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At least 397 records · Page 22

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NASA NTRS1977

Computation of the inviscid supersonic flow about cones at large angles of attack by a floating discontinuity approach

The technique of floating shock fitting is adapted to the computation of the inviscid flowfield about circular cones in a supersonic free stream at angles of attack that exceed the cone half-angle. The resulting equations are applicable over the complete range of free-stream Mach numbers, angles of attack and cone half-angles for which the bow shock is attached. A finite difference algorithm is used to obtain the solution by an unsteady relaxation approach. The bow shock, embedded cross-flow shock, and vortical singularity in the leeward symmetry plane are treated as floating discontinuities in a fixed computational mesh. Where possible, the flowfield is partitioned into windward, shoulder, and leeward regions with each region computed separately to achieve maximum computational efficiency. An alternative shock fitting technique which treats the bow shock as a computational boundary is developed and compared with the floating-fitting approach. Several surface boundary condition schemes are also analyzed.

Daywitt, J.↗

NASA NTRS1987

An embedded function approach for turbulent flow prediction

In conventional prediction methods for turbulent flow influence on surface properties, very small mesh sizes and considerable computational effort is required to adequately resolve the intense velocity and temperature profile variations that occur in the wall-layer region. In this study, an approach is described wherein an outer region numerical solution is smoothly matched to a set of embedded analytic profile functions in the near-wall region; these wall-layer profile functions having been derived through consideration of the coherent structure of the time-dependent near-wall flow provide analytic expressions for the mean velocity and enthalpy profiles in the wall layer. The concept is demonstrated through example applications to turbulent boundary-layer flows in two dimensions. The technique is shown to be very efficient and it is demonstrated that a reduction of approximately half the mesh points across the 2-D layer may be realized (as compared to conventional methods) with no degradation in accuracy.

Walker, J. D. A.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Deriving the Coronal Magnetic Field Using Parametric Transformation Analysis

When plasma-beta greater than 1 then the gas pressure dominates over the magnetic pressure. This ratio as a function along the coronal magnetic field lines varies from beta greater than 1 in the photosphere at the base of the field lines, to beta much less than 1 in the mid-corona, to beta greater than 1 in the upper corona. Almost all magnetic field extrapolations do not or cannot take into account the full range of beta. They essentially assume beta much less than 1, since the full boundary conditions do not exist in the beta greater than 1 regions. We use a basic parametric representation of the magnetic field lines such that the field lines can be manipulated to match linear features in the EUV and SXR coronal images in a least squares sense. This research employs free-form deformation mathematics to generate the associated coronal magnetic field. In our research program, the complex magnetic field topology uses Parametric Transformation Analysis (PTA) which is a new and innovative method to describe the coronal fields that we are developing. In this technique the field lines can be viewed as being embedded in a plastic medium, the frozen-in-field-line concept. As the medium is deformed the field lines are similarly deformed. However the advantage of the PTA method is that the field line movement represents a transformation of one magnetic field solution into another magnetic field solution. When fully implemented, this method will allow the resulting magnetic field solution to fully match the magnetic field lines with EUV/SXR coronal loops by minimizing the differences in direction and dispersion of a collection of PTA magnetic field lines and observed field lines. The derived magnetic field will then allow beta greater than 1 regions to be included, the electric currents to be calculated, and the Lorentz force to be determined. The advantage of this technique is that the solution is: (1) independent of the upper and side boundary conditions, (2) allows non-vanishing magnetic forces, and (3) provides a global magnetic field solution, which contains high- and low-beta regimes and maximizes the similarity between the field lines structure and all the coronal images of the region. The coronal image analysis is crucial to the investigation and for the first time these images can be exploited to derive the coronal magnetic field in a well-posed mathematical formulation. This program is an outgrowth of an investigation in which an extrapolated potential field was required to be "inflated" in order to have the field lines match the Yohkoh/SXT images. The field lines were radially stretched resulting in a better match to the coronal loops of an active region. The PTA method of radial and non-radial deformations of field lines to provide a match to the EUV/SXR images will be presented.

