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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Long-time behavior of material-surface curvature in isotropic turbulence

The behavior at large times of the curvature of material elements in turbulence is investigated using Lagrangian velocity-gradient time series obtained from direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence. The main objectives are: to study the asymptotic behavior of the pdf curvature as a function of initial curvature and shape; and to establish whether the curvature of an initially plane material element goes to a stationary probability distribution. The evidence available in the literature about the asymptotic curvature-pdf of initially flat surfaces is ambiguous, and the conjecture is that it is quasi-stationary. In this work several material-element ensembles of different initial curvatures and shapes are studied. It is found that, at long times the moments of the logarithm of curvature are independent of the initial pdf of curvature. This, it is argued, supports the view that the curvature attains a stationary distribution at long times. It is also shown that, irrespective of initial shape or curvature, the shape of any material element at long times is cylindrical with a high probability.

Girimaji, S. S.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hamiltonian Control for Coupled Bending-Torsion Motion of a Swept Wing With R. T. Jones' Approximation

This paper presents distributed Hamiltonian control design approach for a Lagrangian infinite-dimensional system describing the coupled bending-torsion motion of a swept wing in unsteady airflow, which is taken into account using Theodorsen's complex valued function of reduced frequency. An implementable flutter suppressing control surface deflection commands are obtained using modes separation and R.T. Jones's approximation, and were validated in desktop simulations for flight conditions beyond the flutter airspeed.

Vahram Stepanyan↗
NASA NTRS1989

Nonlinear finite element formulation for the large displacement analysis in multibody system dynamics

A total Lagrangian finite element formulation for the deformable bodies in multibody mechanical systems that undergo finite relative rotations is developed. The deformable bodies are discretized using finite element methods. The shape functions that are used to describe the displacement field are required to include the rigid body modes that describe only large translational displacements. This does not impose any limitations on the technique because most commonly used shape functions satisfy this requirement. The configuration of an element is defined using four sets of coordinate systems: Body, Element, Intermediate element, Global. The body coordinate system serves as a unique standard for the assembly of the elements forming the deformable body. The element coordinate system is rigidly attached to the element and therefore it translates and rotates with the element. The intermediate element coordinate system, whose axes are initially parallel to the element axes, has an origin which is rigidly attached to the origin of the body coordinate system and is used to conveniently describe the configuration of the element in undeformed state with respect to the body coordinate system.

Rismantab-Sany, J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

General field evaluation in high-order meshes on GPUs

Robust and scalable function evaluation at any arbitrary point in the finite/spectral element mesh is required for querying the partial differential equation solution at points of interest, comparison of solution between different meshes, and Lagrangian particle tracking. This is a challenging problem, particularly for high-order unstructured meshes partitioned in parallel with MPI, as it requires identifying the element that overlaps a given point and computing the corresponding reference space coordinates. Here, we present a robust and efficient technique for general field evaluation in large-scale high-order meshes with quadrilaterals and hexahedra. In the proposed method, a combination of globally partitioned and processor-local maps are used to first determine a list of candidate MPI ranks, and then locally candidate elements that could contain a given point. Next, element-wise bounding boxes further reduce the list of candidate elements. Finally, Newton’s method with trust region is used to determine the overlapping element and corresponding reference space coordinates. Since GPU-based architectures have become popular for accelerating computational analyses using meshes with tensor-product elements, specialized kernels have been developed to utilize the proposed methodology on GPUs. The method is also extended to enable general field evaluation on surface meshes. The paper concludes by demonstrating the use of the proposed method in various applications ranging from mesh-to-mesh transfer during r-adaptivity to Lagrangian particle tracking.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2005

Simulations of Evaporating Multicomponent Fuel Drops

A paper presents additional information on the subject matter of Model of Mixing Layer With Multicomponent Evaporating Drops (NPO-30505), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 3 (March 2004), page 55. To recapitulate: A mathematical model of a three-dimensional mixing layer laden with evaporating fuel drops composed of many chemical species has been derived. The model is used to perform direct numerical simulations in continuing studies directed toward understanding the behaviors of sprays of liquid petroleum fuels in furnaces, industrial combustors, and engines. The model includes governing equations formulated in an Eulerian and a Lagrangian reference frame for the gas and drops, respectively, and incorporates a concept of continuous thermodynamics, according to which the chemical composition of a fuel is described by use of a distribution function. In this investigation, the distribution function depends solely on the species molar weight. The present paper reiterates the description of the model and discusses further in-depth analysis of the previous results as well as results of additional numerical simulations assessing the effect of the mass loading. The paper reiterates the conclusions reported in the cited previous article, and states some new conclusions. Some new conclusions are: 1. The slower evaporation and the evaporation/ condensation process for multicomponent-fuel drops resulted in a reduced drop-size polydispersity compared to their single-component counterpart. 2. The inhomogeneity in the spatial distribution of the species in the layer increases with the initial mass loading. 3. As evaporation becomes faster, the assumed invariant form of the molecular- weight distribution during evaporation becomes inaccurate.

