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DOE OSTI2020

Frontiers in the Simulation of Dislocations

Dislocations play a vital role in the mechanical behavior of crystalline materials during deformation. To capture dislocation phenomena across all relevant scales, a multiscale modeling framework of plasticity has emerged, with the goal of reaching a quantitative understanding of microstructure–property relations, for instance, to predict the strength and toughness of metals and alloys for engineering applications. This review describes the state of the art of the major dislocation modeling techniques, and then discusses how recent progress can be leveraged to advance the frontiers in simulations of dislocations. Furthermore, the frontiers of dislocation modeling include opportunities to establish quantitative connections between the scales, validate models against experiments, and use data science methods (e.g., machine learning) to gain an understanding of and enhance the current predictive capabilities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

X-ray microscopy enables multiscale high-resolution 3D imaging of plant cells, tissues, and organs

Capturing complete internal anatomies of plant organs and tissues within their relevant morphological context remains a key challenge in plant science. While plant growth and development are inherently multiscale, conventional light, fluorescence, and electron microscopy platforms are typically limited to imaging of plant microstructure from small flat samples that lack a direct spatial context to, and represent only a small portion of, the relevant plant macrostructures. We demonstrate technical advances with a lab-based X-ray microscope (XRM) that bridge the imaging gap by providing multiscale high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) volumes of intact plant samples from the cell to the whole plant level. Serial imaging of a single sample is shown to provide sub-micron 3D volumes co-registered with lower magnification scans for explicit contextual reference. High-quality 3D volume data from our enhanced methods facilitate sophisticated and effective computational segmentation. Advances in sample preparation make multimodal correlative imaging workflows possible, where a single resin-embedded plant sample is scanned via XRM to generate a 3D cell-level map, and then used to identify and zoom in on sub-cellular regions of interest for high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. In total, we present the methodologies for use of XRM in the multiscale and multimodal analysis of 3D plant features using numerous economically and scientifically important plant systems.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Robust Molecular Predictive Methods for Novel Polymer Discovery and Applications

Polymeric materials are ubiquitous in modern society and they play an instrumental role in almost all industries, undoubtedly including the energy and environment sectors. Increased demand of energy and awareness to sustainability both necessitates the development of novel polymers with enhanced properties. Unfortunately, their structural and behavioral complexity render such discovery challenging and impeded. To address this problem, scientists are developing various computational modeling techniques and leveraging their power to depict the relationship between structural characteristics of polymers and their properties (such as rheological behaviors), and use such prediction to guide the design and syntheses of novel polymeric materials with enhanced performances. Unfortunately, predicting the relationships between polymer structure and composition with rheological properties via atomistic modeling is still a major challenge because of the extended time and length scales involved. Studying dynamic shear viscosity and linear viscoelasticity using molecular models requires capabilities that have been elusive, including representation of large molecular weight chains with an effective internal scale capable of describing entanglement, shear-rates that are in the s-1 scale with accurate quantitative stresses, and chemically-realistic combinations of both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. Motivated by these unmet challenges, the overall technical objective of this DOE-STTR Phase II project is to develop robust molecular predictive methods for advanced polymer discovery and applications and especially for designing and demonstrating the “smart” polymer-based waterflooding enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process. In particular, we apply state-of-the-art molecular modeling methods developed by our academic partner, Materials Stimulation Center (MSC) at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), to facilitate and accelerate the experimental discovery processes. During the Phase I of this project, we had focused on development and demonstration of the molecular modeling methods to describe rheological properties of non-Newtonian polymer fluids, and to improve our fundamental understandings of shear-thickening mechanism and kinetics. In Phase II, we further apply the theoretical models to guide our experimental programs to improve our design of smart rheology modifier (SRM) polymers and their optimization for EOR. Specifically, we have three objectives in the Phase II study: (1) to further improve out computational modeling methods, coupling with the advanced machine learning algorithms; (2) to develop cost-effective and efficient SRM-flooding process suitable for EOR applications under typical reservoir conditions; and (3) to further explore the application of our molecular predictive models for innovative material discovery in other industrial applications. The recent development of our multiscale predictive framework allows the successful prediction of rheological properties from the chemical structure for polymers of experimentally relevant molecular weights, and provides an in-silico machine learning engine for screening novel compositions and structures with optimized non-Newtonian response, required for both shear-thinning and shear-thickening applications. Our framework provides: (1) procedures and tools for systematic coarsening from atomistic models and reverse mapping of coarse-grain models to atomistic, (2) unique ab initio methods to characterize the atomistic origin of colloidal and interfacial interactions and phenomena, (3) systematic structure and composition builders based on practical descriptors that drive rheological changes in polymer melts and diluted polymer mixtures, (4) a rheological properties engine capable of predicting viscosity in the zero-shear limit and under realistic dynamic conditions (for shear-rates commensurate with experiments) for large heterogeneous systems, (5) coarse-grain force fields with improved non-bond descriptions based on accurate quantum mechanics, (6) an in-silico screening machine learning engine that feeds from the systematic model builders to cover the descriptors search space, computes the rheological properties from converged trajectories spanning sub-milliseconds and ranks them for each structure/composition using an automated viscosity-vs-shear rate fitness function that can be tuned for shear-thickening, shear-thinning and other rheological responses.

