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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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At least 1,027 records · Page 57
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Estimation of water diffusion coefficient into polycarbonate at different temperatures using numerical simulation

Nowadays, many electronic systems are exposed to harsh conditions of relative humidity and temperature. Mass transport properties of electronic packaging materials are needed in order to investigate the influence of moisture and temperature on reliability of electronic devices. Polycarbonate (PC) is widely used in the electronics industry. Thus, in this work the water diffusion coefficient into PC is investigated. Furthermore, numerical methods used for estimation of the diffusion coefficient and their assumptions are discussed. 1D and 3D numerical solutions are compared and based on this, it is shown how the estimated value can be different depending on the choice of dimensionality in the model.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2017

deBGR: an efficient and near-exact representation of the weighted de Bruijn graph

Abstract Motivation Almost all de novo short-read genome and transcriptome assemblers start by building a representation of the de Bruijn Graph of the reads they are given as input. Even when other approaches are used for subsequent assembly (e.g. when one is using ‘long read’ technologies like those offered by PacBio or Oxford Nanopore), efficient k-mer processing is still crucial for accurate assembly, and state-of-the-art long-read error-correction methods use de Bruijn Graphs. Because of the centrality of de Bruijn Graphs, researchers have proposed numerous methods for representing de Bruijn Graphs compactly. Some of these proposals sacrifice accuracy to save space. Further, none of these methods store abundance information, i.e. the number of times that each k-mer occurs, which is key in transcriptome assemblers. Results We present a method for compactly representing the weighted de Bruijn Graph (i.e. with abundance information) with essentially no errors. Our representation yields zero errors while increasing the space requirements by less than 18–28% compared to the approximate de Bruijn graph representation in Squeakr. Our technique is based on a simple invariant that all weighted de Bruijn Graphs must satisfy, and hence is likely to be of general interest and applicable in most weighted de Bruijn Graph-based systems. Availability and implementation https://github.com/splatlab/debgr. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Pandey, Prashant↗
DOE OSTI2019

Emergence of Novel Multipactor Modes Under Standing Wave Conditions in a Coaxial Line With an RF Window

The multipactor (MP) phenomenon can generate exponentially increasing electron populations in RF vacuum systems, leading to components becoming damaged. This paper uses numerical methods to analyze an RF vacuum window in a coaxial line under various standing wave conditions. Our methods are first benchmarked against the analytic and experimental results for the traveling wave and the numerical results for standing waves that were found in previous work. Second, the effect of standing waves on electron motion in the axial direction is discussed and related to electron trajectories in the presence of an RF window. It is found that standing waves with the magnetic maximum located behind the RF window lead to window collisions that can affect MP depending on the power, frequency, and conductor radii. For a low number of window collisions, MP was highly predictable by earlier work, but as the percentage of collisions occurring on the window surpassed approximately 50%, a novel mode of MP emerged to dominate the phenomenon.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1993

RIACS/USRA

The Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) was established by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) on 6 June 1983. RIACS is privately operated by USRA, a consortium of universities with research programs in the aerospace sciences, under contract with NASA. The primary mission of RIACS is to provide research and expertise in computer science and scientific computing to support the scientific missions of NASA ARC. The research carried out at RIACS must change its emphasis from year to year in response to NASA ARC's changing needs and technological opportunities. A flexible scientific staff is provided through a university faculty visitor program, a post doctoral program, and a student visitor program. Not only does this provide appropriate expertise but it also introduces scientists outside of NASA to NASA problems. A small group of core RIACS staff provides continuity and interacts with an ARC technical monitor and scientific advisory group to determine the RIACS mission. RIACS activities are reviewed and monitored by a USRA advisory council and ARC technical monitor. Research at RIACS is currently being done in the following areas: Parallel Computing, Advanced Methods for Scientific Computing, High Performance Networks and Technology, and Learning Systems. Parallel compiler techniques, adaptive numerical methods for flows in complicated geometries, and optimization were identified as important problems to investigate for ARC's involvement in the Computational Grand Challenges of the next decade.

