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At least 469 records · Page 26

Core-collapse contamination in photometric samples of Type Ia Supernovae

This is an exciting time for cosmology with type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). The recentlyconcluded Dark Energy Survey SN programme (DES-SN) has obtained the largest anddeepest high-redshift cosmological SN Ia sample, and the Vera Rubin Observatory isexpected to observe at least one order of magnitude more SNe Ia in the next decade.In both these experiments, only a limited fraction (.10 per cent) of the SNe can bespectroscopically classified. This leaves us with large ‘photometric’ SN samples, withthe potential for significant contamination by core-collapse SNe that may bias SN Iacosmological measurements. This thesis demonstrates how this contamination can bemodelled and accounted for in current and future cosmological analyses.First, I present state-of-the-art simulations of the SN universe. These are designedto accurately model the population of SNe Ia, peculiar SNe Ia and core-collapse SNe, aswell as their host galaxies. To improve the diversity and quality of the simulated corecollapseSNe, I build a new library of core-collapse SN templates using spectroscopicand photometric (optical and near-ultraviolet) data of 67 core-collapse SNe from theliterature. I account for our incomplete knowledge of core-collapse SN properties bygenerating a set of SN simulations (rather than a single one), each exploring differentmodelling choices and template libraries. I then characterise selection effects in theDES-SN survey and incorporate them in the simulations, thus obtaining a series ofDES-like simulated SN samples that can be compared to the observed DES-SN data.The agreement between the simulations and data is excellent across many observed SNproperties, including Hubble residuals. These simulations are the first to reproduce theobserved photometric SN and host galaxy properties in high-redshift surveys with no fine-tuning of the input parameters.I use my simulation framework to train and test the performance of SuperNNova,a photometric SN classifier based on recurrent neural networks. I explore differenttraining and validation strategies and show that, across all the DES-SN simulationstested, SuperNNova reduces core-collapse SN contamination to 0.8–3.5 per cent. Ithen show that biases due to contamination on the equation-of-state of dark energy,w, are < 0:008 when using our reference SuperNNova model. This compares to anexpected statistical uncertainty on w from the DES-SN sample of 0:039, thus showing that contamination is not a limiting systematic for the cosmological analysis of theDES-SN sample.The results presented in this thesis are the foundation of the DES SN Ia cosmologicalanalysis; they also provide important implications for the future of SN cosmology,as they demonstrate that contamination is not expected to significantly degrade thecosmological figure of merit of the Rubin SN Ia analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

MSU Disentanglement Analysis Software

This software is used to disentangle the forced-versus-unforced components of tropospheric temperature change over the satellite era (after 1979) using maps of surface temperature change as a predictor. In general, the software assembles training datasets (from pre-computed surface temperature trend maps and domain averaged tropospheric warming rates), trains statistical/machine learning (ML) algorithms, applies the trained statistical/ML model to climate model data and observations, and then saves the results. A leave-one-out approach is used in which the statistical/ML models are iteratively trained on (N- 1) climate model and then applied to the remaining climate model (and observations). Each model includes a large ensemble (i.e., >10) of model simulations. The software relies on scikit-learn ridge regression, PLS regression, and neural network algorithms.

Po-Chedley, StephenD↗

Validation of MCNPX-PoliMi code for simulations of radioxenon beta-gamma coincidence detection

Radioxenon detection is an important component of the verification regime for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We developed and validated a new model in MCNPX-PoliMi to simulate the decay of various radioxenon isotopes and the detector response of a variety of detector types. The model was validated using calibration data from a plastic and NaI(Tl) beta-gamma coincidence detector and the results are presented. The results of this validation show that this model can also be used as a tool to produce training spectra and as a method to calibrate radioxenon detection systems.

