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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 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Numerical simulation of a subtropical squall line over the Taiwan Strait

The present 2D nonhydrostatic, time-dependent numerical cloud model, which is applied to the structure and development of a subtropical squall line observed during the Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment, includes (1) a parameterized ice-phase microphysical scheme, (2) longwave and shortwave radiative-transfer processes, and (3) heat and moisture fluxes from the ocean surface. A comparative study is made of the vertical transport of horizontal momentum and of the latent heat release by the simulated subtropical squall system, as well as the heat release of squall systems occurring in other geographic locations.

Tao, Wei-Kuo↗
NASA NTRS1994

The albedo of fractal stratocumulus clouds

An increase in the planetary albedo of the earth-atmosphere system by only 10% can decrease the equilibrium surface temperature to that of the last ice age. Nevertheless, albedo biases of 10% or greater would be introduced into large regions of current climate models if clouds were given their observed liquid water amounts, because of the treatment of clouds as plane parallel. The focus on marine stratocumulus clouds is due to their important role in cloud radiative forcing and also that, of the wide variety of earth's cloud types, they are most nearly plane parallel, so that they have the least albedo bias. The fractal model employed here reproduces both the probability distribution and the wavenumber spectrum of the stratocumulus liquid water path, as observed during the First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE). A single new fractal parameter 0 less than or equal to f less than or equal to 1, is introduced and determined empirically by the variance of the logarithm of the vertically integrated liquid water. The reduced reflectivity of fractal stratocumulus clouds is approximately given by the plane-parallel reflectivity evaluated at a reduced 'effective optical thickness,' which when f = 0.5 is tau(sub eff) approximately equal to 10. Study of the diurnal cycle of stratocumulus liquid water during FIRE leads to a key unexpected result: the plane-parallel albedo bias is largest when the cloud fraction reaches 100%, that is, when any bias associated with the cloud fraction vanishes. This is primarily due to the variability increase with cloud fraction. Thus, the within-cloud fractal structure of stratocumulus has a more significant impact on estimates of its mesoscale-average albedo than does the cloud fraction.

Cahalan, Robert F.↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Structural Changes of Tropical Cyclones Upon Interaction with Vertical Wind Shear

The Fourth Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-4) provided a unique opportunity to observe the distributions and document the roles of important atmospheric factors that impact the development of the core asymmetries and core structural changes of tropical cyclones embedded in vertical wind shear. The state-of-the-art instruments flown on the NASA DC-8 and ER-2, in addition to those on the NOAA aircraft, provided a unique set of observations that documented the core structure throughout the depth of the tropical cyclone. These data have been used to conduct a combined observational and modeling study using a state-of-the-art, high- resolution mesoscale model to examine the role of the environmental vertical wind shear in producing tropical cyclone core asymmetries, and the effects on the structure and intensity of tropical cyclones.The scientific objectives of this study were to obtain in situ measurements that would allow documentation of the physical mechanisms that influence the development of the asymmetric convection and its effect on the core structure of the tropical cyclone.

Ritchie, Elizabeth A.↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Adaptive-Mesh-Refinement Based Computational Tool for Simulating Catalysis at Mesoscale

In this work, we present a computational tool for mesoscale applications using open-source exascale- computing compatible adaptive-mesh-refinement (AMR) library, AMReX [2]. AMReX is software library that enables development of application solvers with block-structured Cartesian AMR. Our tool has capabilities to include realistic geometry representation, chemical species transport, reactions and thermodynamics that are critical for capturing mesoscale physics. A significant achievement is the ability of our solver to automatically import electron microscopy data in the form of a stereolithography (STL) or pixelated file format (mrc, tiff) without undergoing the tedious task of unstructured mesh generation. This feature allows for rapid simulation of catalyst particles with complex morphologies using an immersed-boundary formulation. The use of AMR allows for higher resolutions at catalyst surface interfaces, which in turn provides an accurate description of surface reactions and transport. Our solver uses a hybrid distributed and shared memory parallelism (OpenMP/GPU-based) with which strong scaling up to 10,000 processors for realistic catalyst particle simulations have been demonstrated.

