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At least 955 records · Page 53
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Formation of the domain structure in CLN under the pyroelectric field induced by pulse infrared laser heating

The evolution of the self-assembled quasi-regular micro- and nanodomain structures after pulse infrared laser irradiation in congruent lithium niobate crystal was studied by in situ optical observation. Several scenarios of domain kinetics represented covering of the irradiated zone by nets of the separated domain chains and rays have been revealed. The time dependence of the total domain length was analyzed in terms of modified Kolmogorov-Avrami theory. The domain structure evolution was attributed to the action of pyroelectric field appeared during cooling. The time dependence of the spatial distribution of the pyroelectric field during pulse laser heating and subsequent cooling was calculated by finite element method. The results of computer simulation allowed us to explain the experimental results and can be used for creation of tailored domain structures thus opening the new abilities of the submicron-scale domain engineering in ferroelectrics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Numerical Research on Magnetic Field, Temperature Field and Flow Field During Melting and Directionally Solidifying TiAl Alloys by Electromagnetic Cold Crucible

The electromagnetic cold crucible (EMCC) technique is an effective method to melt and directionally solidify reactive and high-temperature materials without contamination. The temperature field and fluid flow induced by the electromagnetic field are very important for melting and controlling the microstructure. In this article, a 3D EMCC model for calculating the magnetic field in the charges (TiAl alloys) using the T-Ω finite element method was established and verified. Magnetic fields in the charge under different electrical parameters, positions and dimensions of the charge were calculated and analyzed. The calculated results show that the magnetic field concentrates in the skin layer, and the magnetic flux density (B) increases with increasing of the frequency, charge diameter and current. The maximum B in the charge is affected by the position of the charge in EMCC (h{sub 1}) and the charge height (h{sub 2}), which emerges at the middle of coils (h{sub c}) when the relationship of h{sub c} < h{sub 1} + h{sub 2} < h{sub c} + δ is satisfied. Lower frequency and smaller charge diameter can improve the uniformity of the magnetic field in the charge. Consequently, the induced uniform electromagnetic stirring weakens the turbulence and improves temperature uniformity in the vicinity of the solid/liquid (S/L) interface, which is beneficial to forming a planar S/L interface during directional solidification. Based on the above conclusions, the TiAlNb alloy was successfully melted with lower power consumption and directionally solidified by the square EMCC.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Fully Computable A Posteriori Error Estimate for the Stokes Equations on Polytopal Meshes

Here in this paper, we present a simple a posteriori error estimate for the weak Galerkin finite element method for the Stokes equation. This residual type estimator can be applied to general meshes such as polytopal mesh or meshes with hanging nodes. The reliability and efficiency of the estimator are proved in this paper. Five numerical tests demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of the adaptive mesh refinement guided by the designed error estimator.

finite element methods↗
DOE OSTI2019

An Integrated Numerical Method to Predict the Strain Sensing Behavior of Flexible Conductive Fibers under Electric–Thermal Conditions

Flexible conductive textiles have attracted an increasing amount of attention due to being flexible and stretchable with multi-functions, in addition to the strain sensing function. In this paper, an integrated numerical method is established to predict the strain sensing behavior of PPy-coated flexible conductive fibers. Based on our previous investigation on the strain sensing behavior of the PPy-coated elastic conductive fibers, it has been known that the main strain sensing mechanisms of the conductive fibers are micro-cracks opening under stretching and closing under unloading. Therefore, in the numerical approach, extended finite element method is used to simulate the multi-crack initiation and propagation. Then, by establishing a representative element model including a single crack, the resistance variation with the increase in crack width/depth can be obtained using the electric–thermal package in ABAQUS software. Combining the relationship between crack width and strain, the relationship between fractional increment in resistance (ΔR/R{sub 0}) and the strain can be obtained. The prediction of the fractional increment in resistance (ΔR/R{sub 0}) versus strain is consistent with the experimental results of PPy-coated Lycra fibers. The new integrated method is further verified by experimental results of PPy-coated XLA fibers, showing that the integrated numerical approach can capture the complicated strain sensing mechanisms of PPy-coated elastic fibers and predict the strain sensing behavior of flexible conductive fibers. This approach will make it possible to shorten the period, and reduce the cost in R&D of the PPy-coated electrically conductive fibers, comparing with the corresponding experimental work.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Theoretical realization of three-dimensional nanolattice structure fabrication based on high-order waveguide-mode interference and sample rotation

