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At least 865 records · Page 48
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2008

CFD Results for an Axisymmetric Isentropic Relaxed Compression Inlet

The OVERFLOW code was used to calculate the flow field for a family of five relaxed compression inlets, which were part of a screening study to determine a configuration most suited to the application of microscale flow control technology as a replacement for bleed. Comparisons are made to experimental data collected for each of the inlets in the 1- by 1-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to help determine the suitability of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as a tool for future studies of these inlets with flow control devices. Effects on the wind tunnel results of the struts present in a high subsonic flow region accounted for most of the inconsistency between the results. Based on the level of agreement in the present study, it is expected that CFD can be used as a tool to aid in the design of a study of this class of inlets with flow control.

Hirt, Stefanie M.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Data Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) Code User Manual: Acadia - Version 4.01.1

Data-Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) code is a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) solver that was developed at NASA Ames Research Center to help mission support teams generate high-value predictive solutions for hypersonic flow field problems. The DPLR Code Package is an MPI-based, parallel, full three-dimensional Navier-Stokes CFD solver with generalized models for finite-rate reaction kinetics, thermal and chemical non-equilibrium, accurate high-temperature transport coefficients, and ionized flow physics incorporated into the code. DPLR also includes a large selection of generalized realistic surface boundary conditions and links to enable loose coupling with external thermal protection system (TPS) material response and shock layer radiation codes.

Wright, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Generalized Jeans' Escape of Pick-Up Ions in Quasi-Linear Relaxation

Jeans escape is a well-validated formulation of upper atmospheric escape that we have generalized to estimate plasma escape from ionospheres. It involves the computation of the parts of particle velocity space that are unbound by the gravitational potential at the exobase, followed by a calculation of the flux carried by such unbound particles as they escape from the potential well. To generalize this approach for ions, we superposed an electrostatic ambipolar potential and a centrifugal potential, for motions across and along a divergent magnetic field. We then considered how the presence of superthermal electrons, produced by precipitating auroral primary electrons, controls the ambipolar potential. We also showed that the centrifugal potential plays a small role in controlling the mass escape flux from the terrestrial ionosphere. We then applied the transverse ion velocity distribution produced when ions, picked up by supersonic (i.e., auroral) ionospheric convection, relax via quasi-linear diffusion, as estimated for cometary comas [1]. The results provide a theoretical basis for observed ion escape response to electromagnetic and kinetic energy sources. They also suggest that super-sonic but sub-Alfvenic flow, with ion pick-up, is a unique and important regime of ion-neutral coupling, in which plasma wave-particle interactions are driven by ion-neutral collisions at densities for which the collision frequency falls near or below the gyro-frequency. As another possible illustration of this process, the heliopause ribbon discovered by the IBEX mission involves interactions between the solar wind ions and the interstellar neutral gas, in a regime that may be analogous [2].

Moore, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Sound Propagation in Gas-Vapor-Droplet Suspensions with Evaporation and Nonlinear Particle Relaxation

The Sound attenuation and dispersion in saturated gas-vapor-droplet mixture in the presence of evaporation has been investigated theoretically. The theory is based on an extension of the work of Davidson to accommodate the effects of nonlinear particle relaxation processes of mass, momentum and energy transfer on sound attenuation and dispersion. The results indicate the existence of a spectral broadening effect in the attenuation coefficient (scaled with respect to the peak value) with a decrease in droplet mass concentration. It is further shown that for large values of the droplet concentration the scaled attenuation coefficient is characterized by a universal spectrum independent of droplet mass concentration.

Kandula, Max↗
NASA NTRS2014

State-to-State Internal Energy Relaxation Following the Quantum-Kinetic Model in DSMC

A new model for chemical reactions, the Quantum-Kinetic (Q-K) model of Bird, has recently been introduced that does not depend on macroscopic rate equations or values of local flow field data. Subsequently, the Q-K model has been extended to include reactions involving charged species and electronic energy level transitions. Although this is a phenomenological model, it has been shown to accurately reproduce both equilibrium and non-equilibrium reaction rates. The usefulness of this model becomes clear as local flow conditions either exceed the conditions used to build previous models or when they depart from an equilibrium distribution. Presently, the applicability of the relaxation technique is investigated for the vibrational internal energy mode. The Forced Harmonic Oscillator (FHO) theory for vibrational energy level transitions is combined with the Q-K energy level transition model to accurately reproduce energy level transitions at a reduced computational cost compared to the older FHO models.

