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DOE OSTI2019

Thermal conductivity of the degenerate one-dimensional Fermi gas

We study here heat transport in a gas of one-dimensional fermions in the presence of a small temperature gradient. At temperatures well below the Fermi energy there are two types of relaxation processes in this system, with dramatically different relaxation rates. As a result, in addition to the usual thermal conductivity, one can introduce the thermal conductivity of the gas of elementary excitations, which quantifies the dissipation in the system in the broad range of frequencies between the two relaxation rates. We develop a microscopic theory of these transport coefficients in the limit of weak interactions between the fermions.

1-dimensional systems↗

NASA NTRS1972

Oceanographic applications of color-enhanced satellite imageries.

Black and white infrared imageries obtained from satellites over the oceans were transformed into color presentations. Investigations in different regions (Persian Gulf, Arabian Coast, Somali Coast and the Northwest Coast of Australia) revealed that temperature gradients and temperature differences of two degrees Celsius can be displayed by the color process from the imageries. This data display can be used for a rapid analysis of information obtained with an APT station.

Szekielda, K.-H.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Atmospheric Dynamics of Uranus and Neptune: Theoretical Considerations

The atmospheric dynamics of neptune and uranus are investigated. Uranus, because of its pole on orientation and low internal heat source, is in a dynamically different atmospheric regime from Jupiter and Saturn. Neptune resembles Jupiter and Saturn in orientation and internal heating, but its extremely long radiative time constant puts Neptune in a different class. Voyager observations of seasonal temperature gradients, equator to pole temperature gradients, infrared emission, Bond albedo, possible cloud structures (bands, spots, eddies), and cloud motions can be used to improve the ability to classify planetary atmospheres according to their dynamical regimes.

Andrew P Ingersoll↗

NASA NTRS1999

Ocean Turbulence: One-Point Closure Model Momentum, Heat and Salt Vertical Diffusivities in the Presence of Shear - Paper 2

We develop and test a 1-point closure turbulence model with the following features: 1) we include the salinity field and derive the expression for the vertical turbulent diffusivities of momentum K(sub m) , heat K(sub h) and salt K(sub s) as a function of two stability parameters: the Richardson number R(sub i) (stratification vs. shear) and the Turner number R(sub rho) (salinity gradient vs. temperature gradient). 2) to describe turbulent mixing below the mixed layer (ML), all previous models have adopted three adjustable "background diffusivities" for momentum, heat and salt. We propose a model that avoids such adjustable diffusivities. We assume that below the ML, the three diffusivities have the same functional dependence on R( sub i) and R(sub rho) as derived from the turbulence model. However, in order to compute R(sub i) below the ML, we use data of vertical shear due to wave-breaking.measured by Gargett et al. The procedure frees the model from adjustable background diffusivities and indeed we employ the same model throughout the entire vertical extent of the ocean. 3) in the local model, the turbulent diffusivities K(sub m,h,s) are given as analytical functions of R(sub i) and R(sub rho). 5) the model is used in an O-GCM and several results are presented to exhibit the effect of double diffusion processes. 6) the code is available upon request.

Canuto, V. M.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Water Vapor Feedbacks to Climate Change

The response of water vapor to climate change is investigated through a series of model studies with varying latitudinal temperature gradients, mean temperatures, and ultimately, actual climate change configurations. Questions to be addressed include: what role does varying convection have in water vapor feedback; do Hadley Circulation differences result in differences in water vapor in the upper troposphere; and, does increased eddy energy result in greater eddy vertical transport of water vapor in varying climate regimes?

Rind, David↗

NASA NTRS2005

Hydrothermal Vent Sampler: Does Life Exist in High Temperature Environments?

