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At least 1,531 records · Page 85

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DOE OSTI2022

Resistive wall tearing mode disruptions in DIII-D and ITER tokamaks

Disruptions are a serious problem in tokamaks, in which thermal and magnetic energy confinement is lost. This paper uses data from the DIII-D experiment, theory, and simulations to demonstrate that resistive wall tearing modes (RWTMs) produce the thermal quench (TQ) in a typical locked mode shot. Analysis of the linear RWTM dispersion relation shows the parameter dependence of the growth rate, particularly on the resistive wall time. Linear simulations of the locked mode equilibrium show that it is unstable with a resistive wall and stable with an ideally conducting wall. Nonlinear simulations demonstrate that the RWTM grows to sufficient amplitude to cause a complete thermal quench. The RWTM growth time is proportional to the thermal quench time. Here, the nonlinearly saturated RWTM magnetic perturbation amplitude agrees with experimental measurements. The onset condition is that the q = 2 rational surface is sufficiently close to the resistive wall. Collectively, this identifies the RWTM as the cause of the TQ. In ITER, RWTMs will produce long TQ times compared to present-day experiments. ITER disruptions may be significantly more benign than previously predicted.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NASA NTRS1981

Free-field propagation of high intensity noise

Research on high intensity (finite amplitude) acoustic waves shows that nonlinear distortion effects generally result in a shift of energy to higher frequencies. The higher intensities associated with supersonic jets would therefore indicate that high frequency enhancement of the spectrum should occur, resulting in the differences observed between subsonic and supersonic jets. A 10,000 acoustic watt source installed in an anechoic chamber generates sound levels such that acoustic shocks are readily observable. Dual frequency excitation of the source produces a strong parametric effect with a difference frequency comparable in level to the primary frequency. The test set up and recording equipment being used to determine the finite amplitude noise representative of an actual supersonic jet are described as well as the development of a computer program based on Burger's equation. The spectra of 1/2 octave band, 1 kHz sine wave, and dual frequency input and output are presented in graphs along with waveforms at Z = .025, 0.1, and 1.0.

Mcdaniel, O. H.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Thermal Model of a Current-Carrying Wire in a Vacuum

A computer program implements a thermal model of an insulated wire carrying electric current and surrounded by a vacuum. The model includes the effects of Joule heating, conduction of heat along the wire, and radiation of heat from the outer surface of the insulation on the wire. The model takes account of the temperature dependences of the thermal and electrical properties of the wire, the emissivity of the insulation, and the possibility that not only can temperature vary along the wire but, in addition, the ends of the wire can be thermally grounded at different temperatures. The resulting second-order differential equation for the steady-state temperature as a function of position along the wire is highly nonlinear. The wire is discretized along its length, and the equation is solved numerically by use of an iterative algorithm that utilizes a multidimensional version of the Newton-Raphson method.

Border, James↗

NASA NTRS1997

Linearized Poststall Aerodynamic and Control Law Models of the X-31A Aircraft and Comparison with Flight Data

The X-31A aircraft has a unique configuration that uses thrust-vector vanes and aerodynamic control effectors to provide an operating envelope to a maximum 70 deg angle of attack, an inherently nonlinear portion of the flight envelope. This report presents linearized versions of the X-31A longitudinal and lateral-directional control systems, with aerodynamic models sufficient to evaluate characteristics in the poststall envelope at 30 deg, 45 deg, and 60 deg angle of attack. The models are presented with detail sufficient to allow the reader to reproduce the linear results or perform independent control studies. Comparisons between the responses of the linear models and flight data are presented in the time and frequency domains to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the ability to predict high-angle-of-attack flight dynamics using linear models. The X-31A six-degree-of-freedom simulation contains a program that calculates linear perturbation models throughout the X-31A flight envelope. The models include aerodynamics and flight control system dynamics that are used for stability, controllability, and handling qualities analysis. The models presented in this report demonstrate the ability to provide reasonable linear representations in the poststall flight regime.

