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At least 865 records · Page 48

An improved method for the prediction of completely three-dimensional aerodynamic load distributions of configurations with leading edge vortex separation

The application of a higher-order subsonic potential flow panel method to the solution of three-dimensional flow about wing and wing-body combinations with leading-edge vortex separation is presented. The governing equations are the linear flow differential equation and nonlinear boundary conditions which require that the flow be parallel to the wing and body surfaces and that the free vortex sheet, springing from the leading and trailing edges, be aligned with the local flow and support no pressure jump. The vortex core is modeled as a simple line vortex which receives vorticity from the free sheet through a connecting sheet. The Kutta condition is imposed on all appropriate edges of the wing. This set of nonlinear equations is solved by an iterative procedure. The Goethert rule accounts for compressibility. The method has been programmed for the CDC 6600. Delta wings, gothic wings, arrow wings, cambered wings, and wing with body have been analyzed. Initial studies involving variations of panel density, vortex sheet sizing, Jacobian update, and initial geometry demonstrate that the present method generally exhibits good convergence characteristics.

Rubbert, p. E.↗

The Effect of Stochastic Perturbation of Fuel Distribution on the Criticality of a One Speed Reactor and the Development of Multi-Material Multinomial Line Statistics

The effect of random fuel redistribution on the eigenvalue of a one-speed reactor is investigated. An ensemble of such reactors that are identical to a homogeneous reference critical reactor except for the fissile isotope density distribution is constructed such that it meets a set of well-posed redistribution requirements. The average eigenvalue, , is evaluated when the total fissile loading per ensemble element, or realization, is conserved. The perturbation is proven to increase the reactor criticality on average when it is uniformly distributed. The various causes of the change in reactivity, and their relative effects are identified and ranked. From this, a path towards identifying the causes. and relative effects of reactivity fluctuations for the energy dependent problem is pointed to. The perturbation method of using multinomial distributions for representing the perturbed reactor is developed. This method has some advantages that can be of use in other stochastic problems. Finally, some of the features of this perturbation problem are related to other techniques that have been used for addressing similar problems.

Jahshan, S. N.↗

New method for detecting fast neutrino flavor conversions in core-collapse supernova models with two-moment neutrino transport

Fast-pairwise neutrino oscillations potentially affect many aspects of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe): the explosion mechanism, neutrino signals, and nucleosynthesis in the ejecta. This particular mode of collective neutrino oscillations has a deep connection to the angular structure of neutrinos in momentum space; for instance, the appearance of electron-neutrino lepton number (ELN) angular crossings in momentum space is a good indicator of the occurrence of flavor conversions. However, many multidimensional CCSN simulations are carried out with approximate neutrino transport (such as two-moment methods), which limits access to the angular distributions of neutrinos, i.e., inhibits ELNcrossing searches. In this paper, we develop a new method of searching for ELN crossing in these CCSN simulations. The required data is the zeroth and first angular moments of neutrinos and the matter profile, all of which are available in CCSN models with the two-moment method. One of the novelties of our new method is the use of a ray-tracing neutrino transport to determine ELNs in the direction of the stellar center. It is designed to compensate for shortcomings of the crossing searches with only two angular moments. We assess the capability of the method by carrying out a detailed comparison with results of full Boltzmann neutrino transport in 1D and 2D CCSN models. In this work, we find that the ray-tracing neutrino transport improves the accuracy of crossing searches; indeed, the appearance/disappearance of the crossings is accurately detected even in the region of forward-peaked angular distributions. The new method is computationally cheap and has the benefit of efficient parallelization; hence, it will be useful for ELN-crossing searches in any CCSN models that employ two-moment neutrino transport.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Data assimilation for burnup distribution of PWR with three-dimensional variational algorithm and artificial neutral network

In this paper, a data-assimilation method has been proposed and applied for the burnup distribution of PWR. The burnup distribution is significant to the safety and economy of the reactor, as it is essential for the fuel-reloading design and optimization. Due to the burnup distribution cannot be measured directly during the reactor operation, the numerical simulation is widely applied to determine the burnup distribution. However, there is a deviation between the numerical simulation and the actual core due to some unavoidable factors, such as component manufacturing deviation, uneven flow distribution and so on. These differences would induce the errors to the simulation values of power distributions and hence to the burnup distribution. To address this problem, a data-assimilation method for the burnup distribution has been proposed with the application of power-distribution measurements. In our research, the three-dimensional variational (3DVAR) algorithm was applied for burnup-distribution calibration and the artificial neutral network (ANN) was applied to establish the relation between power distribution and corresponding burnup distribution. As engineering verification, the proposed data-assimilation method has been applied to the CNP1000 PWR operated in China. The numerical results indicated that the burnup-distribution errors can be reduced notably, as the maximum value of relative errors for power distribution can be reduced from 5.35% to 3.96%. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Projection methods for the numerical solution of Markov chain models

