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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.

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At least 181 records · Page 10

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Association between AOD and PM over the California Central Valley

Many air pollution health effects studies rely on exposure estimates of particulate matter (PM) concentrations derived from remote sensing observations of aerosol optical depth (AOD). Simple but robust calibration models between AOD and PM are therefore important for generating reliable PM exposures. We conduct an in-depth examination of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the AOD-PM2.5 relationship by leveraging data from the Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGON) field campaign where eight NASA Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites were co-located with EPA Air Quality System (AQS) monitoring sites in California’s Central Valley from November 2012 to April 2013. With this spatiotemporally rich data we found that linear calibration models (R(exp 2) = 0.35, RMSE = 10.38 µg/cu.m) were significantly improved when spatial (R(exp 2) = 0.45, RMSE = 9.54 µg/cu.m), temporal (R(exp 2) = 0.62, RMSE = 8.30 µg/cu.m), and spatiotemporal (R(exp 2) = 0.65, RMSE = 7.58 µg/cu.m) functions were included. As a use-case we applied the best spatiotemporal model to convert space-borne MultiAngle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) AOD observations to predict PM2.5 over the region (R(exp 2) = 0.60, RMSE = 8.42 µg/cu.m). Our results imply that simple AERONET AOD-PM2.5 calibrations are robust and can be reliably applied to space-borne AOD observations, resulting in PM2.5 prediction surfaces for use in downstream applications.

Meytar Sorek-Hamer↗

Extending the Utility of Space-Borne Snow Water Equivalent Observations Over Vegetated Areas With Data Assimilation

Snow is a vital component of the earth system, yet no snow-focused satellite remote sensing platform currently exists. In this study, we investigate how synthetic observations of snow water equivalent (SWE) representative of a synthetic aperture radar remote sensing platform could improve spatiotemporal estimates of snowpack. We use a fraternal twin observing system simulation experiment, specifically investigating how much snow simulated using widely used models and forcing data could be improved by assimilating synthetic observations of SWE. We focus this study across a 24° x 37° domain in the western USA and Canada, simulating snow at 250 m resolution and hourly time steps in water year 2019. We perform two data assimilation experiments, including (1) a simulation excluding synthetic observations in forests where canopies obstruct remote sensing retrievals and (2) a simulation inferring snow distribution in forested grid cells using synthetic observations from nearby canopy-free grid cells. Results found that, relative to a nature run, or assumed true simulation of snow evolution, assimilating synthetic SWE observations improved average SWE biases at maximum snowpack timing in shrub, grass, crop, bare-ground, and wetland land cover types from 14 %, to within 1 %. However, forested grid cells contained a disproportionate amount of SWE volume. In forests, SWE mean absolute errors at the time of maximum snow volume were 111 mm and average SWE biases were on the order of 150 %. Here the data assimilation approach that estimated forest SWE using observations from the nearest canopy-free grid cells substantially improved these SWE biases (18 %) and the SWE mean absolute error (27 mm). Simulations employing data assimilation also improved estimates of the temporal evolution of both SWE and runoff, even in spring snowmelt periods when melting snow and high snow liquid water content prevented synthetic SWE retrievals. In fact, in the Upper Colorado River region, melt-season SWE biases were improved from 63 % to within 1 %, and the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of runoff improved from −2.59 to 0.22. These results demonstrate the value of data assimilation and a snow-focused globally relevant remote sensing platform for improving the characterization of SWE and associated water availability.