The main purpose of this research is to search for the existence of biomass under extreme temperature and pressure conditions to determine the upper bounds of environments on which life can exist. Vents are, simply put, underwater volcano openings located at the bottom of the sea. The conditions at these locations are considerably extreme with pressures of up to 10,000 psi, and enormous temperature gradients. The temperature of the water near these vents is around 400 C, while that of the surrounding water is about 3 C. The extremity of these conditions makes it hard to estimate the existence of life in those environments. I n order to find whether such existence happens, we need to search for biomass inside these vents. The vent sampler is a device that has the purpose of safely and accurately collecting this biomass for examination. This sampler is constituted of a Series of filters of the order of 100-0.2 microns in size. Since this is a 3-year project, it has not concluded yet; however, during the time I contributed to this project, I worked with the mechanical design of this sampler device including the selection, assembly, and testing of the various subsystems and the design and construction of the electronics enclosure.

Rivadeneyra, Cesar R.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Design Considerations for Ceramic Matrix Composite Vanes for High Pressure Turbine Applications

Issues associated with replacing conventional metallic vanes with Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) vanes in the first stage of the High Pressure Turbine (HPT) are explored. CMC materials have higher temperature capability than conventional HPT vanes, and less vane cooling is required. The benefits of less vane coolant are less NOx production and improved vane efficiency. Comparisons between CMC and metal vanes are made at current rotor inlet temperatures and at an vane inlet pressure of 50 atm.. CMC materials have directionally dependent strength characteristics, and vane designs must accommodate these characteristics. The benefits of reduced NOx and improved cycle efficiency obtainable from using CMC vanes. are quantified Results are given for vane shapes made of a two dimensional CMC weave. Stress components due to thermal and pressure loads are shown for all configurations. The effects on stresses of: (1) a rib connecting vane pressure and suction surfaces; (2) variation in wall thickness; and (3) trailing edge region cooling options are discussed. The approach used to obtain vane temperature distributions is discussed. Film cooling and trailing edge ejection were required to avoid excessive vane material temperature gradients. Stresses due to temperature gradients are sometimes compressive in regions where pressure loads result in high tensile stresses.

Boyle, Robert J.↗

DOE OSTI2025

CFD modeling and simulation for corrosive wear of refractory in molten slag

The development of high-wear resistant refractories having minimal production costs is facilitated by characterizing the wear mechanisms associated with their corrosive wear. Static cup testing is a commonly used method for comparing the corrosion resistance performance of two or more refractory materials. Although the static cup test conditions are not as severe as dynamic tests, this study shows that the thermal gradient present within the system during heating and cooling stages serves to generate movement of the slag leading to mechanical wear. The thermal gradient within the refractory, and between the slag and the refractory, occurs during the ramp stage of the test and lasts until the soaking stage is reached bringing the system to a thermal equilibrium. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) capabilities embedded within ANSYS software, this study modelled and quantified the convection currents within the slag and associated shear stresses generated on the refractory walls due to the thermal gradient. A traditional ladle furnace was employed as a case study to verify the results of the studied CFD model. The corrosion rate of the refractory lining was found to depend on the mass transfer coefficient of the refractory dissolution into the slag, and a velocity term which governs the extent of corrosion at any given location. This velocity term is a function of slag viscosity, as well as the concentration gradient and/or temperature gradient at the triple points. In this study, wall shear stress was used as a reliable proxy for identifying high-velocity regions prone to excessive corrosive wear. Elevated wall shear stress near the slag/air and slag/molten steel interfaces align with observed corrosion grooves, which reflects the intensified corrosive wear at these locations.

