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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 829 records · Page 46
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

Dynamic Load Balancing for Finite Element Calculations on Parallel Computers

Computational requirements of full scale computational fluid dynamics change as computation progresses on a parallel machine. The change in computational intensity causes workload imbalance of processors, which in turn requires a large amount of data movement at runtime. If parallel CFD is to be successful on a parallel or massively parallel machine, balancing of the runtime load is indispensable. Here a frame work is presented for dynamic load balancing for CFD applications, called Jove. One processor is designated as a decision maker Jove while others are assigned to computational fluid dynamics. Processors running CFD send flags to Jove in a predetermined number of iterations to initiate load balancing. Jove starts working on load balancing while other processors continue working with the current data and load distribution. Jove goes through several steps to decide if the new data should be taken, including preliminary evaluate, partition, processor reassignment, cost evaluation, and decision. Jove running on a single SP2 node has been completely implemented. Preliminary experimental results show that the Jove approach to dynamic load balancing can be effective for full scale grid partitioning on the target machine SP2.

Pramono, Eddy↗
DOE OSTI2024

Modernizing the Legacy Fission Wire Measurement System for the Advanced Test Reactor-Critical Facility

Operational lifetime extensions of existing research reactors have emphasized the need for refurbishment, replacements, and upgrades to supporting equipment and instrumentation. The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), which entered service in 1967, has recently completed the sixth core internals change-out and has scheduled operations until at least 2040. Reactor maintenance and operational risk management is critically important in the research reactor community, however supporting measurement systems sometimes get overlooked when maintenance is planned. The Fission Wire Measurement System (FWMS) is a custom measurement system designed in the 1960s to measure the beta-particle activity of irradiated uranium-aluminum fission wires. This measurement is conducted to determine the fission rate profile of the Advanced Reactor Test Critical (ATR-C) facility. The ATR-C is an open-pool, low-power test reactor that was purpose driven to resemble ATR and is used to qualify experiment configurations and verify core models prior to full-power experiment irradiations in ATR. A power distribution measurement in ATR-C uses uranium-aluminum wires that are distributed throughout the ATR-C core to validate simulation and modeling results. These measurements require 340 to 1500 wires to be irradiated and measured within a 12-hour window. The activity of the wires is measured in the required time with the FWMS, which was put into service in 1965 at the Radiation Measurements Laboratory (RML). The system consists of 4 measurement channels and one reference channel, each with a 2-pi proportional gas flow detector and the measurement channels each have an automated sample changer. This legacy system is crucial to the continued operations of ATR and has undergone some minor hardware upgrades since 1965, however the system presently relies on custom control boards, custom gas ion chambers, analog amplifiers/discriminators, and a user interface (UI) for the system written in outdated code. Much of the equipment and software is custom with no commercial replacements or support and limited documentation. The existing control software requires an operating system that is no longer supported, creating more vulnerabilities to continued operations. A project is underway with a third-party vendor to design, build, and document a new control and data acquisition system (CDAS) for the FWMS. The new upgrade will replace the control system, computer, UI, sample changer motors, and main power supply while maintaining the interface with existing detector hardware. The upgraded system will be operated in parallel with the current hardware and software to conduct validation testing. This equipment upgrade demonstrates the commitment at ATR to ensuring successful operations and potential future research reactors at INL.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hvac: Removing I/O Bottleneck for Large-Scale Deep Learning Applications

Scientific communities are increasingly adopting deep learning (DL) models in their applications to accelerate scientific discovery processes. However, with rapid growth in the computing capabilities of HPC supercomputers, large-scale DL applications have to spend a significant portion of training time performing I/O to a parallel storage system. Previous research works have investigated optimization techniques such as prefetching and caching. Unfortunately, there exist non-trivial challenges to adopting the existing solutions on HPC supercomputers for large-scale DL training applications, which include non-performance and/or failures at extreme scale, lack of portability and generality in design, complex deployment methodology, and being limited to a specific application or dataset. To address these challenges, we propose High-Velocity AI Cache (HVAC), a distributed read-cache layer that targets and fully exploits the node-local storage or near node-local storage technology. HVAC seamlessly accelerates read I/O by aggregating node-local or near node-local storage, avoiding metadata lookups and file locking while preserving portability in the application code. We deploy and evaluate HVAC on 1,024 nodes (with over 6000 NVIDIA V100 GPUS) of the Summit supercomputer. In particular, we evaluate the scalability, efficiency, accuracy, and load distribution of HVAC compared to GPFS and XFS-on-NVMe. With four different DL applications, we observe an average 25 % performance improvement atop GPFS and 9% drop against XFS-on-NVMe, which scale linearly and are considered the performance upper bound. We envision HVAC as an important caching library for upcoming HPC supercomputers such as Frontier.

