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At least 397 records · Page 22

Protocols and methodologies for acquiring and analyzing critical-current versus longitudinal-strain data in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+x wires

Abstract In the literature on Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+ x (Bi-2212) superconducting wires, it is evident that measurement protocols for transport critical-current I c versus longitudinal strain ϵ and definitions of the so-called ‘strain limit’ are generally dissimilar. Yet, values obtained for the ‘strain limit’ are frequently assimilated to being those of the irreversible strain limit ϵ irr , regardless of the I c degradation-criterion used to define it. In effect, ϵ irr should correspond specifically to the I c ( ϵ ) irreversibility onset , where crack formation in Bi-2212 filaments presumably starts. Because I c ( ϵ ) degradation remains progressive over a fairly wide strain range beyond ϵ irr , the different I c degradation-criteria in use do not yield to the same result and, thus, are not equivalent from metrology perspective. Indeed, in studying densified samples of a modern Bi-2212 round wire, we found ϵ irr ≈ 0.4% and ϵ 5% ≈ 0.6% ( ϵ 5% being the strain where I c degrades by 5%). In this paper, we outline and suggest I c ( ϵ )-measurement protocols and data-analysis methodologies in the hope to converge the various approaches taken for studying Bi-2212 strain properties and, thus, remove related result discrepancies. A unified approach would enable more objective data comparisons among laboratories and among different Bi-2212 conductors. It would pave the way for more rigorous studies of effects potentially associated with wire design, powder, heat treatments, and other such parameters on the conductor’s strain properties.

protocols↗

Dual Extended Kalman Filter for the Identification of Time-Varying Human Manual Control Behavior

A Dual Extended Kalman Filter was implemented for the identification of time-varying human manual control behavior. Two filters that run concurrently were used, a state filter that estimates the equalization dynamics, and a parameter filter that estimates the neuromuscular parameters and time delay. Time-varying parameters were modeled as a random walk. The filter successfully estimated time-varying human control behavior in both simulated and experimental data. Simple guidelines are proposed for the tuning of the process and measurement covariance matrices and the initial parameter estimates. The tuning was performed on simulation data, and when applied on experimental data, only an increase in measurement process noise power was required in order for the filter to converge and estimate all parameters. A sensitivity analysis to initial parameter estimates showed that the filter is more sensitive to poor initial choices of neuromuscular parameters than equalization parameters, and bad choices for initial parameters can result in divergence, slow convergence, or parameter estimates that do not have a real physical interpretation. The promising results when applied to experimental data, together with its simple tuning and low dimension of the state-space, make the use of the Dual Extended Kalman Filter a viable option for identifying time-varying human control parameters in manual tracking tasks, which could be used in real-time human state monitoring and adaptive human-vehicle haptic interfaces.

manual control↗

Uncertainty Quantification and Sensitivity Analysis for Simulation of Hostile Blast Events [Slides]

A mesh convergence study shows that shock arrival times converge for basic flow shots. Sensitivity study reveals a surprisingly high sensitivity to the placement of the HE package. Bayesian inference tools used on the experimental datasets suggest this is a real effect. Sensitivity analysis of ambient conditions such as temperature and pressure reveal minimal effect. Porting of pressure data from QUINOA simulations to perform structural analysis on the aeroshell geometry was successful, and shows a strong dependence of payload response to the angle of attack.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Deep VLA images of the HH 124 IRS radio cluster and its surroundings, and a new determination of the distance to NGC 2264

We present new deep (σ ∼ 6 μJy) radio images of the HH 124 IRS radio cluster at 4.8 and 7.5 GHz. We detect a total of 50 radio sources, most of them compact. Variability and spectral indices were analyzed in order to determine the nature of the sources and of their radio emission. A proper motion study was also performed for several of these radio sources using previously reported radio observations. Our analysis shows that 11 radio sources can be associated with Galactic objects, most of them probably young stars. Interestingly, 8 of these sources are in an area less than 1 arcmin{sup 2} in size. The importance of such compact clusters resides in that all of its members can be observed in a single pointing with most telescopes and are, therefore, ideal for multi-wavelength studies of variability. Another 4 of the detected sources are clearly extragalactic. Finally, we propose from statistical arguments that out of the remaining sources, about 10 are Galactic, but our study does not allow us to identify which of the sources fall in that specific category. The relatively large proper motions observed for the sources in HH 124 IRS suggest that this region is located at about 400 pc from the Sun. This is significantly smaller than the ∼800-900 pc distance usually assigned to the nearby open cluster NGC 2264 with which HH 124 is thought to be associated. However, a reanalysis of the Hipparcos parallaxes for members of NGC 2264, a convergent point approach, and a kinematic analysis all argue in favor of a distance of the order of 400 pc for NGC 2264 as well.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