02 PETROLEUM↗

DOE OSTI2022

A 1D–0D–3D coupled model for simulating blood flow and transport processes in breast tissue

In this work, we present mixed dimensional models for simulating blood flow and transport processes in breast tissue and the vascular tree supplying it. These processes are considered, to start from the aortic inlet to the capillaries and tissue of the breast. Large variations in biophysical properties and flow conditions exist in this system necessitating the use of different flow models for different geometries and flow regimes. In total, we consider four different model types. First, a system of 1D nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs) is considered to simulate blood flow in larger arteries with highly elastic vessel walls. Second, we assign 1D linearized hyperbolic PDEs to model the smaller arteries with stiffer vessel walls. The third model type consists of ODE systems (0D models). It is used to model the arterioles and peripheral circulation. Finally, homogenized 3D porous media models are considered to simulate flow and transport in capillaries and tissue within the breast volume. Sink terms are used to account for the influence of the venous and lymphatic systems. Combining the four model types, we obtain two different 1D–0D–3D coupled models for simulating blood flow and transport processes: The first model results in a fully coupled 1D–0D–3D model covering the complete path from the aorta to the breast combining a generic arterial network with a patient specific breast network and geometry. The second model is a reduced one based on the separation of the generic and patient specific parts. The information from a calibrated fully coupled model is used as inflow condition for the patient specific sub-model allowing a significant computational cost reduction. Several numerical experiments are conducted to calibrate the generic model parameters and to demonstrate realistic flow simulations compared to existing data on blood flow in the human breast and vascular system. Moreover, we use two different breast vasculature and tissue data sets to illustrate the robustness of our reduced sub-model approach.

multiscale blood flow models↗

DOE OSTI2022

A concurrent irradiation-mechanics multiscale coupling model

The vast majority of our current knowledge regarding the basic mechanisms controlling irradiation effect on mechanical properties is based almost entirely on the results of post-irradiation experiments or theoretical models. However, the concurrent effects of irradiation, mechanical stress, and thermal damage on the failure phenomena of materials and components remain largely unexplored due to its internal multiscale-multiphysics coupling nature. Here, we present here a concurrent irradiation-mechanics multiscale coupling model. The concurrent evolutions of nanoscale irradiation defect clusters, microscale dislocation configurations, and mechanical responses are well captured based on coupling cluster dynamics, discrete dislocation dynamics, and the finite element methods using an effective time marching scheme. Model predictions of defect densities and size are in general agreement with experimental observations. Irradiation hardening is shown to take place also in samples undergoing concurrent irradiation-mechanical loading, similar to samples tested post-irradiation. However, the occurrence of plastic flow localization and dislocation channel formation is not accompanied with apparent yield drop (softening) under concurrent irradiation-mechanical loading conditions, which is different from the post-irradiation case.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2021

