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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Parasitic Modulation of Microwave Signals by a Hypersonic Plasma Layer

During hypersonic flight, compressional and viscous heating of the air can form a plasma layer which encases the aircraft. If the boundary layer becomes turbulent, then the electron density fluctuations can effect a parasitic modulation in microwave signals transmitted through the plasma. We developed an approach for studying the interaction of microwave signals with a turbulent, hypersonic plasma layer. The approach affords a great deal of flexibility in both the plasma layer model and the antenna configuration. We then analyzed a situation in which microwaves, transmitted from a rectangular aperture antenna, propagate through a turbulent plasma layer to a distant receiver. We characterized the first-and second-order statistics of the computed parasitic modulation and quantified the depolarization of the signal. The amplitude fluctuations are lognormally distributed at low frequencies and Rice-distributed at high frequencies. Fluctuations in the copolarized phase and amplitude of the far-field signal are strongly anticorrelated. Here, we used a multioutput Gaussian process (MOGP) to model these quantities. The efficacy of the MOGP model is demonstrated by recovering the time evolution of the copolarized phase given the copolarized amplitude and occasional measurements of the phase.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multistage Stabilized Continuation for Indirect Optimal Control of Three-Dimensional Hypersonic Trajectories

This work presents the development of a multistaged stabilized continuation for the three-dimensional unpowered hypersonic trajectory planning problem using indirect optimal control methods. The stabilized continuation method is noniterative and guaranteed to terminate within a finite number of floating point operations, thereby making it well suited for onboard autonomous implementations. Here, we present a multistage formulation of the stabilized continuation scheme that involves starting with a “loose” integration tolerance during the first stage and ramping up toward a “strict” integration tolerance through subsequent stages. An important benefit of this approach is that even when the solution to the underlying optimal control problem is numerically unstable, such as with the hypersonic vehicle footprint generation problem, the stabilized continuation algorithm is shown to be successful in finding a solution while providing some additional insights into the underlying cause of the numerical instability.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Numerical Investigation of Wall-Cooling Effect on Aero-Optical Distortions for Hypersonic Boundary Layer

Compressible wall-modeled large-eddy simulations of Mach 8 turbulent boundary-layer flows over a flat plate were carried out for the conditions of the hypersonic wind tunnel at Sandia National Laboratories. The simulations provide new insight into the effect of wall cooling on the aero-optical path distortions for hypersonic turbulent boundary-layer flows. Four different wall-to-recovery temperature ratios, 0.3, 0.48, 0.71, and 0.89, are considered. Despite the much lower grid resolution, the mean velocity, temperature, and resolved Reynolds stress profiles from the simulation for a temperature ratio of 0.48 are in good agreement with those from a reference direct numerical simulation. The normalized root-mean-square optical path difference obtained from the present simulations is compared with that from reference direct numerical simulations, Sandia experiments, as well as predictions obtained with a semi-analytical model by Notre Dame University. Here the present analysis focuses on the effect of wall cooling on the wall-normal density correlations, on key underlying assumptions of the aforementioned model such as the strong Reynolds analogy, and on the elevation angle effect on the optical path difference. Wall cooling is found to increase the velocity fluctuations and decrease the density fluctuations, resulting in an overall reduction of the normalized optical path distortion. Compared to the simulations, the basic strong Reynolds analogy overpredicts the temperature fluctuations for cooled walls. Also different from the strong Reynolds analogy, the velocity and temperature fluctuations are not perfectly anticorrelated. Finally, as the wall temperature is raised, the density correlation length, away from the wall but inside the boundary layer, increases significantly for beam paths tilted in the downstream direction.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Transducer Resolution Effect on Pressure Fluctuations Beneath Hypersonic Turbulent Boundary Layers

