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At least 1,351 records · Page 75

Mathematical modeling of the aerodynamics of high-angle-of-attack maneuvers

This paper is a review of the current state of aerodynamic mathematical modeling for aircraft motions at high angles of attack. The mathematical model serves to define a set of characteristic motions from whose known aerodynamic responses the aerodynamic response to an arbitrary high angle-of-attack flight maneuver can be predicted. Means are explored of obtaining stability parameter information in terms of the characteristic motions, whether by wind-tunnel experiments, computational methods, or by parameter-identification methods applied to flight-test data. A rationale is presented for selecting and verifying the aerodynamic mathematical model at the lowest necessary level of complexity. Experimental results describing the wing-rock phenomenon are shown to be accommodated within the most recent mathematical model by admitting the existence of aerodynamic hysteresis in the steady-state variation of the rolling moment with roll angle. Interpretation of the experimental results in terms of bifurcation theory reveals the general conditions under which aerodynamic hysteresis must exist.

Schiff, L. B.↗

Why Haven't Mars Rovers Landed Where They Were Expected to?

In a recent study (Desai, 2008) of the actual landing sites for the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix Mars Lander, data collected indicates that these missions landed at least 13 km downrange of their targeted landing sites. A direct reason is that density measurements taken during entry, descent and landing were consistently found to be lower than those predicted by Mars atmospheric models. The basis of this study is to further investigate this problem to see if certain aspects of current Mars atmospheric models need to be reevaluated. This study compared four different atmospheric profiles at nine pairs of comparable sites around Mars. The comparable sites are similar in location and Local True Solar Time; however they are from different Mars years. One year had normal conditions, while the other year experienced a global dust storm. Three of the atmospheric profiles were obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS); these data sets include a Radio Science profile and Thermal Emission Spectrometer data in limb and nadir projections. The three MGS data sets were selected from large observational databases to allow the sites to have data observed at nearcoincident times. The last atmospheric profile is from the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM), an engineering level atmospheric model widely used for mission applications. Through careful data evaluation, several conclusions were drawn. Ratios among the data show that the three observed MGS profiles were consistent with each other, although they were recorded by three different methods. Mars-GRAM data had larger differences from the observed data. Mars-GRAM particularly had issues with consistently overestimating upper atmosphere atmospheric density, as noted in Desai s study. Differences between the observed atmospheric density profiles from the Mars-GRAM atmospheric density profile could be attributed to a temperature bias in the model, especially in the upper atmosphere.

Badger, Andrew M.↗

WGM Temperature Tracker

This software implements digital control of a WGM (whispering-gallerymode) resonator temperature based on the dual-mode approach. It comprises one acquisition (dual-channel) and three control modules. The interaction of the proportional-integral loops is designed in the original way, preventing the loops from fighting. The data processing is organized in parallel with the acquisition, which allows the computational overhead time to be suppressed or often completely avoided. WGM resonators potentially provide excellent optical references for metrology, clocks, spectroscopy, and other applications. However, extremely accurate (below micro-Kelvin) temperature stabilization is required. This software allows one specifically advantageous method of such stabilization to be implemented, which is immune to a variety of effects that mask the temperature variation. WGM Temperature Tracker 2.3 (see figure) is a LabVIEW code developed for dual-mode temperature stabilization of WGM resonators. It has allowed for the temperature stabilization at the level of 200 nK with one-second integration time, and 6 nK with 10,000-second integration time, with the above room-temperature set point. This software, in conjunction with the appropriate hardware, can be used as a noncryogenic temperature sensor/ controller with sub-micro-Kelvin sensitivity, which at the time of this reporting considerably outperforms the state of the art.

