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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Turbulence analysis of rough wall channel flows based on direct numerical simulation

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) of rough wall channel flows was performed for various surface roughnesses. The goal of the presented research is to investigate the effect of nucleating bubbles in subcooled boiling conditions on the turbulence. The nucleating bubbles are represented by hemispherical roughness elements at the wall. The stabilized finite element based code, PHASTA, is used to perform the simulations. Validation against theoretical, experimental and numerical data is performed for smooth channel flow and rectangular rod type of roughness. The presence of roughness elements affects the flow structure within the roughness sublayer, which is estimated to be 5 times the height of roughness elements. DNS observations are consistent with this result and demonstrate the flow homogeneity above 50 viscous units. The influence of roughness elements layout and density on the turbulence parameters is also demonstrated and analyzed. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Seismic fragility evaluation of a piping system in a nuclear power plant by shaking table test and numerical analysis

In this study, a seismic fragility evaluation of the piping system in a nuclear power plant was performed. For the evaluation of seismic fragility of the piping system, this research was progressed as three steps. At first, several piping element capacity tests were performed. The monotonic and cyclic loading tests were conducted under the same internal pressure level of actual nuclear power plants to evaluate the performance. The cracks and wall thinning were considered as degradation factors of the piping system. Second, a shaking tale test was performed for an evaluation of seismic capacity of a selected piping system. The multi-support seismic excitation was performed for the considering a difference of an elevation of support. Finally, a numerical analysis was performed for the assessment of seismic fragility of piping system. As a result, a seismic fragility for piping system of NPP in Korea by using a shaking table test and numerical analysis. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Numerical Analysis of Novel Plate Type Heat Exchanger with Oval-Twisted Channels

The novel heat exchanger (HX) designs implementing geometrical and surface modification combinations are expected to perform better than traditional HX technologies. Applied enhancement techniques seek to achieve (1) higher overall heat transfer performance, (2) increased compactness, and (3) simplified or comparable manufacturability. One innovative enhancement technique is to generate swirling flow vortices induced by channel or tube twisting. The turbulence generated by the twisted cross-section greatly enhances the heat transfer rate with minimal increases in pressure drop. Plate-type HXs and Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHXs) are compact designs that achieve high heat transfer rates per unit volume by utilizing several small channels, which maximizes the heat transfer surface area between the hot and cold fluids. Currently, advanced manufacturing technologies enable the design and fabrication of compact-type units with complicated channel geometries to achieve the highest performance and meet the compactness criteria of innovative HX technology. The proposed HX design concept combines the compactness of plate-type HXs and twisted channels, which provide additional turbulence and flow swirl enhancement. The plate-type oval-twisted HX (PTOTHX) is a crossflow configuration, with 16 short channels on one side (for hot fluid) and 8 long channels on the perpendicular side (for cold fluid). The inlet plenums have flow guide vanes to redirect flow and produce uniformity across the various flow paths. The compact size and purportedly improved heat transfer performance of the PTOTHX investigated herein prove its viability in various applications. Some notable potential nuclear applications of the PTOTHX include reactor core, spent fuel cooling, and residual heat dissipation. To establish a reference case, circular channels (PTCHX) are also considered in the present study for comparison with (PTOTHX). This paper aims to outline the numerical analysis procedures for determining the viability of the PTOTHX by comparing its heat transfer performance with the PTCHX units. The computational study used STAR-CCM+, a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Sensitivity analysis and model selection studies are conducted to determine the appropriate mesh density and turbulence model to provide the reported results. Numerical analyses comparing the Nusselt number (Nu) of the PTOTHX design with a comparable HX unit, including a circular cross-section and no twisting (PTCHX), show an overall heat transfer performance increase of 29-55% for balanced flow and 29-59% for imbalanced flow. Oval-cross-sectional twisted channels induce swirling flow vortices, enhancing the working fluid's convective heat transfer capabilities.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Numerical Study of Vortex Core in Turbulent Swirling Flow

