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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 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Continuous infrared emission of proto- and young-planetary nebulae

Evolutionary sequences of planetary nebulae (PNe) were calculated beginning from the moment of shell ejection to its dissipation and IR spectra of the outgoing radiation were obtained for different stages of the evolution. To solve the coupled hydrodynamical and radiation transfer problem a computer code was used in which gas and dust are treated as two separate hydrodynamical components. The models, which are calculated for two grain materials (graphite and silicate) have a size distribution of particles based on that found for the interstellar medium. In the computations, the recent optical properties of graphite and astronomical silicate grains tabulated by Draine (1987) were employed. It was assumed that silicate of graphite grains exist below some critical temperature equal to 1300 or to 1700 K, respectively. Infrared model spectra are compared with the IR radiation emitted by some proto- and some young-planetary nebulae. The observed IR continua can be quite well matched with our models with grains having a reasonable size range.

Szczerba, Ryszard↗
NASA NTRS1987

The acceleration of winds by MHD waves in open magnetic structures

It has become increasingly clear in recent years that the available models describing the acceleration of high speed streams in solar coronal holes are inadequate. Thermal models do not result in winds with the proper thermal speed and density. In addition models which assume acceleration by Alfven waves, though promising, are not self-consistent when applied low in coronal holes where the acceleration of the wind takes place. An Alfven wave in the corona with a period of a few hundred seconds will have a wavelength of the order of 10 cm. This is of the order of the diameter of a coronal hole in the low corona, and therefore it is expected that the MHD waves are guided in some sense by the coronal hole in which they propagate. This basic idea led to the development of a leaky waveguide theory to describe MHD wave propagation in coronal holes. Recent efforts were concentrated in two areas: the development of numerical codes to properly describe the hydrodynamics of the flow, and more realistic models of the coronal hole properties such as density gradients and spherical divergence of the flux tube. Some of the important aspects of the theory are discussed, including the effect of density inhomogeneities and smooth transverse density gradients. In addition it is hoped that some early results from the numerical models will be presented. The acceleration of cool winds is a problem of interest in cool supergiants also. Some work was done on the development of wind models for these stars as well.

Davila, Joseph M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A burst from a thermonuclear runaway on an ONeMg white dwarf

Studies which examine the consequences of accretion, at rates of 10(exp -9) solar mass/yr and 10(exp -10) solar mass/yr, onto an ONeMg white dwarf with a mass of 1.35 solar masses are performed. In these studies, a Lagrangian, hydrodynamic, one-dimensional computer code was used. The code now includes a network with 89 nuclei up to Ca-40, elemental diffusion, new opacities, and new equation of state. The initial abundance distribution corresponded to a mixture that was enriched to either 25, 50, or 75 percent in products of carbon burning. The remaining material in each case is assumed to have a solar composition. The evolution of the thermonuclear runaway in the 1.35 solar mass white dwarf, with M = 10(exp -9) solar mass, produced peak temperatures in the shell source exceeding 300 million degrees. The sequence produced significant amounts of Na-22 from proton captures onto Ne-20 and significant amounts of Al-26 from proton captures on Mg-24. This sequence ejected 5.2 x 10(exp -6) solar mass moving with speeds from approximately 100 km/s to 2300 km/s. When the mass accretion rate was decreased to 10(exp -10) solar mass, the resulting thermonuclear runaway produced a shock that moved through the outer envelope of the white dwarf and raised the surface luminosity to L greater than 10(exp 7) solar luminosity and the effective temperature to values exceeding 10(exp 7) K. The interaction of the material expanding from off of the white dwarf with the accretion disk should produce a burst of gamma-rays.

Starrfield, S.↗
NASA NTRS1996

LES, DNS, and RANS for the Analysis of High-Speed Turbulent Reacting Flows

A filtered density function (FDF) method suitable for chemically reactive flows is developed in the context of large eddy simulation. The advantage of the FDF methodology is its inherent ability to resolve subgrid scales (SGS) scalar correlations that otherwise have to be modeled. Because of the lack of robust models to accurately predict these correlations in turbulent reactive flows, simulations involving turbulent combustion are often met with a degree of skepticism. The FDF methodology avoids the closure problem associated with these terms and treats the reaction in an exact manner. The scalar FDF approach is particularly attractive since it can be coupled with existing hydrodynamic computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes.

