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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

A review of computational methods for studying oscillating water columns – the Navier-Stokes based equation approach

This review evaluates the state-of-the-practice numerical tools used to predict the performance of Oscillating Water Column (OWC). The OWC is a widely studied Wave Energy Converter that provides a reliable form of renewable form of electricity that can potentially meet global energy needs. However, the fluid-flow phenomena affecting its hydrodynamic performance are not fully understood. While there has been the successful full-scale deployment of OWCs, various computational methods are being explored to optimize this technology. Potential flow theory is commonly used to evaluate the efficiency of OWCs; however, this assumption tends to over-predict the hydrodynamic performance. Recently, numerical studies using a diverse set of commercial, open-source, or in-house Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) using Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) and Large-Eddy Simulation codes show a better comparison to available experimental results but are computationally expensive. ANSYS Fluent was found to be the most widely used CFD code applied to the study of the OWCs, with a high degree of accuracy in terms of experimental validation of numerical results.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2020

Efficient and robust stability analysis in the internal energy, volume, and moles (UVN) space

Hydrodynamic simulation of fluids in vessels is often based on the internal energy (U), volume (V), and the number of moles of all components ( re N = N 1 , N 2 , ..., N n ) as the working variables to determine the thermodynamic state by finding the global maximum of entropy. The procedure of finding the equilibrium state may be divided into two steps: stability analysis and phase-split computations. Stability analysis is performed first, and the phase-split computation proceeds if the system is unstable. Most of the past work on UVN space has been based on phase-split computations, while the stability analysis is barely investigated. Furthermore, previous studies for the stability analysis use only Newton's method to solve the non-linear algebraic equations. We present an efficient and robust approach for stability analysis where UVN is specified. The successive substitution iteration (SSI) is used to provide good initial guesses for Newton's method. The proposed approach results in a reduced number of unknowns and does not require a large number of iterations to achieve convergence in Newton's method. Overall, our proposed formulation is compatible with different equations of state and is applicable to both pure component and multi-components. The robustness and efficiency of the algorithm for stability analysis are demonstrated in various examples.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modeling of streamflow in a 30 km long reach spanning 5 years using OpenFOAM 5.x

Abstract. Developing accurate and efficient modeling techniques for streamflow at the tens-of-kilometers spatial scale and multi-year temporal scale is critical for evaluating and predicting the impact of climate- and human-induced discharge variations on river hydrodynamics. However, achieving such a goal is challenging because of limited surveys of streambed hydraulic roughness, uncertain boundary condition specifications, and high computational costs. We demonstrate that accurate and efficient three-dimensional (3-D) hydrodynamic modeling of natural rivers at 30 km and 5-year scales is feasible using the following three techniques within OpenFOAM, an open-source computational fluid dynamics platform: (1) generating a distributed hydraulic roughness field for the streambed by integrating water-stage observation data, a rough wall theory, and a local roughness optimization and adjustment strategy; (2) prescribing the boundary condition for the inflow and outflow by integrating precomputed results of a one-dimensional (1-D) hydraulic model with the 3-D model; and (3) reducing computational time using multiple parallel runs constrained by 1-D inflow and outflow boundary conditions. Streamflow modeling for a 30 km long reach in the Columbia River (CR) over 58 months can be achieved in less than 6 d using 1.1 million CPU hours. The mean error between the modeled and the observed water stages for our simulated CR reach ranges from −16 to 9 cm (equivalent to approximately ±7 % relative to the average water depth) at seven locations during most of the years between 2011 and 2019. We can reproduce the velocity distribution measured by the acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). The correlation coefficients of the depth-averaged velocity between the model and ADCP measurements are in the range between 0.71 and 0.83 at 75 % of the survey cross sections. With the validated model, we further show that the relative importance of dynamic pressure versus hydrostatic pressure varies with discharge variations and topography heterogeneity. Given the model's high accuracy and computational efficiency, the model framework provides a generic approach to evaluate and predict the impacts of climate- and human-induced discharge variations on river hydrodynamics at tens-of-kilometers and decadal scales.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2007

