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At least 1,117 records · Page 62

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NASA NTRS1990

Acoustic response of a rectangular levitator with orifices

The acoustic response of a rectangular cavity to speaker-generated excitation through waveguides terminating at orifices in the cavity walls is analyzed. To find the effects of orifices, acoustic pressure is expressed by eigenfunctions satisfying Neumann boundary conditions as well as by those satisfying Dirichlet ones. Some of the excess unknowns can be eliminated by point constraints set over the boundary, by appeal to Lagrange undetermined multipliers. The resulting transfer matrix must be further reduced by partial condensation to the order of a matrix describing unmixed boundary conditions. If the cavity is subjected to an axial temperature dependence, the transfer matrix is determined numerically.

El-Raheb, Michael↗

NASA NTRS1996

A Computational Fluid Dynamic and Heat Transfer Model for Gaseous Core and Gas Cooled Space Power and Propulsion Reactors

A computational model based on the axisymmetric, thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations is developed to predict the convective, radiation and conductive heat transfer in high temperature space nuclear reactors. An implicit-explicit, finite volume, MacCormack method in conjunction with the Gauss-Seidel line iteration procedure is utilized to solve the thermal and fluid governing equations. Simulation of coolant and propellant flows in these reactors involves the subsonic and supersonic flows of hydrogen, helium and uranium tetrafluoride under variable boundary conditions. An enthalpy-rebalancing scheme is developed and implemented to enhance and accelerate the rate of convergence when a wall heat flux boundary condition is used. The model also incorporated the Baldwin and Lomax two-layer algebraic turbulence scheme for the calculation of the turbulent kinetic energy and eddy diffusivity of energy. The Rosseland diffusion approximation is used to simulate the radiative energy transfer in the optically thick environment of gas core reactors. The computational model is benchmarked with experimental data on flow separation angle and drag force acting on a suspended sphere in a cylindrical tube. The heat transfer is validated by comparing the computed results with the standard heat transfer correlations predictions. The model is used to simulate flow and heat transfer under a variety of design conditions. The effect of internal heat generation on the heat transfer in the gas core reactors is examined for a variety of power densities, 100 W/cc, 500 W/cc and 1000 W/cc. The maximum temperature, corresponding with the heat generation rates, are 2150 K, 2750 K and 3550 K, respectively. This analysis shows that the maximum temperature is strongly dependent on the value of heat generation rate. It also indicates that a heat generation rate higher than 1000 W/cc is necessary to maintain the gas temperature at about 3500 K, which is typical design temperature required to achieve high efficiency in the gas core reactors. The model is also used to predict the convective and radiation heat fluxes for the gas core reactors. The maximum value of heat flux occurs at the exit of the reactor core. Radiation heat flux increases with higher wall temperature. This behavior is due to the fact that the radiative heat flux is strongly dependent on wall temperature. This study also found that at temperature close to 3500 K the radiative heat flux is comparable with the convective heat flux in a uranium fluoride failed gas core reactor.

Anghaie, S.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Acceleration of the Fast Solar Wind by Solitary Waves in Coronal Holes

The purpose of this investigation is to develop a new model for the acceleration of the fast solar wind by nonlinear, time-dependent multidimensional MHD simulations of waves in solar coronal holes. Preliminary computational studies indicate that solitary-like waves are generated in coronal holes nonlinearly by torsional Alfven waves. These waves in addition to thermal conduction may contribute considerably to the accelerate the solar wind. Specific goals of this proposal are to investigate the generation of nonlinear solitary-like waves and their effect on solar wind acceleration by numerical 2.5D MHD simulation of coronal holes with a broad range of plasma and wave parameters; to study the effect of random disturbances at the base of a solar coronal hole on the fast solar wind acceleration with a more advanced 2.5D MHD model and to compare the results with the available observations; to extend the study to a full 3D MHD simulation of fast solar wind acceleration with a more realistic model of a coronal hole and solar boundary conditions. The ultimate goal of the three year study is to model the fast solar wind in a coronal hole, based on realistic boundary conditions in a coronal hole near the Sun, and the coronal hole structure (i.e., density, temperature, and magnetic field geometry) that will become available from the recently launched SOHO spacecraft.