Swirling flow has attracted a great deal of research interest. An application of swirling flow can be found in many engineering areas; such as gas cyclone and heat transfer enhancement. In nuclear engineering, swirling flow is used as heat transfer enhancement in rod bundle by installing grid spacer and mixing vane. Because of its extensive applications, there has been a great number of experimental and numerical investigations of swirling flow. McClusky et al., experimentally studied mapping of the lateral velocity in rod bundle using Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) and Conner et al. predicted the flow field in rod bundle by CFD. To understand the characteristics of swirling flow such as tangential velocity and vortex core swirling flow, some researchers investigated swirling flow in a pipe instead of in rod bundle. This is due to the similarity between swirling flow in a pipe and rod bundle. In recent study, flow mapping of 2D velocity field of single-phase swirling flow had been conducted experimentally by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). However, this method needs calibration and complicated. The new measurement technique for flow mapping in swirling flow was done by phased array Ultrasonic Velocity Profiler (PAUVP). Hamdani et al., successfully plotted velocity field and determined the swirling core region (vortex core). This technique is nonintrusive and no need calibration. However, there was a limitation of the measurement because phased array UVP cannot capture 360 deg. velocity field inside the pipe. In addition, tangential velocity in CFD results was not agree well with experiment data due asymmetric problem. To evaluate this limitation of experimental method, the numerical simulations using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) needs to be performed. The objective of this study is to use the commercial CFD code Fluent to model the developing turbulent swirling flow induced by twisted tape inside a straight pipe, and to gain an understanding of such a flow and the turbulence models involved in the simulation. Straight pipe is used instead of rod bundle for a simplification. In this work, the Renormalized Group (RNG) k-{epsilon} turbulence model and Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) turbulence model, are performed to study the phenomena of vortex core in a pipe with twisted tape inserts. Effects of the Reynolds number and asymmetric of twisted tape (inclination, {alpha} = 5 deg. and {alpha} = 20 deg.) on swirling core position are examined using water as the testing fluid. Furthermore, the Navier-Stokes equations will be solved to obtain results that can be validated with the previous experimental results. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Investigation of Turbulent Entrainment-Mixing Processes With a New Particle-Resolved Direct Numerical Simulation Model

Here, a new particle-resolved three dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) model is developed that combines Lagrangian droplet tracking with the Eulerian field representation of turbulence near the Kolmogorov microscale. Six numerical experiments are performed to investigate the processes of entrainment of clear air and subsequent mixing with cloudy air and their interactions with cloud microphysics. The experiments are designed to represent different combinations of three configurations of initial cloudy area and two turbulence modes (decaying and forced turbulence). Five existing measures of microphysical homogeneous mixing degree are examined, modified, and compared in terms of their ability as a unifying measure to represent the effect of various entrainment-mixing mechanisms on cloud microphysics. Also examined and compared are the conventional Damköhler number and transition scale number as a dynamical measure of different mixing mechanisms. Relationships between the various microphysical measures and dynamical measures are investigated in search for a unified parameterization of entrainment-mixing processes. The results show that even with the same cloud water fraction, the thermodynamic and microphysical properties are different, especially for the decaying cases. Further analysis confirms that despite the detailed differences in cloud properties among the six simulation scenarios, the variety of turbulent entrainment-mixing mechanisms can be reasonably represented with power-law relationships between the microphysical homogeneous mixing degrees and the dynamical measures.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Earthquake-induced impact of base-isolated buildings: theory, numerical modeling, and design solutions

Earthquake shaking more intense than that used to size the horizontal clearance between a base–isolated building and near–rigid perimeter moat wall will result in hard impact, producing high–frequency, high–amplitude acceleration response in the structure and supported equipment. Herein this paper provides a design solution for the damaging effects of hard impact by installing a compliant engineered element in the load path between the base–isolated building and the moat wall, resulting in soft impact and a much smaller acceleration response. The engineered element assumed herein is a commercial–off–the–shelf marine fender with mechanical properties determined by physical testing. The attachment of a flexible engineered element, with well–defined stiffness and damping, to a near–rigid moat wall, simplifies the numerical modeling of the building–moat wall system and eliminates the need to bound the lateral stiffness of the wall for impact calculations. The simple model of the engineered element can be implemented in commercial finite element codes. Theory is developed for two–sided impact of a single–degree–of–freedom oscillator. Analytical solutions are derived for the shifted first–mode frequency of the impacted oscillator and for its free–vibration response. The shifted first–mode frequency is a function of the composite lateral stiffness of the isolator–engineered element assembly and its earthquake–induced displacement. Local peaks in the spectral response of the impacted oscillator form at odd integer multiples of the shifted first–mode frequency. The analytical solutions can be used to verify, in part, the numerical model used for impact analysis.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Numerical solution of singular Lyapunov equations

