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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.

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At least 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Composite structure global fracture toughness via computational simulation

A computational method for the simulation of damage and fracture propagation in laminated composites is presented. A quantitative evaluation of the global fracture toughness of composites is shown as a tool for monitoring the fracture stability of composites under sustained loading. Changes in overall structural properties such as natural frequencies and the fundamental buckling load are also computed with increasing load-induced damage. Structural degradation, delamination, fracture, and damage propagation are included in the simulation. An angle-plied composite plate structure subjected to inplane tensile loading is used as an example to demonstrate some of the feature of the computational method.

Minnetyan, L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Domain decomposition methods in computational fluid dynamics

The divide-and-conquer paradigm of iterative domain decomposition, or substructuring, has become a practical tool in computational fluid dynamic applications because of its flexibility in accommodating adaptive refinement through locally uniform (or quasi-uniform) grids, its ability to exploit multiple discretizations of the operator equations, and the modular pathway it provides towards parallelism. These features are illustrated on the classic model problem of flow over a backstep using Newton's method as the nonlinear iteration. Multiple discretizations (second-order in the operator and first-order in the preconditioner) and locally uniform mesh refinement pay dividends separately, and they can be combined synergistically. Sample performance results are included from an Intel iPSC/860 hypercube implementation.

Gropp, William D.↗
NASA NTRS1997

CFD Analysis of Hypersonic Flowfields With Surface Thermochemistry and Ablation

In the past forty years much progress has been made in computational methods applied to the solution of problems in spacecraft hypervelocity flow and heat transfer. Although the basic thermochemical and physical modeling techniques have changed little in this time, several orders of magnitude increase in the speed of numerically solving the Navier-Stokes and associated energy equations have been achieved. The extent to which this computational power can be applied to the design of spacecraft heat shields is dependent on the proper coupling of the external flow equations to the boundary conditions and governing equations representing the thermal protection system in-depth conduction, pyrolysis and surface ablation phenomena. A discussion of the techniques used to do this in past problems as well as the current state-of-art is provided. Specific examples, including past missions such as Galileo, together with the more recent case studies of ESA/Rosetta Sample Comet Return, Mars Pathfinder and X-33 will be discussed. Modeling assumptions, design approach and computational methods and results are presented.

Henline, W. D.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Brochure for the DOE Office of Science Workshop on Envisioning Frontiers in AI and Computing for Biological Research

In February of 2025 a joint ASCR/BER workshop was held to identify key transformational research directions for understanding biology using artificial intelligence (AI), digital twins and high-performance (HPC) computational methods to facilitate scientific discovery and innovation in support of the Department of Energy mission. AI technologies offer exciting new groundbreaking methods to analyze large volumes of complex biological data, thereby greatly accelerating the ability to understand, predict, and design biological processes for beneficial purposes. In the laboratory, the bridging of AI-enabled automated experimental technologies, HPC and digital twins will provide potent tools for researchers to explore the fundamental nature of biology and harness its inherent metabolic potential for a variety of beneficial purposes. The focus of this workshop was on how high-performance computational methods can impact this objective by exploring digital twins, foundational models, and data-driven approaches with applications to advance automated laboratory experiments, modeling of complex living systems and engineering new functions into plants and microbial systems relevant to DOE mission. Workshop attendees with expertise in plant science, microbiology, mathematics, computer science, and AI assessed the current state of the science, trends, and AI challenges at the interface of plant and microbial systems biology and computational science to identify opportunities for high-impact research. This collaborative effort capitalized on ASCR's advancements in applied mathematics, computer science, and Exascale systems, and BER's expertise in basic genomics-enabled research on DOE relevant plant and microbial systems. The workshop culminated in four key priority research directions to guide future research and development within DOE Office of Science programs.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1987

Aerodynamic analysis for aircraft with nacelles, pylons, and winglets at transonic speeds

A computational method has been developed to provide an analysis for complex realistic aircraft configurations at transonic speeds. Wing-fuselage configurations with various combinations of pods, pylons, nacelles, and winglets can be analyzed along with simpler shapes such as airfoils, isolated wings, and isolated bodies. The flexibility required for the treatment of such diverse geometries is obtained by using a multiple nested grid approach in the finite-difference relaxation scheme. Aircraft components (and their grid systems) can be added or removed as required. As a result, the computational method can be used in the same manner as a wind tunnel to study high-speed aerodynamic interference effects. The multiple grid approach also provides high boundary point density/cost ratio. High resolution pressure distributions can be obtained. Computed results are correlated with wind tunnel and flight data using four different transport configurations. Experimental/computational component interference effects are included for cases where data are available. The computer code used for these comparisons is described in the appendices.