Colucci, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Disentangling Planets from Photoelectric Instability in Gas-rich Optically Thin Dusty Disks

Structures in circumstellar disks such as gaps and rings are often attributed to planets. This connection has been difficult to show unequivocally, as other processes may also produce these features. In particular, a photoelectric instability (PEI) has been proposed, operating in gas-rich optically thin disks, that generates structures predicted by planet–disk interactions. We examine the question of how to disentangle the planetary effects on disk structure from the effects of the PEI. We use the Pencil Code to perform 2D global hydrodynamical models of the dynamics of gas and dust in a thin disk with and without planetary perturbers. Photoelectric heating is modeled with an equation of state where pressure is proportional to dust surface density. The drag force on grains and its backreaction on the gas are included. Analyzing the situation without PEI, we find that gas–dust interactions alter the shape of the planetary gap from the dust-free case when the local dust-to-gas ratio ε approaches unity. This result also applies to primordial disks, because dust drifting inward accumulates at the edge of the planetary gap, and any initial dust-to-gas ratio eventually achieves ε = 1 if the dust reservoir is sufficient. We find a result particular to high dust-to-gas ratio disks as well: as dust drifts inward, the dust front becomes a sharp transition, and the backreaction triggers the Rossby wave instability. When PEI is included, we find that it obscures structures induced by planets unless the planet's mass is sufficiently large to carve a noticeable gap. Specifically, the instability generates arcs and rings of regular spacing: a planet is discernible when it carves a dust gap wider than the wavelength of the PEI.

Areli Castrejon↗
NASA NTRS1997

Coupling of Sph and Finite Element Codes for Multi-Layer Orbital Debris Shield Design

Particle-based hydrodynamics models offer distinct advantages over Eulerian and Lagrangian hydrocodes in particular shock physics applications. Particle models are designed to avoid the mesh distortion and state variable diffusion problems which can hinder the effective use of Lagrangian and Eulerian codes respectively. However conventional particle-in-cell and smooth particle hydrodynamics methods employ particles which are actually moving interpolation points. A new particle-based modeling methodology, termed Hamiltonian particle hydrodynamics, was developed by Fahrenthold and Koo (1997) to provide an alternative, fully Lagrangian, energy-based approach to shock physics simulations. This alternative formulation avoids the tensile and boundary instabilities associated with standard smooth particle hydrodynamics formulations and the diffusive grid- to-particle mapping schemes characteristic of particle-in-cell methods. In the work described herein, the method of Fahrenthold and Koo has been extended, by coupling the aforementioned hydrodynamic particle model to a hexahedral finite element based description of the continuum dynamics. The resulting continuum model retains all of the features (including general contact-impact effects) of Hamiltonian particle hydrodynamics, while in addition accounting for tensile strength, plasticity, and damage effects important in the simulation of hypervelocity impact on orbital debris shielding. A three dimensional, vectorized, and autotasked implementation of the extended particle method described here has been coded for application to orbital debris shielding design. Source code for the pre-processor (PREP), analysis code (EXOS), post-processor (POST), and rezoner (ZONE), have been delivered separately, along with a User's Guide describing installation and application of the software.

