Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 271 records · Page 15

Modeling Distributed Computing Infrastructures for HEP Applications

Predicting the performance of various infrastructure design options in complex federated infrastructures with computing sites distributed over a wide area network that support a plethora of users and workflows, such as the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), is not trivial. Due to the complexity and size of these infrastructures, it is not feasible to deploy experimental test-beds at large scales merely for the purpose of comparing and evaluating alternate designs. An alternative is to study the behaviours of these systems using simulation. This approach has been used successfully in the past to identify efficient and practical infrastructure designs for High Energy Physics (HEP). A prominent example is the Monarc simulation framework, which was used to study the initial structure of the WLCG. New simulation capabilities are needed to simulate large-scale heterogeneous computing systems with complex networks, data access and caching patterns. A modern tool to simulate HEP workloads that execute on distributed computing infrastructures based on the SimGrid and WRENCH simulation frameworks is outlined. Studies of its accuracy and scalability are presented using HEP as a case-study. Hypothetical adjustments to prevailing computing architectures in HEP are studied providing insights into the dynamics of a part of the WLCG and candidates for improvements.

Horzela, Maximilian↗

Machine learning prediction of self-diffusion in Lennard-Jones fluids

In this work, different machine learning (ML) methods were explored for the prediction of self-diffusion in Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluids. Using a database of diffusion constants obtained from the molecular dynamics simulation literature, multiple Random Forest (RF) and Artificial Neural Net (ANN) regression models were developed and characterized. The role and improved performance of feature engineering coupled to the RF model development was also addressed. The performance of these different ML models was evaluated by comparing the prediction error to an existing empirical relationship used to describe LJ fluid diffusion. It was found that the ANN regression models provided superior prediction of diffusion in comparison to the existing empirical relationships.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Predicted performance of a tangential viewing hard x-ray camera for the DIII-D high field side lower hybrid current drive experiment

High field side launch of lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) has improved accessibility and penetration over low field side launch on DIII-D. Simulations predict single pass absorption under a wide range of plasma conditions. Hard x-ray (HXR) measurement of LHCD generated fast electron bremsstrahlung (50–250 keV) will validate wave propagation and absorption. Emissivity profiles are recovered from one-dimensional inversion of HXR brightness to determine LH damping location, fast electron slowing down time, and some indication of the fast electron energy. The camera will be implemented by populating 32 tangential sightlines of the existing Gamma Ray Imager with Kromek SPEARTM Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors sensitive to 10–1000 keV photons with 10 keV energy resolution. Expected count rates allow for <0.5 ms time resolution. Pulses are processed using 50 ns shaping time Cremat CR-200 Gaussian shaping modules and are digitized by 25 MHz D-TACQ ACQ216 digitizers. The performance of the HXR camera is evaluated by comparing predicted fast electron density profiles and inverted synthetic brightnesses obtained from the ray-tracing/Fokker–Planck codes GENRAY/CQL3D. Inversions closely matched predicted fast electron profiles for a range of experimental parameters.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Pressure-driven tearing and thermal transport in finite-beta reversed field pinch computations

In this work, nonlinear resistive-magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) computation with heating and anisotropic transport is applied to examine the interaction between thermal energy and magnetic fluctuations in inductively driven reversed-field pinches (RFPs). The magnetic fluctuations underlie magnetic field reversal through dynamo-like correlations, and they enhance thermal energy transport through fluctuations of parallel heat flux density. With the unfavorable magnetic curvature that exists across the RFP profile, thermal energy also affects the magnetic fluctuations. Computations with the NIMROD code [Sovinec et al., J. Comput. Phys. 195, 355–386 (2004)] integrate nonlinear MHD dynamics with energy transport and reproduce an RFP state with experimentally relevant values of plasma-β. Equilibria constructed from results of the 3D computations are analyzed to assess the sources of free energy in the saturated nonlinear state. Linear computations for these profiles show unstable modes of tearing parity. Their eigenfunctions are used to evaluate and compare stabilizing and destabilizing contributions to the kinetic energy integral. An assessment of the drives in the integral reveals that the pressure gradient drive is of comparable magnitude to the parallel current drive, and only the sum of the two surpasses the stabilizing contributions. Correlation of magnetic and parallel heat flux density fluctuations in the nonlinear computations shows that fluctuation-induced thermal conduction is the dominant mode of energy loss, as expected from experimental evidence. Decomposition of the fluctuating heat flux density shows that second-order correlations, alone, do not explain the total energy transport. Higher-order correlations are also important.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Disruption event characterization and forecasting in tokamaks

