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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Bifurcations of nonlinear ion acoustic travelling waves in the frame of a Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation in magnetized plasma with a kappa distributed electron

Bifurcations of nonlinear propagation of ion acoustic waves (IAWs) in a magnetized plasma whose constituents are cold ions and kappa distributed electron are investigated using a two component plasma model. The standard reductive perturbation technique is used to derive the Zakharov-Kuznetsov (ZK) equation for IAWs. By using the bifurcation theory of planar dynamical systems to this ZK equation, the existence of solitary wave solutions and periodic travelling wave solutions is established. All exact explicit solutions of these travelling waves are determined. The results may have relevance in dense space plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Bifurcation theory of a one-dimensional transport model for the L-H transition

Transitions between low and high-confinement (L-H transitions) in magnetically confined plasmas can appear as three qualitatively different types: sharp, smooth, and oscillatory. Bifurcation analysis unravels these possible transition types and how they are situated in parameter space. In this paper the bifurcation analysis is applied to a 1-dimensional model for the radial transport of energy and density near the edge of magnetically confined plasmas. This phenomenological L-H transition model describes the reduction of the turbulent transport by E×B-flow shear self-consistently with the evolution of the radial electric field. Therewith, the exact parameter space, including the threshold values of the control parameters, of the possible L-H transitions in the model is determined. Furthermore, a generalised equal area rule is derived to describe the evolution of the transport barrier in space and time self-consistently. Applying this newly developed rule to the model analysed in this paper reveals a naturally occurring transition to an extra wide transport barrier that may correspond to the improved confinement known as the very-high-confinement mode.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Investigation of complexity dynamics of inverse and normal homoclinic bifurcation in a glow discharge plasma

Order-chaos-order was observed in the relaxation oscillations of a glow discharge plasma with variation in the discharge voltage. The first transition exhibits an inverse homoclinic bifurcation followed by a homoclinic bifurcation in the second transition. For the two regimes of observations, a detailed analysis of correlation dimension, Lyapunov exponent, and Renyi entropy was carried out to explore the complex dynamics of the system.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Communication: Mode bifurcation of droplet motion under stationary laser irradiation

The self-propelled motion of a mm-sized oil droplet floating on water, induced by a local temperature gradient generated by CW laser irradiation is reported. The circular droplet exhibits two types of regular periodic motion, reciprocal and circular, around the laser spot under suitable laser power. With an increase in laser power, a mode bifurcation from rectilinear reciprocal motion to circular motion is caused. The essential aspects of this mode bifurcation are discussed in terms of spontaneous symmetry-breaking under temperature-induced interfacial instability, and are theoretically reproduced with simple coupled differential equations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Bifurcation characteristics and safe basin of MSMA microgripper subjected to stochastic excitation

A kind of magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) microgripper is proposed in this paper, and its nonlinear dynamic characteristics are studied when the stochastic perturbation is considered. Nonlinear differential items are introduced to explain the hysteretic phenomena of MSMA, and the constructive relationships among strain, stress, and magnetic field intensity are obtained by the partial least-square regression method. The nonlinear dynamic model of a MSMA microgripper subjected to in-plane stochastic excitation is developed. The stationary probability density function of the system’s response is obtained, the transition sets of the system are determined, and the conditions of stochastic bifurcation are obtained. The homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits of the system are given, and the boundary of the system’s safe basin is obtained by stochastic Melnikov integral method. The numerical and experimental results show that the system’s motion depends on its parameters, and stochastic Hopf bifurcation appears in the variation of the parameters; the area of the safe basin decreases with the increase of the stochastic excitation, and the boundary of the safe basin becomes fractal. The results of this paper are helpful for the application of MSMA microgripper in engineering fields.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Stochastic D-bifurcation for a damped sine-Gordon equation with noise

We investigate the stochastic bifurcation of a damped sine-Gordon equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions under the influence of multiplicative Gaussian white noise. Introducing a slow time scale, we derive the amplitude equations near the trivial solution by multiscale analysis. And the stationary probability density functions are formulated analytically using the stochastic averaging of energy envelope. The numerical calculations show that the system undergoes a stochastic D-bifurcation of energy envelope from a delta measure to new stationary measures when the control parameter crosses a critical point.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Some bifurcation routes to chaos of thermocapillary convection in two-dimensional liquid layers of finite extent