We consider the numerical solution of large scale singular (continuous-time) Lyapunov equations of the form AX + XA T + BB T = 0, where A is semistable, that is, its spectrum is contained in the left half plane, with the exception of a few semisimple eigenvalues at zero. We also consider the case of a few semisimple eigenvalues on the imaginary axis. We assume that we know these few eigenvalues (zero or imaginary), and that we have or can compute the corresponding invariant subspaces. We use this information to build an appropriate newly proposed subspace on which to project the Lyapunov equations, and then compute a low-rank approximation to the least squares solution. Selected illustrative numerical examples are provided.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Numerical analyses of exponential time-differencing schemes for the solution of atmospheric models

In high-resolution numerical weather prediction models, fast-moving acoustic waves must be treated in a stable manner. Among the implicit–explicit (IMEX) schemes used for the solution of these models, horizontally explicit, vertically implicit (HEVI) methods show good stability and scalability on massively parallel machines. In this work, we present two classes of exponential time-differencing (ETD) methods for atmospheric models that use a HEVI splitting strategy, one being a three-stage method with the addition of artificial diffusion, the second based on a Strang splitting approach. Overall, the stability properties of the methods are analyzed and numerical examples are provided, which compare time-step restrictions and cost-to-accuracy ratios of the new methods with those for existing approaches.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

A two-fluid single-column model of turbulent shallow convection. Part II: Single-column model formulation and numerics

The two-fluid single-column model of Thuburn et al. (Quart. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 2019, 145, 1535–1550) is extended to include moisture and horizontal wind shear. Turbulent kinetic energy is introduced as a prognostic variable, dependence on a diagnosed boundary-layer height is removed, and subfilter fluxes are approximated using a two-fluid version of a Mellor–Yamada scheme. Three mechanisms for entrainment and detrainment processes are introduced, which represent entrainment of unstable air at the surface, forced detrainment of air at the top of the boundary/cloud layers, and turbulent mixing that relaxes the convective fluid to a reference profile. A semi-implicit Eulerian discretization replaces the semi-implicit semi-Lagrangian implementation of Thuburn et al. (Quart. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 2019, 145, 1535–1550) to improve numerical stability and conservation. The equations for the implicit time step are solved using a quasi-Newton method, which is shown to perform well in numerical tests for conservation and convergence. The two-fluid single-column model presented in this article will be applied to simulations of shallow cumulus convection in Part III.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Numerical Simulation and Validation of Gas and Molten Metal Flows in Close-Coupled Gas Atomization

Molten metal atomization in close-coupled gas atomization dies can operate between two limiting conditions, jetting and filming, together with several complex mechanisms: liquid-gas drafting, downward/upward shearing, melt bouncing, etc. Liquid jet deformation depends on flow and geometric parameters, such as liquid Reynolds, liquid Weber, and gas Mach numbers, as well as gas jet apex angle and melt tube tip extension and aspect ratio, among others. Understanding their effect is of importance for the metal powder making industry. Numerical gas atomization studies can provide approximated flow information and consider a wide range of conditions, beyond experimental reach. Here, 3D high-resolution simulations employing a 5-equation compressible flow model coupled with the volume-of-fluid method are compared with experiments, for liquid Weber number in the range of 1–30 and liquid Reynolds number below 10,000. This validation explores the predicting capabilities of the numerical model.

Hernandez, F.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Perfecting one-loop BCJ numerators in SYM and supergravity

We take a major step towards computing D-dimensional one-loop amplitudes in general gauge theories, compatible with the principles of unitarity and the color-kinematics duality. For n-point amplitudes with either supersymmetry multiplets or generic non-supersymmetric matter in the loop, simple all-multiplicity expressions are obtained for the maximal cuts of kinematic numerators of n-gon diagrams. At n = 6, 7 points with maximal supersymmetry, we extend the cubic-diagram numerators to encode all contact terms, and thus solve the long-standing problem of simultaneously realizing the following properties: color-kinematics duality, manifest locality, optimal power counting of loop momenta, quadratic rather than linearized Feynman propagators, compatibility with double copy as well as all graph symmetries. Color-kinematics dual representations with similar properties are presented in the half-maximally supersymmetric case at n = 4, 5 points. The resulting gauge-theory integrands and their supergravity counterparts obtained from the double copy are checked to reproduce the expected ultraviolet divergences.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Numerical exploration of three relativistic particles in a finite volume including two-particle resonances and bound states

