Observation of flow excursions in a simulated gas-cooled reactor passage
Equilibrium flow characteristics of simulated gas cooled reactor passage
Kolbe, E. R.↗
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Results for “flow simulation”
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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Hyperbolic Reformulation Approach to Enable Efficient Simulation of Groundwater Flow and Reactive Transport
We apply Cattaneo's relaxation approach to the one-dimensional coupled Boussinesq groundwater flow and advection-diffusion-reaction equations, commonly used in engineering applications to simulate contaminant transport in the subsurface. The diffusion-type governing equations are reformulated as a hyperbolic system, augmented by an equation that can be interpreted as a momentum balance. The hyperbolization enables an efficient unified computation of the primary variable and its gradients, for example piezometric head and unit discharge in the Boussinesq equation. An augmented Roe scheme is used to solve the hyperbolic system. The hyperbolized system of equations is studied in a set of steady state and transient test cases with idealized geometry. These test cases confirm the equivalence of the hyperbolic system to its original formulation. The larger time step size of the hyperbolic equation is verified theoretically by means of a stability analysis and numerically in the test cases. Finally, a reach-scale application of flow and transport across a river meander is considered. This application case shows that the performance of the hyperbolic relaxation approach holds for more realistic groundwater flow and transport problems, relevant to water resources management.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Computational Considerations for the Simulation of Discontinuous Flows
The numerical study of aeroacoustic problems places stringent demands on the choice of a computational algorithm, because it requires the ability to propagate disturbances of small amplitude and short wavelength. The demands are particularly high when shock waves are involved, because the chosen algorithm must also resolve discontinuities in the solution. In a previous work the capabilities and deficiencies of shock-capturing methods for aeroacoustic problems were demonstrated using a high-order essentially nonoscillatory (ENO) numerical method. It was shown that first-order results are obtained when simulating time-dependent flows with discontinuities. The present study reaffirms this conclusion by comparing the ENO results with those obtained using a conventional linear scheme. A sixth-order-accurate compact implicit finite difference scheme is used to investigate various discontinuous flows. The design order of accuracy is achieved in the smooth regions of a steady-state, quasi-one-dimensional Euler test case, as well as in the time-dependent Burgers' equation. However, in the unsteady Euler sound-shock interaction, first-order results are obtained downstream of the shock. A comparison is made between the linear and nonlinear results, noting the advantages of each method. A discontinuous linear model problem is then used to identify the cause of the first-order results. Here, the nature of the solution error is quantified as being predominantly a numerical phase shift, and a post-processing procedure is demonstrated which increases the solution accuracy downstream of the discontinuity to second-order.
Carpenter Mark H.↗
A weighted shifted boundary method for immersed moving boundary simulations of Stokes' flow
The Shifted Boundary Method (SBM) belongs to the class of unfitted (or immersed, or embedded) finite element methods, and relies on reformulating the original boundary value problem over a surrogate (approximate) computational domain. The surrogate domain is constructed so as to avoid cut cells and the associated problematic implementation and numerical integration issues. Accuracy is maintained by modifying the original boundary conditions using Taylor expansions: hence the name of the method, that shifts the location and values of the boundary conditions. Here, in this article, we extend the SBM to the simulation of incompressible Stokes flow, by appropriately weighting its variational form with the elemental volume fraction of active fluid. This approach allows to drastically reduce spurious pressure oscillations in time, which are produced if the total volume of active fluid were to change abruptly over a time step. The proposed Weighted SBM (W-SBM) exactly preserves states of hydrostatic equilibrium, and induces small mass and momentum conservation errors, which converge as the grid is refined. This is in analogy to cutFEMs and related unfitted approaches, which rely on an affine representation of cut boundaries. We demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of the proposed method with an extensive suite of two-dimensional tests.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Vectorization of a particle code used in the simulation of rarefied hypersonic flow
A limitation of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is that it does not allow efficient use of vector architectures that predominate in current supercomputers. Consequently, the problems that can be handled are limited to those of one- and two-dimensional flows. This work focuses on a reformulation of the DSMC method with the objective of designing a procedure that is optimized to the vector architectures found on machines such as the Cray-2. In addition, it focuses on finding a better balance between algorithmic complexity and the total number of particles employed in a simulation so that the overall performance of a particle simulation scheme can be greatly improved. Simulations of the flow about a 3D blunt body are performed with 10 to the 7th particles and 4 x 10 to the 5th mesh cells. Good statistics are obtained with time averaging over 800 time steps using 4.5 h of Cray-2 single-processor CPU time.
