Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “multiple iterations”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 451 records · Page 25

Layout optimization with algebraic multigrid methods

Finding the optimal position for the individual cells (also called functional modules) on the chip surface is an important and difficult step in the design of integrated circuits. This paper deals with the problem of relative placement, that is the minimization of a quadratic functional with a large, sparse, positive definite system matrix. The basic optimization problem must be augmented by constraints to inhibit solutions where cells overlap. Besides classical iterative methods, based on conjugate gradients (CG), we show that algebraic multigrid methods (AMG) provide an interesting alternative. For moderately sized examples with about 10000 cells, AMG is already competitive with CG and is expected to be superior for larger problems. Besides the classical 'multiplicative' AMG algorithm where the levels are visited sequentially, we propose an 'additive' variant of AMG where levels may be treated in parallel and that is suitable as a preconditioner in the CG algorithm.

Regler, Hans↗

RadLab: A Comprehensive Database and Graphical and Programming Interfaces for Biologically Relevant Space Radiation Data

RadLab, a new component of the NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR), comprises a database of radiation measurements relevant to space biology, and visual and programmatic interfaces for interrogation and retrieval of these data. The attributes of data available through RadLab include spacecraft, types of radiation sensing instruments, locations within the spacecraft (e.g. modules of the ISS), associated celestial bodies, trajectories, and spacecraft coordinates. The application programming interface (API) implements a request syntax for retrieval of timestamped data filtered by various combinations of such attributes; the graphical user interface (GUI) extends this functionality with visualizations, such as spacecraft schematics, time series plots, geospatial visualizations, and provides easy means to iteratively refine search parameters, inspect the data on the fly, and download target subsets of these data. The release of RadLab currently available to the public contains datasets provided by US and international collaborators and focuses on data recorded on the ISS. Investigators from multiple countries, including the US, Canada, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Russia and the Czech Republic, have committed to provide data from their instruments in and beyond low Earth orbit; RadLab will also soon expand to include past (e.g. Shuttle and Mir) and future (e.g. Artemis) data. RadLab will provide a comprehensive, dynamic compendium of space radiation data, enabling the scientific community to perform analyses of data from multiple detectors and to determine the radiation environment of research missions and experiments, both via programmatic retrieval of these data and through the graphical analysis toolkit. The RadLab Working Group has been formed to foster collaborations among data contributors and users, to identify data sources, to put in place standards for data harmonization, and to guide the development of the platform, with the goal to establish the use of RadLab in space radiation research and to advance our understanding of the space radiation environment in human habitats.

radiation↗

Integrating Multi-Source Data for Bi-Level Traffic Simulator Calibration: A Literature Review and Highway Case Study

Traffic simulation serves as a powerful tool for pre-evaluating policies and technologies. In this context, simulation-based Dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) models are capable of capturing traffic dynamics. They are well-known as critical tools in controlling and predicting traffic situations. The reliability of simulation results heavily depends on the calibration process. Most studies in the literature formulate and calibrate simulators based on a single source of collected data or multiple data sets with the same spatiotemporal characteristics. However, in practice, traffic data is collected by various tools with usually different spatial and temporal resolutions. This study introduces a novel approach to taking into account diverse input data from a variety of sources. An iterative bi-level solution is proposed. to equally treat traffic flow and speed data. The upper level solves flow calibration with the exact solution method, and the lower level calibrates the speed with the simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) algorithm. Subsequently, the effectiveness of the proposed model is investigated using data from a six-mile section of Nashville's I-24 highway in Tennessee. The results demonstrate that our proposed model creates an effective feedback loop between the optimizer and the simulator for calibrating flow and speed to reduce the error between simulated and real data.

42 ENGINEERING↗

An iterative algorithm combining model reduction and control design

A design strategy which integrates model reduction by modal cost analysis and a multiobjective controller design is proposed. The necessary modeling and control algorithms are easily programmed in Matlab standard software. Hence, this method is very practical for controller design for large space structures. The design algorithm also solves the very important problem of tuning multiple loop controllers (multi-input, multi-output, or MIMO). Instead of the single gain change that is used in standard root locus and gain and phase margin theories, this method tunes multiple loop controllers from low to high gain in a systematic way in the design procedure. This design strategy is applied to NASA's Mini-Mast system.