Ramteke, Rajat Rajat Durgesh Ramteke [University o↗

DOE OSTI2016

Influence of hydrological, biogeochemical and temperature transients on subsurface carbon fluxes in a flood plain environment

Flood plains play a potentially important role in the global carbon cycle. The accumulation of organic matter in flood plains often induces the formation of chemically reduced groundwater and sediments along riverbanks. In this study, our objective is to evaluate the cumulative impact of such reduced zones, water table fluctuations, and temperature gradients on subsurface carbon fluxes in a flood plain at Rifle, Colorado located along the Colorado River. 2-D coupled variably-saturated, non-isothermal flow and biogeochemical reactive transport modeling was applied to improve our understanding of the abiotic and microbially mediated reactions controlling carbon dynamics at the Rifle site. Model simulations considering only abiotic reactions (thus ignoring microbial reactions) underestimated CO 2 partial pressures observed in the unsaturated zone and severely underestimated inorganic (and overestimated organic) carbon fluxes to the river compared to simulations with biotic pathways. Both model simulations and field observations highlighted the need to include microbial contributions from chemolithoautotrophic processes (e.g., Fe +2 and S -2 oxidation) to match locally-observed high CO 2 concentrations above reduced zones. Observed seasonal variations in CO 2 concentrations in the unsaturated zone could not be reproduced without incorporating temperature gradients in the simulations. Incorporating temperature fluctuations resulted in an increase in the annual groundwater carbon fluxes to the river by 170 % to 3.3 g m -2 d -1 , while including water table variations resulted in an overall decrease in the simulated fluxes. We thus conclude that spatial microbial and redox zonation as well as temporal fluctuations of temperature and water table depth contribute significantly to subsurface carbon fluxes in flood plains and need to be represented appropriately in model simulations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

NASA NTRS1989

A parametric heat transfer study for cryogenic ball bearings in SSME HPOTP

A numerical modeling is to examine the effects of coolant convective heat transfer coefficient and frictional heating on the local temperature characteristics of a ball element in Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) High Pressure Oxidizer Turbopump (HPOTP) bearing. The present modeling uses a control-volume based, finite-difference method to solve the non-dimensionalized heat conduction equation in spherical coordinate system. The dimensionless temperature is found as a function of Biot number, heat flux ratio between the two race contacts, and location in the ball. The current results show that, for a given cooling capability, the ball temperature generally increases almost linearly with the heat input from the race-contacts. This increase is always very high at one of the two contacts. An increase in heat transfer coefficient generally reduces the ball temperature and alleviates the temperature gradient, except for the regions very close to the race contacts. For a 10-fold increase of heat transfer coefficient, temperature decrease is 35 percent for the average over entire ball, and 10 percent at the inner-race contact. The corresponding change of temperature gradient displays opposing trends between the regions immediately adjacent to the contacts and the remaining portion of the ball. The average temperature gradient in the vicinity of both contacts increases approximately 70 to 100 percent. A higher temperature gradient produces excessive thermal stress locally which may be detrimental to the material integrity. This, however, is the only unfavorable issue for an increase of heat transfer coefficient.

Chyu, Mingking K.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Saturation physics of threshold heat-flux reduction

The saturation physics of ion-temperature-gradient-driven turbulence is examined in relation to the temperature-gradient variation of the heat flux, which can exhibit an upshift of the critical gradient for significant flux relative to the linear instability threshold. Gyrokinetic measurements of saturation properties and spectral energy transfer, which will be defined in Sec. II, are presented, indicating that the physics of saturation is fundamentally unchanged on either side of the upshifted gradient. To analyze heat transport below and above the upshifted critical gradient, a fluid model for toroidal ion-temperature-gradient turbulence is modified to include the kinetic instability threshold. The model and the heat flux are rendered in the eigenmode decomposition to track the dominant mode-coupling channel of zonal-flow-catalyzed transfer to a conjugate stable mode. Given linear and nonlinear symmetries, the stable mode level and the cross-correlation of the unstable and stable mode amplitudes are related to the unstable mode level via linear physics. Here, the heat flux can then be written in terms of the unstable-mode level, which through a nonlinear balance depends on the eigenmode-dependent coupling coefficients and the triplet correlation time of the dominant coupled modes. Resonance in these quantities leads to suppressed heat flux above the linear threshold, with a nonlinear upshift of the critical gradient set by the resonance broadening of a finite perpendicular wavenumber and collisionality.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2018