Boppe, Charles W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Research in unsteady aerodynamics and computational aeroelasticity at the NASA Langley Research Center

This paper presents recent results in the unsteady aerodynamics and computational aeroelasticity research programs at the NASA Langley Research Center. These programs include development of two types of computational methods: methods that use structured computational meshes and those that use unstructured meshes. Results show that an aeroelastic analysis method that uses unsteady transonic small disturbance (TSD) potential aerodynamics and structured, Cartesian meshes is capable of accurate analysis of complex aircraft configurations. The paper describes recent enhancements to the TSD method that allow analysis of vehicles with swept, flexible vertical surfaces and flexible fuselages and presents selected results that verify the accuracy of the new capabilities. Modifications to a structured-mesh Euler/Navier-Stokes method to allow aeroelastic analysis are described, and a wing flutter analysis using the resulting method is presented. Advantages of using unstructured meshes for the analysis of complex configurations are discussed. The paper presents development of unstructured-mesh Euler/Navier-Stokes methods for unsteady aerodynamics and aeroelastic analysis. Spatial and temporal adaption methods on unstructured meshes are described, and selected results are presented.

Whitlow, Woodrow, Jr.↗
DOE OSTI2025

An eigenvalue-based method for computing the relaxed pressure in compressible multiphase flow with N phases

The modeling of compressible multiphase flows is a decades-old area of study with many applications across various fields. Many of these application areas use stiff pressure relaxation. This process involves the solution of a nonlinear system with N + 1 equations and N + 1 unknowns, where N is the number of phases. The resolution of this system with general equations of state (EOSs) is difficult. Furthermore, nonlinear systems can admit multiple solutions, and current solution methods do not address this possibility. Very recently, a thermodynamic relaxation method was introduced, which effectively maps a relatively simple predictor equation of state onto a more complex target equation of state. In this context, the target EOSs are the chosen EOSs for the thermodynamic model. Furthermore, this thermodynamic relaxation has the benefit of simplifying the stiff pressure relaxation system of equations. In this article, we show this system reduces to a polynomial of degree N, which can be recast as an eigenvalue problem through the use of the associated companion matrix. We show that although this eigenvalue method is generally less efficient than Newton–Raphson iteration, it does not suffer from convergence issues and finds all N roots of the polynomial. Hence, the method provides a fail-safe for root-finding iterative methods and a way to address the issue of multiple solutions to the nonlinear system of equations in stiff pressure relaxation.

Eigenvalue algorithm↗
NASA NTRS2013

Guidance on the Stand Down, Mothball, and Reactivation of Ground Test Facilities

The development of aerospace and aeronautics products typically requires three distinct types of testing resources across research, development, test, and evaluation: experimental ground testing, computational "testing" and development, and flight testing. Over the last twenty plus years, computational methods have replaced some physical experiments and this trend is continuing. The result is decreased utilization of ground test capabilities and, along with market forces, industry consolidation, and other factors, has resulted in the stand down and oftentimes closure of many ground test facilities. Ground test capabilities are (and very likely will continue to be for many years) required to verify computational results and to provide information for regimes where computational methods remain immature. Ground test capabilities are very costly to build and to maintain, so once constructed and operational it may be desirable to retain access to those capabilities even if not currently needed. One means of doing this while reducing ongoing sustainment costs is to stand down the facility into a "mothball" status - keeping it alive to bring it back when needed. Both NASA and the US Department of Defense have policies to accomplish the mothball of a facility, but with little detail. This paper offers a generic process to follow that can be tailored based on the needs of the owner and the applicable facility.

Volkman, Gregrey T.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Experimental and Computational Investigation of Flow Boiling in Microgravity

This study explores use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to predict near-saturated flow boiling of FC-72 in microgravity. The computational method employs transient analysis to predict detailed interfacial behavior and heat transfer characteristics along a rectangular channel heated along two opposite walls. Predicted results are validated against experimental temperature measurements and high-speed video images captured during a series of parabolic aircraft maneuvers for three sets of operating conditions which include variations of both mass velocity and wall heat flux. The computational method is based on the multi-phase volume of fluid (VOF) model, which is combined with appropriate phase change and turbulence models, and accounts for both shear-lift force on bubbles and conjugate heat transfer along the heating walls. A key advantage of the CFD method is ability to capture details that are very difficult to measure experimentally, including detailed spatial variations of bubble shape, void fraction, mixture fluid temperature, liquid velocity, and vapor velocity, results for which are presented for each of the three test cases. Different flow regimes predicted along the heated length exhibit a number of dominant mechanisms including bubble nucleation, bubble growth, coalescence, vapor blankets, interfacial waviness, and residual liquid sub-layer, all of which agree well with experiment. Vapor velocity is shown to increase appreciably along the heated length because of increased void fraction, while liquid velocity experiences large fluctuations. Non-equilibrium effects are accentuated with increasing mass velocity, contributing minor deviations of fluid temperature from simulations compared to those predicted by the analytical method. Predicted wall temperature is fairly uniform in the middle of the heated length but increases in the entrance region, due to sensible heat transfer in the subcooled liquid, and decreases toward the exit, mostly because of flow acceleration resulting from increased void fraction.

