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NASA NTRS2002

Piloted Evaluation of a UH-60 Mixer Equivalent Turbulence Simulation Model

A simulation study of a recently developed hover/low speed Mixer Equivalent Turbulence Simulation (METS) model for the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was conducted in the NASA Ames Research Center Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS). The experiment was a continuation of previous work to develop a simple, but validated, turbulence model for hovering rotorcraft. To validate the METS model, two experienced test pilots replicated precision hover tasks that had been conducted in an instrumented UH-60 helicopter in turbulence. Objective simulation data were collected for comparison with flight test data, and subjective data were collected that included handling qualities ratings and pilot comments for increasing levels of turbulence. Analyses of the simulation results show good analytic agreement between the METS model and flight test data, with favorable pilot perception of the simulated turbulence. Precision hover tasks were also repeated using the more complex rotating-frame SORBET (Simulation Of Rotor Blade Element Turbulence) model to generate turbulence. Comparisons of the empirically derived METS model with the theoretical SORBET model show good agreement providing validation of the more complex blade element method of simulating turbulence.

Lusardi, Jeff A.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Handling qualities of aircraft in the presence of simulated turbulence

A previous paper (1977) has presented results from flight simulator experiments on instrument-flight-rule handling-quality studies of a STOL-type aircraft in the presence of various models of simulated turbulence (Gaussian, modified Gaussian, Rayleigh, and variable length and intensity, VLI). In this paper, additional results are presented for flight simulator experiments on visual-flight-rule approach landings of a STOL-type aircraft. Pilot opinion ratings of the landing approach with visual display are analyzed to determine the most realistic turbulence model and to identify the variables that critically affect the handling quality of aircraft in turbulence. It is shown that turbulence simulated by a VLI model adequately match the desired statistical properties of real atmospheric turbulence, and that aircraft handling quality and pilot task performance are critically affected by turbulence. Realistic turbulence models present greater difficulty in controlling the aircraft than a simple Gaussian model.

Jacobson, I. D.↗

DOE OSTI2017

A performance analysis of ensemble averaging for high fidelity turbulence simulations at the strong scaling limit

We analyze the potential performance benefits of estimating expected quantities in large eddy simulations of turbulent flows using true ensembles rather than ergodic time averaging. Multiple realizations of the same flow are simulated in parallel, using slightly perturbed initial conditions to create unique instantaneous evolutions of the flow field. Each realization is then used to calculate statistical quantities. Provided each instance is sufficiently de-correlated, this approach potentially allows considerable reduction in the time to solution beyond the strong scaling limit for a given accuracy. This study focuses on the theory and implementation of the methodology in Nek5000, a massively parallel open-source spectral element code.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

NASA NTRS1985

Adding computationally efficient realism to Monte Carlo turbulence simulation

Frequently in aerospace vehicle flight simulation, random turbulence is generated using the assumption that the craft is small compared to the length scales of turbulence. The turbulence is presumed to vary only along the flight path of the vehicle but not across the vehicle span. The addition of the realism of three-dimensionality is a worthy goal, but any such attempt will not gain acceptance in the simulator community unless it is computationally efficient. A concept for adding three-dimensional realism with a minimum of computational complexity is presented. The concept involves the use of close rational approximations to irrational spectra and cross-spectra so that systems of stable, explicit difference equations can be used to generate the turbulence.

Campbell, C. W.↗

DOE OSTI2023

On the use of a multigrid-reduction-in-time algorithm for multiscale convergence of turbulence simulations

Simulations of turbulent flow present challenges in terms of accuracy and affordability on modern highly-parallel computer architectures. A multigrid-reduction-in-time algorithm is used to provide a framework for separately evolving different scales of turbulence and for parallelizing the temporal domain, thereby increasing the concurrency. It is hypothesized that the space–time locality of the small scales of turbulence can be used to circumvent difficulties in applying temporal multigrid to flows dominated by inertial physics. For algorithms that fall well short of spectral accuracy (fourth-order is used in this work) attention must be paid to the accuracy of features on scales transferred between multigrid levels. Numerical experiments were performed using implicit large-eddy simulation. Results from applying the approach to an infinite-Reynolds number Taylor–Green flow and a double-shear flow at a Reynolds number of 11650 provide strong evidence that the approach has merit. The multigrid-reduction-in-time framework can be used to parallelize the temporal domain of a high-Reynolds-number turbulent flow and permit independent convergence of different scales. Establishing this foundation allows for future research in reducing the wall-clock time to solve turbulent flows while retaining the same accuracy as sequential solvers. In conclusion, current performance results from parallelizing the temporal domain are not competitive with those from sequential-in-time methods.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2017

