Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “FLUX”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 901 records · Page 50

Simulations of heat fluxes in an ELMy H-mode discharge on HL-2A

In order to study the distribution and evolution of the transient heat flux on HL-2A during edge-localized-mode (ELM) bursts, the BOUT++ electromagnetic six-field two-fluid model is used to simulate the pedestal collapse under the lower single-null divertor geometry. The equilibrium profiles of HL-2A ELMy H-mode discharge No. 24 953 are adopted as the initial condition in the original case. In this instance, linear analysis shows that the resistive ballooning mode (RBM) and drift-Alfven wave are unstable to this equilibrium, and RBM is the dominant instability. The evolutions of the radial heat fluxes at the outer mid-plane and heat fluxes to the inner and outer targets during the ELM event are presented. Six more equilibria are constructed based on the original case to find out the influence of the pedestal profiles on the peak electron heat flux. The results indicate that the heat flux increases with temperature and/or density, and the theoretical analysis and simulation results consistently show that the heat flux q ∥e is proportional to n e0,SEP $T^{\frac32}_{e0,SEP}$.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

A 6 MW/m 2 High Heat Flux Testing Facility of Irradiated Materials Using Infrared Plasma-Arc Lamps

Assessing the effect of neutron irradiation of plasma-facing materials has been challenging due to both the technical and radiological challenges involved. In an effort to address the radiological challenges, a facility was developed to conduct high heat flux testing (HHFT) of inherently small samples of neutron-irradiated materials. A new line-focus reflector was designed and fabricated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a plasma-arc lamp (PAL) to attain a source heat flux of 12 MW/m 2 . The new reflector was fabricated with two ports for monitoring specimen condition during HHFT. At the same operational conditions for PAL, the absorbed heat flux in tungsten was increased from 1.39 MW/m 2 with the uniform irradiance reflector to 5.12 MW/m 2 for the line-focus reflector. This fourfold increase in the heat flux, at the same PAL electrode lifetimes, enabled cost-effective facility operation for a high number of cyclic high heat flux tests. Specifically, the test section is confined to a hemispherical dome, and specimens are bolted directly to a water-cooled copper alloy rod. Temperature measurement in the PAL facility was a main challenge due to a limited line of sight. For the first time in a PAL facility operating at high heat fluxes, the specimen surface temperature was directly measured during HHFT with a pyrometer. Finally, the HHFT data, which were obtained in this upgraded PAL facility, demonstrated the facility readiness for irradiated materials.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

An Experimental Reversed Heat Flux Investigation of the Helium-Cooled Modular Divertor with Multiple Jets

The Georgia Institute of Technology group has performed studies to characterize the thermal hydraulics of a single “finger” module of the helium-cooled modular divertor with multiple jets (HEMJ) proposed for long-pulse magnetic fusion reactors in a helium (He) loop designed with maximum mass flow rate of 10 g/s. However, testing divertor modules at prototypical heat fluxes and temperatures remains an engineering challenge. A new larger helium loop with a maximum mass flow rate of 100 g/s, suitable for evaluating helium-cooled divertors with larger surface areas such as a nine-finger HEMJ module, is currently being constructed. This work presents an experimental validation of a numerical model exploring the applicability of the “reversed heat flux approach,” which cools (versus heats) the plasma-facing surface of the divertor module to evaluate the helium-side heat transfer coefficient (HTC). The approach is to be used for performance evaluation of single and multiple modules of HEMJ in existing and future large helium loops. A cooling facility for producing a jet of water with a maximum mass flow rate of 1.4 kg/s at a maximum pressure of 0.4 MPa and temperature of 295 K (Re = 2.2 × 10 5 ) is described. Numerical and experimental results are presented for the heat flux and average helium impingement surface temperature over a range of water flow rates (0.5 to 1.4 kg/s) for heat fluxes as high as 5 MW/m 2 . The numerical model suggests that the HTC of the water impingement surface is comparable to or greater than that of the helium impingement surface. For given helium and water temperatures, the heat flux values are generally limited by conduction across the outer shell. These initial studies provide guidance on extending this approach to estimating the thermal-hydraulic performance of larger divertor module designs while reducing the challenges associated with studying such designs in the normal heating configuration at their extremely high prototypical temperatures and incident heat fluxes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DISCONNECTING OPEN SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX

Disconnection of open magnetic flux by reconnection is required to balance the injection of open flux by coronal mass ejections and other eruptive events. Making use of recent advances in heliospheric background subtraction, we have imaged many abrupt disconnection events. These events produce dense plasma clouds whose distinctive shape can now be traced from the corona across the inner solar system via heliospheric imaging. The morphology of each initial event is characteristic of magnetic reconnection across a current sheet, and the newly disconnected flux takes the form of a 'U-'shaped loop that moves outward, accreting coronal and solar wind material. We analyzed one such event on 2008 December 18 as it formed and accelerated at 20 m s{sup -2} to 320 km s{sup -1}, thereafter expanding self-similarly until it exited our field of view 1.2 AU from the Sun. From acceleration and photometric mass estimates we derive the coronal magnetic field strength to be 8 {mu}T, 6 R{sub Sun} above the photosphere, and the entrained flux to be 1.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} Wb (1.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 19} Mx). We model the feature's propagation by balancing inferred magnetic tension force against accretion drag. This model is consistent with the feature's behavior and accepted solar wind parameters. By counting events over a 36 day window, we estimate a global event rate of 1 day{sup -1} and a global solar minimum unsigned flux disconnection rate of 6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 13} Wb yr{sup -1} (6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 21} Mx yr{sup -1}) by this mechanism. That rate corresponds to {approx} - 0.2 nT yr{sup -1} change in the radial heliospheric field at 1 AU, indicating that the mechanism is important to the heliospheric flux balance.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

INNER HELIOSPHERIC FLUX ROPE EVOLUTION VIA IMAGING OF CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS

Understanding the evolution of flux ropes in coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is of importance both to the scientific and technological communities. Scientifically their presence is critical to models describing CME launch and they likely play a role in CME evolution. Technologically they are the major contributor to severe geomagnetic storms. Using a new processing technique on the STEREO/SECCHI heliospheric imaging data, we have tracked a magnetic flux rope observed by the Wind spacecraft in December 2008 to its origins observed by coronagraphs. We thereby establish that the cavity in the classic three-part coronagraph CME is the feature that becomes the magnetic cloud. This implies that the bright material ahead of the cavity is piled-up coronal or solar wind material. We track the evolution of the cavity en-route and find that its structure transforms from concave inward (curving away from the Sun) to concave outward (toward the Sun) around 0.065 AU from the Sun. The pileup was tracked and its leading edge remained concave inward throughout its journey. Two other CMEs in January 2009 are also inspected and a similar cavity is observed in each, suggesting that they too each contained a flux rope. The results presented here are the first direct observation, through continuous tracking, associating a particular flux rope observed in situ with the same flux rope before ejection from the corona. We speculate that detailed heliospheric imagery of CMEs may lead to a means by which flux ropes can be identified remotely in the heliosphere.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