two-phase cooling; flow boiling; CFD; microgravity↗
NASA NTRS1984

Applications of spectral methods to turbulent magnetofluids in space and fusion research

Recent and potential applications of spectral method computation to incompressible, dissipative magnetohydrodynamics are surveyed. Linear stability problems for one dimensional, quasi-equilibria are approachable through a close analogue of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation. It is likely that for Reynolds-like numbers above certain as-yet-undetermined thresholds, all magnetofluids are turbulent. Four recent effects in MHD turbulence are remarked upon, as they have displayed themselves in spectral method computations: (1) inverse cascades; (2) small-scale intermittent dissipative structures; (3) selective decays of ideal global invariants relative to each other; and (4) anisotropy induced by a mean dc magnetic field. Two more conjectured applications are suggested. All the turbulent processes discussed are sometimes involved in current carrying confined fusion magnetoplasmas and in space plasmas.

Montgomery, D.↗
NASA NTRS1972

A parametric study of planform and aeroelastic effects on aerodynamic center, alpha- and q- stability derivatives. Appendix C: Method for computing the aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix of nonplanar wing-body-tail configurations

Expressions are derived for computing the aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix for nonplanar wing-body-tail configurations. An aerodynamic influence coefficient is defined as the load in lbs. induced on a panel as a result of a unit angle of attack on another panel. Fuselage, wing and tail thickness are assumed to be small with the result that the thickness effect on the flow-field is negligible. The method for determining the aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix is based on the lifting solution to the small perturbation, steady potential flow equation.

Roskam, J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Dynamics of Ions on Phased Radio-frequency Carpets in High Pressure Gases and Application for Barium Tagging in Xenon Gas Time Projection Chambers

Radio-frequency (RF) carpets with ultra-fine pitches are examined for ion transport in gases at atmospheric pressures and above. We develop new analytic and computational methods for modeling RF ion transport at densities where dynamics are strongly influenced by buffer gas collisions. An analytic description of levitating and sweeping forces from phased arrays is obtained, then thermodynamic and kinetic principles are used to calculate ion loss rates in the presence of collisions. This methodology is validated against detailed microscopic SIMION simulations. We then explore a parameter space of special interest for neutrinoless double beta decay experiments: transport of barium ions in xenon at pressures from 1 to 10 bar. Our computations account for molecular ion formation and pressure dependent mobility as well as finite temperature effects. We discuss the challenges associated with achieving suitable operating conditions, which lie beyond the capabilities of existing devices, using presently available or near-future manufacturing techniques.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Summary Report of the FY24 DOE Contributions to the GIF VHTR CMVB

The Generation-IV Forum (GIF) Very-High-Temperature Reactor-Computational Methods Validation and Benchmark (VHTR-CMVB) initiative, involving organizations from Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) (South Korea), Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology of Tsinghua University (INET) (China), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (U.S.), Joint Research Centre (JRC) (Europe), and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) (Japan), is dedicated to the verification and validation of tools for High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGRs) analysis, using data shared by Computational Methods Validation and Benchmark (CMVB) signatories. For FY24, the US DOE CMVB has committed to several critical activities. Under WP1, led by the US, the integration of the High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor - Pebble-Bed Module (HTR-PM) Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) into the comparative PIRT is progressing, with a new draft of the comparison tables issued earlier this year and currently being utilized by INET for their contribution. Neutronic validation efforts under WP3 include the preparation of the burnup analysis benchmark, preliminary calculations, and the development of reference models and results. In WP2, a validation exercise for hot gas mixing in the lower plenum of HTR-PM is in progress, using experimental data from INET (China) to validate modeling approaches. A model of the experimental facility has been developed using StarCCM+, with initial calculations slated for presentation at the GIF CMVB meeting this fall. Another WP2 activity focuses on validating numerical models for air-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) with experimental data from the Wisconsin Madison RCCS facility. A high-fidelity model, developed using NEK-RS, is currently being validated with available data from a low power forced convection test. These efforts are aimed at enhancing and confirming the accuracy of HTGR analysis tools, ensuring their alignment with experimental data and regulatory requirements.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