Stoliker, Patrick C.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Shortwave infrared 512 x 2 line sensor for earth resources applications

As part of the NASA remote-sensing Multispectral Linear Array Program, an edge-buttable 512 x 2 IRCCD line image sensor with 30-micron Pd2Si Schottky-barrier detectors is developed for operation with passive cooling at 120 K in the 1.1-2.5 micron short infrared band. On-chip CCD multiplexers provide one video output for each 512 detector band. The monolithic silicon line imager performance at a 4-ms optical integration time includes a signal-to-noise ratio of 241 for irradiance of 7.2 microwatts/sq cm at 1.65 microns wavelength, a 5000 dynamic range, a modulation transfer function, greater than 60 percent at the Nyquist frequency, and an 18-milliwatt imager chip total power dissipation. Blemish-free images with three percent nonuniformity under illumination and nonlinearity of 1.25 percent are obtained. A five SWIR imager hybrid focal plane was constructed, demonstrating the feasibility of arrays with only a two-detector loss at each joint.

Tower, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Use of GTE, Mozaic, Sonex, and UARS-MLS Data in Understanding Tropospheric Processes Critical to Model Development

During the first year we focused on the analysis of data collected on over 7600 commercial aircraft flights (the MOZAIC program). The aim was to further our understanding of the fundamental dynamical processes that drive mesoscale phenomena in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, and their effects on the advection of passive scalars. Through these studies we made the following findings. 2001]: We derived the Kolmogorov equation for the third-order velocity structure function on an f-plane. We showed how the sign of the function yields the direction of the energy cascade. The remarkable linearity of the measured off diagonal third-order structure function was studied. We suggested that the Coriolis term, which appears explicitly in this equation, may be crucial in understanding the observed kinetic energy spectra at scales larger than 100 km, instead of the nonlinear advection term as previously assumed. Also, we showed that decreases with latitude for mid- to high-latitudes, and tabulated the values. Ozone concentration structure functions were calculated by restricting the data points to approximately isentropic pairings. In this way we were able to make comparisons with scalar advection theories. We found that, at even the largest scales, there was no evidence for the simple scaling predicted for smooth advection/diffusion.

Newell, Reginald E.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Growth of single crystals of organic salts with large second-order optical nonlinearities by solution processes for devices

Data obtained from the electric field induced second harmonic generation (EFISH) and Kurtz Powder Methods will be provided to MSFC for further refinement of their method. A theoretical model for predicting the second-order nonlinearities of organic salts is being worked on. Another task is the synthesis of a number of salts with various counterions. Several salts with promising SHG activities and new salts will be tested for the presence of two crystalline forms. The materials will be recrystallized from dry and wet solvents and compared for SHG efficiency. Salts that have a high SHG efficiency and no tendency to form hydrates will be documented. The synthesis of these materials are included in this report. A third task involves method to aid in the growth of large, high quality single crystals by solution processes. These crystals will be characterized for their applicability in the fabrication of devices that will be incorporated into optical computers in future programs. Single crystals of optimum quality may be obtained by crystal growth in low-gravity. The final task is the design of a temperature lowering single crystal growth apparatus for ground based work. At least one prototype will be built.

Leslie, Thomas M.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Ground Based Experiments in Support of Microgravity Research Results-Vapor Growth of Organic Nonlinear Optical Thin Film

This work is specifically focused on explaining previous results obtained for the crystal growth of an organic material in a reduced gravity environment. On STS-59, in April 1994, two experiments were conducted with N,N-dimethyl-p-(2,2-dicyanovinyl) aniline (DCVA), a promising nonlinear optical (NLO) material. The space experiments were set to reproduce laboratory experiments that yielded small, bulk crystals of DCVA. The results of the flight experiment, however, were surprising. Rather than producing a bulk single crystal, the result was the production of two high quality, single crystalline thin films. This result was even more intriguing when it is considered that thin films are more desirable for NLO applications than are bulk single crystals. Repeated attempts on the ground to reproduce these results were fruitless. A second set of flight experiments was conducted on STS-69 in September 1995. This time eight DCVA experiments were flown, with each of seven experiments containing a slight change from the first reference experiment. The reference experiment was programmed with growth conditions identical to those of the STS-59 mission. The slight variations in each of the other seven were an attempt to understand what particular parameter was responsible for the preference of thin film growth over bulk crystal growth in microgravity. Once again the results were surprising. In all eight cases thin films were grown again, albeit with varying quality. So now we were faced with a phenomenon that not only takes place in microgravity, but also is very robust, resisting all attempts to force the growth of bulk single crystals.

