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At least 73 records · Page 4

A Novel Modeling Framework for Computationally Efficient and Accurate Real-Time Ensemble Flood Forecasting With Uncertainty Quantification

A novel modeling framework that simultaneously improves accuracy, predictability, and computational efficiency is presented. It embraces the benefits of three modeling techniques integrated together for the first time: surrogate modeling, parameter inference, and data assimilation. The use of polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) surrogates significantly decreases computational time. Parameter inference allows for model faster convergence, reduced uncertainty, and superior accuracy of simulated results. Ensemble Kalman filters assimilate errors that occur during forecasting. To examine the applicability and effectiveness of the integrated framework, we developed 18 approaches according to how surrogate models are constructed, what type of parameter distributions are used as model inputs, and whether model parameters are updated during the data assimilation procedure. We conclude that (1) PCE must be built over various forcing and flow conditions, and in contrast to previous studies, it does not need to be rebuilt at each time step; (2) model parameter specification that relies on constrained, posterior information of parameters (so-called Selected specification) can significantly improve forecasting performance and reduce uncertainty bounds compared to Random specification using prior information of parameters; and (3) no substantial differences in results exist between single and dual ensemble Kalman filters, but the latter better simulates flood peaks. The use of PCE effectively compensates for the computational load added by the parameter inference and data assimilation (up to ~80 times faster). Therefore, the presented approach contributes to a shift in modeling paradigm arguing that complex, high-fidelity hydrologic and hydraulic models should be increasingly adopted for real-time and ensemble flood forecasting.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Accelerated basis adaptation in homogeneous chaos spaces

Polynomial chaos expansions (PCE) provide an efficient approach to uncertainty quantification (UQ) and have been adapted to diverse applications across the spectrum of science and engineering. For situations involving large stochastic parameterizations, the curse of dimensionality renders PCE-based methods computationally prohibitive. A basis adaptation approach for PCE was proposed by Tipireddy and Ghanem (2014) which transforms the input random variables through an isometry such that sufficient probabilistic characterization of specific quantities of interest (QoI) is concentrated in an algebraic manifold embedded in the linear span of the dominant transformed variables. While quite versatile, that original version of the PCE basis adaptation exhibited slow convergence for a number of problems of practical significance. In the present paper, we propose two novel methods to accelerate the convergence of the original basis adaptation approach, thus expanding its reach while also providing insight into its performance. In the first method, information gained from a pilot PCE representation is used to correct the mean and Gaussian coefficients in the adapted space. By taking advantages of probabilistic information in higher dimensional adaptation gleaned from an initial adaptation, the second method updates the rotation matrix used to identify the dominant transformed variables. In this manner, the new rotation matrix concentrates even more probabilistic information in its first few dimensions. These two method can be combined to achieve even better performance, the combined method is referred to as sequentially optimized adaptation method. Here, the methods are demonstrated on an analytical test function and a model of a space structure with several sub-components and a non-smooth quantity of interest representing the maximum acceleration over time. Both methods achieve accelerated convergence of the basis adaptation approach with negligible additional costs.

Accelerated convergence↗

On the influence of over-parameterization in manifold based surrogates and deep neural operators

Constructing accurate and generalizable approximators (surrogate models) for complex physico-chemical processes exhibiting highly non-smooth dynamics is challenging. The main question is what type of surrogate models we should construct and should these models be under-parameterized or over-parameterized. In this work, we propose new developments and perform comparisons for two promising approaches: manifold-based polynomial chaos expansion (m-PCE) and the deep neural operator (DeepONet), and we examine the effect of over-parameterization on generalization. While m-PCE enables the construction of a mapping by first identifying low-dimensional embeddings of the input functions, parameters, and quantities of interest (QoIs), a neural operator learns the nonlinear mapping via the use of deep neural networks. Here, we demonstrate the performance of these methods in terms of generalization accuracy by solving the 2D time-dependent Brusselator reaction-diffusion system with uncertainty sources, modeling an autocatalytic chemical reaction between two species. We first propose an extension of the m-PCE by constructing a mapping between latent spaces formed by two separate embeddings of the input functions and the output QoIs. To further enhance the accuracy of the DeepONet, we introduce weight self-adaptivity in the loss function. We demonstrate that the performance of m-PCE and DeepONet is comparable for cases of relatively smooth input-output mappings. However, when highly non-smooth dynamics is considered, DeepONet shows higher approximation accuracy. We also find that for m-PCE, modest over-parameterization leads to better generalization, both within and outside of distribution, whereas aggressive over-parameterization leads to over-fitting. In contrast, an even highly over-parameterized DeepONet leads to better generalization for both smooth and non-smooth dynamics. Furthermore, we compare the performance of the above models with another recently proposed operator learning model, the Fourier Neural Operator, and show that its over-parameterization also leads to better generalization. Taken together, our studies show that m-PCE can provide very good accuracy at very low training cost, whereas a highly over-parameterized DeepONet can provide better accuracy and robustness to noise but at higher training cost. In both methods, the inference cost is negligible.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Development of the uncertainty quantification toolkit's python interface and surrogate construction tutorial

