100, and Intel Max Series), with the 3D particle pusher and the current deposition operating efficiently at about 2 ns per particle per time step. Functionality is validated through a comprehensive suite of standard Cartesian plasma tests and the accurate modeling of relativistic magnetospheres in curvilinear axisymmetric geometries.

Hakobyan, Hayk [Flatiron Institute, New York, NY (↗

Discretization formulas for unstructured grids

The Galerkin weighted residual technique using linear triangular weight functions is employed to develop finite difference formula in cartesian coordinates for the Laplacian operator, first derivative operators and the function for unstructured triangular grids. The weighted residual coefficients associated with the weak formulation of the Laplacian operator are shown to agree with the Taylor series approach on a global average. In addition, a simple algorithm is presented to determine the Voronoi (finite difference) area of an unstructured grid.

Baumeister, Kenneth J.↗

Discretization formulas for unstructured grids

The Galerkin weighted residual technique using linear triangular weight functions is employed to develop finite difference formula in cartesian coordinates for the Laplacian operator, first derivative operators and the function for unstructured triangular grids. The weighted residual coefficients associated with the weak formulation of the Laplacian operator are shown to agree with the Taylor series approach on a global average. In addition, a simple algorithm is presented to determine the Voronoi (finite difference) area of an unstructured grid.

Baumeister, Kenneth J.↗

A Fractional-Step Method Of Computing Incompressible Flow

Method of computing time-dependent flow of incompressible, viscous fluid involves numerical solution of Navier-Stokes equations on two- or three-dimensional computational grid based on generalized curvilinear coordinates. Equations of method derived in primitive-variable formulation. Dependent variables are pressure at center of each cell of computational grid and volume fluxes across faces of each cell. Volume fluxes replace Cartesian components of velocity; these fluxes correspond to contravariant components of velocity multiplied by volume of computational cell, in staggered grid. Choice of dependent variables enables simple extension of previously developed staggered-grid approach to generalized curvilinear coordinates and facilitates enforcement of conservation of mass.

Kwak, Dochan↗

Two-boundary grid generation for the solution of the three dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equations

A grid generation technique called the two boundary technique is developed and applied for the solution of the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. The Navier-Stokes equations are transformed from a cartesian coordinate system to a computational coordinate system, and the grid generation technique provides the Jacobian matrix describing the transformation. The two boundary technique is based on algebraically defining two distinct boundaries of a flow domain and the distribution of the grid is achieved by applying functions to the uniform computational grid which redistribute the computational independent variables and consequently concentrate or disperse the grid points in the physical domain. The Navier-Stokes equations are solved using a MacCormack time-split technique. Grids and supersonic laminar flow solutions are obtained for a family of three dimensional corners and two spike-nosed bodies.

Smith, R. E.↗

High-order dimensionally-split Cartesian embedded boundary method for non-dissipative schemes

Centered finite-difference schemes are commonly used for high-fidelity turbulent flow simulations in canonical configurations because of their non-dissipative property and computational efficiency. However, their use in flow simulations over complex geometries is limited by the requirements of a structured grid and a stable boundary treatment in the absence of artificial (numerical) dissipation. Cartesian embedded boundary (EB) approaches provide an efficient structured-grid framework to apply difference schemes over complex domains. However, they are often restricted to low orders of accuracy because of numerical instabilities at the embedded boundaries and the issues of small-cell problem that are difficult to address with high-order accuracy. The present work discusses a systematic approach to obtain high-order EB methods with non-dissipative centered schemes in the interior. This approach, based on satisfying the primary and secondary conservation conditions, is employed to derive EB schemes that are up to sixth-order accurate in the interior and fourth-order accurate globally for hyperbolic, parabolic as well as incompletely parabolic problems. The proposed finite-difference discretization is, by construction, dimensionally split and addresses the small-cell problem without any cell/geometry transformations, thus, highly simplifying implementation in a flow solver. Various linear and non-linear numerical tests are performed to evaluate the stability and the accuracy of the proposed EB schemes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

An Adaptively-Refined, Cartesian, Cell-Based Scheme for the Euler and Navier-Stokes Equations

