Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “process damping”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Hall2De Simulations with a First-Principles Electron Transport Model Based on the Electron Cyclotron Drift Instability

Several years of work have combined plasma measurements in a laboratory Hall thruster and r-z numerical simulations with Hall2De to isolate the spatial variation of the anomalous collision frequency needed in Ohm’s law to produce the observed thruster behavior. This numerical solution is used here to test the validity of a first-principles model of the anomalous transport in these devices before such model is implemented self-consistently in r-z fluid codes like Hall2De. The first-principles model employs quasi-linear theory and is based on the hypothesis that the Electron Cyclotron Drift Instability (ECDI) excites ion acoustic turbulence that, in turn, enhances the effective collision frequency in these devices. We find that a model of the ECDI that assumes Maxwellian velocity distributions for electrons and singly-charged, main-beam, cold ions (Ti=0.07 eV) is insufficient to explain the expected variation of the anomalous collision frequency both in the interior and exterior of the acceleration channel. When warm ions (~0.5-3 eV) are accounted for, the ECDI model in the channel interior appears more promising but fails by orders of magnitude in the near plume region due to the much higher Landau damping of the ion acoustic waves there. This implies that either (a) some process allows the ECDI instability to remain uninhibited by classical Landau damping or, (b) that a different instability (or instabilities) altogether, also insusceptible to Landau damping, is/are active in this region. A previous hypothesis, that convection of wave energy generated by the ECDI in the channel plays a significant role in the near plume, is not supported by the results of the simulations.

Mikellides, Ioannis G.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Viscous damping of toroidal angular momentum in tokamaks

The Braginskii viscous stress tensor formalism was generalized to accommodate non-axisymmetric 3D magnetic fields in general toroidal flux surface geometry in order to provide a representation for the viscous damping of toroidal rotation in tokamaks arising from various “neoclassical toroidal viscosity” mechanisms. In the process, it was verified that the parallel viscosity contribution to damping toroidal angular momentum still vanishes even in the presence of toroidal asymmetries, unless there are 3D radial magnetic fields.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Entanglement Purification and Protection in a Superconducting Quantum Network

High-fidelity quantum entanglement is a key resource for quantum communication and distributed quantum computing, enabling quantum state teleportation, dense coding, and quantum encryption. Any sources of decoherence in the communication channel, however, degrade entanglement fidelity, thereby increasing the error rates of entangled state protocols. Entanglement purification provides a method to alleviate these nonidealities by distilling impure states into higher-fidelity entangled states. In this work, we demonstrate the entanglement purification of Bell pairs shared between two remote superconducting quantum nodes connected by a moderately lossy, 1-meter long superconducting communication cable. We use a purification process to correct the dominant amplitude damping errors caused by transmission through the cable, with fractional increases in fidelity as large as 25%, achieved for higher damping errors. The best final fidelity the purification achieves is 94.09 ± 0.98%. In addition, we use both dynamical decoupling and Rabi driving to protect the entangled states from local noise, increasing the effective qubit dephasing time by a factor of 4, from 3 to 12 μs. These methods demonstrate the potential for the generation and preservation of very high-fidelity entanglement in a superconducting quantum communication network.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1990

Flow field analysis for a class of waverider configurations

A package of computer codes for analysis of flow fields for waverider configurations is described. The package consists of a surface/volume grid generator and a finite-volume flow solver. The grid generator defines body geometries and computational grids by an algebraic homotopy procedure. The algebraic procedure is versatile in its application and can readily generate configurations in the class of blended wing-body geometries. This code has the ability to produce a wide variety of geometries in the given class with varying geometrical attributes. The flow solver employs a finite-volume formation and solves the explicit, Runge-Kutta integration technique. The method or flow simulation incorporates several techniques for acceleration of the convergence of the interaction process and an entropy corrected enthalpy damping procedure for efficient computation of high Mach number flows.