In this work, we use an extension of the quantization condition, given in ref. [1], to numerically explore the finite-volume spectrum of three relativistic particles, in the case that two-particle subsets are either resonant or bound. The original form of the relativistic three-particle quantization condition was derived under a technical assumption on the two- particle K matrix that required the absence of two-particle bound states or narrow two- particle resonances. Here we describe how this restriction can be lifted in a simple way using the freedom in the definition of the K-matrix-like quantity that enters the quantization condition. With this in hand, we extend previous numerical studies of the quantization condition to explore the finite-volume signature for a variety of two- and three-particle interactions. We determine the spectrum for parameters such that the system contains both dimers (two-particle bound states) and one or more trimers (in which all three particles are bound), and also for cases where the two-particle subchannel is resonant. We also show how the quantization condition provides a tool for determining infinite-volume dimer- particle scattering amplitudes for energies below the dimer breakup. We illustrate this for a series of examples, including one that parallels physical deuteron-nucleon scattering. All calculations presented here are restricted to the case of three identical scalar particles.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Planning Irreversible Electroporation in the Porcine Kidney: Are Numerical Simulations Reliable for Predicting Empiric Ablation Outcomes?

PurposeNumerical simulations are used for treatment planning in clinical applications of irreversible electroporation (IRE) to determine ablation size and shape. To assess the reliability of simulations for treatment planning, we compared simulation results with empiric outcomes of renal IRE using computed tomography (CT) and histology in an animal model.MethodsThe ablation size and shape for six different IRE parameter sets (70–90 pulses, 2,000–2,700 V, 70–100 µs) for monopolar and bipolar electrodes was simulated using a numerical model. Employing these treatment parameters, 35 CT-guided IRE ablations were created in both kidneys of six pigs and followed up with CT immediately and after 24 h. Histopathology was analyzed from postablation day 1.ResultsAblation zones on CT measured 81 ± 18 % (day 0, p ≤ 0.05) and 115 ± 18 % (day 1, p ≤ 0.09) of the simulated size for monopolar electrodes, and 190 ± 33 % (day 0, p ≤ 0.001) and 234 ± 12 % (day 1, p ≤ 0.0001) for bipolar electrodes. Histopathology indicated smaller ablation zones than simulated (71 ± 41 %, p ≤ 0.047) and measured on CT (47 ± 16 %, p ≤ 0.005) with complete ablation of kidney parenchyma within the central zone and incomplete ablation in the periphery.ConclusionBoth numerical simulations for planning renal IRE and CT measurements may overestimate the size of ablation compared to histology, and ablation effects may be incomplete in the periphery.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multi-scale Coupled Processes Modeling of Fractures as Porous, Interfacial and Granular Systems from Rock Images with the Numerical Manifold Method

Abstract The greatest challenges of rigorously modeling coupled hydro-mechanical processes in fractured rocks at different scales are associated with computational geometry. In addition, selections of continuous or discontinuous models, physical laws, and coupling priorities at different scales based on different geometric features determine the applicability of a numerical model for a certain type of problem. In this study, we present our multi-scale modeling capabilities that have been developed based on the numerical manifold method for analyzing coupled hydro-mechanical processes in fractured rocks. Based on their geometric features, the fractures are modeled as continua—finite-thickness porous zones, and discontinua—discontinuous interfaces and microscale asperities and granular systems. Different governing equations, physical laws, coupling priorities, and approaches for addressing fracture intersections and shearing are then applied to describe these. We applied these models to simulate coupled processes in fractured rocks using realistic geometry obtained from rock images at different scales. We first calculated shearing of a single fracture with different models and demonstrated the impacts of asperities on shearing. We then applied the continuous and discontinuous models to simulate a network of rough fractures, demonstrating that contact dynamics contribute significantly to the geometric, multi-physical evolution of systems where rough fractures are not mineral filled. For a discrete fracture network, our coupled processes modeling demonstrates that shearing of the discrete fractures can have a major impact on stress and pore pressure distribution. Lastly, we applied the discontinuous granular model to simulate evolution of a complex granular system with a deformation band, demonstrating that the deformation band can dominate contact dynamics, the structural and the stress evolution of the granular system.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Study of the von Neumann Stability Analysis of a Semi-implicit Numerical Method Applied Over the Radial Impurity Transport Equation in Tokamak Plasma