MAGNETAR GIANT FLARES-FLUX ROPE ERUPTIONS IN MULTIPOLAR MAGNETOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS

We address a primary question regarding the physical mechanism that triggers the energy release and initiates the onset of eruptions in the magnetar magnetosphere. Self-consistent stationary, axisymmetric models of the magnetosphere are constructed based on force-free magnetic field configurations that contain a helically twisted force-free flux rope. Depending on the surface magnetic field polarity, there exist two kinds of magnetic field configurations, inverse and normal. For these two kinds of configurations, variations of the flux rope equilibrium height in response to gradual surface physical processes, such as flux injections and crust motions, are carefully examined. We find that equilibrium curves contain two branches: one represents a stable equilibrium branch, and the other an unstable equilibrium branch. As a result, the evolution of the system shows a catastrophic behavior: when the magnetar surface magnetic field evolves slowly, the height of the flux rope would gradually reach a critical value beyond which stable equilibriums can no longer be maintained. Subsequently, the flux rope would lose equilibrium and the gradual quasi-static evolution of the magnetosphere will be replaced by a fast dynamical evolution. In addition to flux injections, the relative motion of active regions would give rise to the catastrophic behavior and lead to magnetic eruptions as well. We propose that a gradual process could lead to a sudden release of magnetosphere energy on a very short dynamical timescale, without being initiated by a sudden fracture in the crust of the magnetar. Some implications of our model are also discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SCATTERING OF THE f-MODE BY SMALL MAGNETIC FLUX ELEMENTS FROM OBSERVATIONS AND NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS

The scattering of f-modes by magnetic tubes is analyzed using three-dimensional numerical simulations. An f-mode wave packet is propagated through a solar atmosphere embedded with three different flux tube models that differ in radius and total magnetic flux. A quiet-Sun simulation without a tube present is also performed as a reference. Waves are excited inside the flux tube and propagate along the field lines, and jacket modes are generated in the surroundings of the flux tube, carrying 40% as much energy as the tube modes. The resulting scattered wave is mainly an f-mode composed of a mixture of m = 0 and m = {+-}1 modes. The amplitude of the scattered wave approximately scales with the magnetic flux. A small amount of power is scattered into the p{sub 1}-mode. We have evaluated the absorption and phase shift from a Fourier-Hankel decomposition of the photospheric vertical velocities. They are compared with the results obtained from the ensemble average of 3400 small magnetic elements observed in high-resolution MDI Doppler datacubes. The comparison shows that the observed dependence of the phase shift with wavenumber can be matched reasonably well with the simulated flux tube model. The observed variation of the phase shifts with the azimuthal order m appears to depend on details of the ensemble averaging, including possible motions of the magnetic elements and asymmetrically shaped elements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DIRECT EVIDENCE FOR A FAST CORONAL MASS EJECTION DRIVEN BY THE PRIOR FORMATION AND SUBSEQUENT DESTABILIZATION OF A MAGNETIC FLUX ROPE

Magnetic flux ropes play a central role in the physics of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Although a flux-rope topology is inferred for the majority of coronagraphic observations of CMEs, a heated debate rages on whether the flux ropes pre-exist or whether they are formed on-the-fly during the eruption. Here, we present a detailed analysis of extreme-ultraviolet observations of the formation of a flux rope during a confined flare followed about 7 hr later by the ejection of the flux rope and an eruptive flare. The two flares occurred during 2012 July 18 and 19. The second event unleashed a fast (>1000 km s{sup -1}) CME. We present the first direct evidence of a fast CME driven by the prior formation and destabilization of a coronal magnetic flux rope formed during the confined flare on July 18.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A FLUX SCALE FOR SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE 21 cm EPOCH OF REIONIZATION EXPERIMENTS

We present a catalog of spectral measurements covering a 100-200 MHz band for 32 sources, derived from observations with a 64 antenna deployment of the Donald C. Backer Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) in South Africa. For transit telescopes such as PAPER, calibration of the primary beam is a difficult endeavor and errors in this calibration are a major source of error in the determination of source spectra. In order to decrease our reliance on an accurate beam calibration, we focus on calibrating sources in a narrow declination range from –46° to –40°. Since sources at similar declinations follow nearly identical paths through the primary beam, this restriction greatly reduces errors associated with beam calibration, yielding a dramatic improvement in the accuracy of derived source spectra. Extrapolating from higher frequency catalogs, we derive the flux scale using a Monte Carlo fit across multiple sources that includes uncertainty from both catalog and measurement errors. Fitting spectral models to catalog data and these new PAPER measurements, we derive new flux models for Pictor A and 31 other sources at nearby declinations; 90% are found to confirm and refine a power-law model for flux density. Of particular importance is the new Pictor A flux model, which is accurate to 1.4% and shows that between 100 MHz and 2 GHz, in contrast with previous models, the spectrum of Pictor A is consistent with a single power law given by a flux at 150 MHz of 382 ± 5.4 Jy and a spectral index of –0.76 ± 0.01. This accuracy represents an order of magnitude improvement over previous measurements in this band and is limited by the uncertainty in the catalog measurements used to estimate the absolute flux scale. The simplicity and improved accuracy of Pictor A's spectrum make it an excellent calibrator in a band important for experiments seeking to measure 21 cm emission from the epoch of reionization.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Temperature evolution of a magnetic flux rope in a failed solar eruption

