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At least 937 records · Page 52

Parallelization of implicit finite difference schemes in computational fluid dynamics

Implicit finite difference schemes are often the preferred numerical schemes in computational fluid dynamics, requiring less stringent stability bounds than the explicit schemes. Each iteration in an implicit scheme involves global data dependencies in the form of second and higher order recurrences. Efficient parallel implementations of such iterative methods are considerably more difficult and non-intuitive. The parallelization of the implicit schemes that are used for solving the Euler and the thin layer Navier-Stokes equations and that require inversions of large linear systems in the form of block tri-diagonal and/or block penta-diagonal matrices is discussed. Three-dimensional cases are emphasized and schemes that minimize the total execution time are presented. Partitioning and scheduling schemes for alleviating the effects of the global data dependencies are described. An analysis of the communication and the computation aspects of these methods is presented. The effect of the boundary conditions on the parallel schemes is also discussed.

Decker, Naomi H.↗

Design of high lift airfoils with a Stratford distribution by the Eppler method

Airfoils having a Stratford pressure distribution, which has zero skin friction in the pressure recovery area, were investigated in an effort to develop high lift airfoils. The Eppler program, an inverse conformal mapping technique where the x and y coordinates of the airfoil are developed from a given velocity distribution, was used.

Thomson, W. G.↗

Method for generation of tunable far infrared radiation from two-dimensional plasmons

Tunable far infrared radiation is produced from two-dimensional plasmons in a heterostructure, which provides large inversion-layer electron densities at the heterointerface, without the need for a metallic grating to couple out the radiation. Instead, a light interference pattern is produced on the planar surface of the heterostructure using two coherent laser beams of a wavelength selected to be strongly absorbed by the heterostructure in order to penetrate through the inversion layer. The wavelength of the far infrared radiation coupled out can then be readily tuned by varying the angle between the coherent beams, or varying the wavelength of the two interfering coherent beams, thus varying the periodicity of the photoconductivity grating to vary the wavelength of the far infrared radiation being coupled out.

Katz, Joseph↗

An Efficient and Accurate Algorithm for Computing Grid-Averaged Solar Fluxes for Horizontally Inhomogeneous Clouds

A computationally efficient method is presented to account for the horizontal cloud inhomogeneity by using a radiatively equivalent plane parallel homogeneous (PPH) cloud. The algorithm can accurately match the calculations of the reference (rPPH) independent column approximation (ICA) results, but use only the same computational time required for a single plane parallel computation. The effective optical depth of this synthetic sPPH cloud is derived by exactly matching the direct transmission to that of the inhomogeneous ICA cloud. The ffective9 scattering asymmetry factor is found from a pre-calculated albedo inverse look-up-table that is allowed to vary over the range from -1.0 to 1.0. In the special cases of conservative scattering and total absorption, the synthetic method is exactly equivalent to the ICA, with only a small bias (about 0.2% in flux) relative to ICA due to imperfect interpolation in using the look-up tables. In principle, the ICA albedo can be approximated accurately regardless of cloud inhomogeneity. For a more complete comparison, the broadband shortwave albedo and transmission calculated from the synthetic sPPH cloud and averaged over all incident directions, have the RMS biases of 0.26% and 0.76%, respectively, for inhomogeneous clouds over a wide variation of particle size. The advantages of the synthetic PPH method are that (1) it is not required that all the cloud subcolumns have uniform microphysical characteristic, (2) it is applicable to any 1D radiative transfer scheme, and (3) it can handle arbitrary cloud optical depth distributions and an arbitrary number of cloud subcolumns with uniform computational efficiency.

cloud inhomogeneity↗

Liquid jet impingement normal to a disk in zero gravity

The free surface shapes of circular liquid jets impinging normal to sharp-edged disks in zero gravity are determined. Zero gravity drop tower experiments yielded three distinct flow patterns that were classified in terms of the relative effects of surface tension and inertial forces. An order of magnitude analysis was conducted that indicated regions where viscous forces were not significant in the computation of free surface shapes. The free surface analysis was simplified by transforming the governing potential flow equations and boundary conditions into the inverse plane, where the stream function and velocity potential became the coordinates. The resulting nonlinear equations were solved by standard finite difference methods, and comparisons were made with the experimental data for the inertia dominated regime.