Ofman, Leon↗

NASA NTRS2001

Acceleration of the Fast Solar Wind by Solitary Waves in Coronal Holes

The purpose of this investigation is to develop a new model for the acceleration of the fast solar wind by nonlinear. time-dependent multidimensional MHD simulations of waves in solar coronal holes. Preliminary computational studies indicate that nonlinear waves are generated in coronal holes by torsional Alfv\'{e}n waves. These waves in addition to thermal conduction may contribute considerably to the accelerate the solar wind. Specific goals of this proposal are to investigate the generation of nonlinear solitary-like waves and their effect on solar wind acceleration by numerical 2.5D MHD simulation of coronal holes with a broad range of plasma and wave parameters; to study the effect of random disturbances at the base of a solar coronal hole on the fast solar wind acceleration with a more advanced 2.5D MHD model and to compare the results with the available observations; to extend the study to a full 3D MHD simulation of fast solar wind acceleration with a more realistic model of a coronal hole and solar boundary conditions. The ultimate goal of the three year study is to model the, fast solar wind in a coronal hole, based on realistic boundary conditions in a coronal hole near the Sun, and the coronal hole structure (i.e., density, temperature. and magnetic field geometry,) that will become available from the recently launched SOHO spacecraft.

Ofman, Leon↗

NASA NTRS2018

Comparing Free-Free and Shaker Table Model Correlation Methods Using Jim Beam

Finite element model correlation as part of a spacecraft program has always been a challenge. For any NASA mission, the coupled system response of the spacecraft and launch vehicle can be determined analytically through a Coupled Loads Analysis (CLA), as it is not possible to test the spacecraft and launch vehicle coupled system before launch. The value of the CLA is highly dependent on the accuracy of the frequencies and mode shapes extracted from the spacecraft model. NASA standards require the spacecraft model used in the final Verification Loads Cycle to be correlated by either a modal test or by comparison of the model with Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) obtained during the environmental qualification test. Due to budgetary and time constraints, most programs opt to correlate the spacecraft dynamic model during the environmental qualification test, conducted on a large shaker table. For any model correlation effort, the key has always been finding a proper definition of the boundary conditions. This paper is a correlation case study to investigate the difference in responses of a simple structure using a free-free boundary, a fixed boundary on the shaker table, and a base-drive vibration test, all using identical instrumentation. The NAVCON Jim Beam test structure, featured in the IMAC round robin modal test of 2009, was selected as a simple, well recognized and well characterized structure to conduct this investigation. First, a free-free impact modal test of the Jim Beam was done as an experimental control. Second, the Jim Beam was mounted to a large 20,000 lbf shaker, and an impact modal test in this fixed configuration was conducted. Lastly, a vibration test of the Jim Beam was conducted on the shaker table. The free-free impact test, the fixed impact test, and the base-drive test were used to assess the effect of the shaker modes, evaluate the validity of fixed-base modeling assumptions, and compare final model correlation results between these boundary conditions.

Modal Test↗

NASA NTRS2007

Unsteady Turbine Blade and Tip Heat Transfer Due to Wake Passing

The geometry and the flow conditions of the first stage turbine blade of GE s E3 engine have been used to obtain the unsteady three-dimensional blade and tip heat transfer. The isothermal wall boundary condition was used. The effect of the upstream wake of the first stage vane was of interest and was simulated by provision of a gust type boundary condition upstream of the blades. A one blade periodic domain was used. The consequence of this choice was explored in a preliminary study which showed little difference in the time mean heat transfer between 1:1 and 2:3 vane/blade domains. The full three-dimensional computations are of the blade having a clearance gap of 2 percent the span. Comparison between the time averaged unsteady and steady heat transfer is provided. It is shown that there is a significant difference between the steady and time mean of unsteady blade heat transfer in localized regions. The differences on the suction side of the blade in the near hub and near tip regions were found to be rather significant. Steady analysis underestimated the blade heat transfer by as much as 20 percent as compared to the time average obtained from the unsteady analysis. As for the blade tip, the steady analysis and the unsteady analysis gave results to within 2 percent.

Ameri, Ali A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Experiments with a self-correcting wind tunnel

The feasibility of controlling the flow actively through the walls of a transonic, porous wall wind tunnel in order to minimize wall interference effects on a test model is demonstrated. The method is based upon measuring the components of the disturbance velocity at discrete points along an imaginary surface in the flow field within the tunnel. A mathematical formulation of the flow field exterior to the surface including the boundary condition for unconfined flow, i.e., that all disturbance vanish at infinite, is used to determine if these measured velocity components are consistent with that boundary condition. If they are not, the theory provides a better approximation to the velocity component for unconfined flow, and the flow through the tunnel walls is readjusted iteratively until the measured quantities are consistent with unconfined flow. A brief review of theoretical methods is followed by a description of the Calspan self correcting wind tunnel design and operation, calibration with and without active wall control. Typical results obtained by approximating a conventional porous wall wind tunnel for an 0012 airfoil show that active wall control largely reproduces the correct shock wave position, eliminates wall interference of lift and drag, and reduces the interference effects on pitching moment to 10%.