As a part of the preliminary studies for the future space experiment (Zona-K) in the Russian module of the International Space Station, some bifurcation routes to chaos of thermocapillary convection in two-dimensional liquid layers filled with 10 cSt silicone oil have been numerically studied in this paper. As the laterally applied temperature difference is raised, variations in the spatial structure and temporal evolution of the thermocapillary convection and a complex sequence of transitions are observed. The results show that the finite extent of the liquid layer significantly influences the tempo-spatial evolution of the thermocapillary convection. Moreover, the bifurcation route of the thermocapillary convection changes very sensitively by the aspect ratio of the liquid layer. With the increasing Reynolds number (applied temperature difference), the steady thermocapillary convection experiences two consecutive transitions from periodic oscillatory state to quasi-periodic oscillatory state with frequency-locking before emergence of chaotic convection in a liquid layer of aspect ratio 14.25, and the thermocapillary convection undergoes period-doubling cascades leading to chaotic convection in a liquid layer of aspect ratio 13.0.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evidence and modeling of turbulence bifurcation in L-mode confinement transitions on Alcator C-Mod

Analysis and modeling of rotation reversal hysteresis experiments show that a single turbulent bifurcation is responsible for the Linear to Saturated Ohmic Confinement (LOC/SOC) transition and concomitant intrinsic rotation reversal on Alcator C-Mod. Plasmas on either side of the reversal exhibit different toroidal rotation profiles and therefore different turbulence characteristics despite the profiles of density and temperature, which are indistinguishable within measurement uncertainty. Elements of this bifurcation are also shown to persist for auxiliary heated L-modes. The deactivation of subdominant (in the linear growth rate and contribution to heat transport) ion temperature gradient and trapped electron mode instabilities is identified as the only possible change in turbulence within a reduced quasilinear transport model across the reversal, which is consistent with the measured profiles and inferred heat and particle fluxes. Experimental constraints on a possible change from strong to weak turbulence, outside the description of the quasilinear model, are also discussed. These results indicate an explanation for the LOC/SOC transition that provides a mechanism for the hysteresis through the dynamics of subdominant modes and changes in their relative populations and does not involve a change in the most linearly unstable ion-scale drift-wave instability.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Shafranov shift bifurcation of turbulent transport in the high β p scenario on DIII-D

Shafranov shift stabilization of turbulence creates a bifurcation in transport, leading to multiple confinement states in the high β p scenario on DIII-D: an H-mode confinement state with a high edge pedestal, and an enhanced confinement state with a low pedestal and an internal transport barrier (ITB). The bifurcation is observed experimentally in the ion energy transport with respect to mid-radius ( ρ =0.6) pressure gradient. Simultaneously, the electron transport exhibits a similar but less dramatic behavior with respect to pressure gradient. The Shafranov shift is found to increase at the same time as the transition to enhanced confinement, and quasilinear gyro-Landau fluid modeling shows a reduction of predicted energy flux consistent on-set of the ITB. Transient perturbations such as ELMs are likely a trigger for the transition between states by lowering the edge pressure and increasing mid-radius pressure gradient.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

TQ-bifurcations in discrete dynamical systems: Analysis of qualitative rearrangements of the oscillation mode

A new class of bifurcations is defined in discrete dynamical systems, and methods for their diagnostics and the analysis of their properties are presented. The TQ-bifurcations considered are implemented in discrete mappings and are related to the qualitative rearrangement of the shape of trajectories in an extended space of states. Within the demonstration of the main capabilities of the toolkit, an analysis is carried out of a logistic mapping in a domain to the right of the period-doubling limit point. Five critical values of the parameter are found for which the geometric structure of the trajectories of the mapping experiences a qualitative rearrangement. In addition, an analysis is carried out of the so-called “trace map,” which arises in the problems of quantum-mechanical description of various properties of discrete crystalline and quasicrystalline lattices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Bifurcation features of mixtures containing CO and hydrocarbons in diesel oxidation catalyst