Gary, G. Allen↗

DOE OSTI2026

Integrating science for water security governance

Hydrological extremes are intensifying globally, increasing the complexity of decisions required to ensure water security. Advances in hydrological science, modeling, and data systems have expanded the technical frontier of water research, yet uptake of scientific insights in policy and management decisions remains limited. This persistent science–policy gap is not primarily a failure of knowledge generation or robustness, but an institutional challenge shaped by how scientific and governance systems are organized, coordinated, and connected to support the effective use of scientific knowledge. These challenges are particularly pronounced in multi-level and transboundary water governance, where decisions span jurisdictions and require coordination across institutional and political boundaries. We synthesize research at the science–policy interface and evidence from water security initiatives to show how institutional arrangements, scientific tool development, and research practices enable or constrain the sustained use of scientific knowledge in water-security governance processes. Building on these insights, we develop ‘shared decision infrastructure’ as a framing to describe how scientific knowledge is embedded within the institutional, relational, and procedural arrangements that connect science to decision-making processes over time. We translate this framing into a practical intervention roadmap centered on institutional design, tool translation, sustained co-production, and outcome-oriented evaluation to support the integration of science into ongoing governance processes. By positioning science as shared decision infrastructure, the roadmap clarifies how researchers can design scientific efforts that support more coordinated, accountable, and adaptive water security decisions amid deepening uncertainty.

M whitney, Kristen [NASA Goddard Space Flight Cent↗

NASA NTRS1994

Geotail observations of spiky electric fields and low-frequency waves in the plasma sheet and plasma sheet boundary

Electric field data from the Geotail spacecraft provide an opportunity to extend the observations of spiky fields made by International Sun Earth Explorer-1 (ISEE-1) to a region of the magnetosphere where quasistatic electric field measurements have not previously been msde, to examine their possible importance in the dynamics of the middle and distant tail, and to test some hypotheses about their formation. In this paper, examples of large fields in the plasma sheet and its boundary at radial distances up to approximately 90 R(sub E) are presented. It is shown that three different types of large electric fields can occur: (1) spiky fields; (2) 'DC' fields; and (3) waves at frequencies comparable to the lower hybrid frequency. There is usually a gradation between (1) and (3), and often large electric field spikes are embedded in regions of lower amplitude waves. The waves tend to occur in short (few to 10's of seconds) packets whose start and stop times are not always correlated with changes in the magnetic field and/or density (as indicated by the spacecraft potential). The peak frequency is often less than but comparable to the lower hybrid frequency in agreement with theories of lower hybrid drift waves in the magnetotail. The largest spikes are not always associated with the largest changes in the spacecraft potential and/or magnetic field. It is suggested that the spiky fields may represent the nonlinear development of the waves.

Cattell, C.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Computational transonic flow about realistic aircraft configurations

A numerical method has been developed to compute transonic flows about realistic wing-fuselage configurations. The finite difference scheme employs an improved small disturbance flow equation. A unique grid embedding technique, which was heretofore applied to airfoils and wings, has been extended to include the treatment of both body and wing-body shapes. The resulting high-density mesh is shown to be a valuable asset in resolving details of the three-dimensional flow. A mathematical modeling system is used to process arbitrary fuselage geometries for body boundary conditions. Correlations with experimental data for simple isolated bodies, an isolated fuselage, and wing-fuselage combinations are included.

Boppe, C. W.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Micromechanical predictions of crack initiation, propagation and crack growth resistance in boron/aluminum composites

An elastoplastic, axisymmetric finite element model has been used to predict the initiation and propagation of a crack in a composite model consisting of a single broken boron fiber embedded in an annular sheath of aluminum matrix. The accuracy of the axisymmetric finite element model for crack problems has been established by solving the classical problem of a penny-shaped crack in a thick cylindrical rod under axial tension. Also, the stress intensity factors predicted by the present numerical model are compared with continuum results. A constant displacement boundary condition applied during an increment of crack growth permits a substantial amount of stable crack growth in the matrix material. The concept of Crack Growth Resistance Curves (KR-curves) has been used to determine the point of crack instability

Mahishi, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr Isotopic Studies of Meteorite Kalahari 009: An Old VLT Mare Basalt

Lunar meteorite Kalahari 009 is a fragmental basaltic breccia contain ing various very-low-Ti (VLT) mare basalt clasts embedded in a fine-g rained matrix of similar composition. This meteorite and lunar meteorite Kalahari 008, an anorthositic breccia, were suggested to be paired mainly due to the presence of similar fayalitic olivines in fragment s found in both meteorites. Thus, Kalahari 009 probably represents a VLT basalt that came from a locality near a mare-highland boundary r egion of the Moon, as compared to the typical VLT mare basalt samples collected at Mare Crisium during the Luna-24 mission. The concordant Sm-Nd and Ar-Ar ages of such a VLT basalt (24170) suggest that the extrusion of VLT basalts at Mare Crisium occurred 3.30 +/- 0.05 Ga ag o. Previous age results for Kalahari 009 range from approximately 4.2 Ga by its Lu-Hf isochron age to 1.70?0.04 Ga of its Ar-Ar plateau ag e. However, recent in-situ U-Pb dating of phosphates in Kalahari 009 defined an old crystallization age of 4.35+/- 0.15 Ga. The authors su ggested that Kalahari 009 represents a cryptomaria basalt. In this r eport, we present Sm-Nd and Rb-Sr isotopic results for Kalahari 009, discuss the relationship of its age and isotopic characteristics to t hose of other L-24 VLT mare basalts and other probable cryptomaria ba salts represented by Apollo 14 aluminous mare basalts, and discuss it s petrogenesis.

