CyberDep: Enhanced Generation of Bayesian Networks Through The Inclusion of Bidirectional Data Flow Dependencies in Cyber-Physical Power Systems
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Al-Homoud, Leen [Texas A&M University]↗
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Results for “flow physics”
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Physics-informed machine learning of flow and transport problems
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Yoon, Hongkyu↗
A physics based multiscale modeling of cavitating flows
Here, numerical modeling of cavitating bubbly flows is challenging due to the wide range of characteristic lengths of the physics at play: from micrometers (e.g., bubble nuclei radius) to meters (e.g., propeller diameter or sheet cavity length). To address this, we present here a multiscale approach which integrates a Discrete Singularities Model (DSM) for dispersed microbubbles and a two-phase Navier Stokes solver for the bubbly medium, which includes a level set approach to describe large cavities or gaseous pockets. Inter-scale schemes are used to smoothly bridge the two transitioning subgrid DSM bubbles into larger discretized cavities. This approach is demonstrated on several problems including cavitation inception and vapor core formation in a vortex flow, sheet-to-cloud cavitation over a hydrofoil, cavitation behind a blunt body, and cavitation on a propeller. These examples highlight the capabilities of the developed multiscale model in simulating various form of cavitation.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Pore-Scale Dynamics of Liquid CO2–Water Displacement in 2D Axisymmetric Porous Micromodels Under Strong Drainage and Weak Imbibition Conditions: High-Speed μPIV Measurements
Resolving pore-scale transient flow dynamics is crucial to understanding the physics underlying multiphase flow in porous media and informing large-scale predictive models. Surface properties of the porous matrix play an important role in controlling such physics, yet interfacial mechanisms remain poorly understood, in part due to a lack of direct observations. This study reports on an experimental investigation of the pore-scale flow dynamics of liquid CO 2 and water in two-dimensional (2D) circular porous micromodels with different surface characteristics employing high-speed microscopic particle image velocimetry (μPIV). The design of the micromodel minimized side boundary effects due to the limited size of the domain. The high-speed μPIV technique resolved the spatial and temporal dynamics of multiphase flow of CO 2 and water under reservoir-relevant conditions, for both drainage and imbibition scenarios. When CO 2 displaced water in a hydrophilic micromodel (i.e., drainage), unstable capillary fingering occurred and the pore flow was dominated by successive pore-scale burst events (i.e., Haines jumps). When the same experiment was repeated in a nearly neutral wetting micromodel (i.e., weak imbibition), flow instability and fluctuations were virtually eliminated, leading to a more compact displacement pattern. Energy balance analysis indicates that the conversion efficiency between surface energy and external work is less than 30%, and that kinetic energy is a disproportionately smaller contributor to the energy budget. This is true even during a Haines jump event, which induces velocities typically two orders of magnitude higher than the bulk velocity. These novel measurements further enabled direct observations of the meniscus displacement, revealing a significant alteration of the pore filling mechanisms during drainage and imbibition. While the former typically featured burst events, which often occur only at one of the several throats connecting a pore, the latter is typically dominated by a cooperative filling mechanism involving simultaneous invasion of a pore from multiple throats. This cooperative filling mechanism leads to merging of two interfaces and releases surface energy, causing instantaneous high-speed events that are similar, yet fundamentally different from, burst events. Finally, pore-scale velocity fields were statistically analyzed to provide a quantitative measure of the role of capillary effects in these pore flows.