Khan, Awais↗
DOE OSTI2020

Discrete Fracture Network Modeling to Estimate Upscaled Parameters for the Topopah Spring, Lava Flow, and Tiva Canyon Aquifers at Pahute Mesa, Nevada National Security Site

This report describes the results of Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) simulations for the Topopah Spring Aquifer (TSA), Lava Flow Aquifer, and Tiva Canyon Aquifer (TCA), at Pahute Mesa on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), formerly the Nevada Test Site. The research focuses on calculating upscaled groundwater flow and contaminant transport parameters using DFNs generated according to fracture characteristics observed in the TSA, LFA and TCA at Pahute Mesa. The highly fractured and heterogeneous nature of these aquifers makes them candidates for stochastic DFN modeling of radionuclide transport on a small scale with subsequent upscaling. One hundred independent DFN realizations are generated for each aquifer, and the upscaled parameters for continuum simulations of subsurface flow and transport in fractured media at Pahute Mesa are calculated. Our goal is to implement a modeling approach that can translate parameters to larger-scale models that account for local-scale flow and transport processes, such as channelization of flow and transport along a few well connected, large fractures. Additionally, to simulate advective and advective-diffusive transport through the fracture networks, the Time Domain Random Walk (TDRW) approach is applied to account for matrix diffusion into a finite half-space. Moreover, a novel approach to calculate dynamic (active) fracture surface area to reflect flow channeling is implemented. This work will improve the representation of radionuclide transport processes in largescale, regulatory-focused models by providing estimates of hard-to-measure flow and contaminant transport parameters at large scales. In this report, we (1) show recent results of flow and transport simulations on multiple DFN realizations of the TSA, LFA, TCA; (2) discuss the resulting distributions of estimated upscaled parameters; (3) describe the estimation of upscaled parameters for an equivalent parallel-plate continuum model and (4) present a comparison between simulated transport from the equivalent continuum model and an actual DFN.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Computing material volume fractions on a superimposed mesh as applied to Monte Carlo particle transport simulations

Here, we present a newly implemented ray tracing algorithm in OpenMC for efficiently computing material volume fractions on superimposed meshes in complex geometries. By firing rays along each coordinate direction through the geometry, the approach accumulates track-length data in each mesh element, thereby determining the fractional composition of each material. Scaling studies on three different models—a random tetrahedra configuration, the Frascati Neutron Generator ITER dose rate benchmark, and a stellarator design—show excellent parallel performance, with nearly linear speedup on modern multi-threaded and distributed-memory systems. An analysis of the residual error relative to high-resolution reference solutions demonstrated that under optimal conditions it decreases as 1/R, where R is the number of rays fired, making it straightforward to achieve user-prescribed accuracy. This new functionality enables practical, mesh-based approaches for detailed nuclear analyses in production Monte Carlo workflows without resorting to expensive, fully conformal or unstructured meshing.

Monte Carlo↗
NASA NTRS2009

Bio-Inspired Neural Model for Learning Dynamic Models

A neural-network mathematical model that, relative to prior such models, places greater emphasis on some of the temporal aspects of real neural physical processes, has been proposed as a basis for massively parallel, distributed algorithms that learn dynamic models of possibly complex external processes by means of learning rules that are local in space and time. The algorithms could be made to perform such functions as recognition and prediction of words in speech and of objects depicted in video images. The approach embodied in this model is said to be "hardware-friendly" in the following sense: The algorithms would be amenable to execution by special-purpose computers implemented as very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits that would operate at relatively high speeds and low power demands.

Duong, Tuan↗
NASA NTRS1978

High frequency sound attenuation in short flow ducts

A geometrical acoustics approach is proposed as a practical design tool for absorbent liners in such short flow ducts as may be found in turbofan engine nacelles. As an example, a detailed methodology is presented for three different types of sources in a parallel plate duct containing uniform ambient flow. A plane wave whose wavefronts are not normal to the duct walls, an arbitrarily located point source, and a spatially harmonic line source are each considered. Optimal wall admittance distributions are found, and it is shown how to estimate the insertion loss for any admittance distribution. The extension of the methodology to realistic source distributions in variable area cylindrical or annular ducts containing arbitrary flow is shown to be conceptually straightforward and computationally practical on a vector-hardware digital computer.