Effect of Processing Parameters and Shape of Blade on the Solidification of Single-Crystal CMSX-4 Ni-Based Superalloy

The effect of mold withdrawal velocity, heater and pouring temperatures and the thickness of blade root on the solidification parameters and shape of the liquidus isotherm as well as microstructure of single-crystal CMSX-4 nickel-based superalloy, manufactured by the Bridgman method, has been analyzed in the article. The temperature gradient G, solidification rate v and location of the liquidus isotherm were determined in relation to the radiation baffle on the basis of temperature measurements conducted in nine test points along the height of castings (140 mm) with different thicknesses of root (27, 15 and 7 mm) and withdrawal velocities of 3 and 5 mm/min. The increase of root thickness, relative to the airfoil, resulted in the rise of inhomogeneity of solidification parameters as well as the primary dendrite arm spacing and unsteady state solidification along the whole blade height. However, in the case of blade with constant thickness, the steady-state solidification was created at the distance of 65 to 130 mm from its base. The increase of mold withdrawal velocity caused the decrease of temperature gradient. However, the solidification rate was different from the mold withdrawal velocity, especially in the root and middle part of the airfoil. The increase of heater temperature resulted in a rise of temperature gradient and reduction of the curvature of the liquidus isotherm, whereas the pouring temperature did not affect the solidification parameters in the blade. Particularly unfavorable conditions of the solidification process could occur in the middle part of the airfoil and root because of the lowest value of G/v and the largest primary dendrite arm spacing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2000

Thermocapillary Flow and Aggregation of Bubbles on a Solid Wall

During the electrolytic evolution of oxygen bubbles forming on a vertically oriented transparent tin oxide electrode, bubbles were found to be mutually attractive. The mechanism of the aggregation had never been explained satisfactorily until Guelcher et al. attributed it to thermocapillary flow. The gradient of surface tension of the liquid at the bubble's surface, which was established because of reaction heat and ohmic heat loss at the electrode wall, drives flow of the liquid adjacent to each bubble; the bubble "pumps" fluid along its surface away from the wall. Fluid flows toward the bubble to conserve mass and entrains nearby bubbles in the flow pattern. The same logic would apply when two bubbles of equal size are adjacent to each other on a warm wall. Each bubble drives thermocapillary flow and hence entrains the other in its flow pattern, which drives the aggregation. Our objective here is to perform experiments where the temperature gradient at the wall is well known and controlled. The theory can be quantitatively tested by studying aggregation of bubble pairs of equal size, and by varying system parameters such as temperature gradient, bubble size and fluid viscosity. The results are then compared with the theory in a quantitatively rigorous manner. We demonstrate that the theory without adjustable parameters is capable of quantitatively modeling the rate of aggregation of two bubbles. The equations governing the thermocapillary flow around a single stationary bubble on a heated or cooled wall in a semi-infinite domain were solved. Both Reynolds number and Marangoni number were much less than unity. The critical result is that liquid in the vicinity of a warm wall flows toward a stationary collector bubble. Consequently the thermocapillary flow around the stationary bubble entrains another bubble toward itself. The bubbles undergo hindered translation parallel to the wall with velocity U while the fluid flow field is described with u. Two velocities were equated by using a wall hindrance parameter q: U = qu [1] which shows the velocity of bubble is proportional to the entraining velocity. The hindrance parameter q can experimentally be measured independently. q can also be calculated by solving the equations of motion for a bubble translating parallel to a solid wall. The experimental cell is cylindrical with an ID of 10 cm and consists of a 1 cm deep main cell filled with silicone oil and flanked by two thermal reservoirs. The upper thermal reservoir was heated and the lower thermal reservoir was cooled so that the bubbles aggregate. Two types of silicone oil (eta = 0.02 and 0.50 Pa s) were used. Two equal sized air bubbles were injected into the cell with a syringe. The center-to-center distance of bubbles was observed through a microscope. Bubble radius ranged from 0.40 mm to 0.65 mm and the temperature gradients along with the cell ranged from 1400 to 5000 K/m. The bubbles aggregated when heat flows from the wall to the fluid. The velocities of bubbles were in the range of 1 - 10 microns/s. The separation r decreased more quickly when the temperature gradient was higher, bubble size was larger, and the oil viscosity was lower. r decreased more rapidly as the bubbles approached each other. Dimensionless time was arbitrarily set to be zero when the dimensionless center-to-center distance between the bubbles was 4. All the bubble trajectories fall onto one line, especially in the range of dimensionless distance from 4 to 3. This means the relative movement of the bubble pair is proportional to the temperature gradient and bubble size and it is inversely proportional to the viscosity of the oil. This result strongly suggests that the thermocapillary flow-based aggregation mechanism is correct. A value of q can be estimated by fitting the scaled data to Eq. [1]. A best fit value of q was obtained as q = 0.26 with a standard deviation of 0.03. Independent experimental results for q for a 0.5 mm radius bubble, give values of q in the range 0.11 to 0.23. The value of q obtained from solving the equations of motion reveals q has values in the range 0.23 - 0.30. Since the full scale of possible values of q is zero to one, the maximum deviation of independently determined values of q from the best fit value was 15% of this full scale. Thus reasonable quantitative agreement between theory and experiment has been obtained.