Baganoff, D.↗
Direct simulation of hypersonic flows over blunt slender bodies
Results of a numerical study of low-density hypersonic flow about cylindrically blunted wedges and spherically blunted cones with body half angles of 0, 5, and 10 deg are presented. Most of the transitional flow regime encountered during entry between the free molecule and continuum regimes is simulated for a reentry velocity of 7.5 km/s by including freestream conditions of 70 to 100 km. The bodies are at zero angle of incidence and have diffuse and finite catalytic surfaces. Translational, thermodynamic, and chemical nonequilibrium effects are considered in the numerical simulation by utilizing the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The numerical simulations show that noncontinuum effects such as surface temperature jump, and velocity slip are evident for all cases considered. The onset of chemical dissociation occurs at a simulated altitude of 96 km for the two-dimensional configurations. Comparisons between the DSMC and continuum viscous shock-layer calculations highlight the significant difference in flowfield structure predicted by the two methods.
Moss, J. N.↗
Incompressible multiphase flow and encapsulation simulations using the moment-of-fluid method
A moment-of-fluid method is presented for computing solutions to incompressible multiphase flows in which the number of materials can be greater than two. In this work, the multimaterial moment-of-fluid interface representation technique is applied to simulating surface tension effects at points where three materials meet. The advection terms are solved using a directionally split cell integrated semi-Lagrangian algorithm, and the projection method is used to evaluate the pressure gradient force term. The underlying computational grid is a dynamic block-structured adaptive grid. The new method is applied to multiphase problems illustrating contact-line dynamics, triple junctions, and encapsulation in order to demonstrate its capabilities. Examples are given in two-dimensional, three-dimensional axisymmetric (R–Z), and three-dimensional (X–Y–Z) coordinate systems.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Time-Dependent Simulation of Incompressible Flow in a Turbopump Using Overset Grid Approach
This paper reports the progress being made towards complete unsteady turbopump simulation capability by using overset grid systems. A computational model of a turbo-pump impeller is used as a test case for the performance evaluation of the MPI, hybrid MPI/Open-MP, and MLP versions of the INS3D code. Relative motion of the grid system for rotor-stator interaction was obtained by employing overset grid techniques. Unsteady computations for a turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.3 Million grid points, are performed on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. The approach taken for these simulations, and the performance of the parallel versions of the code are presented.
Kiris, Cetin↗
Lattice Boltzmann simulation of asymmetric flow in nematic liquid crystals with finite anchoring
Liquid crystals (LCs) display many of the flow characteristics of liquids but exhibit long range orientational order. In the nematic phase, the coupling of structure and flow leads to complex hydrodynamic effects that remain to be fully elucidated. Here, we consider the hydrodynamics of a nematic LC in a hybrid cell, where opposite walls have conflicting anchoring boundary conditions, and we employ a 3D lattice Boltzmann method to simulate the time-dependent flow patterns that can arise. Due to the symmetry breaking of the director field within the hybrid cell, we observe that at low to moderate shear rates, the volumetric flow rate under Couette and Poiseuille flows is different for opposite flow directions. At high shear rates, the director field may undergo a topological transition which leads to symmetric flows. Here, by applying an oscillatory pressure gradient to the channel, a net volumetric flow rate is found to depend on the magnitude and frequency of the oscillation, as well as the anchoring strength. Taken together, our findings suggest several intriguing new applications for LCs in microfluidic devices.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Flow visualization experiments in a porous nozzle
An experimental approach is described for the study of nozzle flows with large wall-transpiration rates. Emphasizing a qualitative understanding of the flow, the technique uses the hydraulic analogy, whereby a compressible gas flow is simulated by a water flow having a free surface. For simplicity, the simulated gas flow is taken to be two-dimensional. A nozzle with porous walls in the throat region has been developed for use on a water table. A technique for visualizing the transpired fluid has also been devised. These are discussed, and preliminary results are presented which illustrate the success of the experimental approach.