On Bi-Grid Local Mode Analysis of Solution Techniques for 3-D Euler and Navier-Stokes Equations

A procedure is presented for utilizing a bi-grid stability analysis as a practical tool for predicting multigrid performance in a range of numerical methods for solving Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Model problems based on the convection, diffusion and Burger's equation are used to illustrate the superiority of the bi-grid analysis as a predictive tool for multigrid performance in comparison to the smoothing factor derived from conventional von Neumann analysis. For the Euler equations, bi-grid analysis is presented for three upwind difference based factorizations, namely Spatial, Eigenvalue and Combination splits, and two central difference based factorizations, namely LU and ADI methods. In the former, both the Steger-Warming and van Leer flux-vector splitting methods are considered. For the Navier-Stokes equations, only the Beam-Warming (ADI) central difference scheme is considered. In each case, estimates of multigrid convergence rates from the bi-grid analysis are compared to smoothing factors obtained from single-grid stability analysis. Effects of grid aspect ratio and flow skewness are examined. Both predictions are compared with practical multigrid convergence rates for 2-D Euler and Navier-Stokes solutions based on the Beam-Warming central scheme.

Ibraheem, S. O.↗

Elastic-plastic mixed-iterative finite element analysis: Implementation and performance assessment

An elastic-plastic algorithm based on Von Mises and associative flow criteria is implemented in MHOST-a mixed iterative finite element analysis computer program developed by NASA Lewis Research Center. The performance of the resulting elastic-plastic mixed-iterative analysis is examined through a set of convergence studies. Membrane and bending behaviors of 4-node quadrilateral shell finite elements are tested for elastic-plastic performance. Generally, the membrane results are excellent, indicating the implementation of elastic-plastic mixed-iterative analysis is appropriate.

Sutjahjo, Edhi↗

Consistent linearization of the element-independent corotational formulation for the structural analysis of general shells

A consistent linearization is provided for the element-dependent corotational formulation, providing the proper first and second variation of the strain energy. As a result, the warping problem that has plagued flat elements has been overcome, with beneficial effects carried over to linear solutions. True Newton quadratic convergence has been restored to the Structural Analysis of General Shells (STAGS) code for conservative loading using the full corotational implementation. Some implications for general finite element analysis are discussed, including what effect the automatic frame invariance provided by this work might have on the development of new, improved elements.

Rankin, C. C.↗

Extended Forward Sensitivity Analysis for Uncertainty Quantification

Verification and validation (V&V) are playing more important roles to quantify uncertainties and realize high fidelity simulations in engineering system analyses, such as transients happened in a complex nuclear reactor system. Traditional V&V in the reactor system analysis focused more on the validation part or did not differentiate verification and validation. The traditional approach to uncertainty quantification is based on a 'black box' approach. The simulation tool is treated as an unknown signal generator, a distribution of inputs according to assumed probability density functions is sent in and the distribution of the outputs is measured and correlated back to the original input distribution. The 'black box' method mixes numerical errors with all other uncertainties. It is also not efficient to perform sensitivity analysis. Contrary to the 'black box' method, a more efficient sensitivity approach can take advantage of intimate knowledge of the simulation code. In these types of approaches equations for the propagation of uncertainty are constructed and the sensitivities are directly solved for as variables in the simulation. This paper presents the forward sensitivity analysis as a method to help uncertainty qualification. By including time step and potentially spatial step as special sensitivity parameters, the forward sensitivity method is extended as one method to quantify numerical errors. Note that by integrating local truncation errors over the whole system through the forward sensitivity analysis process, the generated time step and spatial step sensitivity information reflect global numerical errors. The discretization errors can be systematically compared against uncertainties due to other physical parameters. This extension makes the forward sensitivity method a much more powerful tool to help uncertainty qualification. By knowing the relative sensitivity of time and space steps with other interested physical parameters, the simulation is allowed to run at optimized time and space steps without affecting the confidence of the physical parameter sensitivity results. The time and space steps forward sensitivity analysis method can also replace the traditional time step and grid convergence study with much less computational cost. Several well defined benchmark problems with manufactured solutions are utilized to demonstrate the extended forward sensitivity analysis method. All the physical solutions, parameter sensitivity solutions, even the time step sensitivity in one case, have analytical forms, which allows the verification to be performed in the strictest sense.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Fourier analysis of the SOR iteration

