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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 559 records · Page 31
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Simulations of a hypersonic turbulent boundary layer over wavy surfaces

Here, we conduct large-eddy simulations of a Mach 5.84 cold wall turbulent boundary layer over one-dimensional wavy walls with varying amplitudes and wavelengths. Across all wall topologies, a series of alternating shock and expansion waves is shown to influence the entire boundary layer, and generate repeating wave patterns in the turbulent stresses, dispersive stresses, and turbulent kinetic energy budget. The series of alternating shocks and expansions imposes repeating adverse and favourable pressure gradients across the wavy wall, and at sufficient wall amplitude, triggers flow separation in the trough of the wave. Flow separation is demonstrated to influence the behaviour of wall pressure fluctuations over the wavy wall. In attached flows, the prominent frequencies are consistent with integral-scale boundary layer turbulence, whereas in separated flows, a two-decade frequency range is present, akin to two-dimensional shock–boundary layer interactions. Counter-rotating streamwise-oriented structures are observed on the windward side of the wave, which diminish over the wave crest. A conditional analysis demonstrates that these structures are present in the upstream boundary layer, and are amplified with increasing wall amplitude. An examination of the Görtler number and probability density function (PDF) of the fluctuating lateral wall shear stress demonstrates the strong correlation between a large Görtler number and growth of the PDF tail density, suggesting that the amplification of the counter-rotating streamwise-oriented structures are linked to centrifugal instabilities in regions of streamline concavity.

boundary layers↗
DOE OSTI2021

An LES study of secondary motion and wall shear stresses in a pipe bend

In this study, large-eddy simulations (LES) of a single-phase, turbulent flow in a 90 ° pipe bend are performed at three Reynolds numbers (5300, 27 000, and 45 000) to investigate the correlation between secondary flow motion and wall shear stresses, which is suspected to be a potential mechanism responsible for material erosion. The isothermal flows are validated against available experimental and numerical data first. The snapshot proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is applied for the medium and high Reynolds number flows to identify the secondary flow motions and the oscillation of the Dean vortices that are found to cause swirl-switching. Distinguished frequencies of the POD time coefficients at Strouhal numbers of 0.25 and 0.28 are identified for Reynolds numbers at 27 000 and 45 000, respectively. Moreover, shear stress on the pipe wall and the associated power spectral density are obtained and shown to have the same oscillating frequency as the swirl-switching.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1991

Direct numerical simulation of transition and turbulence in a spatially evolving boundary layer

A high-order-accurate finite-difference approach to direct simulations of transition and turbulence in compressible flows is described. Attention is given to the high-free-stream disturbance case in which transition to turbulence occurs close to the leading edge. In effect, computation requirements are reduced. A method for numerically generating free-stream disturbances is presented.

Rai, Man M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Direct numerical simulation of transitional and turbulent flow over a heated flat plate using finite-difference schemes

This report deals with the direct numerical simulation of transitional and turbulent flow at low Mach numbers using high-order-accurate finite-difference techniques. A computation of transition to turbulence of the spatially-evolving boundary layer on a heated flat plate in the presence of relatively high freestream turbulence was performed. The geometry and flow conditions were chosen to match earlier experiments. The development of the momentum and thermal boundary layers was documented. Velocity and temperature profiles, as well as distributions of skin friction, surface heat transfer rate, Reynolds shear stress, and turbulent heat flux, were shown to compare well with experiment. The results indicate that the essential features of the transition process have been captured. The numerical method used here can be applied to complex geometries in a straightforward manner.

Madavan, Nateri K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A perspective on coherent structures and conceptual models for turbulent boundary layer physics

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent boundary layers have been analyzed to develop a unified conceptual model for the kinematics of coherent motions in low Reynolds number canonical turbulent boundary layers. All classes of coherent motions are considered in the model, including low-speed streaks, ejections and sweeps, vortical structures, near-wall and outer-region shear layers, sublayer pockets, and large-scale outer-region eddies. The model reflects the conclusions from the study of the simulated boundary layer that vortical structures are directly associated with the production of turbulent shear stresses, entrainment, dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy, and the fluctuating pressure field. These results, when viewed from the perspective of the large body of published work on the subject of coherent motions, confirm that vortical structures may be considered the central dynamic element in the maintenance of turbulence in the canonical boundary layer. Vortical structures serve as a framework on which to construct a unified picture of boundary layer structure, providing a means to relate the many known structural elements in a consistent way.