The uncertainty quantification toolkit (UQTk) is a collection of c++ libraries that assess the confidence of numerical models. Surrogate approximations, often polynomial chaos expansions (PCEs), lessen the computational cost of these assessments. I developed a Python interface in UQTk for regression and Bayesian compressive sensing to add to the existing Galerkin projection method. These methods receive an object containing the polynomial basis information and NumPy arrays of sample points, call c++ methods, and return the PCE coefficients in a NumPy array. To demonstrate these methods, I wrote a tutorial in which I use them to construct surrogates for Genz functions and calculate the resulting error.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Reduced Order Models Generation for HTGRs Pebble Shuffling Procedure Optimization Studies

This report provides an initial study for producing reduced-order models (ROMs) of pebble-bed high temperature gas reactor (HTGR) models for the purposes of design optimization. As an initial study, this work is meant to be exploratory---identifying useful workflows and methods for ROM generation---and not meant to be a catch-all analysis of HTGR ROM generation and usage for optimization. This report summarizes three tasks performed in Fiscal Year 2022: 1) the creation of HTGR model, 2) the sensitivity analysis of model design parameters, and 3) an introduction to ROM generation techniques. The representative HTGR model created in this work is a multiphysics equilibrium-core using the BlueCRAB (comprehensive reactor analysis bundle) reactor analysis application, coupling four physical phenomena: neutronics, streamline depletion, porous flow thermal hydraulics, and pebble heat conduction. Part of the model creation was identifying some design parameters and quantities of interest that are relevant in an optimization analysis and adjustable in the model. The sensitivity analysis utilized a polynomial chaos expansion methodology to compute global sensitivity metrics. This analysis showed that thermal hydraulics parameters and quantities of interest had a relatively small impact on simulation results. Finally, the ROM generation work involved exploring three different ROM methodologies: polynomial regression, a Gaussian process, and artificial neural networks. Using a cross-validation technique to characterize ROM performance, the Gaussian process and single-layer artificial neural networks showed the most promising results. Overall, this study was insightful and the lessons learned will be invaluable for the eventual development of an HTGR design optimization workflow.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Uncertainty Quantification for Capacity Expansion Planning

This report quantifies the uncertainty in output decisions from a Capacity Expansion Planning (CEP) model. The need to understand how uncertainties within CEP models and modeling assumptions affect Quantities of Interest (QoIs) such as expansion and operating costs, as well as expansion decisions remains an ongoing challenge in scientific research and industrial operations. This area of research is particularly important for models which seek to capture how large networks will evolve and operate under increased sources of variable generation, i.e., higher penetration of renewable technologies such as solar and wind generators. Uncertainty quantification (UQ) of CEP models which estimate expansion costs and decisions, and production cost models which estimate operating costs and dispatch decisions, is a key focus of research at NREL. The Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) represents a state-of-the-art CEP model and considers a range of possible grid evolutions in an attempt to identify key drivers, ramifications, and decisions which contribute to better informed investment and policy decisions. However, research to quantify how uncertainties and model assumptions, such as unit commitment (UC), within ReEDS may be affecting its outputs remains challenging due to to size and complexity of the model

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Elucidating the local structure of Li 1+ x Al x Ti 2– x (PO 4 ) 3 and Li 3 Al x Ti 2– x (PO 4 ) 3 ( x = 0, 0.3) via total scattering