Kasumi, Hiroki↗

DOE OSTI2024

Final Report on Predictive Analyses of PRD as Function of Anomalies

This report summarizes the work completed in FY-2024 to analyze the power reactivity decrement (PRD) concepts of the ARC-100 core. The PRD has been traditionally defined by the reactivity change from a hot zero power (HZP) to a particular power. Consequently, the PRD accounts for the core reactivity changes due to increase coolant temperature gradient axially and radially across the core, and increased fuel temperature. The coolant temperature gradient leads to sodium and structure density changes, to radial core expansion from assembly flowering and bowing (due to axial and radial temperature gradients within the assemblies), and to control rod driveline thermal expansion. The fuel temperature increase associated with coolant temperature and power increases leads to Doppler effect and axial thermal expansion. In this work, the normal operating Hot Full Power (HFP) state is the only power level of interest, so analyses focus on the PRD calculated from HZP to HFP. The PRD has been used to assess the reactor safety features asymptotically in unprotected accident scenarios, including the loss of heat sink (LOHS), loss of flow (LOF), and transient overpower (TOP) without scram. The PRD concept relies on the “global” reactivity coefficients A, B, and C that are estimated based on “individual” reactivity effects (Doppler, sodium density, etc.). The objectives of this work are: 1) to improve and verify the methodology used to calculate the ABC coefficients used in the PRD, 2) to assess if the PRD can be used to reliably identify abnormal events. This report fulfills the FY-2024 scope of WBS#1.15.8.3 activity, “ANL0120 – Predictive Analyses of PRD as function of deformation”. The PRD concept is described in Sections 2. Additional effort in refining the methodology for core bowing modeling is performed in Sections 3. Then, two verification exercises are proposed in Section 4 to benchmark these coefficients based on direct neutronic-only calculations and on dynamic core transient simulations. Finally, the PRD approach is assessed for the detection of several unexpected events, such as primary flow perturbation or improper fuel loading, in Section 5.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Zonally dominated dynamics and Dimits threshold in curvature-driven ITG turbulence