A theoretical method of using high-order waveguide-mode interference combined with sample rotation is proposed to fabricate different kinds of three-dimensional nanolattice structures. The lithography sample is assisted by an asymmetric metal-cladding dielectric waveguide structure. High-order waveguide modes can be excited in the photoresist layer by both transverse magnetic and transverse electric polarized light. By utilizing multiple exposures of high-order waveguide-mode interference combined with sample-rotation, various three-dimensional nanolattice structures can be obtained. The resulting optical field distributions are simulated using the finite element method in this study, and sample rotation is expressed by coordinate matrix transformation. As examples, the three-dimensional optical field distributions resulting from fifth-order waveguide-mode interference were simulated with 90° and 60° sample rotations and multiple exposures. The results show that a quasi-cuboid structure with a simple tetragonal arrangement and a quasi-hexagonal structure with a hexagonal close-packed lattice can be obtained. Moreover, the numerical simulation results revealed that the shapes, sizes, arrangements, and periods of the structures can be controlled by the rotation method, photoresist thickness, waveguide modes used for exposure, and so on.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1996

Computing Radiation From Axisymmetric Waveguide Feed Horns

Hybrid finite-element method developed for computing radiation patterns and reflection coefficients of axisymmetric waveguide feed horns that include dielectric bodies like rods and radomes. Dielectric inhomogeneities introduced by such bodies and even anisotropies of some dielectric materials pose no special problem in method because requisite dielectric properties readily incorporated into finite elements used to model bodies.

Chinn, Gilbert C.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Standalone BISON Through VERA: User's Manual

Activities to incorporate fuel performance capabilities into the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA) are receiving increasing attention. The multiphysics emphasis is expanding as the neutronics (MPACT) and thermal-hydraulics (CTF) packages are becoming more mature. Capturing the finer details of fuel phenomena (swelling, densification, relocation, gap closure, etc.) is the natural next step in the VERA Core Simulator (VERA-CS) development process since these phenomena are currently not directly taken into account. While several codes could be used to accomplish this, the BISON fuel performance code being developed by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is the focus of ongoing work in the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL). Built on INL’s MOOSE framework, BISON uses the finite element method for geometric representation and a Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) scheme to solve systems of partial differential equations for various fuel characteristic relationships. There are several modes of operation in BISON, but, for this work, it uses a 2D azimuthally symmetric (R-Z) smeared-pellet model.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRS1990

Finite-element models of continental extension

Numerical models of the initial deformation of extending continental lithosphere, computed to investigate the control of preexisting thermal and mechanical heterogeneities on the style of deformation, are presented. The finite element method is used to calculate deformation with a viscoelastic-plastic model for the lithosphere. Comparisons of the results of analytic models and finite-element models using this method show that good results may be obtained by the numerical technique, even with elements containing both brittle and viscoelastic sampling points. It is shown that the gross style of initial extensional deformation is controlled by the depth and width of the initial heterogeneity which localizes deformation.

Lynch, H. David↗
DOE OSTI2018

Strength Ranking of Hard-Alloy Cutting Inserts of Different Shape

The stress–strain state of replaceable polyhedral inserts in composite tools is calculated by the finite-element method. The influence of the insert’s design parameter, the basing and attachment configuration, and the load on the stress and strain is established. Besides the strength of the inserts, attention is paid to the positional accuracy in the tool housing. Cutting inserts of maximum strength have been developed and patented.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of laser intensity and exposure time on photothermal therapy with nanoparticles heated by a 793-nm diode laser and tissue optical clearing