The size of a pressure transducer is known to affect the accuracy of measurements of wall-pressure fluctuations beneath a turbulent boundary layer because of spatial averaging over the sensing area of the transducer. In this paper, the effect of finite transducer size is investigated by applying spatial averaging or wavenumber filters to a database of hypersonic wall pressure generated from a direct numerical simulation (DNS) that simulates the turbulent portion of the boundary layer over a sharp 7° half-angle cone at nominally Mach 8. Here, a good comparison between the DNS and the experiment in the Sandia Hypersonic Wind Tunnel at Mach 8 is achieved after spatial averaging is applied to the DNS data over an area similar to the sensing area of the transducer. The study shows that a finite sensor size similar to that of the PCB132 transducer can cause significant attenuation in the root-mean-square and power spectral density (PSD) of wall-pressure fluctuations, and the attenuation effect is identical between cone and flat plate configurations at the same friction Reynolds number. The Corcos theory is found to successfully compensate for the attenuated high-frequency components of the wall-pressure PSD.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Code Verification of Multiple Physics-Fidelity Models in Hypersonic Aerodynamics

Hypersonic aerodynamics models exist across a range of physics fidelities with associated computational expenses. These models may be run independently or in a multifidelity framework that leverages their complementary strengths of speed for lower-fidelity and accuracy for higher-fidelity models. This work presents applied code verification of two lower-fidelity models contained within the Sandia hypersonic aerodynamics code. Each model has a different form that requires individualized verification approaches, including comparison to analytical solutions as well as manufactured solutions with order-of-accuracy testing. In conclusion, results of this effort include the identification and resolution of code errors and shortcomings, as well as the demonstration of code correctness and consistency for both models.

Aerodynamics↗
DOE OSTI2025

An infrasound source analysis of the OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule hypersonic re-entry

The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule's hypersonic re-entry into the atmosphere is a rare opportunity to test a variety of sonic boom source models since the projectile dimensions are well characterized. While the as-flown flight path is unknown, the predicted flight path enables a rough approximation of the source Mach number and location. Six infrasound microphones deployed in the boom carpet along the predicted flight path recorded impulsive signals from the OSIRIS-REx re-entry. Using a suite of atmosphere profiles and the geometric acoustics approximation, we estimate locations with uncertainty estimates along the flight path from which the signals were emitted. Acoustic overpressure and signal duration predictions from Whitham's far field theory, Carlson's simplified sonic boom prediction method, and a drag-dominated hypersonic model are analyzed with uncertainty estimates from the location estimate. While the Carlson simplified sonic boom prediction method could be accurate, our preference is for the drag-dominated source model. Using this source model with an inviscid Burgers's equation solver for propagation, we obtained an excellent match to the recorded data. In conclusion, these results will help better inform future sample return capsule re-entry observation campaigns as well as contribute to a better understanding of high altitude infrasonic sources.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ab initio investigation of a hypersonic double cone experiment

This article presents a direct molecular simulation (DMS) of a reactive Mach 8.2 oxygen flow over a double cone geometry. The free stream conditions and article configuration generate a flow with thermal and chemical nonequilibrium, which are common attributes of hypersonic flight. This scenario was first studied experimentally at Calspan University of Buffalo Research Center’s test facility. DMS is a particle method that uses quantum mechanically derived interaction potentials to simulate molecular collisions within a flow field. Since these interaction potentials are the only modeling inputs used in the simulation, all flow features can solely be attributed to the ab initio potential energy surfaces. Hence, providing a comparison of a hypersonic ground test and numerical data anchored to quantum mechanics. The fundamental nature of DMS is leveraged to investigate molecular level mechanisms prevalent in the flow, and comparisons with lower fidelity simulations are presented to highlight the role of these first principles calculations as benchmark solutions.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hypersonic wake velocity measurements using acetone molecular tagging velocimetry

Molecular tagging velocimetry, a minimally intrusive laser diagnostic, was used to find quantitative off-body velocity measurements in the wake of both strut-mounted and free-flight spheres in hypersonic flow. Acetone gas seeded in the flow was excited using the fourth harmonic of a pulse-burst Nd:YAG laser. The experimental tests were validated and compared to simulations using a continuous Galerkin flow solver and an adaptive mesh refinement process. Near the centerline in the wake of the sphere, velocities between −105 and 65 m/s were observed due to reverse flow in the viscous shear layer. Similarly, the simulated data showed negative velocity values in the shear layer region. Outside of the shear layer, average velocities of 730 m/s were observed in both the experimental and simulated results. The overall average uncertainty for the strut-mounted and free-flight cases was estimated to have an accuracy of ±4% (±35.5m/s or 4.9%). In conclusion, this non-intrusive technique provides a velocity map of the wake behind a sphere under hypersonic conditions.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