The saturated state of turbulence driven by the ion-temperature-gradient instability is investigated using a two-dimensional long-wavelength fluid model that describes the perturbed electrostatic potential and perturbed ion temperature in a magnetic field with constant curvature (a $Z$ -pinch) and an equilibrium temperature gradient. Numerical simulations reveal a well-defined transition between a finite-amplitude saturated state dominated by strong zonal-flow and zonal temperature perturbations, and a blow-up state that fails to saturate on a box-independent scale. We argue that this transition is equivalent to the Dimits transition from a low-transport to a high-transport state seen in gyrokinetic numerical simulations (Dimits et al. , Phys. Plasmas , vol. 7, 2000, 969). A quasi-static staircase-like structure of the temperature gradient intertwined with zonal flows, which have patch-wise constant shear, emerges near the Dimits threshold. The turbulent heat flux in the low-collisionality near-marginal state is dominated by turbulent bursts, triggered by coherent long-lived structures closely resembling those found in gyrokinetic simulations with imposed equilibrium flow shear (van Wyk et al. , J. Plasma Phys. , vol. 82, 2016, 905820609). The breakup of the low-transport Dimits regime is linked to a competition between the two different sources of poloidal momentum in the system – the Reynolds stress and the advection of the diamagnetic flow by the $\boldsymbol {E}\times \boldsymbol {B}$ flow. By analysing the linear ion-temperature-gradient modes, we obtain a semi-analytic model for the Dimits threshold at large collisionality.

Physics↗

NASA NTRS1988

A generalization of Petterssen's frontogenesis function and its relation to the forcing of vertical motion

The classic Peterssen frontogenesis function, defined as the Lagrangian rate of change of the magnitude of the potential temperature gradient, is generalized to apply to the vector potential temperature gradient. The derivation of vector frontogenesis in natural coordinates is shown, and analytical examples of frontal evolution in nondivergent horizontal velocity fields are given which suggest that both the frontogenetic and rotational components of the vector frontogenesis function F may be comparable in developing frontal zones observed in nature. The relative importance of the magnitude and direction contributions to F is quantitatively investigated, and it is found that the Lagrangian rates of change of the magnitude and direction of the potential temperature gradient are comparable. The frontal circulation is found to be related to the magnitude component of the Q vector, whereas the background circulation is related to the direction component.

Keyser, Daniel↗

DOE OSTI2016

Spectral analysis of turbulence in anisothermal channel flows

In very anisothermal turbulent flows, the temperature gradient and turbulence are strongly coupled. The impact of the temperature gradient on turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) balance terms is of particular importance. In this paper, it is investigated using direct numerical simulations and large eddy simulations of a fully developed anisothermal channel flow. A low Mach flow at two turbulent Reynolds number (180 and 395) is considered. The temperatures of the two channel walls are 293 K and 586 K. Comparison with isothermal channel flows are carried out. The turbulent kinetic energy spectral evolution equation is established and is decomposed into the three distinctive mechanisms: production, nonlinear transfer and viscous effects. The decomposition isolates the terms that vanish in the isothermal case, namely purely anisothermal effects. The behavior of each term is first discussed in the isothermal case. The alteration of the TKE balance terms with the temperature gradient is then analysed relatively to the Reynolds number variation. The thermal gradient effect is characterized by the combined effect of local Reynolds number variation and the complex interaction between temperature and turbulence. Finally, the purely anisothermal contribution moves the energy from the hot side to the cold side and accounts for near 10% of the total process.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2018

Turbulent transport stabilization by ICRH minority fast ions in low rotating JET ILW L-mode plasmas

The first experimental demonstration that fast ion induced stabilization of thermal turbulent transport takes place also at low values of plasma toroidal rotation has been obtained in JET ILW (ITER-like wall) L-mode plasmas with high ( 3 He)-D ICRH (ion cyclotron resonance heating) power. A reduction of the gyro-Bohm normalized ion heat flux and higher values of the normalized ion temperature gradient have been observed at high ICRH power and low NBI (neutral beam injection) power and plasma rotation. Gyrokinetic simulations indicate that ITG (ion temperature gradient) turbulence stabilization induced by the presence of high-energetic 3 He ions is the key mechanism in order to explain the experimental observations. Two main mechanisms have been identified to be responsible for the turbulence stabilization: a linear electrostatic wave-fast particle resonance mechanism and a nonlinear electromagnetic mechanism. The dependence of the stabilization on the 3 He distribution function has also been studied.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