PDB-IHM: A System for Deposition, Curation, Validation, and Dissemination of Integrative Structures

Structures of many large biomolecular assemblies are now being determined using integrative approaches. In these approaches, information derived from multiple experimental and computational methods is combined to compute three-dimensional structures of multi-protein complexes and other macromolecular machines. A standalone prototype data resource for integrative structures called PDB-Dev was built, based on recommendations of the Integrative and Hybrid Methods (IHM) Task Force of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB). This effort included developing data standards and software tools for collecting, curating, validating, visualizing, archiving, and disseminating integrative structures that span diverse spatiotemporal scales and conformational states. Mechanisms have been created to validate integrative structures based on the experimental data underpinning them. Building upon this foundational framework, PDB-Dev has been further expanded to handle large dynamic macromolecular systems and integrative structures that combine, for example, experimental restraints with atomic coordinates computed by machine learning algorithms. Data standards and supporting tools have also been extended to capture information about biomolecular dynamics, such as conformational transitions and related kinetic data derived from biophysical methods. Recently, PDB-Dev was unified with the PDB archive and rebranded as PDB-IHM (pdb-ihm.org), further promoting FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles of data stewardship for integrative structural biology.

IHMCIF↗
NASA NTRS1990

LOX manifold tee analysis

A 4000 Hz vibration phenomena was observed during the test firings of several space shuttle main engines (SSME). Experimental studies of this phenomena suggest that the problem might be associated with vortex shedding from the vanes within the LOX tee manifold. The objective of this study was to determine the unsteady, 3-D flow associated with these vanes by computational methods to identify and better understand the 4000 Hz vibration phenomena. A flow solver, FDNS, for the turbulent conservation equations was validated for predicting high frequency vortex dynamics and used to predict 2-D and 3-D flows within the LOX tee. 4000 Hz excitation oscillations were predicted for some flows and the entire 3-D flow structure was predicted for LOX tee flow. The complexity of the flow was revealed by this analysis, and computational methods for predicting these high frequency oscillations in future engine systems were established.

Chen, Yen-Sen↗
DOE OSTI2023

EMMA: a new method for computing multiple sequence alignments given a constraint subset alignment

Abstract Background Adding sequences into an existing (possibly user-provided) alignment has multiple applications, including updating a large alignment with new data, adding sequences into a constraint alignment constructed using biological knowledge, or computing alignments in the presence of sequence length heterogeneity. Although this is a natural problem, only a few tools have been developed to use this information with high fidelity. Results We present EMMA (Extending Multiple alignments using MAFFT--add) for the problem of adding a set of unaligned sequences into a multiple sequence alignment (i.e., a constraint alignment). EMMA builds on MAFFT--add, which is also designed to add sequences into a given constraint alignment. EMMA improves on MAFFT--add methods by using a divide-and-conquer framework to scale its most accurate version, MAFFT-linsi--add, to constraint alignments with many sequences. We show that EMMA has an accuracy advantage over other techniques for adding sequences into alignments under many realistic conditions and can scale to large datasets with high accuracy (hundreds of thousands of sequences). EMMA is available at https://github.com/c5shen/EMMA . Conclusions EMMA is a new tool that provides high accuracy and scalability for adding sequences into an existing alignment.

Shen, Chengze↗
NASA NTRS1973

Numerical solution for low-velocity penetration of rigid body into still fluid

A modified marker-and-cell computational method is developed which can be used to study problems related to impact and penetration of a rigid body into a viscous medium. The method has been applied to solving (in two dimensions) the problem of low-velocity penetration of a rigid block into still water. The solution gives the complete pressure and velocity of the flow field so that the force and displacement time histories of the rigid body during the impact and entry phase are evaluated from the boundary stresses imposed by the fluid on the rigid body. Some limited experimental comparisons are also given to demonstrate the feasibility of the computational method.

Cheng, R. Y.-K.↗
NASA NTRS1933

A Method for Computing Leading-Edge Loads

In this report a formula is developed that enables the determination of the proper design load for the portion of the wing forward of the front spar. The formula is inherently rational in concept, as it takes into account the most important variables that affect the leading-edge load, although theoretical rigor has been sacrificed for simplicity and ease of application. Some empirical corrections, based on pressure distribution measurements on the PW-9 and M-3 airplanes have been introduced to provide properly for biplanes. Results from the formula check experimental values in a variety of cases with good accuracy in the critical loading conditions. The use of the method for design purposes is therefore felt to be justified and is recommended.

Rhode, Richard V↗