Posey, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Distributed intelligence for supervisory control

Supervisory control systems must deal with various types of intelligence distributed throughout the layers of control. Typical layers are real-time servo control, off-line planning and reasoning subsystems and finally, the human operator. Design methodologies must account for the fact that the majority of the intelligence will reside with the human operator. Hierarchical decompositions and feedback loops as conceptual building blocks that provide a common ground for man-machine interaction are discussed. Examples of types of parallelism and parallel implementation on several classes of computer architecture are also discussed.

Wolfe, W. J.↗
NASA NTRS1947

The Monoplane as a Lifting Vortex Surface

In Prandtl's airfoil theory the monoplane was replaced by a single lifting vortex line and yielded fairly practical results. However, the theory remained restricted to the straight wing. Yawed wings and those curved in flight direction could not be computed with this first approximation; for these the chordwise lift distribution must be taken into consideration. For the two-dimensional problem the transition from the lifting line to the lifting surface has been explained by Birnbaum. In the present report the transition to the three-dimensional problem is undertaken. The first fundamental problem involves the prediction of flow, profile, and drag for prescribed circulation distribution on the straight rectangular wing, the yawed wing for lateral boundaries parallel to the direction of flight, the swept-back wing, and the rectangular wing in slipping, with the necessary series developments for carrying through the calculations, the practical range of convergence of which does not comprise the wing tips or the break point of the swept-back wing. The second problem concerns the calculation of the circulation distribution with given profile for a slipping rectangular monoplane with flat profile and aspect ratio 6, and a rectangular wing with cambered profile and variable aspect ratio-the latter serving as check of the so-called conversion formulas of the airfoil theory.

Blenk, Hermann↗
DOE OSTI2020

PREEMPT: Scalable Epidemic Interventions Using Submodular Optimization on Multi-GPU Systems

Preventing and slowing the spread of epidemics is achieved through techniques such as vaccination and social distancing. Given practical limitations on the number of vaccines and cost of administration, optimization becomes a necessity. Previous approaches using mathematical programming methods have shown to be effective but are limited by computational costs. In this work, we make several contributions: First, we present a new approach for intervention via maximizing the influence of vaccinated nodes on the network. We call this method \preempt. Next, we prove submodular properties associated with the objective function of our method so that it aids in construction of an efficient greedy approximation strategy. Consequently, we present a new parallel algorithm based on greedy hill climbing for \preempt, and present an efficient parallel implementation for distributed CPU-GPU heterogeneous platforms. Our results demonstrate that \preempt{} is able to achieve a significant reduction (up to 6.75$\times$) in the percentage of people infected on a city-scale network. We also show strong scaling results of \preempt{} on 128 nodes of the Summit supercomputer. Our parallel implementation is able to significantly reduce time to solution, from hours to minutes on large networks. This work represents a first-of-its-kind effort in parallelizing greedy hill climbing and applying it toward devising effective interventions for epidemics.

Minutoli, Marco↗
DOE OSTI2021

Exago TM Users Manual: Version 1.0

The Exascale Grid Optimization (ExaGOTM) toolkit is an open source package for solving large-scale power grid optimization problems on parallel and distributed architectures, particularly targeted for exascale machines with heteregenous architectures (GPU). This manual is a guide to ExaGO's working including installation, formulation, and usage.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterizing the performance of node-aware strategies for irregular point-to-point communication on heterogeneous architectures

Supercomputer architectures are trending toward higher computational throughput due to the inclusion of heterogeneous compute nodes. These multi-GPU nodes increase on-node computational efficiency, while also increasing the amount of data to be communicated and the number of potential data flow paths. In this work, we characterize the performance of irregular point-to-point communication with MPI on heterogeneous compute environments through performance modeling, demonstrating the limitations of standard communication strategies for both device-aware and staging-through-host communication techniques. Presented models suggest staging communicated data through host processes then using node-aware communication strategies for high inter-node message counts. Notably, the models also predict that node-aware communication utilizing all available CPU cores to communicate inter-node data leads to the most performant strategy when communicating with a high number of nodes. Furthermore, model validation is provided via a case study of irregular point-to-point communication patterns in distributed sparse matrix–vector products. Importantly, we include a discussion on the implications model predictions have on communication strategy design for emerging supercomputer architectures.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Computing the QRPA level density with the finite amplitude method

