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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Regulation of electron temperature gradient turbulence by zonal flows driven by trapped electron modes

Turbulent transport caused by electron temperature gradient (ETG) modes was investigated by means of gyrokinetic simulations. It was found that the ETG turbulence can be regulated by meso-scale zonal flows driven by trapped electron modes (TEMs), which are excited with much smaller growth rates than those of ETG modes. The zonal flows of which radial wavelengths are in between the ion and the electron banana widths are not shielded by trapped ions nor electrons, and hence they are effectively driven by the TEMs. It was also shown that an E × B shearing rate of the TEM-driven zonal flows is larger than or comparable to the growth rates of long-wavelength ETG modes and TEMs, which make a main contribution to the turbulent transport before excitation of the zonal flows.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1992

Experimental study of plate buckling induced by spatial temperature gradients

An experimental study of plate buckling induced by spatial temperature gradients is described. A rectangular Hastelloy-X panel is subjected to local line heating by a focused quartz heat lamp. Two parallel panel edges are maintained at constant temperature by coolant flow. Point supports provide well-defined thermal-structural boundary conditions. Test results from transient elastic and inelastic tests demonstrate that substantial panel bending occurs due to initial panel warpage and thermally induced membrane compressive stresses.

Thornton, Earl A.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dynamic microscale temperature gradient in a gold nanorod solution measured by diffraction-limited nanothermometry

We quantify the dynamic microscale temperature gradient in a gold nanorod solution using quantum-dot-based microscopic fluorescence nanothermometry. By incorporating CdSe quantum dots into the solution as a nanothermometer, precise temperature mapping with diffraction-limited spatial resolution and sub-degree temperature resolution is achieved. The acquired data on heat generation and dissipation show an excellent agreement with theoretical simulations. This work reveals an effective approach for noninvasive temperature regulation with localized nanoheaters in microfluidic environment.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1978

Effects of solid-propellant temperature gradients on the internal ballistics of the Space Shuttle

The internal ballistic effects of combined radial and circumferential grain temperature gradients are evaluated theoretically for the Space Shuttle solid rocket motors (SRMs). A simplified approach is devised for representing with closed-form mathematical expressions the temperature distribution resulting from the anticipated thermal history prior to launch. The internal ballistic effects of the gradients are established by use of a mathematical model which permits the propellant burning rate to vary circumferentially. Comparative results are presented for uniform and axisymmetric temperature distributions and the anticipated gradients based on an earlier two-dimensional analysis of the center SRM segment. The thrust imbalance potential of the booster stage is also assessed based on the difference in the thermal loading of the individual SRMs of the motor pair which may be encountered in both summer and winter environments at the launch site. Results indicate that grain temperature gradients could cause the thrust imbalance to be approximately 10% higher in the Space Shuttle than the imbalance caused by SRM manufacturing and propellant physical property variability alone.

Sforzini, R. H.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impurity effects on short wavelength ion temperature gradient mode in elongated tokamak plasmas

The effects of impurity ions on the short wavelength ion temperature gradient (SWITG) driven instability in elongated tokamak plasmas are numerically investigated with the gyrokinetic integral eigenmode equation. It is found that for a moderate electron density gradient, the SWITG mode is first destabilized and then stabilized with increasing elongation κ, which is different from the conventional long wavelength ITG mode. For a large electron density gradient, the elongation can effectively stabilize the SWITG mode. Moreover, the low Z impurity ions with inwardly (outwardly) peaked density profiles have stabilizing (destabilizing) effects on the SWITG modes in elongated plasmas. Interestingly, the high Z tungsten impurity ions with inwardly peaked density profiles play a stronger stabilizing role in the SWITG modes than the low Z impurity ions (such as carbon and oxygen) do. In particular, the high Z tungsten impurity ions with a weakly outwardly peaked density profile still have a stabilizing effect. Finally, the critical threshold of impurity density gradient scale length for exciting impurity mode is also numerically obtained, indicating that the impurity mode is harder to be excited in elongated plasmas than in circular ones.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2009

Thermal Considerations for Meeting 20 C and Stringent Temperature Gradient Requirements of IXO SXT Mirror Modules

The Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT) is an instrument on the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO). Its flight mirror assembly (FMA) has a single mirror configuration that includes a 3.3 m diameter and 0.93 m tall mirror assembly. It consists of 24 outer modules, 24 middle modules and 12 inner modules. Each module includes more than 200 mirror segments. There are a total of nearly 14,000 mirror segments. The operating temperature requirement of the SXT FMA is 20 C. The spatial temperature gradient requirement between the FMA modules is 1 C or smaller. The spatial temperature gradient requirement within a module is 0.5 C. This paper presents thermal design considerations to meet these stringent thermal requirements.