The radial impurity transport equation for tokamak plasma is a form of diffusion–convection–reaction equation. The impurity transport equation is solved to determine the distribution of impurity (non-fuel) ion species with different ionization states perpendicular to magnetic surfaces of tokamak plasma. The equation for each charge (ionization) state Z is a non-linear, second-order in space, first-order in time, parabolic partial differential equation coupled to the previous Z − 1 and the next Z + 1 charge states of the impurity species through its reaction term. The number of differential equations to be solved simultaneously is hence determined by the number of ionization states of the impurity species studied. The solution to the set of these coupled equations can be obtained using a semi-implicit numerical method applied on it. The present study describes the application of von Neumann stability analysis over the semi-implicit numerical method applied over the radial impurity transport equation and determines a generic stability criterion for the method. The stability analysis is further illustrated using the geometry of Aditya tokamak installed at the Institute for Plasma Research Gandhinagar, India as an example. The impurity species considered is oxygen (Atomic number = 8). This leads to a set of eight coupled equations for charge states Z = 1 to 8 over which von Neumann analysis is illustrated in present study.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Analysis of Plane-Parallel Electron Beam Propagation in Different Media by Numerical Simulation Methods

Simulation by the Monte Carlo method is widely used to calculate the character of ionizing radiation interaction with substance. A wide variety of programs based on the given method allows users to choose the most suitable package for solving computational problems. In turn, it is important to know exactly restrictions of numerical systems to avoid gross errors. Results of estimation of the feasibility of application of the program PCLab (Computer Laboratory, version 9.9) for numerical simulation of the electron energy distribution absorbed in beryllium, aluminum, gold, and water for industrial, research, and clinical beams are presented. The data obtained using programs ITS and Geant4 being the most popular software packages for solving the given problems and the program PCLab are presented in the graphic form. A comparison and an analysis of the results obtained demonstrate the feasibility of application of the program PCLab for simulation of the absorbed energy distribution and dose of electrons in various materials for energies in the range 1–20 MeV.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Review of Physical and Numerical Approaches for the Study of Gas Stirring in Ladle Metallurgy

This article presents a review of the research into gas stirring in ladle metallurgy carried out over the past few decades. Herein, the physical modeling experiments are divided into four major areas: (1) mixing and homogenization in the ladle; (2) gas bubble formation, transformation, and interactions in the plume zone; (3) inclusion behavior at the steel–slag interface and in the molten steel; and (4) open eye formation. Several industrial trials have also been carried out to optimize gas stirring and open eye formation. Approaches for selecting criteria for scaling to guarantee flow similarity between industrial trials and physical modeling experiments are discussed. To describe the bubble behavior and two-phase plume structure, four main mathematical models have been used in different research fields: (1) the quasi-single-phase model, (2) the volume of fluid (VOF) model, (3) the Eulerian multiphase (E–E) model, and (4) the Eulerian–Lagrangian (E–L) model. In recent years, the E–E model has been used to predict gas stirring conditions in the ladle, and specific models in commercial packages, as well as research codes, have been developed gradually to describe the complex physical and chemical phenomena. Furthermore, the coupling of turbulence models with multiphase models is also discussed. For physical modeling, some general empirical rules have not been analyzed sufficiently. Based on a comparison with the available experimental results, it is found that the mathematical models focusing on the mass transfer phenomenon and inclusion behaviors at the steel-slag interface, vacuum degassing at the gas–liquid interface, dissolution rate of the solid alloy at the liquid–solid interface, and the combination of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics need to be improved further. To describe industrial conditions using mathematical methods and improve numerical modeling, the results of physical modeling experiments and industrial trials must offer satisfactory validations for the improvement of numerical modeling.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