Zugrav, M. Ittu↗

DOE OSTI2023

Exploring the Effects of Population and Employment Characteristics on Truck Flows: An Analysis of NextGen NHTS Origin-Destination Data

Truck transportation remains the dominant mode of US freight transportation because of its advantages, such as the flexibility of accessing pickup and drop-off points and faster delivery. Because of the massive freight volume transported by trucks, understanding the effects of population and employment characteristics on truck flows is critical for better transportation planning and investment decisions. The US Federal Highway Administration published a truck travel origin-destination data set as part of the Next Generation National Household Travel Survey program. This data set contains the total number of truck trips in 2020 within and between 583 predefined zones encompassing metropolitan and nonmetropolitan statistical areas within each state and Washington, DC. In this study, origin-destination-level truck trip flow data was augmented to include zone-level population and employment characteristics from the US Census Bureau. Census population and County Business Patterns data were included. The final data set was used to train a machine learning algorithm-based model, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), where the target variable is the number of total truck trips. Shapley Additive ExPlanation (SHAP) was adopted to explain the model results. Results showed that the distance between the zones was the most important variable and had a nonlinear relationship with truck flows.

Uddin, Majbah↗

NASA NTRS1978

CODSTRAN - Composite durability structural analysis

CODSTRAN (COmposite Durability STRucture ANalysis) a NASA Lewis Center computer program for the prediction of defect growth and fracture of composite structures when subjected to service loads is presented. Organization, capabilities and present status are discussed. Organizational aspects include executive, input, output, analysis and composite mechanics modules. Capabilities include: durability assessment of large structures and complex structural parts from composites, structural response due to static, cyclic, transient impact and thermal loads, and criteria for static, cyclic, and dynamic fracture. At the present state of development some of CODSTRAN's analysis capabilities include composite mechanics, static failures, and lamination residual stresses. An application in which CODSTRAN is used to predict the defect growth in a flat specimen, with a center through-slit under tension is studied. When completed, CODSTRAN will account for geometry and material nonlinearities, environmental effects as well as static, cyclic and dynamic fracture.

Chamis, C. C.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Stability of mixing layers

The research program for the first year of this project (see the original research proposal) consists of developing an explicit marching scheme for solving the parabolized stability equations (PSE). Performing mathematical analysis of the computational algorithm including numerical stability analysis and the determination of the proper boundary conditions needed at the boundary of the computation domain are implicit in the task. Before one can solve the parabolized stability equations for high-speed mixing layers, the mean flow must first be found. In the past, instability analysis of high-speed mixing layer has mostly been performed on mean flow profiles calculated by the boundary layer equations. In carrying out this project, it is believed that the boundary layer equations might not give an accurate enough nonparallel, nonlinear mean flow needed for parabolized stability analysis. A more accurate mean flow can, however, be found by solving the parabolized Navier-Stokes equations. The advantage of the parabolized Navier-Stokes equations is that its accuracy is consistent with the PSE method. Furthermore, the method of solution is similar. Hence, the major part of the effort of the work of this year has been devoted to the development of an explicit numerical marching scheme for the solution of the Parabolized Navier-Stokes equation as applied to the high-seed mixing layer problem.