Here, we describe a new algorithm to calculate the vibrational nuclear level density of an atomic nucleus. Fictitious perturbation operators that probe the response of the system are generated by drawing their matrix elements from some probability distribution function. We use the Finite Amplitude Method to explicitly compute the response for each such sample. With the help of the Kernel Polynomial Method, we build an estimator of the vibrational level density and provide the upper bound of the relative error in the limit of infinitely many random samples. The new algorithm can give accurate estimates of the vibrational level density. Since it is based on drawing multiple samples of perturbation operators, its computational implementation is naturally parallel and scales like the number of available processing units.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evidence of topological charge polarization at active-passive interfaces in acoustically powered active liquid crystals

Theoretical and computational studies predict topological charge separation at active-passive interfaces in active nematics, but reliable experimental validation has been lacking. We utilize a synthetic acoustically energized liquid crystal to experimentally investigate the dynamics of topological defects across an active-passive interface. The interference pattern induced by the acoustic wave inside the experimental cell creates a spatial distribution of activity, resulting in the formation of active-passive interfaces with the liquid-crystalline director field aligned parallel to those interfaces. The activity gradient drives the reorientation of positively charged topological defects along its direction, causing them to migrate into the passive zone and form a layer with net topological charge. That layer “discharges” upon cessation of activity through annihilation of positive and negative topological charges, resembling the discharge of a capacitor.

Active defects↗
DOE OSTI2020

Distributed-Memory Parallel Symmetric Nonnegative Matrix Factorization

We develop the first distributed-memory parallel implementation of Symmetric Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (SymNMF), a key data analytics kernel for clustering and dimensionality reduction. Our implementation includes two different algorithms for SymNMF, which give comparable results in terms of time and accuracy. The first algorithm is a parallelization of an existing sequential approach that uses solvers for non symmetric NMF. The second algorithm is a novel approach based on the Gauss-Newton method. It exploits second-order information without incurring large computational and memory costs. We evaluate the scalability of our algorithms on the Summit system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scaling up to 128 nodes (4,096 cores) with 70% efficiency. Additionally, we demonstrate our software on an image segmentation task.

Eswar, Srinivas↗
NASA NTRS1979

A wave-envelope of sound propagation in nonuniform circular ducts with compressible mean flows

An acoustic theory is developed to determine the sound transmission and attenuation through an infinite, hard-walled or lined circular duct carrying compressible, sheared, mean flows and having a variable cross section. The theory is applicable to large as well as small axial variations, as long as the mean flow does not separate. The technique is based on solving for the envelopes of the quasi-parallel acoustic modes that exist in the duct instead of solving for the actual wave, thereby reducing the computation time and the round-off error encountered in purely numerical techniques. The solution recovers the solution based on the method of multiple scales for slowly varying duct geometry. A computer program was developed based on the wave-envelope analysis for general mean flows. Results are presented for the reflection and transmission coefficients as well as the acoustic pressure distributions for a number of conditions: both straight and variable area ducts with and without liners and mean flows from very low to high subsonic speeds are considered.

Nayfeh, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A message passing kernel for the hypercluster parallel processing test bed

A Message-Passing Kernel (MPK) for the Hypercluster parallel-processing test bed is described. The Hypercluster is being developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center to support investigations of parallel algorithms and architectures for computational fluid and structural mechanics applications. The Hypercluster resembles the hypercube architecture except that each node consists of multiple processors communicating through shared memory. The MPK efficiently routes information through the Hypercluster, using a message-passing protocol when necessary and faster shared-memory communication whenever possible. The MPK also interfaces all of the processors with the Hypercluster operating system (HYCLOPS), which runs on a Front-End Processor (FEP). This approach distributes many of the I/O tasks to the Hypercluster processors and eliminates the need for a separate I/O support program on the FEP.

Blech, Richard A.↗
NASA NTRS1987

High performance architecture for robot control

Practical aspects of the design and implementation of a modular, high performance, parallel computer control system for telerobots are discussed. Topics of consideration include system architecture, operator interface, and control execution. In a laboratory environment, a telerobotics test control configuration is used to obtain measurements on communications and control loop timing for use in an effective full scale operational system design. The feasibility of the selected architectural approach has been successfully demonstrated. The modularity of the software and hardware enables ease of transport for use in the operational system. The distributed partioning of the control algorithms and the performance measurements acquired during control system implementation are discussed.

Byler, E.↗