Choi, Michael K.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Ion temperature gradient driven turbulence with strong trapped ion resonance

A theory to describe basic characterization of ion temperature gradient driven turbulence with strong trapped ion resonance is presented. The role of trapped ion granulations, clusters of trapped ions correlated by precession resonance, is the focus. Microscopically, the presence of trapped ion granulations leads to a sharp (logarithmic) divergence of two point phase space density correlation at small scales. Macroscopically, trapped ion granulations excite potential fluctuations that do not satisfy dispersion relation and so broaden frequency spectrum. The line width from emission due only to trapped ion granulations is calculated. The result shows that the line width depends on ion free energy and electron dissipation, which implies that non-adiabatic electrons are essential to recover non-trivial dynamics of trapped ion granulations. Relevant testable predictions are summarized.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Plasma size and power scaling of ion temperature gradient driven turbulence

The transport scaling with respect to plasma size and heating power is studied for ion temperature gradient driven turbulence using a fixed-flux full-f gyrokinetic Eulerian code. It is found that when heating power is scaled with plasma size, the ion heat diffusivity increases with plasma size in a local limit regime, where fixed-gradient δf simulations predict a gyro-Bohm scaling. In the local limit regime, the transport scaling is strongly affected by the stiffness of ion temperature profiles, which is related to the power degradation of confinement.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Limit cycle oscillations in the zonal-flow-catalyzed interactions of ion-temperature-gradient turbulence

Limit-cycle oscillations are studied for ion temperature gradient turbulence, which, in the absence of large diamagnetic (mean) shear flows, saturates through energy transfer from unstable modes to large-scale stable modes via zonal-flow intermediary modes. Oscillations of zonal flow and turbulence levels are strongly constrained by the reactive, largely non-dissipative character of the zonal flows. Since existing predator–prey models for observed oscillations in experiments do not include energy transfer through zonal flows to stable modes, low-order fluid models with this physics are constructed and investigated. A simple three-wave truncation produces low-amplitude zonal flows that slowly oscillate around a zero mean, with turbulence oscillations between coupled wavenumbers that exceed linear frequencies by orders of magnitude. This inconsistency with experimental observations is caused by the weak non-linear drive of zonal flows in three-wave systems and the lack of multiple-wavenumber turbulent interactions. A more comprehensive model that preserves multiple wavenumber interactions within the context of conservative zonal-flow-mediated energy transfer to stable modes accurately reflects observed dynamics when the phase between stable and unstable modes is occasionally randomized.

Li, P. -Y. (ORCID:0000000295254171)↗
NASA NTRS1979

Temperature-gradient oven

Tubular oven operates on principle of lengthwise linear temperature gradient of homogeneous conductive rod in absence of radiative or convective heat loss. Oven can be applied to controlled heating or cooling of test specimens.

Jue, S.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Coupling of ion temperature gradient and trapped electron modes in the presence of impurities in tokamak plasmas

The coupling of ion temperature gradient (ITG or η{sub i}) mode and trapped electron mode (TEM) in the presence of impurity ions is numerically investigated in toroidal collisionless plasmas, using the gyrokinetic integral eigenmode equation. A framework for excitations of the ITG modes and TEMs with respect to their driving sources is formulated first, and then the roles of impurity ions played in are analyzed comprehensively. In particular, the characteristics of the ITG and TEM instabilities in the presence of impurity ions are emphasized for both strong and weak coupling (hybrid and coexistent) cases. It is found that the impurity ions with inwardly (outwardly) peaked density profiles have stabilizing (destabilizing) effects on the hybrid (namely the TE-ITG) modes in consistence with previous works. A new finding of this work is that the impurity ions have stabilizing effects on TEMs in small η{sub i} (η{sub i}≤1) regime regardless of peaking directions of their density profiles whereas the impurity ions with density gradient L{sub ez}=L{sub ne}/L{sub nz}>1 (L{sub ez}<1) destabilize (stabilize) the TEMs in large η{sub i} (η{sub i}≥1) regime. In addition, the dependences of the growth rate, real frequency, eigenmode structure, and wave spectrum on charge concentration, charge number, and mass of impurity ions are analyzed in detail. The necessity for taking impurity ion effects on the features of turbulence into account in future transport experimental data analyses is also discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Linear and nonlinear dynamics of electron temperature gradient mode in non-Maxwellian plasmas