A Magnetohydrodynamic Boost for Relativistic Jets

We performed relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the hydrodynamic boosting mechanism for relativistic jets explored by Aloy & Rezzolla (2006) using the RAISHIN code. Simulation results show that the presence of a magnetic field changes the properties of the shock interface between the tenuous, overpressured jet (V^z j) flowing tangentially to a dense external medium. We find that magnetic fields can lead to more efficient acceleration of the jet, in comparison to the pure-hydrodynamic case. A "poloidal" magnetic field (B^z), tangent to the interface and parallel to the jet flow, produces both a stronger outward moving shock and a stronger inward moving rarefaction wave. This leads to a large velocity component normal to the interface in addition to acceleration tangent to the interface, and the jet is thus accelerated to larger Lorentz factors than those obtained in the pure-hydrodynamic case. Likewise, a strong "toroidal" magnetic field (B^y), tangent to the interface but perpendicular to the jet flow, also leads to stronger acceleration tangent to the shock interface relative to the pure-hydrodynamic case. Thus. the presence and relative orientation of a magnetic field in relativistic jets can significant modify the hydrodynamic boost mechanism studied by Aloy & Rezzolla (2006).

Mizuno, Yosuke↗
NASA NTRS2006

Unsteady Flow Simulation of High-speed Turbopumps

Computation of high-speed hydrodynamics requires high-fidelity simulation to resolve flow features involving transient flow, cavitation, tip vortex and multiple scales of unsteady fluctuations. One example of this type in aerospace is related to liquid-fueled rocket turbopump. Rocket turbopumps operate under severe conditions at very high rotational speeds typically at thousands of rpm. For example, the Shuttle orbiter low-pressure-fuel-turbopump creates transient flow features associated with reverse flows, tip clearance effects, secondary flows, vortex shedding, junction flows, and cavitation effects. Flow unsteadiness originating from the orbiter Low-Pressure-Fuel-Turbopump (LPFTP) inducer is one of the major contributors to the high frequency cyclic loading that results in high cycle fatigue damage to the flow liners just upstream of the LPFTP. The reverse flow generated at the tip of the inducer blades travels upstream and interacts with the bellows cavity. Simulation procedure for this type high-speed hydrodynamic problems requires a method for quantifying multi-scale and multi-phase flow as well as an efficient high-end computing strategy. The current paper presents a high-fidelity computational procedure for unsteady hydrodynamic problems using a high-speed liquid-fueled rocket turbopump.

Kiris, Cetin C.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Numerical simulations of turbulent molecular clouds regulated by radiation feedback forces. I. Star formation rate and efficiency

Radiation feedback from stellar clusters is expected to play a key role in setting the rate and efficiency of star formation in giant molecular clouds. To investigate how radiation forces influence realistic turbulent systems, we have conducted a series of numerical simulations employing the Hyperion radiation hydrodynamics solver, considering the regime that is optically thick to ultraviolet and optically thin to infrared radiation. Our model clouds cover initial surface densities between Σ{sub cl,0}∼10--300 M{sub ⊙} pc{sup −2}, with varying initial turbulence. We follow them through turbulent, self-gravitating collapse, star cluster formation, and cloud dispersal by stellar radiation. All our models display a log-normal distribution of gas surface density Σ; for an initial virial parameter α{sub vir,0}=2, the log-normal standard deviation is σ{sub lnΣ}=1--1.5 and the star formation rate coefficient ε{sub ff, ρ-bar }=0.3--0.5, both of which are sensitive to turbulence but not radiation feedback. The net star formation efficiency (SFE) ε{sub final} increases with Σ{sub cl,0} and decreases with α{sub vir,0}. We interpret these results via a simple conceptual framework, whereby steady star formation increases the radiation force, such that local gas patches at successively higher Σ become unbound. Based on this formalism (with fixed σ{sub lnΣ}), we provide an analytic upper bound on ε{sub final}, which is in good agreement with our numerical results. The final SFE depends on the distribution of Eddington ratios in the cloud and is strongly increased by the turbulent compression of gas.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Technique for Optimization Design of the Flow Path of a Main Oil Pump

