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At least 1,333 records · Page 74

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NASA NTRS2018

A Nonlocal Progressive Damage Model for Composite Materials

Fiber reinforced composite materials are widely used in aerospace structures due to their high specific stiffness and strength. These materials exhibit complex deformation, damage and failure mechanisms under high strain rate loading conditions. Many different failure criteria have been proposed in literature to describe the damage initiation and evolution of fiber reinforced composite materials. Most of these damage models are based on a local framework. In a local framework, the material behavior is based on a point-wise constitutive relation which is independent of the effect of the surrounding points. These models include stiffness degradation when damage initiates in the material, which within a local framework leads to a highly mesh dependent result. This could be overcome using a nonlocal finite element approach. In the current work, a nonlocal formulation based on the work by Andrade et al [1] is adapted to describe composite material behavior. The LS-DYNA rate dependent progressive damage model, MAT162 is employed to detect the initiation and evolution of damage in orthotropic composite materials. This model is developed as a FORTRAN user material subroutine in the LS-DYNA environment. The results of MAT162 with and without the nonlocal formulation are compared at different mesh densities to validate the model. The numerical analysis exhibits the advantages of the nonlocal formulation.

Kodagali, Karan↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Variable Mixing Nozzle Design with Slotted Vortex Generators for Jet Noise Reduction

A new variable geometry turbofan nozzle concept is presented with the dual goals of airport noise reduction and high propulsive efficiency at cruise, while employing only a single moving part. The nozzle utilizes a number of curved vanes to function as vortex generators (VGs) during takeoff and initial climb. Streamwise vortices provide an increase in mixing between the jet and external stream, with a resulting decrease in high frequency noise generation and a noise source distribution which is more amenable to airframe-based shielding. Unlike conventional VGs, the vanes are positioned without transverse incidence, and a pressure difference across the surface of each vane is created via an adjacent slot. During high altitude flight, when nozzle efficiency concerns outweigh any preference for jet noise reduction, all slots may be closed through rotation of a slotted ring inside the nozzle. RANS-based numerical analysis is performed to calculate propulsive metrics, determine noise source characteristics and understand various design parameter sensitivities. A new formulation is developed to approximately correct computed noise intensities for any throttle adjustments required to maintain takeoff thrust, and a rough estimate of shielding effectiveness is proposed by means of integration over a spatially distributed noise source. A total of 19 different nozzle geometries are considered in the present study. Results indicate significant noise benefits at takeoff, including a 2 kHz fly-over noise reduction of roughly 2-3 dB, while allowing for less than 15% of the net thrust reduction at supersonic cruise calculated for a fixed-penetration chevron nozzle.

Jet Noise↗

NASA NTRS2017

B-plane Evolution Under Highly Non-Keplerian Dynamics

Juno is the second of a series of New Frontiers missions and was launched in 2011. The spacecraft was set en route to Jupiter, and its Jupiter Orbit Insertion occurred on 2016-07-04 after a five-year cruise in deep space. The mission phase just prior to this large maneuver is called approach. As navigation team, we were responsible for precise orbit determination of the Juno spacecraft to ensure a successful orbit insertion. To evaluate the navigation performance we employed the B-plane mapping, where the incoming hyperbolic velocity defines the plane perpendicular to it, and the time to go to hit the plane will directly map into the uncertainties of the target point. The B-plane is a convenient tool when assessing the navigation performance as it is not affected by non-linearities due to the gravitational pull of the targeted body. However, as the Jupiter Orbit Insertion approached we started to realize that the B-plane mapping uncertainties were significantly larger than expected. We found that the B-plane mapping time had tremendous influence on the covariance inflation in the B-plane. Because of the close approach distance during the Jupiter Orbit Insertion and the strong interaction with J2 spherical harmonic coefficient, the Juno dynamics were too far from a Keplerian one assumed for the B-plane mapping. We first discuss the analytical approach of the B-plane mapping uncertainty and perform a numerical analysis to isolate the components of the Juno dynamics that cause the B-plane covariance inflation.

Bordi, John↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Numerical Study of Water Ice and Molecular Contamination Build Up during JWST Deployment

This paper summarizes a recent numerical analysis of water vapor and volatile condensible material deposition on the James Webb Space Telescope from the initial orbit insertion up to 180 days post launch. The analysis utilized 17 distinct geometry files capturing observatory configuration changes during the deployment. Surface temperature was set from a time-dependent thermal analysis solution. A vapor pressure model was used to calculate the net water ice adsorption. Molecular contamination included a contribution from UV photopolymerization. The analysis predicted levels of ice and molecular accumulation were found to be within the allowable limits specified by the observatory contamination control plan.