CSRI Summer Proceedings 2021

The Computer Science Research Institute (CSRI) brings university faculty and students to Sandia National Laboratories for focused collaborative research on Department of Energy (DOE) computer and computational science problems. The institute provides an opportunity for university researches to learn about problems in computer and computational science at DOE laboratories, and help transfer results of their research to programs at the labs. Some specific CSRI research interest areas are: scalable solvers, optimization, algebraic preconditioners, graph-based, discrete, and combinatorial algorithms, uncertainty estimation, validation and verification methods, mesh generation, dynamic load-balancing, virus and other malicious-code defense, visualization, scalable cluster computers, beyond Moore’s Law computing, exascale computing tools and application design, reduced order and multiscale modeling, parallel input/output, and theoretical computer science. The CSRI Summer Program is organized by CSRI and includes a weekly seminar series and the publication of a summer proceedings.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2021

CSRI Summer Proceedings 2021

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2021

Simplifying computational workflows with the Multiscale Atomic Zeolite Simulation Environment (MAZE)

Zeolites, an important class of 3-dimensional nanoporous materials, have been widely explored for a variety of applications including gas storage, separations, and catalysis. As the properties of these aluminosilicate materials depend on a number of factors (e.g., framework topology, Si/Al ratio, extra-framework cations etc.), detailed experiments (e.g., catalytic properties, adsorption capacities etc.) are often limited to only a handful of materials. Computational methods have played an important role in (1) providing molecular level insights to rationalize experimental observations, and (2) screening large libraries of zeolites to identify promising candidates for experimental synthesis and validation. Different levels of theory and computational chemistry codes are necessary to describe the range of relevant phenomena such as adsorption (e.g., grand canonical Monte Carlo), diffusion (e.g., molecular dynamics), and chemical reactions (e.g., density functional theory). Manipulation of atomic structures, handling of input files, and developing robust workflows becomes quite cumbersome. To mitigate these challenges, we describe the development of the Multiscale Atomic Zeolite Simulation Environment (MAZE) – a Python package that simplifies zeolite-specific calculation workflows by providing a user-friendly interface for systematically manipulating zeolite structures

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2022

Assessing Two Approaches for Enhancing the Range of Simulated Scales in the E3SMv1 and the Impact on the Character of Hourly US Precipitation

Abstract Improving the representation of precipitation in Earth system models is essential for understanding and projecting water cycle changes across scales. Progress has been hampered by persistent deficiencies in representing precipitation frequency, intensity, and timing in current models. Here, we analyze simulated US precipitation in the low‐resolution (LR) configuration of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SMv1) and assess the effect of two approaches to enhance the range of explicitly resolved scales: high‐resolution (HR) and multiscale modeling framework (MMF), which incur similar computational expense. Both E3SMv1‐MMF and E3SMv1‐HR capture more intense and less frequent precipitation on hourly and daily timescales relative to E3SMv1‐LR. E3SMv1‐HR improves the intensity over the Eastern and Northwestern US during winter, while E3SMv1‐MMF improves the intensity over the Eastern US and summer diurnal timing over the Central US. These results indicate that both methods may be needed to improve simulations of different storm types, seasons, and regions.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Predictive Data-driven Platform for Subsurface Energy Production

Subsurface energy activities such as unconventional resource recovery, enhanced geothermal energy systems, and geologic carbon storage require fast and reliable methods to account for complex, multiphysical processes in heterogeneous fractured and porous media. Although reservoir simulation is considered the industry standard for simulating these subsurface systems with injection and/or extraction operations, reservoir simulation requires spatio-temporal “Big Data” into the simulation model, which is typically a major challenge during model development and computational phase. In this work, we developed and applied various deep neural network-based approaches to (1) process multiscale image segmentation, (2) generate ensemble members of drainage networks, flow channels, and porous media using deep convolutional generative adversarial network, (3) construct multiple hybrid neural networks such as convolutional LSTM and convolutional neural network-LSTM to develop fast and accurate reduced order models for shale gas extraction, and (4) physics-informed neural network and deep Q-learning for flow and energy production. We hypothesized that physicsbased machine learning/deep learning can overcome the shortcomings of traditional machine learning methods where data-driven models have faltered beyond the data and physical conditions used for training and validation. We improved and developed novel approaches to demonstrate that physics-based ML can allow us to incorporate physical constraints (e.g., scientific domain knowledge) into ML framework. Outcomes of this project will be readily applicable for many energy and national security problems that are particularly defined by multiscale features and network systems.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

