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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 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

Effect of Counterflow Jet on a Supersonic Reentry Capsule

Recent NASA initiatives for space exploration have reinvigorated research on Apollo-like capsule vehicles. Aerothermodynamic characteristics of these capsule configurations during reentry play a crucial role in the performance and safety of the planetary entry probes and the crew exploration vehicles. At issue are the forebody thermal shield protection and afterbody aeroheating predictions. Due to the lack of flight or wind tunnel measurements at hypersonic speed, design decisions on such vehicles would rely heavily on computational results. Validation of current computational tools against experimental measurement thus becomes one of the most important tasks for general hypersonic research. This paper is focused on time-accurate numerical computations of hypersonic flows over a set of capsule configurations, which employ a counterflow jet to offset the detached bow shock. The accompanying increased shock stand-off distance and modified heat transfer characteristics associated with the counterflow jet may provide guidance for future design of hypersonic reentry capsules. The newly emerged space-time conservation element solution element (CESE) method is used to perform time-accurate, unstructured mesh Navier-Stokes computations for all cases investigated. The results show good agreement between experimental and numerical Schlieren pictures. Surface heat flux and aerodynamic force predictions of the capsule configurations are discussed in detail.

Chang, Chau-Lyan↗
DOE OSTI2024

MiNAA: Microbiome Network Alignment Algorithm

A microbial network is a mathematical representation of a microbial community where nodes represent microbes and edges represent interactions. It is well-recognized that microbes are among the main drivers of biological phenotypes in soil, plants, and animals alike, and thus, their study has vast implications for soil, plant and human health. In particular, recognizing the microbial, environmental, and agricultural factors that drive plant and soil phenotypes is crucial to comprehend processes connected to plant and soil health, to identify global practices of sustainable agriculture, as well as to predict plant and soil responses to environmental perturbations such as climate change. The adaptability of microbes to thrive in every environment poses challenges for scientists who try to understand their communities. Indeed, two microbial communities with the exact same players can interact differently depending on the environmental conditions. It is thus desirable to identify commonalities and differences on two microbial networks, hence the need for computational tools that can match (or align) them.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Updates on the Predictive Materials Modeling Software Tools

Updates on NASA‘s efforts to build a Predictive Material Modeling (PMM) framework from the micro-scale to the macro-scale are presented in this abstract. The PMM effort is part of the Entry Systems Modeling (ESM) project under NASA’s Game Changing Development (GCD) program. To reduce the need for extensive testing and accelerate the design cycle process, ESM is developing simulation and modeling tools that enable the characterization of the properties of thermal protection materials and their response to extremely hot plasma. The Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software has been developed to compute effective material properties and perform material response simulations on digitized microstructures of porous media. PuMA is able to import three-dimensional digital images obtained from X-ray microtomography or to generate artificial microstructures that mimic real materials. PuMA also provides a module for interactive 3D visualizations. Version 3, which was recently released as open-source, includes modules to compute simple morphological properties such as porosity, volume fractions, pore diameter, and specific surface area. Additional capabilities include the determination of effective thermal and electrical conductivity (both radiative and solid conduction - including the ability to simulate local anisotropy for the latter); effective diffusivity and tortuosity from the continuum to the rarefied regime; techniques to determine the local material orientation, as well as mechanical properties (elasticity coefficients), and permeability. Computed properties are then used to inform a macro-scale material response model, such as those implemented in the Porous material Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM (PATO) software developed within ESM. The computational model in PATO is a generic heat and mass transfer model for porous reactive materials containing several solid phases and a single gas phase. The detailed chemical interactions occurring between the solid phases and the gas phase are modeled at the pore scale, assuming Local Thermal Equilibrium. Recent efforts include the development of a mechanical erosion model as well as a unified model allowing an intrinsic coupling between fluid and material. Comparison to flight data (Mars Science Laboratory [MSL] Entry Descent and Landing Instrument [MEDLI] and Mars 2020 MEDLI2) is critical in order to validate these computational tools. Examples of ablative material response using the code will be presented, including 3D simulations of the full-scale heatshield of the MSL capsule. The simulations demonstrated the ability of the modern material response code, PATO, to handle the material response of geometrically complex and large domains through the use of massively parallel computations.

material modeling↗
DOE OSTI2024

Institute for Catalysis in Energy Processes (ICEP) (Final Report)