Shih, C.-Y.↗

NASA NTRS1987

E and F region study of the evening sector auroral oval - A Chatanika/Dynamics Explorer 2/NOAA 6 comparison

Simultaneous data from the Chatanika radar and the DE 2 and NOAA 6 satellites are used to study the typical behavior of the winter evening-sector auroral plasma during moderate and steady magnetic activity. The equatorward edge of the auroral E layer, of the region 2 field-aligned currents, and of the region of intense convection are colocated. The auroral E layer extends several degrees south of the equatorward edge of the keV electron precipitation from the CPS. Although the main trough and ionization channel are embedded in a region of intense electric field where the plasma flows sunward at high speed, the flux tubes associated with these two features have different time histories. The midlatitude trough is located south of the region of electron precipitation, above a proton aurora. The ionization channel marks the poleward edge of the main trough and is colocated with the equatorward boundary of the electron precipitation from the central plasma sheet.

Senior, C.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Topological Evolution of a Fast Magnetic Breakout CME in 3-Dimensions

W present the extension of the magnetic breakout model for CME initiation to a fully 3-dimensional, spherical geometry. Given the increased complexity of the dynamic magnetic field interactions in 3-dimensions, we first present a summary of the well known axisymmetric breakout scenario in terms of the topological evolution associated with the various phases of the eruptive process. In this context, we discuss the completely analogous topological evolution during the magnetic breakout CME initiation process in the simplest 3-dimensional multipolar system. We show that an extended bipolar active region embedded in an oppositely directed background dipole field has all the necessary topological features required for magnetic breakout, i.e. a fan separatrix surface between the two distinct flux systems, a pair of spine fieldlines, and a true 3-dimensional coronal null point at their intersection. We then present the results of a numerical MHD simulation of this 3-dimensional system where boundary shearing flows introduce free magnetic energy, eventually leading to a fast magnetic breakout CME. The eruptive flare reconnection facilitates the rapid conversion of this stored free magnetic energy into kinetic energy and the associated acceleration causes the erupting field and plasma structure to reach an asymptotic eruption velocity of greater than or approx. equal to 1100 km/s over an approx.15 minute time period. The simulation results are discussed using the topological insight developed to interpret the various phases of the eruption and the complex, dynamic, and interacting magnetic field structures.

Lynch, B. J.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Simulated effect of defect volume and location on very high cycle fatigue of laser beam powder bed fused AlSi10Mg

This study quantifies the interaction between volumetric defect location and size on the very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) of laser beam powder bed fused (LB-PBF) AlSi10Mg. Crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) simulations were used to investigate the effects of defect location and size on the driving force for crack initiation. The CPFEM model was calibrated against uniaxial and cyclic experimental data of LB-PBF AlSi10Mg. Defect characteristics were informed by experimental data from the specimens produced in various geometries to create realistic representative volume elements (RVEs) with equivalent volume fractions of defects. By embedding defects of varying sizes and locations within the RVEs, fatigue indicator parameters (FIPs) were calculated to analyze the impact of defects’ characteristics on fatigue performance. Different combinations of defect volume and locations were generated for various microstructure instantiations, providing insight into extreme value fatigue responses. Larger defect volumes located on free surfaces consistently generated the highest FIPs, suggesting defect size and boundary proximity intensify stress concentration effects. RVEs with multiple smaller defects produced lower FIPs than those with single large critical defects. These findings underscore the critical role of defect characteristics on fatigue life, providing a foundation for future predictive modeling in fatigue-sensitive AM applications.

