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All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2021

Enhancing Active Distribution Systems Resilience by Fully Distributed Self-Healing Strategy

Distributed restoration can exploit smart grid technologies to enhance the resilience of active distribution networks toward a self-healing smart grid. However, the large number of decision variables, especially the binary ones for reconfiguration, bring challenges to developing scalable distributed distribution service restoration (DDSR) strategies. This paper proposes a fully distributed solution procedure based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for mixed-integer programming problems and applies to develop the DDSR framework. The method consists of relax-drive-polish phases, 1) relaxing binary variables, and applying the convex ADMM as a warm start; 2) driving the solutions toward Boolean values through a proximal operator; 3) fixing the obtained binding binary variables and solving the rest of the problem to polish results and achieve a high-quality suboptimal solution. Then, an autonomous clustering strategy and consensus ADMM are integrated with the proposed method to realize the fully distributed cluster-based framework of DDSR. This framework can first determine DER scheduling and switch status for reconfiguration to energize the out-of-service areas from local faults, and then provide the load restoration solution in a distributed manner for total blackouts in large-scale distribution networks. Furthermore, the effectiveness and scalability of the proposed DDSR framework are demonstrated through testing on the IEEE 123-node, IEEE 8500-node, and synthetic 100k-node test feeders.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2021

Distributed Acoustic Sensing Based on Coherent Microwave Photonics Interferometry

A microwave photonics method has been developed for measuring distributed acoustic signals. This method uses microwave-modulated low coherence light as a probe to interrogate distributed in-fiber interferometers, which are used to measure acoustic-induced strain. By sweeping the microwave frequency at a constant rate, the acoustic signals are encoded into the complex microwave spectrum. The microwave spectrum is transformed into the joint time–frequency domain and further processed to obtain the distributed acoustic signals. The method is first evaluated using an intrinsic Fabry Perot interferometer (IFPI). Acoustic signals of frequency up to 15.6 kHz were detected. The method was further demonstrated using an array of in-fiber weak reflectors and an external Michelson interferometer. Two piezoceramic cylinders (PCCs) driven at frequencies of 1700 Hz and 3430 Hz were used as acoustic sources. The experiment results show that the sensing system can locate multiple acoustic sources. The system resolves 20 nε when the spatial resolution is 5 cm. The recovered acoustic signals match the excitation signals in frequency, amplitude, and phase, indicating an excellent potential for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS).

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

NASA NTRS1991

Description and evaluation of an interference assessment for a slotted-wall wind tunnel

A wind-tunnel interference assessment method applicable to test sections with discrete finite-length wall slots is described. The method is based on high order panel method technology and uses mixed boundary conditions to satisfy both the tunnel geometry and wall pressure distributions measured in the slotted-wall region. Both the test model and its sting support system are represented by distributed singularities. The method yields interference corrections to the model test data as well as surveys through the interference field at arbitrary locations. These results include the equivalent of tunnel Mach calibration, longitudinal pressure gradient, tunnel flow angularity, wall interference, and an inviscid form of sting interference. Alternative results which omit the direct contribution of the sting are also produced. The method was applied to the National Transonic Facility at NASA Langley Research Center for both tunnel calibration tests and tests of two models of subsonic transport configurations.

Kemp, William B., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1987

A fast approach to designing airfoils from given pressure distribution in compressible flows

A new inverse method for aerodynamic design of airfols is presented for subcritical flows. The pressure distribution in this method can be prescribed as a function of the arc length of the as-yet unknown body. This inverse problem is shown to be mathematically equivalent to solving only one nonlinear boundary value problem subject to known Dirichlet data on the boundary. The solution to this problem determines the airfoil, the freestream Mach number, and the upstream flow direction. The existence of a solution to a given pressure distribution is discussed. The method is easy to implement and extremely efficient. A series of results for which comparisons are made with the known airfoils is presented.

Daripa, Prabir↗

NASA NTRS1991

A potential method for the estimation of drop size distribution from a dual-wavelength airborne radar

In order to investigate the role of the drop size distribution (DSD) from a dual-wavelength airborne radar and to recover profiled rain rates, a procedure is described for the purpose of estimating the DSD. The method differs from previous approaches in that it provides 2n + 1 parameters of the profiled DSD (where n is the number of range gates) and it uses a recursive procedure beginning at the range gate near the surface progressing backwards toward the storm top. The method is argued to be useful both as a diagnostic tool and as a means by which more detailed information on the vertical structure of the precipitation can be obtained.