Liechty, Derek S.↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Relaxation Matrix for Symmetric Tops with Inversion Symmetry: Line Mixing Effects in the V1 Band of NH3 - II

Line mixing effects have been calculated in the ν1 parallel band of self-broadened NH3. The theoretical approach is an extension of a semi-classical model to symmetric-top molecules with inversion symmetry developed in the companion paper [Q. Ma and C. Boulet, J. Chem. Phys. 144, 224303 (2016)]. This model takes into account line coupling effects and hence enables the calculation of the entire relaxation matrix. A detailed analysis of the various coupling mechanisms is carried out for Q and R inversion doublets. The model has been applied to the calculation of the shape of the Q branch and of some R manifolds for which an obvious signature of line mixing effects has been experimentally demonstrated. Comparisons with measurements show that the present formalism leads to an accurate prediction of the available experimental line shapes. Discrepancies between the experimental and theoretical sets of first order mixing parameters are discussed as well as some extensions of both theory and experiment.

Boulet, C.↗
NASA NTRS2016

InSitu SEM Investigation of Microstructural Damage Evolution and Strain Relaxation in a Melt Infiltrated SiC/SiC Composite

With CMC components poised to complete flight certification in turbine engines on commercial aircraft within the near future, there are many efforts within the aerospace community to model the mechanical and environmental degradation of CMCs. Direct observations of damage evolution are needed to support these modeling efforts and provide quantitative measures of damage parameters used in the various models. This study was performed to characterize the damage evolution during tensile loading of a melt infiltrated (MI) silicon carbide reinforced silicon carbide (SiC/SiC) composite. A SiC/SiC tensile coupon was loaded to a maximum global stress of 30 ksi in a tensile fixture within an SEM while observations were made at 5 ksi increments. Both traditional image analysis and DIC (digital image correlation) were used to quantify damage evolution. With the DIC analysis, microscale damage was observed at the fiber-matrix interfaces at stresses as low as 5 ksi. First matrix cracking took place between 20 and 25 ksi, accompanied by an observable relaxation in strain near matrix cracks. Matrix crack opening measurements at the maximum load ranged from 200 nm to 1.5 m. Crack opening along the fiber-matrix interface was also characterized as a function of load and angular position relative to the loading axis. This characterization was funded by NASA GRC and was performed to support NASA GRC modeling of SiC/SiC environmental degradation

testing↗
NASA NTRS2019

Sea Level Rise in the Samoan Islands Escalated by Viscoelastic Relaxation After the 2009 Samoa-Tonga Earthquake

The Samoan islands are an archipelago hosting a quarter million people mostly residing inthree major islands, Savai'i and Upolu (Samoa), and Tutuila (American Samoa). The islands haveexperienced sea level rise by 2-3 mm/year during the last half century. The rate, however, has dramaticallyincreased following the Mw 8.1 SamoaTonga earthquake doublet (megathrust + normal faulting) inSeptember 2009. Since the earthquake, we found largescale gravity increase (0.5 Gal/year) around theislands and ongoing subsidence (8-16 mm/year) of the islands from our analysis of Gravity Recovery AndClimate Experiment gravity and GPS displacement data. The postseismic horizontal displacement is faster inSamoa, while the postseismic subsidence rate is considerably larger in American Samoa. The analysis oflocal tide gauge records and satellite altimeter data also identified that the relative sea level rise becomesfaster by 7-9 mm/year in American Samoa than Samoa. A simple viscoelastic model with a Maxwellviscosity of 2–3×10(exp 18) Pa s for the asthenosphere explained postseismic deformation at nearby GPS sites aswell as Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment gravity change. It is found that the constructiveinterference of viscoelastic relaxation from both megathrust and normal faulting has intensified thepostseismic subsidence at American Samoa, causing ~5 times faster sea level rise than the global average.Our model indicates that this trend is likely to continue for decades and result in sea level rise of 30-40 cm,which is independent of and in addition to anticipated climaterelated sea level rise. It will worsen coastalflooding on the islands leading to regular nuisance flooding.