BIOMASS FUELS,MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Linking electronic structure calculations to generalized stacking fault energies in multicomponent alloys

Abstract The generalized stacking fault energy is a key ingredient to mesoscale models of dislocations. Here we develop an approach to quantify the dependence of generalized stacking fault energies on the degree of chemical disorder in multicomponent alloys. We introduce the notion of a “configurationally-resolved planar fault” (CRPF) energy and extend the cluster expansion method from alloy theory to express the CRPF as a function of chemical occupation variables of sites surrounding the fault. We apply the approach to explore the composition and temperature dependence of the unstable stacking fault energy (USF) in binary Mo–Nb alloys. First-principles calculations are used to parameterize a formation energy and CRPF cluster expansion. Monte Carlo simulations show that the distribution of USF energies is significantly affected by chemical composition and temperature. The formalism is broadly applicable to arbitrary crystal structures and alloy chemistries and will enable the development of rigorous models for deformation mechanisms in high-entropy alloys.

Natarajan, Anirudh Raju (ORCID:0000000202529480)↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mesoscale characteristics of monsoonal convection and associated stratiform precipitation

Observations undertaken on 12 January 1990 at Darwin (Australia) are used to document the structure of a monsoonal rainband in a low convective available potential energy low-shear tropical environment. Dual-Doppler radar analyses are employed to investigate the structure and kinematics of the convective and stratiform regions. A system with the characteristics of a relatively short-lived squall line in which warm rain processes play a significant role in the production of precipitation is evident. Planetary boundary layer cold-pool production is important in the organization and motion of the system. A trailing stratiform region is evident with a mean updraft-downdraft circulation, but is composed of in situ decaying convective cells. A storm-relative mesoscale cyclonic circulation is also observed within the stratiform cloud. This vortex was maintained by thermodynamically induced midlevel convergence, convectively generated storm-scale circulations, and their interaction with the background monsoon flow.

Keenan, Thomas D.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Novel method to control explosive shock sensitivity: A mesoscale study to understand the effect of thermally expandable microsphere (TEM) inclusions in high explosives (HE) microstructure

When the void content and/or void structure of a high explosive (HE) is altered by some means (i.e., bulk heating or mechanical damage), the shock initiation behavior of the material changes. The ability to precisely predict the change in shock sensitivity after an HE has undergone microstructural changes is a crucial capability in multi-scale reactive flow models. Here, we utilize thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) as a dopant in a polymer bonded explosive (PBX) matrix to alter the shock initiation properties in a controlled fashion. Here, using a mesoscale modeling approach, we evaluated how a single TEM (before and after thermal expansion) behaves under shock compression, as well as how the matrix PBX in the direct vicinity of the TEM is affected. We first examined the effect of an unexpanded TEM in the explosive matrix and found that its presence does not significantly perturb the bulk flow and by extension will not affect bulk sensitivity. Next, we examined the effect of an expanded TEM and found that its presence significantly perturbs the flow via hydrodynamic jetting, which causes a secondary shock wave with a strength that exceeds that of the incident wave. Finally, we showed that this secondary shock interacts with the downstream porosity to ignite a larger fraction of the overall pore volume, commensurate with the secondary shock strength and the affected volume, increasing the global (bulk) shock sensitivity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Structural analyses of macromolecules by solution scattering (CRADA Final Report)

New innovative Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) methods to visualized macromolecules in solution at low resolution has led the SIBYLS group at Lawrence Berkeley Lab in being a world leader in biological SAXS. This research is particularly important now as LBNL establishes high-priority research topics including molecular to mesoscale analysis. This new expanding area of research relies on and ties in with our efforts towards developing a solution structure modeling tool for RNA structure prediction. Due to the pandemic our efforts focused on the SARS-CoV-2 proteins and RNA interactions. Specifically, we characterized SARS-CoC-2 proteins interaction with RNA (Wilanowski et al. 2021 -Hammel group) and Nucleoprotein interaction with RNA (Schneidman group).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Improving Process Level Understanding of Boundary Layer Winds over the Northeast U.S. Shelf: The Third Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP3)