Robinson, Stephen K.↗
DOE OSTI2024

GX: a GPU-native gyrokinetic turbulence code for tokamak and stellarator design

GX is a code designed to solve the nonlinear gyrokinetic system for low-frequency turbulence in magnetized plasmas, particularly tokamaks and stellarators. In GX, our primary motivation and target is a fast gyrokinetic solver that can be used for fusion reactor design and optimization along with wide-ranging physics exploration. Here, this has led to several code and algorithm design decisions, specifically chosen to prioritize time to solution. First, we have used a discretization algorithm that is pseudospectral in the entire phase space, including a Laguerre–Hermite pseudospectral formulation of velocity space, which allows for smooth interpolation between coarse gyrofluid-like resolutions and finer conventional gyrokinetic resolutions and efficient evaluation of a model collision operator. Additionally, we have built GX to natively target graphics processors (GPUs), which are among the fastest computational platforms available today. Finally, we have taken advantage of the reactor-relevant limit of small $\rho _*$ by using the radially local flux-tube approach. In this paper we present details about the gyrokinetic system and the numerical algorithms used in GX to solve the system. We then present several numerical benchmarks against established gyrokinetic codes in both tokamak and stellarator magnetic geometries to verify that GX correctly simulates gyrokinetic turbulence in the small $\rho _*$. Moreover, we show that the convergence properties of the Laguerre–Hermite spectral velocity formulation are quite favourable for nonlinear problems of interest. Coupled with GPU acceleration, which we also investigate with scaling studies, this enables GX to be able to produce useful turbulence simulations in minutes on one (or a few) GPUs and higher fidelity results in a few hours using several GPUs. GX is open-source software that is ready for fusion reactor design studies.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2014

Direct Numerical Simulations of High-Speed Turbulent Boundary Layers over Riblets

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of spatially developing turbulent boundary layers over riblets with a broad range of riblet spacings are conducted to investigate the effects of riblets on skin friction at high speeds. Zero-pressure gradient boundary layers under two flow conditions (Mach 2:5 with T(sub w)/T(sub r) = 1 and Mach 7:2 with T(sub w)/T(sub r) = 0:5) are considered. The DNS results show that the drag-reduction curve (delta C(sub f)/C(sub f) vs l(sup +)(sub g )) at both supersonic speeds follows the trend of low-speed data and consists of a `viscous' regime for small riblet size, a `breakdown' regime with optimal drag reduction, and a `drag-increasing' regime for larger riblet sizes. At l l(sup +)(sub g) approx. 10 (corresponding to s+ approx 20 for the current triangular riblets), drag reduction of approximately 7% is achieved at both Mach numbers, and con rms the observations of the few existing experiments under supersonic conditions. The Mach- number dependence of the drag-reduction curve occurs for riblet sizes that are larger than the optimal size, with smaller slopes of (delta C(sub f)/C(sub f) for larger freestream Mach numbers. The Reynolds analogy holds with 2(C(sub h)=C(sub f) approximately equal to that of at plates for both drag-reducing and drag-increasing configurations.

Duan, Lian↗
DOE OSTI2025

Separability of microtearing mode and electron temperature gradient turbulence regimes

The separability of microtearing mode (MTM)-dominated and electron temperature gradient (ETG)-driven turbulence regimes is studied with multiscale nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations. The simulations are based on National Spherical Torus Experiment-like, high-confinement mode pedestal parameters, where electromagnetic perturbations are large. Linear analysis indicates a wide scale-separation between the MTM and ETG modes in binormal wavenumber space (perpendicular to the magnetic field line), with no unstable modes at intermediate scales. Likewise, single-scale nonlinear analyses, retaining ion-only or electron-only spatio-temporal scales, produce seemingly well-converged transport states. Surprisingly, the multiscale simulation, which contains both the ion and electron scales, closely follows the transport from the electron-scale simulation. This trend is robust over a wide range of electron temperature gradient. Remarkably, compared to ion-scale simulations, MTM turbulence is significantly reduced at multiscale resolution even when ETG turbulence is low. In this case, traditional ion-scale resolution overestimates the electron energy flux, and it is not possible to accurately simulate the MTM turbulence with separable ion-scale simulations. Here, while the analysis confirms the validity of electron-scale simulations for predicting the electron transport, it also indicates that multiscale simulation may be required for reproducing the turbulence spectrum for systems with coupled MTM-ETG turbulence.

