Engineering topics

Kube, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Kube, R..

6 records

DOE OSTI2022

Near real-time streaming analysis of big fusion data

Experiments on fusion plasmas produce high-dimensional data time series with ever-increasing magnitude and velocity, but turn-around times for analysis of this data have not kept up. For example, many data analysis tasks are often performed in a manual, ad-hoc manner some time after an experiment. In this article, we introduce the Delta framework that facilitates near real-time streaming analysis of big and fast fusion data. By streaming measurement data from fusion experiments to a high-performance compute center, Delta allows computationally expensive data analysis tasks to be performed in between plasma pulses. This article describes the modular and expandable software architecture of Delta and presents performance benchmarks of individual components as well as of an example workflow. Focusing on a streaming analysis workflow where electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEi) data is measured at KSTAR on the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center's (NERSC's) supercomputer we routinely observe data transfer rates of about 4 Gigabit per second. In NERSC, a demanding turbulence analysis workflow effectively utilizes multiple nodes and graphical processing units and executes them in under 5 min. We further discuss how Delta uses modern database systems and container orchestration services to provide web-based real-time data visualization. For the case of ECEi data we demonstrate how data visualizations can be augmented with outputs from machine learning models. Here, by providing session leaders and physics operators, results of higher-order data analysis using live visualizations may make more informed decisions on how to configure the machine for the next shot.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Outlier classification using autoencoders: application for fluctuation driven flows in fusion plasmas

Understanding the statistics of fluctuation driven flows in the boundary layer of magnetically confined plasmas is desired to accurately model the lifetime of the vacuum vessel components. Mirror Langmuir probes (MLPs) are a novel diagnostic that uniquely allow us to sample the plasma parameters on a time scale shorter than the characteristic time scale of their fluctuations. Sudden large-amplitude fluctuations in the plasma degrade the precision and accuracy of the plasma parameters reported by MLPs for cases in which the probe bias range is of insufficient amplitude. While some data samples can readily be classified as valid and invalid, we find that such a classification may be ambiguous for up to 40% of data sampled for the plasma parameters and bias voltages considered in this study. In this contribution, we employ an autoencoder (AE) to learn a low-dimensional representation of valid data samples. By definition, the coordinates in this space are the features that mostly characterize valid data. Ambiguous data samples are classified in this space using standard classifiers for vectorial data. In this way, we avoid defining complicated threshold rules to identify outliers, which require strong assumptions and introduce biases in the analysis. By removing the outliers that are identified in the latent low-dimensional space of the AE, we find that the average conductive and convective radial heat fluxes are between approximately 5% and 15% lower as when removing outliers identified by threshold values. For contributions to the radial heat flux due to triple correlations, the difference is up to 40%.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

A Framework for International Collaboration on ITER Using Large-Scale Data Transfer to Enable Near-Real-Time Analysis

The global nature of the ITER project along with its projected ~ petabyte per day data generation presents a unique challenge, but also an opportunity for the fusion community to rethink, optimize, and enhance our scientific discovery process. Recognizing this, collaborative research with computational scientists was undertaken over the past several years to create a framework for large-scale data movement across wide-area networks (WANs), to enable global near-real time analysis of fusion data. This would broaden the available computational resources for analysis/simulation, and increase the number of researchers actively participating in experiments. An official demonstration of this framework for fast, large data transfer and real-time analysis was carried out between the KSTAR tokamak in Daejeon, Korea and PPPL in Princeton, USA. Streaming large data transfer, with near real-time movie creation and analysis of the KSTAR Electron Cyclotron Emission imaging (ECEI) data, was performed using the I/O framework ADIOS, and comparisons made at PPPL with simulation results from the XGC1 code. These demonstrations were made possible utilizing an optimized network configuration at PPPL, which achieved over 8.8 Gbps (88% utilization) in throughput tests from NFRI to PPPL. This demonstration showed the feasibility for large-scale data analysis of KSTAR data, and provides a nascent framework to enable use of globally distributed computational and personnel resources in pursuit of scientific knowledge from the ITER experiment.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Comparison between mirror Langmuir probe and gas-puff imaging measurements of intermittent fluctuations in the Alcator C-Mod scrape-off layer

Statistical properties of the scrape-off layer plasma fluctuations are studied in ohmically heated plasmas in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. For the first time, plasma fluctuations as well as parameters that describe the fluctuations are compared across measurements from a mirror Langmuir probe (MLP) and from gas-puff imaging (GPI) that sample the same plasma discharge. This comparison is complemented by an analysis of line emission time-series data, synthesized from the MLP electron density and temperature measurements. The fluctuations observed by the MLP and GPI typically display relative fluctuation amplitudes of order unity together with positively skewed and flattened probability density functions. Such data time series are well described by an established stochastic framework that models the data as a superposition of uncorrelated, two-sided exponential pulses. The most important parameter of the process is the intermittency parameter, $γ=τ_d/τ_w$, where τd denotes the duration time of a single pulse and $τ_w$ gives the average waiting time between consecutive pulses. In this study we show, using a new deconvolution method, that these parameters can be consistently estimated from different statistics of the data. We also show that the statistical properties of the data sampled by the MLP and GPI diagnostic are very similar. Finally, a synthetic GPI signal using only plasma parameters sampled by the MLP shows qualitatively different fluctuation statistics from the measured GPI signal.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NASA NTRS1995

Effect of individual blade control on noise radiation

In a joint research program of NASA Ames Research Center, ZF Luftfahrttechnik, the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR), and EUROCOPTER Deutschland, a wind tunnel test was performed to evaluate the effects of Individual Blade Control (IBC) on rotor noise. This test was conducted in the 40x80 ft wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center, utilizing a full scale MBB-BO 105 four-bladed rotor system. Three microphones were installed for determination of the radiated noise, two of them on a moveable traverse below the advancing blade side and one in a fixed location below the retreating side. Acoustic results are presented for flight conditions with Blade-Vortex-Interaction (BVI) noise radiation. High noise level reductions were measured for single harmonic control inputs. In addition to the single harmonic inputs, multi-harmonic inputs were evaluated by superimposing 2/rev to 6/rev harmonics. For the first time the efficiency of sharp wavelets (60 deg and 90 deg width) on acoustic noise were measured. In order to achieve an adequate wavelet shape at the blade tip, corrections were made to account for the blade torsional behavior. In parallel with the acoustic measurements, vibratory loads were measured during the BVI flight condition to correlate the effects of IBC on noise and vibrations. It is shown how noise levels and vibrations are affected by specific IBC control inputs. In addition, correlations are made between noise levels and acoustic time histories with IBC phase and amplitude variations. For one IBC input mode with high noise reducing efficiency, a sweep of the moveable microphone traverse below the advancing side shows the effect on BVI noise directivity.

Swanson, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Effect of higher harmonic control on helicopter rotor blade-vortex interaction noise: Prediction and initial validation

The paper presents a status of theoretical tools of AFDD, DLR, NASA and ONERA for prediction of the effect of HHC on helicopter main rotor BVI noise. Aeroacoustic predictions from the four research centers, concerning a wind tunnel simulation of a typical descent flight case without and with HHC are presented and compared. The results include blade deformation, geometry of interacting vortices, sectional loads and noise. Acoustic predictions are compared to experimental data. An analysis of the results provides a first insight of the mechanisms by which HHC may affect BVI noise.

Beaumier, P.↗