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At least 1,207 records · Page 67

Multitasking the code ARC3D

The CRAY multitasking system was developed in order to utilize all four processors and sharply reduce the wall clock run time. This paper describes the techniques used to modify the computational fluid dynamics code ARC3D for this run and analyzes the achieved speedup. The ARC3D code solves either the Euler or thin-layer N-S equations using an implicit approximate factorization scheme. Results indicate that multitask processing can be used to achieve wall clock speedup factors of over three times, depending on the nature of the program code being used. Multitasking appears to be particularly advantageous for large-memory problems running on multiple CPU computers.

Barton, John T.↗

Species Transport Framework Development in SAM for System-Level Tritium Source Term Analysis

The SAM code is under development as a modern system-level modeling and simulation tool for advanced non–light water reactor safety analyses, with recent efforts to add capabilities to evaluate radiological source term risks in these novel reactor concepts. By leveraging the established system-level multiphysics thermal-hydraulic models in SAM, a framework for tightly coupled species transport modeling has been integrated into the code for engineering-scale source term evaluation. This species transport framework was first applied to the simulation of tritium, which is a well-known source term in conventional light water reactors. Tritium poses a unique risk in salt-cooled reactors, especially those with lithium-bearing salts such as the fluoride salt–cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR) concept, as tritium is generated in the salt coolant in significant quantities due to neutron interactions. A compounding factor is the increased mobility of tritium at high temperatures, which is able to permeate through metals while also potentially being retained in graphite pebbles and structures. Engineering-scale models for the tritium transport pathways in a FHR have been developed using the new species transport framework in SAM. The capabilities are assessed through analytical verification problems and validated with data from a graphite retention experiment. In conclusion, the system-level model is demonstrated by performing an initial estimate of baseline tritium generation and flows in a generic reference SAM FHR model, setting a foundation for future studies of source term transient analysis with the potential for further multiscale and multiphysics integration.

SAM↗

Studies and simulations of the DigiCipher system

During this period the development of simulators for the various high definition television (HDTV) systems proposed to the FCC was continued. The FCC has indicated that it wants the various proposers to collaborate on a single system. Based on all available information this system will look very much like the advanced digital television (ADTV) system with major contributions only from the DigiCipher system. The results of our simulations of the DigiCipher system are described. This simulator was tested using test sequences from the MPEG committee. The results are extrapolated to HDTV video sequences. Once again, some caveats are in order. The sequences used for testing the simulator and generating the results are those used for testing the MPEG algorithm. The sequences are of much lower resolution than the HDTV sequences would be, and therefore the extrapolations are not totally accurate. One would expect to get significantly higher compression in terms of bits per pixel with sequences that are of higher resolution. However, the simulator itself is a valid one, and should HDTV sequences become available, they could be used directly with the simulator. A brief overview of the DigiCipher system is given. Some coding results obtained using the simulator are looked at. These results are compared to those obtained using the ADTV system. These results are evaluated in the context of the CCSDS specifications and make some suggestions as to how the DigiCipher system could be implemented in the NASA network. Simulations such as the ones reported can be biased depending on the particular source sequence used. In order to get more complete information about the system one needs to obtain a reasonable set of models which mirror the various kinds of sources encountered during video coding. A set of models which can be used to effectively model the various possible scenarios is provided. As this is somewhat tangential to the other work reported, the results are included as an appendix.

Sayood, K.↗

Depletion-driven thermochemistry of molten salt reactors: review, method, and analysis

