SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “flow physics”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,279 records · Page 71

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1999

Implicit and Multigrid Method for Ideal Multigrid Convergence: Direct Numerical Simulation of Separated Flow Around NACA 0012 Airfoil

Numerical investigation of flow separation over a NACA 0012 airfoil at large angles of attack has been carried out. The numerical calculation is performed by solving the full Navier-Stokes equations in generalized curvilinear coordinates. The second-order LU-SGS implicit scheme is applied for time integration. This scheme requires no tridiagonal inversion and is capable of being completely vectorized, provided the corresponding Jacobian matrices are properly selected. A fourth-order centered compact scheme is used for spatial derivatives. In order to reduce numerical oscillation, a sixth-order implicit filter is employed. Non-reflecting boundary conditions are imposed at the far-field and outlet boundaries to avoid possible non-physical wave reflection. Complex flow separation and vortex shedding phenomenon have been observed and discussed.

Liu, Chao-Qun↗

DOE OSTI2020

Calibration of reactive burn and Jones-Wilkins-Lee parameters for simulations of a detonation-driven flow experiment with uncertainty quantification

Here, uncertainties in the explosive-specific parameters of the Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation of state (EOS) are carefully considered in hydrodynamic simulations of an explosive experiment to minimize the error in the flow prediction. Experimental data of the leading shock position in the transverse direction over time serves as the prediction metric for quantifying simulation prediction error. The uncertainty quantification technique, global sensitivity analysis, is utilized to determine the JWL parameters to which the transverse shock propagation is most sensitive. A polynomial response surface (PRS) is constructed in the space of the most influential JWL parameters, and the point of minimum error between the experimental data and the PRS yields calibrated JWL parameters for the experimental flow. The simulation results following the parameter calibration show good agreement with the experimental data. It was found that two significant parameters, the heat release per unit mass of reactant Q and JWL model exponent R 1 are strongly related, which makes it difficult to identify accurate values.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

Symmetric-asymmetric collision comparison: Disentangling nuclear structure and subnucleonic structure effects for small system flow

Previous flow measurements in small collision systems were mostly based on highly asymmetric collisions (p+Pb, p+Au, d+Au, 3 He+Au), where both nuclear structure and subnucleonic fluctuations are important. Comparing these asymmetric systems with the newly available symmetric 16 O+ 16 O collisions at RHIC and LHC provides a unique opportunity to disentangle these two contributions. Using Glauber models incorporating both nucleon and quark-level substructure, we analyze multiplicity distributions and initial-state estimators: eccentricities ε n for anisotropic flow ν n and inverse transverse size d ⟂ for radial flow. We find that subnucleonic fluctuations impact O+O collisions differently from asymmetric systems, creating specific patterns in flow observables that enable disentangling the competing contributions. Such experimental comparisons will reduce uncertainties in the initial conditions and improve our understanding of the properties of the QGP-like medium produced in small systems.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Probing nuclear structure of heavy ions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We perform high-statistics simulations to study the impacts of nuclear structure on the ratios of anisotropic flow observables in 208 Pb + 208 Pb and 129 Xe + 129 Xe collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Even with 40% difference in atomic numbers between 208 Pb and 129 Xe nuclei, the ratios of anisotropic flow in the same centrality class between the two collision systems are strongly affected by the nuclear structure inputs in the initial state. The ratios of v 2 ⁡{4}/v 2 ⁡{2} in these collisions are sensitive to the nuclear skin thickness of the colliding nuclei, providing indirect constraints on the nuclei's neutron skin. In conclusion, our model predictions serve as a benchmark to compare with experimental measurements.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2018

Charging of Macroparticles in a Corona Discharge in an Air Flow

The charging of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} macroparticles with dimensions ranging from 20 to 40 μm in a gas flow passing through a multielectrode corona discharge is investigated. The corona discharge is produced by a system of wire electrodes arranged across the gas flow. The particle charge and mass are measured using a linear electrodynamic trap. For a corona voltage of 18 kV, the average charge-to-mass ratio is found to be 1.69 × 10{sup 13}e/g for particles charged in the positive corona and 1.35 × 10{sup 13}e/g for particles charged in the negative corona.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Harnessing the Digital Transformation for Development of Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Control Systems