Laser-induced thermotherapy is a promising method for cancer treatment, the outcome of which is affected by the exposure time. An inappropriate exposure time and laser intensity cause incomplete tumour destruction, tumour regrowth, and metastasis. Also possible is irreversible damage, i.e. death of healthy cells, and so numerical models are necessary to provide an optimised laser intensity and exposure time for different cancerous tumours. In this study, a model based on finite element method (FEM) is used for solving the bio-heat transfer equation and the Arrhenius equation describing tissue damage. The cancerous tumour is considered as a perfect cylinder with a diameter of 20 mm and a thickness of 2, 3, 4, and 5 mm, filled up by highly absorbing nanoparticles and surrounded by healthy cylindrical tissue with a diameter of 40 mm and a length of 10 mm, which ahs a low scattering coefficient due to optical clearing. The results show that 243 s is a safe and appropriate exposure time when a diode laser with a wavelength of 793 nm and intensity of 0.75 W cm{sup −2} together with gold nanorods of concentration 0.0001 % is used for the treatment of a 3-mm-thick tumour. Then, the results are developed and extensive numerical simulations are used to reveal mathematical relationships between two critical parameters, input power and optimised exposure time, for a series of different tumour thicknesses. Treatment protocols are presented.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mechanics of cantilever beam: Implementation and comparison of FEM and MLPG approach

Two weak form solution approaches for partial differential equations, the well known meshbased finite element method and the newer meshless local Petrov Galerkin method are described and compared on a standard test case - mechanics of cantilever beam. The implementation, solution accuracy and calculation complexity are addressed for both approaches. We found out that FEM is superior in most standard criteria, but MLPG has some advantages because of its flexibility that results from its general formulation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Design and verification of a novel hollow vibrating module for laser machining

If a vibration module is added on laser machining system, the quality of surface finish and aspect ratio on metals can be significantly enhanced. In this study, a single mobility model of vibrating laser along the path of laser beam was put forward. In order to realize the desired unidirectional motion, a resonance type vibration module with optical lens was designed and manufactured. This cylindrical module was composed of curved-beam flexure elements. The cylindrical coordinate system was established to describe the relationship of a curved-beam flexure element’s motion and deformation. In addition, the stiffness matrix of the curved-beam element was obtained. Finite element method and dynamical modeling were provided to analyze the resonance frequency and the displacement of the motion. The feasibility of the design was demonstrated with the help of experiments on frequency response. Experimental results show good agreement with theoretical analysis and simulation predictions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

TU-AB-202-07: A Novel Method for Registration of Mid-Treatment PET/CT Images Under Conditions of Tumor Regression for Patients with Locally Advanced Lung Cancers

Purpose: In PET-guided adaptive radiotherapy (RT), changes in the metabolic activity at individual voxels cannot be derived until the duringtreatment CT images are appropriately registered to pre-treatment CT images. However, deformable image registration (DIR) usually does not preserve tumor volume. This may induce errors when comparing to the target. The aim of this study was to develop a DIR-integrated mechanical modeling technique to track radiation-induced metabolic changes on PET images. Methods: Three patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were treated with adaptive radiotherapy under RTOG 1106. Two PET/CT image sets were acquired 2 weeks before RT and 18 fractions after the start of treatment. DIR was performed to register the during-RT CT to the pre-RT CT using a B-spline algorithm and the resultant displacements in the region of tumor were remodeled using a hybrid finite element method (FEM). Gross tumor volume (GTV) was delineated on the during-RT PET/CT image sets and deformed using the 3D deformation vector fields generated by the CT-based registrations. Metabolic tumor volume (MTV) was calculated using the pre- and during–RT image set. The quality of the PET mapping was evaluated based on the constancy of the mapped MTV and landmark comparison. Results: The B-spline-based registrations changed MTVs by 7.3%, 4.6% and −5.9% for the 3 patients and the correspondent changes for the hybrid FEM method −2.9%, 1% and 6.3%, respectively. Landmark comparisons were used to evaluate the Rigid, B-Spline, and hybrid FEM registrations with the mean errors of 10.1 ± 1.6 mm, 4.4 ± 0.4 mm, and 3.6 ± 0.4 mm for three patients. The hybrid FEM method outperforms the B-Spline-only registration for patients with tumor regression Conclusion: The hybrid FEM modeling technique improves the B-Spline registrations in tumor regions. This technique may help compare metabolic activities between two PET/CT images with regressing tumors. The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the National Institutes of Health Grant.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-T-22: A Deterministic Solver of the Boltzmann-Fokker-Planck Equation for Dose Calculation