The Institute for Catalysis in Energy Processes (ICEP) was a multi-PI program located at the Northwestern University Center for Catalysis and Surface Science from 2006-2024. Over several renewal cycles and several organizing themes, ICEP addressed fundamental questions in catalysis science. In turn, the scientific questions addressed were directly relevant to the efficient use of the nation’s resources to produce fuels and commodity chemicals, harness alternate energy sources for chemical reactions such as light or electricity, reduce emissions and waste, and minimize the impact of our use of plastics. Selective oxidation, (oxidative) dehydrogenation, deNOx, CO 2 reduction, hydrogen release, polymer decomposition / depolymerization, and many other reactions of intense interest to the US Department of Energy were studied in the center. Major ICEP strengths were in catalyst synthesis, in measurements that elucidated catalyst properties, in reaction mechanisms and kinetics, and in predictive theory and modeling. ICEP researchers were often the inventors or developers of materials and methods that were brought to bear on the Institute’s catalytic systems. Key characterization tools advanced through this project included resonance Raman and related techniques, sum frequency generation, and X-ray standing wave spectroscopy. Center members relied extensively on computational tools such as density functional theory and microkinetic modeling to fully investigate catalyst structures and catalytic mechanisms. ICEP researchers were early developers of atomic layer deposition (ALD) for catalyst synthesis and were early pioneers of metal organic frameworks for catalysis. ICEP innovations are found in areas of intense research such as single-atom catalysts, catalytic deconstruction of plastics, and catalytic MOFs, to name a few. Research areas initiated by ICEP indirectly led to DOE EFRCs, startup companies, and other achievements. Over its 18 years of existence, ICEP involved two different PIs (Stair and Notestein) and 24 senior investigators across several academic disciplines at Northwestern University. There were tight collaborations with Argonne National Laboratory, including specialized equipment and experiments permanently located there. The center supported ~400 person-years of effort by graduate students and postdocs, either directly through DOE support or indirectly by leveraging independent support provided to the trainees, e.g. through the NSF GRFP or internal fellowships. The project resulted in 328 manuscripts and numerous conference presentations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1989

Structural behavior of composites with progressive fracture

The objective of the study is to unify several computational tools developed for the prediction of progressive damage and fracture with efforts for the prediction of the overall response of damaged composite structures. In particular, a computational finite element model for the damaged structure is developed using a computer program as a byproduct of the analysis of progressive damage and fracture. Thus, a single computational investigation can predict progressive fracture and the resulting variation in structural properties of angleplied composites.

Minnetyan, L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Moment method analysis of linearly tapered slot antennas: Low loss components for switched beam radiometers

A Moment Method Model for the radiation pattern characterization of single Linearly Tapered Slot Antennas (LTSA) in air or on a dielectric substrate is developed. This characterization consists of: (1) finding the radiated far-fields of the antenna; (2) determining the E-Plane and H-Plane beamwidths and sidelobe levels; and (3) determining the D-Plane beamwidth and cross polarization levels, as antenna parameters length, height, taper angle, substrate thickness, and the relative substrate permittivity vary. The LTSA geometry does not lend itself to analytical solution with the given parameter ranges. Therefore, a computer modeling scheme and a code are necessary to analyze the problem. This necessity imposes some further objectives or requirements on the solution method (modeling) and tool (computer code). These may be listed as follows: (1) a good approximation to the real antenna geometry; and (2) feasible computer storage and time requirements. According to these requirements, the work is concentrated on the development of efficient modeling schemes for these type of problems and on reducing the central processing unit (CPU) time required from the computer code. A Method of Moments (MoM) code is developed for the analysis of LTSA's within the parameter ranges given.

Koeksal, Adnan↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Dynamic Stability Methodologies and Capabilities

The topic of this presentation is a multi-center effort to improve the undersanding and characterization of dynamic stability. An assessment of existing experimental and computational tools for characterizing dynamic stability will be discussed. Current state-of-the-art experimental techniques, and known gaps/overlaps between facilities is presented. Finally, advancements in computational capabilities under the direction of ESM is presenting using the Free-Flight CFD solver within US3D.

Joseph Brock↗
DOE OSTI2026

Computational methods in solution-based plastics purification

Plastic waste can be recycled into resins with near-virgin properties by solution-based purification processes that selectively dissolve polymers, remove contaminants, or detach printing residues. Here, in this review, we examine computational methods for predicting the behavior governing solution-based plastic purification, motivated by the vast polymer–solvent–contaminant compositional space. We discuss thermodynamic and machine learning methods for predicting polymer–solvent and polymer–contaminant interaction and review physics-based molecular dynamics simulations that resolve molecular-scale phenomena within polymer matrices inaccessible to screening methods. We highlight how these methods have informed experimental design for dissolution-based recycling and solvent-based contaminant removal. Finally, we discuss the prospective role of agentic AI in integrating these computational tools with real-time sorting data to adapt purification conditions to the compositional variability of real post-consumer feedstocks. This review charts a path toward computationally guided solution-based purification workflows that can respond to the complexity inherent in plastic waste streams.