Strekalov, Dmitry V.↗

Shape and Stress Sensing of Multilayered Composite and Sandwich Structures Using an Inverse Finite Element Method

The marked increase in the use of composite and sandwich material systems in aerospace, civil, and marine structures leads to the need for integrated Structural Health Management systems. A key capability to enable such systems is the real-time reconstruction of structural deformations, stresses, and failure criteria that are inferred from in-situ, discrete-location strain measurements. This technology is commonly referred to as shape- and stress-sensing. Presented herein is a computationally efficient shape- and stress-sensing methodology that is ideally suited for applications to laminated composite and sandwich structures. The new approach employs the inverse Finite Element Method (iFEM) as a general framework and the Refined Zigzag Theory (RZT) as the underlying plate theory. A three-node inverse plate finite element is formulated. The element formulation enables robust and efficient modeling of plate structures instrumented with strain sensors that have arbitrary positions. The methodology leads to a set of linear algebraic equations that are solved efficiently for the unknown nodal displacements. These displacements are then used at the finite element level to compute full-field strains, stresses, and failure criteria that are in turn used to assess structural integrity. Numerical results for multilayered, highly heterogeneous laminates demonstrate the unique capability of this new formulation for shape- and stress-sensing.

Cerracchio, Priscilla↗

Runway Scheduling Using Generalized Dynamic Programming

A generalized dynamic programming method for finding a set of pareto optimal solutions for a runway scheduling problem is introduced. The algorithm generates a set of runway fight sequences that are optimal for both runway throughput and delay. Realistic time-based operational constraints are considered, including miles-in-trail separation, runway crossings, and wake vortex separation. The authors also model divergent runway takeoff operations to allow for reduced wake vortex separation. A modeled Dallas/Fort Worth International airport and three baseline heuristics are used to illustrate preliminary benefits of using the generalized dynamic programming method. Simulated traffic levels ranged from 10 aircraft to 30 aircraft with each test case spanning 15 minutes. The optimal solution shows a 40-70 percent decrease in the expected delay per aircraft over the baseline schedulers. Computational results suggest that the algorithm is promising for real-time application with an average computation time of 4.5 seconds. For even faster computation times, two heuristics are developed. As compared to the optimal, the heuristics are within 5% of the expected delay per aircraft and 1% of the expected number of runway operations per hour ad can be 100x faster.

optmization↗

Comparison of Clustering Techniques for Residential Energy Behavior using Smart Meter Data

Current practice in whole time series clustering of residential meter data focuses on aggregated or subsampled load data at the customer level, which ignores day-to-day differences within customers. This information is critical to determine each customer’s suitability to various demand side management strategies that support intelligent power grids and smart energy management. Clustering daily load shapes provides fine-grained information on customer attributes and sources of variation for subsequent models and customer segmentation. In this paper, we apply 11 clustering methods to daily residential meter data. We evaluate their parameter settings and suitability based on 6 generic performance metrics and post-checking of resulting clusters. Finally, we recommend suitable techniques and parameters based on the goal of discovering diverse daily load patterns among residential customers. To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first robust comparative review of clustering techniques applied to daily residential load shape time series in the power systems’ literature.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Survey of U.S. Research Reactor Auxiliary Facilities Used for Material Testing and Basic Neutron Science

A catalogue of and attributes of the Materials Irradiation and Testing facilities (MIF) and the Basic Neutron Science facilities (BSF) of auxiliary (AUX) facilities of research reactors are compiled. The survey of these facilities is drawn from the set of U.S. university and DOE research reactor facilities and should be considered as a reference point when comparing commonalities in international AUX facilities. The size and shielding capabilities of the facilities, the typical characterization equipment used, and the neutron flux and irradiation capabilities of the facilities are listed. Short descriptions of experimental activities and current practices are detailed for MIFs and BSFs. The attributes are important in consideration of the reconfiguration of the facilities for purposes other than stated mission, i.e., for proliferation of weapons-usable nuclear material (WUNM). An evaluation of the capacity for production rate of WUNM from neutron beams-on-targets or a sample that has been placed in an irradiation position for a period is provided. Further evaluation of reconfiguration of these MIF and BSF are recommended to refine the proliferation risks. Specifically, MIF hot cells and potential configurations, additional modeling of facility throughput and development of methods for determining levels of concern for MIF and BSF have all been identified as steps for refinement of determination of the risks associated with these facilities. Future work will focus on: 1. A model of projected throughput for different MIF and BSF configurations that will be used to provide a window of potential operational misuse for a facility and better understand the capability of production and the rate of processing for WUNM in these facilities. 2. A misuse study for various configurations of MIF hot cell layouts detailing capacity, specifications, shielding constraints for MIF operations, identification of a maximum shielding thickness, and reasonable need associated with each activity performed in a MIF. 3. Development of a rule of thumb rating system utilizing data gathered from previous reports to show levels of concern at a given power level, flux, and experiment set.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Communication: UV photoionization of cytosine catalyzed by Ag{sup +}

