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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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CVB: the Constrained Vapor Bubble Capillary Experiment on the International Space Station MARANGONI FLOW REGION
The Constrained Vapor Bubble (CVB) is a wickless, grooved heat pipe and we report on a full- scale fluids experiment flown on the International Space Station (ISS). The CVB system consists of a relatively simple setup a quartz cuvette with sharp corners partially filled with either pentane or an ideal mixture of pentane and isohexane as the working fluids. Along with temperature and pressure measurements, the two-dimensional thickness profile of the menisci formed at the corners of the quartz cuvette was determined using the Light Microscopy Module (LMM). Even with the large, millimeter dimensions of the CVB, interfacial forces dominate in these exceedingly small Bond Number systems. The experiments were carried out at various power inputs. Although conceptually simple, the transport processes were found to be very complex with many different regions. At the heated end of the CVB, due to a high temperature gradient, we observed Marangoni flow at some power inputs. This region from the heated end to the central drop region is defined as a Marangoni dominated region. We present a simple analysis based on interfacial phenomena using only measurements from the ISS experiments that lead to a predictive equation for the thickness of the film near the heated end of the CVB. The average pressure gradient for flow in the film is assumed due to the measured capillary pressure at the two ends of the liquid film and that the pressure stress gradient due to cohesion self adjusts to a constant value over a distance L. The boundary conditions are the no slip condition at the wall interface and an interfacial shear stress at the liquid- vapor interface due to the Marangoni stress, which is due to the high temperature gradient. Although the heated end is extremely complex, since it includes three- dimensional variations in radiation, conduction, evaporation, condensation, fluid flow and interfacial forces, we find that using the above simplifying assumptions, a simple successful model can be developed.
Unsupervised discovery of nonlinear plasma physics using differentiable kinetic simulations
Plasma supports collective modes and particle–wave interactions that lead to complex behaviour in, for example, inertial fusion energy applications. While plasma can sometimes be modelled as a charged fluid, a kinetic description is often crucial for studying nonlinear effects in the higher-dimensional momentum–position phase space that describes the full complexity of the plasma dynamics. We create a differentiable solver for the three-dimensional partial-differential equation describing the plasma kinetics and introduce a domain-specific objective function. Using this framework, we perform gradient-based optimization of neural networks that provide forcing function parameters to the differentiable solver given a set of initial conditions. We apply this to an inertial-fusion-relevant configuration and find that the optimization process exploits a novel physical effect.
CFD Modeling of Cryogenic Chilldown in a Complex Channel under Normal and Low Gravity Conditions
Future NASA architectures have baselined cryogenic propulsion systems as well as cryogenic fluid management to support lunar missions and ultimately to support future missions to Mars. These missions will require chilling hardware down prior to engine restart as well as chilling lines and tanks prior to transferring and refueling these propulsion elements in orbit. In lieu of expensive tests conducted on-orbit, accurate predictive computational models of these chilldown processes can be used to reduce system and propellant mass as well as mission risk. To gain confidence in these computational models, appropriate anchoring and validation to experimental data in a relevant environment needs to be performed. Recent ground and sub-orbital flight experiments conducted by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) investigated chilldown of a complex channel resembling a turbopump bearing cavity at low flow rates. This work presents Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model development of the chilldown experiment employing two-phase flow boiling models available in commercial CFD software STAR-CCM+ using Volume of Fluid (VOF) and the traditional Euler-Euler multiphase flow solvers. Comparisons of the numerical and experimental results under normal and low-gravity conditions are presented. An assessment of solid wall temperatures and phase distribution yielded important insights into multiphase solver choice, dependence on gravity environment, and challenges associated with cryogenic flow boiling prediction and validation.