James Webb Space Telescope↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Numerical Study of Water Ice and Molecular Contamination Build Up during JWST Deployment

James Webb Space Telescope↗

DOE OSTI2012

The Effects of the Scattering by Edge Plasma Density Fluctuations on Lower Hyybrid Wave Propagation

Scattering effects induced by edge density fluctuations on lower hybrid (LH) wave propagation are investigated. The scattering model used here is based on the work of Bonoli and Ott [Phys. Fluids 25 (1982) 361]. It utilizes an electromagnetic wave kinetic equation solved by a Monte Carlo technique. This scattering model has been implemented in GENRAY , a ray tracing code which explicitly simulates wave propagation, as well as collisionless and collisional damping processes, over the entire plasma discharge, including the scrape-off layer (SOL) that extends from the separatrix to the vessel wall. A numerical analysis of the LH wave trajectories and the power deposition profile with and without scattering is presented for Alcator CMod discharges. Comparisons between the measured hard x-ray emission on Alcator C-Mod and simulations of the data obtained from the synthetic diagnostic included in the GENRAY/CQL3D package are shown, with and without the combination of scattering and collisional damping. Implications of these results on LH current drive are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Integrated fiducial sample mount and software for correlated microscopy

A novel design sample mount with integrated fiducials and software for assisting operators in easily and efficiently locating points of interest established in previous analytical sessions is described. The sample holder and software were evaluated with experiments to demonstrate the utility and ease of finding the same points of interest in two different microscopy instruments. Also, numerical analysis of expected errors in determining the same position with errors unbiased by a human operator was performed. Based on the results, issues related to acquiring reproducibility and best practices for using the sample mount and software were identified. Overall, the sample mount methodology allows data to be efficiently and easily collected on different instruments for the same sample location.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2015

Simulation of Crab Waist Collisions In DA$\Phi$NE With KLOE-2 Interaction Region

After the successful completion of the SIDDHARTA experiment run with crab waist collisions, the electron-positron collider DAΦNE has started routine operations for the KLOE-2 detector. The new interaction region also exploits the crab waist collision scheme, but features certain complications including the experimental detector solenoid, compensating anti-solenoids, and tilted quadrupole magnets. We have performed simulations of the beam-beam collisions in the collider taking into account the real DAΦNE nonlinear lattice. In particular, we have evaluated the effect of crab waist sextupoles and beam-beam interactions on the DAΦNE dynamical aperture and energy acceptance, and estimated the luminosity that can be potentially achieved with and without crab waist sextupoles in the present working conditions. A numerical analysis has been performed in order to propose possible steps for further luminosity increase in DAΦNE such as a better working point choice, crab sextupole strength optimization, correction of the phase advance between the sextupoles and the interaction region. The proposed change of the e- ring working point was implemented and resulted in a significant performance increase.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Simulation of Crab Waist Collisions in DAΦNE with KLOE-2 Interaction Region

After the successful completion of the SIDDHARTA experiment run with crab waist collisions, the electron-positron collider DAΦNE has started routine operations for the KLOE-2 detector. The new interaction region also exploits the crab waist collision scheme, but features certain complications including the experimental detector solenoid, compensating anti-solenoids, and tilted quadrupole magnets. We have performed simulations of the beam-beam collisions in the collider taking into account the real DAΦNE nonlinear lattice. In particular, we have evaluated the effect of crab waist sextupoles and beam-beam interactions on the DAΦNE dynamical aperture and energy acceptance, and estimated the luminosity that can be potentially achieved with and without crab waist sextupoles in the present working conditions. A numerical analysis has been performed in order to propose possible steps for further luminosity increase in DAΦNE such as a better working point choice, crab sextupole strength optimization, correction of the phase advance between the sextupoles and the interaction region. The proposed change of the e⁻ ring working point was implemented and resulted in a significant performance increase.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Quinoa, Version 0.1

Quinoa is a set of computational tools that enables research and numerical analysis in fluid dynamics. At this time it is a test-bed to experiment with various algorithms using fully asynchronous runtime systems.