Cielak, Z.↗
Full kinetic simulations of plasma flow interactions with meso- and microscale magnetic dipoles
We examined the plasma flow response to meso- and microscale magnetic dipoles by performing three-dimensional full particle-in-cell simulations. We particularly focused on the formation of a magnetosphere and its dependence on the intensity of the magnetic moment. The size of a magnetic dipole immersed in a plasma flow can be characterized by a distance L from the dipole center to the position where the pressure of the local magnetic field becomes equal to the dynamic pressure of the plasma flow under the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) approximation. In this study, we are interested in a magnetic dipole whose L is smaller than the Larmor radius of ions r{sub iL} calculated with the unperturbed dipole field at the distance L from the center. In the simulation results, we confirmed the clear formation of a magnetosphere consisting of a magnetopause and a tail region in the density profile, although the spatial scale is much smaller than the MHD scale. One of the important findings in this study is that the spatial profiles of the plasma density as well as the current flows are remarkably affected by the finite Larmor radius effect of the plasma flow, which is different from the Earth's magnetosphere. The magnetopause found in the upstream region is located at a position much closer to the dipole center than L. In the equatorial plane, we also found an asymmetric density profile with respect to the plasma flow direction, which is caused by plasma gyration in the dipole field region. The ion current layers are created in the inner region of the dipole field, and the electron current also flows in the region beyond the ion current layer because ions with a large inertia can closely approach the dipole center. Unlike the ring current structure of the Earth's magnetosphere, the current layers in the microscale dipole fields are not circularly closed around the dipole center. Since the major current is caused by the particle gyrations, the current is independently determined to be in the direction of the electron and ion gyrations, which are the same in both the upstream and downstream regions. The present analysis on the formation of a magnetosphere in the regime of a microscale magnetic dipole is significant for understanding the solar wind response to the crustal magnetic anomalies on the Moon surface, such as were recently observed by spacecraft.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Chapter 6: Modeling and Simulation of Wind-Farm Flows
The subject of this chapter is the modeling and simulation of the flow through full wind farms, also known as wind plants, which are collections of many wind turbines within a region working together to supply power to the grid like any other type of power plant. This topic is interesting and exciting because of the increasing variety of and uses for wind plant flow modeling and simulation. For example, Figure 6.1 shows the computed flow field from a high-fidelity simulation of the Lillgrund offshore wind farm using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with large-eddy simulation (LES) turbulence modeling and actuator line rotor aerodynamics models. There are many ways to model this type of flow, ranging from very simple models of wind turbine wakes and their interactions that can run in a matter of seconds on a laptop to high-fidelity, turbulence -resolving LES of the atmospheric flow and wakes that require days of use of thousands of cores on a high-performance computing cluster. The uses of wind plant flow simulations are equally varied. Wind plant layout designers run hundreds or thousands of simulations over all possible wind directions and speeds using simple models to predict a future wind plant's annual energy production. Researchers use LESs of the wind plant to study phenomena such as wind turbine wake interactions with each other and with the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). As computational resources become more readily available, it is even becoming common for turbine manufacturers to use CFD of some form to model wind plants in complex terrain to help in the wind turbine siting and selection process. We are beginning to see the expensive, high-fidelity tools being used to create data and knowledge that improves or enables the creation of new cheaper, lower fidelity tools. We are also beginning to see the low- and high-fidelity tools used together to perform uncertainty quantification of energy estimates and optimization of wind plant layouts. As new computing technologies mature, such as graphics processing unit (GPU)-based computing, the future of full wind plant flow modeling is exciting.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
Numerical Simulations of Flow-Induced Deflections in MITR LEU Fuel Plate Due to Channel Size Disparity
The hydromechanical stability of the fuel plates in parallel coolant channels of a Materials Testing Reactor (MTR) fuel element design is of great importance to the safety of research and test reactors. Previous analytical, experimental, and numerical efforts focused on parallel channels with the same or similar size; also, in the prior numerical simulations, the fuel plate was often assumed to be perfectly flat. This work presents the results of a fluid-structure interaction simulation performed to evaluate the flow-induced deflections of the fuel plates in the low-enriched uranium (LEU, <20 wt% 235 U) fuel element design for the conversion (from highly enriched uranium) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor (MITR-II, also referred to as MITR). Various manufacturing and assembly tolerances of the MITR LEU elements are considered in the analysis, and the effects of channel size disparity, nonideal plate shape, and flow rate uncertainty are investigated. Results show that, for all cases analyzed, the deflection occurs toward the larger channel, and the change in any channel stripe remains small (less than 0.021 mm) compared to fabrication tolerances. In addition to simulation work, a hydraulic performance test of the MITR LEU fuel element is currently planned to support conversion to the use of LEU fuel.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
Direct simulation of compressible reacting flows
A research program for direct numerical simulations of compressible reacting flows is described. Two main research subjects are proposed: the effect of pressure waves on turbulent combustion and the use of direct simulation methods to validate flamelet models for turbulent combustion. The interest of a compressible code to study turbulent combustion is emphasized through examples of reacting shear layer and combustion instabilities studies. The choice of experimental data to compare with direct simulation results is discussed. A tentative program is given and the computation cases to use are described as well as the code validation runs.