Altamimi, Ali [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (Un↗
DOE OSTI2022

Automatic Generation of Event Trees and Fault Trees: A Model-Based Approach

In the past few decades, the increasing complexity of modern engineering systems has been driven by the integration of a large number of components whose operations may involve many disciplines (e.g., thermal hydraulics, plant operations, cybersecurity). Most computational tools used by industry and regulators for system safety and reliability assessments are still based on the traditional fault tree (FT) and event tree (ET) approach, which may not be able to capture complex interactions among system constituents. The use of simulation tools has widely increased in the past few decades to improve the fidelity of the reliability and safety analyses. However, the direct use of simulation tools as part of dynamic probabilistic risk assessment (DPRA) methods is not getting traction since (1) modeling the whole system under consideration with DPRA methods may be computationally expensive and unnecessary, and (2) the manual integration of DPRA models into existing state-of-practice probabilistic risk assessment models (i.e., based on FTs and ETs) can be time consuming and prone to errors. Here, in this paper we propose a procedure to overcome this limitation by presenting several algorithms designed to automatically construct subsystem ETs and FTs from DPRA methods for integration into an existing ET/FT system model.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design of an Application Programming Interface for the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II

A significant effort to upgrade the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II (POST2), a heritage flight mechanics tool developed at NASA Langley Research Center, is ongoing to support current and future NASA missions. To meet mission requirements, it may be necessary for multiple specialized computational tools to interact to properly assess a system. An application programming interface for POST2 was developed to allow easier access for users and to enable communication between external applications. A demonstration of the POST2application programming interface is presented by utilizing common engineering platforms such as MATLAB and Python.

R Anthony Williams↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effect of Time-Step Duration and Other Parameters on Ice Accretion

This work addresses the ice prediction cases studies for the 1st AIAA Ice Prediction Workshop generated using a mix of commercial and in-house tools. All predictions are compared with those by LEWICE. Results from both 2D NACA 23012 airfoil cases and 3D NACA 0012 swept wing cases have been included. It is observed that the computational tools have a much better correlation with experimental data for rime icing conditions. For glaze icing conditions, the ice horns are not accurately predicted. The impact of parameters such as surface temperature, heat transfer coefficient, and time-step for flow and droplet field re-computation is explored.

Icing, Rotorcraft↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quality Control of Silicon Sensor Modules for Particle Detectors

The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) will produce a higher rate of particle collisions than the current Large Hadron Collider (LHC), requiring important upgrades to the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) to handle an increased amount of data. An important upgrade is the Phase-2 Outer Tracker Upgrade, which consists of 13,000 silicon sensor modules made of two parallel silicon sensors and readout electronics. These modules undergo careful quality control checks both during and after module assembly to ensure precise and reliable detector performance. This project focuses on precision testing for quality control of silicon sensor modules at Fermilab. Hands-on work includes visual inspection, current-voltage testing, module testing, and ultraviolet (UV) light exposure of modules showing abnormal current-voltage behavior. The ultraviolet exposure process improves the abnormal sensor readout data by placing the selected sensor side of the module directly under the UV light inside a controlled box. In addition to laboratory testing and ultraviolet experiments, I developed a Python-based data tool that connects to a module database and allows selected testing conditions and module information to be retrieved and displayed efficiently. These different testing procedures, experimental processes, and computational tools support the broader goal of identifying module issues and improving modules that will be used in the CMS Outer Tracker Phase-2 Upgrade.

Siddiqui, Hooriya [DuPage Coll.] (ORCID:0009000151↗
NASA NTRS1991

Rotorcraft airframe structural optimization for combined vibration and fatigue constraints

This paper addresses the application of a formal optimization technique in rotorcraft airframe structural design studies to reduce the structural weight, to lower airframe vibrations, and to enhance fatigue life of the structure. Vibration and fatigue considerations in airframe design are described. An optimization methodology based on the use of a nonlinear programming technique to size airframe structural members subjected to constraints on weight, vibration response and fatigue stresses under dynamic loads, are described. The paper focuses on the development of necessary computational tools for airframe structural optimization and describes the sensitivity analysis procedure for these types of design constraints. Further, the paper describes the optimization procedure as implemented in a computer code called DYNOPT which is a unique operational combination of several newly developed Fortran codes as well as modification of existing codes consisting of the direct matrix abstraction modules of the MSC/NASTRAN Program and CONMIN optimizer. The application of the optimization procedure is demonstrated using an elastic-line model of the Bell AH-1G helicopter airframe structure and computational results are discussed.

