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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 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

Using Discrete Event Simulation to Model Integrated Commodities Consumption for a Launch Campaign of the Space Launch System

In May 2013, NASA's GSDO Program requested a study to develop a discrete event simulation (DES) model that analyzes the launch campaign process of the Space Launch System (SLS) from an integrated commodities perspective. The scope of the study includes launch countdown and scrub turnaround and focuses on four core launch commodities: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and helium. Previously, the commodities were only analyzed individually and deterministically for their launch support capability, but this study was the first to integrate them to examine the impact of their interactions on a launch campaign as well as the effects of process variability on commodity availability. The study produced a validated DES model with Rockwell Arena that showed that Kennedy Space Center's ground systems were capable of supporting a 48-hour scrub turnaround for the SLS. The model will be maintained and updated to provide commodity consumption analysis of future ground system and SLS configurations.

Commodities↗
NASA NTRS2013

Advances in Discrete-Event Simulation for MSL Command Validation

In the last five years, the discrete event simulator, SEQuence GENerator (SEQGEN), developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to plan deep-space missions, has greatly increased uplink operations capacity to deal with increasingly complicated missions. In this paper, we describe how the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project makes full use of an interpreted environment to simulate change in more than fifty thousand flight software parameters and conditional command sequences to predict the result of executing a conditional branch in a command sequence, and enable the ability to warn users whenever one or more simulated spacecraft states change in an unexpected manner. Using these new SEQGEN features, operators plan more activities in one sol than ever before.

discrete event simulation↗
NASA NTRS2017

Electromagnetic Scattering by Spheroidal Volumes of Discrete Random Medium

We use the superposition T-matrix method to compare the far-field scattering matrices generated by spheroidal and spherical volumes of discrete random medium having the same volume and populated by identical spherical particles. Our results fully confirm the robustness of the previously identified coherent and diffuse scattering regimes and associated optical phenomena exhibited by spherical particulate volumes and support their explanation in terms of the interference phenomenon coupled with the order-of-scattering expansion of the far-field Foldy equations. We also show that increasing non-sphericity of particulate volumes causes discernible (albeit less pronounced) optical effects in forward and backscattering directions and explain them in terms of the same interference/multiple-scattering phenomenon.

Electromagnetic scattering; Multi-particle groups;↗
NASA NTRS2022

Investigating Particle-Particle Electrostatic Effects on Charged Lunar Dust Transport via Discrete Element Modeling

NASA surface exploration missions have always seen negative effects of dust including the Apollo missions. The astronaut-witnessed unusual behavior of the dust particles that surround the vehicle after engine cutoff has the potential to have more of an influence on surface systems dust loading than the high velocity lunar rocket plume ejecta in the landing process. The levitation and transport of the fine components of regolith on lunar surface has been linked to electrostatic effects and electric field, but so far there is no accurate model considering the inter-particle electrostatic interactions, especially when the particles are charged by rocket plume or other mechanical interactions due to exploration activities. This study is proposed to investigate the dynamics of charged lunar regolith with a discrete element method (DEM) approach focusing on the inter-particle interactions and contact charge transfer. The grain dynamics is coupled with mechanical and electrical particle interactions, and both short- and long-range interactions between spherical particles are incorporated. A tribo-charging model based on instantaneous collisions between particles is adopted and validated by comparing the simulation results to existing experimental data. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to quantify the effects of initial charge, tribo-charging, and E-field on transport of lunar dust based on JSC-1 simulants with a radius of 50 lm. DEM simulations are also conducted in a near realistic lunar environment with the estimations of initial conditions that shows the difference in position and velocity distributions between charged particles and uncharged particles. The results indicate that the charged dust particles have higher dispersion of position and velocity by several orders of magnitude due to electrostatic effects. This provides a potential explanation for the phenomena of the approximately 30 s dust lofting following Apollo Lunar Module landing.

Lunar dust↗
DOE OSTI2024

Discrete-Element and Material-Point Method (DEM and MPM) Based Solvers for Sustainable Technologies

We present the use of discrete element method (DEM) and material point method (MPM) in three relevant green technology applications that include biomass feedstock handling, lithium-ion battery manufacturing, and high-pressure reverse osmosis. Our open-source DEM and MPM solvers are developed using performance portable grid and particle management library, AMReX, thus enabling superior performance on NVIDIA and AMD GPUs with > 100 million particles. Our DEM solver resolves the motion of individual particles in a granular system and includes a bonded sphere method for modeling non-spherical particles along with Hertzian and liquid bridge-based contact models. We simulate highly variable biomass feedstock flows in large-scale hoppers for biofuel production and electrode calendering in battery manufacturing using DEM. Our simulations predict flow blockage in large scale biomass hoppers and electrode microstructure variations, thus providing valuable information for biofuel and battery manufacturers, respectively. The second half of the talk will be on MPM and its application towards pore resolved simulations of reverse osmosis membranes under compressive loads. We present a validation study of our MPM simulations with membrane microscopy imaging thus providing useful insights on membrane stability under high pressure conditions. We also present a spectral stability analysis of using linear hat, quadratic and cubic spline basis in MPM indicating regions of numerical stability.