Fahrenthold, Eric P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Protostellar hydrodynamics: Constructing and testing a spacially and temporally second-order accurate method. 2: Cartesian coordinates

In Boss & Myhill (1992) we described the derivation and testing of a spherical coordinate-based scheme for solving the hydrodynamic equations governing the gravitational collapse of nonisothermal, nonmagnetic, inviscid, radiative, three-dimensional protostellar clouds. Here we discuss a Cartesian coordinate-based scheme based on the same set of hydrodynamic equations. As with the spherical coorrdinate-based code, the Cartesian coordinate-based scheme employs explicit Eulerian methods which are both spatially and temporally second-order accurate. We begin by describing the hydrodynamic equations in Cartesian coordinates and the numerical methods used in this particular code. Following Finn & Hawley (1989), we pay special attention to the proper implementations of high-order accuracy, finite difference methods. We evaluate the ability of the Cartesian scheme to handle shock propagation problems, and through convergence testing, we show that the code is indeed second-order accurate. To compare the Cartesian scheme discussed here with the spherical coordinate-based scheme discussed in Boss & Myhill (1992), the two codes are used to calculate the standard isothermal collapse test case described by Bodenheimer & Boss (1981). We find that with the improved codes, the intermediate bar-configuration found previously disappears, and the cloud fragments directly into a binary protostellar system. Finally, we present the results from both codes of a new test for nonisothermal protostellar collapse.

Myhill, Elizabeth A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Dynamics of the baryonic component in hierarchical clustering universes

I present self-consistent 3-D simulations of the formation of virialized systems containing both gas and dark matter in a flat universe. A fully Lagrangian code based on the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics technique and a tree data structure has been used to evolve regions of comoving radius 2-3 Mpc. Tidal effects are included by coarse-sampling the density of the outer regions up to a radius approx. 20 Mpc. Initial conditions are set at high redshift (z greater than 7) using a standard Cold Dark Matter perturbation spectrum and a baryon mass fraction of 10 percent (omega(sub b) = 0.1). Simulations in which the gas evolves either adiabatically or radiates energy at a rate determined locally by its cooling function were performed. This allows us to investigate with the same set of simulations the importance of radiative losses in the formation of galaxies and the equilibrium structure of virialized systems where cooling is very inefficient. In the absence of radiative losses, the simulations can be rescaled to the density and radius typical of galaxy clusters. A summary of the main results is presented.

Navarro, Julio↗
NASA NTRS1999

High-Energy Space Propulsion Based on Magnetized Target Fusion

Magnetized target fusion is an approach in which a magnetized target plasma is compressed inertially by an imploding material wall. A high energy plasma liner may be used to produce the required implosion. The plasma liner is formed by the merging of a number of high momentum plasma jets converging towards the center of a sphere where two compact toroids have been introduced. Preliminary 3-D hydrodynamics modeling results using the SPHINX code of Los Alamos National Laboratory have been very encouraging and confirm earlier theoretical expectations. The concept appears ready for experimental exploration and plans for doing so are being pursued. In this talk, we explore conceptually how this innovative fusion approach could be packaged for space propulsion for interplanetary travel. We discuss the generally generic components of a baseline propulsion concept including the fusion engine, high velocity plasma accelerators, generators of compact toroids using conical theta pinches, magnetic nozzle, neutron absorption blanket, tritium reprocessing system, shock absorber, magnetohydrodynamic generator, capacitor pulsed power system, thermal management system, and micrometeorite shields.

Thio, Y. C. F.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Modeling the Compression of Merged Compact Toroids by Multiple Plasma Jets

A fusion propulsion scheme has been proposed that makes use of the merging of a spherical distribution of plasma jets to dynamically form a gaseous liner. The gaseous liner is used to implode a magnetized target to produce the fusion reaction in a standoff manner. In this paper, the merging of the plasma jets to form the gaseous liner is investigated numerically. The Los Alamos SPHINX code, based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method is used to model the interaction of the jets. 2-D and 3-D simulations have been performed to study the characteristics of the resulting flow when these jets collide. The results show that the jets merge to form a plasma liner that converge radially which may be used to compress the central plasma to fusion conditions. Details of the computational model and the SPH numerical methods will be presented together with the numerical results.