A method for the design of the flow path of a main oil pump by means of which the geometry of the flow path may be optimized to achieve maximum energy efficiency of the pump is given. The method is based on mathematical simulation of the hydrodynamic processes that occur in the flow path of a pump using the ANSYS system of finite-element analysis combined with methods of nonlinear programming.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2002

Analysis of Salinity Intrusion in the San Francisco Bay-Delta using a GA- Optimized Neural Net, and Application of the Model to Prediction in the Elkhorn Slough Habitat

The San Francisco Bay Delta is a large hydrodynamic complex that incorporates the Sacramento and San Joaquin Estuaries, the Burman Marsh, and the San Francisco Bay proper. Competition exists for the use of this extensive water system both from the fisheries industry, the agricultural industry, and from the marine and estuarine animal species within the Delta. As tidal fluctuations occur, more saline water pushes upstream allowing fish to migrate beyond the Burman Marsh for breeding and habitat occupation. However, the agriculture industry does not want extensive salinity intrusion to impact water quality for human and plant consumption. The balance is regulated by pumping stations located alone the estuaries and reservoirs whereby flushing of fresh water keeps the saline intrusion at bay. The pumping schedule is driven by data collected at various locations within the Bay Delta and by numerical models that predict the salinity intrusion as part of a larger model of the system. The Interagency Ecological Program (IEP) for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary collects, monitors, and archives the data, and the Department of Water Resources provides a numerical model simulation (DSM2) from which predictions are made that drive the pumping schedule. A problem with this procedure is that the numerical simulation takes roughly 16 hours to complete a C:~ prediction. We have created a neural net, optimized with a genetic algorithm, that takes as input the archived data from multiple stations and predicts stage, salinity, and flow at the Carquinez Straits (at the downstream end of the Burman Marsh). This model seems to be robust in its predictions and operates much faster than the current numerical DSM2 model. Because the system is strongly tidal driven, we used both Principal Component Analysis and Fast Fourier Transforms to discover dominant features within the IEP data. We then filtered out the dominant tidal forcing to discover non-primary tidal effects, and used this to enhance the neural network by mapping input-output relationships in a more efficient manner. Furthermore, the neural network implicitly incorporates both the hydrodynamic and water quality models into a single predictive system. Although our model has not yet been enhanced to demonstrate improve pumping schedules, it has the possibility to support better decision-making procedures that may then be implemented by State agencies if desired. Our intention is now to use this model in the smaller Elkhorn Slough complex near Monterey Bay where no such hydrodynamic model currently exists. At the Elkhorn Slough, we are fusing the neural net model of tidally-driven flow with in situ flow data and airborne and satellite remote sensation data. These further constrain the behavior of the model in predicting the longer-term health and future of this vital estuary.

Thompson, David E.↗
DOE OSTI2023

HydroChrono: An Open-Source Hydrodynamics Package for Project Chrono

In this paper we present the development and verification of HydroChrono, a hydrodynamics package for the Project Chrono physics engine. This package includes the implementation of hydrodynamics equations, the added mass for multibody systems, the development of I/O functions as well as a Python API, and comparison against standard reference cases and other existing tools. HydroChrono provides a flexible, fully open-source solution for simulating wave energy converters (WECs), floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) platforms, and other hydrodynamic systems. Here we show, via comparisons with existing tools for benchmark verification cases, that HydroChrono accurately models hydrodynamic forces - making it a useful tool for the design and optimization of these systems. Additionally, the integration of HydroChrono with Project Chrono offers access to finite element modeling capabilities and high-fidelity modelling - with Chrono's existing coupling to CFD and SPH codes. This provides numerical modelers with a multifidelity simulation framework for designing and validating these systems. The development of HydroChrono provides a new, open-source solution for simulating hydrodynamic systems. Its compatibility with other simulation tools enables a more streamlined and efficient design process, advancing the field and providing new opportunities for innovation in this area.