Poinsot, Thierry J.↗
An MHD simulation of plasma flow past Io - Alfven and slow mode perturbations
The flow of plasma past Io is studied using a time dependent, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation. In addition to observing the 'Alfven wing', a standing Alfven wave perturbation expected from analytic theory, it is found that the other MHD modes contribute important perturbations. Standing slow mode perturbations also are present in the flow.
Linker, Jon A.↗
DSMC Simulation of Separated Flows About Flared Bodies at Hypersonic Conditions
This paper describes the results of a numerical study of interacting hypersonic flows at conditions that can be produced in ground-based test facilities. The computations are made with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method of Bird. The focus is on Mach 10 flows about flared axisymmetric configurations, both hollow cylinder flares and double cones. The flow conditions are those for which experiments have been or will be performed in the ONERA R5Ch low-density wind tunnel and the Calspan-University of Buffalo Research Center (CUBRC) Large Energy National Shock (LENS) tunnel. The range of flow conditions, model configurations, and model sizes provides a significant range of shock/shock and shock/boundary layer interactions at low Reynolds number conditions. Results presented will highlight the sensitivity of the calculations to grid resolution, contrast the differences in flow structure for hypersonic cold flows and those of more energetic but still low enthalpy flows, and compare the present results with experimental measurements for surface heating, pressure, and extent of separation.
Moss, James N.↗
Simulation of Sweep-Jet Flow Control, Single Jet and Full Vertical Tail
This work is a simulation technology demonstrator, of sweep jet flow control used to suppress boundary layer separation and increase the maximum achievable load coefficients. A sweep jet is a discrete Coanda jet that oscillates in the plane parallel to an aerodynamic surface. It injects mass and momentum in the approximate streamwise direction. It also generates turbulent eddies at the oscillation frequency, which are typically large relative to the scales of boundary layer turbulence, and which augment mixing across the boundary layer to attack flow separation. Simulations of a fluidic oscillator, the sweep jet emerging from a nozzle downstream of the oscillator, and an array of sweep jets which suppresses boundary layer separation are performed. Simulation results are compared to data from a dedicated validation experiment of a single oscillator and its sweep jet, and from a wind tunnel test of a full-scale Boeing 757 vertical tail augmented with an array of sweep jets. A critical step in the work is the development of realistic time-dependent sweep jet inflow boundary conditions, derived from the results of the single-oscillator simulations, which create the sweep jets in the full-tail simulations. Simulations were performed using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver Overow, with high-order spatial discretization and a range of turbulence modeling. Good results were obtained for all flows simulated, when suitable turbulence modeling was used.
flow control↗
Propellant flow rate through simulated liquid-core nuclear rocket fuel bed.
Experimental investigation of the validity of Zuber and Finlay's (1965) gas flow-rate formula for a two-phase flow in a rotating cylinder under high centrifugal acceleration. This formula was originally derived from tests in a 1-g environment in pipes. In the light of the investigation results obtained, the formula is valid also for a high-g environment in the rotating chamber tested.
Mcguirk, J. P.↗