H-mode↗
NASA NTRS1998

Implementation and Testing of Turbulence Models for the F18-HARV Simulation

This report presents three methods of implementing the Dryden power spectral density model for atmospheric turbulence. Included are the equations which define the three methods and computer source code written in Advanced Continuous Simulation Language to implement the equations. Time-history plots and sample statistics of simulated turbulence results from executing the code in a test program are also presented. Power spectral densities were computed for sample sequences of turbulence and are plotted for comparison with the Dryden spectra. The three model implementations were installed in a nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom simulation of the High Alpha Research Vehicle airplane. Aircraft simulation responses to turbulence generated with the three implementations are presented as plots.

Yeager, Jessie C.↗
DOE OSTI2021

The discrete Green's function paradigm for two-way coupled Euler–Lagrange simulation

We outline a methodology for the simulation of two-way coupled particle-laden flows. The drag force that couples fluid and particle momentum depends on the undisturbed fluid velocity at the particle location, and this latter quantity requires modelling. We demonstrate that the undisturbed fluid velocity, in the low particle Reynolds number limit, can be related exactly to the discrete Green's function of the discrete Stokes equations. In addition to hydrodynamics, the method can be extended to other physics present in particle-laden flows such as heat transfer and electromagnetism. The discrete Green's functions for the Navier–Stokes equations are obtained at low particle Reynolds number in a two-plane channel geometry. We perform verification at different Reynolds numbers for a particle settling under gravity parallel to a plane wall, for different wall-normal separations. Compared with other point-particle schemes, the Stokesian discrete Green's function approach is the most robust at low particle Reynolds number, accurate at all wall-normal separations. To account for degradation in accuracy away from the wall at finite Reynolds number, we extend the present methodology to an Oseen-like discrete Green's function. The extended discrete Green's function method is found to be accurate within 6% at all wall-normal separations for particle Reynolds numbers up to 24. Furthermore, the discrete Green's function approach is well suited to dilute systems with significant mass loading and this is highlighted by comparison against other Euler–Lagrange as well as particle-resolved simulations of gas–solid turbulent channel flow. Strong particle–turbulence coupling is observed in the form of turbulence modification and turbophoresis suppression, and these observations are placed in context of the different methods.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1987

Numerical study of finite-rate supersonic combustion using parabolized equations

A set of partial differential equations, describing the two-dimensional supersonic chemically-reacting flow of the hydrogen-air system, is formulated such that the equations are parabolic in the streamwise direction. A fully-implicit fully-coupled finite-difference algorithm is used to develop a computer code which solves the governing equations by marching in the streamwise direction. The combustion process is modeled by a two-step finite-rate chemistry whereas turbulence is simulated by an algebraic turbulence model. Results of two calculations of internal supersonic reacting flow show fairly good agreement with the results obtained by the more costly full Navier-Stokes procedure.

Chitsomboon, T.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Analysis of a high speed civil transport configuration at subsonic flow conditions using a Navier-Stokes solver

Computations of three dimensional vortical flows over a generic High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) configuration with an aspect ratio of 3.04 are performed using a thin-layer Navier-Stokes solver. The HSCT cruise configuration is modeled without leading or trailing edge flap deflections and without engine nacelles. The flow conditions, which correspond to tests done in the NASA Langley 8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel (TPT), are a subsonic Mach number of 0.3 and Reynolds number of 4.4 million for a range-of-attack (-.23 deg to 17.78 deg). The effects of the farfield boundary location with respect to the body are investigated. The boundary layer is assumed turbulent and simulated using an algebraic turbulence model. The key features of the vortices and their interactions are captured. Grid distribution in the vortex regions is critical for predicting the correct induced lift. Computed forces and surface pressures compare reasonably well with the experimental TPT data.