Labus, T. L.↗

Experimental study of trajectory planning and control of a high precision robot manipulator

The kinematic and trajectory planning is presented for a 6 DOF end-effector whose design was based on the Stewart Platform mechanism. The end-effector was used as a testbed for studying robotic assembly of NASA hardware with passive compliance. Vector analysis was employed to derive a closed-form solution for the end-effector inverse kinematic transformation. A computationally efficient numerical solution was obtained for the end-effector forward kinematic transformation using Newton-Raphson method. Three trajectory planning schemes, two for fine motion and one for gross motion, were developed for the end-effector. Experiments conducted to evaluate the performance of the trajectory planning schemes showed excellent tracking quality with minimal errors. Current activities focus on implementing the developed trajectory planning schemes on mating and demating space-rated connectors and using the compliant platform to acquire forces/torques applied on the end-effector during the assembly task.

Nguyen, Charles C.↗

Geometry control in adaptive truss structures

Forward and inverse kinematics equations are derived for the large geometry maneuver of adaptive trusses. A new algorithm based on higher-order multistep methods is proposed as a means of computing the length control for a described large geometry maneuver. The algorithm is shown to improve in computational speed at least five times over the algorithm presented in an earlier paper. The acceleration in control computation and other features such as varying velocity profiles and curved trajectories are illustrated by simulation results.

Ramesh, A. V.↗

Tomographic Imaging of the Suns Interior

A new method is presented of determining the three-dimensional sound-speed structure and flow velocities in the solar convection zone by inversion of the acoustic travel-time data recently obtained by Duvall and coworkers. The initial inversion results reveal large-scale subsurface structures and flows related to the active regions, and are important for understanding the physics of solar activity and large-scale convection. The results provide evidence of a zonal structure below the surface in the low-latitude area of the magnetic activity. Strong converging downflows, up to 1.2 km/s, and a substantial excess of the sound speed are found beneath growing active regions. In a decaying active region, there is evidence for the lower than average sound speed and for upwelling of plasma.

Kosovichev, A. G.↗

Combined Numerical/Analytical Perturbation Solutions of the Navier-Stokes Equations for Aerodynamic Ejector/Mixer Nozzle Flows

In spite of rapid advances in both scalar and parallel computational tools, the large number of variables involved in both design and inverse problems make the use of sophisticated fluid flow models impractical, With this restriction, it is concluded that an important family of methods for mathematical/computational development are reduced or approximate fluid flow models. In this study a combined perturbation/numerical modeling methodology is developed which provides a rigorously derived family of solutions. The mathematical model is computationally more efficient than classical boundary layer but provides important two-dimensional information not available using quasi-1-d approaches. An additional strength of the current methodology is its ability to locally predict static pressure fields in a manner analogous to more sophisticated parabolized Navier Stokes (PNS) formulations. To resolve singular behavior, the model utilizes classical analytical solution techniques. Hence, analytical methods have been combined with efficient numerical methods to yield an efficient hybrid fluid flow model. In particular, the main objective of this research has been to develop a system of analytical and numerical ejector/mixer nozzle models, which require minimal empirical input. A computer code, DREA Differential Reduced Ejector/mixer Analysis has been developed with the ability to run sufficiently fast so that it may be used either as a subroutine or called by an design optimization routine. Models are of direct use to the High Speed Civil Transport Program (a joint government/industry project seeking to develop an economically.viable U.S. commercial supersonic transport vehicle) and are currently being adopted by both NASA and industry. Experimental validation of these models is provided by comparison to results obtained from open literature and Limited Exclusive Right Distribution (LERD) sources, as well as dedicated experiments performed at Texas A&M. These experiments have been performed using a hydraulic/gas flow analog. Results of comparisons of DREA computations with experimental data, which include entrainment, thrust, and local profile information, are overall good. Computational time studies indicate that DREA provides considerably more information at a lower computational cost than contemporary ejector nozzle design models. Finally. physical limitations of the method, deviations from experimental data, potential improvements and alternative formulations are described. This report represents closure to the NASA Graduate Researchers Program. Versions of the DREA code and a user's guide may be obtained from the NASA Lewis Research Center.

DeChant, Lawrence Justin↗

On the Accuracy of Double Scattering Approximation for Atmospheric Polarization Computations

Interpretation of multi-angle spectro-polarimetric data in remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols require fast and accurate methods of solving the vector radiative transfer equation (VRTE). The single and double scattering approximations could provide an analytical framework for the inversion algorithms and are relatively fast, however accuracy assessments of these approximations for the aerosol atmospheres in the atmospheric window channels have been missing. This paper provides such analysis for a vertically homogeneous aerosol atmosphere with weak and strong asymmetry of scattering. In both cases, the double scattering approximation gives a high accuracy result (relative error approximately 0.2%) only for the low optical path - 10(sup -2) As the error rapidly grows with optical thickness, a full VRTE solution is required for the practical remote sensing analysis. It is shown that the scattering anisotropy is not important at low optical thicknesses neither for reflected nor for transmitted polarization components of radiation.