Moitra, Anutosh↗
NASA NTRS2010

High Temperature Damping Behavior of Plasma-Sprayed Thermal Barrier and Protective Coatings

A high temperature damping test apparatus has been developed using a high heat flux CO 2 laser rig in conjunction with a TIRA S540 25 kHz Shaker and Polytec OFV 5000 Vibrometer system. The test rig has been successfully used to determine the damping performance of metallic and ceramic protective coating systems at high temperature for turbine engine applications. The initial work has been primarily focused on the microstructure and processing effects on the coating temperature-dependence damping behavior. Advanced ceramic coatings, including multicomponent tetragonal and cubic phase thermal barrier coatings, along with composite bond coats, have also been investigated. The coating high temperature damping mechanisms will also be discussed.

Zhu, Dongming↗
DOE OSTI2014

On finite density effects on cosmic reheating and moduli decay and implications for Dark Matter production

We study the damping of an oscillating scalar field in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime by perturbative processes, taking into account the back-reaction of the plasma of decay products on the damping rate. The scalar field may be identified with the inflaton, in which case this process resembles the reheating of the universe after inflation. It can also model a modulus that dominates the energy density of the universe at later times. We find that the finite density corrections to the damping rate can have a drastic effect on the thermal history and considerably increase both, the maximal temperature in the early universe and the reheating temperature at the onset of the radiation dominated era. As a result the abundance of some Dark Matter candidates may be considerably larger than previously estimated. We give improved analytic estimates for the maximal and the reheating temperatures and confirm them numerically in a simple model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1977

The human as a detector of changes in variance and bandwidth

The detection of changes in random process variance and bandwidth was studied. Psychophysical thresholds for these two parameters were determined using an adaptive staircase technique for second order random processes at two nominal periods (1 and 3 seconds) and damping ratios (0.2 and 0.707). Thresholds for bandwidth changes were approximately 9% of nominal except for the (3sec,0.2) process which yielded thresholds of 12%. Variance thresholds averaged 17% of nominal except for the (3sec,0.2) process in which they were 32%. Detection times for suprathreshold changes in the parameters may be roughly described by the changes in RMS velocity of the process. A more complex model is presented which consists of a Kalman filter designed for the nominal process using velocity as the input, and a modified Wald sequential test for changes in the variance of the residual. The model predictions agree moderately well with the experimental data. Models using heuristics, e.g. level crossing counters, were also examined and are found to be descriptive but do not afford the unification of the Kalman filter/sequential test model used for changes in mean.

Curry, R. E.↗
DOE OSTI2013

Switch-like reprogramming of gene expression after fusion of multinucleate plasmodial cells of two Physarum polycephalum sporulation mutants

Highlights: •We investigate reprogramming of gene expression in multinucleate single cells. •Cells of two differentiation control mutants are fused. •Fused cells proceed to alternative gene expression patterns. •The population of nuclei damps stochastic fluctuations in gene expression. •Dynamic processes of cellular reprogramming can be observed by repeated sampling of a cell. -- Abstract: Nonlinear dynamic processes involving the differential regulation of transcription factors are considered to impact the reprogramming of stem cells, germ cells, and somatic cells. Here, we fused two multinucleate plasmodial cells of Physarum polycephalum mutants defective in different sporulation control genes while being in different physiological states. The resulting heterokaryons established one of two significantly different expression patterns of marker genes while the plasmodial halves that were fused to each other synchronized spontaneously. Spontaneous synchronization suggests that switch-like control mechanisms spread over and finally control the entire plasmodium as a result of cytoplasmic mixing. Regulatory molecules due to the large volume of the vigorously streaming cytoplasm will define concentrations in acting on the population of nuclei and in the global setting of switches. Mixing of a large cytoplasmic volume is expected to damp stochasticity when individual nuclei deliver certain RNAs at low copy number into the cytoplasm. We conclude that spontaneous synchronization, the damping of molecular noise in gene expression by the large cytoplasmic volume, and the option to take multiple macroscopic samples from the same plasmodium provide unique options for studying the dynamics of cellular reprogramming at the single cell level.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Stimulated Raman scattering coupled to decay instability in a plasma channel

A non local theory of Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) coupled to decay instability in a plasma channel is developed. The primary Langmuir wave, produced in the Raman backscattering process, decays into a secondary Langmuir wave of longer wavelength and an ion acoustic wave. This diversion of energy, along with linear Landau damping of the primary Langmuir wave, slows down the Raman process. The nonlocal effects cause further reduction in the growth rate.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Influence of the nonlinearity parameter on the solar wind sub-ion magnetic energy spectrum: FLR–Landau fluid simulations