Radioxenon analysis, MCNP, beta-gamma coincidence↗

Final DOE-ASR Report for the Project “Using LASSO to bridge the gap between model and observations and to learn about atmospheric convection”

Atmospheric convection spans a wide range of spatial and temporal scales and involves complex interactions with the surrounding dynamic and thermodynamic environment, particularly over tropical continental regions. These processes remain a major source of uncertainty in weather and climate models, including persistent biases in the diurnal cycle of convective precipitation that directly affect estimates of climate sensitivity. Addressing these challenges requires the combined use of high-resolution observations and cloud-resolving modeling frameworks. In this context, the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program’s Large-Eddy Simulation ARM Symbiotic Simulation and Observation (LASSO) activity provides a powerful platform that pairs comprehensive observations with numerical simulations to enable process-level understanding of atmospheric convection. Within this context, this Research and Development Partnership Pilot (RDPP) project was designed to initiate and expand DOE ARM/ASR research capacity at minority-serving institutions, while advancing scientific understanding of convective processes over the Amazon rainforest. Consistent with the RDPP mission, the project emphasized partnership development, training, and workforce capacity building alongside exploratory research activities. On the scientific side, the project produced two peer-reviewed journal articles, and one manuscript currently under review (see list in section 3.1). Together, these studies combine long-term ARM observations and cloud-resolving and convection-permitting modeling to investigate the environmental controls on the shallow-to-deep convective transition during the Amazon wet season. The results demonstrate the central role of early-day moisture preconditioning and large-scale dynamical forcing in regulating isolated deep convection, provide mechanistic insight into convective evolution, and establish physically informed modeling frameworks for future sensitivity experiments. These scientific outcomes are described in sections 2.1 to 2.3 and were disseminated in 8 conference presentations (see section 3.2) and 5 invited talks (see section 3.3), reflecting broad engagement with our community. Equally important, the project achieved its RDPP capacity-building objectives (see section 2.4). A sustained research partnership was established among the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Morgan State University (MSU), and Howard University (HU), and extended to include collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The project organized multiple multi-day training events focused on ARM data, LASSO simulations, and quantitative analysis methods, directly engaging students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty across institutions. These activities broadened participation in ASR research and led to independent adoption of LASSO workflows by students beyond the immediate project team. Finally, the project successfully positioned the participating institutions to pursue future DOE research. Preliminary scientific results, coupled with strengthened partnerships and technical capacity, enabled the submission of follow-on proposals to DOE ASR funding opportunities. In this way, the project fulfilled the RDPP goal of seeding durable research capacity and laying the foundation for larger-scale, sustained engagement with DOE ARM and ASR programs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Ignition-and-Growth Modeling of NASA Standard Detonator and a Linear Shaped Charge

The main objective of this study is to quantitatively investigate the ignition and shock sensitivity of NASA Standard Detonator (NSD) and the shock wave propagation of a linear shaped charge (LSC) after being shocked by NSD flyer plate. This combined explosive train was modeled as a coupled Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) model with LS-DYNA hydro code. An ignition-and-growth (I&G) reactive model based on unreacted and reacted Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equations of state was used to simulate the shock initiation. Various NSD-to-LSC stand-off distances were analyzed to calculate the shock initiation (or failure to initiate) and detonation wave propagation along the shaped charge. Simulation results were verified by experimental data which included VISAR tests for NSD flyer plate velocity measurement and an aluminum target severance test for LSC performance verification. Parameters used for the analysis were obtained from various published data or by using CHEETAH thermo-chemical code.

Oguz, Sirri↗

SAM-ML: Integrating data-driven closure with nuclear system code SAM for improved modeling capability

Advanced reactors often involve complicated thermal-fluid (T-F) phenomena. Modeling such phenomena with the traditional one-dimensional (1-D) system code is a challenging task. The System Analysis Module (SAM), a modern nuclear system code, has developed a coarse mesh multi-dimensional (multi-D) flow model to capture the spatial effect of T-F phenomena in advanced reactors. As a coarse mesh solver, constitutive relations are required for SAM's multi-D model for unresolved fine-scale physics, such as turbulence. Here this work presents a novel approach that integrates neural networks as data-driven closure for SAM's multi-D flow model. The data-driven closure is trained with fine-resolution data to ensure its accuracy while maintaining a coarse mesh setup to ensure its efficiency and consistency with SAM. We demonstrate the applicability of this SAM-ML capability in an open volume thermal stratification problem, where a neural network model serves as the eddy viscosity closure. A customized interface between the neural network and SAM is developed to ensure flexible and efficient data exchange. The SAM-ML results demonstrate superior performance compared to SAM's built-in zero-equation eddy viscosity closure. The case study shows that although the generalization capability of the data-driven closure still needs to be improved for different transient case or different geometric setup, SAM -ML demonstrates good potential for challenging simulation problems with improved accuracy and computational efficiency.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Development of data‐driven exponential integrators with application to modeling of delay photocurrents