The SOR iteration for solving linear systems of equations depends upon an overrelaxation factor omega. It is shown that for the standard model problem of Poisson's equation on a rectangle, the optimal omega and corresponding convergence rate can be rigorously obtained by Fourier analysis. The trick is to tilt the space-time grid so that the SOR stencil becomes symmetrical. The tilted grid also gives insight into the relation between convergence rates of several variants.

Leveque, R. J.↗

Chiral limit of 2d QCD revisited with lightcone conformal truncation

We study the chiral limit of 2d QCD with a single quark flavor at finite Nc using LCT. By modifying the LCT basis according to the quark mass in a manner motivated by ’t Hooft’s analysis, we are able to restore convergence for quark masses much smaller than the QCD strong coupling scale. For such small quark masses, the IR of the theory is expected to be well described by the Sine-Gordon model. We verify that LCT numerics are able to capture in detail the spectrum and correlation functions of the Sine-Gordon model. This opens up the possibility for studying deformations of various integrable CFTs using LCT by considering the chiral limit of QCD like theories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Robust verification analysis

We introduce a new methodology for inferring the accuracy of computational simulations through the practice of solution verification. We demonstrate this methodology on examples from computational heat transfer, fluid dynamics and radiation transport. Our methodology is suited to both well- and ill-behaved sequences of simulations. Our approach to the analysis of these sequences of simulations incorporates expert judgment into the process directly via a flexible optimization framework, and the application of robust statistics. The expert judgment is systematically applied as constraints to the analysis, and together with the robust statistics guards against over-emphasis on anomalous analysis results. We have named our methodology Robust Verification. Our methodology is based on utilizing multiple constrained optimization problems to solve the verification model in a manner that varies the analysis' underlying assumptions. Constraints applied in the analysis can include expert judgment regarding convergence rates (bounds and expectations) as well as bounding values for physical quantities (e.g., positivity of energy or density). This approach then produces a number of error models, which are then analyzed through robust statistical techniques (median instead of mean statistics). This provides self-contained, data and expert informed error estimation including uncertainties for both the solution itself and order of convergence. Our method produces high quality results for the well-behaved cases relatively consistent with existing practice. The methodology can also produce reliable results for ill-behaved circumstances predicated on appropriate expert judgment. We demonstrate the method and compare the results with standard approaches used for both code and solution verification on well-behaved and ill-behaved simulations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High throughput crystal structure and composition mapping of crystalline nanoprecipitates in alloys by transmission Kikuchi diffraction and analytical electron microscopy

Statistically significant crystal structure and composition identification of nanocrystalline features such as nanoparticles/nanoprecipitates in materials chemistry and alloy designing using electron microscopy remains a grand challenge. In this paper, we reveal that differing crystallographic phases of nanoprecipitates in alloys can be mapped with unprecedented statistics using transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD), on typical carbon-based electron-transparent samples. Using a case of multiphase, multicomponent nanoprecipitates extracted from an improved version of 9% chromium Eurofer-97 reduced-activation ferritic-martensitic steel we show that TKD successfully identified more than thousand M 23 C 6 , MX, M 7 C 3 , and M 2 X ( M =Fe, Cr, W, V, Ta; X = C, N) nanoprecipitates in a single scan, something that is currently unachievable using a transmission electron microscope (TEM) without incorporating a precision electron diffraction (PED) system. Precipitates as small as ~20–25 nm were successfully phase identified by TKD. We verified the TKD phase identification using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) pattern analysis of a few precipitates that were identified by TKD on same sample. TKD study was combined with state-of-art analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM)-energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and multivariate statistical analysis (MVSA) which provided the complete crystal structure and distinct chemistries of the precipitates in the steel in a high throughput automated way. This technique should be applicable to characterizing any multiphase crystalline nanoparticles or nanomaterials. Furthermore the results highlight that combining phase identification by TKD with analytical STEM and modern data analytics may open new pathways in big data material characterization at nanoscale that may be highly beneficial for characterizing existing materials and in designing new materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The method of convergence to calculate particles fluxes in X rays spectrometry techniques. Application in nuclear compounds