Han, Shin-Chan↗
NASA NTRS2023

The J and K Dependencies of the Line Coupling and Line Mixing Effects: Theoretical Studies of the Relaxation Matrices of N 2 -Broadened Ch 3 D

Line coupling and line mixing effects in parallel and perpendicular bands of CH 3 D perturbed by N 2 have been studied. The work focuses on exhibiting the j and k dependencies of these two processes. The calculations were based on a previously reported anisotropic intermolecular potential including both the long-range multipole, induction, and dispersion forces and a short-range atom-atom model. It is shown that components with L 1 = 3 of the atom-atom model are dominant contributions to the diffusion operator. As a consequence, in comparison with other molecular systems such as the CH 3 Cl-N 2 and CH 3 I-N 2 , theoretically predicted line coupling and line mixing effects exhibit completely new j and k dependencies. In general, the theoretically calculated halfwidths and intra-doublets’ off-diagonal elements of the relaxation matrix are in reasonable agreement with measurements.

Methane-d↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Construction of an Exact Pressure-Equilibrium Scheme for the Five-Equation Two-Phase Flow Model With Thermal Relaxation

Numerical simulation of compressible multiphase flows based on the four-equation (homogeneous relaxation) model is known to suffer from two fundamental difficulties with (a) wave propagation and (b) pressure equilibrium preservation. First, the mixture sound speed exhibits non-monotonic dependency with respect to the volume fraction, which leads to robustness issues in the resolution of shocks and acoustic wave propagation across two-phase regions. This difficulty can be mitigated by solving Allaire’s five-equation model augmented with infinitely fast phasic temperature equilibrium, from which solutions of the four-equation model can be recovered. However, when temperature is non-uniform, this augmented five-equation formulation still fails to preserve pressure equilibrium across material interfaces. In this work, we propose a fully conservative numerical scheme that exactly preserves pressure equilibrium at the discrete level for the augmented five-equation model, for arbitrary initial distributions of temperature and volume fraction. Combined with the monotonic sound speed property of the five-equation formulation, the proposed pressure-equilibrium preserving scheme significantly improves robustness in the presence of strong multiphase interactions, including shock–interface interactions and advection of material interfaces.

ESG↗
DOE OSTI2020

Scalable line and plane relaxation in a parallel structured multigrid solver

The efficient solution of sparse, linear systems that arise through the discretization of partial differential equations remains a key challenge for a range of high performance scientific simulations. One approach for reducing data movement and improving performance is by exposing and exploiting structure in a problem through the use of robust structured multilevel solvers. By choosing coarsening that preserves the structure of the problem, these methods maintain efficient structured computation and communication throughout the multigrid hierarchy. However, when coarsening is not permitted to be dependent on the operator, anisotropy must be addressed by the smoother — producing error compatible for coarse-grid correction with structured coarsening. Here, the components required in a scalable parallel structured solver are described with a focus on memory and communication efficiency of robust smoothers. While the implementation of communication and memory reduction techniques in smoothers integrated in a complete 3D solver present a significant engineering challenge, a novel approach is proposed that addresses these challenges systematically through a change to the solver’s execution model. Enabled by user-level threading paired with a set of data and communication abstractions, this approach permits seamless aggregation of communication in plane smoothers — directly reusing code for a 2D distributed multilevel cycle. Results show an effective reduction in communication costs for coarse-grid problems, and result in a speedup of 8.7x in smoothing routines shown in Fig. 12 using this approach. This produces a significant improvement to strong scalability while maintaining favorable weak scaling behavior. Finally, a parallel scaling study using a series of refined meshes is included that demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach in an application of interest.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enhancing Metal‐Support Interactions of Ru Catalysts via Relaxation of Oxygen Vacancies for Hydrogen Production

The stability of Ru-based catalysts under harsh electrochemical conditions is a critical challenge limiting their practical application in energy conversion systems. In this study, Ru catalysts supported on ZrO 2-x , CeO 2-x , and ZrCeO 2-x are synthesized via pyrolysis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and systematically evaluated to elucidate the role of support interactions on catalytic performance and durability. Advanced characterization techniques, including HR-TEM, XRD, XPS, and EXAFS, revealed that Ru-ZrCeO 2-x exhibited superior structural stability compared to Ru-ZrO 2-x and Ru-CeO 2-x , particularly under high-potential sweep (HPS) conditions. The incorporation of Ce into ZrO 2-x is shown to stabilize oxygen vacancies and enhance the interaction between Ru catalyst and the support, thereby mitigating catalyst degradation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further confirmed that Ce doping decreases formation energy of the oxygen vacancy, providing a thermodynamically favorable environment for Ru stabilization. This work demonstrates the promise of ZrCeO 2-x as a robust support material for Ru-based catalysts, advancing their potential for durable and efficient energy applications.

hydrogen evolution reaction↗