Hybrid electric aircraft propulsion is an emerging technology that presents a variety of potential benefits along with technical integration challenges. Developing these new propulsion architectures with their complex control systems, and ultimately proving their benefit, is a multistep process that goes from concept, to analysis, to dynamic simulation, to hardware in the loop testing, to full scale testing and beyond. This effort is being revolutionized and indeed enabled by new digital tools that support the increasing technology readiness level throughout the maturation process. NASA has developed and made available a suite of digital tools that ease the path from concept to implementation. The three packages are the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS), the Electrical Modeling and Thermal Analysis Toolbox (EMTAT), and the Thermal Systems Analysis Toolbox (TSAT). These tools are interactive, complementary, and compatible with each other. T-MATS is a modular thermodynamic modeling framework designed for creating custom component level models of jet engines. EMTAT is a modeling framework used to simulate a variety of power electronic devices, using both physics-based and power flow calculations. TSAT is a framework for modeling and analysis of dynamic heat transfer. These packages all consist of graphical, drag-and-drop, parameterizable building blocks representing various components of the system to be modeled, e.g., compressors, turbines, motors, energy storage devices, etc. They are designed to enable the user to model and simulate the end-to-end dynamic operation of a hybrid powertrain at the timescale of the turbomachinery, capturing mechanical, electrical, and thermal interactions. This paper will describe through multiple examples how these tools have been used successfully in several of the early stages of hybrid electric propulsion system development, from the initial system modeling to real-time interactive pilot-in-the-loop simulation to physical hardware-in-the-loop testing, each step bringing the technology closer to fruition.

Hybrid electric propulsion↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Harnessing the Digital Transformation for Development of Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion Control Systems

Electrified Propulsion↗

DOE OSTI2018

Effects of retarded electrical fields on observables sensitive to the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

Within the isospin- and momentum-dependent transport model IBUU11, we examine here the relativistic retardation effects of electrical fields on the π - / π + ratio and neutron-proton differential transverse flow in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies. Compared to the static Coulomb fields, the retarded electric fields of fast-moving charges are known to be anisotropic and the associated relativistic corrections can be significant. They are found to increase the number of energetic protons in the participant region at the maximum compression by as much as 25% but that of energetic neutrons by less than 10% in 197 Au + 197 Au reactions at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon. Consequently, more π + and relatively fewer π - mesons are produced, leading to an appreciable reduction of the π - / π + ratio compared to calculations with the static Coulomb fields. Also, the neutron-proton differential transverse flow, as another sensitive probe of high-density symmetry energy, is also decreased appreciably due to the stronger retarded electrical fields in directions perpendicular to the velocities of fast-moving charges compared to calculations using the isotropic static electrical fields. Moreover, the retardation effects on these observables are found to be approximately independent of the reaction impact parameter.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Velocity Measurements in Channel Gas Flows in the Slip Regime by means of Molecular Tagging Velocimetry

Direct measurements of the slip velocity in rarefied gas flows produced by local thermodynamic non-equilibrium at the wall represent crucial information for the validation of existing theoretical and numerical models. In this work, molecular tagging velocimetry (MTV) by direct phosphorescence is applied to argon and helium flows at low pressures in a 1-mm deep channel. MTV has provided accurate measurements of the molecular displacement of the gas at average pressures of the order of 1 kPa. To the best of our knowledge, this work reports the very first flow visualizations of a gas in a confined domain and in the slip flow regime, with Knudsen numbers up to 0.014. MTV is cross-validated with mass flowrate measurements by the constant volume technique. The two diagnostic methods are applied simultaneously, and the measurements in terms of average velocity at the test section are in good agreement. Moreover, preliminary results of the slip velocity at the wall are computed from the MTV data by means of a reconstruction method

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Measurements of 3D slip velocities and plasma column lengths of a gliding arc discharge

A non-thermal gliding arc discharge was generated at atmospheric pressure in an air flow. The dynamics of the plasma column and tracer particles were recorded using two synchronized high-speed cameras. Whereas the data analysis for such systems has previously been performed in 2D (analyzing the single camera image), we provide here a 3D data analysis that includes 3D reconstructions of the plasma column and 3D particle tracking velocimetry based on discrete tomography methods. The 3D analysis, in particular, the determination of the 3D slip velocity between the plasma column and the gas flow, gives more realistic insight into the convection cooling process. Additionally, with the determination of the 3D slip velocity and the 3D length of the plasma column, we give more accurate estimates for the drag force, the electric field strength, the power per unit length, and the radius of the conducting zone of the plasma column.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2019

