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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 1,063 records · Page 59
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Stochastic dislocation kinetics and fractal structures in deforming metals probed by acoustic emission and surface topography measurements

We demonstrate that the fractal dimension (FD) of the dislocation population in a deforming material is an important quantitative characteristic of the evolution of the dislocation structure. Thus, we show that peaking of FD signifies a nearing loss of uniformity of plastic flow and the onset of strain localization. Two techniques were employed to determine FD: (i) inspection of surface morphology of the deforming crystal by white light interferometry and (ii) monitoring of acoustic emission (AE) during uniaxial tensile deformation. A connection between the AE characteristics and the fractal dimension determined from surface topography measurements was established. As a common platform for the two methods, the dislocation density evolution in the bulk was used. The relations found made it possible to identify the occurrence of a peak in the median frequency of AE as a harbinger of plastic instability leading to necking. It is suggested that access to the fractal dimension provided by AE measurements and by surface topography analysis makes these techniques important tools for monitoring the evolution of the dislocation structure during plastic deformation—both as stand-alone methods and especially when used in tandem.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Modeling of transport phenomena in tokamak plasmas with neural networks

A new transport model that uses neural networks (NNs) to yield electron and ion heat ux pro les has been developed. Given a set of local dimensionless plasma parameters similar to the ones that the highest delity models use, the NN model is able to efficiently and accurately predict the ion and electron heat transport pro les. As a benchmark, a NN was built, trained, and tested on data from the 2012 and 2013 DIII-D experimental campaigns. It is found that NN can capture the experimental behavior over the majority of the plasma radius and across a broad range of plasma regimes. Although each radial location is calculated independently from the others, the heat ux pro les are smooth, suggesting that the solution found by the NN is a smooth function of the local input parameters. This result supports the evidence of a well-de ned, non-stochastic relationship between the input parameters and the experimentally measured transport uxes. Finally, the numerical efficiency of this method, requiring only a few CPU-μs per data point, makes it ideal for scenario development simulations and real-time plasma control.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Double sudden transitions of geometric discord at finite-temperature in the framework of stochastic description

We investigate the phenomenon of double sudden transitions in geometric quantum correlations for a system consisting of a bare qubit and a qubit locally coupled to its finite-temperature heat environment with an Ohmic spectrum in the framework of stochastic description. Moreover, we explore the possibility of protecting the geometric discord between the two qubits and prolonging the time during which the geometric discord remains constant by applying Bang-Bang pulses.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Novel type of chimera spiral waves arising from decoupling of a diffusible component

Spiral waves composed of coherent traveling waves surrounding a core containing stochastically distributed stationary areas are found in numerical simulations of a three-variable reaction-diffusion system with one diffusible species. In the spiral core, diffusion of this component (w) mediates transitions between dynamic states of the subsystem formed by the other two components, whose dynamics is more rapid than that of w. Diffusive coupling between adjacent sites can be “on” or “off” depending on the subsystem state. The incoherent structures in the spiral core are produced by this decoupling of the slow diffusive component from the fast non-diffusing subsystem. The phase diagram reveals that the region of incoherent behavior in chimera spirals grows drastically, leading to modulation and breakup of the spirals, in the transition zones between 1{sup n-1} and 1{sup n} local mixed-mode oscillations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Fast variance reduction for steady-state simulation and sensitivity analysis of stochastic chemical systems using shadow function estimators

We address the problem of estimating steady-state quantities associated to systems of stochastic chemical kinetics. In most cases of interest, these systems are analytically intractable, and one has to resort to computational methods to estimate stationary values of cost functions. In this work, we introduce a novel variance reduction algorithm for stochastic chemical kinetics, inspired by related methods in queueing theory, in particular the use of shadow functions. Using two numerical examples, we demonstrate the efficiency of the method for the calculation of steady-state parametric sensitivities and evaluate its performance in comparison to other estimation methods.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Performance study of LMS based adaptive algorithms for unknown system identification

Adaptive filtering techniques have gained much popularity in the modeling of unknown system identification problem. These techniques can be classified as either iterative or direct. Iterative techniques include stochastic descent method and its improved versions in affine space. In this paper we present a comparative study of the least mean square (LMS) algorithm and some improved versions of LMS, more precisely the normalized LMS (NLMS), LMS-Newton, transform domain LMS (TDLMS) and affine projection algorithm (APA). The performance evaluation of these algorithms is carried out using adaptive system identification (ASI) model with random input signals, in which the unknown (measured) signal is assumed to be contaminated by output noise. Simulation results are recorded to compare the performance in terms of convergence speed, robustness, misalignment, and their sensitivity to the spectral properties of input signals. Main objective of this comparative study is to observe the effects of fast convergence rate of improved versions of LMS algorithms on their robustness and misalignment.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Communication: Embedded fragment stochastic density functional theory