Li, Yaofa↗
A spline-based method to obtain spatially dependent viscosity in confined flows
Coupling chemical physics to continuum theories is a critical step to understanding multi-scale phenomena. This paper will connect non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to a continuum-based Navier-Stokes equation that has relaxed the assumption of spatial uniformity in viscosity. Using a form for viscosity based on spline interpolation, viscosity as a function of position is obtained from the least squares fit of the velocity profile measured from molecular simulations of flow in a nanochannel. Viscosity can vary widely, particularly near the channel boundaries, indicating that uniform viscosity is no longer appropriate. Variations of the viscosity near the channel surfaces imply that considering solution and surface chemistry could be necessary to rigorously understand molecular-scale flows in nanochannels.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Comparing Spray Characteristics from Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) National Combustion Code (NCC) Calculations Against Experimental Data for a Turbulent Reacting Flow
Developing physics-based tools to aid in reducing harmful combustion emissions, like Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Unburnt Hydrocarbons (UHC s), and Sulfur Dioxides (SOx), is an important goal of aeronautics research at NASA. As part of that effort, NASA Glenn Research Center is performing a detailed assessment and validation of an in-house combustion CFD code known as the National Combustion Code (NCC) for turbulent reacting flows. To assess the current capabilities of NCC for simulating turbulent reacting flows with liquid jet fuel injection, a set of Single Swirler Lean Direct Injection (LDI) experiments performed at the University of Cincinnati was chosen as an initial validation data set. This Jet-A/air combustion experiment operates at a lean equivalence ratio of 0.75 at atmospheric pressure and has a 4 percent static pressure drop across the swirler. Detailed comparisons of NCC predictions for gas temperature and gaseous emissions (CO and NOx) against this experiment are considered in a previous work. The current paper is focused on detailed comparisons of the spray characteristics (radial profiles of drop size distribution and at several radial rakes) from NCC simulations against the experimental data. Comparisons against experimental data show that the use of the correlation for primary spray break-up implemented by Raju in the NCC produces most realistic results, but this result needs to be improved. Given the single or ten step chemical kinetics models, use of a spray size correlation gives similar, acceptable results
Iannetti, Anthony C.↗
Plasma flow reactor for steady state monitoring of physical and chemical processes at high temperatures
Here, we present the development of a steady state plasma flow reactor to investigate gas phase physical and chemical processes that occur at high temperature (1000 < T < 5000 K) and atmospheric pressure. The reactor consists of a glass tube that is attached to an inductively coupled argon plasma generator via an adaptor (ring flow injector). We have modeled the system using computational fluid dynamics simulations that are bounded by measured temperatures. In situ line-of-sight optical emission and absorption spectroscopy have been used to determine the structures and concentrations of molecules formed during rapid cooling of reactants after they pass through the plasma. Emission spectroscopy also enables us to determine the temperatures at which these dynamic processes occur. A sample collection probe inserted from the open end of the reactor is used to collect condensed materials and analyze them ex situ using electron microscopy. The preliminary results of two separate investigations involving the condensation of metal oxides and chemical kinetics of high-temperature gas reactions are discussed.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Turbulent solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for uniform shear flow
To study the nonlinear physics of uniform turbulent shear flow, the unaveraged Navier-Stokes equations are solved numerically. This extends our previous work in which mean gradients were absent. For initial conditions, modified three-dimensional-cosine velocity fluctuations are used. The boundary conditions are modified periodic conditions on a stationary three-dimensional numerical grid. A uniform mean shear is superimposed on the initial and boundary conditions. The three components of the mean-square velocity fluctuations are initially equal for the conditions chosen. As in the case of no shear the initially nonrandom flow develops into an apparently random turbulence at higher Reynolds number. Thus, randomness or turbulence can apparently arise as a consequence of the structure of the Navier-Stokes equations. Except for an initial period of adjustment, all fluctuating components grow with time. The initial equality of the three intensity components is destroyed by the shear, the transverse components becoming smaller than the longitudinal one, in agreement with experiment. Also, the shear creates a small-scale structure in the turbulence. The nonlinear solutions are compared with linearized ones.
Deissler, R. G.↗
Coupled Material Response Simulations of Dragonfly Capsule and DrEAM Reconstruction
Icarus is a three-dimensional, unstructured, finite-volume material response solver developed at NASA Ames Research Center and has been recently used to analyze the material response of the Dragonfly capsule for a variety of problems. Since the Dragonfly capsule will be instrumented in a similar manner to the Mars 2020 and MSL capsules, it is important to assess how our current simulation tools can aid in understanding Dragonfly Entry Aerosciences Measurements (DrEAM). In this presentation, the Ares multi-physics tool that couples Icarus to the flow and radiation physics of the aerothermal environment will be used to better understand how modeling sensitivities might affect environment reconstructions and our understanding of measured data. Ares couples Icarus to the US3D flow solver and NERO, a reduced-order, finite-volume radiation transport solver and uses a customized time-scale management to enable coupled simulations for a large portion of the Dragonfly trajectory. As a result of the coupling, a more accurate and consistent assessment of modelling sensitivities to aerothermal reconstruction can be assessed. For example, the radiometer is sensitive to the quantity of CN in the flow, which is a byproduct of the free-stream methane but also the pyrolysis gas products injected into the boundary layer due to ablation of the heatshield. Ares will be used to conduct a simulation of the full Dragonfly capsule for 50 seconds of the trajectory. The different aerothermal and material response models will be discussed and the key results will be presented in terms of the simulated thermocouple and radiometer measurements on the backshell.