Tam, Christopher↗

NASA NTRS1976

A study and evaluation of image analysis techniques applied to remotely sensed data

An analysis of phenomena causing nonlinearities in the transformation from Landsat multispectral scanner coordinates to ground coordinates is presented. Experimental results comparing rms errors at ground control points indicated a slight improvement when a nonlinear (8-parameter) transformation was used instead of an affine (6-parameter) transformation. Using a preliminary ground truth map of a test site in Alabama covering the Mobile Bay area and six Landsat images of the same scene, several classification methods were assessed. A methodology was developed for automatic change detection using classification/cluster maps. A coding scheme was employed for generation of change depiction maps indicating specific types of changes. Inter- and intraseasonal data of the Mobile Bay test area were compared to illustrate the method. A beginning was made in the study of data compression by applying a Karhunen-Loeve transform technique to a small section of the test data set. The second part of the report provides a formal documentation of the several programs developed for the analysis and assessments presented.

Atkinson, R. J.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Developing and Testing a Physics Guided Machine Learning NeuralNetwork to Predict Tonal Noise Emitted by a Propeller

Artificial neural networks offer a highly nonlinear and adaptive model for predicting complex interactions between input-output parameters. However, these networks require large datasets which often exceed practical considerations in modeling experimental results. To alleviate the dataset size requirement, a method known as physics guided machine learning has been applied to construct several neural networks for predicting propeller tonal noise in the time domain over a broad range of flight conditions. Three space-filling designs, namely, Latin-Hypercube, Sphere-Packing, and Grid-Space, were used to distribute points throughout the input parameter space encompassing nondimensional flight conditions and observer geometry. Each neural network’s performance was validated by conditions outside of the training set and compared to the Propeller Analysis System tool from the NASA Aircraft Noise Prediction Program. Compared to the Grid-Space input design, the Latin-Hypercube and the Sphere-Packing designs provided a better representation of the domain for training. Regarding the network archetype, a fully connected perceptron was found to outperform the partially connected perceptron in their ability to predict tonal noise for small datasets. The black-box nature of these neural networks was also explored to understand how the networks constructed the waveform and understand why some network designs produce better models.

Propeller noise↗

NASA NTRS1991

Advanced development of the boundary element method for elastic and inelastic thermal stress analysis

The focus of this dissertation is on advanced development of the boundary element method for elastic and inelastic thermal stress analysis. New formulations for the treatment of body forces and nonlinear effects are derived. These formulations, which are based on particular integral theory, eliminate the need for volume integrals or extra surface integrals to account for these effects. The formulations are presented for axisymmetric, two and three dimensional analysis. Also in this dissertation, two dimensional and axisymmetric formulations for elastic and inelastic, inhomogeneous stress analysis are introduced. The derivatives account for inhomogeneities due to spatially dependent material parameters, and thermally induced inhomogeneities. The nonlinear formulation of the present work are based on an incremental initial stress approach. Two inelastic solutions algorithms are implemented: an iterative; and a variable stiffness type approach. The Von Mises yield criterion with variable hardening and the associated flow rules are adopted in these algorithms. All formulations are implemented in a general purpose, multi-region computer code with the capability of local definition of boundary conditions. Quadratic, isoparametric shape functions are used to model the geometry and field variables of the boundary (and domain) of the problem. The multi-region implementation permits a body to be modeled in substructured parts, thus dramatically reducing the cost of analysis. Furthermore, it allows a body consisting of regions of different (homogeneous) material to be studied. To test the program, results obtained for simple test cases are checked against their analytic solutions. Thereafter, a range of problems of practical interest are analyzed. In addition to displacement and traction loads, problems with body forces due to self-weight, centrifugal, and thermal loads are considered.