Li 1+x Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 (LATP) and Li 3 Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 (x = 0, 0.3) are promising candidates in all-solid-state batteries due to their high room temperature conductivity of 10 –3 S cm –1 and air- and moisture-stability. They also exhibit unusual thermal expansion properties, with Li 1+x Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 showing near-zero thermal expansion along the a axis while Li 3 Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 exhibits polynomial positive thermal expansion along the a axis and polynomial negative thermal expansion along the c axis. A crucial component to understanding these properties is understanding the local structure. Total scattering is a powerful analytical technique as it provides information on the long-range, average structure as well as the local structure. Here, we report the first X-ray and neutron total scattering experiments performed on Li 1+x Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 and Li 3 Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 (x = 0, 0.3). We show that the PO 4 and TiO 6 polyhedra experience very little expansion of the P/Ti–O bonds up to 800 °C, nor is there much expansion when the Li content increases significantly. The minor thermal expansion of the nearest-neighbor bonds of the polyhedra is revealed to be the reason behind the unusual thermal expansion properties, causing the near-zero thermal expansion along a in Li 1+x Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 and moving as whole units in Li 3 Al x Ti 2–x (PO 4 ) 3 . The structural robustness of the framework is also the reason for the increased conductivity as Li content increases, as the framework remains undistorted as Li content increases, permitting Li-ion mobility as the number of charge carriers increases. Finally, this suggests that phosphate-based framework materials beyond LATP would also be a good material space to explore for new Li-ion (and other ion-) conducting materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A modular methodology for time-domain stochastic seismic wave propagation

Presented here is a modular methodology for time-domain stochastic seismic wave propagation analysis. Presented methodology is designed to analyse uncertain seismic motions as an input, propagating through uncertain material. Traditional approach for uncertain wave propagation relies on models that include deep bedrock, local soil site, and their random process and random field information. Such models can become quite large and computationally intractable. The modular approach proposed herein features two step approach that allows separate consideration of the deep bedrock and local site along with corresponding random field information. In this work, the first step considers an auxiliary stochastic motions problem in the bedrock. Stochastic local site response can then be simulated in a reduced domain within certain depth from the surface. Application of uncertain seismic motions at depth, for local uncertain site response is done using stochastic effective forces developed through the Domain Reduction Method. By using Hermite polynomial chaos expansion to represent the non-Gaussian random field of material parameters and non-stationary random process of seismic motion, the proposed modular methodology is formulated using intrusive stochastic Galerkin approach, as seen in the Stochastic Elastic–Plastic Finite Element Method (SEPFEM). Developed modular methodology is illustrated using a 1-D stochastic seismic wave propagation analysis with three cases, and simulation results are also verified with results from conventional approach.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Uncertainty Quantification Framework for Predicting Material Response with Large Number of Parameters: Application to Creep Prediction in Ferritic-Martensitic Steels Using Combined Crystal Plasticity and Grain Boundary Models

This paper presents an uncertainty quantification (UQ) framework for the physics-based model prediction of material response with a large number of parameters. The application problem presented in this work is that of predicting creep in Grade 91 steel at 600°C. The material response is defined with a physically based microstructural model with constitutive equations emulating several observed phenomena in Grade 91 and embodied into an explicit geometry mesoscale finite element model for prior austenite grains and grain boundaries. Creep within the grains and in grain boundaries are represented by crystal plasticity for dislocation motion and a physics-based model for cavity growth and nucleation, respectively. The creep behavior of this material is influenced by several parameters, some of which have a wide range of variation based on experimental data. UQ combined with microstructural modeling can discover the core microstructural causes of experimental variability, leading to improved materials with lower variability in critical long-term material properties. In this study, we investigate the model's uncertainty to identify material properties that may be modified during production to increase creep life and analyze different components of the crystal plasticity model for improvements. For this purpose, a quantity of interest is defined as time to minimum creep rate, which correlates well to the creep failure of the material. A deep neural network model was trained and validated to be used as a surrogate for the finite element model. Then, a variance-based sensitivity analysis is performed on the surrogate model to find the Sobol indices of the input parameters in respect to the output quantity of interest. The Sobol indices are used to reduce the dimensionality of the model. Generalized polynomial chaos expansion is used on the reduced basis models to propagate the uncertainty from the input parameters to the quantity of interest using the deep neural network surrogate model. These results are benchmarked against uncertainty propagation using Monte Carlo simulations. In conclusion, the UQ performed through the reduced basis model captures almost all the uncertainty in the model with significantly fewer simulations, making it possible to perform the UQ directly via simulations with the finite element model rather than surrogate machine-learned models.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Stochastic boundary condition effects on supersonic leading edge blowing

The present manuscript studies the robustness of leading edge blowing for active control of the upstream bow shock and overall aerothermal characteristics of a supersonic airfoil subject to variability in the injection conditions. The injection boundary conditions were considered stochastic and their randomness was propagated to the flow topology and aerothermal quantities of interest by means of non-intrusive Polynomial Chaos Expansions. The evaluations needed to build these expansions were carried out via steady two-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes simulations. Two different injection port sizes were considered, with the smallest promoting a Coanda effect that gives rise to non-symmetric flow topologies. The uncertain boundary conditions lead to significant variations in the flow topology, particularly at the injection exit and the bow shock position, with variations of up to 75% of the nominal value. Here this study identifies the key operating conditions to ensure the optimal application of leading-edge injection for active control of supersonic airfoils.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Uncertainty quantification of bank vegetation impacts on the flood flow field in the American River, California, using large‐eddy simulations