Disruption prediction and avoidance is a critical need for next-step tokamaks, such as ITER. Disruption Event Characterization and Forecasting (DECAF) research fully automates analysis of tokamak data to determine chains of events that lead to disruptions and to forecast their evolution allowing sufficient time for mitigation or complete avoidance of the disruption. Disruption event chains related to local rotating or global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes and vertical instability are examined with warnings issued for many off-normal physics events, including density limits, plasma dynamics, confinement transitions, and profile variations. Along with Greenwald density limit evaluation, a local radiative island power balance theory is evaluated and compared to the observation of island growth. Automated decomposition and analysis of rotating tearing modes produce physical event chains leading to disruptions. A total MHD state warning model comprised of 15 separate criteria produces a disruption forecast about 180 ms before a standard locked mode detector warning. Single DECAF event analyses have begun on KSTAR, MAST, and NSTX/-U databases with thousands of shot seconds of device operation using from 0.5 to 1 × 10 6 tested sample times per device. An initial multi-device database comparison illustrates a highly important result that plasma disruptivity does not need to increase as βN increases. Global MHD instabilities, such as resistive wall modes (RWMs), can give the briefest time period of warning before disruption compared to other physics events. In an NSTX database with unstable RWMs, the mode onset, loss of boundary and current control, and disruption event warnings are found in all cases and vertical displacement events are found in 91% of cases. An initial time-dependent reduced physics model of kinetic RWM stabilization created to forecast the disruption chain predicts instability 84% of the time for experimentally unstable cases with a relatively low false positive rate. Instances of the disruption event chain analysis illustrate dynamics including H–L back transitions for rotating MHD and global RWM triggering events. Furthermore, disruption warnings are issued with sufficient time before the disruption (on transport timescales) to potentially allow active profile control for disruption avoidance, active mode control, or mitigation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Laser absorption measurements of temperature, pressure, CO, and CO 2 at near-MHz rates in post-detonation fireballs with comparison to synthetic measurements

A laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS) diagnostic was used to obtain measurements of temperature, pressure, CO, and CO 2 at 500 kHz or 1 MHz in post-detonation fireballs produced by hemispherical samples of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). A quantum-cascade laser was scanned over multiple CO absorption transitions near 2008.5 cm −1 at 1 MHz, while an interband-cascade laser was scanned over a CO 2 absorption transition near 2394.8 cm −1 at 500 kHz. Light from each laser was combined onto a single path and passed through a detonation chamber approximately 83 mm above the 12-mm diameter hemispherical PETN charge. The CO and CO 2 absorption signals were post-processed to obtain time histories of temperature, pressure, species column pressures (P CO L, P CO2 L), and species column mole fractions (X CO L, X CO2 L). Additionally, schlieren imaging was performed simultaneously at 500 kHz to aid interpretation of the LAS measurements. Experimental and synthetic (i.e., CFD based) LAS measurements were compared to evaluate the accuracy of the CFD model and its ability to model the turbulent afterburning of the detonation products in air. In general, the experimental measurements exhibit reasonable agreement with the synthetic measurements at early times; thereby supporting the accuracy of the CFD model. Periods of disagreement between experimental and synthetic measurements at later times are most likely due to a reflected shock and detonator cavity jetting, which are not accounted for in the CFD model.

Schwartz, Charles J. [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette↗

Temperature estimation in a spatially inhomogeneous flame by diode laser absorption spectroscopy

A two-temperature (2T) model is proposed for estimating the temperature of a spatially inhomogeneous hot zone using single-beam diode laser absorption spectrometry. The proposed algorithm is based on fitting experimental absorption spectra by a linear combination of two database-simulated single-temperature spectra with different temperatures. The model efficiency is experimentally demonstrated when determining the temperature in different flame zones of a Wolfgard – Parker slot burner. The proposed 2T algorithm is used to find the maximum and minimum temperatures in different flame sections, which are compared with local temperatures in the same flame zones measured by the method of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). It is shown that the maximum temperatures determined by the proposed 2T algorithm are in good agreement with CARS data in flame zones where high-temperature regions prevail. A good agreement between the minimum temperatures obtained by these two methods is also observed for predominantly cold zones. (paper)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Efficiency of using nitrogen trifluoride as an oxidiser in a supersonic continuous-wave chemical HF laser