Hsieh, C.↗

A two-loop four-point form factor at function level

Recently, the maximally-helicity-violating four-point form factor for the chiral stress-energy tensor in planar $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 super Yang-Mills was computed to three loops at the level of the symbol associated with multiple polylogarithms. It exhibits antipodal self-duality, or invariance under the combined action of a kinematic map and reversing the ordering of letters in the symbol. Here we lift the two-loop form factor from symbol level to function level. We provide an iterated representation of the function’s derivatives (coproducts). In order to do so, we find a three-parameter limit of the five-parameter phase space where the symbol’s letters are all rational. We also use function-level information about dihedral symmetries and the soft, collinear, and factorization limits, as well as limits governed by the form-factor operator product expansion (FFOPE). We provide plots of the remainder function on several kinematic slices, and show that the result is compatible with the FFOPE data. We further verify that antipodal self-duality is valid at two loops beyond the level of the symbol.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Stochastic AC optimal power flow: A data-driven approach

There is an emerging need for efficient solutions to stochastic AC Optimal Power Flow (AC-OPF) to ensure optimal and reliable grid operations in the presence of increasing demand and generation uncertainty. Herein this paper presents a highly scalable data-driven algorithm for stochastic AC-OPF that has extremely low sample requirement. The novelty behind the algorithm’s performance involves an iterative scenario design approach that merges information regarding constraint violations in the system with data-driven sparse regression. Compared to conventional methods with random scenario sampling, our approach is able to provide feasible operating points for realistic systems with much lower sample requirements. Furthermore, multiple sub-tasks in our approach can be easily paralleled and based on historical data to enhance its performance and application. We demonstrate the computational improvements of our approach through simulations on different test cases in the IEEE PES PGLib-OPF benchmark library.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Simulation of pellet ELM triggering in low-collisionality, ITER-like discharges

3D nonlinear, as well as 2D linear M3D-C1 simulations are used to model ELM triggering by small pellets in DIII-D discharges in the ITER relevant, peeling-limited pedestal stability regime. A critical pellet size threshold is found in both experiment and modeling depending on pedestal conditions, pellet velocity and injection direction. Using radial injection at the outboard midplane, the threshold is determined by M3D-C1 for multiple time slices of a DIII-D low-collisionality discharge that has pellet ELM triggering. Experimental observations show that a larger pellet size than the standard 1.3 mm diameter is necessary for ELM triggering; 1.8 mm pellets triggered several ELMs in cases where a smaller pellet failed. The M3D-C1 simulations are in good agreement with these observations. While the 2D linear simulations give insight into the change of growth rates for various toroidal modes with pellet size, the 3D nonlinear simulations apply a pellet ablation model that mimics the actual injection with good match to the experiment. The 3D nonlinear simulation confirms the pellet ELM triggering for a pellet size larger than the threshold found by the linear simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

An algorithm for optimal structural design with frequency constraints

The paper presents a finite element method for minimum weight design of structures with lower-bound constraints on the natural frequencies, and upper and lower bounds on the design variables. The design algorithm is essentially an iterative solution of the Kuhn-Tucker optimality criterion. The three most important features of the algorithm are: (1) a small number of design iterations are needed to reach optimal or near-optimal design, (2) structural elements with a wide variety of size-stiffness may be used, the only significant restriction being the exclusion of curved beam and shell elements, and (3) the algorithm will work for multiple as well as single frequency constraints. The design procedure is illustrated with three simple problems.

Kiusalaas, J.↗

Computer program for nonlinear static stress analysis of shuttle thermal protection system: User's manual

User documentation is presented for a computer program which considers the nonlinear properties of the strain isolator pad (SIP) in the static stress analysis of the shuttle thermal protection system. This program is generalized to handle an arbitrary SIP footprint including cutouts for instrumentation and filler bar. Multiple SIP surfaces are defined to model tiles in unique locations such as leading edges, intersections, and penetrations. The nonlinearity of the SIP is characterized by experimental stress displacement data for both normal and shear behavior. Stresses in the SIP are calculated using a Newton iteration procedure to determine the six rigid body displacements of the tile which develop reaction forces in the SIP to equilibrate the externally applied loads. This user documentation gives an overview of the analysis capabilities, a detailed description of required input data and an example to illustrate use of the program.