Vidal, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Steady state computations for wave propagation problems

The behavior of difference approximations of hyperbolic partial differential equations as time t goes to infinity is studied. The rate of convergence to steady state is analyzed theoretically and experimentally for the advection equation and the linearized Euler equations. The choice of difference formulas and boundary conditions strongly influences the rate of convergence in practical steady-state calculations. In particular it is shown that upwind difference methods and characteristic boundary conditions have very attractive convergence properties.

Engquist, Bjorn↗

NASA NTRS1993

Implementation of ADI: Schemes on MIMD parallel computers

In order to simulate the effects of the impingement of hot exhaust jets of High Performance Aircraft on landing surfaces a multi-disciplinary computation coupling flow dynamics to heat conduction in the runway needs to be carried out. Such simulations, which are essentially unsteady, require very large computational power in order to be completed within a reasonable time frame of the order of an hour. Such power can be furnished by the latest generation of massively parallel computers. These remove the bottleneck of ever more congested data paths to one or a few highly specialized central processing units (CPU's) by having many off-the-shelf CPU's work independently on their own data, and exchange information only when needed. During the past year the first phase of this project was completed, in which the optimal strategy for mapping an ADI-algorithm for the three dimensional unsteady heat equation to a MIMD parallel computer was identified. This was done by implementing and comparing three different domain decomposition techniques that define the tasks for the CPU's in the parallel machine. These implementations were done for a Cartesian grid and Dirichlet boundary conditions. The most promising technique was then used to implement the heat equation solver on a general curvilinear grid with a suite of nontrivial boundary conditions. Finally, this technique was also used to implement the Scalar Penta-diagonal (SP) benchmark, which was taken from the NAS Parallel Benchmarks report. All implementations were done in the programming language C on the Intel iPSC/860 computer.

Vanderwijngaart, Rob F.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Large-eddy simulations with wall models

The near-wall viscous and buffer regions of wall-bounded flows generally require a large expenditure of computational resources to be resolved adequately, even in large-eddy simulation (LES). Often as much as 50% of the grid points in a computational domain are devoted to these regions. The dense grids that this implies also generally require small time steps for numerical stability and/or accuracy. It is commonly assumed that the inner wall layers are near equilibrium, so that the standard logarithmic law can be applied as the boundary condition for the wall stress well away from the wall, for example, in the logarithmic region, obviating the need to expend large amounts of grid points and computational time in this region. This approach is commonly employed in LES of planetary boundary layers, and it has also been used for some simple engineering flows. In order to calculate accurately a wall-bounded flow with coarse wall resolution, one requires the wall stress as a boundary condition. The goal of this work is to determine the extent to which equilibrium and boundary layer assumptions are valid in the near-wall regions, to develop models for the inner layer based on such assumptions, and to test these modeling ideas in some relatively simple flows with different pressure gradients, such as channel flow and flow over a backward-facing step. Ultimately, models that perform adequately in these situations will be applied to more complex flow configurations, such as an airfoil.

Cabot, W.↗

NASA NTRS1974

A finite element analysis of fatigue crack closure

Experiments have shown that fatigue cracks close at positive loads during constant-amplitude load cycling. The crack-closure phenomenon is caused by residual plastic deformations remaining in the wake of an advancing crack tip. The present paper is concerned with the application of a two-dimensional, nonlinear, finite-element analysis for predicting crack-closure and crack-opening stresses during cyclic loading. A two-dimensional finite-element computer program, which accounts for both elastic-plastic material behavior and changing boundary conditions associated with crack extension and intermittent contact of the crack surfaces under cyclic loading, has been developed. An efficient technique to account for changing boundary conditions was also incorporated into the nonlinear analysis program. This program was subsequently used to study crack extension and crack closure under constant-amplitude and two-level block loading. The calculated crack-closure and crack-opening stresses were qualitatively consistent with experimental observations.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Transient wave propagation in composite plates due to impact

Stress-wave propagation in a composite plate due to an impact has been examined using anisotropic elasticity theory. The plate is modelled as a number of identical anisotropic layers whose elastic moduli are given. Mindlin's (1959) approximate theory of plates is then applied to each layer to obtain a set of difference-differential equations of motion by using the interlaminar stresses and displacements as explicit variables. Dispersion relationships for harmonic waves are found when traction-free boundary conditions are applied to both surfaces of the plate. The difference-differential equations are reduced to difference equations via integral transforms. With given impact boundary conditions these equations are solved for an arbitrary number of layers in the plate, and the transient propagation of a stress wave is calculated by means of a fast Fourier transform algorithm.