Abstract Radiation‐induced photocurrent effects represent a threat to microelectronic components operating in space, manmade and terrestrial radiation environments. Analysis of these threats by circuit simulations requires accurate and computationally efficient compact models. Most existing compact models are based on closed form analytic solutions of the governing equations and require empirical assumptions and idealizations that can limit their validity. In this paper we formulate an alternative numerical, data‐driven approach that learns a compact model from data representative of the type of measurements one can obtain in an experimental facility. To develop the model we start from a generic discrete‐time dynamical system and then use physics knowledge to refine its structure. Numerical studies demonstrate the potential of the model and establish some empirical guidelines for its training.

Bochev, Pavel↗

An artificial neural network framework for reduced order modeling of transient flows

Here, this paper proposes a supervised machine learning framework for the non-intrusive model order reduction of unsteady fluid flows to provide accurate predictions of non-stationary state variables when the control parameter values vary. Our approach utilizes a training process from full-order scale direct numerical simulation data projected on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modes to achieve an artificial neural network (ANN) model with reduced memory requirements. This data-driven ANN framework allows for a nonlinear time evolution of the modal coefficients without performing a Galerkin projection. Our POD-ANN framework can thus be considered an equation-free approach for latent space dynamics evolution of nonlinear transient systems and can be applied to a wide range of physical and engineering applications. Within this framework we introduce two architectures, namely sequential network (SN) and residual network (RN), to train the trajectory of modal coefficients. We perform a systematic analysis of the performance of the proposed reduced order modeling approaches on prediction of a nonlinear wave-propagation problem governed by the viscous Burgers equation, a simplified prototype setting for transient flows. We find that the POD-ANN-RN yields stable and accurate results for test problems assessed both within inside and outside of the database range and performs significantly better than the standard intrusive Galerkin projection model. Finally, our results show that the proposed framework provides a non-intrusive alternative to the evolution of transient physics in a POD basis spanned space, and can be used as a robust predictive model order reduction tool for nonlinear dynamical systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Toward designing effective exascale scientific computing workflows: experiences and best practices

Many fields within scientific computing have embraced advances in big-data analysis and machine learning, which often requires the deployment of large, distributed and complicated workflows that may combine training neural networks, performing simulations, running inference, and performing database queries and data analysis in asynchronous, parallel and pipelined execution frameworks. Such a shift has brought into focus the need for scalable, efficient workflow management solutions with reproducibility, error and provenance handling, traceability, and checkpoint-restart capabilities, among other needs. Here, we discuss challenges and best-practices for deploying exascale-generation computational science workflows on resources at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF). We present our experiences with large-scale deployment of distributed workflows on the Summit supercomputer, including for bioinformatics and computational biophysics, materials science, and deep learning model optimization. We also present problems and solutions created by working within a Python-centric software base on traditional HPC systems, and discuss steps that will be required before the convergence of HPC, AI, and data science can be fully realized. Our results point to a wealth of exciting new possibilities for harnessing this convergence to tackle new scientific challenges.

Coletti, Mark↗

Machine-learning-informed scattering correlation analysis of sheared colloids

We have carried out theoretical analysis, Monte Carlo simulations and machine-learning analysis to quantify microscopic rearrangements of dilute dispersions of spherical colloidal particles from coherent scattering intensity. Both monodisperse and polydisperse dispersions of colloids were created and underwent a rearrangement consisting of an affine simple shear and non-affine rearrangement using the Monte Carlo method. We calculated the coherent scattering intensity of the dispersions and the correlation function of intensity before and after the rearrangement and generated a large data set of angular correlation functions for varying system parameters, including number density, polydispersity, shear strain and non-affine rearrangement. Singular value decomposition of the data set shows the feasibility of machine-learning inversion from the correlation function for the polydispersity, shear strain and non-affine rearrangement using only three parameters. A Gaussian process regressor is then trained on the data set and can retrieve the affine shear strain, non-affine rearrangement and polydispersity with relative errors of 3%, 1% and 6%, respectively. Altogether, our model provides a framework for quantitative studies of both steady and non-steady microscopic dynamics of colloidal dispersions using coherent scattering methods.