Performance Portability of HPC Discovery Science Software: Fusion Energy Turbulence Simulations at Extreme Scale

As HPC R&D moves forward on a variety of “path to exascale” architectures today, an associated objective is to demonstrate performance portability of discovery-science-capable software. Important application domains, such as Magnetic Fusion Energy (MFE), have improved modelling of increasingly complex physical systems -- especially with respect to reducing “time-to-solution” as well as “energy to solution.” The emergence of new insights on confinement scaling in MFE systems has been aided significantly by efficient software capable of harnessing powerful supercomputers to carry out simulations with unprecedented resolution and temporal duration to address increasing problem sizes. Specifically, highly scalable particle-in-cell (PIC) programing methodology is used in this paper to demonstrate how modern scientific applications can achieve efficient architecture-dependent optimizations of performance scaling and code portability for path-to-exascale platforms.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS1980

Shuttle Simulation Turbulence Tapes SSTT users guide

A guide for potential users of Shuttle Simulation Turbulence Tapes is presented. It provides an appropriate description of the characteristics of the simulated turbulence stored on the tapes as well as instructions regarding their proper use. The characteristics of the turbulence series, including the spectral shape, cutoff frequencies, and variation of turbulence parameters with altitude, are discussed.

Tatom, F. B.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Recent advances in Monte Carlo turbulence simulation

The purpose of Monte Carlo turbulence simulation is to add statistically accurate 'bumps' to aerospace vehicle flight simulation. Several recent improvements in the state of the art are reviewed and classified according to various characteristics affecting the realism of the simulation. Areas for future research are made clear by the classification scheme.

Campbell, C. W.↗

DOE OSTI2025

A generative artificial intelligence framework for long-time plasma turbulence simulations

Generative deep learning techniques are employed in a novel framework for the construction of surrogate models capturing the spatiotemporal dynamics of 2D plasma turbulence. The proposed Generative Artificial Intelligence Turbulence (GAIT) framework enables the acceleration of turbulence simulations for long-time transport studies. GAIT leverages a convolutional variational auto-encoder and a recurrent neural network to generate new turbulence data from existing simulations, extending the time horizon of transport studies with minimal computational cost. The application of the GAIT framework to plasma turbulence using the Hasegawa–Wakatani (HW) model is presented, evaluating its performance via various analyses. Very good agreement is found between the GAIT and the HW models in the spatiotemporal Fourier and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition spectra, the flow topology characterized by the Okubo–Weiss parameter, and the time autocorrelation function of turbulent fluctuations. Excellent agreement has also been obtained in the probability distribution function of particle displacements and the effective turbulent diffusivity. In-depth analyses of the latent space of turbulent states, choice of hyperparameters and alternative deep learning models for the time prediction are presented. Our results highlight the potential of Artificial Intelligence-based surrogate models to overcome the computational challenges in turbulence simulation, which can be extended to other situations such as geophysical fluid dynamics.

Artificial intelligence↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Turbulent Simulations of Cooling Jets in Crossflow

Turbulent flow simulations were completed of the THX-III single hole film cooling experiment performed at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). Two different Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) approaches were completed along with a RANS based study. The first LES approach utilizes the Flux Reconstruction (FR) based finite element code GFR, while the second approach makes use of the compact difference solver FDL3DI. Both LES codes were run on grids larger than 1.5 Billion degrees of freedom (DoF). The RANS simulations used FUN3D and included a grid convergence as a turbulence closure study. A summary of the computational approaches and key findings are presented along with the experimental measurements. Significant progress has been made towards the completion of this work, as all but one simulation have been completed. The preliminary findings have shown the LES approaches have excellent agreement with each other, and closely follow the trends of the experiment. The Reynolds stress RANS closure, while the best of the RANS results, had difficulty matching the results of the LES and experimental measurements.