The third Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP3), a U.S. Department of Energy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sponsored investigation, sought to improve understanding of the physical phenomena in the atmosphere and ocean that dictate the structure and variability of wind and thermodynamic fields within the marine atmospheric boundary layer. WFIP3 focused on mesoscale and submesoscale flows -- including sea breezes, low-level jets, low-level clouds, and coastal storms -- and the ability of advanced numerical model parameterizations to represent them within fully coupled oceanic and atmospheric modeling systems and foundational weather forecast models. WFIP3 conducted a comprehensive 18-month observational study over the Northeast U.S. outer continental shelf, a high-use coastal zone, using a 3D multiscale sensor array to highly resolve the temporal, vertical, and horizontal structure of the coupled atmospheric and oceanic boundary layers. Multiple land-based study sites adjacent to the coastal ocean observed surface meteorology and vertical profiles of atmospheric properties via passive infrared and microwave radiometers, active lidars and radars, and radiosondes. At sea, an array of surface flux buoys and two vertical profiling lidar buoys observed both atmospheric and oceanic properties, augmented by land-based oceanographic radar systems and routine ship-based surveys. Intensive observations of the marine atmospheric boundary layer over the ocean was done from an air-sea interaction flux tower and extended deployments of a large autonomous barge platform. Numerous critical forecasting phenomena were observed that are being evaluated within regional coupled and uncoupled modeling systems, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's foundational High-Resolution Rapid Refresh forecast model.

Kirincich, Anthony↗
DOE OSTI2022

High Velocity, Low‐Voltage Collective In‐Plane Switching in (100) BaTiO 3 Thin Films

Abstract Ferroelectrics are being increasingly called upon for electronic devices in extreme environments. Device performance and energy efficiency is highly correlated to clock frequency, operational voltage, and resistive loss. To increase performance it is common to engineer ferroelectric domain structure with highly‐correlated electrical and elastic coupling that elicit fast and efficient collective switching. Designing domain structures with advantageous properties is difficult because the mechanisms involved in collective switching are poorly understood and difficult to investigate. Collective switching is a hierarchical process where the nano‐ and mesoscale responses control the macroscopic properties. Using chemical solution synthesis, epitaxially nearly‐relaxed (100) BaTiO 3 films are synthesized. Thermal strain induces a strongly‐correlated domain structure with alternating domains of polarization along the [010] and [001] in‐plane axes and 90° domain walls along the [011] or [01] directions. Simultaneous capacitance–voltage measurements and band‐excitation piezoresponse force microscopy revealed strong collective switching behavior. Using a deep convolutional autoencoder, hierarchical switching is automatically tracked and the switching pathway is identified. The collective switching velocities are calculated to be ≈500 cm s −1 at 5 V (7 kV cm −1 ), orders‐of‐magnitude faster than expected. These combinations of properties are promising for high‐speed tunable dielectrics and low‐voltage ferroelectric memories and logic.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Combined Experimental and Computational Study of Molybdenum and Niobium for Nuclear Sensor Application

Due to their novel electromagnetic and thermal properties, molybdenum (Mo) and niobium (Nb) become optimal temperature sensor materials for nuclear energy applications. We leveraged voltage recorded during a heat ramp to tune a computational method to predict the Seebeck electromotive force (EMF) of Mo and Nb. Using a combined Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Boltzmann Transport Equations (BTE) method the voltage was predicted but did not include the effects of temperature on atomic structure. Combining Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics (AIMD) and BTE included temperature effects on structure optimization and yielded voltages in a good agreement with experiment. Lanthanum (La) and Phosphorus (P) additives in Mo and Nb, respectively, could increase the EMF compared to those of the pure metals. The presence of oxygen (O) in Mo increases the EMF while O in Nb slightly reduces the EMF. Furthermore, our studies suggested that heat treatment-induced structural changes that lead to a reduction in voltage occur not only at the mesoscale as previously understood but also at the atomic scale.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1980

