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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 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Experimental and computational investigation into the hydrodynamics and chemical dynamics of laser ablation aluminum plasmas

Laser ablation plasma chemistry is governed by a complex interplay between hydrodynamic plasma-gas mixing processes, thermodynamics, and rapid high-temperature chemical reactions. Here, in this work, we investigate the gas-phase oxidation chemistry of ns-laser ablation aluminum plasmas in air using optical spectroscopy combined with advanced multi-physics modeling. Experimental measurements demonstrate the formation of AlO in the plasma plume as early as 1 μs while computational results reveal that several Al x O y species are distributed in the periphery of the plume at even earlier times (<20 ns) in the presence of large temperature gradients and strong shockwaves. Interactions with the ablation crater during rapid plume expansion are shown to initiate vortex formation, followed by mixing dynamics that work to pull AlO into the vortices to react with gas-phase Al to form Al 2 O. Oxygen and several aluminum oxides are simultaneously pulled up through the stem of the fireball, encouraging further intermixing between reacting species and enhanced molecular formation. This work concludes that chemical dynamics in laser ablation plasmas is driven by diffusion processes, concentration gradients, and plume hydrodynamics while strong shockwaves generated during laser ablation do not impede chemical reactions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Benchmarking Adaptive Variational Quantum Eigensolvers

By design, the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) strives to recover the lowest-energy eigenvalue of a given Hamiltonian by preparing quantum states guided by the variational principle. In practice, the prepared quantum state is indirectly assessed by the value of the associated energy. Novel adaptive derivative-assembled pseudo-trotter (ADAPT) ansatz approaches and recent formal advances now establish a clear connection between the theory of quantum chemistry and the quantum state ansatz used to solve the electronic structure problem. Here we benchmark the accuracy of VQE and ADAPT-VQE to calculate the electronic ground states and potential energy curves for a few selected diatomic molecules, namely H 2 , NaH, and KH. Using numerical simulation, we find both methods provide good estimates of the energy and ground state, but only ADAPT-VQE proves to be robust to particularities in optimization methods. Another relevant finding is that gradient-based optimization is overall more economical and delivers superior performance than analogous simulations carried out with gradient-free optimizers. The results also identify small errors in the prepared state fidelity which show an increasing trend with molecular size.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1974

Evaluation of analytical procedures for prediction of turbulent boundary layers on a porous wall

An analytical study has been made to determine how well current boundary layer prediction techniques work when there is mass transfer normal to the wall. The data that were considered in this investigation were for two-dimensional, incompressible, turbulent boundary layers with suction and blowing. Some of the bleed data were taken in an adverse pressure gradient. An integral prediction method was used three different porous wall skin friction relations, in addition to a solid-surface relation for the suction cases. A numerical prediction method was also used. Comparisons were made between theoretical and experimental skin friction coefficients, displacement and momentum thicknesses, and velocity profiles. The integral method with one of the porous wall skin friction laws gave very good agreement with data for most of the cases considered. The use of the solid-surface skin friction law caused the integral to overpredict the effectiveness of the bleed. The numerical techniques also worked well for most of the cases.

Towne, C. E.↗
DOE OSTI2022

A deterministic gradient-based approach to avoid saddle points

Abstract Loss functions with a large number of saddle points are one of the major obstacles for training modern machine learning (ML) models efficiently. First-order methods such as gradient descent (GD) are usually the methods of choice for training ML models. However, these methods converge to saddle points for certain choices of initial guesses. In this paper, we propose a modification of the recently proposed Laplacian smoothing gradient descent (LSGD) [Osher et al., arXiv:1806.06317 ], called modified LSGD (mLSGD), and demonstrate its potential to avoid saddle points without sacrificing the convergence rate. Our analysis is based on the attraction region, formed by all starting points for which the considered numerical scheme converges to a saddle point. We investigate the attraction region’s dimension both analytically and numerically. For a canonical class of quadratic functions, we show that the dimension of the attraction region for mLSGD is $\lfloor (n-1)/2\rfloor$ , and hence it is significantly smaller than that of GD whose dimension is $n-1$ .