Henry, Donald P., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Prestraining and Its Influence on Subsequent Fatigue Life

An experimental program was conducted to study the damaging effects of tensile and compressive prestrains on the fatigue life of nickel-base, Inconel 718 superalloy at room temperature. To establish baseline fatigue behavior, virgin specimens with a solid uniform gage section were fatigued to failure under fully-reversed strain-control. Additional specimens were prestrained to 2 percent, 5 percent, and 10 percent (engineering strains) in the tensile direction and to 2 percent (engineering strain) in the compressive direction under stroke-control, and were subsequently fatigued to failure under fully-reversed strain-control. Experimental results are compared with estimates of remaining fatigue lives (after prestraining) using three life prediction approaches: (1) the Linear Damage Rule; (2) the Linear Strain and Life Fraction Rule; and (3) the nonlinear Damage Curve Approach. The Smith-Watson-Topper parameter was used to estimate fatigue lives in the presence of mean stresses. Among the cumulative damage rules investigated, best remaining fatigue life predictions were obtained with the nonlinear Damage Curve Approach.

Halford, Gary R.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Intraspecific Diversity in Thermal Performance Determines Phytoplankton Ecological Niche

ABSTRACT Temperature has a primary influence on phytoplankton physiology and ecology. We grew 12 strains of Gephyrocapsa huxleyi isolated from different‐temperature regions for ~45 generations (2 months) and characterised acclimated thermal response curves across a temperature range. Even with similar temperature optima and overlapping cell size, strain growth rates varied between 0.45 and 1 day −1 . Thermal niche widths varied from 16.7°C to 24.8°C, suggesting that strains use distinct thermal response mechanisms. We investigated the implications of this thermal intraspecific diversity using an ocean ecosystem simulation resolving phytoplankton thermal phenotypes. Model analogues of thermal ‘generalists’ and ‘specialists’ resulted in a distinctive global biogeography of thermal niche widths with a nonlinear latitudinal pattern. We leveraged model output to predict ranges of the 12 lab‐reared strains and demonstrated how this approach could broadly refine geographic range predictions. Our combination of observations and modelled biogeography highlights the capacity of diverse groups to survive temperature shifts.

Krinos, Arianna I. [Department of Biology Woods Ho↗

NASA NTRS1986

Multiple grid problems on concurrent-processing computers

Three computer codes were studied which make use of concurrent processing computer architectures in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The three parallel codes were tested on a two processor multiple-instruction/multiple-data (MIMD) facility at NASA Ames Research Center, and are suggested for efficient parallel computations. The first code is a well-known program which makes use of the Beam and Warming, implicit, approximate factored algorithm. This study demonstrates the parallelism found in a well-known scheme and it achieved speedups exceeding 1.9 on the two processor MIMD test facility. The second code studied made use of an embedded grid scheme which is used to solve problems having complex geometries. The particular application for this study considered an airfoil/flap geometry in an incompressible flow. The scheme eliminates some of the inherent difficulties found in adapting approximate factorization techniques onto MIMD machines and allows the use of chaotic relaxation and asynchronous iteration techniques. The third code studied is an application of overset grids to a supersonic blunt body problem. The code addresses the difficulties encountered when using embedded grids on a compressible, and therefore nonlinear, problem. The complex numerical boundary system associated with overset grids is discussed and several boundary schemes are suggested. A boundary scheme based on the method of characteristics achieved the best results.

Eberhardt, D. S.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Generating Mixed Patterns of Residential Segregation: An Evolutionary Approach

The Schelling model of residential segregation has demonstrated that even the slightest preference for neighbors of the same race can be amplified into community-wide segregation. However, these models are unable to simulate mixed, coexisting patterns of segregation and integration, which have been seen to exist in cities. Using evolutionary model discovery we demonstrate how including social factors beyond racial bias when modeling relocation behavior enables the emergence of strongly mixed patterns. Our results indicate that the emergence of mixed patterns is better explained by multiple factors influencing the decision to relocate; the most important being the interaction of nonlinear, rapidly diminishing racial bias with a recent, historical tendency to move. Additionally, preference for less isolated neighborhoods or preference for neighborhoods with longer residing neighbors may produce weaker mixed patterns. Finally, this work highlights the importance of exploring the influence of multiple hypothesized factors of decision making, and their interactions, within agent rules, when studying emergent outcomes generated by agent-based models of complex social systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