We report the results of an experimental study of possible ways to increase the efficiency of using NF{sub 3} nitrogen trifluoride as an oxidiser in an atomic fluorine generator of a supersonic continuous-wave chemical HF laser with a flat nozzle block corresponding to the nozzle – nozzle reagent mixing scheme. As such ways, we consider increasing the residence time of reagents in the combustion chamber and rising temperature in the chemical reaction zone. Comparison of specific energy characteristics of an HF laser operating with the use of the studied (NF{sub 3}) and ‘basic’ (F{sub 2}) oxidisers shows that the replacement of molecular fluorine with nitrogen trifluoride during the burning with deuterium in the combustion chamber of an atomic fluorine generator with allowance for the proposed measures leads to a reduction in the specific laser energy output by no more than 23 % – 24 % at high burning completeness. (paper)

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Effect of frequency detuning on Brillouin lasing in microcavities

We have theoretically investigated Brillouin lasing in microcavities in the case when the Brillouin shift and the intermode spacing of the microcavity do not coincide. It is shown that, despite the rise of the lasing threshold, a significant increase in the Brillouin signal intensity can be achieved in this case compared to the resonance one. A necessary condition for this effect is to select an optimal value of detuning of the pump radiation frequency from the frequency of the corresponding microcavity mode. The result of increasing the lasing threshold is also a narrowing of the Brillouin signal lasing range in the nonresonant case, which leads to a decrease in the signal noise level provided the detuning value is optimally selected. Analytical calculations are confirmed by the results of numerical modelling. (paper)

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Application of deep neural networks to improve diagnostic accuracy of rheumatoid arthritis using diffuse optical tomography

A set of deep neural network models for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) classification using a highway network, a convolutional neural network and a residual network is proposed based on the data of diffuse optical tomography (DOT) utilising near-infrared light, which ensures early diagnosis of pathophysiological changes resulting from inflammation. A numerical model of the finger is used to generate images to overcome the inherent problem of insufficient clinical DOT images available. The proposed deep neural network models are applied to automatically classify simulated DOT images of inflamed and non-inflamed joints and transfer learning is also used to improve the performance of the classification. The results demonstrate that all three deep neural network methods improve the diagnostic accuracy as compared to the widely applied support vector machine (SVM), especially for high inter-subject variability databases. In cases of distinct modelled severity of disease, residual network achieved the highest accuracy (> 99 %), and both of highway and convolutional neural networks reached 99 %, respectively. However, as the severity of the modelled disease is reduced, this accuracy is reduced to 75.2 % for residual networks. The results indicate that transfer learning can improve the performance of deep neural network methods on RA classification from DOT data and highlight their potential as a computer aided tool in DOT diagnostic systems. (paper)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Experimental studies of 1.5 – 1.6 μm high-power single-frequency semiconductor lasers

High-power semiconductor laser systems based on 1.5 – 1.6 μm single-frequency distributed feedback (DFB) lasers with a sidewall Bragg diffraction grating are developed and their current – voltage, light – current, and spectral characteristics are experimentally studied. The characteristics of conventional lasers with a Fabry – Perot cavity and DFB lasers fabricated from one and the same heterostructure are compared. At a pump current not exceeding 700 mA, a conventional laser with a cavity length of 1.6 mm and a mesa-stripe width of 3 μm emits a power no lower than 200 mW versus 150 mW of the DFB laser; both lasers are mounted in a housing 11 mm in diameter. The DFB laser mounted in a butterfly housing emits a power no lower than 100 mW at the exit of the single-mode cable at a pump current not exceeding 500 mA, which, at a 60 % coupling efficiency, corresponds to a power no lower than 165 mW; the side-mode suppression ratio in this case is no lower than 53 dB. It is shown that the wavelength deviation with changing pump current and temperature is almost an order of magnitude lower for the DFB laser than for the conventional laser. (paper)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Simulation of femtosecond interferometry when studying the effect of intense laser irradiation of a transparent medium

A method for comparing experimental and simulation results obtained when transmitting a femtosecond laser pulse through a material is proposed. This method is based on computer reproduction of photographs recorded using femtosecond interferometry. A numerical analysis of the spatial and temporal evolution of an intense (∼10{sup 13} W cm{sup −2}) pulse propagating in the bulk of yttrium aluminium garnet is presented. (paper)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Utilisation of spatial derivative measurements in circular diffuse optical tomographic imaging to improve image resolution and contrast

The resolution of images recovered using diffuse optical tomography without spatial prior information is inherently limited due to the diffusive nature of light transport in scattering dominated biological tissue. Several studies have previously reported an improvement in depth sensitivity in near infrared spectroscopy by considering the subtraction of two neighbouring measurements. A nearest neighbour, spatial derivative based algorithm is presented, in which the difference between neighbouring source-sharing source – detector pairs is considered for tomographic reconstruction. Using a circular, inward-facing optode geometry, it is shown that deeper abnormalities in oxyhaemoglobin, deoxyhaemoglobin and water can be recovered with better localisation and contrast as compared to reconstructing using absolute values of multi-wavelength data. Relative improvements of up to 25 % in quantitative accuracy of recovered physiological values are demonstrated at better resolution for cancerous tissue in a heterogeneous breast model, when using this proposed spatial derivative based parameter reconstruction. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Laser speckle contrast imaging of blood microcirculation in pancreatic tissues during laparoscopic interventions

