Engineering topics

Dahlburg, J. P.

Publications and source records attributed to Dahlburg, J. P..

7 records

NASA NTRS1992

Direct and large-eddy simulations of three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes turbulence

This paper reports results from the numerical implementation and testing of the compressible large eddy-simulation (LES). Relevant quantities from 32-cubed coarse grid LES solutions are compared with results generated from direct numerical simulations (DNS) of three-dimensional compressible turbulence that have been run both with sufficient resolution, at 96 cubed. The 32 cubed LES results overall agree well with their 96 cubed DNS counterparts. Moreover, the new DNS results confirm several recent conclusions about compressible turbulence that have been based primarily on two-dimensional simulations.

Zang, T. A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Sawtooth oscillations about helical current channels

An existing pseudospectral code for solving the three-dimensional equations of reduced magnetohydrodynamics is extended by adding a temperature equation. Resistivities and thermal conductivities are given their (isotropic) Braginskii temperature dependences, and are advanced self-consistently. Realistic-looking sawtooth oscillations are observed at modest Lundquist and Reynolds numbers. However, the oscillations are excited upon, and relax back to, a helical (rather than an axisymmetric) current channel.

Theobald, M. L.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Driven, steady-state RFP computations

The pseudospectral three-dimensional MHD code of Dahlburg et al. (1986 and 1987) is used to compute the dynamical behavior of a channel of magnetofluid carrying an axial current and magnetic flux. This situation contains the essential MHD behavior of the reversed-field pinch (RFP). An externally imposed electric field is applied to an initially current-free magnetofluid and drives currents that rise and eventually fluctuate about values corresponding to pinch ratios Theta of about 1.3, 2.2, and 4.5. A period of violent turbulence leads to an approximately force-free core, surrounded by an active MHD boundary layer that is not force-free. A steady state is reached that can apparently be sustained indefinitely (for several hundred Alfven transit times or longer). The turbulence level and time variability in the steady state increase with increasing Theta. The average toroidal magnetic field at the wall reverses for Theta = 2.2 and 4.5, but not for Theta = 1.3. Negative toroidal current filaments are observed. The Lundquist numbers are of the order of a few hundred.

Dahlburg, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Helical magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and the coronal heating problem

Numerical simulations are used to investigate the relaxation of an unconfined, helically turbulent, fully three-dimensional magnetofluid, with conditions similar to those which are thought to result in the heating of the solar corona. In these simulations, the system evolves through a succession of force free states. After a relatively quiescent period of Ohmic decay, a phase of accelerated magnetic energy dissipation occurs. Some magnetic energy is transformed into kinetic energy, and the magnitude of entrophy created is a nontrival fraction of the mean square electric current. Concentrated vorticity structures are seen to play almost as important a role as electric current sheets in the heating process. Coincident with this accelerated dissipation process, a reorganization of the magnetic fields occurs, with transfer of magnetic energy to both shorter and longer wavelength modes than are initially present. The ratio of the magnetic field to the electric current density, alpha does not in general tend to assume a constant value in the force free regions during the evolution of the magnetofluid.

Dahlburg, R. B.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Turbulent relaxation to a force-free field-reversed state

The evolution of nonequilibrium initial conditions of an incompressible magnetohydrodynamic Z pinch is described by a three-dimensional, pseudospectral numerical code. Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence develops in the resistive, nonviscous magnetofluid, resulting in the selective decay of the energy relative to the magnetic helicity, at Lundquist numbers of only a few hundred. An interior force-free region grows with time and achieves spontaneous reversal of the toroidal magnetic field at the wall, without the necessity of an external electric field.

Dahlburg, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Large-scale disruptions in a current-carrying magnetofluid

Internal disruptions in a strongly magnetized electrically conducting fluid contained within a rigid conducting cylinder of square cross section are investigated theoretically, both with and without an externally applied axial electric field, by means of computer simulations using the pseudospectral three-dimensional Strauss-equations code of Dahlburg et al. (1985). Results from undriven inviscid, driven inviscid, and driven viscid simulations are presented graphically, and the significant effects of low-order truncations on the modeling accuracy are considered. A helical current filament about the cylinder axis is observed. The ratio of turbulent kinetic energy to total poloidal magnetic energy is found to undergo cyclic bounces in the undriven inviscid case, to exhibit one large bounce followed by decay to a quasi-steady state with poloidal fluid velocity flow in the driven inviscid case, and to show one large bounce followed by further sawtoothlike bounces in the driven viscid case.

Dahlburg, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Turbulent disruptions from the Strauss equations

Preliminary results are reported from application of a three-dimensional spectral method model to the solution of the Strauss (1976) reduced MHD equations. The investigation was focused on describing MHD turbulence in a current-carrying bounded magnetofluid. A cylindrical geometry with a square cross-section was considered, with the walls being rigid perfect conductors with free-slip boundary conditions. A uniform magnetic field and the electric current density both point in the z-direction. Initial conditions are specified which feature small amounts of random noise expressed as Fourier modes. Linearized equations are defined for tracing the movement to equlibrium conditions or other temporal development. The model is further refined with nonlinear equations to examine the effects of the appearance of disruptions. Comparisons are drawn between solutions obtained with linear and nonlinear equations, with an eye to the associated physical realities.

Dahlburg, J. P.↗