Meneghini, R.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Aerodynamic performance prediction of horizontal axis wind turbines

A new method for calculating the aerodynamic performance of horizontal axis wind turbines is described. The method, entitled the helical vortex method, directly calculates the local induced velocity due to helical vortices that originate at the rotor blade. Furthermore, the method does not require a specified circulation distribution. Results of the method are compared to similar results obtained from Wilson PROP code methods as well as to existing experimental data taken from a Mod-O wind turbine. It is shown that results of the proposed method agree well with experimental values of the power output both near cut-in and at rated wind speeds. Further, it is found that the method does not experience some of the numerical difficulties encountered by the PROP code when run at low wind velocities.

Jeng, D. R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Distributed computation of graphics primitives on a transputer network

A method is developed for distributing the computation of graphics primitives on a parallel processing network. Off-the-shelf transputer boards are used to perform the graphics transformations and scan-conversion tasks that would normally be assigned to a single transputer based display processor. Each node in the network performs a single graphics primitive computation. Frequently requested tasks can be duplicated on several nodes. The results indicate that the current distribution of commands on the graphics network shows a performance degradation when compared to the graphics display board alone. A change to more computation per node for every communication (perform more complex tasks on each node) may cause the desired increase in throughput.

Ellis, Graham K.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Convergence rate enhancement of navier-stokes codes on clustered grids

Our Sensitivity-Based Minimal Residual (SBMR) method which is based on our earlier Distributed Minimal Residual (DMR) method allows each component of the solution vector in a system of equations to have its own convergence speed. Our global SBMR method was found to consistently outperform the DMR method while requiring considerably less computer memory. Recently, we have developed and tested a new Line SBMR or LSBMR method and a Time-Step-Scaling (TSS) method that are even more robust and computationally efficient than our global SBMR method, especially on highly clustered computational grids in laminar and turbulent flow computations.

Choi, Kwang-Yoon↗

DOE OSTI2020

Distributed gather/scatter operations across a network of memory nodes

Devices, methods, and systems for distributed gather and scatter operations in a network of memory nodes. A responding memory node includes a memory; a communications interface having circuitry configured to communicate with at least one other memory node; and a controller. The controller includes circuitry configured to receive a request message from a requesting node via the communications interface. The request message indicates a gather or scatter operation, and instructs the responding node to retrieve data elements from a source memory data structure and store the data elements to a destination memory data structure. The controller further includes circuitry configured to transmit a response message to the requesting node via the communications interface. The response message indicates that the data elements have been stored into the destination memory data structure.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS1990

Quantitative characterization of spatial distribution of particles in materials: Application to materials processing

Most engineering materials contain second phase particles or fibers which serve to reinforce the matrix phase. The effect of reinforcements on material properties is usually analyzed in terms of the average volume fraction and spacing of reinforcements, quantities which are global microstructural characteristics. However, material properties can also depend on local microstructural characteristics; for example, on how uniformly the reinforcing phase is distributed in the material. The analysis method will then be applied to a materials processing problem to discover how processing parameters can be selected to maximize redistribution of the reinforcing phase during processing. Several mathematical analysis methods could be adapted to the problem of characterizing the distribution of particles in materials. A tessellation-based method was selected. In the first phase of the investigation, a software package was written to automate the analysis. Typical results are shown. The analysis technique allows the degree to which particles are clustered together, the size and spacing of particle clusters, and the particle density in clusters to be found. The analysis methods were applied to computer-generated distributions and to a few real particle-containing materials. Methods for analyzing a nonuniform particle distribution in a material can be applied to two broad classes of materials science problems: understanding how the resulting particle distribution affects properties. The analysis method described is applied to a materials processing problem: how to select extrusion conditions to maximize the redistribution of reinforcing particles that are initially nonuniformly distributed. In addition, the tessellation-based method to analyze star distributions in spiral galaxies was adapted, illustrating the diverse types of problems to which the analysis method can be applied.