The photo-induced damages of DNA in interaction with metal cations, which are found in various environments, still remain to be characterized. In this paper, we show how the complexation of a DNA base (cytosine (Cyt)) with a metal cation (Ag{sup +}) changes its electronic properties. By means of UV photofragment spectroscopy of cold ions, it was found that the photoexcitation of the CytAg{sup +} complex at low energy (315-282) nm efficiently leads to ionized cytosine (Cyt{sup +}) as the single product. This occurs through a charge transfer state in which an electron from the p orbital of Cyt is promoted to Ag{sup +}, as confirmed by ab initio calculations at the TD-DFT/B3LYP and RI-ADC(2) theory level using the SV(P) basis set. The low ionization energy of Cyt in the presence of Ag{sup +} could have important implications as point mutation of DNA upon sunlight exposition.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Half-Metallic Ferromagnetism Character in Cr-Doped CaS Diluted Magnetic Insulator and Semiconductor: an Ab Initio Study

The overall aim of this study is to investigate theoretically the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of calcium sulfide (CaS) doped with chromium (Cr) impurity, in order to conduct a new search dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) suitable for different applications in electronics and spintronics. For measuring, the physical property of this compound is implemented using the first principles approach employed in WIEN2K code. The structural characteristics are optimized using the Generalized Gradient Approximation established by Perdew-Burk-Ernzerhof (PBE-GGA). We calculate and minimize the total energy of the three ternary compounds (Ca{sub 0.75}Cr{sub 0.25}S, Ca{sub 0.50}Cr{sub 0.50}S, and Ca{sub 0.25}Cr{sub 0.75}S) in the paramagnetic (PM), ferromagnetic (FM), and antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase. We find all compounds stable in (FM) structure, whereas the modified Becke and Johnson local density approximation (mBJ-LDA) functional has been employed to evaluate the electronic and magnetic properties. Based on our findings, indicate that this system revealed a half-metallic ferromagnetic behavior with half-metallic gap (HM) and 100% spin-polarized at the fermi level for all chromium (Cr) concentrations. This advantageous set of properties is due to the half-metallic behavior, where the majority spin and minority spin exhibit metallic and semiconducting behaviors respectively. The chromium atom is the most important source of the total magnetic moment in these compounds (4 μβ) by comparison with magnetic moments produced by Ca and S atoms, which have minor contribution. Finally, our prediction results require an experimental confirmation in the future.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

High-level theoretical characterization of the vinoxy radical ( • CH 2 CHO) + O 2 reaction