A Cartesian, cell-based scheme for solving the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations in two dimensions is developed and tested. Grids about geometrically complicated bodies are generated automatically, by recursive subdivision of a single Cartesian cell encompassing the entire flow domain. Where the resulting cells intersect bodies, polygonal 'cut' cells are created. The geometry of the cut cells is computed using polygon-clipping algorithms. The grid is stored in a binary-tree data structure which provides a natural means of obtaining cell-to-cell connectivity and of carrying out solution-adaptive refinement. The Euler and Navier-Stokes equations are solved on the resulting grids using a finite-volume formulation. The convective terms are upwinded, with a limited linear reconstruction of the primitive variables used to provide input states to an approximate Riemann solver for computing the fluxes between neighboring cells. A multi-stage time-stepping scheme is used to reach a steady-state solution. Validation of the Euler solver with benchmark numerical and exact solutions is presented. An assessment of the accuracy of the approach is made by uniform and adaptive grid refinements for a steady, transonic, exact solution to the Euler equations. The error of the approach is directly compared to a structured solver formulation. A non smooth flow is also assessed for grid convergence, comparing uniform and adaptively refined results. Several formulations of the viscous terms are assessed analytically, both for accuracy and positivity. The two best formulations are used to compute adaptively refined solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. These solutions are compared to each other, to experimental results and/or theory for a series of low and moderate Reynolds numbers flow fields. The most suitable viscous discretization is demonstrated for geometrically-complicated internal flows. For flows at high Reynolds numbers, both an altered grid-generation procedure and a different formulation of the viscous terms are shown to be necessary. A hybrid Cartesian/body-fitted grid generation approach is demonstrated. In addition, a grid-generation procedure based on body-aligned cell cutting coupled with a viscous stensil-construction procedure based on quadratic programming is presented.

Coirier, William John↗

Solution-Adaptive Cartesian Cell Approach for Viscous and Inviscid Flows

A Cartesian cell-based approach for adaptively refined solutions of the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations in two dimensions is presented. Grids about geometrically complicated bodies are generated automatically, by the recursive subdivision of a single Cartesian cell encompassing the entire flow domain. Where the resulting cells intersect bodies, polygonal cut cells are created using modified polygon-clipping algorithms. The grid is stored in a binary tree data structure that provides a natural means of obtaining cell-to-cell connectivity and of carrying out solution-adaptive mesh refinement. The Euler and Navier-Stokes equations are solved on the resulting grids using a finite volume formulation. The convective terms are upwinded: A linear reconstruction of the primitive variables is performed, providing input states to an approximate Riemann solver for computing the fluxes between neighboring cells. The results of a study comparing the accuracy and positivity of two classes of cell-centered, viscous gradient reconstruction procedures is briefly summarized. Adaptively refined solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations are shown using the more robust of these gradient reconstruction procedures, where the results computed by the Cartesian approach are compared to theory, experiment, and other accepted computational results for a series of low and moderate Reynolds number flows.

Coirier, William J.↗

Nonlinear convergence in contact mechanics: Immersed boundary finite volume

In this report we present an immersed boundary finite volume (IBM) method for simulating quasistatic contact mechanics of linearly elastic domains at small strains. In IBM, all external boundaries and internal contacts of an object are represented by embedded surfaces inside a Cartesian mesh, which need not conform to the grid lines. The contact constraints consist of the non-penetrability condition and Coulomb’s friction law, which are discretized using special interpolation stencils and enforced via penalty parameters. The resulting nonlinear system depends on displacement unknowns only. To solve it, we use the Newton method but find that it diverges frequently. To understand the divergence pattern, we analyze a simplified 2-cell problem and show that the global convergence of Newton cannot be ensured for any choice of penalty parameters. We thus propose a modified Newton solver, which guarantees convergence for the 2-cell problem and is numerically verified to converge for all the challenging simulations considered herein. While both 1 st - and 2 nd -order variants of IBM, in displacement unknowns, are proposed, the modified Newton solver applies only to the 1 st -order variant.

42 ENGINEERING↗