Lessard, Victor R.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Turbulence modelling in neutron star merger simulations

Observations of neutron star mergers have the potential to unveil detailed physics of matter and gravity in regimes inaccessible by other experiments. Quantitative comparisons to theory and parameter estimation require nonlinear numerical simulations. However, the detailed physics of energy and momentum transfer between different scales, and the formation and interaction of small scale structures, which can be probed by detectors, are not captured by current simulations. This is where turbulence enters neutron star modelling. This review will outline the theory and current status of turbulence modelling for relativistic neutron star merger simulations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1993

Large eddy simulations and direct numerical simulations of high speed turbulent reacting flows

The primary objective of this research is to extend current capabilities of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) for the computational analyses of high speed reacting flows. Our efforts in the first two years of this research have been concentrated on a priori investigations of single-point Probability Density Function (PDF) methods for providing subgrid closures in reacting turbulent flows. In the efforts initiated in the third year, our primary focus has been on performing actual LES by means of PDF methods. The approach is based on assumed PDF methods and we have performed extensive analysis of turbulent reacting flows by means of LES. This includes simulations of both three-dimensional (3D) isotropic compressible flows and two-dimensional reacting planar mixing layers. In addition to these LES analyses, some work is in progress to assess the extent of validity of our assumed PDF methods. This assessment is done by making detailed companions with recent laboratory data in predicting the rate of reactant conversion in parallel reacting shear flows. This report provides a summary of our achievements for the first six months of the third year of this program.

Givi, P.↗
NASA NTRS1987

On local approximations of the pressure-strain term in turbulence models

The results of numerical simulations of turbulent channel flows were used to examine the validity of the local approximation of the pressure-strain term in the Reynolds stress transport equation. Outside of the viscous sublayer the local approximation compares very well with the exact pressure strain. This agreement is due, at least in part, to the high correlation between the rapid pressure and its Laplacian, which suggests that only the near parts of the flow contribute to the rapid pressure at a point. In the viscous sublayer the distance over which the mean shear can be considered constant is comparable to the length scale in the normal direction of the correlations of velocity gradients, leading to failure of the local approximation.

Bradshaw, P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Stereopsis cueing effects on hover-in-turbulence performance in a simulated rotorcraft

The efficacy of stereopsis cueing in pictorial displays was assessed in a real-time piloted simulation experiment of a rotorcraft precision hover-in-turbulence task. Seven pilots endeavored to maintain a hover by visually aligning a set of inner and outer wickets (major elements of a real-world pictorial display, thus attaining the desired hover position, in a full factorial experimental design. The display conditions examined included the presence or absence of a velocity display element (a velocity head-up display) as well as the stereopsis cueing conditions, which included non-stereo (binoptic or monoscopic - no depth cues other than those provided by a perspective, real-world display), stereo 3-D, and hyper stereo (telestereoscopic). Subjective and objective results indicated that the depth cues provided by the stereo displays enhanced the situational awareness of the pilot and enabled improved hover performance to be achieved. The velocity display element also improved the hover performance, with the best hover performance being achieved with the combined use of stereo and the velocity display element. Pilot control input data revealed that less control action was required to attain the improved hover performance with the stereo displays.

Parrish, Russell V.↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Large Eddy Simulation Study of Flow Turbulence, Alumina Transport, and Bath Temperature Evolution in Conventional Aluminum-Smelting Cell Using OpenFOAM

In this study, a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of the aluminum-smelting process is performed using OpenFOAM. To understand the coupled behavior of heat transfer, mass transfer, and flow of the smelting process, a multi-physics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on the Eulerian–Eulerian multi-fluid approach is adopted. The model accounts for CO 2 bubble and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)-driven flow, along with alumina dissolution, transport, and bath temperature evolution. The simulation predictions show small-scale turbulent vortical structures in the anode–cathode space caused by combined effect of MHD and CO 2 bubble-bath interactions and relatively large-scale asymmetric vortices in the inter-anode space caused by the CO 2 bubble-bath interactions. The vortex formation at the edges of the anodes evidently aids in transporting alumina from the central channel to the bottom of the anodes and prevents accumulation of gas bubbles in the periphery of the anode bottom. Symmetric bath cold spots are observed in the vicinity of the feeder. Cold spots are also observed in the anode–cathode distance space below the anode bottom due to the transport of undissolved solid to this region by the flow. The findings from the work are useful in developing and designing alumina-feeding strategy leading to reduced anode effects and smooth operation of the cell. The work also highlights the important flow structures in conventional aluminum-smelting cell.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