AlSi10Mg↗

NASA NTRS2013

Diagnosing Aircraft Icing Potential from Satellite Cloud Retrievals

The threat for aircraft icing in clouds is a significant hazard that routinely impacts aviation operations. Accurate diagnoses and forecasts of aircraft icing conditions requires identifying the location and vertical distribution of clouds with super-cooled liquid water (SLW) droplets, as well as the characteristics of the droplet size distribution. Traditional forecasting methods rely on guidance from numerical models and conventional observations, neither of which currently resolve cloud properties adequately on the optimal scales needed for aviation. Satellite imagers provide measurements over large areas with high spatial resolution that can be interpreted to identify the locations and characteristics of clouds, including features associated with adverse weather and storms. This paper describes new techniques for interpreting cloud products derived from satellite data to infer the flight icing threat to aircraft. For unobscured low clouds, the icing threat is determined using empirical relationships developed from correlations between satellite imager retrievals of liquid water path and droplet size with icing conditions reported by pilots (PIREPS). For deep ice over water cloud systems, ice and liquid water content (IWC and LWC) profiles are derived by using the imager cloud properties to constrain climatological information on cloud vertical structure and water phase obtained apriori from radar and lidar observations, and from cloud model analyses. Retrievals of the SLW content embedded within overlapping clouds are mapped to the icing threat using guidance from an airfoil modeling study. Compared to PIREPS and ground-based icing remote sensing datasets, the satellite icing detection and intensity accuracies are approximately 90% and 70%, respectively, and found to be similar for both low level and deep ice over water cloud systems. The satellite-derived icing boundaries capture the reported altitudes over 90% of the time. Satellite analyses corresponding to the time and location of several recent aviation accidents and with icing PIREPS are also presented that reveal skill in identifying severe icing conditions. These results demonstrate the utility of satellite cloud retrievals for quantitatively diagnosing the potential for icing conditions on temporal and spatial scales that should be useful to the aviation community. Plans are being developed to deliver these new satellite products to the GOES-R Proving Ground in the near future so that they can be evaluated in operational applications.

Smith, William L., Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Summertime Marine Boundary Layer Cloud, Thermodynamic, and Drizzle Morphology over the Eastern North Atlantic: A Four-Year Study

Abstract Summertime remote sensor and in situ data from 2016 to 2019 collected at the ARM Eastern North Atlantic (ENA) Observatory are combined with aircraft measurements from the Aerosol and Cloud Experiments in the Eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA) campaign to quantify marine boundary layer (MBL) cloud, thermodynamic, and drizzle morphology in the region. A radar reflectivity–rainfall rate relationship ( Z – R ) is developed from aircraft data and 6-h cloud morphological regimes are identified from ENA data using a k -means algorithm driven by three independent inputs quantifying cloud thickness, drizzle intensity, and cloud field geometric complexity. Four separate MBL structural regimes representing non- or weakly drizzling single-layer stratocumulus, drizzling stratocumulus and cumulus-coupled stratocumulus, deep convection, and broken clouds embedded in northerly flow are identified. Single-layer stratocumulus is indicated when weak subtropical anticyclones are significantly west of the ENA site, and the MBL is cooler and drier than when drizzling and cumulus-coupled stratocumulus and broken clouds are observed. Drizzling and cumulus-coupled stratocumulus clouds are observed on the eastern flank of strong subtropical anticyclones in deep warm moist air masses with wind speeds exceeding 7 m s −1 and strong near-surface wind shear. Broken clouds exhibit strong wind shear near the inversion, while single-layer stratocumulus clouds have lower wind speeds and minimal shear. Net latent heat fluxes in the subcloud layer resulting from a combination of the ocean surface heat flux and evaporating drizzle average near zero over long periods in drizzling and cumulus-coupled stratocumulus. The ECMWF reanalysis version 5 (ERA5) is found to accurately represent single-layer stratocumulus properties, while producing significant discrepancies when drizzling stratocumulus and cumulus-coupled stratocumulus are observed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2020

A high-energy and long-cycling lithium–sulfur pouch cell via a macroporous catalytic cathode with double-end binding sites

Lithium-sulfur batteries are attractive alternatives to lithium-ion batteries because of their high theoretical specific energy and natural abundance of sulfur. However, the practical specific energy and cycle life of Li-S pouch cells are significantly limited by the use of thin sulfur electrodes/flooded electrolytes and polysulfides shuttle/Li metal degradation, respectively. In this work we propose a cathode design concept to achieve good Li-S pouch cell performances. The cathode is composed of uniformly embedded ZnS nanoparticles and Co-N-C single-atom catalyst to form double-end biding sites inside a highly oriented macroporous host, which can effectively immobilize and catalytically convert polysulfides intermediates during cycling, thus eliminating the shuttle effect and lithium metal corrosion. The ordered macropores enhance ionic transport under high sulfur loading by forming sufficient catalyst/conductive support/electrolyte triple-phase boundaries. This prevents the formation of inactive sulfur (dead sulfur). Our cathode structure shows improved performances in a pouch cell configuration under high sulfur loading and lean electrolyte operation. An Ah-level pouch cell with only 100% lithium excess can deliver a cell specific energy of > 300 Wh kg –1 with a Coulombic efficiency >95% for 80 cycles.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