Thio, Y. C. Francis↗
NASA NTRS2017

The Atmospheric Response to High Nonthermal Electron Beam Fluxes in Solar Flares. I. Modeling the Brightest NUV Footpoints in the X1 Solar Flare of 2014 March 29

The 2014 March 29 X1 solar flare (SOL20140329T17:48) produced bright continuum emission in the far- and near-ultraviolet (NUV) and highly asymmetric chromospheric emission lines, providing long-sought constraints on the heating mechanisms of the lower atmosphere in solar flares. We analyze the continuum and emission line data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) of the brightest flaring magnetic footpoints in this flare. We compare the NUV spectra of the brightest pixels to new radiative-hydrodynamic predictions calculated with the RADYN code using constraints on a nonthermal electron beam inferred from the collisional thick-target modeling of hard X-ray data from Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager. We show that the atmospheric response to a high beam flux density satisfactorily achieves the observed continuum brightness in the NUV. The NUV continuum emission in this flare is consistent with hydrogen (Balmer) recombination radiation that originates from low optical depth in a dense chromospheric condensation and from the stationary beam-heated layers just below the condensation. A model producing two flaring regions (a condensation and stationary layers) in the lower atmosphere is also consistent with the asymmetric Fe II chromospheric emission line profiles observed in the impulsive phase.

Kowalski, Adam F.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Modeling Mg II During Solar Flares. I. Partial Frequency Redistribution, Opacity, and Coronal Irradiation

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph has routinely observed the flaring Mg II near-ultraviolet (NUV) spectrum, offering excellent diagnostic potential and a window into the location of energy deposition. A number of studies have forward-modeled both the general properties of these lines and specific flare observations. Generally these have forward-modeled radiation via post-processing of snapshots from hydrodynamic flare simulations through radiation transfer codes. There has, however, not been a study of how the physics included in these radiation transport codes affects the solution. A baseline setup for forward-modeling Mg II in flares is presented and contrasted with approaches that add or remove complexity. It is shown for Mg II that (1) partial frequency distribution (PRD) is still required during flare simulations despite the increased densities; (2) using full angle-dependent PRD affects the solution but takes significantly longer to process a snapshot; (3) including Mg I in non-LTE (NLTE) results in negligible differences to the Mg II lines but does affect the NUV quasi-continuum; (4) only hydrogen and Mg II need to be included in NLTE; (5) ideally the nonequilibrium hydrogen populations, with nonthermal collisional rates, should be used rather than the statistical equilibrium populations; (6) an atom consisting of only the ground state, h and k upper levels, and continuum level is insufficient to model the resonance lines; and (7) irradiation from a hot, dense flaring transition region can affect the formation of Mg II. We discuss modifications to the RH code allowing straightforward inclusion of the transition region and coronal irradiation in flares.

Kerr, Graham S.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Formation of the Lyman Continuum during Solar Flares

The Lyman continuum (LyC; <911.12 Å) forms at the top of the chromosphere in the quiet Sun, making LyC a powerful tool for probing the chromospheric plasma during solar flares. To understand the effects of nonthermal energy deposition in the chromosphere during flares, we analyzed LyC profiles from a grid of field-aligned radiative-hydrodynamic models generated using the RADYN code as part of the F-CHROMA project. The spectral response of LyC, the temporal evolution of the departure coefficient of hydrogen, b 1 , and the color temperature, T c , in response to a range of nonthermal electron distribution functions, were investigated. The LyC intensity was seen to increase by 4–5.5 orders of magnitude during solar flares, responding most strongly to the nonthermal electron flux of the beam. Generally, b 1 decreased from 10 2 –10 3 to closer to unity during solar flares, indicating a stronger coupling to local conditions, while T c increased from 8–9 to 10–16 kK. T c was found to be approximately equal to the electron temperature of the plasma when b1 was at a minimum. Both optically thick and optically thin components of LyC were found to be in agreement with the interpretation of recent observations. The optically thick layer forms deeper in the chromosphere during a flare compared to quiescent periods, whereas the optically thin layers form at higher altitudes due to chromospheric evaporation, in low-temperature, high-density regions propagating upward. We put these results in the context of current and future missions.