Purpose: The Boltzmann-Fokker-Planck equation (BFPE) accurately models the migration of photons/charged particles in tissues. While the Monte Carlo (MC) method is popular for solving BFPE in a statistical manner, we aim to develop a deterministic BFPE solver based on various state-of-art numerical acceleration techniques for rapid and accurate dose calculation. Methods: Our BFPE solver is based on the structured grid that is maximally parallelizable, with the discretization in energy, angle and space, and its cross section coefficients are derived or directly imported from the Geant4 database. The physical processes that are taken into account are Compton scattering, photoelectric effect, pair production for photons, and elastic scattering, ionization and bremsstrahlung for charged particles.While the spatial discretization is based on the diamond scheme, the angular discretization synergizes finite element method (FEM) and spherical harmonics (SH). Thus, SH is used to globally expand the scattering kernel and FFM is used to locally discretize the angular sphere. As a Result, this hybrid method (FEM-SH) is both accurate in dealing with forward-peaking scattering via FEM, and efficient for multi-energy-group computation via SH. In addition, FEM-SH enables the analytical integration in energy variable of delta scattering kernel for elastic scattering with reduced truncation error from the numerical integration based on the classic SH-based multi-energy-group method. Results: The accuracy of the proposed BFPE solver was benchmarked against Geant4 for photon dose calculation. In particular, FEM-SH had improved accuracy compared to FEM, while both were within 2% of the results obtained with Geant4. Conclusion: A deterministic solver of the Boltzmann-Fokker-Planck equation is developed for dose calculation, and benchmarked against Geant4. Xiang Hong and Hao Gao were partially supported by the NSFC (#11405105), the 973 Program (#2015CB856000) and the Shanghai Pujiang Talent Program (#14PJ1404500)

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Experimental Validation of Numerical Simulations of a New-Generation NiTi Endodontic File Under Bending

The superelasticity of NiTi shape memory alloy has been used in endodontics since the 1990s. To study the mechanical behavior of endodontic instruments, a traditional approach consists in experimental investigations. However, finite element analysis constitutes another way to assess their mechanical behavior and to facilitate their design. The main aim of this study is to compare experimental and numerical bending results on different structures (NiTi wire, spreader, and instruments) to estimate the reliability of the finite element simulations. These investigations were carried out as follows. Firstly, experimental material parameters identification was performed using NiTi wires. These parameters were implemented in an appropriate NiTi model. Bending was numerically applied to the meshed structures generated by the finite element method. Experimental tests were performed on real structures under bending, with exactly the same loading, in order to compare experimental and numerical results. These results were in good agreement for each of the considered structures. This enabled the validation of the simulation results and the use of simulations to design new endodontic instruments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sierra/SolidMechanics 5.0 Capabilities in Development

This user’s guide documents capabilities in Sierra/SolidMechanics which remain “in-development” and thus are not tested and hardened to the standards of capabilities listed in Sierra/SM 5.0 User’s Guide. Capabilities documented herein are available in Sierra/SM for experimental use only until their official release. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, novel discretization approaches such as peridynamics and the conforming reproducing kernel (CRK) method, numerical fracture and failure modeling aids such as the extended finite element method (XFEM) and $\textit{J}$-integral, explicit time step control techniques, dynamic mesh rebalancing, as well as a variety of new material models and finite element formulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sierra/SolidMechanics 5.2 Capabilities in Development

This user’s guide documents capabilities in Sierra/SolidMechanics which remain “in-development” and thus are not tested and hardened to the standards of capabilities listed in Sierra/SM 5.2 User’s Guide. Capabilities documented herein are available in Sierra/SM for experimental use only until their official release. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, novel discretization approaches such as the conforming reproducing kernel (CRK) method, numerical fracture and failure modeling aids such as the extended finite element method (XFEM) and J-integral, explicit time step control techniques, dynamic mesh rebalancing, as well as a variety of new material models and finite element formulations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sierra/SolidMechanics 5.4 Capabilities in Development

This user’s guide documents capabilities in Sierra/SolidMechanics which remain “in-development” and thus are not tested and hardened to the standards of capabilities listed in Sierra/SM 5.4 User’s Guide. Capabilities documented herein are available in Sierra/SM for experimental use only until their official release. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, novel discretization approaches such as the conforming reproducing kernel (CRK) method, numerical fracture and failure modeling aids such as the extended finite element method (XFEM) and J-integral, explicit time step control techniques, dynamic mesh rebalancing, as well as a variety of new material models and finite element formulations.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