Oliger, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS1996

Computation of Static Shapes and Voltages for Micromachined Deformable Mirrors with Nonlinear Electrostatic Actuators

In modeling micromachined deformable mirrors with electrostatic actuators whose gap spacings are of the same order of magnitude as those of the surface deformations, it is necessary to use nonlinear models for the actuators. In this paper, we consider micromachined deformable mirrors modeled by a membrane or plate equation with nonlinear electrostatic actuator characteristics. Numerical methods for computing the mirror deformation due to given actuator voltages and the actuator voltages required for producing the desired deformations at the actuator locations are presented. The application of the proposed methods to circular deformable mirrors whose surfaces are modeled by elastic membranes is discussed in detail. Numerical results are obtained for a typical circular micromachined mirror with electrostatic actuators.

Wang, P. K. C.↗
NASA NTRS2013

A Tool for the Automated Design and Evaluation of Habitat Interior Layouts

The objective of space habitat design is to minimize mass and system size while providing adequate space for all necessary equipment and a functional layout that supports crew health and productivity. Unfortunately, development and evaluation of interior layouts is often ignored during conceptual design because of the subjectivity and long times required using current evaluation methods (e.g., human-in-the-loop mockup tests and in-depth CAD evaluations). Early, more objective assessment could prevent expensive design changes that may increase vehicle mass and compromise functionality. This paper describes a new interior design evaluation method to enable early, structured consideration of habitat interior layouts. This interior layout evaluation method features a comprehensive list of quantifiable habitat layout evaluation criteria, automatic methods to measure these criteria from a geometry model, and application of systems engineering tools and numerical methods to construct a multi-objective value function measuring the overall habitat layout performance. In addition to a detailed description of this method, a C++/OpenGL software tool which has been developed to implement this method is also discussed. This tool leverages geometry modeling coupled with collision detection techniques to identify favorable layouts subject to multiple constraints and objectives (e.g., minimize mass, maximize contiguous habitable volume, maximize task performance, and minimize crew safety risks). Finally, a few habitat layout evaluation examples are described to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and tool to influence habitat design.

Simon, Matthew A.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Geometrically Flexible and Efficient Flow Analysis of High Speed Vehicles Via Domain Decomposition, Part 1: Unstructured-Grid Solver for High Speed Flows

The ability to solve the equations governing the hypersonic turbulent flow of a real gas on unstructured grids using a spatially-elliptic, 2nd-order accurate, cell-centered, finite-volume method has been recently implemented in the VULCAN-CFD code. This paper describes the key numerical methods and techniques that were found to be required to robustly obtain accurate solutions to hypersonic flows on non-hex-dominant unstructured grids. The methods and techniques described include: an augmented stencil, weighted linear least squares, cell-average gradient method, a robust multidimensional cell-average gradient-limiter process that is consistent with the augmented stencil of the cell-average gradient method and a cell-face gradient method that contains a cell skewness sensitive damping term derived using hyperbolic diffusion based concepts. A data-parallel matrix-based symmetric Gauss-Seidel point-implicit scheme, used to solve the governing equations, is described and shown to be more robust and efficient than a matrix-free alternative. In addition, a y+ adaptive turbulent wall boundary condition methodology is presented. This boundary condition methodology is deigned to automatically switch between a solve-to-the-wall and a wall-matching-function boundary condition based on the local y+ of the 1st cell center off the wall. The aforementioned methods and techniques are then applied to a series of hypersonic and supersonic turbulent flat plate unit tests to examine the efficiency, robustness and convergence behavior of the implicit scheme and to determine the ability of the solve-to-the-wall and y+ adaptive turbulent wall boundary conditions to reproduce the turbulent law-of-the-wall. Finally, the thermally perfect, chemically frozen, Mach 7.8 turbulent flow of air through a scramjet flow-path is computed and compared with experimental data to demonstrate the robustness, accuracy and convergence behavior of the unstructured-grid solver for a realistic 3-D geometry on a non-hex-dominant grid.

White, Jeffery A.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Chemical Thermodynamics and the Mathematical Integration of Reaction Kinetics