BIOMASS FUELS,MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Investigation of thermal damage in explosive bridgewire detonators via discrete element method simulations

Exploding bridgewire (EBW) detonators are used to rapidly and reliably initiate energetic reactions by exploding a bridgewire via Joule heating. While the mechanisms of EBW detonators have been studied extensively in nominal conditions, comparatively few studies have addressed thermally damaged detonator operability. We present a mesoscale simulation study of thermal damage in a representative EBW detonator, using discrete element method (DEM) simulations that explicitly account for individual particles in the pressed explosive powder. We use a simplified model of melting, where solid spherical particles undergo uniform shrinking, and fluid dynamics are ignored. The subsequent settling of particles results in the formation of a gap between the solid powder and the bridgewire, which we study under different conditions. In particular, particle cohesion has a significant effect on gap formation and settling behavior, where sufficiently high cohesion leads to coalescence of particles into a free-standing pellet. This behavior is qualitatively compared to experimental visualization data, and simulations are shown to capture several key changes in pellet shape. We derive a minimum and maximum limit on gap formation during melting using simple geometric arguments. In the absence of cohesion, results agree with the maximum gap size. With increasing cohesion, the gap size decreases, eventually saturating at the minimum limit. In conclusion, we present results for different combinations of interparticle cohesion and detonator orientations with respect to gravity, demonstrating the complex behavior of these systems and the potential for DEM simulations to capture a range of scenarios.

cohesive powders↗
DOE OSTI2024

Entanglement Renormalization for Quantum Field Theories with Discrete Wavelet Transforms

We propose an adaptation of Entanglement Renormalization for quantum field theories that, through the use of discrete wavelet transforms, strongly parallels the tensor network architecture of the Multiscale Entanglement Renormalization Ansatz (a.k.a. MERA). Our approach, called wMERA, has several advantages of over previous attempts to adapt MERA to continuum systems. In particular, (i) wMERA is formulated directly in position space, hence preserving the quasi-locality and sparsity of entanglers; and (ii) it enables a built-in RG flow in the implementation of real-time evolution and in computations of correlation functions, which is key for efficient numerical implementations. As examples, we describe in detail two concrete implementations of our wMERA algorithm for free scalar and fermionic theories in (1+1) spacetime dimensions. Possible avenues for constructing wMERAs for interacting field theories are also discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Numerical analysis of a time discretized method for nonlinear filtering problem with Lévy process observations

Abstract In this paper, we consider a nonlinear filtering model with observations driven by correlated Wiener processes and point processes. We first derive a Zakai equation whose solution is an unnormalized probability density function of the filter solution. Then, we apply a splitting-up technique to decompose the Zakai equation into three stochastic differential equations, based on which we construct a splitting-up approximate solution and prove its half-order convergence. Furthermore, we apply a finite difference method to construct a time semi-discrete approximate solution to the splitting-up system and prove its half-order convergence to the exact solution of the Zakai equation. Finally, we present some numerical experiments to demonstrate the theoretical analysis.

Mathematics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Direct interpolative construction of the discrete Fourier transform as a matrix product operator

The quantum Fourier transform (QFT), which can be viewed as a reindexing of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), has been shown to be compressible as a low-rank matrix product operator (MPO) or quantized tensor train (QTT) operator. However, the original proof of this fact does not furnish a construction of the MPO with a guaranteed error bound. Meanwhile, the existing practical construction of this MPO, based on the compression of a quantum circuit, is not as efficient as possible. We present a simple closed-form construction of the QFT MPO using the interpolative decomposition, with guaranteed near-optimal compression error for a given rank. This construction can speed up the application of the QFT and the DFT, respectively, in quantum circuit simulations and QTT applications. We also connect our interpolative construction to the approximate quantum Fourier transform (AQFT) by demonstrating that the AQFT can be viewed as an MPO constructed using a different interpolation scheme.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simulation of gas mixture dynamics in a pipeline network using explicit staggered-grid discretization

Here we develop an explicit staggered finite difference discretization scheme for simulating the transport of highly heterogeneous gas mixtures through pipeline networks. This study is motivated by the proposed blending of hydrogen into natural gas pipelines to reduce end use carbon emissions while using existing pipeline systems throughout their planned lifetimes. Our computational method accommodates an arbitrary number of constituent gases with very different physical properties that may be injected into a network with significant spatiotemporal variation. In this setting, the gas flow physics are highly location- and time- dependent, so that local composition and nodal mixing must be accounted for. The resulting conservation laws are formulated in terms of pressure, partial densities and flows, and volumetric and mass fractions of the constituents. We include non-ideal equations of state that employ linear approximations of gas compressibility factors, so that the pressure dynamics propagate locally according to a variable wave speed that depends on mixture composition and density. We derive compatibility relationships for network edge boundary values that are more complex than for a homogeneous gas. The simulation method is evaluated on initial boundary value problems for a single pipe and a small network, is cross-validated with a lumped element simulation, and used to demonstrate a local monitoring and control policy for maintaining allowable concentration levels.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Insights into the soft brittle-to-ductile transition from discrete dislocation dynamics