Giles, G. L.↗

System, method and apparatus for generating phrases from a database

A phrase generation is a method of generating sequences of terms, such as phrases, that may occur within a database of subsets containing sequences of terms, such as text. A database is provided and a relational model of the database is created. A query is then input. The query includes a term or a sequence of terms or multiple individual terms or multiple sequences of terms or combinations thereof. Next, several sequences of terms that are contextually related to the query are assembled from contextual relations in the model of the database. The sequences of terms are then sorted and output. Phrase generation can also be an iterative process used to produce sequences of terms from a relational model of a database.

McGreevy, Michael W.↗

Analytic Modeling of Pressurization and Cryogenic Propellant

An analytic model for pressurization and cryogenic propellant conditions during all mission phases of any liquid rocket based vehicle has been developed and validated. The model assumes the propellant tanks to be divided into five nodes and also implements an empirical correlation for liquid stratification if desired. The five nodes include a tank wall node exposed to ullage gas, an ullage gas node, a saturated propellant vapor node at the liquid-vapor interface, a liquid node, and a tank wall node exposed to liquid. The conservation equations of mass and energy are then applied across all the node boundaries and, with the use of perfect gas assumptions, explicit solutions for ullage and liquid conditions are derived. All fluid properties are updated real time using NIST Refprop.1 Further, mass transfer at the liquid-vapor interface is included in the form of evaporation, bulk boiling of liquid propellant, and condensation given the appropriate conditions for each. Model validation has proven highly successful against previous analytic models and various Saturn era test data and reasonably successful against more recent LH2 tank self pressurization ground test data. Finally, this model has been applied to numerous design iterations for the Altair Lunar Lander, Ares V Core Stage, and Ares V Earth Departure Stage in order to characterize Helium and autogenous pressurant requirements, propellant lost to evaporation and thermodynamic venting to maintain propellant conditions, and non-uniform tank draining in configurations utilizing multiple LH2 or LO2 propellant tanks. In conclusion, this model provides an accurate and efficient means of analyzing multiple design configurations for any cryogenic propellant tank in launch, low-acceleration coast, or in-space maneuvering and supplies the user with pressurization requirements, unusable propellants from evaporation and liquid stratification, and general ullage gas, liquid, and tank wall conditions as functions of time.

Corpening, Jeremy H.↗

Improvements to the Griffin Transport Solvers

Griffin is a Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) based reactor multiphysics analysis application jointly developed by Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. The code includes a variety of steady-state solvers for fixed-source, k-eigenvalue, adjoint, and subcritical multiplication, as well as transient solvers for point-kinetics, improved quasi-static, and spatial dynamics. This document summarizes the transport solver development efforts pursued during Fiscal Year 2022. We added the multiphysics transient capability for the coarse-mesh finite difference accelerated Richardson iteration for discontinuous finite element method discrete ordinates (DFEM-SN) scheme to support high-order heterogeneous transport simulations. HFEM (hybrid finite element method) - PN (spherical harmonics expansion) was completed and red-black iteration was added for solving the HFEM-PN system with both preconditioned Jacobian-free Newton Krylov and Richardson iteration solvers. The HFEM-PN scheme, as one of the low-order transport schemes, is expected for supporting routine design simulations. Pin power reconstruction capability was also designed and implemented with the Griffin ISOXML module to enhance all the low-order transport solvers for more accurate multiphysics simulations. Numerical results are presented for demonstrating the capabilities and verifying their performance, and future works are discussed.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Planar Superconducting Millimeter-Wave/Terahertz Channelizing Filter