Mathematics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Iron mineral dissolution releases iron and associated organic carbon during permafrost thaw

It has been shown that reactive soil minerals, specifically iron(III) (oxyhydr)oxides, can trap organic carbon in soils overlying intact permafrost, and may limit carbon mobilization and degradation as it is observed in other environments. However, the use of iron(III)-bearing minerals as terminal electron acceptors in permafrost environments, and thus their stability and capacity to prevent carbon mobilization during permafrost thaw, is poorly understood. We have followed the dynamic interactions between iron and carbon using a space-for-time approach across a thaw gradient in Abisko (Sweden), where wetlands are expanding rapidly due to permafrost thaw. We show through bulk (selective extractions, EXAFS) and nanoscale analysis (correlative SEM and nanoSIMS) that organic carbon is bound to reactive Fe primarily in the transition between organic and mineral horizons in palsa underlain by intact permafrost (41.8 ±10.8 mg carbon per g soil, 9.9 to 14.8% of total soil organic carbon). During permafrost thaw, water-logging and O 2 limitation lead to reducing conditions and an increase in abundance of Fe(III)-reducing bacteria which favor mineral dissolution and drive mobilization of both iron and carbon along the thaw gradient. By providing a terminal electron acceptor, this rusty carbon sink is effectively destroyed along the thaw gradient and cannot prevent carbon release with thaw.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Tuning nonequilibrium phase transitions with inertia

In striking contrast to equilibrium systems, inertia can profoundly alter the structure of active systems. Here, we demonstrate that driven systems can exhibit effective equilibrium-like states with increasing particle inertia, despite rigorously violating the fluctuation–dissipation theorem. Increasing inertia progressively eliminates motility-induced phase separation and restores equilibrium crystallization for active Brownian spheres. This effect appears to be general for a wide class of active systems, including those driven by deterministic time-dependent external fields, whose nonequilibrium patterns ultimately disappear with increasing inertia. The path to this effective equilibrium limit can be complex, with finite inertia sometimes acting to accentuate nonequilibrium transitions. The restoration of near equilibrium statistics can be understood through the conversion of active momentum sources to passive-like stresses. Unlike truly equilibrium systems, the effective temperature is now density dependent, the only remnant of the nonequilibrium dynamics. Further, this density-dependent temperature can in principle introduce departures from equilibrium expectations, particularly in response to strong gradients. Our results provide additional insight into the effective temperature ansatz while revealing a mechanism to tune nonequilibrium phase transitions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Simulating metagenomic stable isotope probing datasets with MetaSIPSim

DNA-stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) links microorganisms to their in-situ function in diverse environmental samples. Combining DNA-SIP and metagenomics (metagenomic-SIP) allows us to link genomes from complex communities to their specific functions and improves the assembly and binning of these targeted genomes. However, empirical development of metagenomic-SIP methods is hindered by the complexity and cost of these studies. We developed a toolkit, ‘MetaSIPSim,’ to simulate sequencing read libraries for metagenomic-SIP experiments. MetaSIPSim is intended to generate datasets for method development and testing. To this end, we used MetaSIPSim generated data to demonstrate the advantages of metagenomic-SIP over a conventional shotgun metagenomic sequencing experiment. Through simulation we show that metagenomic-SIP improves the assembly and binning of isotopically labeled genomes relative to a conventional metagenomic approach. Improvements were dependent on experimental parameters and on sequencing depth. Community level G + C content impacted the assembly of labeled genomes and subsequent binning, where high community G + C generally reduced the benefits of metagenomic-SIP. Furthermore, when a high proportion of the community is isotopically labeled, the benefits of metagenomic-SIP decline. Finally, the choice of gradient fractions to sequence greatly influences method performance. Metagenomic-SIP is a valuable method for recovering isotopically labeled genomes from complex communities. We show that metagenomic-SIP performance depends on optimization of experimental parameters. MetaSIPSim allows for simulation of metagenomic-SIP datasets which facilitates the optimization and development of metagenomic-SIP experiments and analytical approaches for dealing with these data.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1974