An Exploratory Data Mining Investigation for Constructing a Publicly Sourced Dataset of Foreign Hypersonic Tests

This document details a data mining exercise that resulted in an exploratory dataset of publicly reported foreign (non-US) hypersonic vehicle test events. Using a combination of targeted English language searches and country-specific queries, the study aggregates information from digital news media, official press releases, and social media posts. The resulting list of events captures the publicly available accounts of foreign hypersonic tests, although it does not represent an exhaustive record. Limitations such as inconsistent reporting, translation challenges, and the inherently provisional nature of open-source data are acknowledged. This dataset serves as an initial reference point for further inquiries into high-speed atmospheric phenomena and may facilitate future efforts to correlate these events with geophysical measurements.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Impact of Vibrational Nonequilibrium on the Supersonic Mode in Hypersonic Boundary Layers

The supersonic mode in hypersonic boundary layers has recently been shown to achieve a larger peak growth rate than the traditional second mode in particular circumstances relevant to free flight. In this environment, high levels of aerodynamic heating are encountered such that incorporation of chemical and vibrational nonequilibrium effects can become critical. The impact of thermal nonequilibrium (TNE) on the supersonic mode in particular has not been thoroughly and systematically investigated. This work uses thermochemical nonequilibrium (TCNE) direct numerical simulation (DNS) and TCNE linear stability theory (LST) to obtain a more complete investigation of the supersonic mode using both nonequilibrium and frozen gas models. The simulation is Mach 5 flow over a 1-mm-nose-radius axisymmetric cone 1 m in length, representative of experimental conditions in ground test facilities. Both LST and DNS results indicate that TNE effects are destabilizing compared with frozen flow and can lead to an N-factor difference of approximately +1 at the end of the cone. LST results also indicate that TNE effects are stabilizing to the second and supersonic modes in comparison with thermal equilibrium. The supersonic mode appeared to be slightly more affected by TNE than the second mode. In conclusion, collectively, the findings in this work suggest that even in ground test facilities where TCNE effects are relatively small compared with free flight, incorporating nonequilibrium models in both the mean flow and stability solvers can have a practical effect on hypersonic boundary-layer transition prediction analyses.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Model reduction for hypersonic aerodynamics via conservative LSPG projection and hyper-reduction

High-speed aerospace engineering applications rely heavily on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for design and analysis due to the expense and difficulty of flight tests and experiments. This reliance on CFD models necessitates performing accurate and reliable uncertainty quantification (UQ) of the CFD models. However, it is very computationally expensive to run CFD for hypersonic flows due to the fine grid resolution required to capture the strong shocks and large gradients that are typically present. Furthermore, UQ approaches are “many-query” problems requiring many runs with a wide range of input parameters. One way to enable computationally expensive models to be used in such many-query problems is to employ projection-based reduced-order models (ROMs) in lieu of the (high-fidelity) full-order model. In particular, the least-squares Petrov–Galerkin (LSPG) ROM (equipped with hyper-reduction) has demonstrated the ability to significantly reduce simulation costs while retaining high levels of accuracy on a range of problems including subsonic CFD applications. This allows computationally inexpensive LSPG ROM simulations to replace the full-order model simulations in UQ studies, which makes this many-query task tractable, even for large-scale CFD models. This work presents the first application of LSPG to a hypersonic CFD application. In particular, we present results for LSPG ROMs of the HIFiRE-1 in a three-dimensional, turbulent Mach 7.1 flow, showcasing the ability of the ROM to significantly reduce computational costs while maintaining high levels of accuracy in computed quantities of interest.