Solar flares↗
NASA NTRS2023

Solar Flare Ribbon Fronts. I. Constraining Flare Energy Deposition with IRIS Spectroscopy

Spectral lines formed at lower atmospheric layers show peculiar profiles at the "leading edge" of ribbons during solar flares. In particular, increased absorption of the BBSO/GST He I λ10830 line, as well as broad and centrally reversed profiles in the spectra of the Mg II and C II lines observed by the IRIS satellite, has been reported. In this work, we aim to understand the physical origin of such peculiar IRIS profiles, which seem to be common of many, if not all, flares. To achieve this, we quantify the spectral properties of the IRIS Mg II profiles at the ribbon leading edge during four large flares and perform a detailed comparison with a grid of radiative hydrodynamic models using the RADYN+FP code. We also studied their transition region (TR) counterparts, finding that these ribbon front locations are regions where TR emission and chromospheric evaporation are considerably weaker compared to other parts of the ribbons. Based on our comparison between the IRIS observations and modeling, our interpretation is that there are different heating regimes at play in the leading edge and the main bright part of the ribbons. More specifically, we suggest that bombardment of the chromosphere by more gradual and modest nonthermal electron energy fluxes can qualitatively explain the IRIS observations at the ribbon leading front, while stronger and more impulsive energy fluxes are required to drive chromospheric evaporation and more intense TR emission in the bright ribbon. Our results provide a possible physical origin for the peculiar behavior of the IRIS chromospheric lines in the ribbon leading edge and new constraints for the flare models.

Solar flares↗
NASA NTRS2003

A Study of Fan Stage/Casing Interaction Models

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the performance of several existing and new, blade-case interactions modeling capabilities that are compatible with the large system simulations used to capture structural response during blade-out events. Three contact models are examined for simulating the interactions between a rotor bladed disk and a case: a radial and linear gap element and a new element based on a hydrodynamic formulation. The first two models are currently available in commercial finite element codes such as NASTRAN and have been showed to perform adequately for simulating rotor-case interactions. The hydrodynamic model, although not readily available in commercial codes, may prove to be better able to characterize rotor-case interactions.

Lawrence, Charles↗
NASA NTRS2020

Synthetic Observations of Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager

Synthetic observations of the FeI line (6173A), which corresponds to the operational wavelength of Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board of the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Synthetic observations represent 4D maps for four angular distances from the solar disk center (0deg), 30deg, 45deg, and 60deg at 30degrees latitude in range +/- 0.75 Angstrom from the reference line of 6173.341 Angstrom, number of points across the spectral line is 256, spatial resolution of 100km, and temporal resolution of seconds. Synthetic data set obtained using SPINOR code (Frutiger et al. 2000). Synthetic observations computed from hydrodynamic simulations, which cover 25Mm of upper layers of the convection zone and 1Mm of atmosphere, the horizontal size of the domain of 80x80 Mm. Simulation results obtained the “StellarBox” code (Wray et al., 2015, 2018) with imposed rotation rate at 30deg latitude using F-plane approximation.

Irina Kitiashvili↗
NASA NTRS1976

Impact of composite plates: Analysis of stresses and forces

The foreign object damage resistance of composite fan blades was studied. Edge impact stresses in an anisotropic plate were first calculated incorporating a constrained layer damping model. It is shown that a very thin damping layer can dramatically decrease the maximum normal impact stresses. A multilayer model of a composite plate is then presented which allows computation of the interlaminar normal and shear stresses. Results are presented for the stresses due to a line impact load normal to the plane of a composite plate. It is shown that significant interlaminar tensile stresses can develop during impact. A computer code was developed for this problem using the fast Fourier transform. A marker and cell computer code were also used to investigate the hydrodynamic impact of a fluid slug against a wall or turbine blade. Application of fluid modeling of bird impact is reviewed.

Moon, F. C.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Analytical calculation of a single jet in cross-flow and comparison with experiment

A series of progressively finer grid systems to calculate the single jet in cross-flow experimentally measured were employed. The experimental measurements provide a collection of velocities, turbulence intensities, and jet concentration profiles with measurements of the inlet field. The use of a series of progressively finer grid systems allows a differentiation between numerical errors and the hydrodynamic modeling assumptions embodied in the 3D combustor code.

Claus, R. W.↗