Nonlinear theory of electron neutralization waves in ions beams with dissipation

An analytical theory of nonlinear neutralization waves generated by injection of electrons from a grid in the direction of a homogeneous ion beam of uniform velocity and infinite extension is presented. The electrons are assumed to interact with the ions through the self-consistent space charge field and by strong collective interactions, while diffusion in the pressure gradient is disregarded (zero-temperature approximation). The associated nonlinear boundary-value problem is solved in closed form by means of a von Mises transformation. It is shown that the electron gas moves into the ion space in the form of a discontinuous neutralization wave, which exhibits a periodic field structure (incomplete neutralization). This periodic wave structure is damped out by intercomponent momentum transfer - i.e., after a few relaxation lengths a quasi-neutral plasma results.

Wilhelm, H. E.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Flow through the tile gaps in the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System

The problem of predicting aerodynamic loads on the insulating tiles of the Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System (TPS) is discussed and seen to require a method for predicting pressure and mass flux in the gaps between tiles. A mathematical model of the tile-gap flow is developed based upon a slow viscous (Stokes) flow analysis and is verified against available experimental data. This model derives the tile-gap pressure field from a solution of the two-dimensional Laplace equation; the mass flux vector is then calculated from the pressure gradient. The means for incorporating this model into a lumped-parameter network analogy for porous-media flow is also given. The flow model shows tile-gap mass flux to be very sensitive to the gap width indicating a need for coupling the TPS flow and tile displacement calculations. Finally recommendations are made concerning additional analytical and experimental work to improve TPS flow predictions.

Dwoyer, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The effect of finite-amplitude baroclinic waves on passive, low-level, atmospheric constituents, with applications to comma cloud evolution

The redistribution of a low-level, passive constituent of the atmosphere under the influence of a growing baroclinic wave is examined by a series of analytical calculations based on a two-level, highly truncated model. It is shown that a constituent confined to the lower half of the atmosphere, and initially homogeneous in the horizontal, will tend to achieve maximum concentration in the low pressure/warm sector portion of the wave and minimum concentration in the high pressure/cold outbreak region with sharpest gradient between the maxima and minima roughly coinciding with the cold front. This distribution is further accentuated if an initial meridional gradient of the constituent exists. Assuming as a rough first approximation, that water vapor can be considered to be such a passive constituent, it is shown that the implied relative humidity field and cloud distribution will tend to evolve into the comma-type form commonly observed on satellite images of mid-latitude cyclone waves. Moreover, the solution is shown to replicate the complex flow regime associated with the comma formation, elucidating the dynamical roles of vertical motion and advection in the cloud evolution.

Saltzman, B.↗
DOE OSTI2020

A hybrid calibration approach to Hertz-type contact parameters for discrete element models

This study aims at providing a hybrid calibration framework to estimate Hertz-type contact parameters (particle-scale shear modulus and Poisson ratio) for both two-dimensional and three-dimensional discrete element modelling (DEM). On the basis of statistically isotropic granular packings, a set of analytical formulae between macroscopic material parameters (Young modulus and Poisson ratio) and particle-scale Hertz-type contact parameters for granular systems are derived under small-strain isotropic stress conditions. However, the derived analytical solutions are only estimated values for general models. By viewing each DEM modelling as an implicit mathematical function taking the particle-level parameters as independent variables and employing the derived analytical solutions as the initial input parameters, an automatic iterative scheme is proposed to obtain the calibrated parameters with higher accuracies. Considering highly nonlinear features and discontinuities of the macro-micro relationship in Hertz-based discrete element models, the adaptive moment estimation algorithm is adopted in this study because of its capacity of dealing with noise gradients of cost functions. Here, the proposed method is validated with several numerical cases including randomly distributed monodisperse and polydisperse packings. Noticeable improvements in terms of calibration efficiency and accuracy have been made.