Bakosi, Jozsef↗

DOE OSTI2017

Stochastic Models for an Optimal Blending of Biomass under Cost, Quality and Uncertainty Considerations

Blending biomass materials of different physical or chemical properties provides an opportunity to passively adjust the quality of the feedstock to meet the specifications of the conversion platform. We propose a model which identifies the right mix of biomass to optimize the performance of the Thermochemical conversion process at the minimum cost. This is a chance-constraint programming (CCP) model which takes into account the stochastic nature of biomass availability and quality. The proposed CCP model takes as inputs the physical and chemical properties, and biomass availability. We use the sample average approximation (SAA) method to solve the problem. We develop a case study for South Carolina by using data provided by the Billion Ton Study. We conduct extensive numerical analysis to evaluate the quality of the solutions obtained.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Recent Developments at the U.S. Navy Wave Energy Test Site.

The U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) in Hawaii has hosted two wave energy conversion (WEC) devices since its June 2015 commissioning – the Fred. Olsen BOLT Lifesaver and the Northwest Energy Innovations (NWEI) Azura – each for two deployments. Several additional devices will be tested in the coming years, beginning with the Ocean Energy device in summer 2019. The Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) provides research and logistics support to WETS. We will provide an overview of three major activities that we have recently undertaken in this capacity. First, we will discuss results from a project in which modifications were made to the hull and float of the Azura, aimed at improving power performance for a second WETS deployment. Second, HNEI undertook a redeployment of Lifesaver beginning in October 2018, with the dual intent of achieving improvements in reliability and power performance, while also conducting an important demonstration of the use of wave power for non-grid applications. HNEI partnered with the University of Washington to integrate their Adaptable Monitoring Package (AMP) into the hull of BOLT Lifesaver. Included for this deployment was a subsea inductive charging capability from WiBotic, Inc.. These systems are powered entirely by electricity generated by the Lifesaver itself. Finally, HNEI has undertaken design improvements for the deeper berth moorings at WETS, with principal engineering guidance from DNV GL. This has included extensive numerical analysis of strength and fatigue aimed at establishing moorings that can persist for as long as possible. The resulting design will be discussed.

Wave energy conversion devices, Alternative market↗

DOE OSTI2019

Comparative study and test on a two-body wave energy point absorber under various constraints.

Power generation and motion response of the floating wave energy converters is of great importance in the research topic of ocean energy harvesting. As a classic design for harvesting the ocean wave energy, the wave energy point absorber is commonly studied theoretically using the idealized 1DOF and 2DOF dynamic model based on the number of the free body within the system. Whereas the mooring system is usually ignored and only the heave motion is considered. In this paper, a point absorber is designed prototyped and tested in a water tank under three different constrains, the single body 1DOF, the two body 2DOF and the two body 6DOF. All the designs and configurations are presented in detail. Numerical analysis is conducted and presented as well to help understand the test results deeper. The test results indicate that the two body system can be tuned to match with the wave excitation and achieve higher energy absorption. In addition, the compared results between the 2DOF configuration and 6DOF configuration show that the classic 2DOF dynamic model is able to predict the performance of the point absorber with mooring well.

Li, Xiaofan↗

DOE OSTI2021

The Effect of Spectral Resolution of Light Sources on Photopic and a-opic Quantities

There is a growing interest in including light source spectrum in advanced lighting software tools and simulations. Given that traditional lighting software tools have been used primarily for calculating photometric quantities, their simplifying assumptions may not be suitable for calculating other a-opic quantities. Commonly used simulation tools use three values to represent the three primary colors (red, green, and blue), but others have expanded the number of bands (i.e., the spectral resolution) to 9, 27, or 81 in an attempt to more accurately represent variations in light source spectrum and downstream spectrally-derived quantities. It remains unclear, however, to what extent spectral resolution affects calculated quantities. To address this gap, a numerical analysis was completed using a large spectral power distribution database (n = 1,302 light sources). Calculated illuminance, a-opic irradiance, luminous efficacy of radiation (LER), melanopic efficacy of radiation (MER), and melanopic to photopic (M/P) ratio were compared for spectral resolutions of 3 and 9 bands compared to a baseline of 81 bands. Across all examined lighting quantities, considerable errors—a mean absolute percent error of 18.4%—were found when using 3 band calculations. These were reduced to 4% for 9 band calculations. The errors varied by metric and light source type. The results suggest that the use of 9 bands can more accurately characterize performance of different light source types across a range of metrics compared to using 3 bands.