We develop a method in which the electronic densities of small fragments determined by Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT) are embedded using stochastic DFT to form the exact density of the full system. The new method preserves the scaling and the simplicity of the stochastic DFT but cures the slow convergence that occurs when weakly coupled subsystems are treated. It overcomes the spurious charge fluctuations that impair the applications of the original stochastic DFT approach. We demonstrate the new approach on a fullerene dimer and on clusters of water molecules and show that the density of states and the total energy can be accurately described with a relatively small number of stochastic orbitals.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Role of stochastic heating in wakefield acceleration when optical injection is used

The dynamics of an electron in two counterpropagating waves is investigated. Conditions for stochastic acceleration are derived. The possibility of stochastic heating is confirmed when two waves interact with low density plasma by performing PIC (Particle In Cell) code simulations. It is shown that stochastic heating can play an important role in laser wakefield acceleration. When considering low density plasma interacting with a high intensity wave perturbed by a low intensity counterpropagating wave, stochastic heating can provide electrons with the right momentum for trapping in the wakefield. The influence of stochastic acceleration on the trapping of electrons is compared to the one of the beatwave force which is responsible for cold injection. To do so, several polarizations for the colliding pulses are considered. For some value of the plasma density and pulse duration, a transition from an injection due to stochastic acceleration to a cold injection dominated regime—regarding the trapped charge—has been observed from 2D and 3D PIC code simulations. This transition is ruled by the ratio of the interaction length of the pulses to the longitudinal size of the bubble. When the interaction length of the laser pulses reaches the radius of the accelerating cavity stochastic heating becomes dominant, and might be necessary to get electrons trapped into the wakefield, when wakefield inhibition grows with plasma density.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Discriminating chaotic and stochastic dynamics through the permutation spectrum test

In this paper, we propose a new heuristic symbolic tool for unveiling chaotic and stochastic dynamics: the permutation spectrum test. Several numerical examples allow us to confirm the usefulness of the introduced methodology. Indeed, we show that it is robust in situations in which other techniques fail (intermittent chaos, hyperchaotic dynamics, stochastic linear and nonlinear correlated dynamics, and deterministic non-chaotic noise-driven dynamics). We illustrate the applicability and reliability of this pragmatic method by examining real complex time series from diverse scientific fields. Taking into account that the proposed test has the advantages of being conceptually simple and computationally fast, we think that it can be of practical utility as an alternative test for determinism.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Acoustic wave propagation and stochastic effects in metamaterial absorbers

We show how stochastic variations of the effective parameters of anisotropic structured metamaterials can lead to increased absorption of sound. For this, we derive an analytical model based on the Bourret approximation and illustrate the immediate connection between material disorder and attenuation of the averaged field. We demonstrate numerically that broadband absorption persists at oblique irradiation and that the influence of red noise comprising short spatial correlation lengths increases the absorption beyond what can be archived with a structured but ordered system.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dual effects of stochastic heating on electron injection in laser wakefield acceleration

Electron injection into the wakefield of an intense short laser pulse by a weaker laser pulse propagating in the opposite direction is reconsidered using two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell simulations as well as analytical modeling. It is found that for linearly polarized lasers the injection efficiency and the quality of the wakefield accelerated electrons increase with the intensity of the injection laser only up to a certain level, and then decreases. Theory and simulation tracking test electrons originally in the beat region of the two laser pulses show that the reduction of the injection efficiency at high injection-laser intensities is caused by stochastic overheating of the affected electrons.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Validity conditions for moment closure approximations in stochastic chemical kinetics

Approximations based on moment-closure (MA) are commonly used to obtain estimates of the mean molecule numbers and of the variance of fluctuations in the number of molecules of chemical systems. The advantage of this approach is that it can be far less computationally expensive than exact stochastic simulations of the chemical master equation. Here, we numerically study the conditions under which the MA equations yield results reflecting the true stochastic dynamics of the system. We show that for bistable and oscillatory chemical systems with deterministic initial conditions, the solution of the MA equations can be interpreted as a valid approximation to the true moments of the chemical master equation, only when the steady-state mean molecule numbers obtained from the chemical master equation fall within a certain finite range. The same validity criterion for monostable systems implies that the steady-state mean molecule numbers obtained from the chemical master equation must be above a certain threshold. For mean molecule numbers outside of this range of validity, the MA equations lead to either qualitatively wrong oscillatory dynamics or to unphysical predictions such as negative variances in the molecule numbers or multiple steady-state moments of the stationary distribution as the initial conditions are varied. Our results clarify the range of validity of the MA approach and show that pitfalls in the interpretation of the results can only be overcome through the systematic comparison of the solutions of the MA equations of a certain order with those of higher orders.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Visualization of the operational space of edge-localized modes through low-dimensional embedding of probability distributions