Justin Pflug↗

Research on Spectroscopy, Opacity, and Atmospheres

To make my calculations more readily accessible I have set up a web site cfaku5.harvard.edu that can also be accessed by FTP. it has 5 9GB disks that hold all of my atomic and diatomic molecular data, my tables of distribution function opacities, my grids of model atmospheres, colors, fluxes, etc, my program that are ready for distribution, most of my recent papers. Atlases and computed spectra will be added as they are completed. New atomic and molecular calculations will be added as they are completed. I got my atomic programs that had been running on a Cray at the San Diego Supercomputer Center to run on my Vaxes and Alpha. I started with Ni and Co because there were new laboratory analyses that included isotopic and hyperfine splitting. Those calculations are described in the appended abstract for the 6th Atomic Spectroscopy and oscillator Strengths meeting in Victoria last summer. A surprising finding is that quadrupole transitions have been grossly in error because mixing with higher levels has not been included. I now have enough memory in my Alpha to treat 3000 x 3000 matrices. I now include all levels up through n=9 for Fe I and 11, the spectra for which the most information is available. I am finishing those calculations right now. After Fe I and Fe 11, all other spectra are "easy", and I will be in mass production. ATL;LS12, my opacity sampling program for computing models with arbitrary abundances, has been put on the web server. I wrote a new distribution function opacity program for workstations that replaces the one I used on the Cray at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Each set of abundances would take 100 Cray hours costing $100,000. 1 ran 25 cases. Each of my opacity CDs contains three abundances. I have a new program -iinning on the Alpha that takes about a week. I am going to have to get a faster processor or I will have to dedicate a whole workstation just to opacities.

Kurucz, Robert L.↗

Research on Spectroscopy, Opacity, and Atmospheres

With this funding I produced a web site kurucz.harvard.edu that can also be accessed by FTP. it has a 73GB disk that holds all of my atomic and diatomic molecular data, my tables of distribution function opacities, my grids of model atmospheres, colors, fluxes, etc., my programs that are ready for distribution, and most of my recent papers. Atlases and computed spectra will be added as they are completed. New atomic and molecular calculations will be added as they are completed.

Kurucz, Robert L.↗

A stochastic precipitation disaggregation scheme for GCM applications

In the surface hydrologic parameterization of general circulation models (GCMs), it is commonly assumed that the precipitation processes are homogeneous over a GCM grid square and that the precipitation intensity is uniformly distributed. Based on evidence that the spatial distribution of precipitation within a GCM grid square is crucial for the land surface hydrology parameterization, a few researchers have explored the impacts of assuming that the precipitation is exponentially distributed. This paper explores the suitability of the aforementioned assumptions. First, a statistical analysis is conducted of historical precipitation data for three GCM grids in different regions of the United States. The analysis suggests that neither the uniform nor the exponential distribution assumption may be suitable at the GCM grid scale and, that instead, the spatial variability in precipitation is characterized by statistical patterns that are inhomogeneous. These patterns vary from grid to grid and are induced by the interaction between atmospheric conditions and various land surface characteristics, such as topographical features, surface properties, etc. Within the same grid square, however, the statistical patterns are generally constant from year to year. Based on this analysis, a computationally viable (i.e., usable with GCMs) stochastic precipitation disaggregation scheme that utilizes these stable statistical patterns is proposed. The method was used to generate spatially distributed hourly rainfall for a summer season in the southwestern region of the continental United States. Analysis of the results shows that the methodology preserves the seasonal characteristics of spatial variability in precipitation that is observed in the long-term historical data.

Gao, Xiaogang↗

Performance and Application of Parallel OVERFLOW Codes on Distributed and Shared Memory Platforms

The presentation discusses recent studies on the performance of the two parallel versions of the aerodynamics CFD code, OVERFLOW_MPI and _MLP. Developed at NASA Ames, the serial version, OVERFLOW, is a multidimensional Navier-Stokes flow solver based on overset (Chimera) grid technology. The code has recently been parallelized in two ways. One is based on the explicit message-passing interface (MPI) across processors and uses the _MPI communication package. This approach is primarily suited for distributed memory systems and workstation clusters. The second, termed the multi-level parallel (MLP) method, is simple and uses shared memory for all communications. The _MLP code is suitable on distributed-shared memory systems. For both methods, the message passing takes place across the processors or processes at the advancement of each time step. This procedure is, in effect, the Chimera boundary conditions update, which is done in an explicit "Jacobi" style. In contrast, the update in the serial code is done in more of the "Gauss-Sidel" fashion. The programming efforts for the _MPI code is more complicated than for the _MLP code; the former requires modification of the outer and some inner shells of the serial code, whereas the latter focuses only on the outer shell of the code. The _MPI version offers a great deal of flexibility in distributing grid zones across a specified number of processors in order to achieve load balancing. The approach is capable of partitioning zones across multiple processors or sending each zone and/or cluster of several zones into a single processor. The message passing across the processors consists of Chimera boundary and/or an overlap of "halo" boundary points for each partitioned zone. The MLP version is a new coarse-grain parallel concept at the zonal and intra-zonal levels. A grouping strategy is used to distribute zones into several groups forming sub-processes which will run in parallel. The total volume of grid points in each group are approximately balanced. A proper number of threads are initially allocated to each group, and in subsequent iterations during the run-time, the number of threads are adjusted to achieve load balancing across the processes. Each process exploits the multitasking directives already established in Overflow.