High-Order Methods↗

NASA NTRS1981

Advanced Shuttle Simulation Turbulence Tapes (SSTT) users guide

A nonrecursive model (based on von Karman spectra) for atmospheric turbulence along the flight path of the shuttle orbiter was developed which provides for simulation of instantaneous vertical and horizontal gusts at the vehicle center-of-gravity and also for simulation of instantaneous gust gradients. Based on this model, the time series for both gusts and gust gradients was generated and stored on a series of magnetic tapes which are entitled shuttle simulation turbulence tapes (SSTT). The time series are designed to represent atmospheric turbulence from ground level to an altitude of 120,000 meters. An appropriate description of the characteristics of the simulated turbulence stored on the tapes, as well as instructions regarding their proper use are provided. The characteristics of the turbulence series, including the spectral shape, cutoff frequencies, and variation of turbulence parameters with altitude, are discussed. Information regarding the tapes and their use is presented. Appendices provide results of spectral and statistical analyses of the SSTT and examples of how the SSTT should be used.

Tatom, F. B.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Nonstationary atmospheric boundary layer turbulence simulation

Report on a new and general technique for simulating atmospheric turbulence-like random processes which are statistically homogeneous along the horizontal and nonhomogeneous along the vertical. This technique is general in the sense that it can be used for a broad class of similar problems. Like the other presently available schemes, the techniques presented are based on the Dryden hypothesis and Taylor's frozen eddy hypothesis; however, they go a step further by utilizing certain self-similarity properties of the Dryden spectral density function which permits the development of height invariant filters. These filters are in turn used to generate vertically homogeneous (statistically) random processes from which turbulence at any specified level in the boundary layer can be simulated, thus facilitating the simulation of a nonstationary turbulence process along the flight path of an aircraft during take-off or landing.

Fichtl, G. H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Improved Monte Carlo turbulence simulation for Shuttle reentry studies

A turbulence model for Space Shuttle reentry simulation is presented, which may be used to improve redline selection. It is suggested that the turbulence model in current use is overly conservative because it assumes severe turbulence from reentry altitude to the earth's surface. Two improved versions of the turbulence simulation equations are presented. These are third and fifth order approximations to the von Karman spectrum. The equations are in a form suitable for digital simulation. Both sets of equations can be used to generate a probability distribution of fuel remaining at landing.

Campbell, C. Warren↗

NASA NTRS1979

Atmospheric turbulence simulation for Shuttle orbiter

An improved non-recursive model for atmospheric turbulence along the flight path of the Shuttle Orbiter is developed which provides for simulation of instantaneous vertical and horizontal gusts at the vehicle center-of-gravity, and also for simulation of instantaneous gust gradients. Based on this model the time series for both gusts and gust gradients are generated and stored on a series of magnetic tapes. Section 2 provides a description of the various technical considerations associated with the turbulence simulation model. Included in this section are descriptions of the digital filter simulation model, the von Karman spectra with finite upper limits, and the final non recursive turbulence simulation model which was used to generate the time series. Section 2 provides a description of the various technical considerations associated with the turbulence simulation model. Included in this section are descriptions of the digial filter simulation model, the von Karman spectra with finite upper limits, and the final non recursive turbulence simulation model which was used to generate the time series. Section 3 provides a description of the time series as currently recorded on magnetic tape. Conclusions and recommendations are presented in Section 4.

Tatom, F. B.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Coherent structures in a simulated turbulent mixing layer

A direct numerical simulation of a plane turbulent mixing layer has been performed. The simulation was initialized using two turbulent velocity fields obtained from direct numerical simulation of a turbulent boundary layer at momentum thickness Reynolds number 300 (Spalart, 1988). The mixing layer is allowed to evolve long enough for self-similar linear growth to occur, with the visual thickness Reynolds number reaching 14,000. The simulated flow is examined for evidence of the coherent structures expected in a mixing layer (rollers and rib vortices). Before the onset of self-similar growth, such structures are present with properties similar to the corresponding laminar or transitional structures. In the self-similar growth regime, however, only the rollers are present with no indication of rib vortices and no indication of conventional pairing. This results in a reduction of mixing and layer growth.