Bellan, Josette↗
NASA NTRS1995

Dissipative MHD solutions for resonant Alfven waves in 1-dimensional magnetic flux tubes

The present paper extends the analysis by Sakurai, Goossens, and Hollweg (1991) on resonant Alfven waves in nonuniform magnetic flux tubes. It proves that the fundamental conservation law for resonant Alfven waves found in ideal MHD by Sakurai, Goossens, and Hollweg remains valid in dissipative MHD. This guarantees that the jump conditions of Sakurai, Goossens, and Hollweg, that connect the ideal MHD solutions for xi(sub r), and P' across the dissipative layer, are correct. In addition, the present paper replaces the complicated dissipative MHD solutions obtained by Sakurai, Goossens, and Hollweg for xi(sub r), and P' in terms of double integrals of Hankel functions of complex argument of order 1/3 with compact analytical solutions that allow a straight- forward mathematical and physical interpretation. Finally, it presents an analytical dissipative MHD solution for the component of the Lagrangian displacement in the magnetic surfaces perpen- dicular to the magnetic field lines xi(sub perpendicular) which enables us to determine the dominant dynamics of resonant Alfven waves in dissipative MHD.

Goossens, Marcel↗
NASA NTRS1972

Turbulent transport measurements with a laser Doppler velocimeter

The power spectrum of phototube current from a laser Doppler velocimeter operating in the heterodyne mode has been computed. The spectrum is obtained in terms of the space time correlation function of the fluid. The spectral width and shape predicted by the theory are in agreement with experiment. For normal operating parameters the time average spectrum contains information only for times shorter than the Lagrangian integral time scale of the turbulence. To examine the long time behavior, one must use either extremely small scattering angles, much longer wavelength radiation or a different mode of signal analysis, e.g., FM detection.

Edwards, R. V.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Semi-Lagrangian nodal discontinuous Galerkin method for the BGK model

In this work, we propose a semi-Lagrangian (SL) nodal discontinuous Galerkin (DG) solver for the BGK equation. The BGK model was introduced by Bhatnagar, Gross, and Krook [1] as a relaxation model for the fundamental Boltzmann equation [5], which describes the kinetic dynamic of rarefied gases with a probability distribution function. The challenges of designing efficient numerical schemes for the Boltzmann equation mainly come from its high dimensionality and complicated nonlinear collision operator. The BGK model gains interests since it has much lower computational cost, due to the relatively simple structure of the relaxation operator in replacement of the collision operator, while simultaneously preserving several important physical properties, such as macroscopic quantities and dissipation of entropy.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2004

LSPRAY-II: A Lagrangian Spray Module

LSPRAY-II is a Lagrangian spray solver developed for application with parallel computing and unstructured grids. It is designed to be massively parallel and could easily be coupled with any existing gas-phase flow and/or Monte Carlo Probability Density Function (PDF) solvers. The solver accommodates the use of an unstructured mesh with mixed elements of either triangular, quadrilateral, and/or tetrahedral type for the gas flow grid representation. It is mainly designed to predict the flow, thermal and transport properties of a rapidly vaporizing spray because of its importance in aerospace application. The manual provides the user with an understanding of various models involved in the spray formulation, its code structure and solution algorithm, and various other issues related to parallelization and its coupling with other solvers. With the development of LSPRAY-II, we have advanced the state-of-the-art in spray computations in several important ways.

Raju, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS2008

LSPRAY-III: A Lagrangian Spray Module

LSPRAY-III is a Lagrangian spray solver developed for application with parallel computing and unstructured grids. It is designed to be massively parallel and could easily be coupled with any existing gas-phase flow and/or Monte Carlo Probability Density Function (PDF) solvers. The solver accommodates the use of an unstructured mesh with mixed elements of either triangular, quadrilateral, and/or tetrahedral type for the gas flow grid representation. It is mainly designed to predict the flow, thermal and transport properties of a rapidly vaporizing spray because of its importance in aerospace application. The manual provides the user with an understanding of various models involved in the spray formulation, its code structure and solution algorithm, and various other issues related to parallelization and its coupling with other solvers. With the development of LSPRAY-III, we have advanced the state-of-the-art in spray computations in several important ways.