Key advances in the development of numerical methods for non-reacting compressible flows have been enabled by translating physical requirements into concrete numerical guidelines, such as the satisfaction of entropy inequalities for shock-capturing techniques [Lax, Contributions to Nonlinear Functional Analysis (1971) 603-634]. In the present work, we present nonlinear numerical analysis tools that draw from Chemical Thermodynamics , the branch of Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics that deals with chemical reactions. Through Gibbs formalism, chemical thermodynamics provides a well-known theoretical expression for the chemical equilibrium constant of a reaction in terms of reduced chemical potentials. A less-known, yet extremely valuable result, due to [Krambeck, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. , 38 (1970) 317], states that when this expression is implemented, mass-action kinetic models are consistent with the dynamical prescriptions of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. For fixed-temperature ordinary differential equations modeling constant-volume reacting gas mixtures, this leads to a decreasing Helmholtz free energy. If the temperature is allowed to vary in accordance with conservation of energy (1st law), this leads to the statement of increasing entropy. These nonlinear prescriptions can, and should be, used to further develop temporal integration techniques for reaction kinetics. We demonstrate that Krambeck's result holds even when the equilibrium constants are approximated from data. We prove this result by constructing the implicit free energy and the implicit entropy inherent to a given approximation. This is first done for a 5-species, 17-reaction model problem for air. With this structure established, elements of discrete entropy-stability theory [Tadmor, Acta Numer. , 12 (2003) 451] are leveraged to examine the consistency of time-integration schemes with these prescriptions. Using chemical potentials, one can compute the respective contributions of the kinetics model and of the temporal scheme to free energy/entropy variations. We introduce a nonlinear-stable version of the Discontinuous-Galerkin (DG) scheme in time which shows robustness improvements over the standard linearly-stable version. Most notably, the maximum timestep that can be resolved with the nonlinearly-stable variant tends to grow with polynomial order, in contrast to the linearly-stable variant. We generalize our constructions to arbitrary systems of reversible chemical reactions, ultimately showing that the compressible reacting Euler system admits the opposite of the implicitly constructed thermodynamic entropy as a mathematical entropy . This lays important theoretical foundations towards robust scheme development [Harten, J. Comput. Phys. 49 (1983) 151-164].

STMD↗
DOE OSTI2015

DOE HPCOR - ARDRA Project Overview

The problem addressed is Deterministic (Sn) Particle Transport (Neutrons and Gamma Rays) on structured grids. The Linear Boltzmann Transport Equation is discretized and solved using the Discrete Ordinates method. This work can be used for solving criticality, shielding and time-dependent problems. Primary numerical methods, calculation aspects, and software issues are sketched.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Large-eddy simulation of non-vaporizing sprays using the spectral-element method

Predictive simulations of high-pressure sprays require accurate representation of the turbulent gaseous flow field generated by liquid jet. Typically, the accuracy that can be obtained with low-order numerical methods (e.g. finite volume, finite element) is limited by stability issues in fine grids and the order of convergence of the method. In this work, we resolve the turbulent flow field in an Eulerian manner using the high-order spectral element method, coupled with a Lagrangian parcels approach to model the atomizing liquid jet. Large eddy simulations of single-hole sprays under non-evaporative conditions were conducted and compared against experimental data from Margot et al. (2008) and Spray A data from the Engine Combustion Network. The sensitivity of liquid penetration and droplet sizes to different breakup model parameters was studied. The effect of different numerical parameters, such as polynomial order of the solution (grid resolution), on liquid penetration was also analyzed. The method achieved grid-independent results using p-refinement, achieving finer resolution (by a factor of x 1.7 - x 3.5) in the gas-phase solution than in state-of-the-art simulations using the finite-volume method. Here the results showed good agreement with experimental data, demonstrating the ability of the current method to accurately capture liquid penetration and the shape of the spray.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1991

Spectral methods for the Navier-Stokes equations with one infinite and two periodic directions

The time-dependent, 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in (1) boundary layers, the semiinfinite domain, and (2) mixing layers or wakes, the fully infinite domain, are respectively solved by two numerical methods which employ rapidly decaying spectral basis functions to approximate the vertical dependence of the solutions. These functions are then combined with one, for method (1), and two, for method (2), slowly decaying 'extra functions' for each wave vector. Each extra function can exactly represent the solution's irrotational component at large distances. The two methods have been applied to extensive direct-numerical simulation of transition and turbulence.

Spalart, Philippe R.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Numerical Modeling of Ablation Heat Transfer

A unique numerical method has been developed for solving one-dimensional ablation heat transfer problems. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the method, along with detailed derivations of the governing equations. This methodology supports solutions for traditional ablation modeling including such effects as heat transfer, material decomposition, pyrolysis gas permeation and heat exchange, and thermochemical surface erosion. The numerical scheme utilizes a control-volume approach with a variable grid to account for surface movement. This method directly supports implementation of nontraditional models such as material swelling and mechanical erosion, extending capabilities for modeling complex ablation phenomena. Verifications of the numerical implementation are provided using analytical solutions, code comparisons, and the method of manufactured solutions. These verifications are used to demonstrate solution accuracy and proper error convergence rates. A simple demonstration of a mechanical erosion (spallation) model is also provided to illustrate the unique capabilities of the method.