Deep convection on day 261 of GATE

The structural features of the deep convection observed on September 18, 1974, day 261 of the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE), as the ridge axis of a 700 mb wave passed the center of the GATE B-scale network are reported. Satellite and aircraft maps indicate the presence of clouds penetrating above 2.5 km into the middle troposphere organized in bands about 9 km apart and aligned roughly along the direction of the wind shear in the cloud layer. Radar echoes corresponding to cumulus convection of lifetime, peak height and peak rainfall rates on the orders of 30 min, 6 km and 1.3 mm/h, respectively, were observed to triple in number density as convergence at 950 hPa increased from 1.5 to 3 x 10 to the -5th/sec. The structural features of the radar echoes indicate that the day was similar to a mesoscale precipitation feature of Leary and Houe (1979), with the cluster consisting of many echoes appearing in succession. Data from aircraft penetrations of the deep convection reveal downdrafts accompanying the precipitation and updrafts immediately to their south. Shipboard and rawinsonde observations show that the convective downdrafts brought down air of low pseudo-equivalent potential temperature, with local surface convergence of up to 0.001/sec. Mean wind shears through the cloud layer to the top of a main cloud layer are found to be only 75% greater than those of Malkus (1958) for the Caribbean, with shears just above the cloud base several factors larger.

Warner, C.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Processable High Electron Mobility {pi}-Copolymers via Mesoscale Backbone Conformational Ordering

The synthesis and experimental/theoretical characterization of a new series of electron-transporting copolymers based on the naphthalene bis(4,8-diamino-1,5-dicarboxyl)amide (NBA) building block are reported. Comonomers are designed to test the emergent effects of manipulating backbone torsional characteristics, and density functional theory (DFT) analysis reveals the key role of backbone conformation in optimizing electronic delocalization and transport. The NBA copolymer conformational and electronic properties are characterized using a broad array of molecular/macromolecular, thermal, optical, electrochemical, and charge transport techniques. All NBA copolymers exhibit strongly aggregated morphologies with significant nanoscale order. Copolymer charge transport properties are investigated in thin-film transistors and exhibit excellent electron mobilities ranging from 0.4 to 4.5 cm(2) V-1 s(-1). Importantly, the electron transport efficiency correlates with the film mesoscale order, which emerges from comonomer-dependent backbone planarity and extension. These results illuminate the key NBA building block structure-morphology-bulk property design relationships essential for processable, electronics-applicable high-performance polymeric semiconductors.

n‐↗
DOE OSTI2026

High-Resolution Mesoscale Simulations of Historical U.S. Gulf Coast Hurricanes

This dataset provides coupled mesoscale and microscale (large-eddy simulation; LES) atmospheric simulations of five historical U.S. Gulf Coast hurricanes. Meso-microscale coupled simulations of Hurricanes Harvey (2017), Nate (2017), Michael (2018), Laura (2020), and Delta (2020) were performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model v4.1.5. The mesoscale component captures the multi-day evolution of each storm's track, intensity, and large-scale structure across the Gulf of Mexico, while the LES component explicitly resolves the dominant turbulent eddies in the hurricane boundary layer at a horizontal grid spacing of 33.33 m. Together, these simulations characterize tropical cyclone wind fields across atmospheric scales ranging from ~100 km down to ~100 m, spanning storm intensities from Category 2 through Category 4 on the Saffir–Simpson scale. This dataset contains the mesoscale simulations, separated by each storm.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2011