Sung Kim, B.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Intraseasonal Oscillations over South America: A Study with a Regional Climate Model

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) regional climate model version 2 (RegCM2) is used to investigate the observed characteristics of intraseasonal oscillations over South America. Our study is mainly concentrated on an intraseaonal mode, which is observed to account for a large portion of the intraseasonal variation, to have a standing feature and to be independent of the MJO. The NCEPDOE AMIP-II reanalysis is utilized to provide initial and lateral boundary conditions for the RegCM2 based upon the OOZ, 062, 122 and 182 data.Our results indicate that the intraseasonal oscillation still exists with time- averaged lateral boundary condition, which prevents the MJO and other outside disturbances from entering the model's domain, suggesting a locally forced oscillation responsible for ths intraseasonal mode independent of the MJO. Further experiments show that the annual and daily variabilities and a radiative-convective interaction are not essential to the locally forced intraseasonal oscillation. The intraseasonal oscillations over Amazon in our model essentially result from interactions among atmospheric continental- scale circulation, surface radiation, surface sensible and latent heat fluxes, and cumulus convection. The wavelet analyses of various surface energy fluxes and surface energy budget also verify that the primary cause of intraseasonal oscillation is the interaction of land surface processes with the atmosphere.

Chen, Baode↗

NASA NTRS2014

Uncertainties in the Modelled CO2 Threshold for Antarctic Glaciation

frequently cited atmospheric CO2 threshold for the onset of Antarctic glaciation of approximately780 parts per million by volume is based on the study of DeConto and Pollard (2003) using an ice sheet model and the GENESIS climate model. Proxy records suggest that atmospheric CO2 concentrations passed through this threshold across the Eocene-Oligocene transition approximately 34 million years. However, atmospheric CO2 concentrations may have been close to this threshold earlier than this transition, which is used by some to suggest the possibility of Antarctic ice sheets during the Eocene. Here we investigate the climate model dependency of the threshold for Antarctic glaciation by performing offline ice sheet model simulations using the climate from 7 different climate models with Eocene boundary conditions (HadCM3L, CCSM3, CESM1.0, GENESIS, FAMOUS, ECHAM5 and GISS_ER). These climate simulations are sourced from a number of independent studies, and as such the boundary conditions, which are poorly constrained during the Eocene, are not identical between simulations. The results of this study suggest that the atmospheric CO2 threshold for Antarctic glaciation is highly dependent on the climate model used and the climate model configuration. A large discrepancy between the climate model and ice sheet model grids for some simulations leads to a strong sensitivity to the lapse rate parameter.

simulation↗

NASA NTRS2019

Turbulence Model Implementation and Verification in the SENSEI CFD Code

This paper outlines the implementation and verification of the negative Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model into the SENSEI CFD code. The SA-neg turbulence model is implemented in a flexible, object-oriented framework where additional turbulence models can be easily added. In addition to outlining the new turbulence modeling framework in SENSEI, an overview of the other general improvements to SENSEI is provided. The results for four 2D test cases are compared to results from CFL3D and FUN3D to verify that the turbulence models are implemented properly. Several differences in the results from SENSEI, CFL3D, and FUN3D are identified and are attributed to differences in the implementation and discretization order of the boundary conditions as well as the order of discretization of the turbulence model. When a solid surface is located near or intersects an inflow or outflow boundary, higher order boundary conditions should be used to limit their effect on the forces on the surface. When the turbulence equations are discretized using second order spatial accuracy, the edge of the eddy viscosity profile seems to be sharper than when a first order discretization is used. However, the discretization order of the turbulence equation does not have a significant impact on output quantities of interest, such as pressure and viscous drag, for the cases studied.

Jackson, Charles W.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Application of Runge Kutta time marching scheme for the computation of transonic flows in turbomachines

Numerical solutions of the unsteady Euler equations are obtained using the classical fourth order Runge Kutta time marching scheme. This method is fully explicit and is applied to the governing equations in the finite volume, conservation law form. In order to determine the efficiency of this scheme for solving turbomachinery flows, steady blade-to-blade solutions are obtained for compressor and turbine cascades under subsonic and transonic flow conditions. Computed results are compared with other numerical methods and wind tunnel measurements. The study also focuses on other important numerical aspects influencing the performance of the algorithm and the solution accuracy such as grid types, boundary conditions and artificial viscosity. For this purpose, H, O, and C type computational grids as well as characteristic and extrapolation type boundary conditions are included in solution procedures.