In this paper, we report for the first time the detailed temperature evolution process of the magnetic flux rope in a failed solar eruption. Occurring on 2013 January 05, the flux rope was impulsively accelerated to a speed of ∼400 km s{sup –1} in the first minute, then decelerated and came to a complete stop in two minutes. The failed eruption resulted in a large-size high-lying (∼100 Mm above the surface), high-temperature 'fire ball' sitting in the corona for more than two hours. The time evolution of the thermal structure of the flux rope was revealed through the differential emission measure analysis technique, which produced temperature maps using observations of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory. The average temperature of the flux rope steadily increased from ∼5 MK to ∼10 MK during the first nine minutes of the evolution, which was much longer than the rise time (about three minutes) of the associated soft X-ray flare. We suggest that the flux rope is heated by the energy release of the continuing magnetic reconnection, different from the heating of the low-lying flare loops, which is mainly produced by the chromospheric plasma evaporation. The loop arcade overlying the flux rope was pushed up by ∼10 Mm during the attempted eruption. The pattern of the velocity variation of the loop arcade strongly suggests that the failure of the eruption was caused by the strapping effect of the overlying loop arcade.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Numerical simulations of active region scale flux emergence: From spot formation to decay

We present numerical simulations of active region scale flux emergence covering a time span of up to 6 days. Flux emergence is driven by a bottom boundary condition that advects a semi-torus of magnetic field with 1.7 × 10{sup 22} Mx flux into the computational domain. The simulations show that, even in the absence of twist, the magnetic flux is able the rise through the upper 15.5 Mm of the convection zone and emerge into the photosphere to form spots. We find that spot formation is sensitive to the persistence of upflows at the bottom boundary footpoints, i.e., a continuing upflow would prevent spot formation. In addition, the presence of a torus-aligned flow (such flow into the retrograde direction is expected from angular momentum conservation during the rise of flux ropes through the convection zone) leads to a significant asymmetry between the pair of spots, with the spot corresponding to the leading spot on the Sun being more axisymmetric and coherent, but also forming with a delay relative to the following spot. The spot formation phase transitions directly into a decay phase. Subsurface flows fragment the magnetic field and lead to intrusions of almost field free plasma underneath the photosphere. When such intrusions reach photospheric layers, the spot fragments. The timescale for spot decay is comparable to the longest convective timescales present in the simulation domain. We find that the dispersal of flux from a simulated spot in the first two days of the decay phase is consistent with self-similar decay by turbulent diffusion.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