BEM↗
DOE OSTI2025

Resolving discrepancies in bang-time predictions for indirect-drive ICF experiments on the NIF: Insights from the Build-A-Hohlraum campaign

This study investigated discrepancies between measured and simulated x-ray drive in Indirect-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion (ID-ICF) hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility. Despite advances in radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, a consistent “drive deficit” remains. Experimentally measured ID-ICF capsule bang-times are systematically 400–700 ps later than simulations predict. The Build-A-Hohlraum (BAH) campaign explored potential causes for this discrepancy by systematically varying hohlraum features, including laser entrance hole (LEH) windows, capsules, and gas fills. Overall, the agreement between simulated and experimental x-ray drive was found to be largely unaffected by these changes. The data allow us to exclude some hypotheses put forward to potentially explain the discrepancy. Errors in the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) atomic modeling, errors in the modeling of LEH closure, and errors due to a lack of plasma species mix physics in simulations are shown to be inconsistent with our measurements. Instead, the data support the hypothesis that errors in NLTE emission modeling are a significant contributor to the discrepancy. X-ray emission in the 2–4 keV range is found to be approximately 30% lower than in simulations. This is accompanied by higher than predicted electron temperatures in the gold bubble region, pointing to errors in non-LTE modeling. Introducing an opacity multiplier of 0.87 on energy groups above 1.8 keV improves agreement with experimental data, reducing the bang-time discrepancy from 300 to 100 ps. These results underscore the need for refined NLTE opacity models to enhance the predictive power of hohlraum simulations.

Band emission↗
DOE OSTI2020

Thermocatalytic Heat Pipes for Geothermal Resource Recovery

Heat pipes are an important technology that allow orders of magnitude faster heat transfer than simple conduction. However, operating principles in heat pipes place fundamental bounds on their performance (critical heat flux and efficiency). Conventional heat pipe functionality is inherently tied to vaporization and condensation of the working fluid charged in the heat pipe. These fluids each have different operating temperature ranges based on the capillary, entrainment, sonic, and boiling limits of the heat pipe design. These limits, typically the capillary limit, dictate the maximum heat flux a heat pipe can carry, and most importantly for geothermal systems, the distance over which the pipes can operate (100 to 200 m maximum under optimum conditions). A thermocatalytic heat pipe breaks the inherent limitations of phase change thermo- and hydrodynamics and can transform heat pipe technology as a potentially more efficient means of extracting heat from a geothermal resource. The thermocatalytic heat pipe uses a working fluid to transport both sensible and chemical heat. An endothermic chemical reaction at depth removes heat from the reservoir and produces reactive intermediates, which are transported to the surface and used to run a reverse exothermic reaction that releases heat for use in power generation or other useful purposes. This technology offers two distinct advantages over conventional geothermal heat recovery technologies: (1) lower heat loss to the rock outside of the geothermal reservoir, and (2) higher heat transfer rates to the well field within the geothermal reservoir. Both advantages offer opportunity to reduce risks and lower costs of geothermal energy recovery. In this report, we discuss an initial effort to assess the efficacy and limitations of this technology for extracting heat from both porous/permeable and nominally impermeable geothermal reservoirs. Numerical simulation capabilities of the STOMP-GT code were enhanced to enable simulations of thermochemical heat pipes traversing geothermal reservoirs. An array of potential thermochemical reaction systems was evaluated and screened. Of these, an ethanol dehydration reaction was most promising in the vapor-liquid reaction set. A solid-phase dehydration reaction (CuSO4·5H2O) showed the highest reaction enthalpy per unit volume but would require development of a nonaqueous carrier fluid to implement it in a heat pipe. Subsurface reservoir simulations predicted long-term performance of the heat pipes for each geothermal reservoir type. The performance of U-shaped wells and coaxial wells was evaluated for a suite of reactions for both hydrothermal and hot dry rock reservoirs and was compared with a baseline case of simply pumping water through the wells. The heat pipe technology was additionally evaluated for an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) with an injection borehole, production borehole, and intervening hydraulically conductive fracture. All reservoir types showed significant improvement in heat recovered over a 20-year operating period ranging from a 1.8X increase for the hot dry rock case to more than 2.5X more energy recovered for the EGS case.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