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are innovative advanced nuclear reactors that utilize nuclear fuel by dissolving it in a high-temperature liquid salt. This unique feature differentiates MSRs from other types of reactors and allows for enhanced safety and economic performance. The liquid fuel also entails several multiphysics effects that can complicate reactor design and operation. One primary effect termed here as depletion-driven thermochemistry is a driving force in altering the multiphysics behavior of the reactor. Essentially, depletion-driven thermochemistry is the effect that fuel depletion has on changing the chemical redox potential of the fuel salt over time. As the fuel is consumed, the redox potential shifts toward a more oxidizing state. Without active control, the changing chemistry due to depletion increases corrosion thereby limiting reactor component lifetimes. Additionally, the changing redox potential of the fuel salt alters the vapor pressures of chemical species dissolved in the fuel salt. Changing vapor pressures of species in the fuel salt is an important parameter to understand when off-gassing volatile species during normal reactor operation, and for source term characterization during accident scenario transients. The present work represents a fundamental step toward modeling and coupling the driving physics (i.e., neutronics and chemistry) involved in altering the redox potential in an MSR. Here, the neutronic code Griffin models the depletion of the fuel-salt system, while the chemical equilibrium code Thermochimica calculates the thermochemical state of the isotopic inventory, using the Molten Salt Thermodynamic Database - Thermochemical (MSTDB-TC). These two codes are tightly coupled to predict the impact of fuel depletion in altering the chemistry in MSR systems. Redox potential control methods are discussed and can be modeled using this multiphysics approach. The vapor pressures of chemical species that could be extracted to an off-gas system, as determined by the reactor’s thermochemical state, are examined. The neutronics-chemistry coupling developed in this work is expected to have potential application for analyzing corrosion, source term evolution, and material safeguards in MSR systems. Lastly, suggestions for areas of further improvements of the models to expand these capabilities by incorporating other coupled physics effects is provided.

Walker, Samuel A.↗

Overview of the NCC

A multi-disciplinary design/analysis tool for combustion systems is critical for optimizing the low-emission, high-performance combustor design process. Based on discussions between then NASA Lewis Research Center and the jet engine companies, an industry-government team was formed in early 1995 to develop the National Combustion Code (NCC), which is an integrated system of computer codes for the design and analysis of combustion systems. NCC has advanced features that address the need to meet designer's requirements such as "assured accuracy", "fast turnaround", and "acceptable cost". The NCC development team is comprised of Allison Engine Company (Allison), CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC), GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE), NASA Glenn Research Center (LeRC), and Pratt & Whitney (P&W). The "unstructured mesh" capability and "parallel computing" are fundamental features of NCC from its inception. The NCC system is composed of a set of "elements" which includes grid generator, main flow solver, turbulence module, turbulence and chemistry interaction module, chemistry module, spray module, radiation heat transfer module, data visualization module, and a post-processor for evaluating engine performance parameters. Each element may have contributions from several team members. Such a multi-source multi-element system needs to be integrated in a way that facilitates inter-module data communication, flexibility in module selection, and ease of integration. The development of the NCC beta version was essentially completed in June 1998. Technical details of the NCC elements are given in the Reference List. Elements such as the baseline flow solver, turbulence module, and the chemistry module, have been extensively validated; and their parallel performance on large-scale parallel systems has been evaluated and optimized. However the scalar PDF module and the Spray module, as well as their coupling with the baseline flow solver, were developed in a small-scale distributed computing environment. As a result, the validation of the NCC beta version as a whole was quite limited. Current effort has been focused on the validation of the integrated code and the evaluation/optimization of its overall performance on large-scale parallel systems.

Liu, Nan-Suey↗

Prediction and Enhancement of Thermal Protection Systems from Meteoroid Damage using a Smooth Particle Hydrodynamic Code

Interplanetary spacecraft are exposed to meteoroid fluxes that range in speeds from 10 to 72 km/sec, far above the capability of today’s test facilities to provide predictions for the likelihood of spacecraft critical penetration. Of special interest are sample return missions, which (though protected by shielding) must often survive years of exposure to the meteoroid environment in order to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere with their scientific cargo. This paper describes the simulation of meteoric material damage to thermal protection systems (TPS) housed beneath protective “garage” (shielding) enclosures using the Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics Code (SPHC) operated by the Institute for Defense Analyses and Stellingwerf Consulting in support of ongoing NASA tasks. The study outlined in this paper considered the impact effect of both meteoric materials such as iron, ice, and chondrites (dunnite), and non-meteoric materials such as aluminum and nylon against both external shielding materials (single and dual aluminum bumpers) and Heat shield for Extreme Entry Environments Technology (HEEET) TPS materials, used alone and in conjunction with shielding. A general predictive damage equation to HEEET TPS is developed from these SPHC simulations for velocities up to 70 km/sec.