A method to calculate particle fluxes applicable in most of the spectroscopy techniques is described. Flux intensities of backscattered or absorbed electrons and emitted photons are calculated using a method of convergence to solve the invariant embedding equations that are used to describe the particle trajectories inside a solid sample. Our results are found to be helpful to carry out a procedure for quantitative characterization using instruments such as electron probe microanalyser or other probes. Examples of application to calculate the composition of ternary alloys are given and are compared with the same calculations using another procedure.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Backscattering and absorption coefficients for electrons: Solutions of invariant embedding transport equations using a method of convergence

The backscattering coefficient is a magnitude whose measurement is fundamental for the characterization of materials with techniques that make use of particle beams and particularly when performing microanalysis. In this work, we report the results of an analytic method to calculate the backscattering and absorption coefficients of electrons in similar conditions to those of electron probe microanalysis. Starting on a five level states ladder model in 3D, we deduced a set of integro-differential coupled equations of the coefficients with a method know as invariant embedding. By means of a procedure proposed by authors, called method of convergence, two types of approximate solutions for the set of equations, namely complete and simple solutions, can be obtained. Although the simple solutions were initially proposed as auxiliary forms to solve higher rank equations, they turned out to be also useful for the estimation of the aforementioned coefficients. In previous reports, we have presented results obtained with the complete solutions. In this paper, we present results obtained with the simple solutions of the coefficients, which exhibit a good degree of fit with the experimental data. Both the model and the calculation method presented here can be generalized to other techniques that make use of different sorts of particle beams.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

ENSO modulation of summertime tropospheric ozone over China

Ozone (O 3 ) is one of the most critical pollutants affecting air quality in China in recent years. In this study, different impacts of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) warm/cold phases on summertime tropospheric O 3 over China are examined based on model simulations, ground measurements, and reanalysis data. Summertime surface O 3 concentrations in China show a positive correlation with ENSO index during years 1990–2019, with the largest increases by 20% over southern China in El Niño (warm phase) relative to La Niña (cold phase) years. The ENSO modulation extends to the middle and even upper troposphere. Our analysis indicates that O 3 flux convergence associated with weakened southerlies is the primary reason for the increase in tropospheric O 3 over southern China. In addition, the O 3 increase during El Niño years is mainly from domestic emissions in China. This study highlights the potential significance of ENSO in modulating tropospheric O 3 concentrations in China, with great implications for O 3 pollution mitigation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Phylogenetically diverse wild plant species use common biochemical strategies to thrive in the Atacama Desert

The best ideotypes are under mounting pressure due to increased aridity. Understanding the conserved molecular mechanisms that evolve in wild plants adapted to harsh environments is crucial in developing new strategies for agriculture. Yet our knowledge of such mechanisms in wild species is scant. We performed metabolic pathway reconstruction using transcriptome information from 32 Atacama and phylogenetically related species that do not live in Atacama (sister species). We analyzed reaction enrichment to understand the commonalities and differences of Atacama plants. To gain insights into the mechanisms that ensure survival, we compared expressed gene isoform numbers and gene expression patterns between the annotated biochemical reactions from 32 Atacama and sister species. We found biochemical convergences characterized by reactions enriched in at least 50% of the Atacama species, pointing to potential advantages against drought and nitrogen starvation, for instance. Furthermore, these findings suggest that the adaptation in the Atacama Desert may result in part from shared genetic legacies governing the expression of key metabolic pathways to face harsh conditions. Enriched reactions corresponded to ubiquitous compounds common to extreme and agronomic species and were congruent with our previous metabolomic analyses. Convergent adaptive traits offer promising candidates for improving abiotic stress resilience in crop species.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Effective field theory for dilute Fermi systems at fourth order

We discuss high-order calculations in perturbative effective field theory for fermions at low energy scales. The Fermi-momentum or k F a s as expansion for the ground-state energy of the dilute Fermi gas is calculated to fourth order, both in cutoff regularization and in dimensional regularization. For the case of spin one-half fermions we find from a Bayesian analysis that the expansion is well converged at this order for |k F a s |≲ 0.5. Furthermore, we show that Padé-Borel resummations can improve the convergence for |k F a s |≲ 1. Here, our results provide important constraints for nonperturbative calculations of ultracold atoms and dilute neutron matter.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