CLUMPY DISKS AS A TESTBED FOR FEEDBACK-REGULATED GALAXY FORMATION

We study the dependence of fragmentation in massive gas-rich galaxy disks at z >1 on stellar feedback schemes and hydrodynamical solvers, employing the GASOLINE2 SPH code and the lagrangian mesh-less code GIZMO in finite mass mode. Non-cosmological galaxy disk runs with the standard delayed-cooling blastwave feedback are compared with runs adopting a new superbubble feedback, which produces winds by modeling the detailed physics of supernova-driven bubbles and leads to efficient self-regulation of star formation. We find that, with blastwave feedback, massive star-forming clumps form in comparable number and with very similar masses in GASOLINE2 and GIZMO. Typical clump masses are in the range 10{sup 7}–10{sup 8} M {sub ⊙}, lower than in most previous works, while giant clumps with masses above 10{sup 9} M {sub ⊙} are exceedingly rare. By contrast, superbubble feedback does not produce massive star-forming bound clumps as galaxies never undergo a phase of violent disk instability. In this scheme, only sporadic, unbound star-forming overdensities lasting a few tens of Myr can arise, triggered by non-linear perturbations from massive satellite companions. We conclude that there is severe tension between explaining massive star-forming clumps observed at z >1 primarily as the result of disk fragmentation driven by gravitational instability and the prevailing view of feedback-regulated galaxy formation. The link between disk stability and star formation efficiency should thus be regarded as a key testing ground for galaxy formation theory.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Differentiable lagrangian shock hydrodynamics with application to stable shock acceleration of density interfaces

We develop a gradient based optimization approach for the equations of compressible, Lagrangian hydrodynamics and demonstrate how it can be employed to automatically uncover strategies to control hydrodynamic instabilities arising from shock acceleration of density interfaces. Strategies for controlling the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) are of great benefit for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) where shock interactions with many small imperfections in the density interface lead to instabilities which rapidly grow over time. These instabilities lead to mixing which, in the case of laser driven ICF, quenches the runaway fusion process ruining the potential for positive energy return. Here, we demonstrate that control of these instabilities can be achieved by optimization of initial conditions with ( > 100) parameters. Optimizing over a large parameter space like this is not possible with gradient-free optimization strategies. This requires computation of the gradient of the outputs of a numerical solution to the equations of Lagrangian hydrodynamics with respect to the inputs. We show that the efficient computation of these gradients is made possible via a judicious application of (i) adjoint methods, the exact formal representation of sensitivities involving partial differential equations, and (ii) automatic differentiation (AD), the algorithmic calculation of derivatives of functions. Careful regularization of multiple operators including artificial viscosity and timestep control is required. We perform design optimization of > 100 parameter energy field driving the Richtmyer Meshkov instability showing significant suppression while simultaneously enhancing the acceleration of the interface relative to a nominal baseline case.

Hydrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2016

The Laser-Driven X-ray Big Area Backlighter (BABL): Design, Optimization, and Evolution

The Big Area BackLigher (BABL) has been developed for large area laser-driven x-ray backlighting on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which can be used for general High Energy Density (HED) experiments. The BABL has been optimized via hydrodynamic simulations to produce laser-to-x-ray conversion efficiencies of up to nearly 5%. Lastly, four BABL foil materials, Zn, Fe, V, and Cu, have been used for He-α x ray production.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

GLOBAL NON-SPHERICAL OSCILLATIONS IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL 4π SIMULATIONS OF THE H-INGESTION FLASH

We performed three-dimensional simulations of proton-rich material entrainment into {sup 12}C-rich He-shell flash convection and the subsequent H-ingestion flash that took place in the post-asymptotic giant branch star Sakurai's object. Observations of the transient nature and anomalous abundance features are available to validate our method and assumptions, with the aim of applying them to very low-metallicity stars in the future. We include nuclear energy feedback from H burning and cover the full 4π geometry of the shell. Runs on 768{sup 3} and 1536{sup 3} grids agree well with each other and have been followed for 1500 minutes and 1200 minutes. After an 850 minute long quiescent entrainment phase, the simulations enter into a global non-spherical oscillation that is launched and sustained by individual ignition events of H-rich fluid pockets. Fast circumferential flows collide at the antipode and cause the formation and localized ignition of the next H-overabundant pocket. The cycle repeats for more than a dozen times while its amplitude decreases. During the global oscillation, the entrainment rate increases temporarily by a factor of ≈100. Entrained entropy quenches convective motions in the upper layer until the burning of entrained H establishes a separate convection zone. The lower-resolution run hints at the possibility that another global oscillation, perhaps even more violent, will follow. The location of the H-burning convection zone agrees with a one-dimensional model in which the mixing efficiency is calibrated to reproduce the light curve. The simulations have been performed at the NSF Blue Waters supercomputer at NCSA.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Four-dimensional QCD equation of state with multiple chemical potentials

Here, we construct a four-dimensional version of the equation of state (EoS) model neos, neos-4d, as a function of the temperature and chemical potentials of baryon, electric charge, and strangeness for the hot and dense quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter created in relativistic nuclear collisions. This EoS enables multiple conserved charge current evolution in a relativistic fluid. Input from lattice QCD simulations and a hadron resonance gas model is considered for constructing the equation of state. We investigate its applicability to the relativistic hydrodynamic description of nuclear collisions and present a method for efficient numerical implementation.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1995

An efficient numerical procedure for thermohydrodynamic analysis of cavitating bearings

An efficient and accurate numerical procedure to determine the thermo-hydrodynamic performance of cavitating bearings is described. This procedure is based on the earlier development of Elrod for lubricating films, in which the properties across the film thickness are determined at Lobatto points and their distributions are expressed by collocated polynomials. The cavitated regions and their boundaries are rigorously treated. Thermal boundary conditions at the surfaces, including heat dissipation through the metal to the ambient, are incorporated. Numerical examples are presented comparing the predictions using this procedure with earlier theoretical predictions and experimental data. With a few points across the film thickness and across the journal and the bearing in the radial direction, the temperature profile is very well predicted.

Vijayaraghavan, D.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Mixing between high velocity clouds and the galactic halo

In the Galactic halo, metal-bearing Galactic halo material mixes into high velocity clouds (HVCs) as they hydrodynamically interact. This interaction begins long before the clouds completely dissipate and long before they slow to the velocity of the Galactic material. In order to make quantitative estimates of the mixing efficiency and resulting metal enrichment of HVCs, we made detailed two- and three-dimensional simulations of cloud-interstellar medium interactions. Our simulations track the hydrodynamics and time-dependent ionization levels. They assume that the cloud originally has a warm temperature and extremely low metallicity while the surrounding medium has a high temperature, low density, and substantial metallicity, but our simulations can be generalized to other choices of initial metallicities. In our simulations, mixing between cloud and halo gas noticeably raises the metallicity of the high velocity material. We present plots of the mixing efficiency and metal enrichment as a function of time.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