Projection methods for computing stationary probability distributions for Markov chain models are presented. A general projection method is a method which seeks an approximation from a subspace of small dimension to the original problem. Thus, the original matrix problem of size N is approximated by one of dimension m, typically much smaller than N. A particularly successful class of methods based on this principle is that of Krylov subspace methods which utilize subspaces of the form span(v,av,...,A(exp m-1)v). These methods are effective in solving linear systems and eigenvalue problems (Lanczos, Arnoldi,...) as well as nonlinear equations. They can be combined with more traditional iterative methods such as successive overrelaxation, symmetric successive overrelaxation, or with incomplete factorization methods to enhance convergence.

Saad, Youcef↗

Mapping the Milky Way Galaxy with LISA

Gravitational wave detectors in the mHz band (such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA) will observe thousands of compact binaries in the galaxy which can be used to better understand the structure of the Milky Way. To test the effectiveness of LISA to measure the distribution of the galaxy, we simulated the Close White Dwarf Binary (CWDB) gravitational wave sky using different models for the Milky Way. To do so, we have developed a galaxy density distribution modeling code based on the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. The code uses different distributions to construct realizations of the galaxy. We then use the Fisher Information Matrix to estimate the variance and covariance of the recovered parameters for each detected CWDB. This is the first step toward characterizing the capabilities of space-based gravitational wave detectors to constrain models for galactic structure, such as the size and orientation of the bar in the center of the Milky Way

McKinnon, Jose A.↗

Phase Demodulation by Frequency Chirping in Coherence Microwave Photonic Interferometry

This paper presents a signal processing method to demodulate the optical interference phase of cascaded individual optical fiber intrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (IFPI) sensors in a coherent microwave-photonic interferometry (CMPI) distributed sensing system. The new method utilizes the chirp effect of electro-optic modulator (EOM) to create a quasi-quadrature optical interference phase shift between two adjacent pulses which correspond to two adjacent reflection points in the time domain. The phase shift can be controlled by adjusting the bias voltage that is applied to the EOM. The interference phase is calculated by elliptically fitting the phase shift. The interference phase change is proportional to the optical path difference (OPD) change of the interferometer, and the sign can be used to differentiate the increase or decrease of the OPD. The method is demonstrated for distributed strain sensing, showing good linearity, high resolution and large dynamic range.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Satellite temperature soundings: Microwave satellite observations

Tiros satellite microwave measurements together with radiosonde data are used to illustrate a method for deriving vertical temperature distributions in the atmosphere on the scale of 100 km. The method employs N equations in N unknowns. The unknowns are the N coefficients which are needed at each pressure level to multiply the measured N radiances in order to retrieve the vertical temperature distributions. As an example, the spatial variation of the tropopause characteristics is derived over a cyclone. Diurnal variations in the radiances and the consistency of radiosondes and satellite radiance data need further investigation.

Fritz, S.↗

Explicit finite-volume time-marching calculations of total temperature distributions in turbulent flow

A method was developed which calculates two-dimensional, transonic, viscous flow in ducts. The finite volume, time-marching formulation is used to obtain steady flow solutions of the Reynolds-averaged form of the Navier-Stokes equations. The entire calculation is performed in the physical domain. This paper investigates the introduction of a new formulation of the energy equation which gives improved transient behavior as the calculation converges. The effect of variable Prandtl number on the temperature distribution through the boundary layer is also investigated. A turbulent boundary layer in an adverse pressure gradient (M = 0.55) is used to demonstrate the improved transient temperature distribution obtained when the new formulation of the energy equation is used. A flat plate turbulent boundary layer with a supersonic free-stream Mach number of 2.8 is used to investigate the effect of Prandtl number on the distribution of properties through the boundary layer. The computed total temperature distribution and recovery factor agree well with the measurements when a variable Prandtl number is used through the boundary layer.