An adaptive extended finite element method for the analysis of agglomeration of colloidal particles in a flowing fluid
Direct numerical simulations of the flow-nanoparticle interaction in a colloidal suspension are presented using an extended finite element method (XFEM) in which the dynamics of the nanoparticles is solved in a fully-coupled manner with the flow. The method is capable of accurately describing solid-fluid interfaces without the need of boundary-fitted meshes to investigate the dynamics of particles in complex flows. In order to accurately compute the high interparticle shear stresses and pressures while minimizing computing costs, an adaptive meshing technique is incorporated with the fluid-structure interaction algorithm. The particle-particle interaction at the microscopic level is modeled using the Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential and the corresponding potential parameters are determined by a scaling procedure. The study is relevant to the preparation of inks used in the fabrication of catalyst layers for fuel cells. In this paper, we are particularly interested in investigating agglomeration of the nanoparticles under external shear flow in a sliding bi-periodic Lees-Edwards frame. The results indicate that the external shear has a crucial impact on the structure formation of colloidal particles in a suspension.
Applying and validating the RANS-3D flow-solver for evaluating a subsonic serpentine diffuser geometry
Subsonic inlet ducts for advanced, high-performance aircraft are evolving towards complex three-dimensional shapes for reasons of overall integration and weight. These factors lead to diffuser geometries that may sacrifice inlet performance, unless careful attention to design details and boundary layer management techniques are employed. The ability of viscous computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis of such geometries to aid the aircraft configurator in this complex design problem is herein examined. The RANS-3D Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solver is applied to model the complex flowfield occurring in a representative diffuser geometry and the solutions are compared to experimental results from a static test of the inlet duct. The computational results are shown to compare very favorably with experimental results over a range of mass flow rates, including those involving large amounts of separation in the diffuser. In addition, a novel grid topology is presented, and two turbulence models are evaluated in this study as part of the RANS-3D code.
CuCl Complexation in the Vapor Phase: Insights from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations
We investigated the hydration of the CuCl 0 complex in HCl-bearing water vapor at 350°C and a vapor-like fluid density between 0.02 and 0.09 g/cm 3 using ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulations reveal that one water molecule is strongly bonded to Cu(I) (first coordination shell), forming a linear [H 2 O-Cu-Cl] 0 moiety. The second hydration shell is highly dynamic in nature, and individual configurations have short life-spans in such low-density vapors, resulting in large fluctuations in instantaneous hydration numbers over a timescale of picoseconds. The average hydration number in the second shell ( m ) increased from ~0.5 to ~3.5 and the calculated number of hydrogen bonds per water molecule increased from 0.09 to 0.25 when fluid density (which is correlated to water activity) increased from 0.02 to 0.09 g/cm 3 ( f H 2 O 1.72 to 2.05). These changes of hydration number are qualitatively consistent with previous solubility studies under similar conditions, although the absolute hydration numbers from MD were much lower than the values inferred by correlating experimental Cu fugacity with water fugacity. This could be due to the uncertainties in the MD simulations and uncertainty in the estimation of the fugacity coefficients for these highly nonideal “vapors” in the experiments. Finally, our study provides the first theoretical confirmation that beyond-first-shell hydrated metal complexes play an important role in metal transport in low-density hydrothermal fluids, even if it is highly disordered and dynamic in nature.
Near-Infrared Photoluminescence from Spin-Flip Excited States of π-Conjugated Tris(quinolinolate) Chromium(III) Complexes
Tuning metal–ligand covalency offers promising design strategies to tailor the photoluminescence (PL) emission energies of metal-centered, spin-flip excited states. Herein, we report a series of tris(quinolinolate) chromium(III) complexes that exhibit record-low near-infrared II emission energies in a fluid solution at room temperature, afforded by their strong metal–ligand covalencies. Appending π-conjugated arylethynyl substituents to quinolinolate ligands resulted in minimal changes to metal–ligand bond lengths, facilitating nearly indiscriminate metal–ligand covalencies for each tris(quinolinolate) chromium(III) complex. As a result, near-infrared II emission was observed across the series, while simultaneously affording careful tuning of the 4 LMCT/ 4 ( 1 ILCT) electronic transition energies across the visible region. Here, detailed analyses of ground-state electronic structures and excited-state electronic transitions revealed that PL arises from a ligand-field, 2 E excited state, admixed with charge-transfer character. This assignment was supported by solvent-dependent near-infrared emission energies and long excited-state lifetimes, consistent with spin-forbidden relaxation (ranging from 115 ± 5 to 123 ± 1 ns across the series). Utilizing spectroscopic data, ligand-field parameters were quantified, further rationalizing the role of strong metal–ligand covalency in enabling near-infrared II emission. Supported by these results, this study presents a new class of ligands that enable room-temperature near-infrared II emission in chromium(III)-based spin-flip excited states.