The Brittle-to-ductile transition (BDT) in body centered cubic metals exhibits a soft transition wherein the fracture toughness gradually rises to before the onset of ductility. The resultant brittle-to-ductile transition temperature can be described with an Arrhenius relationship whose activation energy is related to plasticity in the material. To provide further insight into the nature of the BDTT, in this work we utilized a discrete dislo- cation dynamics model with a crack to simulate the BDT and how it depends on the thermally activated nature of plasticity. The interrelationship between the BDT activation energy and the dislocation mobility parameters were determined via the calculation of first order sensitivity coefficients. This analysis allows us to demonstrate that the activation energy for the BDT is directly related to the activation energy for plasticity through an effective stress that defines this relationship. This effective stress physically is the average stress on the dislocations that move out of the crack. Lastly, we are able to show that this effective stress is dictated by the low temperature fracture toughness or cleave energy of the material and the source position, the latter of which can be affected by processing. Collectively, these results provide new insight into what controls the thermal activation of the BDT and what are the important parameters to control it.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

All-fiber, discrete arbitrary picket-pulse shaping

Here, a novel all-fiber, hybrid pulse-shaping system based on the temporal stacking of discrete optical picket pulses combined with continuously shaped optical pulses provides 100-ps resolution with the high dynamic range and flexibility required for laser fusion.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Discrete element modeling of irregular-shaped soft pine particle flow in an FT4 powder rheometer

Pine residues are a commonly used biomass feedstock that consists of different anatomical fractions, each with distinct particle characteristics. Here, in this work, an experiment-informed discrete element model is developed to investigate the flowability of pine residues in an FT4 rheometer. Multi-sphere particles with distinct particle attributes are created to model each anatomical fraction type. A systematic analysis of specimens with varying particle characteristics (e.g., anatomical fraction type, particle shape, and size) is conducted to elucidate the relationship between particle attributes and flowability. The results show that stems recorded the highest axial force and torque and, correspondingly, the highest flow energy, which is attributed to their high stiffness and interlocking effect. Increasing their percentage in the mixture increases the flow energy while increasing needles tends to decrease flow energy. Knowledge gained in this study on the flow of anatomical fractions is important for the efficient and robust processing of pine residues.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A High-Performance Discrete-Element Framework for Simulating Flow and Jamming of Moisture Bearing Biomass Feedstocks

We developed and verified a high-performance open-source discrete element method (DEM) solver with simultaneously-supported feedstock-specific interaction models, including bonded-sphere, liquid bridge, cohesion, and non-linear contact models. Our solver uses parallel data structures on hybrid central and graphics processing unit (CPU/GPU) architectures, with favorable strong scaling performance observed for large problem sizes comprised of (100 M particles), and 4X single-node GPU speedup. The particles for corn stover feedstock were conceptualized and calibrated based on experimental measurements and results. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that the mass flow rate from a wedge hopper is governed primarily by moisture content, friction coefficient, and cohesion energy density. The model is used to reproduce experimentally observed hopper jamming results, highlighting that the experimental no-flow trends can only be achieved by using non-spherical particles, liquid bridge and cohesion models, highlighting the importance of using concurrent feedstock specialized models for the effective representation of biomass material handling problems.

bioenergy↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Gauss-Radau-Laguerre Discrete Variable Representation for Use in Continuum Electron Dynamics

In this work, we detail an implementation, suitable for calculations on highly correlated ionizing systems, of a modified finite element discrete variable representation (FE-DVR) appended with a Gauss-Radau-Laguerre element. The appended element includes exterior complex scaling (ECS) to impose outgoing wave boundary conditions on treatments of processes involving continuum electrons. In this “infinite range” ECS (irECS), the complications that introduce reflections from the end of the grid when the last ECS finite element has finite range are avoided by the use of the Laguerre-weighted exponentially decaying tails, while outgoing wave boundary conditions are still imposed via the ECS transformation. For highly correlated systems in the absence of strong external fields we find that accurate two-electron integrals are essential in this modified FE-DVR. To accurately compute the two-electron integrals over the entire ECS contour, we present a detailed examination of the implications from the boundary terms that arise in a solution of Poisson’s equation with the Radau-Laguerre basis. A boundary term correction is necessary, and when included, the Radau-Laguerre DVR can accurately describe highly correlated states such as the doubly excited states of helium over the entire ECS contour.

elements↗
DOE OSTI2026

Alkali-Metal Interlocking of 2D V 4 O 10 Sheets Defines Discretized Interlayer Shear Relationships

Low-dimensional materials manifest structural anisotropy, quantum confinement, and tightly bound excitonic states, which make them attractive building blocks that can be assembled within three-dimensional laterally stitched heterostructures, stacked van der Waals solids, and complex moiré superlattices. