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NASA NTRS2011

Test-Anchored Vibration Response Predictions for an Acoustically Energized Curved Orthogrid Panel with Mounted Components

rich body of vibroacoustic test data was recently generated at Marshall Space Flight Center for component-loaded curved orthogrid panels typical of launch vehicle skin structures. The test data were used to anchor computational predictions of a variety of spatially distributed responses including acceleration, strain and component interface force. Transfer functions relating the responses to the input pressure field were generated from finite element based modal solutions and test-derived damping estimates. A diffuse acoustic field model was applied to correlate the measured input sound pressures across the energized panel. This application quantifies the ability to quickly and accurately predict a variety of responses to acoustically energized skin panels with mounted components. Favorable comparisons between the measured and predicted responses were established. The validated models were used to examine vibration response sensitivities to relevant modeling parameters such as pressure patch density, mesh density, weight of the mounted component and model form. Convergence metrics include spectral densities and cumulative root-mean squared (RMS) functions for acceleration, velocity, displacement, strain and interface force. Minimum frequencies for response convergence were established as well as recommendations for modeling techniques, particularly in the early stages of a component design when accurate structural vibration requirements are needed relatively quickly. The results were compared with long-established guidelines for modeling accuracy of component-loaded panels. A theoretical basis for the Response/Pressure Transfer Function (RPTF) approach provides insight into trends observed in the response predictions and confirmed in the test data. The software developed for the RPTF method allows easy replacement of the diffuse acoustic field with other pressure fields such as a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) model suitable for vehicle ascent. Structural responses using a TBL model were demonstrated, and wind tunnel tests have been proposed to anchor the predictions and provide new insight into modeling approaches for this environment. Finally, design load factors were developed from the measured and predicted responses and compared with those derived from traditional techniques such as historical Mass Acceleration Curves and Barrett scaling methods for acreage and component-loaded panels.

Frady, Gregory P.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Test-Anchored Vibration Response Predictions for an Acoustically Energized Curved Orthogrid Panel with Mounted Components

A rich body of vibroacoustic test data was recently generated at Marshall Space Flight Center for a curved orthogrid panel typical of launch vehicle skin structures. Several test article configurations were produced by adding component equipment of differing weights to the flight-like vehicle panel. The test data were used to anchor computational predictions of a variety of spatially distributed responses including acceleration, strain and component interface force. Transfer functions relating the responses to the input pressure field were generated from finite element based modal solutions and test-derived damping estimates. A diffuse acoustic field model was employed to describe the assumed correlation of phased input sound pressures across the energized panel. This application demonstrates the ability to quickly and accurately predict a variety of responses to acoustically energized skin panels with mounted components. Favorable comparisons between the measured and predicted responses were established. The validated models were used to examine vibration response sensitivities to relevant modeling parameters such as pressure patch density, mesh density, weight of the mounted component and model form. Convergence metrics include spectral densities and cumulative root-mean squared (RMS) functions for acceleration, velocity, displacement, strain and interface force. Minimum frequencies for response convergence were established as well as recommendations for modeling techniques, particularly in the early stages of a component design when accurate structural vibration requirements are needed relatively quickly. The results were compared with long-established guidelines for modeling accuracy of component-loaded panels. A theoretical basis for the Response/Pressure Transfer Function (RPTF) approach provides insight into trends observed in the response predictions and confirmed in the test data. The software modules developed for the RPTF method can be easily adapted for quick replacement of the diffuse acoustic field with other pressure field models; for example a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) model suitable for vehicle ascent. Wind tunnel tests have been proposed to anchor the predictions and provide new insight into modeling approaches for this type of environment. Finally, component vibration environments for design were developed from the measured and predicted responses and compared with those derived from traditional techniques such as Barrett scaling methods for unloaded and component-loaded panels.

Frady, Gregory P.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Tetrahedral-Mesh Simulation of Turbulent Flows with the Space-Time Conservative Schemes

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent flows are predominantly carried out using structured, hexahedral meshes despite decades of development in unstructured mesh methods. Tetrahedral meshes offer ease of mesh generation around complex geometries and the potential of an orientation free grid that would provide un-biased small-scale dissipation and more accurate intermediate scale solutions. However, due to the lack of consistent multi-dimensional numerical formulations in conventional schemes for triangular and tetrahedral meshes at the cell interfaces, numerical issues exist when flow discontinuities or stagnation regions are present. The space-time conservative conservation element solution element (CESE) method - due to its Riemann-solver-free shock capturing capabilities, non-dissipative baseline schemes, and flux conservation in time as well as space - has the potential to more accurately simulate turbulent flows using unstructured tetrahedral meshes. To pave the way towards accurate simulation of shock/turbulent boundary-layer interaction, a series of wave and shock interaction benchmark problems that increase in complexity, are computed in this paper with triangular/tetrahedral meshes. Preliminary computations for the normal shock/turbulence interactions are carried out with a relatively coarse mesh, by direct numerical simulations standards, in order to assess other effects such as boundary conditions and the necessity of a buffer domain. The results indicate that qualitative agreement with previous studies can be obtained for flows where, strong shocks co-exist along with unsteady waves that display a broad range of scales, with a relatively compact computational domain and less stringent requirements for grid clustering near the shock. With the space-time conservation properties, stable solutions without any spurious wave reflections can be obtained without a need for buffer domains near the outflow/farfield boundaries. Computational results for the isotropic turbulent flow decay, at a relatively high turbulent Mach number, show a nicely behaved spectral decay rate for medium to high wave numbers. The high-order CESE schemes offer very robust solutions even with the presence of strong shocks or widespread shocklets. The explicit formulation in conjunction with a close to unity theoretical upper Courant number bound has the potential to offer an efficient numerical framework for general compressible turbulent flow simulations with unstructured meshes.

Chang, Chau-Lyan↗

NASA NTRS1992

Doppler lidar wind measurement with the edge technique

The edge technique is a new and powerful method for measuring small frequency shifts. Range resolved lidar measurements of winds can be made with high accuracy and high vertical resolution using the edge technique to measure the Doppler shift of an atmospheric backscattered signal from a pulsed laser. The edge technique can be used at near-infrared or visible wavelengths using well developed solid state lasers and detectors with various edge filters. In the edge technique, the laser frequency is located on the steep slope of the spectral response function of a high resolution optical filter. Due to the steep slope of the edge, very small frequency shifts cause large changes in measured signal. The frequency of the outgoing laser pulse is determined by measuring its location on the edge of the filter. This is accomplished by sending a small portion of the beam to the edge detection setup where the incoming light is split into two channels - an edge filter and an energy monitor channel. The energy monitor signal is used to normalize the edge filter signal for magnitude. The laser return backscattered from the atmosphere is collected by a telescope and directed through the edge detection setup to determine its frequency (location on the edge) in a similar manner for each range element. The Doppler shift, and thus the wind, is determined from a differential measurement of the frequency of the outgoing laser pulse and the frequency of the laser return backscattered from the atmosphere. We have conducted simulations of the performance of an edge lidar system using an injection seeded pulsed Nd:YAG laser at 1.06 microns. The central fringe of a Fabry-Perot etalon is used as a high resolution edge filter to measure the shift of the aerosol return.

Korb, C. Laurence↗

NASA NTRS1993

Unstructured grid large eddy simulation of wall bounded turbulent flows

Historically, large eddy simulations (LES) have been restricted to simple geometries where spectral or finite difference methods have dominated due to their efficient use of structured grids. Structured grids, however, not only have difficulty representing complex domains and adapting to complicated flow features, but also are rather inefficient for simulating flows at high Reynolds numbers. The lack of efficiency stems from the need to resolve the viscous sub layer which requires very fine resolution in all three directions near the wall. Structured grids make use of a stretching to reduce the normal grid spacing but must carry the fine resolution in the streamwise and spanwise directions throughout the domain. The unnecessarily fine grid for much of the domain leads to disturbingly high grid estimates. Chapman (1979), and later Moin & Jimenez (1993), pointed out that, in order to advance the technology to airfoils at flight Reynolds numbers, structured grids must be abandoned in lieu of what are known as nested or unstructured grids. We illustrate the ability of an unstructured mesh to refine only the near wall region. Note the large number of points near the wall (where the fine vortical features need better resolution) and the coarseness in all directions away from the wall (where the scales are much larger). The important difference between this approach and the usual structured grid stretching is that the number of elements used to discretize the spanwise and streamwise features of the flow is reduced in each successive layer coming off the wall. This is due to the fact that the elements not only grow in the normal direction, but in the other directions as well. This greatly reduces the total number of points or elements required for a given Reynolds number flow.

Jansen, Kenneth↗

NASA NTRS2016

The Relaxation Matrix for Symmetric Tops with Inversion Symmetry. I. Effects of Line Coupling on Self-Broadened v (sub 1) and Pure Rotational Bands of NH3

The Robert-Bonamy formalism has been commonly used to calculate half-widths and shifts of spectral lines for decades. This formalism is based on several approximations. Among them, two have not been fully addressed: the isolated line approximation and the neglect of coupling between the translational and internal motions. Recently, we have shown that the isolated line approximation is not necessary in developing semi-classical line shape theories. Based on this progress, we have been able to develop a new formalism that enables not only to reduce uncertainties on calculated half-widths and shifts, but also to model line mixing effects on spectra starting from the knowledge of the intermolecular potential. In our previous studies, the new formalism had been applied to linear and asymmetric-top molecules. In the present study, the method has been extended to symmetric-top molecules with inversion symmetry. As expected, the inversion splitting induces a complete failure of the isolated line approximation. We have calculated the complex relaxation matrices of selfbroadened NH3. The half-widths and shifts in the ν1 and the pure rotational bands are reported in the present paper. When compared with measurements, the calculated half-widths match the experimental data very well, since the inapplicable isolated line approximation has been removed. With respect to the shifts, only qualitative results are obtained and discussed. Calculated off-diagonal elements of the relaxation matrix and a comparison with the observed line mixing effects are reported in the companion paper (Paper II).

Trajectory models↗

NASA NTRS2011

Self-Cleaning Coatings and Materials for Decontaminating Field-Deployable Land and Water-Based Optical Systems

This technology exploits the organic decomposition capability and hydrophilic properties of the photocatalytic material titanium dioxide (TiO2), a nontoxic and non-hazardous substance, to address contamination and biofouling issues in field-deployed optical sensor systems. Specifically, this technology incorporates TiO2 coatings and materials applied to, or integrated as a part of, the optical surfaces of sensors and calibration sources, including lenses, windows, and mirrors that are used in remote, unattended, ground-based (land or maritime) optical sensor systems. Current methods used to address contamination or biofouling of these optical surfaces in deployed systems are costly, toxic, labor intensive, and non-preventative. By implementing this novel technology, many of these negative aspects can be reduced. The functionality of this innovative self-cleaning solution to address the problem of contamination or biofouling depends on the availability of a sufficient light source with the appropriate spectral properties, which can be attained naturally via sunlight or supplemented using artificial illumination such as UV LEDs (light emitting diodes). In land-based or above-water systems, the TiO2 optical surface is exposed to sunlight, which catalyzes the photocatalytic reaction, facilitating both the decomposition of inorganic and organic compounds, and the activation of superhydrophilic properties. Since underwater optical surfaces are submerged and have limited sunlight exposure, supplementary UV light sources would be required to activate the TiO2 on these optical surfaces. Nighttime operation of land-based or above-water systems would require this addition as well. For most superhydrophilic self-cleaning purposes, a rainwater wash will suffice; however, for some applications an attached rainwater collector/ dispenser or other fresh water dispensing system may be required to wash the optical surface and initiate the removal of contaminates. Deployment of this non-toxic,non-hazardous-technology will take advantage of environmental elements (i.e. rain and sunlight), increase the longevity of unattended optical systems, increase the amount of time between required maintenance, and improve the long-term accuracy of sensor measurements.

Ryan, Robert↗

NASA NTRS1993

Planetary and satellite x ray spectroscopy: A new window on solid-body composition by remote sensing

The rings and most of the satellites of the outer planets orbit within the radiation belts of their parent bodies. This is an environment with intense fluxes of energetic electrons. As a result, these objects are strong emitters of X-rays. The characteristic X-ray lines from these bodies depend on atomic composition, but they are not sensitive to how the material is arranged in compounds or mixtures. X-ray fluorescence spectral analysis has demonstrated its unique value in the laboratory as a qualitative and quantitative analysis tool. This technique has yet to be fully exploited in a planetary instrument for remote sensing. The characteristic X-ray emissions provide atomic relative abundances. These results are complementary to the molecular composition information obtained from IR, visible, and UV emission spectra. The atomic relative abundances are crucial to understanding the formation and evolution of these bodies. They are also crucial to the proper interpretation of the molecular composition results from the other sensors. The intensities of the characteristic X-ray emissions are sufficiently strong to be measured with an instrument of modest size. Recent developments in X-ray detector technologies and electronic miniaturization have made possible space-flight X-ray imaging and nonimaging spectrometers of high sensitivity and excellent energy resolution that are rugged enough to survive long-duration space missions. Depending on the application, such instruments are capable of resolving elemental abundances of elements from carbon through iron. At the same time, by measuring the bremsstrahlung intensity and energy spectrum, the characteristics of the source electron flux can be determined. We will discuss these concepts, including estimated source strengths, and will describe a small instrument capable of providing this unique channel of information for future planetary missions. We propose to build this instrument using innovative electronics packaging methods to minimize size and weight.

Chenette, D. L.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Mapping and Modeling the Extended Winds of the Massive Interacting Binary, Eta Carinae

The combination HST/STIS high spatial and moderate spectral resolutions have revealed the massive interacting wind structure of Eta Carinae by forbidden lines of singly and doubly ionized elements. Throughout the 5.54-year period, lines of Fe++, Ne++, Ar++, S++ and N+ reveal the interacting wind structures, near critical electron densities of 10(exp 5) to 3 x 10(exp 7)cu cm, photoionized by the hot secondary, Eta Car B, Lines of Fe+ and Ni+ trace the denser (>10(exp 7)cu cm. less-ionized (< 8 eV) primary wind of Eta Car A as it wraps around the interacting binary stars. For 5 years of the 5.54 year period, the FUV radiation from Eta Car B escapes the orbital region, ionizing the boundaries of the expanding wind structures. But for three to six months, Eta Car B plunges into the primary wind approaching to within 1 to 2 AU, leading to cutoff of FUV and X-ray fluxes. The interacting wind structure, resolved out to 0.8", drops io ionization and then rebuilds as Eta Car B emerges from the primary wind envelope. Solid Particle Hydrodynamical(SPH) models have been developed extending out to 2000 AU and adapted to include FUV radiation effects of the winds. In turn, synthetic spectroimages of selected forbidden lines have been constructed and compared to the spectroimages recorded by the HST/STIS throughout 1998.0 to 2004.3, extending across the 1998 and 2003.5 minima. By this method, we show that the orbital axis of the binary system must bc within 15 degrees of the Homunculus axis of symmetry and that periastron occurs with Eta Car B passing on the far side of Eta Car B. This result ties the current binary orbit with the bipolar ejection with intervening skirt and leads to implications that the binary system influenced the mass ejection of the l840s and the lesser ejection of the 1890s.

Gull, Ted↗

DOE OSTI2023

Leveraging visible and near-infrared spectroelectrochemistry to calibrate a robust model for Vanadium(IV/V) in varying nitric acid and temperature levels

Spectroelectrochemistry and optimal design of experiments can be used to rapidly build accurate models for species quantification and enable a greater level of process awareness. Optical spectroscopy can provide vital elemental and molecular information, but several hurdles must be overcome before it can become a widely adopted analytical method for remote analysis in the nuclear field. Analytes with varying oxidation state, acid concentration, and fluctuating temperature must be efficiently accounted for to minimize time and resources in restrictive hot cell environments. The classic one-factor-at-a-time approach is not suitable for frequent calibration/maintenance operations in this setting. Therefore, a novel alternative was developed to characterize a system containing vanadium(IV/V) (0.01–0.1 M), nitric acid (0.1–4 M), and varying temperatures (20–45 °C). Here, spectroelectrochemistry methods were used to acquire a sample set selected by optimal design of experiments. This new approach allows for the accurate analysis of vanadium and HNO 3 concentration by leveraging UV–Vis–NIR absorption spectroscopy with robust and accurate chemometric models. The top model's root mean squared error of prediction percent values were 3.47%, 4.06%, 3.40%, and 10.9% for V(IV), V(V), HNO 3 , and temperature, respectively. These models, efficiently developed using the designed approach, exhibited strong predictive accuracy for vanadium and acid with varying oxidation states and temperature using only spectrophotometry, which advances current technology for real-world hot cell applications. Additionally, Nernstian analysis of the V(IV/V) standard potential was performed using traditional absorbance methods and multivariate curve resolution (MCR). The successful tests demonstrated that MCR Nernst tests may be valuable in highly convoluted spectral systems to better understand the redox processes' behavior.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Chemical Compositions of Red Giant Stars from Habitable Zone Planet Finder Spectroscopy

We have used the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) to gather high-resolution, high signal-to-noise near-infrared spectra of 13 field red horizontal branch (RHB) stars, one open cluster giant, and one very metal-poor halo red giant. The HPF spectra cover the 0.81–1.28 μm wavelength range of the zyJ bands, partially filling the gap between the optical (0.4–1.0 μm) and infrared (1.5–2.4 μm) spectra already available for the program stars. We derive abundances of 17 species from LTE-based computations involving equivalent widths and spectrum syntheses, and estimate abundance corrections for the species that are most affected by departures from LTE in RHB stars. Generally good agreement is found between HPF-based metallicities and abundance ratios and those from the optical and infrared spectral regions. Light element transitions dominate the HPF spectra of these red giants, and HPF data can be used to derive abundances from species with poor or no representation in optical spectra (e.g., C i, P i, S i, K i). Attention is drawn to the HPF abundances in two field solar-metallicity RHB stars of special interest: one with an extreme carbon isotope ratio, and one with a rare, very large lithium content. The latter star is unique in our sample in exhibiting very strong He i 10830 Å absorption. The abundances of the open cluster giant concur with those derived from other wavelength regions. Detections of C i and S i in HD 122563 are reported, yielding the lowest metallicity determination of [S/Fe] from more than one multiplet.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2022

Challenge Problem 1: Preliminary Model Development and Assessment of Flexible Heat Transfer Modeling Approaches

This report presents the modeling progress of a university consortium studying flexible modeling for turbulent heat transfer. In the context of advanced nuclear reactor design, where challenges include non-unity Prandtl fluids, free and mixed convection, and transitional flow, computational fluid dynamics methods are underutilized due to low confidence in modeling approaches and high computational cost. This report evaluates the performance of engineering CFD models in diabatic, buoyant turbulent flow. It finds that all turbulence models including several variants of the k-ε and k-ω models struggle to predict accurate turbulent momentum and heat transfer in such flows. The Nusselt numbers have been compared between the models and the DNS data, where calculations have been performed for each case and trends have shown a good agreement between DNS estimated Nusselt numbers and available correlations as well as experimental data. A novel DNS correlation for high Pr cases as they are transitioning from mixed convection to natural convection has been proposed. While Nusselt number errors relative to DNS range from 20% to 50%, the models capture similar trends to DNS with respect to Nusselt suppression and amplification under varying levels of buoyancy effect. This report also highlights model form error as a significant contributor to CFD predictions and proposes a framework for quantifying model error and improving confidence in CFD calculations. To improve the predictive capability of engineering CFD models, data-driven approaches for turbulence models are investigated. Theoretical frameworks based on the invariant tensor / vector basis neural networks for prediction of Reynolds stresses and turbulent heat fluxes are employed. The models are developed using direct numerical simulations data for forced convection flows of different fluids in vertical planar channel domain. The framework is implemented in spectral element solvers Nek5000 / nekRS and has shown a potential for future development and consideration of mixed convection flows.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

NASA NTRS2016

Using Ground Targets to Validate S-NPP VIIRS Day-Night Band Calibration

In this study, the observations from S-NPP VIIRS Day-Night band (DNB) and Moderate resolution bands (M bands) of Libya 4 and Dome C over the first four years of the mission are used to assess the DNB low gain calibration stability. The Sensor Data Records produced by NASA Land Product Evaluation and Algorithm Testing Element (PEATE) are acquired from nearly nadir overpasses for Libya 4 desert and Dome C snow surfaces. A kernel-driven bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) correction model is used for both Libya 4 and Dome C sites to correct the surface BRDF influence. At both sites, the simulated top-of-atmosphere (TOA) DNB reflectances based on SCIAMACHY spectral data are compared with Land PEATE TOA reflectances based on modulated Relative Spectral Response (RSR). In the Libya 4 site, the results indicate a decrease of 1.03% in Land PEATE TOA reflectance and a decrease of 1.01% in SCIAMACHY derived TOA reflectance over the period from April 2012 to January 2016. In the Dome C site, the decreases are 0.29% and 0.14%, respectively. The consistency between SCIAMACHY and Land PEATE data trends is good. The small difference between SCIAMACHY and Land PEATE derived TOA reflectances could be caused by changes in the surface targets, atmosphere status, and on-orbit calibration. The reflectances and radiances of Land PEATE DNB are also compared with matching M bands and the integral M bands based on M4, M5, and M7. The fitting trends of the DNB to integral M bands ratios indicate a 0.75% decrease at the Libya 4 site and a 1.89% decrease at the Dome C site. Part of the difference is due to an insufficient number of sampled bands available within the DNB wavelength range. The above results indicate that the Land PEATE VIIRS DNB product is accurate and stable. The methods used in this study can be used on other satellite instruments to provide quantitative assessments for calibration stability.

Chen, Xuexia↗

DOE OSTI2022

Determining g A / g V with High-Resolution Spectral Measurements Using a LiInSe 2 Bolometer

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) processes sample a wide range of intermediate forbidden nuclear transitions, which may be impacted by quenching of the axial vector coupling constant (g A /g V ), the uncertainty of which plays a pivotal role in determining the sensitivity reach of 0νββ experiments. Here we present measurements performed on a high-resolution LiInSe 2 bolometer in a “source = detector” configuration to measure the spectral shape of the fourfold forbidden β decay of 115 In . The value of g A /g V is determined by comparing the spectral shape of theoretical predictions to the experimental β spectrum taking into account various simulated background components as well as a variety of detector effects. We find evidence of quenching of g A /g V at >5 σ with a model-dependent quenching factor of 0.655 ± 0.002 as compared to the free-nucleon value for the interacting shell model. We also measured the 115 In half-life to be [5.18 ± 0.06(stat) $^{+0.005}_{- 0.015}$(sys)] x 10 14 yr within the interacting shell model framework. This Letter demonstrates the power of the bolometeric technique to perform precision nuclear physics single-β decay measurements, which along with improved nuclear modeling can help reduce the uncertainties in the calculation of several decay nuclear matrix elements including those used in 0νββ sensitivity calculations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NASA NTRS2009

Better Spectrometers, Beautiful Spectra and Confusion for All

The confluence of enormous improvements in submillimeter receivers and the development of powerful large scale observatories is about to force astrophysics and the sciences that support it to develop novel approaches for interpretation of data. The historical method of observing one or two lines and carefully analyzing them in the context of a simple model is now only applicable for distant objects where only a few lines are strong enough to be observable. Modern observatories collect many GHz of high signal-to-noise spectra in a single observation and in many cases, at sufficiently high spatial resolution to start resolving chemically distinct regions. The observatories planned for the near future and the inevitable upgrades of existing facilities will make large spectral data sets the rule rather than the exception in many areas of molecular astrophysics. The methodology and organization required to fully extract the available information and interpret these beautiful spectra represents a challenge to submillimeter astrophysics similar in magnitude to the last few decades of effort in improving receivers. The quality and abundance of spectra effectively prevents line-by-line analysis from being a time efficient proposition, however, global analysis of complex spectra is a science in its infancy. Spectroscopy at several other wavelengths have developed a number of techniques to analyze complex spectra, which can provide a great deal of guidance to the molecular astrophysics community on how to attack the complex spectrum problem. Ultimately, the challenge is one of organization, similar to building observatories, requiring teams of specialists combining their knowledge of dynamical, structural, chemical and radiative models with detailed knowledge in molecular physics and gas and grain surface chemistry to extract and exploit the enormous information content of complex spectra. This paper presents a spectroscopists view of the necessary elements in a tool for complex spectral analysis.

Spectral Analysis↗

DOE OSTI2022

kynema-fmb [SWR-23-07]

Kynema-FMB (FKA: Kynema) is an open-source performance portable flexible multibody (FMB) dynamics solver designed for time-domain simulations. While originally tailored for wind turbine structural dynamics, the formulation and implementation are those of a general flexible-multidbody dynamics solver that can readily be applied to a wide range of systems. Kynema was designed with a narrow focus, namely to provide a lightweight, fast, accurate FMD solver for coupling to computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) codes, especially the CFD codes in the Kynema suite, for fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) simulations. Kynema-FMB is equipped to model systems that can be represented as a collection of beams and rigid bodies that are connected through constraints. Degrees of freedom are defined in the inertial/global frame of reference and include displacements and rotations (formally as rotation matrices, but stored as quaternions). The underlying formulation is built on a Lie-group time integrator designed for index-3 differential-algebraic equations, which is second-order accurate in time (Bruls et al., 2012). Beam models are based on geometrically exact beam theory and are discretized as high-order spectral finite elements similar to those in BeamDyn (Wang et al., 2017). The governing equations for a FMD system like a wind turbine constitute a highly nonlinear system of constrained partial-differential equations. Kynema-FMB uses analytical Jacobians in the nonlinear-system solves in each time step. Linear systems use sparse storage and several third-party sparse-linear-system solvers are enabled. Ill conditioning of linear systems is mitigated with preconditioning described in Bottasso et al, 2008. Kynema-FMB is integrated with a simple open-source controller (ROSCO). There is an application programming interface (API) for coupling to geometry-resolved CFD (like that in Sharma et al., 2023) and actuator-force CFD (like that in Kuhn et al., 2025). In the latter, for actuator-line models, Kynema-FMB includes an internal blade-element solver that depends on user-provided lookup tables for coefficients of lift and drag, i.e., aerodynamic polars. Kynema-FMB is written in C++ and leverages Kokkos and Kokkos-Kernels (KokkosEcosystem) as its performance portability layer enabling simulations on both CPU and GPU systems. The repository is equipped with extensive automated testing at the unit and regression/system levels. The following describes the high-level development objectives conceived for Kynema: *Kynema will follow modern software development best practices, including test-driven development (TDD), version control, hierarchical automated testing, and continuous integration (CI) for a robust development environment. *The core data structures are memory efficient and enable vectorization and parallelization at multiple levels. *Data structures are data-oriented to exploit methods for accelerated computing including high utilization of chip resources (e.g., single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instruction sets) and parallelization using GP-GPUs. *The computational algorithms incorporate robust open-source libraries for mathematical operations, resource allocation, and data management. *The API design considers multiple stakeholder needs and ensure integration with existing and future ecosystems for data science, machine learning, and AI. *Kynema-FMB is written in modern C++ and leverages Kokkos as its performance-portability library with inspiration from the kynema stack.

Sprague, MichaelA.↗

NASA NTRS1998

The Coupling of Solution Chemistry to Plant Nutrient Demand in an on Demand Nutrient Delivery System

The goal of the proposal will be to determine the suitability of the DASI instrument in providing a signal that can be recognized and be utilized as an indicator of plant stress. The method to be utilized for evaluating stress is the presentation of an every increasing level of nutrient deficiency and salinity stress (addition of salt (NACl) or increasing concentration of balanced nutrient) while simultaneously recording spectral reflectance using the DASI instrument and monitoring the traditional processes of gas exchange and nutrient uptake parameters. In this manner, we will be able to directly compare the DASI measurements with known stresses as determined by the traditional gas exchange and nutrient uptake measures of stress. We anticipate that the DASI will provide a sensitive identifier of plant stress; recording signals of the resulting changes in plant metabolism in real time, far before any visible effects of stress could be observed. Thus, there is a potential for very early management intervention to correct a stress condition before damage could develop. The present response time for the observation of visual symptoms of plant stress is considerable and only provides an indication that a stress is present after it has been present for an extended period of time. Thus, the impact of a plant-based life support function will have already been significant. An additional benefit of this research to regenerative life support will be the characterization of a potential recovery scenario from various degrees of stress. The experimental approach to be employed includes the removal of the stress at various points in the stress gradient and the characterization of plant performance and reflectance spectra during recovery from various degrees of stress. Spectral reflectance imaging techniques have been developed and used to measure the biochemical composition of plants and relate these characteristics to the fluxes of biochemical elements within the ecosystem.

Savage, Wayne↗

NASA NTRS2008

Determining Concentration of Nanoparticles from Ellipsometry

A method of using ellipsometry or polarization analysis of light in total internal reflection of a surface to determine the number density of gold nanoparticles on a smooth substrate has been developed. The method can be modified to enable determination of densities of sparse distributions of nanoparticles in general, and is expected to be especially useful for measuring gold-nanoparticle-labeled biomolecules on microarrays. The method is based on theoretical calculations of the ellipsometric responses of gold nanoparticles. Elements of the calculations include the following: For simplicity, the gold nanoparticles are assumed to be spherical and to have the same radius. The distribution of gold nanoparticles is assumed to be a sub-monolayer (that is, sparser than a monolayer). The optical response of the sub-monolayer is modeled by use of a thin-island-film theory, according to which the polarizabilities parallel and perpendicular to the substrate are functions of the wavelength of light, the dielectric functions (permittivities expressed as complex functions of frequency or wavelength) of the gold and the suspending medium (in this case, the suspending medium is air), the fraction of the substrate area covered by the nanoparticles, and the radius of the nanoparticles. For the purpose of the thin-island-film theory, the dielectric function of the gold nanoparticles is modeled as the known dielectric function of bulk gold plus a correction term that is necessitated by the fact that the mean free path length for electrons in gold decreases with decreasing radius, in such a manner as to cause the imaginary part of the dielectric function to increase with decreasing radius (see figure). The correction term is a function of the nanoparticle radius, the wavelength of light, the mean free path and the Fermi speed of electrons in bulk gold, the plasma frequency of gold, and the speed of light in a vacuum. These models are used to calculate ellipsometric responses for various concentrations of gold nanoparticles having an assumed radius. The modeled data indicates distinct spectral features for both the real and the imaginary part of the dielectric function. An ellipsometric measurement would determine this distinct feature and thus can be used to measure nanoparticle concentration. By "ellipsometric responses" is meant the intensities of light measured in various polarization states as functions of the angle of incidence and the polarization states of the incident light. These calculated ellipsometric responses are used as calibration curves: Data from subsequent ellipsometric measurements on real specimens are compared with the calibration curves. The concentration of the nanoparticles on a specimen is assumed to be that of the calibration curve that most closely matches the data pertaining to that specimen.

Venkatasubbarao, Srivatsa↗