Competition between roughness and strength for scale-dependent surfaces

Rocks famously have scale-dependent strength, yet the actual dependence is notoriously hard to measure or incorporate into any theoretical framework. Natural rough surfaces present an opportunity to solve the problem. Surfaces sliding in shear evolve as protrusions collide. These asperities can deform or break, thus creating a new surface shape. In particular, natural surfaces have roughness at all scales as well as scale-dependent strength. Based on a scaling analysis, we have previously suggested that the scale-dependent aspect ratio of steady-state surfaces should be proportional to the scale-dependent shear strain at yield. If true, scale-dependent strength could easily be inferred from natural surfaces. Thus, moving beyond the scaling argument to a rigorous treatment of scale-dependent strength for multiscale rough surfaces in shear is important. However, analytic frameworks for analyzing multiscale problems are challenging, as conventional continuum mechanics typically involves a single value for a material property across scales. Here, in this work, we build on the formalism of Persson (2001) that presents a method to compute contact area for rough surfaces with a prescribed topographic spectrum using a stochastic differential equation. The Persson formalism allows for plastic yield under normal loading of otherwise elastic materials and leaves open the possibility of scale-dependent yield stress. In this study, we pursue this route to develop a theory and numerical results for the yielding of a rough, elastoplastic surface with scale-dependent yield stress. Here, we examine surfaces for which the power spectrum of the topography 𝐶 and yield stress 𝑌 follow power laws as a function of scale 𝜆, such that 𝐶∼𝜆 −𝑚 and 𝑌∼𝜆 −𝑛 , respectively. In this formal treatment of the problem, we focus on surfaces in contact and the resulting yield and do not impose shear. Numerical solutions show that the deviation from the elastic scaling solution is bounded as expected by the prior 1D heuristic scaling argument that anticipates the Hurst exponent as 1−𝑛. We also show that the plasticity is expected to erode the contacts if 𝑚 is lower than 𝑛−3, which corresponds to a Hurst exponent lower than 1−𝑛/2. This result is rigorously sound for 2D, i.e., realistic surfaces, and quantitatively different than the prior scaling argument. The theory now permits a correspondingly quantitative approach to interpreting natural surfaces.

elasticity↗

DOE OSTI2023

Multiscale Ecosystem for solving Maxwell-Schrodinger equations of open quantum systems (OpenMS)

Light-matter interactions play an important role in many branches of physics, chemistry, energy, and materials science. In the strong coupling regime, light-matter interactions are able to tune the materials properties via the formation of new quasiparticles, such as plasmons and polaritons. However, theoretical and numerical modeling of the light-matter interaction-mediated processes remain a big challenge because light-matter interactions are fundamentally multiscale and multiphysics problems involving multiple interactions between electrons, nuclei, and photons at different time/length scales. In the current community, light-matter interactions were treated at different levels of theoretical complexity in quantum chemistry and quantum optics. In quantum optics or quantum photonics, the matter is usually simplified as a few-level system, and the light is treated quantum-mechanically. On the other hand, quantum chemistry explores first-principles methods, including both single-particle and many-body-based techniques, to describe the electronic properties of matter in detail. However, light is usually prescribed as a classical electromagnetic field, and the light-matter interaction is taken into account as an external potential via classical approximations. This software is designed to fill current modeling shortcomings by delivering a first-ever scalable multiscale platform for simulating light-matter interactions in realistic electromagnetic environments. The software solves Maxwell and Schrodinger equations self-consistent on the heterogeneous platforms. It implements HF/DFT, TDDFT, and coupled-cluster counterparts for light-matter interactions and adopts modular programming to offload massively parallel algorithms on a large number of CPU/GPUs.