The cascade of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) at sub-ion scales in the solar wind is simulated numerically using a fluid approach that retains ion and electron Landau damping, together with ion finite Larmor radius (FLR) corrections. Assuming initially equal and isotropic ion and electron temperatures, and an ion beta equal to unity, different simulations are performed by varying the propagation direction and the amplitude of KAWs that are randomly driven at a transverse wavenumber k{sub 0} such that k{sub 0}d{sub i}=0.18 (where d{sub i} is the proton inertial length), in order to maintain a prescribed level of turbulent fluctuations. The resulting turbulent regimes are characterized by the nonlinearity parameter, defined as the ratio of the characteristic times of Alfvén wave propagation and of the transverse nonlinear dynamics. The corresponding transverse magnetic energy spectra display power laws with exponents spanning a range of values consistent with spacecraft observations. The meandering of the magnetic field lines and the homogenization of ion temperature along these lines are shown to be related to the strength of the turbulence, measured by the nonlinearity parameter. The results are interpreted in terms of a recently proposed phenomenological model where the homogenization process along field lines induced by Landau damping plays a central role.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1991

Basic research on design analysis methods for rotorcraft vibrations

The objective of the present work was to develop a method for identifying physically plausible finite element system models of airframe structures from test data. The assumed models were based on linear elastic behavior with general (nonproportional) damping. Physical plausibility of the identified system matrices was insured by restricting the identification process to designated physical parameters only and not simply to the elements of the system matrices themselves. For example, in a large finite element model the identified parameters might be restricted to the moduli for each of the different materials used in the structure. In the case of damping, a restricted set of damping values might be assigned to finite elements based on the material type and on the fabrication processes used. In this case, different damping values might be associated with riveted, bolted and bonded elements. The method itself is developed first, and several approaches are outlined for computing the identified parameter values. The method is applied first to a simple structure for which the 'measured' response is actually synthesized from an assumed model. Both stiffness and damping parameter values are accurately identified. The true test, however, is the application to a full-scale airframe structure. In this case, a NASTRAN model and actual measured modal parameters formed the basis for the identification of a restricted set of physically plausible stiffness and damping parameters.

Hanagud, S.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Delocalized Excitation Transfer in Open Quantum Systems with Long-Range Interactions

The interplay between coherence and system-environment interactions is at the basis of a wide range of phenomena, from quantum information processing to charge and energy transfer in molecular systems, biomolecules, and photochemical materials. In this work, we use a Frenkel exciton model with long-range interacting qubits coupled to a damped collective bosonic mode to investigate vibrationally assisted transfer processes in donor-acceptor systems featuring internal substructures analogous to light-harvesting complexes. We find that certain delocalized excitonic states maximize the transfer rate and that the entanglement is preserved during the dissipative transfer over a wide range of parameters. We investigate the reduction in transfer caused by static disorder, white noise, and finite temperature and study how transfer efficiency scales as a function of the number of dimerized monomers and the component number of each monomer, finding which excitonic states lead to optimal transfer. Finally, we provide a realistic experimental setting to realize this model in analog trapped-ion quantum simulators. Analog quantum simulation of systems comprising many and increasingly complex monomers could offer valuable insights into the design of light-harvesting materials, particularly in the nonperturbative intermediate parameter regime examined in this study, where classical simulation methods are resource intensive.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Exact evaluation of the rates of electrostatic decay and scattering off thermal ions for an unmagnetized Maxwellian plasma