Bank vegetation plays a key role in both hydrodynamics and morphodynamics of natural rivers; however, these effects are often unaccounted for in the computational flow dynamics of natural waterways. Recent studies using the large‐eddy simulation (LES), however, have attempted to gain insights into the impacts of bank vegetation on the mean flow field of the natural rivers using a vegetation model, which applies a sink term to the momentum equations of motion. This approach accounts for the effects of the vegetation and provides a practical approach to account for the complex patches of bank vegetation in large‐scale rivers. To implement the vegetation model, a drag coefficient reflecting the overall resistance of vegetal structures to the flow is needed, but due to the lack of calibrated data and range of size, density and type of vegetation, this parameter can be a significant source of uncertainty in the model results. Here, in this study, we use uncertainty quantification (UQ) to investigate the hydrodynamics and bed shear results when a bank vegetation is incorporated in an LES model. To this end, we used the polynomial chaos expansion and Monte Carlo sampling techniques to determine the uncertainties associated with the drag coefficient in the vegetation model and from uncertainties in the bed roughness and inflow discharge. The UQ analysis provided spatially varying confidence levels for the spanwise and vertical distribution of velocity magnitude and for the bed shear stress distributions. In addition, Sobol indices were computed to indicate the relative influence that each parameter had on the overall uncertainty. In general, it was found that uncertainty in flow discharge was the dominant source of uncertainty; however, the drag coefficient in the vegetation model and the bed roughness parameter also made significant contribution to the uncertainty near the banks and bed, respectively.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Probabilistic constrained Bayesian inversion for transpiration cooling

Abstract To enable safe operations in applications such as rocket combustion chambers, the materials require cooling to avoid material damage. Here, transpiration cooling is a promising cooling technique. Numerous studies investigate possibilities to simulate and evaluate the complex cooling mechanism. One naturally arising question is the amount of coolant required to ensure a safe operation. To study this, we introduce an approach that determines the posterior probability distribution of the Reynolds number using an inverse problem and constraining the maximum temperature of the system under parameter uncertainties. Mathematically, this chance inequality constraint is dealt with by a generalized polynomial chaos expansion of the system. The posterior distribution will be evaluated by different Markov chain Monte Carlo based methods. A novel method for the constrained case is proposed and tested among others on two‐dimensional transpiration cooling models.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Uncertainty analysis of correlated parameters in automated reaction mechanism generation

Abstract Uncertainty analysis is a useful tool for inspecting and improving detailed kinetic mechanisms because it can identify the greatest sources of model output error. Owing to the very nonlinear relationship between kinetic and thermodynamic parameters and computed concentrations, model predictions can be extremely sensitive to uncertainties in some parameters while uncertainties in other parameters can be irrelevant. Error propagation becomes even more convoluted in automatically generated kinetic models, where input uncertainties are correlated through kinetic rate rules and thermodynamic group values. Local and global uncertainty analyses were implemented and used to analyze error propagation in Reaction Mechanism Generator (RMG), an open‐source software for generating kinetic models. A framework for automatically assigning parameter uncertainties to estimated thermodynamics and kinetics was created, enabling tracking of correlated uncertainties. Local first‐order uncertainty propagation was implemented using sensitivities computed natively within RMG. Global uncertainty analysis was implemented using adaptive Smolyak pseudospectral approximations as implemented in the MIT Uncertainty Quantification Library to efficiently compute and construct polynomial chaos expansions to approximate the dependence of outputs on a subset of uncertain inputs. Cantera was used as a backend for simulating the reactor system in the global analysis. Analyses were performed for a phenyldodecane pyrolysis model. Local and global methods demonstrated similar trends; however, many uncertainties were significantly overestimated by the local analysis. Both local and global analyses show that correlated uncertainties based on kinetic rate rules and thermochemical groups drastically reduce a model's degrees of freedom and have a large impact on the determination of the most influential input parameters. These results highlight the necessity of incorporating uncertainty analysis in the mechanism generation workflow.