This innovation is a compact, superconducting, channelizing bandpass filter on a single-crystal (0.45 m thick) silicon substrate, which operates from 300 to 600 GHz. This device consists of four channels with center frequencies of 310, 380, 460, and 550 GHz, with approximately 50-GHz bandwidth per channel. The filter concept is inspired by the mammalian cochlea, which is a channelizing filter that covers three decades of bandwidth and 3,000 channels in a very small physical space. By using a simplified physical cochlear model, and its electrical analog of a channelizing filter covering multiple octaves bandwidth, a large number of output channels with high inter-channel isolation and high-order upper stopband response can be designed. A channelizing filter is a critical component used in spectrometer instruments that measure the intensity of light at various frequencies. This embodiment was designed for MicroSpec in order to increase the resolution of the instrument (with four channels, the resolution will be increased by a factor of four). MicroSpec is a revolutionary wafer-scale spectrometer that is intended for the SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) Mission. In addition to being a vital component of MicroSpec, the channelizing filter itself is a low-resolution spectrometer when integrated with only an antenna at its input, and a detector at each channel s output. During the design process for this filter, the available characteristic impedances, possible lumped element ranges, and fabrication tolerances were identified for design on a very thin silicon substrate. Iterations between full-wave and lumped-element circuit simulations were performed. Each channel s circuit was designed based on the availability of characteristic impedances and lumped element ranges. This design was based on a tabular type bandpass filter with no spurious harmonic response. Extensive electromagnetic modeling for each channel was performed. Four channels, with 50-GHz bandwidth, were designed, each using multiple transmission line media such as microstrip, coplanar waveguide, and quasi-lumped components on 0.45- m thick silicon. In the design process, modeling issues had to be overcome. Due to the extremely high frequencies, very thin Si substrate, and the superconducting metal layers, most commercially available software fails in various ways. These issues were mitigated by using alternative software that was capable of handling them at the expense of greater simulation time. The design of on-chip components for the filter characterization, such as a broadband antenna, Wilkinson power dividers, attenuators, detectors, and transitions has been completed.

Ehsan, Negar↗

Testing, Characterization, and Modeling of the Resonant Plate Test Environment

The resonant plate shock test is a dynamic test of a mid-field pyroshock environment where a projectile is struck against a plate. The structure undergoing the simulated field shock is mounted to the plate. The plate resonates when struck and provides a two sided shock that is representative of the shock observed in the field. This test environment shock simulates a shock in a single coordinate direction for components looking to provide evidence that they will survive a similar or less shock when deployed in their operating environment. However, testing in one axis at a time provides many challenges. The true environment is a multi-axis environment. The test environment exhibits strong off-axis motion when only motion in one axis is desired. Multiple fixtures are needed for a single test series. It would be advantageous if a single test could be developed that tests the multi-axis environment simultaneously. In order to design such a test, a model must be developed and validated. The model can be iterated in design and configuration until the specified multi-axis environment is met. The test can then execute the model driven test design. This report discusses the resonant plate model needed to design future tests and the steps and methods used to obtain the model. This report also details aspects of the resonant plate test discovered during the process of model development that aids in our understanding of the test.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Scheduling Tasks In Parallel Processing

Algorithms sought to minimize time and cost of computation. Report describes research on scheduling of computations tasks in system of multiple identical data processors operating in parallel. Computational intractability requires use of suboptimal heuristic algorithms. First algorithm called "list heuristic", variation of classical list scheduling. Second algorithm called "cluster heuristic" applied to tightly coupled tasks and consists of four phases. Third algorithm called "exchange heuristic", iterative-improvement algorithm beginning with initial feasible assignment of tasks to processors and periods of time. Fourth algorithm is iterative one for optimal assignment of tasks and based on concept called "simulated annealing" because of mathematical resemblance to aspects of physical annealing processes.

Price, Camille C.↗

Textbook Multigrid Efficiency for Leading Edge Stagnation

A multigrid solver is defined as having textbook multigrid efficiency (TME) if the solutions to the governing system of equations are attained in a computational work which is a small (less than 10) multiple of the operation count in evaluating the discrete residuals. TME in solving the incompressible inviscid fluid equations is demonstrated for leading- edge stagnation flows. The contributions of this paper include (1) a special formulation of the boundary conditions near stagnation allowing convergence of the Newton iterations on coarse grids, (2) the boundary relaxation technique to facilitate relaxation and residual restriction near the boundaries, (3) a modified relaxation scheme to prevent initial error amplification, and (4) new general analysis techniques for multigrid solvers. Convergence of algebraic errors below the level of discretization errors is attained by a full multigrid (FMG) solver with one full approximation scheme (F.4S) cycle per grid. Asymptotic convergence rates of the F.4S cycles for the full system of flow equations are very fast, approaching those for scalar elliptic equations.