Numerous processes in atmospheric and combustion chemistry produce the vinoxy radical ( • CH 2 CHO). To understand the fate of this radical and to provide reliable energies needed for kinetic modeling of such processes, we have examined its reaction with O 2 using highly reliable theoretical methods. Utilizing the focal point approach, the energetics of this reaction and subsequent reactions were obtained using coupled-cluster theory with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)] extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. These extrapolated energies were appended with several corrections including a treatment of full triples and connected quadruple excitations, i.e., CCSDT(Q). In addition, this study models the initial vinoxy radical + O 2 reaction for the first time with multireference methods. We predict a barrier for this reaction of approximately 0.4 kcal mol –1 . This result agrees with experimental findings but is in disagreement with previous theoretical studies. The vinoxy radical + O 2 reaction produces a 2-oxoethylperoxy radical which can undergo a number of unimolecular reactions. Abstraction of a β-hydrogen (a 1,4-hydrogen shift) and dissociation back to reactants are predicted to be competitive to each other due to their similar barriers of 21.2 and 22.3 kcal mol –1 , respectively. The minimum-energy β-hydrogen abstraction pathway produces a hydroperoxy radical (QOOH) that eventually decomposes to formaldehyde, CO, and • OH. Two other unimolecular reactions of the peroxy radical are α-hydrogen abstraction (38.7 kcal mol –1 barrier) and HO 2 • elimination (43.5 kcal mol –1 barrier). Furthermore, these pathways lead to glyoxal + • OH and ketene + HO 2 • formation, respectively, but they are expected to be uncompetitive due to their high barriers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Statistical Analysis of a Large Sample Size Pyroshock Test Data Set Including Post Flight Data Assessment

The Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra spacecraft was launched on an Atlas IIAS launch vehicle on its mission to observe planet Earth in late 1999. Prior to launch, the new design of the spacecraft's pyroshock separation system was characterized by a series of 13 separation ground tests. The analysis methods used to evaluate this unusually large amount of shock data will be discussed in this paper, with particular emphasis on population distributions and finding statistically significant families of data, leading to an overall shock separation interface level. The wealth of ground test data also allowed a derivation of a Mission Assurance level for the flight. All of the flight shock measurements were below the EOS Terra Mission Assurance level thus contributing to the overall success of the EOS Terra mission. The effectiveness of the statistical methodology for characterizing the shock interface level and for developing a flight Mission Assurance level from a large sample size of shock data is demonstrated in this paper.

Hughes, William O.↗

The reaction between the bromine atom and the water trimer: high level theoretical studies

Three different reaction pathways are found for the reaction of bromine atom (Br) with the lowest-energy structure of the water trimer [uud-(H 2 O) 3 ], initially using the MPW1K-DFT method. The three bromine pathways have closely related geometries and energetics, analogous to those found for the fluorine and chlorine reactions. Here, the lowest-energy pathway of the Br + uud-(H 2 O) 3 reaction was further investigated using the “gold standard” CCSD(T) method and the correlation-consistent basis sets up to cc-pVQZ(-PP). Based on the CCSD(T)/cc-pVQZ(-PP)//CCSD(T)/cc-pVTZ(-PP) results, the Br + (H 2 O) 3 reaction is endothermic by 33.3 kcal mol -1 . The classical barrier height is 29.0 kcal mol -1 between the reactants and the exit complex, and there is no barrier for the reverse reaction. The Br···(H 2 O) 3 entrance complex is found to lie 4.7 kcal mol -1 below the separated reactants, and the HBr···(H 2 O) 2 OH exit complex is bound by 6.4 kcal mol -1 relative to the separated products. This potential energy profile is further corrected by the zero point energies and spin–orbit coupling effects. Structurally, the Br + (H 2 O) 3 stationary points can be derived from those of the simpler Br + (H 2 O) 2 reaction by judiciously appending a H 2 O molecule. The Br + (H 2 O) 3 potential energy profile is compared with the Br + (H 2 O) 2 and Br + H 2 O reactions, as well as to the valence isoelectronic Cl + (H 2 O) 3 and F + (H 2 O) 3 systems. It is reasonable to expect that the reactions between the bromine atom and larger water clusters would be similar to the Br + (H 2 O) 3 reaction.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A scalable stochastic programming approach for the design of flexible systems