Laser speckle contrast imaging of the microcirculatory bed of the pancreas is performed, which allows its condition to be assessed and thereby is an additional valuable tool for making a diagnostic decision and dynamically monitoring the effectiveness of the treatment for pathology of the abdominal organs. Laparoscopic operations on the pancreas are low-traumatic and in most cases avoid open surgical interventions. For the first time an experimental system for recording speckle images, combined with a commercially available five-millimetre rigid laparoscope, is presented. The sensitivity of the system to the fluid motion in a capillary at different velocities is determined, and the possibility of finding areas of blood microcirculation disturbance in modelling pancreatic ischemia in an experiment on laboratory animals is revealed. The laparoscope illumination channel is verified by comparison with speckle dynamics under external illumination of the studied object. (paper)

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Structural and optical properties of nanoparticles formed by laser ablation of porous silicon in liquids: Perspectives in biophotonics

The paper discusses the possibility of manufacturing silicon nanoparticles, which are suitable for contrasting biological tissues imaged by optical coherence tomography, by femtosecond laser ablation of porous silicon in various liquids. The manufactured nanoparticles are characterised by average sizes of 87, 112, and 102 nm for cases of ablation in water, ethanol, and liquid nitrogen, respectively, as well as a relatively narrow size distribution, which provides additional advantages for subsequent delivery into biological tissues. Electrochemical etching, which results in the formation of layers of porous silicon, allows the yield of ablation products to be increased several-fold by lowering the ablation threshold, thereby increasing the light scattering efficiency of the prepared suspensions compared with the case of using crystalline silicon as targets. The possibility of obtaining high-contrast images of a biotissue phantom based on an agar gel with embedded nanoparticles is shown. The magnitude of the contrast depends on the liquid used for ablation and correlates with the values of the reduced scattering coefficient of the studied suspensions. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Generalised hyper-Ramsey spectroscopy of two-level atoms in an optically dense medium

The peculiarities of Ramsey resonance and its sensitivity to the light shift from an optically dense medium of cold atoms are investigated. Different composite pulse protocols for clock spectroscopy, including hyper-Ramsey, modified and generalised hyper-Ramsey schemes, are compared. Error signals change significantly due to the processes of absorption and dispersion in the atomic medium. The dependence of the position of the central fringe resonance with a residual uncompensated light shift of the atomic transition is studied with the attenuation of the radiation intensity in the medium taken into account. It is shown that using a combination of generalised hyper-Ramsey error signals allows one to suppress the sensitivity to the light shift for any length of the medium. (laser cooling of atoms)

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

The influence of waveguide doping on the output characteristics of AlGaAs/GaAs lasers

The influence of doping of waveguide layers on the output characteristics of lasers based on AlGaAs/GaAs double separate-confinement heterostructures is analysed. The heterostructures with narrow and broadened waveguides are studied. Samples of laser diode bars with undoped and doped waveguide layers are experimentally fabricated and compared. It is shown that the latter type of structures with a broadened waveguide allows one to increase the output power of the laser diode bars by 10 % – 15 %, all other conditions being equal. (lasers. control of laser radiation parameters)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Comparative analysis of characteristics of a supersonic cw chemical HF laser on molecular fluorine and nitrogen trifluoride

We have experimentally studied the characteristics of a supersonic cw chemical HF laser with a flat nozzle array based on a nozzle – nozzle reagent mixing scheme operating with the use of F{sub 2} – D{sub 2} – He and NF{sub 3} – D{sub 2} – He fuel compositions in an atomic fluorine generator. The active medium flow field pattern, its gas-dynamic characteristics, and the laser radiation spectrum are considered. The comparison of these characteristics has made it possible to establish a strong impact on the flow field (lasing zone length) of the chemical composition of the combustion products from the atomic fluorine generator. The gas-dynamic parameters of the active medium formed by using a NF{sub 3} – D{sub 2} – He fuel have turned out to be less acceptable in terms of the gas flow pressure recovery than in the case of F{sub 2} – D{sub 2} – He fuel, while the radiation spectrum was more preferable from the viewpoint of passing through the atmosphere. (paper)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