Raju, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

LSPRAY-IV: A Lagrangian Spray Module

LSPRAY-IV is a Lagrangian spray solver developed for application with parallel computing and unstructured grids. It is designed to be massively parallel and could easily be coupled with any existing gas-phase flow and/or Monte Carlo Probability Density Function (PDF) solvers. The solver accommodates the use of an unstructured mesh with mixed elements of either triangular, quadrilateral, and/or tetrahedral type for the gas flow grid representation. It is mainly designed to predict the flow, thermal and transport properties of a rapidly vaporizing spray. Some important research areas covered as a part of the code development are: (1) the extension of combined CFD/scalar-Monte- Carlo-PDF method to spray modeling, (2) the multi-component liquid spray modeling, and (3) the assessment of various atomization models used in spray calculations. The current version contains the extension to the modeling of superheated sprays. The manual provides the user with an understanding of various models involved in the spray formulation, its code structure and solution algorithm, and various other issues related to parallelization and its coupling with other solvers.

Raju, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Combined Experimental and Numerical Simulations of Thermal Barrier Coated Turbine Blades Erosion

A combined experimental and computational study was conducted to investigate the erosion of thermal barrier coated (TBC) blade surfaces by alumina particles ingestion in a single stage turbine. In the experimental investigation, tests of particle surface interactions were performed in specially designed tunnels to determine the erosion rates and particle restitution characteristics under different impact conditions. The experimental results show that the erosion rates increase with increased impingement angle, impact velocity and temperature. In the computational simulations, an Euler-Lagrangian two stage approach is used in obtaining numerical solutions to the three-dimensional compressible Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations and the particles equations of motion in each blade passage reference frame. User defined functions (UDF) were developed to represent experimentally-based correlations for particle surface interaction models which were employed in the three-dimensional particle trajectory simulations to determine the particle rebound characteristics after each surface impact. The experimentally based erosion UDF model was used to predict the TBC erosion rates on the turbine blade surfaces based on the computed statistical data of the particles impact locations, velocities and angles relative to the blade surface. Computational results are presented for the predicted TBC blade erosion in a single stage commercial APU turbine, for a NASA designed automotive turbine, and for the NASA turbine scaled for modern rotorcraft operating conditions. The erosion patterns in the turbines are discussed for uniform particle ingestion and for particle ingestion concentrated in the inner and outer 5 percent of the stator blade span representing the flow cooling the combustor liner.

Hamed, Awate↗
NASA NTRS1973

Advanced control concepts

The problems of excess control devices and insufficient trim control capability on shuttle ascent vehicles were investigated. The trim problem is solved at all time points of interest using Lagrangian multipliers and a Simplex based iterative algorithm developed as a result of the study. This algorithm has the capability to solve any bounded linear problem with physically realizable constraints, and to minimize any piecewise differentiable cost function. Both solution methods also automatically distribute the command torques to the control devices. It is shown that trim requirements are unrealizable if only the orbiter engines and the aerodynamic surfaces are used.

Sharp, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A study of the sources and sinks of methane and methyl chloroform using a global three-dimensional Lagrangian tropospheric tracer transport model

Sources and sinks of methane and methyl chloroform are investigated using a global three-dimensional Lagrangian tropospheric tracer transport model with parameterized hydroxyl and temperature fields. Using the hydroxyl radical field calibrated to the methyl chloroform observations, the globally averaged release of methane and its spatial and temporal distribution were investigated. Two source function models of the spatial and temporal distribution of the flux of methane to the atmosphere were developed. The first model was based on the assumption that methane is emitted as a proportion of net primary productivity (NPP). The second model identified source regions for methane from rice paddies, wetlands, enteric fermentation, termites, and biomass burning based on high-resolution land use data. The most significant difference between the two models were predictions of methane fluxes over China and South East Asia, the location of most of the world's rice paddies, indicating that either the assumption that a uniform fraction of NPP is converted to methane is not valid for rice paddies, or that NPP is underestimated for rice paddies, or that present methane emission estimates from rice paddies are too high.

Taylor, John A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Distributed Optimization

We demonstrate a new framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems, by solving constrained optimization problems with an algorithm based on that framework. The framework is ar. information-theoretic extension of conventional full-rationality game theory to allow bounded rational agents. The associated optimization algorithm is a game in which agents control the variables of the optimization problem. They do this by jointly minimizing a Lagrangian of (the probability distribution of) their joint state. The updating of the Lagrange parameters in that Lagrangian is a form of automated annealing, one that focuses the multi-agent system on the optimal pure strategy. We present computer experiments for the k-sat constraint satisfaction problem and for unconstrained minimization of NK functions.