Diskin, Boris↗

Real-Time Feature Tracking Using Homography

This software finds feature point correspondences in sequences of images. It is designed for feature matching in aerial imagery. Feature matching is a fundamental step in a number of important image processing operations: calibrating the cameras in a camera array, stabilizing images in aerial movies, geo-registration of images, and generating high-fidelity surface maps from aerial movies. The method uses a Shi-Tomasi corner detector and normalized cross-correlation. This process is likely to result in the production of some mismatches. The feature set is cleaned up using the assumption that there is a large planar patch visible in both images. At high altitude, this assumption is often reasonable. A mathematical transformation, called an homography, is developed that allows us to predict the position in image 2 of any point on the plane in image 1. Any feature pair that is inconsistent with the homography is thrown out. The output of the process is a set of feature pairs, and the homography. The algorithms in this innovation are well known, but the new implementation improves the process in several ways. It runs in real-time at 2 Hz on 64-megapixel imagery. The new Shi-Tomasi corner detector tries to produce the requested number of features by automatically adjusting the minimum distance between found features. The homography-finding code now uses an implementation of the RANSAC algorithm that adjusts the number of iterations automatically to achieve a pre-set probability of missing a set of inliers. The new interface allows the caller to pass in a set of predetermined points in one of the images. This allows the ability to track the same set of points through multiple frames.

Clouse, Daniel S.↗

Overlapping Conditions in IMPACT

Introduction The IMPACT 1.0 model assumes independence of 119 different medical conditions. That is, it is assumed that one medical event maps to a single medical condition. However, it is often the case that a single medical event may lead to several different concurrent conditions (e.g., a single accident resulting in multiple fractures, chest/abdominal trauma, and sepsis). There is a significant overlap between many of the conditions in ICL 1.0. For example, depression and anxiety are two separate conditions but often co-exist. This overlap may lead to an overestimation in the incidence calculation. In future iterations of the model, we plan to address progression of medical conditions. Methods There are two possible methods to approach progression of a medical condition. The first is to take any medical condition in ICL, calculate its incidence and determine its outcomes no matter what sequelae occur. For example, calculate the incidence of prostatitis and determine its metrics (e.g., loss of crew life, risk of medical evacuation or task time affected) no matter what the sequelae might be (sepsis, hydronephrosis, renal failure, etc.). The second approach is to take any medical condition in the ICL and calculate the outcomes based on transitions to any other condition. For example, calculate the incidence of nephrolithiasis and determine the incidence of each possible transition (e.g., hydronephrosis, renal failure, UTI, pyelonephritis, sepsis) and then determine its metrics. With perfectly informative evidence, the answers should be the same using either method. The question is which approach best reduces the opportunity for overlapping. Results The team identified 31 conditions that were the most likely to transition to a secondary condition such as sepsis and respiratory failure. It was felt that the first approach, as described above, would be the easiest to implement and would have the greatest reduction in overlapping conditions. The identified conditions were primarily infectious conditions, like UTI and pneumonia (which could lead to both respiratory failure and sepsis), toxic inhalations, cardiac arrest, seizures, and trauma. Once these conditions were identified, the conditions were divided between the four clinicians on the team to identify those that were not consistent with the others in way they were approached. There were 13 conditions that were found to be problematic. Some condition definitions needed to be changed to eliminate references to transitions or to update them in cases where the definitions were out of date. Some conditions required new evidence to correct the loss of crew life, and one condition was felt to have so much overlap that it was recommended for elimination. A second effort required modification of the sepsis incidence calculation to prevent double counting of the conditions, such as prostatitis, that could progress to sepsis. Conclusion The team made significant progress in clarifying the method for dealing with transitions from one medical condition to another. In addition, errors were found and corrected in definitions, incidence, and loss of crew life as well as a condition in which reference was made to a CLiFF that was no longer included. These modifications will provide greater fidelity in the IMPACT model and reduce overlap.

Arian Anderson↗