Collision system and beam energy dependence of anisotropic flow fluctuations

New measurements of elliptic flow from two- and four-particle correlations are used to investigate flow fluctuations in collisions of U+U at √ s NN = 193 GeV, Cu+Au at √ s NN = 200 GeV and Au+Au at several beam energies. These measurements highlight the dependence of these fluctuations on the event shape, system size and beam energy and indicate a dominant role for initial-state-driven fluctuations. These measurements could provide further constraints for initial-state models, as well as for precision extraction of the temperature-dependent specific shear viscosity η/s( T ).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

(Project 18-15502) Reducing Uncertainty in Radionuclide Transport Prediction Using Multiple Environmental Tracers (Final Report)

In order to successfully site and design a nuclear waste disposal facility, DOE scientists are required to show safe containment of the radioactive waste for up to 1 million years. A significant hurdle to accurately and convincingly demonstrating disposal safety is predicting the fate of radioactive elements once they enter the groundwater system surrounding the repository. These predictions are often made with computer models, which contain accurate physics of groundwater movement and chemical reactions that occur during groundwater flow. As computer power increases, the physics and chemistry of these computer simulators can become more and more realistic and the physically based error decreases. However, the ability of these computer models to provide accurate predictions in a specific place, over long time periods, requires the scientists and engineers to know the subsurface properties of the Earth that control groundwater movement. In particular, groundwater scientists and engineers need to know the groundwater fluid velocity, which can change over time and strongly vary with location within the groundwater system. Because the Earth’s subsurface cannot be directly seen, and can only be sampled at drilling locations, the properties of the groundwater system are never known completely, and computer models of groundwater transport will always have some amount of uncertainty. This project’s principal goal was to use chemicals and isotope “tracers”, which have been introduced to the groundwater system by natural processes over long time periods, to help inform computer models of the groundwater velocity and subsurface properties. The goal was to calculate how much better predictions of groundwater transport were when these “tracers” were used to inform the computer models.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

NASA NTRS2023

Harnessing the Digital Transformation for Development of Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Control Systems

Hybrid electric aircraft propulsion is an emerging technology that presents a variety of potential benefits along with technical integration challenges. Developing these new propulsion architectures with their complex control systems, and ultimately proving their benefit, is a multistep process. This process includes concept development and analysis, dynamic simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, full-scale testing, and so on. This effort is being revolutionized and indeed enabled by new digital tools that support increasing the technology readiness level throughout the maturation process. As part of this Digital Transformation, NASA has developed a suite of publicly available digital tools that facilitate the path from concept to implementation. This paper describes the NASA-developed tools and puts them in the context of control system development for hybrid electric aircraft propulsion. The three MATLAB®-based software packages are the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS), the Electrical Modeling and Thermal Analysis Toolbox (EMTAT), and the Thermal Systems Analysis Toolbox (TSAT). These tools are interactive, complementary, and compatible with each other. T-MATS is a modular thermodynamic modeling framework designed for creating custom component level models of jet engines. EMTAT is a modeling framework used to simulate a variety of power electronic devices, using both physics-based and power flow calculations. TSAT is a framework for modeling and analysis of dynamic heat transfer. These packages all consist of graphical, drag-and-drop, parameterizable building blocks representing various components of the system to be modeled, e.g., compressors, turbines, motors, energy storage devices, etc. They are designed to enable the user to model and simulate the end-to-end dynamic operation of a hybrid electric gas turbine engine powertrain at the timescale of the turbomachinery, capturing mechanical, electrical, and thermal interactions. This paper demonstrates through multiple examples how these tools have been used successfully in a variety of applications, including several of the early stages of hybrid electric gas turbine engine propulsion system development, from the initial system modeling to real-time interactive pilot-in-the-loop simulation to physical hardware-in-the-loop testing, each step bringing the technology closer to fruition.

hybrid electric propulsion↗

DOE OSTI2021

Observation of Hydrodynamic Flows in Imploding Fusion Plasmas on the National Ignition Facility [plus supplemental information]

Inertial confinement fusion implosions designed to have minimal fluid motion at peak compression often show significant linear flows in the laboratory, attributable per simulations to percent-level imbalances in the laser drive illumination symmetry. In this work, we present experimental results which intentionally varied the mode 1 drive imbalance by up to 4% to test hydrodynamic predictions of flows and the resultant imploded core asymmetries and performance, as measured by a combination of DT neutron spectroscopy and high-resolution x-ray core imaging. Neutron yields decrease by up to 50%, and anisotropic neutron Doppler broadening increases by 20%, in agreement with simulations. Furthermore, a tracer jet from the capsule fill-tube perturbation that is entrained by the hot-spot flow confirms the average flow speeds deduced from neutron spectroscopy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Theory of mean E × B shear in a stochastic magnetic field: ambipolarity breaking and radial current