Gaussian process regression↗

A technique for incorporating the NASA spacelab payload dedicated experiment processor software into the simulation system for the payload crew training complex

The feasibility of some off-the-shelf microprocessors and state-of-art software is assessed (1) as a development system for the principle investigator (pi) in the design of the experiment model, (2) as an example of available technology application for future PI's experiments, (3) as a system capable of being interactive in the PCTC's simulation of the dedicated experiment processor (DEP), preferably by bringing the PI's DEP software directly into the simulation model, (4) as a system having bus compatibility with host VAX simulation computers, (5) as a system readily interfaced with mock-up panels and information displays, and (6) as a functional system for post mission data analysis.

Bremmer, D. A.↗

Investigation of the Effect of Framework Flexibility on CO 2 Adsorption in SIFSIX-3-Cu Using a Machine-Learned Force Field

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) offer promise as selective CO 2 sorbents, but successful MOF sorbent materials need high CO 2 binding affinity and selectivity for CO 2 over water. This work focuses on the use of machine-learned force fields (MLFFs) to model CO 2 adsorption in flexible MOFs, with a focus on SIFSIX-3-Cu, an anion-pillared MOF known for its high CO 2 affinity. A preliminary high-throughput screening of over 900 anion-pillared MOFs was performed using rigid UFF+DDEC6 force fields to predict zero-loading heats of adsorption for CO 2 and H 2 O. SIFSIX-3-Cu was selected for further computational study due to its predicted CO 2 heat of adsorption and experimental relevance. A DeePMD-based MLFF was trained to reproduce DFT (PBE+D3) energies and forces, with an iterative sampling scheme combining molecular dynamics, geometry optimization, random geometric insertion, and NVT Monte Carlo-based configuration generation to capture both attractive and repulsive regions of the potential energy surface. Flexibility of the MOF was explicitly included, contrasting with previous models that approximated the MOF as rigid. Hybrid Monte Carlo/molecular dynamics (MC/MD) simulations with the MLFF produced CO 2 adsorption isotherms in good agreement with experimental data at direct air capture (DAC) pressures (e.g., 40 Pa), in contrast to previous overestimations of CO 2 sorption by models with rigid structures. Bond and angle histogram analysis showed that MOF flexibility increased the variance of fluorine–fluorine diagonal distances at adsorption sites, resulting in a lower predicted sorption for flexible, asymmetric SIFSIX-3-Cu pore geometries compared to the rigid, symmetric DFT-optimized SIFSIX-3-Cu pore geometry. A detailed description of flexibility afforded by the MLFF resulted in an accurately predicted CO 2 uptake (0.88 mmol/g) at low pressure (40 Pa) compared to the experimentally measured value (1.24 mmol/g). In conclusion, these results underscore the importance of including framework flexibility when modeling adsorption phenomena in MOFs, particularly for low-pressure applications.

adsorption↗

Reactor Safety for Beyond Design Basis Events

In the aftermath of the March 2011 multi-unit accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (Fukushima), the nuclear community has been reassessing certain safety assumptions about nuclear reactor plant design, operations and emergency actions, particularly with respect to extreme events that might occur and that are beyond each plant's current design basis. The DOE has played a major role in the U.S. response to the Fukushima accident. Initially, DOE worked with the Japanese and the international community to help develop a more complete understanding of the Fukushima accident progression and its consequences, and to respond to various safety concerns emerging from uncertainties about the nature of and the effects from the accident. DOE R and D activities are focused on providing scientific and technical insights, data, analyses methods that ultimately support industry efforts to enhance safety. These activities are expected to further enhance the safety performance of currently operating as well as better characterize the safety performance of future U.S. nuclear power plants. In pursuing this area of R and D, DOE recognizes that the commercial nuclear industry is ultimately responsible for the safe operation of licensed nuclear facilities. As such, industry is considered the primary end user of the results from this DOE-sponsored work. The purpose of the Reactor Safety Technology R and D is to improve understanding of beyond design basis events and reduce uncertainty in severe accident progression, phenomenology, and outcomes using existing analytical codes and information gleaned from severe accidents, in particular the Fukushima Daiichi events. This information will be used to aid in developing mitigating strategies and improving severe accident management guidelines for the current light water reactor fleet. The RST R and D activities have evolved from an initial coordinated international effort to assist in the analysis of the Fukushima accident progression and accident response into the following three areas of current work. Fukushima Forensics and Examination Plans: This R and D is focused on providing insights into the actual severe accident progression at Fukushima through planning and interpretation of visual examinations and data collection of in-situ conditions of the damaged units as well as collection and analysis of samples from the damaged reactors. Severe Accident Analyses: This R and D is focused on analyses using existing computer models and their ability to provide information and insights into severe accident progression that aid in the development of severe accident management guidelines (SAMG) and/or training operators on these SAMGs; an auxiliary benefit can be informing improvements in these models. Accident Tolerant Components: This R and D work is focused on analysis or experimental efforts for hardware-related issues, including systems, structures and components with the potential to prevent core degradation or mitigate the effects of beyond-design basis events. This presentation will review current and future R and D activities in this reactor safety area. (author)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Jet classification using high-level features from anatomy of top jets