Djomehri, M. Jahed↗

Arithmetic Data Cube as a Data Intensive Benchmark

Data movement across computational grids and across memory hierarchy of individual grid machines is known to be a limiting factor for application involving large data sets. In this paper we introduce the Data Cube Operator on an Arithmetic Data Set which we call Arithmetic Data Cube (ADC). We propose to use the ADC to benchmark grid capabilities to handle large distributed data sets. The ADC stresses all levels of grid memory by producing 2d views of an Arithmetic Data Set of d-tuples described by a small number of parameters. We control data intensity of the ADC by controlling the sizes of the views through choice of the tuple parameters.

Frumkin, Michael A.↗

Aerodynamic analysis of three advanced configurations using the TranAir full-potential code

Computational results are presented for three advanced configurations: the F-16A with wing tip missiles and under wing fuel tanks, the Oblique Wing Research Aircraft, and an Advanced Turboprop research model. These results were generated by the latest version of the TranAir full potential code, which solves for transonic flow over complex configurations. TranAir embeds a surface paneled geometry definition in a uniform rectangular flow field grid, thus avoiding the use of surface conforming grids, and decoupling the grid generation process from the definition of the configuration. The new version of the code locally refines the uniform grid near the surface of the geometry, based on local panel size and/or user input. This method distributes the flow field grid points much more efficiently than the previous version of the code, which solved for a grid that was uniform everywhere in the flow field. TranAir results are presented for the three configurations and are compared with wind tunnel data.

Madson, M. D.↗

A Simple XML Producer-Consumer Protocol

There are many different projects from government, academia, and industry that provide services for delivering events in distributed environments. The problem with these event services is that they are not general enough to support all uses and they speak different protocols so that they cannot interoperate. We require such interoperability when we, for example, wish to analyze the performance of an application in a distributed environment. Such an analysis might require performance information from the application, computer systems, networks, and scientific instruments. In this work we propose and evaluate a standard XML-based protocol for the transmission of events in distributed systems. One recent trend in government and academic research is the development and deployment of computational grids. Computational grids are large-scale distributed systems that typically consist of high-performance compute, storage, and networking resources. Examples of such computational grids are the DOE Science Grid, the NASA Information Power Grid (IPG), and the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computing Infrastructure (PACIs). The major effort to deploy these grids is in the area of developing the software services to allow users to execute applications on these large and diverse sets of resources. These services include security, execution of remote applications, managing remote data, access to information about resources and services, and so on. There are several toolkits for providing these services such as Globus, Legion, and Condor. As part of these efforts to develop computational grids, the Global Grid Forum is working to standardize the protocols and APIs used by various grid services. This standardization will allow interoperability between the client and server software of the toolkits that are providing the grid services. The goal of the Performance Working Group of the Grid Forum is to standardize protocols and representations related to the storage and distribution of performance data. These standard protocols and representations must support tasks such as profiling parallel applications, monitoring the status of computers and networks, and monitoring the performance of services provided by a computational grid. This paper describes a proposed protocol and data representation for the exchange of events in a distributed system. The protocol exchanges messages formatted in XML and it can be layered atop any low-level communication protocol such as TCP or UDP Further, we describe Java and C++ implementations of this protocol and discuss their performance. The next section will provide some further background information. Section 3 describes the main communication patterns of our protocol. Section 4 describes how we represent events and related information using XML. Section 5 describes our protocol and Section 6 discusses the performance of two implementations of the protocol. Finally, an appendix provides the XML Schema definition of our protocol and event information.