NASA NTRS1975

Experiments on supersonic boundary-layer separation in three dimensions

A detailed experimental study of three-dimensional separation in supersonic flow is described. Three-dimensional wedges affixed to flat plates were used to generate the flow fields that were used to examine the relationship of cross flow to the extent of separation. Models with strong transverse pressure gradients resulted in a diminished extent of separation about the model plane of symmetry but demonstrated expansive growth of separation to a limit with distance from the plane of symmetry. A secondary flow region was found embedded in the separated flow.

Bachalo, W. D.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Does the rotational direction of a wind turbine impact the wake in a stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer?

Stably stratified atmospheric boundary layers are often characterized by a veering wind profile, in which the wind direction changes clockwise with height in the Northern Hemisphere. Wind-turbine wakes respond to this veer in the incoming wind by stretching from a circular shape into an ellipsoid. We investigate the relationship between this stretching and the direction of the turbine rotation by means of large-eddy simulations. Clockwise rotating, counterclockwise rotating, and non-rotating actuator disc turbines are embedded in wind fields of a precursor simulation with no wind veer and in wind fields with a Northern Hemispheric Ekman spiral, resulting in six combinations of rotor rotation and inflow wind condition. The wake strength, extension, width, and deflection depend on the interaction of the meridional component of Ekman spiral with the rotational direction of the actuator disc, whereas the direction of the disc rotation only marginally modifies the wake if no veer is present. The differences result from the amplification or weakening/reversion of the spanwise and the vertical wind components due to the effect of the superposed disc rotation. They are also present in the streamwise wind component of the wake and in the total turbulence intensity. In the case of an counterclockwise rotating actuator disc, the spanwise and vertical wind components increase directly behind the rotor, resulting in the same rotational direction in the whole wake while its strength decreases downwind. In the case of a clockwise rotating actuator disc, however, the spanwise and vertical wind components of the near wake are weakened or even reversed in comparison to the inflow. This weakening/reversion results in a downwind increase in the strength of the flow rotation in the wake or even a different rotational direction in the near wake in comparison to the far wake. The physical mechanism responsible for this difference can be explained by a simple linear superposition of a veering inflow with a Rankine vortex.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Thermal partition function of $$ {J}_3{\overline{J}}_3 $$ deformed AdS3

Abstract We derive a compact formula for the one-loop, bosonic string partition function of Euclideanized$$ {J}_3{\overline{J}}_3 $$ J 3 J ¯ 3 deformedAdS 3 with periodic Euclidean time as an integral transform of the partition function of the undeformed EuclideanizedAdS 3 . Such a deformation is interpretable as an irrelevant “single-trace$$ T\overline{T} $$ T T ¯ deformation” of the boundary. We will do this by first establishing a formal procedure to compute a worldsheet torus zero point function for an exactly marginal$$ J\overline{J} $$ J J ¯ deformation of a sigma model with U(1) L × U(1) R global symmetry. We then describe how this procedure is implemented on SL(2,R) sigma model and its Euclidean continuation. Finally, we describe the embedding of the deformed SL(2,R) torus amplitude into critical string theory and interpret the result as the leading perturbative contribution to the thermal partition function of the deformed theory.

Physics↗

NASA NTRS1985

A sun-aligned arc observed by DMSP and AE-C

On May 12, 1977, 8 minutes after a DMSP satellite photographed a sun-aligned auroral arc in the southern polar cap, AE-C crossed over the same arc. Precipitating electrons were observed with a peak energy flux of 0.94 erg per sq cm s but with no clear monoenergetic beam, and coincident ion precipitation was measured at energies of a few keV. A very sharp ion convection reversal was found coincident with the particle precipitation and embedded in a region of constant antisunward flow. Magnetic field data indicate that the arc occurred during the recovery phase of a weak magnetic storm, with the IMF in a toward sector and the Z component nearly zero. The data are consistent with a source of particles at altitudes of the order of 5-8 R(E) on field lines containing the plasma sheet boundary layer. The electron spectra do not indicate the existence of an electrostatic potential along the magnetic field lines projecting from the arc. The electrodynamic properties associated with the arc appear to be consistent with a simple model in which field-aligned currents are required along any boundary where the horizontal ionospheric current diverges.

Hoffman, R. A.↗