Recent advancements in deep learning models have significantly enhanced jet classification performance by analyzing low-level features (LLFs). However, this approach often leads to less interpretable models, emphasizing the need to understand the decision-making process and to identify the high-level features (HLFs) crucial for explaining jet classification. To address this, we consider the top jet tagging problems and introduce an analysis model (AM) that analyzes selected HLFs designed to capture important features of top jets. Our AM mainly consists of the following three modules: a relation network analyzing two-point energy correlations, mathematical morphology and Minkowski functionals for generalizing jet constituent multiplicities, and a recursive neural network analyzing subjet constituent multiplicity to enhance sensitivity to subjet color charges. We demonstrate that our AM achieves performance comparable to the Particle Transformer (ParT) while requiring fewer computational resources in a comparison of top jet tagging using jets simulated at the hadronic calorimeter angular resolution scale. Furthermore, as a more constrained architecture than ParT, the AM exhibits smaller training uncertainties because of the bias-variance tradeoff. We also compare the information content of AM and ParT by decorrelating the features already learned by AM. Lastly, we briefly comment on the results of AM with finer angular resolution inputs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Predicting rare events using neural networks and short-trajectory data

Estimating the likelihood, timing, and nature of events is a major goal of modeling stochastic dynamical systems. When the event is rare in comparison with the timescales of simulation and/or measurement needed to resolve the elemental dynamics, accurate prediction from direct observations becomes challenging. In such cases a more effective approach is to cast statistics of interest as solutions to Feynman-Kac equations (partial differential equations). Here, we develop an approach to solve Feynman-Kac equations by training neural networks on short-trajectory data. Our approach is based on a Markov approximation but otherwise avoids assumptions about the underlying model and dynamics. This makes it applicable to treating complex computational models and observational data. Additionally, we illustrate the advantages of our method using a low-dimensional model that facilitates visualization, and this analysis motivates an adaptive sampling strategy that allows on-the-fly identification of and addition of data to regions important for predicting the statistics of interest. Finally, we demonstrate that we can compute accurate statistics for a 75-dimensional model of sudden stratospheric warming. This system provides a stringent test bed for our method.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Construction of a Code Verification Matrix for Heat Conduction With Finite Element Code Applications

When establishing the pedigree of a simulation tool, code verification is used to ensure that the implemented numerical algorithm is a faithful representation of its underlying mathematical model. During this process, numerical results on various meshes are systematically compared to a reference analytic solution. The selection of analytic solutions can be a laborious process, as it is difficult to establish adequate code confidence without performing redundant work. In this report we address this issue by applying a physics-based process that establishes a set of reference problems. In this process, code simulation options are categorized and systematically tested, which ensures that gaps in testing are easily identified and addressed. The resulting problems are primarily intended for code verification analysis but may also be useful for comparison to other simulation codes, troubleshooting activities, or training exercises. The process is used to select fifteen code verification problems relevant for the one-dimensional steady-state heat conduction equation. These problems are applicable to a wide variety of simulation tools, but, in this work, a demonstration is performed using the finite element-based nuclear fuel performance code BISON. Convergence to the analytic solution at the theoretical rate is quantified for a selection of the problems, which establishes a baseline pedigree for the code. Not only can this standard set of conduction solutions be used for verification of other codes, but also the physics-based process for selecting problems can be utilized to quantify and expand testing for any simulation tool.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Fluid-Kinetic Coupling: Advanced Discretizations for Simulations on Emerging Heterogeneous Architectures (LDRD FY20-0643)