Electrostatic decay of Langmuir waves into Langmuir and ion sound waves (L→L′+S) and scattering of Langmuir waves off thermal ions (L+i→L′+i′, also called “nonlinear Landau damping”) are important nonlinear weak-turbulence processes. The rates for these processes depend on the quadratic longitudinal response function α{sup (2)} (or, equivalently, the quadratic longitudinal susceptibility χ{sup (2)}), which describes the second-order response of a plasma to electrostatic wave fields. Previous calculations of these rates for an unmagnetized Maxwellian plasma have relied upon an approximate form for α{sup (2)} that is valid where two of the wave fields are fast (i.e., v{sub φ}=ω/k≫V{sub e} where ω is the angular frequency, k is the wavenumber, and V{sub e} is the electron thermal speed) and one is slow (v{sub φ}≪V{sub e}). Recently, an exact expression was derived for α{sup (2)} that is valid for any phase speeds of the three waves in an unmagnetized Maxwellian plasma. Here, this exact α{sup (2)} is applied to the calculation of the three-dimensional rates for electrostatic decay and scattering off thermal ions, and the resulting exact rates are compared with the approximate rates. The calculations are performed using previously derived three-dimensional rates for electrostatic decay given in terms of a general α{sup (2)}, and newly derived three-dimensional rates for scattering off thermal ions; the scattering rate is derived assuming a Maxwellian ion distribution, and both rates are derived assuming arc distributions for the wave spectra. For most space plasma conditions, the approximate rate is found to be accurate to better than 20%; however, for sufficiently low Langmuir phase speeds (v{sub φ}/V{sub e}≈3) appropriate to some spatial domains of the foreshock regions of planetary bow shocks and type II solar radio bursts, the use of the exact rate may be necessary for accurate calculations. The relative rates of electrostatic decay and scattering off thermal ions are calculated for a range of parameters using the exact expressions for the rates; electrostatic decay is found to have the larger growth rate over the whole range of parameters, consistent with previous approximate calculations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhanced method to reconstruct mode shapes of continuous scanning measurements using the Hilbert Huang transform and the modal analysis method

Generally, it is time consuming to experimentally identify the operating deflection shape or mode shape of a structure. To overcome this problem, the Hilbert Huang transform (HHT) technique has been recently proposed. This technique is used to extract the mode shape from measurements that continuously measure the vibration of a region of interest within a structure using a non-contact laser sensor. In previous research regarding the HHT, two technical processes were needed to obtain the mode shape for each mode. The purpose of this study is to improve and complement our previous research, and for this purpose, a modal analysis approach is adapted without using the two technical processes to obtain an accurate un-damped impulse response of each mode for continuous scanning measurements. In addition, frequency response functions for each type of beam are derived, making it possible to make continuously scanned measurements along a straight profile. In this paper, the technical limitations and drawbacks of the damping compensation technique used in previous research are identified. In addition, the separation of resonant frequency (the Doppler effect) that occurs in continuous scanning measurements and the separation of damping phenomenon are also observed. The proposed method is quantitatively verified by comparing it with the results obtained from a conventional approach to estimate the mode shape with an impulse response.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2011

Polarization of nuclear spins by a cold nanoscale resonator

A cold nanoscale resonator coupled to a system of nuclear spins can induce spin relaxation. In the low-temperature limit where spin-lattice interactions are ''frozen out,'' spontaneous emission by nuclear spins into a resonant mechanical mode can become the dominant mechanism for cooling the spins to thermal equilibrium with their environment. We provide a theoretical framework for the study of resonator-induced cooling of nuclear spins in this low-temperature regime. Relaxation equations are derived from first principles, in the limit where energy donated by the spins to the resonator is quickly dissipated into the cold bath that damps it. A physical interpretation of the processes contributing to spin polarization is given. For a system of spins that have identical couplings to the resonator, the interaction Hamiltonian conserves spin angular momentum, and the resonator cannot relax the spins to thermal equilibrium unless this symmetry is broken by the spin Hamiltonian. The mechanism by which such a spin system becomes ''trapped'' away from thermal equilibrium can be visualized using a semiclassical model, which shows how an indirect spin-spin interaction arises from the coupling of multiple spins to one resonator. The internal spin Hamiltonian can affect the polarization process in two ways: (1) By modifying the structure of the spin-spin correlations in the energy eigenstates, and (2) by splitting the degeneracy within a manifold of energy eigenstates, so that zero-frequency off-diagonal terms in the density matrix are converted to oscillating coherences. Shifting the frequencies of these coherences sufficiently far from zero suppresses the development of resonator-induced correlations within the manifold during polarization from a totally disordered state. Modification of the spin-spin correlations by means of either mechanism affects the strength of the fluctuating spin dipole that drives the resonator. In the case where product states can be chosen as energy eigenstates, spontaneous emission from eigenstate populations into the resonant mode can be interpreted as independent emission by individual spins, and the spins relax exponentially to thermal equilibrium if the development of resonator-induced correlations is suppressed. When the spin Hamiltonian includes a significant contribution from the homonuclear dipolar coupling, the energy eigenstates entail a correlation specific to the coupling network. Simulations of dipole-dipole coupled systems of up to five spins suggest that these systems contain weakly emitting eigenstates that can trap a fraction of the population for time periods >>100/R{sub 0}, where R{sub 0} is the rate constant for resonator-enhanced spontaneous emission by a single spin 1/2. Much of the polarization, however, relaxes with rates comparable to R{sub 0}. A distribution of characteristic high-field chemical shifts tends to increase the relaxation rates of weakly emitting states, enabling transitions to states that can quickly relax to thermal equilibrium. The theoretical framework presented in this paper is illustrated with discussions of spin polarization in the contexts of force-detected nuclear-magnetic-resonance spectroscopy and magnetic-resonance force microscopy.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Beam dynamics in synchrotrons with digital wideband transverse feedback systems