A model of a monolith reactor with radial gradients in the washcoat is used to study the ignition-extinction of pure CO, C 2 H 6 and C 3 H 6 and of their mixtures on a Pt/Al 2 O 3 diesel oxidation catalyst. The ignition temperature of the individual species oxidation increases upon an increase in feed concentration of either CO or C 3 H 6 and decreases upon an increase in feed concentration of C 2 H 6 . This is because CO, C 3 H 6 have negative order kinetics and C 2 H 6 has positive order kinetics. Here, we determine the steady-state hysteresis behavior of conversion versus feed temperature during co-oxidation of CO and hydrocarbons (C 3 H 6 , C 2 H 6 ). A single S-shaped bifurcation diagram of conversion versus inlet temperature is obtained during the co-oxidation of all feed mixtures of CO and C 3 H 6 because the activation energies of CO and C 3 H 6 are close to each other. The presence of CO in the feed inhibits the oxidation of propylene during the co-oxidation of CO and C 3 H 6 . In contrast, the ignition temperatures of pure CO and pure C 2 H 6 are much different and CO ignites at a much lower temperature than C 2 H 6 . A double-S shaped bifurcation diagram is obtained when hysteresis exists for both CO and C 2 H 6 during the co-oxidation. The oxidation of CO present in the feed increases the catalyst temperature and this reduces the C 2 H 6 ignition temperature. The separated ignition is transformed to a simultaneous ignition when the CO concentration in the feed is sufficiently high. We determine the boundary in the parameter space of feed compositions and other operating conditions that separate the simultaneous and separate ignition. The application of this result for the design of DOCs for treating exhaust gases at lower inlet temperatures is discussed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bifurcation of equilibrium positions for ellipsoidal particles in inertial shear flows between two walls

We conducted a systematic numerical investigation of spherical, prolate and oblate particles in an inertial shear flow between two parallel walls, using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). It was previously shown that above a critical Reynolds number, spherical particles experience a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation of the equilibrium position in shear flow between two parallel walls, namely that the central equilibrium position becomes unstable, leading to the emergence of two new off-centre stable positions (Foxet al.,J. Fluid Mech., vol. 915, 2021). This phenomenon was unexpected given the symmetry of the system. In addition to confirming this finding, we found, surprisingly, that ellipsoidal particles can also return to the centre position from the off-centre positions when the particle Reynolds number is further increased, while spherical particles become unstable under this increased Reynolds number. By utilizing both SPH and the finite element method for flow visualization, we explained the underlining mechanism of this reverse of bifurcation by altered streamwise vorticity and symmetry breaking of pressure. Furthermore, we expanded our investigation to include asymmetric particles, a novel aspect that had not been previously modelled, and we observed similar trends in particle dynamics for both symmetric and asymmetric ellipsoidal particles. While further validation through laboratory experiments is necessary, our research paves the road for development of new focusing and separation methods for shaped particles.

Mechanics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Very-Low-Frequency transmitters bifurcate energetic electron belt in near-earth space

Very-Low-Frequency (VLF) transmitters operate worldwide mostly at frequencies of 10–30 kilohertz for submarine communications. While it has been of intense scientific interest and practical importance to understand whether VLF transmitters can affect the natural environment of charged energetic particles, for decades there remained little direct observational evidence that revealed the effects of these VLF transmitters in geospace. Here we report a radially bifurcated electron belt formation at energies of tens of kiloelectron volts (keV) at altitudes of ~0.8–1.5 Earth radii on timescales over 10 days. Using Fokker-Planck diffusion simulations, we provide quantitative evidence that VLF transmitter emissions that leak from the Earth-ionosphere waveguide are primarily responsible for bifurcating the energetic electron belt, which typically exhibits a single-peak radial structure in near-Earth space. Since energetic electrons pose a potential danger to satellite operations, our findings demonstrate the feasibility of mitigation of natural particle radiation environment.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bifurcation-driven vertical plasma displacement

This paper considers vertical plasma motion resulting from plasma current decay during the disruption event. The presented filament-based model describes the motion in the ideal wall limit as an adiabatically slow evolution of the plasma equilibrium. Here, the equilibrium exhibits a pitchfork bifurcation when the decaying plasma current passes a critical value determined by the external magnetic field. This bifurcation affects the disruption-induced mechanical loads on the first wall.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Kinetic-ballooning-bifurcation in tokamak pedestals across shaping and aspect-ratio