We study the problem of designing systems in order to minimize cost while meeting a given flexibility target. Flexibility is attained by enforcing a joint chance constraint, which ensures that the system will exhibit feasible operation with a given target probability level. Unfortunately, joint chance constraints are complicated mathematical objects that often need to be reformulated using mixed-integer programming (MIP) techniques. In this work, we cast the design problem as a conflict resolution problem that seeks to minimize cost while maximizing flexibility. We propose a purely continuous relaxation of this problem that provides a significantly more scalable approach relative to MIP methods and show that the formulation delivers solutions that closely approximate the Pareto set of the original joint chance-constrained problem.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Similarity Metric for Data Optimization and Efficient Training of Reactive Machine Learning Force Fields for Hydrocarbon Radiolysis

Radiolysis is a common approach to sterilize polymers, chemically modify them for upcycling, and accelerate their decomposition for recycling purposes. Reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provide a powerful tool to generate atomic-level trajectories of the reactive processes and quantify radiolytic chemical degradation pathways. For this, machine learning (ML) surrogate models for reactive force fields with quantum mechanical accuracy are now widely used, which require ML training data sets that can provide information on atomic environments for target chemical systems. However, radiolysis chemistry can be highly complex and diverse, which poses significant challenges for generating training data to parametrize ML models. In this regard, we developed a method for optimizing the training data set using a cosine similarity metric to help guide training set selection for radiolysis of polyethylene, a model hydrocarbon polymer, as well as to enhance the transferability of our reactive ML force field (MLFF) to a variety of molecular and polymeric systems. Our approach performs atom-by-atom comparisons between local atomic environments to pinpoint important data points associated with rare and localized events, such as radiolysis damage within structures. We apply this approach to train the Chebyshev Interaction Model for Efficient Simulation (ChIMES) MLFF model, which expresses the atomic interaction potentials in terms of linear combinations of many-body Chebyshev polynomials. We first show that our method can reduce our training set size by ∼70% while improving overall accuracy compared to more standard MD model fitting approaches. We then validate our optimum model against diverse hydrocarbon simulation data, including simple alkanes and systems with unsaturated carbon bonds, over a wide range of thermodynamic conditions. Finally, we use our ChIMES model to perform MD simulations of radiolytic damage with large-scale systems that help avoid system size effects. Overall, our approach yields an MD force field that retains most of the accuracy of the underlying quantum method while yielding many orders of improvement in computational efficiency. In conclusion, our efforts will have impact on future hydrocarbon polymer radiolysis studies, where the chemical details of the polymer–radiation interactions can have a strong effect on the resulting products observed in experiments.

Hydrocarbons↗

Assessing Electronic Structure Methods for Long-Range Three-Body Dispersion Interactions: Analysis and Calculations on Well-Separated Metal Atom Trimers

Three-body dispersion interactions are much weaker than their two-body counterpart. However, their importance grows quickly as the number of interacting monomers rises. To explore the numerical performance of correlation methods for long-range three-body dispersion, we performed calculations on eight very simple dispersion-dominated model metal trimers: Na 3 , Mg 3 , Zn 3 , Cd 3 , Hg 3 , Cu 3 , Ag 3 , and Au 3 . One encouraging aspect is that relatively small basis sets of augmented triple-ζ size appear to be adequate for three-body dispersion in the long-range. Coupled cluster calculations were performed at high levels to assess MP3, CCSD, CCSD(T), empirical density functional theory dispersion (D3), and the many-body dispersion (MBD) approach. We found that the accuracy of CCSD(T) was generally significantly lower than for two-body interactions, with errors sometimes reaching 20% in the investigated systems, while CCSD and particularly MP3 were generally more erratic. MBD is found to perform better than D3 at large distances, whereas the opposite is true at shorter distances. When computing reference numbers for three-body dispersion, care should be taken to appropriately represent the effect of the connected triple excitations, which are significant in most cases and incompletely approximated by CCSD(T).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Curated Collection of More than 20,000 Experimentally Reported One-Dimensional Metal–Organic Frameworks