Zhang, Yu↗

DOE OSTI2023

Carbon Additive Manufacturing with a Near-Replica “Green-to-Brown” Transformation

Nanocomposites containing nanoscale materials offer exciting opportunities to encode nanoscale features into macroscale dimensions, which produces unprecedented impact in material design and application. However, conventional methods cannot process nanocomposites with a high particle loading, as well as nanocomposites with the ability to be tailored at multiple scales. A composite architected mesoscale process strategy that brings particle loading nanoscale materials combined with multiscale features including nanoscale manipulation, mesoscale architecture, and macroscale formation to create spatially programmed nanocomposites with high particle loading and multiscale tailorability is reported. The process features a low-shrinking (<10%) “green-to-brown” transformation, making a near-geometric replica of the 3D design to produce a “brown” part with full nanomaterials to allow further matrix infill. Here, this demonstration includes additively manufactured carbon nanocomposites containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and thermoset epoxy, leading to multiscale CNTs tailorability, performance improvement, and 3D complex geometry feasibility. The process can produce nanomaterial-assembled architectures with 3D geometry and multiscale features and can incorporate a wide range of matrix materials, such as polymers, metals, and ceramics, to fabricate nanocomposites for new device structures and applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2020

A numerical-homogenization based phase-field fracture modeling of linear elastic heterogeneous porous media

Most porous media, such as geomaterials and biomaterials are highly heterogeneous in nature, and they contain large variations of microscopic pore structures, such as pore sizes, pore distribution, and pore shapes. The oscillation of microscopic structures is a substantial challenge in theoretical characterization and is usually ignored in continuous modeling. However, mechanical behavior of porous media such as deformation and failure, are essentially impacted by the microscopic heterogeneity which needs to be considered in modeling a porous media. Here, this research proposes a numerical modeling framework with a capability to investigate the effect of microscopic heterogeneity on the macroscopic fracture behavior in porous media by using a numerical homogenization technique, combined with the phase-field fracture modeling method. This numerical modeling strategy computes a homogenized elasticity tensor based on microscopic heterogeneous pore structures heterogenous porous domain by solving boundary value problems at microscopic domain. The strain energy and subsequent propagation of macroscopic fractures will be updated using homogenized stiffness information. Using this numerical scheme, the microscopic pore structure’s impact on the fracture behavior through the homogenized elastic tensor will be taken into account. This multiscale technique is benchmarked against classical problems. Finally, the results highlight the importance of the underlying pore structure and reveal that both fracture strength and propagation path can be influenced by the microscopic heterogeneity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Scalable multiscale modeling of platelets with 100 million particles

Here, we developed the core components of the AI-aided multiple time stepping algorithm for multiscale modeling of cell dynamics. This algorithm was implemented and analyzed on two supercomputer architectures with an application of simulating the aggregation of 250 platelets, or 102 million particles. To scale on these computers with complex memory and network architectures with GPUs, we devised a biomechanics-informed task mapping scheme to optimize load imbalance, communications, and memory utilization. Our simulations, scaling well up to 192 nodes on a Summit-like supercomputer with a peak speed of 11 petaflops, achieved a rate of 423 μs/day which is 500 times faster than the conventional algorithm using static time step and this has enabled studies of record size blood clots at record spatial–temporal resolutions. Additionally, we discovered the sensitive dependence of the scalability and execution time on the methods of decomposition, CPU–GPU coupling, and task mapping.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2021

Explicit physics-informed neural networks for nonlinear closure: The case of transport in tissues