Hypervelocity Impact, hydrocode, meteoroid and orb↗

Code For Analysis Of Wing-And-Flap Systems

SUBAERF2 program developed to provide for analysis of subsonic aerodynamics and design by iteration of low-speed wing/flap systems. Based on linearized-theory lifting-surface solution but also accounts for some nonlinear characteristics. Effects of leading- and trailing-edge flaps included. New and improved version of programs described in LAR-13116 and LAR-12987, and replaces both of them. Written in FORTRAN V.

Darden, Christine M.↗

A 2-D Interface Element for Coupled Analysis of Independently Modeled 3-D Finite Element Subdomains

Over the past few years, the development of the interface technology has provided an analysis framework for embedding detailed finite element models within finite element models which are less refined. This development has enabled the use of cascading substructure domains without the constraint of coincident nodes along substructure boundaries. The approach used for the interface element is based on an alternate variational principle often used in deriving hybrid finite elements. The resulting system of equations exhibits a high degree of sparsity but gives rise to a non-positive definite system which causes difficulties with many of the equation solvers in general-purpose finite element codes. Hence the global system of equations is generally solved using, a decomposition procedure with pivoting. The research reported to-date for the interface element includes the one-dimensional line interface element and two-dimensional surface interface element. Several large-scale simulations, including geometrically nonlinear problems, have been reported using the one-dimensional interface element technology; however, only limited applications are available for the surface interface element. In the applications reported to-date, the geometry of the interfaced domains exactly match each other even though the spatial discretization within each domain may be different. As such, the spatial modeling of each domain, the interface elements and the assembled system is still laborious. The present research is focused on developing a rapid modeling procedure based on a parametric interface representation of independently defined subdomains which are also independently discretized.

Kandil, Osama A.↗

Systems and methods for architecture-independent binary code analysis

Binaries configured for execution within respective computing environments may be disassembled into architecture-specific intermediate (AIL) representations. The AIL representations may be converted into canonical intermediate language (CIL) representations. The CIL representations may comprise normalized, architecture-independent code configured to characterize functionality of respective components of a binary (e.g., respective functions or the like). Feature vectors may be extracted from the CIL representations. The feature vectors may be used to identify components of respective binaries, assign security classifications to the binaries, and/or the like.

Haile, Jedediah T.↗

CLIPS template system for program understanding

Program understanding is a subfield of software reengineering and attempts to recognize the run-time behavior of source code. To this point, success in this area has been limited to very small code segments. An expert system, HLAR (High-Level Algorithm Recognizer), has been written in CLIPS and recognizes three sorting algorithms, selection sort, quicksort, and heapsort. This paper describes the HLAR system in general and, in depth, the CLIPS templates used for program representation and understanding.