Ewing, Mark E.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Green's function methods for multiphysics simulations (Final Report)

Green's functions are important tools for analyzing mathematical properties of partial differential equations (PDEs), and for numerically solving PDEs, especially when equations for the same operator but with multiple right hand sides need to be solved simultaneously. This proposal aims at developing efficient and accurate numerical methods for computing Green's functions, which can be used to tackle a challenging question in multiphysics simulation of DOE-mission science problems: how to couple quantum physics with classical physics. The key mathematical difficulty is properly formulate a "boundary condition" for the region described by quantum physics, and conventional approaches often model such boundary conditions in an empirical way. The proposed Green's function methods use the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map to formulate a boundary condition that is non-empirical and can couple the quantum and classical regions in an in principle exact way. The key ingredient of the new methods is to construct the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map in an efficient, accurate and versatile manner. The new methods have provably low complexity and are ideally suited for massively parallel and emerging many-core computational systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1985

Large-scale computations in fluid mechanics; Proceedings of the Fifteenth Summer Seminar on Applied Mathematics, University of California, La Jolla, CA, June 27-July 8, 1983. Parts 1 & 2

Papers are presented on such topics as the use of semi-Lagrangian advective schemes in meteorological modeling; computation with high-resolution upwind schemes for hyperbolic equations; dynamics of flame propagation in a turbulent field; a modified finite element method for solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations; computational fusion magnetohydrodynamics; and a nonoscillatory shock capturing scheme using flux-limited dissipation. Consideration is also given to the use of spectral techniques in numerical weather prediction; numerical methods for the incorporation of mountains in atmospheric models; techniques for the numerical simulation of large-scale eddies in geophysical fluid dynamics; high-resolution TVD schemes using flux limiters; upwind-difference methods for aerodynamic problems governed by the Euler equations; and an MHD model of the earth's magnetosphere.

Engquist, B. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Displacement incrementation in non-linear structural analysis by the self-correcting method

The prediction of nonlinear structural behavior by the finite element method wherein buckling does not occur has received considerable attention and, with it, reasonable success has been achieved. However, the post-buckling problem has been less actively pursued probably because of the inherent numerical difficulties encountered. This note reviews very briefly the numerical methods currently being used for pre- and post-buckling analysis and presents a self-correcting approach based on load and displacement incrementation which is shown to be efficient, reliable, and easy to program. Numerical solutions are presented which demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.

Haisler, W. E.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Formulation and solution of rotary-wing aeroelastic stability and response problems

The state of the art in the formulation and solution of rotary-wing aeroelastic stability and response problems is reviewed in detail. The approximations used in the structural, inertia and aerodynamic operators are discussed. The important role of geometric nonlinearities, due to moderate deflections, and aerodynamic stall in the aeroelastic stability and response problem are identified. It is also shown that geometric nonlinearities are of primary importance in aeroelastic stability calculations, and have a more limited, though important, role in response calculations. Next, formulation of coupled rotor/fuselage problems is described, for both air and ground resonance type problems. Both topics, the isolated blade problem and the coupled rotor/fuselage problem, are treated for both hover and forward flight. Solution of aeroelastic stability and response problems proceeds in two stages. First, the spatial dependence is eliminated by using Galerkin's method, or by using the finite element method. Next the nonlinear, or linear, ordinary differential equation with periodic coefficients have to be solved for stability or response. Efficient numerical methods for accomplishing these objectives are presented in a comprehensive manner. The paper contains a number of illustrative numerical results which are intended to clarify various aspects of the modeling process and serve as representative results for both aeroelastic stability and response calculations for a variety of blade and rotor configurations.

Friedmann, P. P.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Mathematical Simulation of the Migration of Radionuclides in a Soil Medium Under Nonisothermal Conditions with Account for Catalytic Microparticles and Nonlinear Processes

The problem of mathematical simulation of the vertical migration of radionuclides in a catalytic porous medium under nonisothermal conditions is considered. A numerical solution of the corresponding one-dimensional nonlinear boundary-value problem is obtained by the finite difference method. Numerical experiments are carried out and their analysis is made.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