Nicholson, Stephen↗

Explicit finite-volume time-marching calculations of total temperature distributions in turbulent flow

A method was developed which calculates two-dimensional, transonic, viscous flow in ducts. The finite volume, time-marching formulation is used to obtain steady flow solutions of the Reynolds-averaged form of the Navier-Stokes equations. The entire calculation is performed in the physical domain. This paper investigates the introduction of a new formulation of the energy equation which gives improved transient behavior as the calculation converges. The effect of variable Prandtl number on the temperature distribution through the boundary layer is also investigated. A turbulent boundary layer in an adverse pressure gradient (M = 0.55) is used to demonstrate the improved transient temperature distribution obtained when the new formulation of the energy equation is used. A flat plate turbulent boundary layer with a supersonic free-stream Mach number of 2.8 is used to investigate the effect of Prandtl number on the distribution of properties through the boundary layer. The computed total temperature distribution and recovery factor agree well with the measurements when a variable Prandtl number is used through the boundary layer.

Nicholson, Stephen↗

Fast and sensitive measurements of sub-3 nm particles using Condensation Particle Counters For Atmospheric Rapid Measurements (CPC FARM)

New particle formation (NPF) is the atmospheric process whereby gas molecules react and nucleate to form detectable particles. NPF has a strong impact on Earth's radiative balance as it produces roughly half of global cloud condensation nuclei. However, the time resolution and sensitivity of current instrumentation are inadequate in measuring the size distribution of sub-3 nm particles, the particles critical for understanding NPF. Here we present the Condensation Particle Counters For Atmospheric Rapid Measurements (CPC FARM), a method to measure the concentrations of freshly nucleated particles. The CPC FARM consists of five CPCs operating in parallel, each configured to operate at different detectable particle sizes between 1–3 nm. This study explores two methods to calculate the size distribution from the differential measurements across the CPC channels. The performance of both inversion methods was tested against the size distribution measured by a pair of stepping particle mobility sizers (SMPSs) during an ambient air sampling study in Pittsburgh, PA. Observational results indicate that the CPC FARM is more accurate with higher time resolution and sensitivity in the sub-3 nm range compared to the SMPS.

Cheng, Darren [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, ↗

Analysis of the EMCCD point-source response using x-rays

Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Devices, EMCCD are used as x-ray detectors. The NSLS-II Soft Inelastic x-ray Scattering (SIX) beam line has two EMCCDs for x-ray detection in the spectrometer arm. The spectrometer with high resolving power disperses x-rays vertically. The x-ray vertical position on the sensor plane is related to its energy. This allows for very accurate x-ray energy measurements through x-ray coordinates. X-rays interact with silicon and create a number of electron-hole pairs proportional to the x-ray energy. Electrons drift and diffuse toward pixel gates and are collected there. The diffused electrons form a charge cloud distributed over several neighboring pixels. This charge sharing enables coordinate measurements with accuracy better than the pixel pitch. The charge distribution shape has to be taken into account to achieve ultimate accuracy in coordinate measurements. In this paper, we present a method of the charge distribution shape analysis and demonstrate its applications. The drift and diffusion of electrons ftom the point of generation to pixel gates results in the bell-shaped electron cloud usually approximated by Gaussian shape. The number of electrons collected under a pixel is proportional to the shape function integral. These electron packets get transferred to the sense node of the output amplifier. The transfer process could introduce distortions to the original charge distribution. For example, during transfers, electrons in the packet could be exposed to traps if they are present in the sensor. The trapping and later the release processes distort the apparent shape of the charge distribution. Therefore, deviations of the charge distribution shape ftom the originally symmetrical form can indicate the presence of trap centers in the sensor and can be used for sensor diagnostics.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Evaluation of Heat Transfer Coefficient from Velocity Distribution in Boundary Layer

This paper describes a method of evaluating heat transfer coefficient from a velocity distribution in the boundary layer. The power law velocity profile and universal velocity distribution in a smooth pipe have been used to evaluate the wall shear stress, and the heat transfer coefficient was evaluated from the wall shear stress using the Chilton-Colburn analogy. The predicted pressure drop was compared with the pressure drop computed by the Colebrook equation, and the predicted heat transfer coefficient was compared with the heat transfer coefficient calculated by the Dittus-Boelter equation. The accuracy of pressure drop prediction was within 1%, and the accuracy of heat transfer coefficient prediction was within 8%. This method has the potential to use a Navier-Stokes based CFD solution to evaluate the heat transfer coefficient in nodal or network flow codes.