Information visualization aimed at facilitating human perception is an important tool for the interpretation of experiments on the basis of complex multidimensional data characterizing the operational space of fusion devices. This work describes a method for visualizing the operational space on a two-dimensional map and applies it to the discrimination of type I and type III edge-localized modes (ELMs) from a series of carbon-wall ELMy discharges at JET. The approach accounts for stochastic uncertainties that play an important role in fusion data sets, by modeling measurements with probability distributions in a metric space. The method is aimed at contributing to physical understanding of ELMs as well as their control. Furthermore, it is a general method that can be applied to the modeling of various other plasma phenomena as well.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Real-time calibration of a feedback trap

Feedback traps use closed-loop control to trap or manipulate small particles and molecules in solution. They have been applied to the measurement of physical and chemical properties of particles and to explore fundamental questions in the non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of small systems. These applications have been hampered by drifts in the electric forces used to manipulate the particles. Although the drifts are small for measurements on the order of seconds, they dominate on time scales of minutes or slower. Here, we show that a recursive maximum likelihood (RML) algorithm can allow real-time measurement and control of electric and stochastic forces over time scales of hours. Simulations show that the RML algorithm recovers known parameters accurately. Experimental estimates of diffusion coefficients are also consistent with expected physical properties.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Particle dispersion in homogeneous turbulence using the one-dimensional turbulence model

Lagrangian particle dispersion is studied using the one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model in homogeneous decaying turbulence configurations. The ODT model has been widely and successfully applied to a number of reacting and nonreacting flow configurations, but only limited application has been made to multiphase flows. Here, we present a version of the particle implementation and interaction with the stochastic and instantaneous ODT eddy events. The model is characterized by comparison to experimental data of particle dispersion for a range of intrinsic particle time scales and body forces. Particle dispersion, velocity, and integral time scale results are presented. The particle implementation introduces a single model parameter β{sub p}, and sensitivity to this parameter and behavior of the model are discussed. Good agreement is found with experimental data and the ODT model is able to capture the particle inertial and trajectory crossing effects. These results serve as a validation case of the multiphase implementations of ODT for extensions to other flow configurations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Photo-ionization and residual electron effects in guided streamers

Complementary experiments and numerical modeling reveal the important role of photo-ionization in the guided streamer propagation in helium-air gas mixtures. It is shown that the minimum electron concentration ∼10{sup 8 }cm{sup −3} is required for the regular, repeated propagation of the plasma bullets, while the streamers propagate in the stochastic mode below this threshold. The stochastic-to-regular mode transition is related to the higher background electron density in front of the propagating streamers. These findings help improving control of guided streamer propagation in applications from health care to nanotechnology and improve understanding of generic pre-breakdown phenomena.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Deviational simulation of phonon transport in graphene ribbons with ab initio scattering

We present a deviational Monte Carlo method for solving the Boltzmann-Peierls equation with ab initio 3-phonon scattering, for temporally and spatially dependent thermal transport problems in arbitrary geometries. Phonon dispersion relations and transition rates for graphene are obtained from density functional theory calculations. The ab initio scattering operator is simulated by an energy-conserving stochastic algorithm embedded within a deviational, low-variance Monte Carlo formulation. The deviational formulation ensures that simulations are computationally feasible for arbitrarily small temperature differences, while the stochastic treatment of the scattering operator is both efficient and exhibits no timestep error. The proposed method, in which geometry and phonon-boundary scattering are explicitly treated, is extensively validated by comparison to analytical results, previous numerical solutions and experiments. It is subsequently used to generate solutions for heat transport in graphene ribbons of various geometries and evaluate the validity of some common approximations found in the literature. Our results show that modeling transport in long ribbons of finite width using the homogeneous Boltzmann equation and approximating phonon-boundary scattering using an additional homogeneous scattering rate introduces an error on the order of 10% at room temperature, with the maximum deviation reaching 30% in the middle of the transition regime.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Self-sustaining turbulence in a restricted nonlinear model of plane Couette flow

This paper demonstrates the maintenance of self-sustaining turbulence in a restricted nonlinear (RNL) model of plane Couette flow. The RNL system is derived directly from the Navier-Stokes equations and permits higher resolution studies of the dynamical system associated with the stochastic structural stability theory (S3T) model, which is a second order approximation of the statistical state dynamics of the flow. The RNL model shares the dynamical restrictions of the S3T model but can be easily implemented by reducing a DNS code so that it retains only the RNL dynamics. Comparisons of turbulence arising from DNS and RNL simulations demonstrate that the RNL system supports self-sustaining turbulence with a mean flow as well as structural and dynamical features that are consistent with DNS. These results demonstrate that the simplified RNL system captures fundamental aspects of fully developed turbulence in wall-bounded shear flows and motivate use of the RNL/S3T framework for further study of wall-turbulence.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