Finkbine, Ronald B.↗

Virtual prototyping of liquid metal blanket performance in fusion pilot plant

Liquid metal blanket is a dominant design option for the next step fusion devices responsible for harvesting energy from fusion reaction, and simultaneously producing fuel for the same reaction through tritium breeding. Liquid metal blankets introduce additional complexity to the design due to fluid motion, fluid structure interaction, and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects arising from the motion of the conducting fluid through the magnetic field. They are also directly affected by the plasma heat flux and neutronic fluence. PPPL is currently developing a virtual prototyping system for numerical analysis of the liquid metal blankets for future fusion devices. The system has a customized 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code in its core, allowing MHD flow and conjugate heat transfer analysis in blankets fluids and solids. The code was successfully used before for dual coolant blanket analysis [A. Khodak et al., Fusion Eng. and Des. 137 (2018)]. Recently the same code was modified to allow verified simulation of MHD flows at high Hartmann numbers of several thousand typical for blanket applications. CFD code receives volumetric heat source distribution from the neutronic analysis based on MCNP code. In addition, direct tritium breeding simulation will be performed allowing optimization of the blanket performance. 2D axisymmetric version of neutronics code will be used for rapid optimization, with 3D version employed for detailed analysis. The surface heat distribution on the plasma facing wall will be defined by the software HEAT allowing 3D modeling of the heat flux based on the magnetic field distribution including gyro-orbit effects. Results of thermal analysis are imported into structural analysis code also included in the system. Finally, direct import of CAD geometry will be used for analyzing all components and as a result design option can be efficiently optimized.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

A VLSI single chip (255,223) Reed-Solomon encoder

A description of a working single chip implementation of a Reed-Solomon encoder. The code used is the Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems (CCSDS) standard (255,223) code. The architecture that leads to this single very large scale integration chip design makes use of a bit-serial finite field multiplication algorithm of E. R. Berlekamp.

Deutsch, L. J.↗

Computational fluid dynamics at the Lewis Research Center: An overview

Lewis is a multidisciplinary Center with strong research and development programs in aeronautical and space propulsion, power, space communications, space experiments and materials. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is playing an important and growing role in most of these areas. Described here is how CFD is integrated into these programs and highlights elements of the CFD activities. Examples are presented of codes developed to predict flow fields in advanced propulsion systems and several of the code validation experiments are described. The CFD effort at Lewis ranges from basic research on new and improved algorithms through code development to the application of these codes to specific engineering problems. Because of the substantial improvement in CFD's predictive capability, its use at Lewis is on a steep growth path, spreading rapidly into new areas which had not traditionally taken advantage of the techniques of numerical simulation. Multidisciplinary codes and the future direction of CFD at Lewis are discussed.

Stubbs, Robert M.↗

Summary report of mission acceleration measurements for Spacehab-01, STS-57 launched 21 June 1993

The maiden voyage of the commercial Spacehab laboratory module onboard the STS-57 mission was integrated with several accelerometer packages, one of which was the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS). The June 21st 1993, launch was the seventh successful mission for the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Application's (OLMSA) SAMS unit. This flight was also complemented by a second accelerometer system. The Three Dimensional Microgravity Accelerometer (3-DMA), a Code C funded acceleration measurement system, offering an on-orbit residual calibration as a reference for the unit's four triaxial accelerometers. The SAMS accelerometer unit utilized three remote triaxial sensor heads mounted on the forward Spacehab module bulkhead and on one centrally located experiment locker door. These triaxial heads had filter cut-offs set to 5, 50, and 1000 Hz. The mission also included other experiment specific accelerometer packages in various locations.

Finley, Brian↗

Potential digitization/compression techniques for Shuttle video

The Space Shuttle initially will be using a field-sequential color television system but it is possible that an NTSC color TV system may be used for future missions. In addition to downlink color TV transmission via analog FM links, the Shuttle will use a high resolution slow-scan monochrome system for uplink transmission of text and graphics information. This paper discusses the characteristics of the Shuttle video systems, and evaluates digitization and/or bandwidth compression techniques for the various links. The more attractive techniques for the downlink video are based on a two-dimensional DPCM encoder that utilizes temporal and spectral as well as the spatial correlation of the color TV imagery. An appropriate technique for distortion-free coding of the uplink system utilizes two-dimensional HCK codes.

Habibi, A.↗

Fault-tolerant computation with higher-dimensional systems

Instead of a quantum computer where the fundamental units are 2-dimensional qubits, the author considers a quantum computer made up of d-dimensional systems. There is a straightforward generalization of the class of stabilizer codes to d-dimensional systems, and he discusses the theory of fault-tolerant computation using such codes. He proves that universal fault-tolerant computation is possible with any higher-dimensional stabilizer code for prime d.

CORRECTIONS↗