Parse, J. B.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Inverse Biot–Savart Optimization for Superconducting Accelerator Magnets

Superconducting (SC) magnets for accelerator concepts are often synthesized by numerically optimizing magnetic field waveforms, a process that requires a subsequent solution of a constrained inverse problem to identify suitable SC magnet windings. When the desired field distribution is intuitive, the inverse process is facilitated by seeding preconceived coil distributions into design optimization methods for refinement. With more complex magnetic field distributions, an initial design may be unknown, and topology optimization tools are required to synthesize current distributions without a priori guidance from a subject matter expert. In this work, we develop a constrained inverse Biot-Savart topology optimization methodology that synthesizes optimal distributions of current density in racetrack-like SC coils. The problem structure is exploited through a computationally efficient quadratic programming formulation, and the method is applied to recently published magnetic field waveforms for a recirculating proton phase shifter, a proton therapy gantry, and dipole magnets with sharp field transitions. The method and results herein identify novel winding configurations that can help magnet designers bring accelerator concepts to fruition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

NASA NTRS1973

Product distributions and rate constants for ion-molecule reactions in water, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and methane

The thermal energy, bimolecular ion-molecule reactions occurring in gaseous water, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and methane have been identified and their rate constants determined using ion cyclotron resonance methods. Absolute rate constants were determined for the disappearance of the primary ions by using the trapped ion method, and product distributions were determined for these reactions by using the cyclotron ejection method. Previous measurements are reviewed and compared with the results using the present methods. The relative rate constants for hydrogen-atom abstraction, proton transfer, and charge transfer are also determined for reactions of the parent ions.

Huntress, W. T., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2003

The Filtered Abel Transform and Its Application in Combustion Diagnostics

Many non-intrusive combustion diagnosis methods generate line-of-sight projections of a flame field. To reconstruct the spatial field of the measured properties, these projections need to be deconvoluted. When the spatial field is axisymmetric, commonly used deconvolution method include the Abel transforms, the onion peeling method and the two-dimensional Fourier transform method and its derivatives such as the filtered back projection methods. This paper proposes a new approach for performing the Abel transform method is developed, which possesses the exactness of the Abel transform and the flexibility of incorporating various filters in the reconstruction process. The Abel transform is an exact method and the simplest among these commonly used methods. It is evinced in this paper that all the exact reconstruction methods for axisymmetric distributions must be equivalent to the Abel transform because of its uniqueness and exactness. Detailed proof is presented to show that the two dimensional Fourier methods when applied to axisymmetric cases is identical to the Abel transform. Discrepancies among various reconstruction method stem from the different approximations made to perform numerical calculations. An equation relating the spectrum of a set of projection date to that of the corresponding spatial distribution is obtained, which shows that the spectrum of the projection is equal to the Abel transform of the spectrum of the corresponding spatial distribution. From the equation, if either the projection or the distribution is bandwidth limited, the other is also bandwidth limited, and both have the same bandwidth. If the two are not bandwidth limited, the Abel transform has a bias against low wave number components in most practical cases. This explains why the Abel transform and all exact deconvolution methods are sensitive to high wave number noises. The filtered Abel transform is based on the fact that the Abel transform of filtered projection data is equal to an integral transform of the original projection data with the kernel function being the Abel transform of the filtering function. The kernel function is independent of the projection data and can be obtained separately when the filtering function is selected. Users can select the best filtering function for a particular set of experimental data. When the kernal function is obtained, it can be used repeatedly to a number of projection data sets (rovs) from the same experiment. When an entire flame image that contains a large number of projection lines needs to be processed, the new approach significantly reduces computational effort in comparison with the conventional approach in which each projection data set is deconvoluted separately. Computer codes have been developed to perform the filter Abel transform for an entire flame field. Measured soot volume fraction data of a jet diffusion flame are processed as an example.

Simons, Stephen N.↗

DOE OSTI2022

System, method, and computer-accessible medium for remote sensing of the electrical distribution grid with hypertemporal imaging

An exemplary system, method, and computer-accessible medium for determining a property(ies) regarding an electrical grid(s) can be provided, which can include, for example, receiving a video(s) of the electrical grid(s), determining a flicker(s) in the electrical grid(s) based on the video(s), and determining the property(ies) based on the flicker(s). The flicker(s) can be a 120 Hertz flicker. The flicker(s) can be a flicker in a light(s) recorded in the video(s). A frequency and a phase of the flicker(s) can be determined.