Gao, Connie W.↗

Accelerating uncertainty quantification in incremental dynamic analysis using dimension reduction-based surrogate modeling

We propose a surrogate modeling framework based on dimension reduction to facilitate the quantification of seismic risk of structural systems in performance-based earthquake engineering. The framework adopts incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) for addressing hazard variability, and promotes significant computational efficiency improvement for propagating epistemic uncertainties associated with the structural models. It utilizes both linear and nonlinear dimension reduction approaches, equipped with inverse mappings, to learn a functional between the input parameter space (e.g., the epistemic uncertainties of the structure) to the high-dimensional output space created through the IDA implementation across different ground motions and seismic intensity levels. Polynomial chaos expansion is adopted as the surrogate model to learn this functional in the reduced space. A nine-story steel moment-resisting frame with uncertain structural properties is used as a testbed. Furthermore, we select the seismic fragility curves as a measure of the structure’s seismic performance, since it provides an estimate of the probability of entering specified damage states for given levels of ground shaking.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Data-Driven Surrogate Modeling with Microstructure-Sensitivity of Viscoplastic Creep in Grade 91 Steel

Abstract To support the development of advanced steel alloys tailored to withstand extreme conditions, it is imperative to account for the mechanical performance of components, while considering the influence of local microstructure on the macroscopic response. To this end, this study focuses on the development of microstructure-sensitive constitutive models for the mechanical response of Grade 91 steel exposed to extreme thermo-mechanical environments. Polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) surrogates are used to emulate high-fidelity polycrystal simulations of the viscoplastic response of Grade 91 steel as a function of the microstructure fingerprint (e.g., dislocations and precipitates). To cover a wide temperature–stress domain, two separate PCE surrogates—one that captures softening and the other that captures hardening behavior—are combined using another (sparse) Gaussian process regression model. The resulting constitutive creep surrogate model is integrated within the MOOSE finite element framework to simulate the intricate effects of microstructure, in particular MX-phase precipitates, on a component with a graded microstructure. Surrogate sensitivity analysis is applied to quantify the relevant impact of spatially varying microstructure on the creep response in a test-case involving a Grade 91 alloy with a prototypical weld.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Boosting efficiency and reducing graph reliance: Basis adaptation integration in Bayesian multi-fidelity networks

The computational cost of high-fidelity numerical models makes outer-loop analysis, which requires repeated interrogation of the model such as uncertainty quantification, computationally demanding. Multi-fidelity methods, which construct a surrogate model using data from an ensemble of models of varying cost and accuracy, can substantially reduce the cost of outer-loop analysis. However, these methods can be difficult to apply when the model ensemble does not admit a clear hierarchy a priori and the correlations between models are low. Consequently, in this paper, we present a multi-fidelity method that leverages dimension reduction to enhance the correlation between models, thereby reducing the amount of data needed to train a surrogate from an unordered ensemble of models. Our method utilizes basis adaptation to build low-dimensional polynomial chaos expansions of each model and employs Multi-fidelity Networks to encode the relationships among models. We show that the resulting method exhibit two notable advantages over its counterpart: (1) enhanced accuracy (both reduced bias and variance); and (2) reduced dependency on the graph structure encoding relationships among models. We demonstrate the approach on an analytical test problem and a challenging finite element model for a spent nuclear fuel. Our method produces a surrogate model that is significantly more accurate than either a single-fidelity surrogate or a multi-fidelity surrogate constructed without basis adaptation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

A survey of unsupervised learning methods for high-dimensional uncertainty quantification in black-box-type problems

Constructing surrogate models for uncertainty quantification (UQ) on complex partial differential equations (PDEs) having inherently high-dimensional O(10 n ), n ≥ 2, stochastic inputs (e.g., forcing terms, boundary conditions, initial conditions) poses tremendous challenges. The “curse of dimensionality” can be addressed with suitable unsupervised learning techniques used as a pre-processing tool to encode inputs onto lower-dimensional subspaces while retaining its structural information and meaningful properties. In this work, we review and investigate thirteen dimension reduction methods including linear and nonlinear, spectral, blind source separation, convex and non-convex methods and utilize the resulting embeddings to construct a mapping to quantities of interest via polynomial chaos expansions (PCE). Here, we refer to the general proposed approach as manifold PCE (m-PCE), where manifold corresponds to the latent space resulting from any of the studied dimension reduction methods. To investigate the capabilities and limitations of these methods we conduct numerical tests for three physics-based systems (treated as black-boxes) having high-dimensional stochastic inputs of varying complexity modeled as both Gaussian and non-Gaussian random fields to investigate the effect of the intrinsic dimensionality of input data. We demonstrate both the advantages and limitations of the unsupervised learning methods and we conclude that a suitable m-PCE model provides a cost-effective approach compared to alternative algorithms proposed in the literature, including recently proposed expensive deep neural network-based surrogates and can be readily applied for high-dimensional UQ in stochastic PDEs.

42 ENGINEERING↗