Abboushi, Belal K.↗

DOE OSTI2022

X-ray Computed Tomography of Irradiated and Unirradiated AGR-3/4 Compacts

X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) has been utilized to image and characterize compacts from the combined third and fourth irradiation of the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Program, AGR-3/4, fuel. The experiment contained tristructural isotropic (TRISO)-coated fuel particles as well as designed-to-fail (DTF) fuel particles. Two irradiated compacts, representing the lower and higher range of AGR-3/4 burnup (4.85% and 14.92% fissions per initial heavy metal atom FIMA) were examined. These represent the first known highly irradiated TRISO fuel compacts to be examined via X-ray CT. Additionally, two unirradiated compacts from the same production batch as the examined irradiation compacts were also imaged for a baseline comparison. As XCT of irradiated TRISO compacts is not a commonly implemented characterization technique, a significant portion of the report focuses on developed methodology and imaging conditions. A specialized sample shielding device was developed and fabricated specifically to limit received dose to staff during sample preparation for XCT and to minimize excess gamma radiation dose to sensitive electronic components with the utilized X-ray system. Significant penetration through the uranium oxycarbide fuel kernels by significantly hardening the X-ray beam with specialized proprietary filters acquired from Carl Zeiss NTS Ltd. The filter utilized resulted in an average X ray photon energy of ~110 keV which approaches uranium’s K-edge (~115 keV), maximizing penetration for a microfocus X-ray source. The gamma-radiation emitted from the irradiated AGR-3/4 TRISO compacts, has the same properties and mechanisms for interaction with matter as X-rays, thus the detection of gamma-radiation by the utilized X-ray detectors was initially a concern. However, although ?-rays did produce an observable signal on the X-ray detector, its contribution to the overall imaging results appeared negligible upon 3D reconstruction. The neglibile impact on the resulting 3D reconstructed volumes were likely the result of: (1) a significantly lower detection efficiency for ?-rays relative to X-rays; (2) An X-ray flux at the detector several orders of magnitude higher than that of the impinging ?-rays from the irradiated compacts. These results suggest that irradiated compacts with significantly higher radiation fields can be examined in the future if an acceptable route for sample handling and preparation can be determined. Additionally, the 3D imaging results of XCT can provide a valuable means of assessing compacts. While in many ways complimentary to traditional post irradiation examination techniques such as optical ceramography, XCT can provide additional insight into compact features traditionally difficult to discern directly from cross-sectional imaging alone. Preliminary analyses on kernel size, morphology (aspect ratio and sphericity), and kernel orientation were presented. Sphericity, a simple morphological shape descriptor, was utilized to screen for kernel extrusions within the high burnup compact. The number of kernel extrusions identified via XCT represented an approximate two-fold increase from the quantity of extruded particles observed (via optical ceramography) in adjacent compacts from the same irradiation capsule. While numerical analysis of the compact datasets was highly preliminary, initial results show promise for providing complimentary metrics to current AGR-3/4 PIE and potentially additional insight into the processes driving TRISO fuel degradation during reactor operation. Additional analyses to be performed at a later date include a more detailed examination of kernel size, kernel sphericity (and observed kernel extrusions), and sphericity. Given all particles can be observed in a single data volume possible correlation of spatial position with observed kernel features will also be made at a later date.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2016

Particle Image Velocimetry Measurements in a Wire-Wrapped 61-Pin Hexagonal Fuel Bundle