Constitutive law↗
DOE OSTI2025

Near Resonance between the Shelf Ocean and Semidiurnal Atmospheric Tidal Winds

This manuscript illustrates the resonance between continental shelf oceans and the semidiurnal atmospheric tidal wind, explaining O(10 −2 ) m semidiurnal sea surface height (SSH) variations in detided datasets. The resonance, similar to amplification of semidiurnal oceanic tides on the gentle and wide shelf, results in pronounced, offshore-attenuated standing waves on the shelf which is driven by the cross-shore pressure gradient force, Coriolis force, and the rotary wind stress. Observations and numerical results from the Texas–Louisiana shelf confirm this mechanism, where a significant presence of the semidiurnal tidal wind couples with O(10 −1 ) m s −1 ocean currents, influencing SSH distribution and sustaining the wave structure. The consistency of the interaction and momentum budgets with the analytical solution suggests the robustness of the semidiurnal atmospheric tidal wind interacting with the shelf ocean. Notably, these findings suggest that similar resonances could occur on other gentle shelves known for enhancing semidiurnal oceanic tides and contribute 3%–10% of the wind work.

Atmosphere-ocean interaction↗
NASA NTRS1985

Cosmic ray acceleration by stellar wind. Simulation for heliosphere

The solar wind deceleration by the interstellar medium may result in the existence of the solar wind terminal shock. In this case a certain fraction of thermal particles after being heated at the shock would obtain enough energy to be injected to the regular acceleration process. An analytical solution for the spectrum in the frame of a simplified model that includes particle acceleration at the shock front and adiabatic cooling inside the stellar wind cavity has been derived. It is shown that the acceleration of the solar wind particles at the solar wind terminal shock is capable of providing the total flux, spectrum and radial gradients of the low-energy protons close to one observed in the interplanetary space.

Petukhov, S. I.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Steady Secondary Flows Generated by Periodic Compression and Expansion of an Ideal Gas in a Pulse Tube

This study establishes a consistent set of differential equations for use in describing the steady secondary flows generated by periodic compression and expansion of an ideal gas in pulse tubes. Also considered is heat transfer between the gas and the tube wall of finite thickness. A small-amplitude series expansion solution in the inverse Strouhal number is proposed for the two-dimensional axisymmetric mass, momentum and energy equations. The anelastic approach applies when shock and acoustic energies are small compared with the energy needed to compress and expand the gas. An analytic solution to the ordered series is obtained in the strong temperature limit where the zeroth-order temperature is constant. The solution shows steady velocities increase linearly for small Valensi number and can be of order I for large Valensi number. A conversion of steady work flow to heat flow occurs whenever temperature, velocity or phase angle gradients are present. Steady enthalpy flow is reduced by heat transfer and is scaled by the Prandtl times Valensi numbers. Particle velocities from a smoke-wire experiment were compared with predictions for the basic and orifice pulse tube configurations. The theory accurately predicted the observed steady streaming.

Lee, Jeffrey M.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Determining Design Criteria for Feeding Biomass into a Fluidized Bed Using a Feed Screw

Many pathways have been discovered for the thermochemical conversion of biomass to products. These pathways often show very promising results on the benchtop scale and could be economical with the appropriate scale up. However, many of the fundamental challenges of scaling up thermochemical reactions are not well understood. One primary problem area that rarely receives much upfront attention is feeding large quantities of biomass into thermochemical reactors. As biomass transitions from ambient to reactor conditions, it undergoes chemical and physical changes that affect its flowability. Often these changes lead to agglomeration of feed particles within the transfer screw, leading to large clumps of feed entering and disrupting the fluidized bed, or more critically leading to a plug in the feed screw causing costly downtime and maintenance to remove. This transitional phase must be better understood for scale up of conversion technologies to be successful. The Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium (FCIC) is a collaboration of eight National Laboratories. FCIC is currently conducting research on screw feeding of biomass into thermochemical fluidized bed reactors. Heat transfer models have been constructed for the screw/reactor interface. Mechanical forces on biomass within screw feeder are being determined, as well as how those forces change by varying feed screw design. Feedstock physical and chemical properties are then being measured along these temperature and mechanical force gradients. This work will better inform feed screw design for scale up, increasing the success rate of future biorefineries. Discussion will include research approach, testing, and preliminary results.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1978