The mean E $ \times $ B shear in a stochastic magnetic field is calculated, using the radial force balance relation and transport equations. This analysis is relevant to the L → H transition with resonant magnetic perturbations, and special focus is placed upon the physics of non-ambipolar transport and radial current. The key physical process is the flow of fluctuating currents along wandering magnetic fields. The increments in poloidal and toroidal rotation, density and ion pressure are calculated. The radial envelope of the magnetic perturbations inside the plasma defines a new scale ${\ell _{{\text{env}}}}$, which is the characteristic scale of the magnetic fluctuation intensity profile. Here, the net particle outflow due to stochastic magnetic fields is calculated and is determined by the net radial current through the separatrix. Implications for the L → H transition are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Higher-order symmetry plane correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV

The correlations between event-by-event fluctuations of symmetry planes are measured in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV recorded by the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. This analysis is conducted using the Gaussian estimator technique, which is insensitive to biases from correlations between different flow amplitudes. The study presents, for the first time, the centrality dependence of correlations involving up to five different symmetry planes. The correlation strength varies depending on the harmonic order of the symmetry plane and the collision centrality. Comparisons with measurements from lower energies indicate no significant differences within uncertainties. Additionally, the results are compared with hydrodynamic model calculations. Although the model predictions provide a qualitative explanation of the experimental results, they overestimate the data for some observables. This is particularly true for correlators that are sensitive to the nonlinear response of the medium to initial-state anisotropies in the collision system. As these new correlators provide unique information—independent of flow amplitudes—their usage in future model developments can further constrain the properties of the strongly interacting matter created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Validation of DSMC results for chemically nonequilibrium air flows against measurements of the electron number density in RAM-C II flight experiment

An ionized flow around the RAM C-II vehicle in the range of altitudes from 73 to 81 km is studied by the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method with three models of chemical reactions. It is demonstrated that vibration favoring in reactions of dissociation of neutral molecules affects significantly the predicted values of plasma density in the shock layer, and good agreement between the results of experiments and DSMC computations can be achieved in terms of the plasma density as a function of the flight altitude.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

NASA NTRS2004

Investigation of Navier-Stokes Code Verification and Design Optimization

With rapid progress made in employing computational techniques for various complex Navier-Stokes fluid flow problems, design optimization problems traditionally based on empirical formulations and experiments are now being addressed with the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To be able to carry out an effective CFD-based optimization study, it is essential that the uncertainty and appropriate confidence limits of the CFD solutions be quantified over the chosen design space. The present dissertation investigates the issues related to code verification, surrogate model-based optimization and sensitivity evaluation. For Navier-Stokes (NS) CFD code verification a least square extrapolation (LSE) method is assessed. This method projects numerically computed NS solutions from multiple, coarser base grids onto a freer grid and improves solution accuracy by minimizing the residual of the discretized NS equations over the projected grid. In this dissertation, the finite volume (FV) formulation is focused on. The interplay between the xi concepts and the outcome of LSE, and the effects of solution gradients and singularities, nonlinear physics, and coupling of flow variables on the effectiveness of LSE are investigated. A CFD-based design optimization of a single element liquid rocket injector is conducted with surrogate models developed using response surface methodology (RSM) based on CFD solutions. The computational model consists of the NS equations, finite rate chemistry, and the k-6 turbulence closure. With the aid of these surrogate models, sensitivity and trade-off analyses are carried out for the injector design whose geometry (hydrogen flow angle, hydrogen and oxygen flow areas and oxygen post tip thickness) is optimized to attain desirable goals in performance (combustion length) and life/survivability (the maximum temperatures on the oxidizer post tip and injector face and a combustion chamber wall temperature). A preliminary multi-objective optimization study is carried out using a geometric mean approach. Following this, sensitivity analyses with the aid of variance-based non-parametric approach and partial correlation coefficients are conducted using data available from surrogate models of the objectives and the multi-objective optima to identify the contribution of the design variables to the objective variability and to analyze the variability of the design variables and the objectives. In summary the present dissertation offers insight into an improved coarse to fine grid extrapolation technique for Navier-Stokes computations and also suggests tools for a designer to conduct design optimization study and related sensitivity analyses for a given design problem.

Vaidyanathan, Rajkumar↗