Fluid Dynamics↗
DOE OSTI2022

Direct numerical simulation of hypersonic turbulent boundary layers: effect of spatial evolution and Reynolds number

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) are performed to investigate the spatial evolution of flat-plate zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layers over long streamwise domains ( >300δ i , with δ i the inflow boundary-layer thickness) at three different Mach numbers, 2.5, 4.9 and 10.9, with the surface temperatures ranging from quasiadiabatic to highly cooled conditions. The settlement of turbulence statistics into a fully developed equilibrium state of the turbulent boundary layer has been carefully monitored, either based on the satisfaction of the von Kármán integral equation or by comparing runs with different inflow turbulence generation techniques. The generated DNS database is used to characterize the streamwise evolution of multiple important variables in the high-Mach-number, cold-wall regime, including the skin friction, the Reynolds analogy factor, the shape factor, the Reynolds stresses, and the fluctuating wall quantities. The data confirm the validity of many classic and newer compressibility transformations at moderately high Reynolds numbers (up to friction Reynolds number Re τ ≈1200 ) and show that, with proper scaling, the sizes of the near-wall streaks and superstructures are insensitive to the Mach number and wall cooling conditions. The strong wall cooling in the hypersonic cold-wall case is found to cause a significant increase in the size of the near-wall turbulence eddies (relative to the boundary-layer thickness), which leads to a reduced-scale separation between the large and small turbulence scales, and in turn to a lack of an outer peak in the spanwise spectra of the streamwise velocity in the logarithmic region.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Calibrating hypersonic turbulence flow models with the HIFiRE-1 experiment using data-driven machine-learned models.

In this paper we study the efficacy of combining machine-learning methods with projection-based model reduction techniques for creating data-driven surrogate models of computationally expensive, high-fidelity physics models. Such surrogate models are essential for many-query applications e.g., engineering design optimization and parameter estimation, where it is necessary to invoke the high-fidelity model sequentially, many times. Surrogate models are usually constructed for individual scalar quantities. However there are scenarios where a spatially varying field needs to be modeled as a function of the model’s input parameters. Here we develop a method to do so, using projections to represent spatial variability while a machine-learned model captures the dependence of the model’s response on the inputs. The method is demonstrated on modeling the heat flux and pressure on the surface of the HIFiRE-1 geometry in a Mach 7.16 turbulent flow. The surrogate model is then used to perform Bayesian estimation of freestream conditions and parameters of the SST (Shear Stress Transport) turbulence model embedded in the high-fidelity (Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes) flow simulator, using shock-tunnel data. The paper provides the first-ever Bayesian calibration of a turbulence model for complex hypersonic turbulent flows. We find that the primary issues in estimating the SST model parameters are the limited information content of the heat flux and pressure measurements and the large model-form error encountered in a certain part of the flow.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Real-time inference and extrapolation with Time-Conditioned UNet: Applications in hypersonic flows, incompressible flows, and global temperature forecasting

Neural Operators are fast and accurate surrogates for nonlinear mappings between functional spaces within training domains. Extrapolation beyond the training domain remains a grand challenge across all application areas. We present Time-Conditioned UNet (TC-UNet) as an operator learning method to solve time-dependent PDEs continuously in time without any temporal discretization, including in extrapolation scenarios. TC-UNet incorporates the temporal evolution of the PDE into its architecture by combining a parameter conditioning approach with the attention mechanism from the Transformer architecture. After training, TC-UNet makes real-time inferences on an arbitrary temporal grid. We demonstrate its extrapolation capability on a climate problem by estimating the global temperature for several years and also for inviscid hypersonic flow around a double cone. We propose different training strategies involving temporal bundling and sub-sampling. We demonstrate performance improvements for several benchmarks, performing extrapolation for long time intervals and zero-shot super-resolution time.