Moser, Robert D.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Scaling Properties of Particle Density Fields Formed in Simulated Turbulent Flows

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of particle concentrations in fully developed 3D turbulence were carried out in order to study the nonuniform structure of the particle density field. Three steady-state turbulent fluid fields with Taylor microscale Reynolds numbers (Re(sub lambda)) of 40, 80 and 140 were generated by solving the Navier-Stokes equations with pseudospectral methods. Large scale forcing was used to drive the turbulence and maintain temporal stationarity. The response of the particles to the fluid was parameterized by the particle Stokes number St, defined as the ratio of the particle's stopping time to the mean period of eddies on the Kolmogorov scale (eta). In this paper, we consider only passive particles optimally coupled to these eddies (St approx. = 1) because of their tendency to concentrate more than particles with lesser or greater St values. The trajectories of up to 70 million particles were tracked in the equilibrated turbulent flows until the particle concentration field reached a statistically stationary state. The nonuniform structure of the concentration fields was characterized by the multifractal singularity spectrum, f(alpha), derived from measures obtained after binning particles into cells ranging from 2(eta) to 15(eta) in size. We observed strong systematic variations of f(alpha) across this scale range in all three simulations and conclude that the particle concentration field is not statistically self similar across the scale range explored. However, spectra obtained at the 2(eta), 4(eta), and 8(eta) scales of each flow case were found to be qualitatively similar. This result suggests that the local structure of the particle concentration field may be flow-Independent. The singularity spectra found for 2n-sized cells were used to predict concentration distributions in good agreement with those obtained directly from the particle data. This Singularity spectrum has a shape similar to the analogous spectrum derived for the inertial-range energy dissipation fields of experimental turbulent flows at Re(sub lambda) = 110 and 1100. Based on this agreement, and the expectation that both dissipation and particle concentration are controlled by the same cascade process, we hypothesize that singularity spectra similar to the ones found in this work provide a good characterization of the spatially averaged statistical properties of preferentially concentrated particles in higher Re(sub lambda) turbulent flows.

Hogan, Robert C.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Spectrally accelerated edge and scrape-off layer gyrokinetic turbulence simulations

This paper presents the first gyrokinetic (GK) simulations of edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) turbulence accelerated by a velocity-space spectral approach in the full-f GK code GENE-X. Building upon the original grid velocity-space discretization, we derive and implement a new spectral formulation and verify the numerical implementation using the method of manufactured solution. We conduct a series of spectral turbulence simulations focusing on the TCV-X21 reference case (Oliveira et al., 2022 [26]) and compare these results with previously validated grid simulations (Ulbl et al., 2023 [25]). The spectral approach reproduces the outboard midplane (OMP) profiles (density, temperature, and radial electric field), dominated by trapped electron mode (TEM) turbulence, with excellent agreement and significantly lower velocity-space resolution. As a consequence, the spectral approach reduces the computational cost (CPUh) by at least an order of magnitude, of approximately 50 for the TCV-X21 case. This enables high-fidelity GK simulations to be performed within a few days on modern CPU-based supercomputers for medium-sized devices and establishes GENE-X as a powerful tool for studying edge and SOL turbulence, moving towards reactor-relevant devices like ITER.

Gyrokinetic↗

DOE OSTI2014

L-H transition dynamics in fluid turbulence simulations with neoclassical force balance

Spontaneous transport barrier generation at the edge of a magnetically confined plasma is reproduced in flux-driven three-dimensional fluid simulations of electrostatic turbulence. Here, the role on the radial electric field of collisional friction between trapped and passing particles is shown to be the key ingredient. Especially, accounting for the self-consistent and precise dependence of the friction term on the actual plasma temperature allows for the triggering of a transport barrier, provided that the input power exceeds some threshold. In addition, the barrier is found to experience quasi-periodic relaxation events, reminiscent of edge localised modes. These results put forward a possible key player, namely, neoclassical physics via radial force balance, for the low- to high-confinement regime transition observed in most of controlled fusion devices.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