Heat Transfer Coefficient↗

Evaluation of Heat Transfer Coefficient from Velocity Distribution in Boundary Layer

This paper describes a method of evaluating heat transfer coefficient from a velocity distribution in the boundary layer. The power law velocity profile and universal velocity distribution in a smooth pipe have been used to evaluate the wall shear stress, and the heat transfer coefficient was evaluated from the wall shear stress using the Chilton-Colburn analogy. The predicted pressure drop was compared with the pressure drop computed by the Colebrook equation, and the predicted heat transfer coefficient was compared with the heat transfer coefficient calculated by the Dittus-Boelter equation. The accuracy of pressure drop prediction was within 1%, and the accuracy of heat transfer coefficient prediction was within 8%. This method has the potential to use a Navier-Stokes based CFD solution to evaluate the heat transfer coefficient in nodal or network flow codes.

Heat Transfer Coefficient↗

Investigating Gluonic Operators in Coordinate Space

In this dissertation, a method of extracting gluon momentum distributions inside hadrons, and particularly nucleons, is developed. In general, the utility and application of performing calculations in coordinate space at the operator level is discussed, and its application to the method of pseudodistributions in the lattice extraction of parton distributions. An introduction to the background field method and other techniques used in the calculation of corrections to gluon operators are provided. Then, an outline of the calculation of the uncontracted gluon bilocal operator at one-loop is given, and the result thereof. Using the result for the gluon bilocal operator restricted to spacelike separations, z = (0, 0, 0, z3), various projections and contractions are discussed for the spin averaged case, and for the polarization dependent case in a forward nucleon matrix element. Finally, matching relations between pseudodistributions and lightcone distributions are given for the unpolarized gluon distribution and for the polarized gluon distribution. Application of the results in recent actual lattice extractions of gluon PDFs is discussed, and future applications are outlined.

Morris, Wayne↗

Multiarea Distribution System State Estimation via Distributed Tensor Completion

Here, this paper proposes a model-free distribution system state estimation method based on tensor completion using canonical polyadic decomposition. In particular, we consider a setting where the network is divided into multiple areas. The measured physical quantities at buses located in the same area are processed by an area controller. A three-way tensor is constructed to collect these measured quantities. The measurements are analyzed locally to recover the full state information of the network. A distributed closed-form iterative algorithm based on the alternating direction method of multipliers is developed to obtain the low-rank factors of the whole network state tensor where information exchange happens only between neighboring areas. The convergence properties of the distributed algorithm and the sufficient conditions on the number of samples for each smaller network that guarantee the identifiability of the factors of the state tensor are presented. To demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm and to check the identifiability conditions, numerical simulations are carried out using the IEEE 123-bus system and a large-scale real utility feeder.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

The application of the phase space time evolution method to electron shielding

A computer technique for treating the motion of charged and neutral particles and called the phase space time evolution method was developed. This technique employs the computer's bookkeeping capacity to keep track of the time development of a phase space distribution of particles. This method was applied to a study of the penetration of electrons. A 1 MeV beam of electrons normally incident on a semi-infinite slab of aluminum was used. Results of the calculation were compared with Monte Carlo calculations and experimental results. Time-dependent PSTE electron penetration results for the same problem are presented.

Cordaro, M. C.↗

Genetic-algorithm retrieval of the molecular alignment distribution with high-order harmonics generated from transiently aligned CO 2 molecules

Using genetic algorithm, we propose a method to retrieve the alignment distribution of transiently aligned CO 2 molecules from the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) spectra. The retrieval method is based on the quantitative rescattering (QRS) model where averaged photorecombination transition dipole can be factored out from the parallel (or perpendicular) harmonic spectra after the propagation of the harmonic fields in the gas medium. We examine how the retrieved alignment distributions are affected by uncertainty in alignment dependent ionization probability and on multiple orbital contribution to the HHG. We further confirm that alignment distribution is more accurately retrieved by using the minima in the HHG spectra driven by a long-wavelength laser. In addition, we show that earlier experimental data on the ratios between the perpendicular and the parallel HHG components of aligned CO 2 molecules are in better agreement with the QRS model if the macroscopic propagation and multiple orbital interference are included in the theoretical calculation.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