Plasma physics simulations are vital for a host of Sandia mission concerns, for fundamental science, and for clean energy in the form of fusion power. Sandia's most mature plasma physics simulation capabilities come in the form of particle-in-cell (PIC) models and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models. MHD models for a plasma work well in denser plasma regimes when there is enough material that the plasma approximates a fluid. PIC models, on the other hand, work well in lower-density regimes, in which there is not too much to simulate; error in PIC scales as the square root of the number of particles, making high-accuracy simulations expensive. Real-world applications, however, almost always involve a transition region between the high-density regimes where MHD is appropriate, and the low-density regimes for PIC. In such a transition region, a direct discretization of Vlasov is appropriate. Such discretizations come with their own computational costs, however; the phase-space mesh for Vlasov can involve up to six dimensions (seven if time is included), and to apply appropriate homogeneous boundary conditions in velocity space requires meshing a substantial padding region to ensure that the distribution remains sufficiently close to zero at the velocity boundaries. Moreover, for collisional plasmas, the right-hand side of the Vlasov equation is a collision operator, which is non-local in velocity space, and which may dominate the cost of the Vlasov solver. The present LDRD project endeavors to develop modern, foundational tools for the development of continuum-kinetic Vlasov solvers, using the discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin (DPG) methodology, for discretization of Vlasov, and machine-learning (ML) models to enable efficient evaluation of collision operators. DPG affords several key advantages. First, it has a built-in, robust error indicator, allowing us to adapt the mesh in a very natural way, enabling a coarse velocity-space mesh near the homogeneous boundaries, and a fine mesh where the solution has fine features. Second, it is an inherently high-order, high-intensity method, requiring extra local computations to determine so-called optimal test functions, which makes it particularly suited to modern hardware in which floating-point throughput is increasing at a faster rate than memory bandwidth. Finally, DPG is a residual-minimizing method, which enables high-accuracy computation: in typical cases, the method delivers something very close to the $L^2$ projection of the exact solution. Meanwhile, the ML-based collision model we adopt affords a cost structure that scales as the square root of a standard direct evaluation. Moreover, we design our model to conserve mass, momentum, and energy by construction, and our approach to training is highly flexible, in that it can incorporate not only synthetic data from direct-simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) codes, but also experimental data. We have developed two DPG formulations for Vlasov-Poisson: a time-marching, backward-Euler discretization and a space-time discretization. We have conducted a number of numerical experiments to verify the approach in a 1D1V setting. In this report, we detail these formulations and experiments. We also summarize some new theoretical results developed as part of this project (published as papers previously): some new analysis of DPG for the convection-reaction problem (of which the Vlasov equation is an instance), a new exponential integrator for DPG, and some numerical exploration of various DPG-based time-marching approaches to the heat equation. As part of this work, we have contributed extensively to the Camellia open-source library; we also describe the new capabilities and their usage. We have also developed a well-documented methodology for single-species collision operators, which we applied to argon and demonstrated with numerical experiments. We summarize those results here, as well as describing at a high level a design extending the methodology to multi-species operators. We have released a new open-source library, MLC, under a BSD license; we include a summary of its capabilities as well.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

The role of the research simulator in the systems development of rotorcraft

Over the last 20 years, flight simulators became widely accepted as training tools. Moreover, research simulators were used extensively by the fixed-wing industry: in the design, testing, and certification of new aircraft. The rotorcraft industry, however, was slow to use man-in-the-loop simulation to solve its design problems, primarily because of the difficulty of modeling complex rotorcraft for realtime simulation and because of the need for a wide-angle visual system for low-level flight. A joint U.S. Army and NASA program was initiated to provide this simulation capability for exploitation by both government and industry. The potential application of the research simulator to future rotorcraft systems design, development, product improvement evaluations, and safety analysis is discussed.

Statler, I. C.↗