Korkin, Sergey V.↗

Arctic PBL Cloud Height and Motion Retrievals from MISR and MINX

How Arctic clouds respond and feedback to sea ice loss is key to understanding of the rapid climate change seen in the polar region. As more open water becomes available in the Arctic Ocean, cold air outbreaks (aka. off-ice flow from polar lows) produce a vast sheet of roll clouds in the planetary boundary layer (PBl). The cold air temperature and wind velocity are the critical parameters to determine and understand the PBl structure formed under these roll clouds. It has been challenging for nadir visible/IR sensors to detect Arctic clouds due to lack of contrast between clouds and snowy/icy surfaces. In addition) PBl temperature inversion creates a further problem for IR sensors to relate cloud top temperature to cloud top height. Here we explore a new method with the Multiangle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) instrument to measure cloud height and motion over the Arctic Ocean. Employing a stereoscopic-technique, MISR is able to measure cloud top height accurately and distinguish between clouds and snowy/icy surfaces with the measured height. We will use the MISR INteractive eXplorer (MINX) to quantify roll cloud dynamics during cold-air outbreak events and characterize PBl structures over water and over sea ice.

Wu, Dong L.↗

Robust Conceptual Design of Transonic Airfoils

This paper describes an integrated, multi-fidelity analysis and heuristic design approach that can be used to derive initial airfoil designs for transonic flight. If successful, the final result is a geometry that can be expected to produce reasonable aerodynamic performance when used with higher order analysis methods. A key aspect of the methodology is the use of a “sonic-plateau” pressure distribution as the target distribution for inverse design. The sonic- plateau distribution is easily parameterized and has the advantage of automatically resulting in a smooth airfoil shape without any discontinuities built into the surface due to the presence of a shock in the target pressure distribution. Inverse design is performed on each airfoil using a parametrically defined pressure distribution at a reduced lift coefficient and Mach number from the design condition. The methodology is demonstrated by designing an airfoil at 38% of the wing semispan for a 737-200-like aircraft. The demonstration problem shows that the methodology is able to achieve rapid and robust convergence to the solution. The calculated designed airfoil was found to be sufficiently higher than Mach number, and the maximum thickness was close to the targeted value.

Olson, Erik D.↗

TPSAS-NF1676L-21838-DND

Correlation relationships between particle microphysical parameters and optical data are investigated. The results show that surface-area concentrations and extinction coefficients are linearly correlated with a correlation coefficient above 0.99 for arbitrary particle size distribution. The correlation relationships that we obtained can be used as constraints in our inversion of optical lidar data. Simulation studies demonstrate a significant stabilization of aerosol microphysical data products if we apply the gradient correlation method (GCM) in our traditional regularization technique.

Alexei Kolgotin↗

Investigation of viscous/inviscid interaction in transonic flow over airfoils with suction

The viscous/inviscid interaction over transonic airfoils with and without suction is studied. The streamline angle at the edge of the boundary layer is used to couple the viscous and inviscid flows. The potential flow equations are solved for the inviscid flow field. In the shock region, the Euler equations are solved using the method of integral relations. For this, the potential flow solution is used as the initial and boundary conditions. An integral method is used to solve the laminar boundary-layer equations. Since both methods are integral methods, a continuous interaction is allowed between the outer inviscid flow region and the inner viscous flow region. To avoid the Goldstein singularity near the separation point the laminar boundary-layer equations are derived in an inverse form to obtain solution for the flows with small separations. The displacement thickness distribution is specified instead of the usual pressure distribution to solve the boundry-layer equations. The Euler equations are solved for the inviscid flow using the finite volume technique and the coupling is achieved by a surface transpiration model. A method is developed to apply a minimum amount of suction that is required to have an attached flow on the airfoil. The turbulent boundary layer equations are derived using the bi-logarithmic wall law for mass transfer. The results are found to be in good agreement with available experimental data and with the results of other computational methods.

Vemuru, C. S.↗

Analysis of Modified SMI Method for Adaptive Array Weight Control

An adaptive array is used to receive a desired signal in the presence of weak interference signals which need to be suppressed. A modified sample matrix inversion (SMI) algorithm controls the array weights. The modification leads to increased interference suppression by subtracting a fraction of the noise power from the diagonal elements of the covariance matrix. The modified algorithm maximizes an intuitive power ratio criterion. The expected values and variances of the array weights, output powers, and power ratios as functions of the fraction and the number of snapshots are found and compared to computer simulation and real experimental array performance. Reduced-rank covariance approximations and errors in the estimated covariance are also described.