Subramanian, S. V.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Physics-informed neural networks for solving forward and inverse flow problems via the Boltzmann-BGK formulation

We report the Boltzmann equation with the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook collision model (Boltzmann-BGK equation) has been employed to describe multiscale flows, i.e., from the hydrodynamic limit to free molecular flow. In this study we employ physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to solve forward and inverse problems via the Boltzmann-BGK formulation (PINN-BGK), enabling PINNs to model flows in both the continuum and rarefied regimes. In particular, the PINN-BGK is composed of three sub-networks, i.e., the first for approximating the equilibrium distribution function, the second for approximating the non-equilibrium distribution function, and the third one for encoding the Boltzmann-BGK equation as well as the corresponding boundary/initial conditions. By minimizing the residuals of the governing equations and the mismatch between the predicted and provided boundary/initial conditions, we can approximate the Boltzmann-BGK equation for both continuous and rarefied flows. For forward problems, the PINN-BGK is utilized to solve various benchmark flows given boundary/initial conditions, e.g. Kovasznay flow, Taylor-Green flow, cavity flow, and micro Couette flow for Knudsen number up to 5. For inverse problems, we focus on rarefied flows in which accurate boundary conditions are difficult to obtain. We employ the PINN-BGK to infer the flow field in the entire computational domain given a limited number of interior scattered measurements on the velocity without using the (unknown) boundary conditions. Results for the two-dimensional micro Couette and micro cavity flows with Knudsen numbers ranging from 0.1 to 10 indicate that the PINN-BGK can infer the velocity field in the entire domain with good accuracy. Finally, we also present some results on using transfer learning to accelerate the training process. Specifically, we can obtain a three-fold speedup comparted to the standard training process (e.g., Adam plus L-BFG-B) for the two-dimensional flow problems considered in our work.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2026

Heat Transfer Experiments of a 1st Stage Blade Cascade for Supercritical CO2 Oxy-Combustion Turbine Application

The results of internally cooled 1st stage blade (S1B) cascade testing in a supercritical CO2 environment is presented. The turbine blade design has been previously established for the end application of an oxy-combustion turbine operating in the Allam-Fetvedt cycle with turbine inlet conditions of 305 bar and 1150°C. The internally cooled blade features leading edge (LE) region impingement cooling, mid-section ribbed serpentine passages, and a pin-finned trailing edge (TE) region before cooling ejection holes. The geometry for the tested blade cascade has a cooled central blade with un-cooled blades on either side to match flowpath areas of the actual turbine. The flowpath reuses internal components previously employed for mid-section region ribbed serpentine passage experiments that established Nusselt number enhancement ratios over a range of Reynolds numbers from 100,000-400,000. New components include flow conditioning plates upstream and downstream of the blade cascade to adequately represent the flow field and blade external heat transfer coefficient profiles for the actual turbine. The cooled central blade utilizes uniform crystal temperature sensors (UCTS) with six sensors each on the blade pressure and suction surfaces distributed radially and from LE to TE. The post-processed UCTS quantified the maximum wall temperature seen at each installed sensor location. The test procedure consisted of establishing supercritical CO2 cooling flow temperature and flow rate and maintaining it throughout the test. The flow rate aims to match that for the actual in-service turbine blade design and is maintained through an orifice restriction to keep the pressure differential between internal cooling flow and external hot flow nearly constant. For the sCO2 flow path external to the blade, temperatures were ramped throughout the test via control of the test loop’s natural gas burner heater. The maximum temperature seen was 468°C and held constant for a duration of 10 minutes at which the blade metal temperature was predicted to be at its maximum before ramping down. For the turbine blade design for service inlet conditions, external flow path computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results and an internal cooling 1-D thermal and hydraulic flow network model using experimentally validated correlations served as thermal finite element (FE) boundary conditions to predict blade metal temperatures. These predicted temperatures were subsequently utilized in a structural FE model to predict blade life ratings dictated by Haynes 282 creep strength data, having a strong dependence on temperature. The boundary conditions experienced during testing are used in the same workflow and compared to the experimental results, with the goal of validating the analysis methodology and providing insight on the uncertainty in local metal temperature predictions.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