Relative permeability as a stationary process: Energy fluctuations in immiscible displacement
Relative permeability is commonly used to model immiscible fluid flow through porous materials. In this work, we derive the relative permeability relationship from conservation of energy, assuming that the system to be non-ergodic at large length scales and relying on averaging in both space and time to homogenize the behavior. Explicit criteria are obtained to define stationary conditions: (1) there can be no net change for extensive measures of the system state over the time averaging interval; (2) the net energy inputs into the system are zero, meaning that the net rate of work done on the system must balance with the heat removed; and (3) there is no net work performed due to the contribution of internal energy fluctuations. Results are then evaluated based on direct numerical simulation. Dynamic connectivity is observed during steady-state flow, which is quantitatively assessed based the Euler characteristic. We show that even during steady-state flow at low capillary number ([Formula: see text]), typical flow processes will explore multiple connectivity states. The residence time for each connectivity state is captured based on the time-and-space average. The distribution for energy fluctuations is shown to be multi-modal and non-Gaussian when terms are considered independently. However, we demonstrate that their sum is zero. Given an appropriate choice of the thermodynamic driving force, we show that the conventional relative permeability relationship is sufficient to model the energy dissipation in systems with complex pore-scale dynamics that routinely alter the structure of fluid connected pathways.
Looking for O(N) Navier-Stokes solutions on non-structured meshes
Multigrid methods are good candidates for the resolution of the system arising in numerical fluid dynamics. However, the question is to know if those algorithms which are efficient for the Poisson equation on structured meshes will still apply well to the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations on unstructured meshes. The study of elliptic problems leads us to define the conditions where a full multigrid strategy has O(N) complexity. The aim of this paper is to build a comparison between the elliptic theory and practical CFD problems. First, as an introduction, we will recall some basic definitions and theorems applied to a model problem. The goal of this section is to point out the different properties that we need to produce an FMG algorithm with O(N) complexity. Then, we will show how we can apply this theory to the fluid dynamics equations such as Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. At last, we present some results which are 2nd-order accurate and some explanations about the behavior of the FMG process.
Looking for O(N) Navier-Stokes solutions on non-structured meshes
Multigrid methods are good candidates for the resolution of the system arising in Numerical Fluid Dynamics. However, the question is to know if those algorithms which are efficient for the Poissan equation on structured meshes will still apply well to the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations on unstructured meshes. The study of elliptic problems leads us to define the conditions where a Full Multigrid strategy has O(N) complexity. The aim of this paper is to build a comparison between the elliptic theory and practical CFD problems. First, as an introduction, we will recall some basic definitions and theorems applied to a model problem. The goal of this section is to point out the different properties that we need to produce an FMG algorithm with O(N) complexity. Then, we will show how we can apply this theory to the fluid dynamics equations such as Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. At last, we present some results which are 2nd-order accurate and some explanations about the behavior of the FMG process.