Smith, Warren↗

An Offload NIC for NASA, NLR, and Grid Computing

This work addresses distributed data management and access dynamically configurable high-speed access to data distributed and shared over wide-area high-speed network environments. An offload engine NIC (network interface card) is proposed that scales at nX10-Gbps increments through 100-Gbps full duplex. The Globus de facto standard was used in projects requiring secure, robust, high-speed bulk data transport. Novel extension mechanisms were derived that will combine these technologies for use by GridFTP, bandwidth management resources, and host CPU (central processing unit) acceleration. The result will be wire-rate encrypted Globus grid data transactions through offload for splintering, encryption, and compression. As the need for greater network bandwidth increases, there is an inherent need for faster CPUs. The best way to accelerate CPUs is through a network acceleration engine. Grid computing data transfers for the Globus tool set did not have wire-rate encryption or compression. Existing technology cannot keep pace with the greater bandwidths of backplane and network connections. Present offload engines with ports to Ethernet are 32 to 40 Gbps f-d at best. The best of ultra-high-speed offload engines use expensive ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) or NPUs (network processing units). The present state of the art also includes bonding and the use of multiple NICs that are also in the planning stages for future portability to ASICs and software to accommodate data rates at 100 Gbps. The remaining industry solutions are for carrier-grade equipment manufacturers, with costly line cards having multiples of 10-Gbps ports, or 100-Gbps ports such as CFP modules that interface to costly ASICs and related circuitry. All of the existing solutions vary in configuration based on requirements of the host, motherboard, or carriergrade equipment. The purpose of the innovation is to eliminate data bottlenecks within cluster, grid, and cloud computing systems, and to add several more capabilities while reducing space consumption and cost. Provisions were designed for interoperability with systems used in the NASA HEC (High-End Computing) program. The new acceleration engine consists of state-ofthe- art FPGA (field-programmable gate array) core IP, C, and Verilog code; novel communication protocol; and extensions to the Globus structure. The engine provides the functions of network acceleration, encryption, compression, packet-ordering, and security added to Globus grid or for cloud data transfer. This system is scalable in nX10-Gbps increments through 100-Gbps f-d. It can be interfaced to industry-standard system-side or network-side devices or core IP in increments of 10 GigE, scaling to provide IEEE 40/100 GigE compliance.

Awrach, James↗

Analysis of the Effects of Streamwise Lift Distribution on Sonic Boom Signature

The streamwise lift distribution of a wing-canard-stabilator-body configuration was varied to study its effect on the near-field sonic boom signature. The investigation was carried out via solving the three-dimensional Euler equation with the OVERFLOW-2 flow solver. The computational meshes were created using the Chimera overset grid topology. The lift distribution was varied by first deflecting the canard then trimming the aircraft with the wing and the stabilator while maintaining constant lift coefficient of 0.05. A validation study using experimental results was also performed to determine required grid resolution and appropriate numerical scheme. A wide range of streamwise lift distribution was simulated. The result shows that the longitudinal wave propagation speed can be controlled through lift distribution thus controlling the shock coalescence.

Yoo, Seung Yeun (Paul)↗

Simulating fluxes from heterogeneous land surfaces: Explicit subgrid method employing the biosphere-atmosphere transfer scheme (BATS)

A vectorized version of the biosphere-atmosphere transfer scheme (VBATS) is used to study moisture, energy, and momentum fluxes from heterogeneous land surfaces st the scale of an atmospheric model (AM) grid cells. To incorporate subgrid scale inhomogeneity, VBATS includes two important features: (1) characterization of the land surface (vegetation and soil parameters) at N subgrid points within an AM grid cell and (2) explicit distribution of climate forcing (precipitation, clouds, etc.) over the subgrid. In this study, VBATS is used in stand-alone mode to simulate a single AM grid cell and to evaluate the effects of subgrid scale vegetation and climate specification on the surface fluxes and hydrology. It is found that the partitioning of energy can be affected by up to 30%, runoff by 50%, and surface stress in excess of 60%. Distributing climate forcing over the AM grid cell increases the Bowen ratio, as a result of enhanced sensible heat flux and reduced latent heat flux. The combined effect of heterogeneous vegetation and distribution of climate is found to be dependent on the dominat vegetation class in the AM grid cell. Development of this method is part of a larger program to explore the importance of subgrid scale processes in regional and global climate simulations.