ON POLAR MAGNETIC FIELD REVERSAL AND SURFACE FLUX TRANSPORT DURING SOLAR CYCLE 24

As each solar cycle progresses, remnant magnetic flux from active regions (ARs) migrates poleward to cancel the old-cycle polar field. We describe this polarity reversal process during Cycle 24 using four years (2010.33-2014.33) of line-of-sight magnetic field measurements from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. The total flux associated with ARs reached maximum in the north in 2011, more than two years earlier than the south; the maximum is significantly weaker than Cycle 23. The process of polar field reversal is relatively slow, north-south asymmetric, and episodic. We estimate that the global axial dipole changed sign in 2013 October; the northern and southern polar fields (mean above 60° latitude) reversed in 2012 November and 2014 March, respectively, about 16 months apart. Notably, the poleward surges of flux in each hemisphere alternated in polarity, giving rise to multiple reversals in the north. We show that the surges of the trailing sunspot polarity tend to correspond to normal mean AR tilt, higher total AR flux, or slower mid-latitude near-surface meridional flow, while exceptions occur during low magnetic activity. In particular, the AR flux and the mid-latitude poleward flow speed exhibit a clear anti-correlation. We discuss how these features can be explained in a surface flux transport process that includes a field-dependent converging flow toward the ARs, a characteristic that may contribute to solar cycle variability.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

GENERATION OF MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC WAVES IN LOW SOLAR ATMOSPHERIC FLUX TUBES BY PHOTOSPHERIC MOTIONS

Recent ground- and space-based observations reveal the presence of small-scale motions between convection cells in the solar photosphere. In these regions, small-scale magnetic flux tubes are generated via the interaction of granulation motion and the background magnetic field. This paper studies the effects of these motions on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave excitation from broadband photospheric drivers. Numerical experiments of linear MHD wave propagation in a magnetic flux tube embedded in a realistic gravitationally stratified solar atmosphere between the photosphere and the low choromosphere (above β = 1) are performed. Horizontal and vertical velocity field drivers mimic granular buffeting and solar global oscillations. A uniform torsional driver as well as Archimedean and logarithmic spiral drivers mimic observed torsional motions in the solar photosphere. The results are analyzed using a novel method for extracting the parallel, perpendicular, and azimuthal components of the perturbations, which caters to both the linear and non-linear cases. Employing this method yields the identification of the wave modes excited in the numerical simulations and enables a comparison of excited modes via velocity perturbations and wave energy flux. The wave energy flux distribution is calculated to enable the quantification of the relative strengths of excited modes. The torsional drivers primarily excite Alfvén modes (≈60% of the total flux) with small contributions from the slow kink mode, and, for the logarithmic spiral driver, small amounts of slow sausage mode. The horizontal and vertical drivers primarily excite slow kink or fast sausage modes, respectively, with small variations dependent upon flux surface radius.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

HOW COMMON ARE HOT MAGNETIC FLUX ROPES IN THE LOW SOLAR CORONA? A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EUV OBSERVATIONS

We use data at 131, 171, and 304 Å from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory to search for hot flux ropes in 141 M-class and X-class solar flares that occurred at solar longitudes equal to or larger than 50°. Half of the flares were associated with coronal mass ejections. The goal of our survey is to assess the frequency of hot flux ropes in large flares irrespective of their formation time relative to the onset of eruptions. The flux ropes were identified in 131 Å images using morphological criteria and their high temperatures were confirmed by their absence in the cooler 171 and 304 Å passbands. We found hot flux ropes in 45 of our events (32% of the flares); 11 of them were associated with confined flares while the remaining 34 were associated with eruptive flares. Therefore almost half (49%) of the eruptive events involved a hot flux rope configuration. The use of supplementary Hinode X-Ray Telescope data indicates that these percentages should be considered as lower limits of the actual rates of occurrence of hot flux ropes in large flares.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Broadening of divertor heat flux profile with increasing number of ELM filaments in NSTX

Edge localized modes (ELMs) represent a challenge to future fusion devices, owing to cyclical high peak heat fluxes on divertor plasma facing surfaces. One ameliorating factor has been that the heat flux characteristic profile width has been observed to broaden with the size of the ELM, as compared with the inter-ELM heat flux profile. In contrast, the heat flux profile has been observed to narrow during ELMs under certain conditions in NSTX. In this paper, we show that the ELM heat flux profile width increases with the number of filamentary striations observed, i.e. profile narrowing is observed with zero or very few striations. Because NSTX often lies on the long wavelength current-driven mode side of ideal MHD instabilities, few filamentary structures can be expected under many conditions. Additionally, ITER is projected to lie on the current driven low-n stability boundary, and therefore detailed projections of the unstable modes expected in ITER and the heat flux driven in ensuing filamentary structures is needed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