Liquid metal fast reactor fuel assemblies using sodium as a coolant typically utilize a tightly packed triangular lattice of fuel pins enclosed in a hexagonal duct. The fuel pins are typically wrapped with a helical wire spacer. The primary function of the wire spacers is to maintain a gap between neighboring fuel pins. They also mitigate vortex-induced vibration and enhance sub-channel mixing to increase convective heat transfer. Many experiments have been performed to study thermal-hydraulic characteristics, primarily pressure drops, of the wire-wrapped fuel bundles. Novendstern developed a semi-empirical model to predict pressure losses in a hexagonal array of wire-wrapped pins in the turbulent flow regime. Rehme proposed pressure drop correlations for a wide range of geometrical parameters, such as pitch-to-diameter ratio P/D from 1.125 to 1.417, lead-to-wire diameter ratio H / dm from 6 to 45, and number of pins n from 7 to 61. Cheng and Todreas introduced their hydrodynamic models for subchannel friction factors and mixing parameters in a 37-pin fuel bundle, which covered the laminar, transition and turbulent flow regimes. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) offers an opportunity to validate the above correlations and investigate the flow characteristics in the subchannels. Several numerical studies of the wire-wrapped fuel bundles have been performed and most of them are Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) based simulations with various turbulence models. Ahmad and Kim performed RANS simulations of 7- and 19-pin bundles using the k-omega SST turbulent model, while Gajapathy et al. performed RANS simulations on 7-pin bundles using the k-epsilons model. Recently, Fischer et al. carried out large-eddy simulation (LES) calculations on wire-wrapped fuel bundles to obtain higher-resolution numerical solutions of subchannel behavior. The geometrical complexity of the hexagonal wire-wrapped fuel bundle has limited experimental activities to pressure drop measurements. A database of pressure drops and flow-field measurements in a 61-pin wire-wrapped hexagonal fuel bundle is not available to benchmark the existing correlations and validate the CFD calculations. Texas A and M University is conducting isothermal flow experiments in a wire-wrapped 61-pin hexagonal fuel bundle to support the research on advanced nuclear fuel development sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE). The purpose of these tests is to perform high spatial and temporal resolution measurements of the flow and pressure measurements at different locations in the fuel bundle. The experimental facility employs matched-index-of-refraction (MIR) techniques and laser diagnostic velocity measurement techniques such as particle image velocimetry (PIV) and laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The result of this experimental activity will be an experimental database of pressure and flow-field measurements that will be suitable for validating CFD computer codes. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Numerical Evaluation of Effective Thermal Conductivity of PCM with Metal Foam Incorporating Buoyancy Effects for Thermal Energy Storage

The thermal energy storage (TES) system has the capability to efficiently preserve thermal energy directly derived from the energy source, minimizing any conversion losses. Especially latent heat storage offers distinct advantages, including a substantial increase in energy storage density and minimization of temperature fluctuations within the plants. However, the phase change material (PCM) employed in latent heat storage has low thermal conductivity. Consequently, various studies are being conducted to enhance heat transfer. One approach to enhance heat transfer involves utilizing metal foam to maximize the heat transfer area. However, modeling metal foam with its intricate structure is a challenging task in numerical analysis. For this reason, ongoing research focuses on simplifying the modeling of metal foam. Nevertheless, fully encompassing all the characteristics of actual metal foam proves to be a challenging task for the simplified analytical model. The objective of this paper is to interpret the simple lattice metal foam analysis model from the perspective of behavior induced by buoyancy. When comparing the analysis results of solid PCM and liquid PCM with the same thermal conductivity under changes in porosity and gravity direction, we conducted an analysis to discern the trends in effective thermal conductivity that are overestimated due to convection. In the analysis, a constant heat flux of 10 kW and a constant surface boundary condition of 350 K were applied, and a sensitivity study regarding the mesh was conducted. The results indicate that, from the perspective of gravity in the simple lattice model, the solid analysis yields an effective thermal conductivity 29-47% higher compared to the liquid analysis. Additionally, as porosity increases, there is an observed increase of 24-33% in effective thermal conductivity.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Decentralized Microgrid Protection Through Relative Fault Direction Classification: Preprint

Protection in inverter-based resources (IBRs) dominated microgrids generally face significant challenges due to the low fault current and inconsistent fault behaviors from IBRs. Recently, machine learning-based approaches have attracted considerable attention to address these challenges. This paper introduces a novel decentralized protection strategy for microgrids. The proposed method decomposes the protection challenge into several distributed learning tasks, enabling individual relays to autonomously determine the direction of faults using a binary classification framework based on support vector machine (SVM) algorithms. Following the distributed fault direction estimation, classifier outcomes are shared among neighboring relays, facilitating a local decision-making process to ascertain the presence of faults within the neighborhood. Finally, a tripping signal is generated based on the classifier results of each relay to operate the circuit breaker. To test and validate this approach, a 100% renewable microgrid model is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink. In the numerical analysis, the application of SVM classifiers in our approach yields impressive results: an average relay classification accuracy of 98%, and a 96% accuracy in circuit breaker control. These findings highlight the potential of machine-learning-based approaches in enhancing the efficiency and reliability of microgrid protection systems.

decentralized algorithm↗