Novel Geochemistry Determined from High Pressure, High Temperature Simulation Experiments of Hydraulic Fracture Test Site 2
A standard method in unconventional oil and gas production is the process of hydraulic fracturing followed by a shut-in period, during which the fracture fluid remains pressurized in the reservoir for up to three weeks before production begins. Despite this widely used process, very little is known about what occurs in the reservoir during this shut-in process. In order to properly delineate potential reservoir reactions that may occur during shut-in that would lead to corrosion and scaling events, experiments were conducted in high pressure, high temperature reactors to simulate conditions of the Wolfcamp Formation in the Delaware Basin. Experimental design allowed the assessment of the effect of proppant, microbiology, and time on the mineralogy and fluid chemistry in the reservoir. Results suggest the biggest impact on fluid chemistry and shale mineralogy during shut-in is time. Analyses demonstrate dissolution of the shale material, with maximum dissolved ions occurring after 7 days of the shut-in period. After 21 days, results suggest precipitation occurs. The Delaware Basin is demonstrated to be high in sulfate content, which further increases in the fluid due to dissolution reactions during shut-in. The pressure vessel experiments suggest there was no significant contribution to reactions from microbiology during the shut-in period. Furthermore, early production samples demonstrate a significant selection of the microorganism Caminicella, a genus of which has previously been correlated to corrosion and sulfide production. Results suggest shut-in conditions may provide high sulfate concentrations that could later be utilized by a shifted microbial community to drive potential well infrastructure failure. This is the first study to incorporate microbiology, mineralogy, and fluid chemistry to investigate the fundamental geochemical reactions that occur during shut-in and early phase production of the Delaware Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/URTECONF/proceedings-pdf/21URTC/2-21URTC/D021S032R001/2477425/urtec-2021-5219-ms.pdf/1 by Carol Worster on 28 February 2022 Basin. Results from this study can complement observations from the Hydraulic Fracture Test Site 2 observations
Orion European Structural Test Article Propellant Tank Fill and Drain Carts
Environmental testing of the Orion European Structural Test Article (E-STA), which contains the Orion European Service Module (ESM), required that the onboard propellant tanks be filled and drained with fuel and oxidizer simulant fluids as well as pressurized and depressurized with an ullage gas. This conference paper will elaborate on how these objectives were fulfilled by presenting the development of derived requirements definition, initial fill and drain concepts, selection of simulant fluids, finalization of pump and pressurization design, selection of components, and selection of transfer hoses and interface connections as well as development and maintenance of budgets, schedules, reviews, construction, documentation, and test procedures. This paper also describes the implementation of checkout and commissioning activities leading to successful fluid cart pumping and pressurization operations for the test campaign. The development, construction, and operation of the fluid cart pumping and pressurization systems for the environmental testing of the Orion E-STA, took place at NASA's Plum Brook Station Space Environments Complex (SEC) during 2015 and 2016.
Emerging technologies and radical collaboration to advance predictive understanding of watershed hydrobiogeochemistry
Increasing population and resource-intensive lifestyles are driving enhanced demands for clean water, food, and energy. In parallel, land-use change, climate change, and perturbations—including drought, floods, fires, and early snowmelt—are significantly reshaping interactions within watersheds throughout the world. While watersheds are the Earth's key functional unit for assessing and managing water resources, hydrological processes in watersheds also mediate biogeochemical interactions that support terrestrial life on Earth (Kaushal, Gold, Bernal, & Tank, 2018; National Research Council, 2012). Although society is dependent upon clean water availability, tractable prediction of watershed hydrobiogeochemical behavior, including watershed response to perturbations, remains a challenge. Central to the challenge are complex, multiscale interactions between plants, microorganisms, organic matter, minerals, dissolved constituents, and migrating fluids, which occur within and across bedrock-to-canopy compartments and along extensive lateral gradients of a watershed. Several recent community reports have synthesized formidable challenges associated with watershed science and technology (AGU, 2018; Blöschl et al., 2019). Here, we discuss emerging technologies and collaboration modes that are critical for developing generalizable insights about and predictive understanding of complex watershed hydrobiogeochemical behavior, which are important for underpinning optimized natural resource management.
Fluid Phase Separation (FPS) experiment for flight on a space shuttle Get Away Special (GAS) canister
The separation of fluid phases in microgravity environments is of importance to environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) and materials processing in space. A successful fluid phase separation experiment will demonstrate a proof of concept for the separation technique and add to the knowledge base of material behavior. The phase separation experiment will contain a premixed fluid which will be exposed to a microgravity environment. After the phase separation of the compound has occurred, small samples of each of the species will be taken for analysis on the Earth. By correlating the time of separation and the temperature history of the fluid, it will be possible to characterize the process. The experiment has been integrated into space available on a manifested Get Away Special (GAS) experiment, CONCAP 2, part of the Consortium for Materials Complex Autonomous Payload (CAP) Program, scheduled for STS-42. The design and the production of a fluid phase separation experiment for rapid implementation at low cost is presented.