We use a new gyrokinetic threshold model to predict a bifurcation in tokamak pedestal width-height scalings that depends strongly on plasma shaping and aspect-ratio. The bifurcation arises from the first and second stability properties of kinetic-ballooning-modes that yields wide and narrow pedestal branches, expanding the space of accessible pedestal widths and heights. The wide branch offers potential for edge-localized-mode-free pedestals with high core pressure. For negative triangularity, low-aspect-ratio configurations are predicted to give steeper pedestals than conventional-aspect-ratio. Both wide and narrow branches have been attained in tokamak experiments.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Neural operator transformers capture bifurcating drift-wave turbulence in fusion plasma simulations

Self-consistent modeling of turbulence-driven transport is critical for optimizing confinement in magnetically confined fusion plasmas, such as tokamaks and stellarators. In particular, capturing the long-term co-evolution of turbulence, flow, and background plasma profiles remains computationally challenging. Direct numerical simulation of these multiscale, highly nonlinear processes is often demanding and impractical for real-time control or design optimization. To address this bottleneck, we investigate transformer-based neural operator partial differential equation surrogates for emulating the dynamics of drift-wave turbulence bifurcation mediated by zonal flows, using the modified Hasegawa–Wakatani (MHW) model as a prototypical system. We find that the finetuned neural operator model has excellent performance in capturing the multi-spatiotemporal-scales of MHW turbulence bifurcation and is robust to testing on rare and out-of-distribution dynamics. Specifically, we demonstrate that a single unified model accurately predicts both quasi-steady-state turbulence and a wide range of dynamical transition processes, such as nonlinear saturation, spontaneous suppression of turbulence, and the emergence of macroscopic zonal flows, over time horizons vastly exceeding the local turbulence correlation time. This computationally efficient approach establishes a strong foundation for fast, AI-based modeling of complex, multiscale phenomena in magnetized fusion plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Shear Alfvén wave continuum spectrum with bifurcated helical core equilibria

Here, the radial structure of the continuum spectrum of shear Alfvén and Alfvén-acoustic waves in the beta-induced Alfvén eigenmode (BAE) frequency range is modeled for tokamak plasmas in the presence of 3D effects obtained from the bifurcated MHD equilibrium reconstruction. Plasma compressibility and geodesic curvature effects responsible for the low-frequency continuum spectrum calculations are invoked. In the equilibrium calculations we find that the helically distorted MHD equilibria may exist even for the axisymmetric devices if q = 1 rational surfaces are present. The continuum calculations with the bifurcated equilibria lead to a frequency splitting between the highest frequency branch and the lowest frequency branch continua at the frequency accumulation point. Radially localised shifting of modes happens via coupling of the adjacent n – 1 continuum around an accumulation point. Our modelling (including 3D effects) correctly reproduces the phenomenon of continuum frequency splitting and provides a possible solution for the differences of few kHz in frequency splitting, which remained unexplained with the 2D kinetic calculations. The pressure scaling confirms the increase of helical excursion of the magnetic axis in equilibrium reconstruction and hence the range of continuum frequency splitting. In our calculations, the existence of low-frequency continua is in agreement with the experimentally observed low-frequency modes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Bifurcation from L-mode to internal transport barrier triggered by a magnetic island in tokamak plasmas

Magnetic islands are believed to be responsible for triggering the internal transport barrier (ITB) around the rational surface and hence improves confinement in magnetic confinement fusion plasma, for more than two decades. Although some recent theoretical or modelling works support this hypothesis, the direct experimental demonstration on the ITB triggered by a magnetic island is still missing. Here, we report the first experimental observation that the increase in the magnetic island width triggers the bifurcation of the plasma transport state from a low confinement mode (L-mode) to an ITB mode in tokamak plasma. At medium island widths, the bifurcation appears with a dithering phase, i.e. plasma transitions from L-mode to ITB or vice versa quasi-periodically. As the island width further increases, the dithering ITB transitions into a steady ITB. The electron temperature gradient inside the ITB increases with island width. The trigger of the ITB and further enhancement of the ITB performance are also demonstrated by locking the island via applying a resonant magnetic perturbation field. The reduction of density fluctuations in the ITB region is observed and indicates turbulence suppression during ITB formation. These findings offer new insights for understanding ITB formation and robust ITB control.

internal transport barrier↗