Current researches on beam dynamics in synchrotrons with digital wideband transverse feedback systems are reviewed. Particular attention is given to quantitative and qualitative regularities in frequency shifts and decrements of coherent betatron oscillation damping when feedback loop signals are digitally processed. Theoretical predictions are compared with the experimental data obtained at the Large Hadron Collider.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Investigating the relationship between simulation parameters and flow variables in simulating atmospheric gravity waves for wind energy applications

Wind farms, particularly offshore clusters, are becoming larger than ever before. Besides influencing the surface wind flow and the inflow for downstream wind farms, large wind farms can trigger atmospheric gravity waves in the inversion layer and the free atmosphere aloft. Wind-farm-induced gravity waves can cause adverse pressure gradients upstream of the wind farm, which contribute to the global blockage effect, and can induce favorable pressure gradients above and downstream of the wind farm that enhance wake recovery. Numerical modeling is a powerful means of studying these wind-farm-induced atmospheric gravity waves, but it comes with the challenge of handling spurious reflections of these waves from domain boundaries. Typically, approaches which employ radiation boundary conditions and forcing zones are used to avoid these reflections. However, the simulation setup of these approaches relies heavily on ad hoc processes. For instance, the widely used Rayleigh damping method requires ad hoc tuning to produce a setup that may only produce satisfactory results for a particular case. To provide more systematic guidance on setting up realistic simulations of atmospheric gravity waves, we conduct a large-eddy simulation (LES) study of flow over a 2D hill and through a wind farm canopy that explores the optimum domain size and damping layer setup depending on the fundamental parameters which determine the flow characteristics. In this work, we only consider linearly stratified conditions (i.e., no inversion layer), thereby focusing on internal gravity waves in the free atmosphere and their reflections from the domain boundaries. This type of flow is governed by a single Froude number, which dictates most of the internal wave properties, such as wavelength, amplitude, and direction. This, in turn, will dictate the optimum domain size and Rayleigh damping layer setup. We find the effective horizontal and vertical wavelengths (the representative wavelengths of the entire wave spectrum) to be the appropriate length scales to size the domain and damping layer thickness, and the optimal Rayleigh damping coefficient scales with the Brunt–Väisälä frequency. Considering Froude numbers seen in wind farm applications, we propose recommendations to limit the reflections to less than 10 % of the total upward-propagating wave energy. Typically, damping is done at the top boundary, but given the non-periodic lateral boundary conditions of practical wind farm simulation domains, we find that damping the inflow–outflow boundaries is of equal importance to damping the top boundary. The Brunt–Väisälä frequency-normalized damping coefficient should be between 1 and 10. The damping layer thickness should be at least one effective vertical wavelength; damping layers exceeding 1.5 times the vertical wavelength are found to be unnecessary. The domain length and height should accommodate at least one effective horizontal and vertical wavelength, respectively. Moreover, Rayleigh damping does not damp the waves completely, and the non-damped energy might accumulate over the simulation time.

17 WIND ENERGY↗