Seth, Anji↗

Algebraic grid generation about wing-fuselage bodies

An algebraic procedure for generating boundary-fitted grids about wing-fuselage configurations is presented. A wing-fuselage configuration consists of two aircraft components specified by cross sections and mathematically represented by Coons' patches. Several grid blocks are constructed to cover the entire region surrounding the configuration, and each grid block maps into a computational cube. Grid points are first determined on the six boundary surfaces of a block and then in the interior. Grid points on the surface of the configuration are derived from the intersection of planes with the Coons' patch definition. Approximate arc length distributions along the resulting grid curves concentrate and disperse grid points. The two-boundary technique and transfinite interpolation are used to determine grid points on the remaining boundary surfaces and block interiors.

Smith, R.E.↗

Algebraic grid generation for coolant passages of turbine blades with serpentine channels and pin fins

In order to study numerically details of the flow and heat transfer within coolant passages of turbine blades, a method must first be developed to generate grid systems within the very complicated geometries involved. In this study, a grid generation package was developed that is capable of generating the required grid systems. The package developed is based on an algebraic grid generation technique that permits the user considerable control over how grid points are to be distributed in a very explicit way. These controls include orthogonality of grid lines next to boundary surfaces and ability to cluster about arbitrary points, lines, and surfaces. This paper describes that grid generation package and shows how it can be used to generate grid systems within complicated-shaped coolant passages via an example.

Shih, T. I.-P.↗

Numerical advection by conservation of second-order moments

A new, accurate, and nondiffusive method for three-dimensional advection of trace species is presented. The method preserves tracer structures by conserving the second-order moments of the spatial distribution of tracer during advection. Upstream transport and second-order tracer distribution are described, and the moments of the tracer distribution about the center of a grid box are formally defined and related to the polynomial distribution. Formulas are presented which describe how the moments of a grid box are decomposed into a unique set of moments centered about each subbox and how they are reassembled into new grid boxes. A one-dimensional example if tracer transport is given, and limits necessary to maintain positive tracer concentrations are derived. The accuracy and stability of this method are analytically examined, and numerical experiments testing the effective resolution are presented. The method is compared with other methods for numerical advection of tracers.

Prather, M. J.↗

Mathematical model of the current density for the 30-cm engineering model thruster

Mathematical models are presented for both the singly and doubly charged ion current densities downstream of the 30-cm engineering model thruster with 0.5% compensated dished grids. These models are based on the experimental measurements of Vahrenkamp at a 2-amp ion beam operating condition. The cylindrically symmetric beam of constant velocity ions is modeled with continuous radial source and focusing functions across 'plane' grids with similar angular distribution functions. A computer program is used to evaluate the double integral for current densities in the near field and to obtain a far field approximation beyond 10 grid radii. The utility of the model is demonstrated for (1) calculating the directed thrust and (2) determining the impingement levels on various spacecraft surfaces from a two-axis gimballed, 2 x 3 thruster array.

Cuffel, R. F.↗

Adaptive mesh schemes based on grid speeds

Successful methods for generating solution adaptive grids using grid speeds are reviewed in this paper. The computational mesh is constructed by integrating the grid speeds as opposed to solving a steady grid equation. Advantages and disadvantages for each grid speed scheme are discussed and a number of examples of grids produced with the various schemes are presented. Suggestions are made for the development of new schemes based upon a form of Euler's expansion formula for the grid and the equi-distribution of some parameter over the mesh. Consideration is also given to grid skewness for the multidimensional schemes.

Anderson, D. A.↗

Additional Security Considerations for Grid Management

The use of Grid computing environments is growing in popularity. A Grid computing environment is primarily a wide area network that encompasses multiple local area networks, where some of the local area networks are managed by different organizations. A Grid computing environment also includes common interfaces for distributed computing software so that the heterogeneous set of machines that make up the Grid can be used more easily. The other key feature of a Grid is that the distributed computing software includes appropriate security technology. The focus of most Grid software is on the security involved with application execution, file transfers, and other remote computing procedures. However, there are other important security issues related to the management of a Grid and the users who use that Grid. This note discusses these additional security issues and makes several suggestions as how they can be managed.

Eidson, Thomas M.↗