Dilsavor, Ronald Louis↗

Composite Bond Line Measurements Based on a Bayesian Analysis of Flash Thermography Data

For bonded composite materials, an accurate characterization of the adhesive bond line is needed to predict failure modes and fracture toughness. In this paper, bond line thickness was estimated from data obtained using through transmission flash thermography. The forward model that predicts back surface temperature is based on a three layer heat diffusion equation with varying diffusivity and flux boundary conditions. The corresponding inverse problem of estimating bond line thickness from measurement data was solved using a Bayesian approach that assumed Gaussian priors for the bond line thickness and thermal diffusivity of the adherends. Finally, the outputs of the thermography based method were compared to measurements that were collected using a micrometer and ultrasound testing.

Flash thermography↗

Analysis of the photo voltage decay /PVD/ method for measuring minority carrier lifetimes in P-N junction solar cells

The photo voltage decay (PVD) method for the measurement of minority carrier lifetimes in P-N junction solar cells with cell thickness comparable to or even less than the minority carrier diffusion length is examined. The method involves the generation of free carriers in the quasi-neutral bulk material by flashes of light and the monitoring of the subsequent decay of the induced open-circuit voltages as the carriers recombine, which is dependent on minority carrier recombination lifetime. It is shown that the voltage versus time curve for an ordinary solar cell (N(+)-P junction) is proportional to the inverse minority carrier lifetime plus a factor expressing the ratio of diffusion length to cell thickness. In the case of an ideal back-surface-field cell (N(+)-P-P(+) junction) however, the slope is directly proportional to the inverse minority carrier lifetime. It is noted that since most BSF cells are not ideal, possessing a sizable back surface recombination velocity, the PVD measurements must be treated with caution and supplemented with other nonstationary methods.

Von Roos, O.↗

Inferred Sea Level Prediction in the NASA GMAO Seasonal Forecasting System

Reliable predictions of sea level anomalies on seasonal timescales with lead times of 1 to 9 months may have relevance to stakeholders – for example, in the advance deployment of resources for coastal flood mitigation. Routine prediction and analysis may also highlight physical processes associated with sea level change and modeling capabilities on seasonal and other timescales. These forecasts may represent interannual changes in the seasonal slope of the ocean surface, teleconnection effects such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation phenomenon, and variations in seasonal hydrology including precipitation and coastal runoff. Coupled atmosphere/ocean models are routinely used in the seasonal prediction of temperature anomalies, precipitation anomalies, sea ice cover, and climate indices such as the Niño3.4 predictions under the North American Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME) protocol. Within the limits of their configuration, these complex Earth-system models have a potential for depicting regional changes in oceanic column properties, including the sea surface height. Seasonal prediction models generally have no representation of long-term mass contributions from melting land ice, or changes in vertical land motion; their output may be more specifically characterized as predictions of the ocean dynamic sea level. In practice however, the sea surface height prognostic variable is substantially compromised by the forecast model response to initial conditions. Imbalances between the initial, observed hydrologic cycle and the forecast model state produce abrupt adjustments in the model sea surface height. As a result, most seasonal prediction systems employ a constraint on the globally-averaged sea surface height that is applied at each time step. This essentially renders the prognostic sea surface height variable as unserviceable. Several approaches have previously been used to retrieve sea level information from seasonal forecasts beyond the use of the sea surface height variable. Here, we extend a method of relating other prognostic values, including ocean circulation and climate indices, to observed sea level variations. We use the merged altimetry record of the NASA MEaSUREs Gridded Sea Surface Height Anomalies data set and monthly revised local reference gauge observations from the National Oceanography Centre Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL) to evaluate derived prognostic variables from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office subseasonal-to-seasonal system version 2.1 (GMAO S2S v2.1). We focus on results for the midlatitudes with particular emphasis on US gauge locations. As shown in previous studies, prognostic ENSO-related indices in boreal winter are well correlated with gauge observations for the US west coast, but also for other locations in the southeastern US. Other forecast climate indices such as the North Atlantic Oscillation have relations to sea level that are limited both seasonally and spatially. As expected, surface atmospheric pressure (e.g., inverse barometer effect) is found to be particularly well correlated with observed sea level. We provide a characterization of forecast skill for seasonal sea level with this method.

Richard I Cullather↗