AN ACCURATE FLUX DENSITY SCALE FROM 1 TO 50 GHz

We develop an absolute flux density scale for centimeter-wavelength astronomy by combining accurate flux density ratios determined by the Very Large Array between the planet Mars and a set of potential calibrators with the Rudy thermophysical emission model of Mars, adjusted to the absolute scale established by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. The radio sources 3C123, 3C196, 3C286, and 3C295 are found to be varying at a level of less than {approx}5% per century at all frequencies between 1 and 50 GHz, and hence are suitable as flux density standards. We present polynomial expressions for their spectral flux densities, valid from 1 to 50 GHz, with absolute accuracy estimated at 1%-3% depending on frequency. Of the four sources, 3C286 is the most compact and has the flattest spectral index, making it the most suitable object on which to establish the spectral flux density scale. The sources 3C48, 3C138, 3C147, NGC 7027, NGC 6542, and MWC 349 show significant variability on various timescales. Polynomial coefficients for the spectral flux density are developed for 3C48, 3C138, and 3C147 for each of the 17 observation dates, spanning 1983-2012. The planets Venus, Uranus, and Neptune are included in our observations, and we derive their brightness temperatures over the same frequency range.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Evaluation of predictive correlation between flux expulsion and grain growth for superconducting radio frequency cavities

Abstract A series of experiments were carried out in an effort to develop a simple method for predicting the magnetic flux expulsion behavior of high purity niobium used to fabricate superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities. Using conventional metallographic characterizations in conjunction with high spatial resolution electron backscattered diffraction-orientation imaging microscopy, we find that the flux expulsion behavior of 1.3 GHz single cell SRF Nb cavities is significantly associated with the grain growth of the Nb material during heat treatment. Most of the Nb grains rapidly grew during 900 °C heat treatment, and were likely full-recrystallized with 1000 °C HT. When compared to the magnetic flux expulsion ratio ( B sc / B nc ) at Δ T = 5 K, the flux expulsion efficiency of the cavities increases with the increase of grain size. Most interestingly, 900 °C HT shows a roughly linear trend that suggests that this criterion could be used to predict the appropriate heat treatment temperature for sufficient flux expulsion behavior in SRF-grade Nb. This result can be used to see if flux expulsion can be predicted by examining the materials coming from Nb vendors, prior to cavity fabrication.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Surface heat flux feedback controlled impurity seeding experiments with Alcator C-Mod's high-Z vertical target plate divertor: performance, limitations and implications for fusion power reactors

The Alcator C-Mod team has recently developed a feedback system to measure and control surface heat flux in real-time. The system uses real-time measurements of surface heat flux from surface thermocouples and a pulse-width modulated piezo valve to inject low-Z impurities (typically N 2 ) into the private flux region. It has been used in C-Mod to mitigate peak surface heat fluxes >40 MW m -2 down to <10 MW m -2 while maintaining excellent core confinement, H 98 > 1. While the system works quite well under relatively steady conditions, use of it during transients has revealed important limitations on feedback control of impurity seeding in conventional vertical target plate divertors. In some cases, the system is unable to avoid plasma reattachment to the divertor plate or the formation of a confinement-damaging x-point MARFE. This is due to the small operational window for mitigated heat flux in the parameters of incident plasma heat flux, plasma density, and impurity density as well as the relatively slow response of the impurity gas injection system compared to plasma transients. Given the severe consequences for failure of such a system to operate reliably in a reactor, there is substantial risk that the conventional vertical target plate divertor will not provide an adequately controllable system in reactor-class devices. Finally, these considerations motivate the need to develop passively stable, highly compliant divertor configurations and experimental facilities that can test such possible solutions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