Upstream Structures and Their Effects on the Magnetosphere

Kinetic processes within the Earth's foreshock generate a profusion of plasma and magnetic field structures with sizes and durations ranging from the microscale (e.g. SLAMs, solitons, and density holes) to the mesoscale (e.g. foreshock cavities or boundaries, hot flow anomalies, and bubbles). Swept into the bow shock by the solar wind flow, the perturbations associated with these features batter the magnetosphere, driving a wide variety of magnetospheric effects, including large amplitude magnetopause motion, bursty reconnection and the generation of flux transfer events, enhanced pulsation activity within the magnetosphere, diffusion and energization of radiation belt particles, enhanced particle precipitation resulting in dayside aurora and riometer absorption, and the generation of field-aligned currents and magnetic impulse events in high-latitude ground magnetometers. This talk reviews the ever growing menagery of structures observed upstream from the bow shock, examines their possible interrelationships, and considers their magnetospheric consequences.

Sibeck, D. G.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hydrogen trapping energetics at BCC iron-helium interfaces

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been performed to assess the trapping and segregation strength of hydrogen (H) to helium (He) interfaces in BCC (Fe) as a function of He density and surface orientation. The He density ranges from 0 to 2 He/V which corresponds to equilibrium bubbles that are expected to form in the structural components in a fusion reactor environment. The DFT calculations consist of a slab of BCC metal and an initial lattice of FCC He. Here, the report on the binding energy of H to these interfaces as well as the migration barriers into and away from the surface, which together provide information on the de-trapping energy for H at He bubbles. It was found that the binding energy of H to He-Fe interfaces decreases with increasing He density. Migration barriers are also modified due to the He density, which are sensitive to the surface orientation as well as the diffusion pathway. These results provide valuable first-principles energetics that are necessary for higher-order, mesoscale models, and provide insight into the extent to which He bubbles may trap tritium in fusion structural materials.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advanced magnetic X-ray spectro-microscopies to characterize mesoscopic magnetic materials

Here, this article provides a brief overview of advanced magnetic X-ray spectro-microscopies that are widely used in characterizing mesoscopic magnetic materials. Common to those techniques are various X-ray magnetic dichroism effects that are used as magnetic contrast mechanism. A particular interest is to use those techniques to image the underlying microscopic spin structures in magnetic materials with high spatial resolution and to ultimately resolve their full 3D mesoscale characteristics with elemental sensitivity, as well as their ultrafast dynamics upon excitations with field and current pulses. Recent research examples using various magnetic X-ray spectro-microscopies are presented to showcase their specific features with a focus on imaging novel topological spin textures, such as vortices, skyrmions and Hopfions, which are considered as potential building blocks towards low power, high-speed and high-density magnetic devices that could transform information technologies and potentially be used in biomedical applications. Future developments with magnetic X-ray spectro-microscopies harness the full coherence of next generation X-ray sources and could open the path towards single shot imaging with spatial and temporal resolutions down to fundamental magnetic length and time scales.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Active-noise-induced dynamic clustering of passive colloidal particles

Active fluids generate spontaneous, often chaotic mesoscale flows. Harnessing these flows to drive soft materials embedded within an active fluid into structures with controlled length scales and lifetimes is a key challenge at the interface between the fields of active matter and nonequilibrium self-assembly. Here, we present a simple and efficient computational approach to model soft materials advected by active fluids, by simulating particles moving in a spatiotemporally correlated noise field. To illustrate our approach, we simulate the dynamical self-organization of repulsive colloids within such an active noise field. The colloids form structures whose sizes and dynamics can be tuned by the correlation time and length of the active fluid, and range from small rotating droplets to clusters with internal flows and system-spanning sizes that vastly exceed the active correlation length. Our results explain how the interplay between active fluid time and length scales and emergent driven assembly can be used to rationally design functional assemblies. More broadly, our approach can be used to efficiently simulate diverse active fluids and other systems with spatiotemporally correlated noise.

Brownian dynamics↗