In upscaling methods, closures for nonlinear problems present a well-known challenge. While a number of theoretical methods have been proposed for handling such closures, nonlinearities still remain a significant obstacle for many problems. In this work, we use a combination of formal upscaling and data-driven machine learning for explicitly closing a nonlinear transport and reaction process in multiscale tissues. The classical effectiveness factor model is used to formulate the macroscale reaction kinetics. We train a multilayer perceptron network using training data generated by direct numerical simulations over microscale examples. Once trained, the network is used in an algorithm for numerically solving the upscaled (coarse-grained) differential equation describing mass transport and reaction in two example tissues. The network is described as being explicit in the sense that the network is trained using macroscale concentrations and gradients of concentration as components of the feature space rather than incorporating them as part of a constraint in the optimization process. Network training and solutions to the macroscale transport equations were computed for two different tissues. The two tissue types (brain and liver) exhibit markedly different geometrical complexity and spatial scale (cell size and sample size). The upscaled solutions for the average concentration are compared with numerical solutions derived from the microscale concentration fields by a posteriori averaging. There are three outcomes of this work of particular note. 1) Our overall approach results in an upscaled nonlinear PDE. The PDE is closed using a neural network, and our approach results in the definition of the classical effectiveness factor for effecting closure. 2) We identify particular source terms for the closure problem that are important for representing the structure of the closure. These source terms involve macroscale concentrations and their gradients. We adopt these source terms to use as explicit features in the learning algorithm. We find the trained networks that include the macroscale source terms generate models that are able to predict the correction factor with increased fidelity over those that do not. 3) We find that the trained network exhibits good generalizability, and it is able to predict the effectiveness factor with high fidelity for realistically-structured tissues despite the significantly different scale and geometrical complexity of the two example tissue types. This latter result emphasizes our purposeful connection between conventional averaging methods with the use of machine learning for closure; this contrasts with some machine learning methods for upscaling where the exact form of the macroscale equation remains unknown.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2024

Neural network representations of multiphase Equations of State

Abstract Equations of State model relations between thermodynamic variables and are ubiquitous in scientific modelling, appearing in modern day applications ranging from Astrophysics to Climate Science. The three desired properties of a general Equation of State model are adherence to the Laws of Thermodynamics, incorporation of phase transitions, and multiscale accuracy. Analytic models that adhere to all three are hard to develop and cumbersome to work with, often resulting in sacrificing one of these elements for the sake of efficiency. In this work, two deep-learning methods are proposed that provably satisfy the first and second conditions on a large-enough region of thermodynamic variable space. The first is based on learning the generating function (thermodynamic potential) while the second is based on structure-preserving, symplectic neural networks, respectively allowing modifications near or on phase transition regions. They can be used either “from scratch” to learn a full Equation of State, or in conjunction with a pre-existing consistent model, functioning as a modification that better adheres to experimental data. We formulate the theory and provide several computational examples to justify both approaches, highlighting their advantages and shortcomings.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

DOE OSTI2024

Scalable Multiphysics Block Preconditioning for Low Mach Number Compressible Resistive MHD with Application to Magnetic Confinement Fusion

This study investigates multiphysics block preconditioners that are critical in devising scalable Newton–Krylov iterative solvers for longer time-scale fully implicit fluid plasma models. The specific model of interest is the visco-resistive, low Mach number, compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model. This model describes the dynamics of conducting fluids in the presence of electromagnetic fields and can be used to study aspects of astrophysical phenomena, important science and technology applications, and basic plasma physics. The specific application of interest that motivates this study is the macroscopic simulation of longer time-scale stability and disruptions of magnetic confinement fusion devices, specifically the ITER Tokamak. The computational solution of the governing balance equations for mass, momentum, heat transfer, and magnetic induction for resistive MHD systems can be extremely challenging. These difficulties arise from both the strong nonlinear, nonsymmetric coupling of fluid and electromagnetic phenomena as well as the significant range of time and length scales that the interactions of these physical mechanisms produce. To handle the range of time and spatial scales of interest, a fully implicit unstructured variational multiscale finite element formulation is employed. For the scalable solution of the Newton linearized systems, fully coupled block preconditioners are designed to leverage algebraic multigrid subsolves. In conclusion, results are presented for the strong and weak scaling of the method as well as the robustness of these techniques for a large range of Lundquist numbers.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