Macready, William↗
NASA NTRS2006

Direct Numerical Simulation of Transitional Multicomponent-Species Gaseous and Multicomponent-Liquid Drop-Laden Mixing

A model of multicomponent-liquid (MC-liquid) drop evaporation in a three-dimensional mixing layer is here exercised at larger Reynolds numbers than in a previous study, and transitional states are obtained. The gas phase is followed in an Eulerian frame and the multitude of drops is described in a Lagrangian frame. Complete coupling between phases is included with source terms in the gas conservation equations accounting for the drop/flow interaction in terms of drop drag, drop heating and species evaporation. The liquid composition, initially specified as a single-Gamma (SG) probability distribution function (PDF) depending on the molar mass is allowed to evolve into a linear combination of two SGPDFs, called the double-Gamma PDF (DGPDF). The compositions of liquid and vapor emanating from the drops are calculated through four moments of the DGPDFs, which are drop-specific and location-specific, respectively. The mixing layer is initially excited to promote the double pairing of its four initial spanwise vortices into an ultimate vortex in which small scales proliferate. Simulations are performed for four liquids of different compositions and the effect of the initial mass loading and initial free-stream gas temperature are explored. For reference, Simulations are also performed for gaseous multicomponent mixing layers for which the effect of Reynolds number is investigated. The results encompass examination of the global layer characteristics, flow visualizations and homogeneous-plane statistics at transition. Comparisons are performed with previous pre-transitional MC-liquid simulations and with transitional single-component (SC) liquid studies. It is found that MCC flows at transition, the classical energy cascade is of similar strength, but that the smallest scales contain orders of magnitude less energy than SC flows, which is confirmed by the larger viscous dissipation in the former case. Contrasting to pre-transitional MC flows, the vorticity and drop organization depend on the initial gas temperature, this being due to the drop/turbulence coupling. The vapor-composition mean molar mass and standard deviation distributions strongly correlate with the initial liquid-composition PDF; such a correlation only exists for the magnitude of the mean but not for that of the standard deviation. Unlike in pre-transitional situations, regions of large composition standard deviation no longer necessarily coincide with regions of large mean molar mass. The kinetic energy, rotational and composition characteristics, and dissipation are liquid specific and the variation among liquids is amplified with increasing free-stream gas temperature. Eulerian and Lagrangian statistics of gas-phase quantities show that the different. Observation framework may affect the perception of the flow characteristics. The gas composition, of which the first four moments are calculated, is shown to be close to, but distinct from a SGPDF. The PDF of the scalar dissipation rate is calculated for drop-laden layers and is shown to depart more significantly from the typically assumed Gaussian in gaseous flows than experimentally measured gaseous scalar dissipation rates, this being attributed to the increased heterogeneity due to drop/flow interactions.

tubulent multicompenent-species↗
DOE OSTI2025

AIVT: Inference of turbulent thermal convection from measured 3D velocity data by physics-informed Kolmogorov-Arnold networks

We propose the artificial intelligence velocimetry-thermometry (AIVT) method to reconstruct a continuous and differentiable representation of the temperature and velocity in turbulent convection from measured three-dimensional (3D) velocity data. AIVT is based on physics-informed Kolmogorov-Arnold networks and trained by optimizing a loss function that minimizes residuals of the velocity data, boundary conditions, and governing equations. We apply AIVT to a set of simultaneously measured 3D temperature and velocity data of Rayleigh-Bénard convection, obtained by combining particle image thermometry and Lagrangian particle tracking. This enables us to directly compare machine learning results to true volumetric, simultaneous temperature and velocity measurements. We demonstrate that AIVT can reconstruct and infer continuous, instantaneous velocity and temperature fields and their gradients from sparse experimental data at a high resolution, providing an additional approach for understanding thermal turbulence.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
NASA NTRS1983

Effect of particle presence on the incompressible inviscid flow through a two dimensional compressor cascade

A computational model for calculating the flow field, in the presence of solid particles, through a two dimensional compressor cascade is presented. The method treats the particle phase in the Lagrangian system and the fluid phase in the Eulerian system. The equations of momentum of the fluid phase are modified to account for the momentum exchange between the two phases. The resulting modified momentum and continuity equations are reduced to the conventional stream function-vorticity formulation. The analysis yields the change in the blade surface pressure distribution, the total pressure and velocity in the flow field. Based on this, it is possible to predict the decrease in compressor performance under the presence of particles.

Balan, C.↗