Ablation↗
A physics-based model for frost buildup under turbulent flow using direct numerical simulations
We present a new model for frost buildup under turbulent (and laminar) flow using direct numerical simulations. The physical model consists of two layers, the air and the frost. The air layer is fully resolved and consists of solving for the velocity, temperature, and vapor mass fraction fields. The frost layer thickness is resolved using conservation of mass and energy. Both phases are dynamically coupled using the immersed boundary method. Three-dimensional simulations are conducted in an open-channel configuration. A number of challenges need to be overcome to make these simulations feasible. First, to enforce far-field conditions of zero gradient and prescribed mean temperature and humidity, a source term is added to the energy and transport equations in the flow solver. Second, the mean frost thickness is subtracted after each time step to ensure a constant mean flow thickness and level of turbulence in the numerical domain. Third, a slow-time acceleration approach, which accelerates the frost buildup by a predetermined factor, is employed to bridge the gap between the fast turbulent and slow frost buildup time scales. Finally, a frost densification scheme is used to overcome the difficulties of vertically varying frost properties. The model is validated by comparing the frost thickness and frost thickness buildup rate over a period of one hour from a cooled flat plate experiment. As a result, both quantities compare favorably with experiments.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Scalable simulation of coupled adsorption and transport of methane in confined complex porous media with density preconditioning
The growing significance of shales and tight formations in the transition to less carbon-intensive and clean energy drives the research endeavor to understand the physics of gas flow within these systems. However, shales are composed of massively heterogeneous physical and chemical features. Most nano-sized pores connect to millimeter-scale fractures, leading to multiscale transport. These nano-scale pore throats demonstrate non-classical flow behavior, such as non-negligible slip velocities and adsorbed gas layers at the boundary. As a result, classical computational fluid dynamics models do not capture the physics. In this work, we develop a coupling scheme for the multiple-relaxation-time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann (LB) method that integrates the Peng-Robinson equation of state into a pseudo-potential interaction model to capture the physics of methane flow in irregular networks of channels that represent nano-scale porous media. We use atomistic simulations to calibrate and validate our model in slit nano-channels. We propose a preconditioning scheme to initialize the coupled transport and adsorption simulation of methane in complex porous media. The results of this implementation of LB agree with Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. We then scale up the LB implementation through vectorization and indirect addressing. We parallelize it using Message Passing Interface (MPI) and OpenMP frameworks to simulate transport and adsorption in complex media with a million lattices. Additionally, we analyze the differences between coupled and transport-only simulations in two case studies and show that considering phase behavior, i.e., adsorption, can significantly change the flow behavior. This work constitutes an important step towards bridging the gap between molecular flow and system-scale behavior of complex disordered porous media.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Cryogenic Flow Boiling in Microgravity: Effects of Reduced Gravity on Two-Phase Fluid Physics and Heat Transfer
With the growing interest in space exploration, cryogenic technologies involving two-phase flow and heat transfer are in high demand to successfully procure advanced space applications such as fuel depots and nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems for deep space missions. However, the unique and extreme thermal properties of cryogenic fluids introduce distinct flow boiling fluid physics and energy transport phenomena, which differ significantly from those observed with conventional fluids. Understanding the unique two-phase physics in cryogenic flow boiling remains an ongoing challenge. Furthermore, the lack of readily available microgravity cryogenic steady-state heat transfer data hinders the assessment of gravitational effects on cryogenic flow boiling. This study aims to elucidate the gravitational effects on two-phase fluid physics and heat transfer by conducting the first-ever experimental measurement of cryogenic flow boiling performance using a steady-state heated method in a reduced gravity environment. Parabolic flight experiments were performed to acquire both heat transfer measurements and high-speed video of interfacial behaviors, under varying gravity levels (microgravity, hypergravity, Lunar gravity, and Martian gravity). The experiments involved flow boiling of liquid nitrogen (LN 2 ) with a near-saturated inlet along a circular heated tube of dimensions 8.5-mm inner diameter and 680-mm heated length. The operating parameters varied are mass velocity of 398.3 - 1342.8 kg/m2s, inlet quality of -0.08 to -0.01, and inlet pressure of 413.68 - 689.48 kPa. Captured microgravity flow patterns range from bubbly to annular, all having vapor structures that are larger than those under higher gravity levels. Under microgravity, absence of buoyancy yields symmetrical vapor structures without flow stratification, laying a physical foundation for the distinct two-phase heat transfer trends during LN 2 flow boiling in microgravity. Transient data collected during the flight parabolas exhibited decreasing heated wall temperature as the aircraft transitioned from hypergravity to microgravity phases. The temperature variation indicated an enhancement in flow boiling heat transfer with decreasing gravity levels and a reduction with increasing gravity levels. The effect of reduced gravity on cryogenic flow boiling heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is discussed based on steady state heat transfer analysis. Seminal HTC correlations are evaluated against the measured microgravity HTC data, of which one is identified for superior accuracy in predicting microgravity data. Finally, a new HTC correlation is proposed to improve accuracy of microgravity predictions, yet there still exists room for further improvement with future terrestrial flow boiling experiments at different flow orientations relative to Earth gravity.