Sareen, Ashish K.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Current Status on the use of Parallel Computing in Turbulent Reacting Flow Computations Involving Sprays, Monte Carlo PDF and Unstructured Grids

The state of the art in multidimensional combustor modeling as evidenced by the level of sophistication employed in terms of modeling and numerical accuracy considerations, is also dictated by the available computer memory and turnaround times afforded by present-day computers. With the aim of advancing the current multi-dimensional computational tools used in the design of advanced technology combustors, a solution procedure is developed that combines the novelty of the coupled CFD/spray/scalar Monte Carlo PDF (Probability Density Function) computations on unstructured grids with the ability to run on parallel architectures. In this approach, the mean gas-phase velocity and turbulence fields are determined from a standard turbulence model, the joint composition of species and enthalpy from the solution of a modeled PDF transport equation, and a Lagrangian-based dilute spray model is used for the liquid-phase representation. The gas-turbine combustor flows are often characterized by a complex interaction between various physical processes associated with the interaction between the liquid and gas phases, droplet vaporization, turbulent mixing, heat release associated with chemical kinetics, radiative heat transfer associated with highly absorbing and radiating species, among others. The rate controlling processes often interact with each other at various disparate time 1 and length scales. In particular, turbulence plays an important role in determining the rates of mass and heat transfer, chemical reactions, and liquid phase evaporation in many practical combustion devices.

Raju, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS2010

NASA Rotor 37 CFD Code Validation: Glenn-HT Code

In order to advance the goals of NASA aeronautics programs, it is necessary to continuously evaluate and improve the computational tools used for research and design at NASA. One such code is the Glenn-HT code which is used at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) for turbomachinery computations. Although the code has been thoroughly validated for turbine heat transfer computations, it has not been utilized for compressors. In this work, Glenn-HT was used to compute the flow in a transonic compressor and comparisons were made to experimental data. The results presented here are in good agreement with this data. Most of the measures of performance are well within the measurement uncertainties and the exit profiles of interest agree with the experimental measurements.

Ameri, Ali A.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quality Control of Silicon Sensor Modules for Particle Detectors

The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) will produce a higher rate of particle collisions than the current Large Hadron Collider (LHC), requiring significant upgrades to the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) to handle the increased amount of data. An important upgrade is the Phase-2 Outer Tracker Upgrade, which consists of 13,000 silicon sensor modules made of two parallel silicon sensors and readout electronics. These modules undergo careful quality control checks both during and after module assembly to ensure precise and reliable detector performance. This project focuses on precision testing for quality control of silicon sensor modules at Fermilab. Hands-on work includes visual inspection, current-voltage testing, module testing, and ultraviolet (UV) light exposure of modules showing abnormal current-voltage behavior. The ultraviolet exposure process improves the abnormal sensor readout data by placing the selected sensor side of the module directly under the UV light inside a controlled box. In addition to laboratory testing and ultraviolet experiments, I developed a Python-based data tool that connects to a module database and allows selected testing conditions and module information to be retrieved and displayed efficiently. These different testing procedures, experimental processes, and computational tools support the broader goal of identifying module issues and improving modules that will be used in the CMS Outer Tracker Phase-2 Upgrade.

Siddiqui, Hooriya [DuPage Coll.; Fermilab] (ORCID:↗
DOE OSTI2026

Report of the 2026 Workshop on Next-Generation Ecosystems for Scientific Computing: Harnessing Community, Software, and AI for Cross-Disciplinary Team Science

Scientific computing is undergoing rapid transformation as advances in artificial intelligence, heterogeneous computing, automation, and data-intensive research reshape not only computational tools but also the institutions, workforce models, and collaborative practices that support scientific discovery. This report synthesizes insights from the 2026 Workshop on Next-Generation Ecosystems for Scientific Computing, the second in a three-year series focused on strengthening scientific computing ecosystems through socio-technical co-design. Workshop discussions identified four interdependent strategic themes: software ecosystems for AI-enabled scientific discovery; trust, validation, and traceability; human-AI teaming and paradigm shifts; and workforce, pedagogy, and governance. The report translates these themes into eight priorities for community action spanning shared research infrastructure, trust and traceability, user experience, human-AI teaming, workforce development, cross-sector coordination, stewardship and sustainability, and evaluation of scientific value. Together, these priorities outline directions for building scientific computing ecosystems that remain trustworthy, sustainable, innovative, and resilient as AI assumes a growing role in scientific work.

AI↗