Herein, a collection of more than 20,000 experimentally derived crystal structures for metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) that do not have two- or three-dimensional covalently bonded networks has been developed from the materials available at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. Of these 20,000 1D MOFs, more than 12,000 structures have been verified to be solvent-free and in exact agreement with the stoichiometry of the synthesized materials. More than 10% of the complete data set comprise materials including two or more distinct metals. The band gaps of more than 12,000 1D MOFs have been computed at the density functional theory-generalized gradient approximation level, finding more than 2000 materials that have a zero band gap. Molecular simulations of CH4 adsorption in a small number of 1D MOFs indicated that adsorbate-induced deformation plays a significant role in determining adsorption isotherms in these materials. As a result, methods that have been used previously for high-throughput predictions of molecular adsorption in 3D MOFs are not suitable for 1D MOFs.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

REVISITING SPITZER TRANSIT OBSERVATIONS WITH INDEPENDENT COMPONENT ANALYSIS: NEW RESULTS FOR THE GJ 436 SYSTEM

We analyzed four Spitzer/IRAC observations at 3.6 and 4.5 μm of the primary transit of the exoplanet GJ 436b, by using blind source separation techniques. These observations are important for investigating the atmospheric composition of the planet GJ 436b. Previous analyses claimed strong inter-epoch variations of the transit parameters due to stellar variability, casting doubts on the possibility of conclusively extracting an atmospheric signal. Those analyses also reported discrepant results, hence the necessity of this reanalysis. The method we used has been proposed in Morello et al. to analyze 3.6 μm transit light curves of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b. It performes an Independent Component Analysis on a set of pixel light curves, i.e., time series read by individual pixels, from the same photometric observation. Our method only assumes the independence of instrumental and astrophysical signals, and therefore guarantees a higher degree of objectivity compared to parametric detrending techniques published in the literature. The data sets we analyzed in this paper represent a more challenging test than the previous ones. Contrary to previous results reported in the literature, our results (1) do not support any detectable inter-epoch variations of orbital and stellar parameters, (2) are photometrically stable at the level ∼10{sup −4} in the IR, and (3) the transit depth measurements at the two wavelengths are consistent within 1σ. We also (4) detect a possible transit duration variation of ∼80 s (2σ significance level) that has not been pointed out in the literature, and (5) confirm no transit timing variations ≳30 s.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Probing cosmological isotropy with type Ia supernovae

We investigate the validity of the cosmological principle by mapping the cosmological parameters H{sub 0} and q{sub 0} through the celestial sphere. In our analysis, which is performed in a low-redshift regime to follow a model-independent approach, we use two compilations of type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia), namely the Union2.1 and the JLA data sets. First, we show that the angular distributions for both SNe Ia data sets are statistically anisotropic at a high confidence level (p-value < 0.0001), particularly the JLA sample. Then we find that the cosmic expansion and acceleration are mainly of dipolar type, with maximal anisotropic expansion [acceleration] pointing toward (l,b)≃(326{sup ∘},12{sup ∘}) [(l,b)≃(174{sup ∘},27{sup ∘})], and (l,b)≃(58{sup ∘},−60{sup ∘}) [(l,b)≃(225{sup ∘},51{sup ∘})] for the Union2.1 and JLA data, respectively. Second, we use a geometrical method to test the hypothesis that the non-uniformly distributed SNe Ia events could introduce anisotropic imprints on the cosmological expansion and acceleration. For the JLA compilation, we found significant correlations between the celestial distribution of data points and the directional studies of H{sub 0} and q{sub 0}, suggesting that these results can be attributed to the intrinsic anisotropy of the sample. In the case of the Union2.1 data, nonetheless, these correlations are less pronounced, and we verify that the dipole asymmetry found in the H{sub 0} analyses coincides with the well-known bulk-flow motion of our local group. From these analyses, we conclude that the directional asymmetry on the cosmological parameter maps are mainly either of local origin or due to celestial incompleteness of current SNe Ia samples.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