Bianco, Federica B.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Methods for Continuously Resolving Spectral Shifts in Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors Irradiated to Extreme Neutron Fluence

Optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) is a technique for interrogating distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFS) and involves correlating changes in the Rayleigh backscatter fingerprint for a fiber under test (FUT) with a reference measurement. Recently, under the WIRE-21 experiment sponsored by Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) and performed at the High-Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), silica optical fibers were irradiated to a fast neutron fluence of 1x10^21 n/cm^2/s at temperatures from 200--400 C. As in the cases of high-temperature and high-strain conditions, such high levels of neutron bombardment result in a highly dynamic RBS that evades analysis with conventional methods. This work describes the further development and application of graphical signal processing techniques applied to OFDR-based distributed optical fiber sensors specifically deployed in in-pile applications. While the signal processing techniques developed in this work are applied to DOFS in nuclear environments, they provide a general framework for the analysis of OFDR measurements and a tangible method to yield higher quality data, without imposing additional hardware requirements.

Sweeney, Dan↗

DOE OSTI2024

DyG-DPCD: A Distributed Parallel Community Detection Algorithm for Large-Scale Dynamic Graphs

Dynamic (Temporal) graphs capture the valuable evolution of real-world systems, from the continuously evolving patterns of social interactions and genetic pathways to the dynamic fluctuations of economic forces. Detecting communities for such evolving networks poses unique challenges. Detecting and analyzing the evolution of communities within dynamic graphs unlocks valuable insights into the underlying structural and temporal patterns of real-world systems. However, the sheer volume of modern graph data and the inherent complexity of the temporal dimension pose significant challenges to scalable community detection algorithms. Addressing this gap, our work explores the limited landscape of scalable distributed-memory parallel methods specifically designed for dynamic network community detection. We propose a novel parallel algorithm, DyG-DPCD (Dynamic Graph Distributed Parallel Community Detection), to detect communities in dynamic networks using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) framework. We present a vertex-centric approach, allowing us to detect communities through local optimization. Furthermore, we enhance our baseline algorithm by incorporating three heuristics, which improve the algorithm’s performance significantly while maintaining the quality of the solutions. We demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithm by experimenting on several real-world large-scale networks with hundreds of millions of edges spanning diverse domains. Notably, DyG-DPCD achieves speedups between 25× and 30× for large networks that we experimented on using NERSC compute nodes. In conclusion, our algorithm outperforms the STINGER parallel re-agglomeration algorithm by 30×.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS1976

Comparative studies of grain size separates of 60009

Five samples from 60009, the lower half of a double drive tube, were analyzed via grain-size methods, with particle types classified and counted in the coarser grain sizes. Studies were undertaken of particle types and distributions by petrographic methods, of magnetic fractions, of the size splits and magnetic splits as analyzed by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) techniques, of maturity (based on agglutinate content, FMR index Is/FeO, mean size of sub-cm material, magnetic fraction), of possible reworking or mixing in situ, and of depositional history. Maturity indices are in substantial agreement for all of the five samples. Strong positive correlation of percent agglutinates and percent bedrock-derived lithic fragments, combined with negative correlation of those components with percent single crystal plagioclase, argue against in situ reworking of the same soil.

Mckay, D. S.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Measurement of Creep Properties of Ultra-High-Temperature Materials by a Novel Non-Contact Technique

A non-contact technique for measuring the creep properties of materials has been developed and validated as part of a collaboration among the University of Massachusetts, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Electrostatic Levitation Facility (ESL), and the University of Tennessee. This novel method has several advantages over conventional creep testing. The sample is deformed by the centripetal acceleration from the rapid rotation, and the deformed shapes are analyzed to determine the strain. Since there is no contact with grips, there is no theoretical maximum temperature and no concern about chemical compatibility. Materials may be tested at the service temperature even for extreme environments such as rocket nozzles, or above the service temperature for accelerated testing of materials for applications such as jet engines or turbopumps for liquid-fueled engines. The creep measurements have been demonstrated to 2400 C with niobium, while the test facility, the NASA MSFC ESL, has processed materials up to 3400 C. Furthermore, the ESL creep method employs a distribution of stress to determine the stress exponent from a single test, versus the many tests required by conventional methods. Determination of the stress exponent from the ESL creep tests requires very precise measurement of the surface shape of the deformed sample for comparison to deformations predicted by finite element models for different stress exponents. An error analysis shows that the stress exponent can be determined to about 1% accuracy with the current methods and apparatus. The creep properties of single-crystal niobium at 1985 C showed excellent agreement with conventional tests performed according to ASTM Standard E-139. Tests on other metals, ceramics, and composites relevant to rocket propulsion and turbine engines are underway.

Hyers, Robert W.↗