Microgravity↗
The compressible mixing layer
The capability of turbulence modeling correctly to handle natural unsteadiness appearing in compressible turbulent flows is investigated. Physical aspects linked to the unsteadiness problem and the role of various flow parameters are analyzed. It is found that unsteady turbulent flows can be simulated by dividing these motions into an 'organized' part for which equations of motion are solved and a remaining 'incoherent' part represented by a turbulence model. Two-equation turbulence models and second-order turbulence models can yield reasonable results. For specific compressible unsteady turbulent flow, graphic presentations of different quantities may reveal complementary physical features. Strong compression zones are observed in rapid flow parts but shocklets do not yet occur.
Vandromme, Dany↗
Normalizing flows for domain adaptation when identifying Λ hyperon events
Here this study focuses on the application of a normalizing flow as a method of domain adaptation when classifying physics data. Normalizing flows offer a way to transform data points between two different distributions. The present study investigates a novel method of transforming latent representations of physics data to a normal distribution and then to a physics distribution again. The final distribution models a simulated distribution. After being transformed, the data can be classified by a neural network trained on labeled simulation data. The present study succeeds in training two normalizing flows that can transform between data (or simulation) and a Gaussian distribution.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
THE NuSTAR X-RAY SPECTRUM OF HERCULES X-1: A RADIATION-DOMINATED RADIATIVE SHOCK
We report on new spectral modeling of the accreting X-ray pulsar Hercules X-1. Our radiation-dominated radiative shock model is an implementation of the analytic work of Becker and Wolff on Comptonized accretion flows onto magnetic neutron stars. We obtain a good fit to the spin-phase-averaged 4–78 keV X-ray spectrum observed by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array during a main-on phase of the Her X-1 35 day accretion disk precession period. This model allows us to estimate the accretion rate, the Comptonizing temperature of the radiating plasma, the radius of the magnetic polar cap, and the average scattering opacity parameters in the accretion column. This is in contrast to previous phenomenological models that characterized the shape of the X-ray spectrum, but could not determine the physical parameters of the accretion flow. We describe the spectral fitting details and discuss the interpretation of the accretion flow physical parameters.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
The Importance of Viscous and Interfacial Forces in the Hydrodynamics of the Top-Submerged-Lance Furnace
The purpose of this work is to focus on the hydrodynamics of a Top-Submerged-Lance (TSL) smelting furnace, understanding how liquid properties and operational parameters act on key factors of a TSL process, such as splashing, mixing, mass transfer area, and bubble development. A deep knowledge of all those aspects is needed since they all influence the smelting reaction rates; hence the efficiency of the reactor. The characterization and scaling of the TSL gas injection are commonly based on the modified Froude number, the ratio of dynamic and gravitational forces. Detailed literature research reveals a potential weakness of this approach, since it does not consider the effects of viscosity and surface tension. To investigate this question an extensive parametric study was performed applying computational fluid dynamics to cold and non-reactive flows, which provided a broad overview of the physics of the flow. The analysis was performed on fluid dynamic properties (liquid density, liquid viscosity, surface tension) and operational variables (gas volume flow, lance immersion depth). The coupled Level Set—Volume of Fluid model, available in the commercial solver ANSYS Fluent{sup ®}, was used to resolve the gas–liquid interface in the multiphase flow. The results of the work underscore the significance of the viscous and interfacial forces for gas injection in smelting slags, confirming the incompleteness of applying only the Froude number to describe such flows.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Study of the structure of turbulent shear flows at supersonic speeds and high Reynolds number
A major effort to improve the accuracies of turbulence measurement techniques is described including the development and testing of constant temperature hot-wire anemometers which automatically compensate for frequency responses. Calibration and data acquisition techniques for normal and inclined wires operated in the constant temperature mode, flow geometries, and physical models to explain the observed behavior of flows are discussed, as well as cooperation with computational groups in the calculation of compression corner flows.
Smits, A. J.↗
Validation Assessment of Loci/GGFS Gas Granular Flow Solver Predictions of Ejecta from Physics Focused Ground Test
NASA is preparing to return humans to the Moon to establish a sustained Lunar presence through the Artemis program. One area of concern for Lunar landers is the plume surface interaction (PSI) environment that poses several risks during a propulsive landing. Understanding the PSI environment caused by the landers is therefore important to designing successful landing missions. Towards this end, a two-phase, gas granular flow solver, Loci/GGFS, has been developed to predict the cratering and ejecta physics expected during a Lunar landing. The focus of this paper is on a validation assessment of Loci/GGFS predictions of ejecta with monodisperse glass beads (MGB). The validation assessment is performed with respect to the Physics Focused Ground Test 1 (PFGT1) conducted at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in 2021. It is found that Loci/GGFS predicts similar initial cratering and ejecta features, with predictions of average velocities that are within 25% of experimental values.
Plume Surface Interaction↗