Fabrication and test of a variable conductance heat pipe

A variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) with feedback control was fabricated with a reservoir-condenser volume ratio of 10 and an axially grooved action section. Tests of the heat transport capability were greater than or equal to the analytical predictions for the no gas case. When gas was added, the pipe performance degraded by 18% at zero tilt as was expected. The placement of the reservoir heater and the test fixture cooling fins are believed to have caused a superheated vapor condition in the reservoir. Erroneously high reservoir temperature indications resulted from this condition. The observed temperature gradients in the reservoir lend support to this theory. The net result was higher than predicted reservoir temperatures. Also, significant increases in minimum heat load resulted for controller set point temperatures higher than 0 C. At 30 C, control within the tolerance band was maintained, but high reservoir heater power was required. Analyses showed that control is not possible for reasonably low reservoir heater power. This is supported by the observation of a significant reservoir heat leak through the condenser.

Lehtinen, A. M.↗
NASA NTRS1979

System noise analysis of the dumbbell tethered satellite for gravity-gradient measurements

An analysis of the dumbbell gravity gradiometer concept for measuring short wavelength variations in the earth's gravity gradient is presented. Variations in the gradient are recorded by measuring tension variations in a vertically stabilized satellite consisting of heavy masses connected by a long wire or rod. Tension noise arises from the excitation of various mechanical oscillations of the system. The principal noise sources that were identified are fluctuations in atmospheric drag heating and drag force resulting from density variations and winds. Approximate analytical expressions are presented for the tension noise as a function of the system design parameters for various possible configurations. Computer simulations using numerical integration were performed to study the tension noise for several sample cases. Three designs consistent with Shuttle launch capabilities are discussed.

Colombo, G.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Underexpanded Supersonic Plume Surface Interactions: Applications for Spacecraft Landings on Planetary Bodies

Numerical and experimental investigations of both far-field and near-field supersonic steady jet interactions with a flat surface at various atmospheric pressures are presented in this paper. These studies were done in assessing the landing hazards of both the NASA Mars Science Laboratory and Phoenix Mars spacecrafts. Temporal and spatial ground pressure measurements in conjunction with numerical solutions at altitudes of approx.35 nozzle exit diameters and jet expansion ratios (e) between 0.02 and 100 are used. Data from steady nitrogen jets are compared to both pulsed jets and rocket exhaust plumes at Mach approx.5. Due to engine cycling, overpressures and the plate shock dynamics are different between pulsed and steady supersonic impinging jets. In contrast to highly over-expanded (e <1) and underexpanded exhaust plumes, results show that there is a relative ground pressure load maximum for moderately underexpanded (e approx.2-5) jets which demonstrate a long collimated plume shock structure. For plumes with e much >5 (lunar atmospheric regime), the ground pressure is minimal due to the development of a highly expansive shock structure. We show this is dependent on the stability of the plate shock, the length of the supersonic core and plume decay due to shear layer instability which are all a function of the jet expansion ratio. Asymmetry and large gradients in the spatial ground pressure profile and large transient overpressures are predominantly linked to the dynamics of the plate shock. More importantly, this study shows that thruster plumes exhausting into martian environments possess the largest surface pressure loads and can occur at high spacecraft altitudes in contrast to the jet interactions at terrestrial and lunar atmospheres. Theoretical and analytical results also show that subscale supersonic cold gas jets adequately simulate the flow field and loads due to rocket plume impingement provided important scaling parameters are in agreement. These studies indicate the critical importance of testing and modeling plume-surface interactions for descent and ascent of spacecraft and launch vehicles.

Mehta, M.↗