Deep learning↗
DOE OSTI2021

HTR-1.3 solver: Predicting electrified combustion using the hypersonic task-based research solver

Here this manuscript presents an updated open-source version of the Hypersonics Task-based Research (HTR) solver. The solver, whose main features are presented in Di Renzo et al. (2020) and Di Renzo & Pirozzoli (2021), is designed for direct numerical simulation of reacting flows at high Reynolds numbers. This new version extends the applications of the HTR solver to turbulent combustion in the presence of external electric fields. In particular, a new distributed Poisson solver compatible with heterogeneous architectures has been incorporated in the algorithm to compute the electric potential distribution in bi-periodic configurations. The drift fluxes of the electrically charged species are now included in the transport equations using a targeted essentially non-oscillatory scheme. A verification of these new features of the solver is provided using one-dimensional burner stabilized flames, whereas a three dimensional turbulent flame is utilized to discuss the scalability of the proposed numerical tool.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Experimental characterization of a section of a spherically imploding plasma liner formed by merging hypersonic plasma jets

In this work, we report experimental results on merging of hypersonic plasma jets, which is the fundamental building block for forming spherically imploding plasma liners as a potential standoff compression driver for magneto-inertial fusion. Jets are formed and launched by contoured-gap coaxial plasma guns mounted at the six vertices and the center of a hexagon covering approximately one-tenth of the surface area of a 9-ft-diameter spherical chamber. First, from experiments with two and three merging jets of four different species (N, Ar, Kr, and Xe), we show that (1) density spatial non-uniformities can be large (with electron-density jumps ranging from 2.9 for N to 6.6 for Xe) when shocks form upon jet merging, but smaller (density jumps <2) when shocks do not form; (2) jet impurities (20% Ti in these experiments) can increase the level of density spatial non-uniformity by increasing the collisionality of jet merging, leading to shock formation rather than potentially more desirable shockless jet merging; and (3) the liner Mach number can remain high (≳10), as required for plasma liners to be an effective compression driver. Secondly, from experiments with six and seven merging jets using Ar, we present results with improved jet-to-jet mass balance of <2% across jets, including (1) evidence of substantially increased balance in the jet merging and symmetry of the liner structure and (2) potentially favorable changes in the jet-merging morphology with the addition of the seventh jet. Ultimately, for both experiments, we present comparisons between experimental and synthetic data from three-dimensional hydrodynamic codes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

A variational method for the sheath potential of hypersonic leading edges with space-charge limitations

Electron transpiration cooling for the leading edges (LE) of hypersonic aircraft utilizes thermionic emission; however, space-charge effects limit the electron emission rate, potentially diminishing the efficiency of this cooling mechanism. We develop a variational weak form of the Poisson equation that describes the sheath potential and then numerically solve it using the finite element method. This formulation has two main benefits: (1) the space-charge limit condition can be incorporated as a constraint and (2) it allows for the analysis of three-dimensional geometries with complex boundary conditions. We demonstrate that the current emitted from the surface of an LE is generally a small fraction of the Child–Langmuir limit due to space charge. We then propose several methods to enhance the emitted current from the surface and to boost the cooling effect of thermionic emission. These include increasing the plasma density, applying a negative surface potential, and using fringe fields under suitable geometric conditions. For a LaB6 emitting LE, the total emitted current is shown to be minimal and independent of the temperature of a surface with floating potential. However, when a negative potential is applied and the surface is heated, the emitted current follows the Richardson–Dushman relationship up to a critical temperature, beyond which it remains constant. At an applied surface potential of −5 V, the critical temperature is around 1700 K.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Internal energy balance and aerodynamic heating predictions for hypersonic turbulent boundary layers

The elemental equation governing heat transfer in aerodynamic flows is the internal energy equation. For a boundary layer flow, a double integration of the Reynolds-averaged form of this equation provides an expression of the wall heat flux in terms of the integrated effects, over the boundary layer, of various physical processes: turbulent dissipation, mean dissipation, turbulent heat flux, etc. Recently available direct numerical simulation data for a Mach 11 cold-wall turbulent boundary layer allows a comparison of the exact contributions of these terms in the energy equation to the wall heat flux with their counterparts modeled in the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) framework. Various approximations involved in RANS, both closure models as well as approximations involved in adapting incompressible RANS models to a compressible form, are assessed through examination of the internal energy balance. There are a number of potentially problematic assumptions and terms identified through this analysis. Here, the effect of compressibility corrections of the dilatational dissipation type is explored, as is the role of the modeled turbulent dissipation, in the context of wall heat flux predictions. The results indicate several potential avenues for RANS model improvement for hypersonic cold-wall boundary-layer flows.

42 ENGINEERING↗