The effect of non-Maxwellian distributed ions on electron temperature gradient mode is investigated. The linear dispersion relation of η{sub e}−mode is obtained which shows that the behavior of this mode changes in the presence of superthermal ions. The growth rate of η{sub e}−mode driven linear instability is found and is observed to modify due to nonthermal ions. However, it is found that this leaves the electron energy transport coefficient unchanged. In the nonlinear regime, a dipolar vortex solution is derived which indicates that the dynamic behavior of the vortices changes with the inclusion of kappa distributed ions. The importance of present study with respect to space and laboratory plasmas is also pointed out.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Non-modal theory of the kinetic ion temperature gradient driven instability of plasma shear flows across the magnetic field

The temporal evolution of the kinetic ion temperature gradient driven instability and of the related anomalous transport of the ion thermal energy of plasma shear flow across the magnetic field is investigated analytically. This instability develops in a steady plasma due to the inverse ion Landau damping and has the growth rate of the order of the frequency when the ion temperature is equal to or above the electron temperature. The investigation is performed employing the non-modal methodology of the shearing modes which are the waves that have a static spatial structure in the frame of the background flow. The solution of the governing linear integral equation for the perturbed potential displays that the instability experiences the non-modal temporal evolution in the shearing flow during which the unstable perturbation becomes very different from a canonical modal form. It transforms into the non-modal structure with vanishing frequency and growth rate with time. The obtained solution of the nonlinear integral equation, which accounts for the random scattering of the angle of the ion gyro-motion due to the interaction of ions with ensemble of shearing waves, reveals similar but accelerated process of the transformations of the perturbations into the zero frequency structures. It was obtained that in the shear flow the anomalous ion thermal conductivity decays with time. It is a strictly non-modal effect, which originates from the temporal evolution of the shearing modes turbulence.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1982

The effect of small temperature gradients on flow in a continuous flow electrophoresis chamber

Continuous flow electrophoresis employs an electric field to separate biological cells suspended in a flowing liquid buffer solution. Good separations based on differences in electrophoretic mobility are obtained only when a unidirectional flow is maintained. The desired flow has a parabolic structure in the narrow dimension of the chamber and is uniform acros the width, except near the edges where the no-slip condition prevails. However, because of buoyancy, very small laterall or axial temperature gradients deform the flow significantly. The results of experiments conducted with a specially instrumented chamber show the origin and structure of the buoyancy-driven perturbations. It is found that very small temperature gradients can disturb the flow significantly, as was predicted by earlier theoretical work.

Rhodes, P. H.↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the nonlinear stability of a quasi-two-dimensional drift kinetic model for ion temperature gradient turbulence

We study a quasi-two-dimensional electrostatic drift kinetic system as a model for near-marginal ion temperature gradient driven turbulence. A proof is given for the nonlinear stability of this system under conditions of linear stability. This proof is achieved using a transformation that diagonalizes the linear dynamics and also commutes with nonlinear E × B advection. For the case when linear instability is present, a corollary is found that forbids nonlinear energy transfer between appropriately defined sets of stable and unstable modes. It is speculated that this may explain the preservation of linear eigenmodes in nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations. Based on this property, a dimensionally reduced (∞×∞→1) system is derived that may be useful for understanding dynamics around the critical gradient of Dimits.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Ion scale nonlinear interaction triggered by disparate scale electron temperature gradient mode

We have observed that the disparate scale nonlinear interactions between the high-frequency (∼0.4 MHz) electron temperature gradient (ETG) mode and the ion-scale low-frequency fluctuations (∼kHz) were enhanced when the amplitude of the ETG mode exceeded a certain threshold. The dynamics of nonlinear coupling between the ETG mode and the drift wave (DW) mode has already been reported [C. Moon, T. Kaneko, and R. Hatakeyama, Phys. Rev. Lett. (2013)]. Here, we have newly observed that another low-frequency fluctuation with f ≃ 3.6 kHz, i.e., the flute mode, was enhanced, corresponding to the saturation of the DW mode growth. Specifically, the bicoherence between the flute mode and the DW mode reaches a significant level when the ∇T{sub e}/T{sub e} strength exceeded 0.54 cm{sup −1}. Thus, it is shown that the ETG mode energy was transferred to the DW mode, and then the energy was ultimately transferred to the flute mode, which was triggered by the disparate scale nonlinear interactions between the ETG and ion-scale low-frequency modes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