In-situ experiment reveals CO2 enriched fluid migration in faulted caprock
Abstract The sealing characteristics of the geological formation located above a CO 2 storage reservoir, the so-called caprock, are essential to ensure efficient geological carbon storage. If CO 2 were to leak through the caprock, temporal changes in fluid geochemistry can reveal fundamental information on migration mechanisms and induced fluid–rock interactions. Here, we present the results from a unique in-situ injection experiment, where CO 2 -enriched fluid was continuously injected in a faulted caprock analogue. Our results show that the CO 2 migration follows complex pathways within the fault structure. The joint analysis of noble gases, ion concentrations and carbon isotopes allow us to quantify mixing between injected CO 2 -enriched fluid and resident formation water and to describe the temporal evolution of water–rock interaction processes. The results presented here are a crucial complement to the geophysical monitoring at the fracture scale highlighting a unique migration of CO 2 in fault zones.
Thermodynamic model of a thermal storage air conditioning system with dynamic behavior
A thermodynamic model was developed to predict transient behavior of a thermal storage system, using phase change materials (PCMs), for a novel electric vehicle climate conditioning application. The main objectives of the paper are to consider the system's dynamic behavior, such as a dynamic air flow rate into the vehicle's cabin, and to characterize the transient heat transfer process between the thermal storage unit and the vehicle's cabin, while still maintaining accurate solution to the complex phase change heat transfer. The system studied consists of a heat transfer fluid circulating between either of the on-board hot and cold thermal storage units, which we refer to as thermal batteries, and a liquid-air heat exchanger that provides heat exchange with the incoming air to the vehicle cabin. Each thermal battery is a shell-and-tube configuration where a heat transfer fluid flows through parallel tubes, which are surrounded by PCM within a larger shell. The system model incorporates computationally inexpensive semianalytic solution to the conjugated laminar forced convection and phase change problem within the battery and accounts for airside heat exchange using the Number of Transfer Units (NTUs) method for the liquid-air heat exchanger. Using this approach, we are able to obtain an accurate solution to the complex heat transfer problem within the battery while also incorporating the impact of the airside heat transfer on the overall system performance. The implemented model was benchmarked against a numerical study for a melting process and against full system experimental data for solidification using paraffin wax as the PCM. Through modeling, we demonstrate the importance of capturing the airside heat exchange impact on system performance, and we investigate system response to dynamic operating conditions, e.g., air recirculation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Large-eddy simulation, fuel rod vibration and grid-to-rod fretting in pressurized water reactors
Grid-to-rod fretting (GTRF) in pressurized water reactors is a flow-induced vibration phenomenon that results in wear and fretting of the cladding material on fuel rods. GTRF is responsible for over 70% of the fuel failures in pressurized water reactors in the United States. Predicting the GTRF wear and concomitant interval between failures is important because of the large costs associated with reactor shutdown and replacement of fuel rod assemblies. The GTRF-induced wear process involves turbulent flow, mechanical vibration, tribology, and time-varying irradiated material properties in complex fuel assembly geometries. This paper presents a new approach for predicting GTRF induced fuel rod wear that uses high-resolution implicit large-eddy simulation to drive nonlinear transient dynamics computations. The GTRF fluid–structure problem is separated into the simulation of the turbulent flow field in the complex-geometry fuel-rod bundles using implicit large-eddy simulation, the calculation of statistics of the resulting fluctuating structural forces, and the nonlinear transient dynamics analysis of the fuel rod. Ultimately, the methods developed here, can be used, in conjunction with operational management, to improve reactor core designs in which fuel rod failures are minimized or potentially eliminated. Furthermore, robustness of the behavior of both the structural forces computed from the turbulent flow simulations and the results from the transient dynamics analyses highlight the progress made towards achieving a predictive simulation capability for the GTRF problem.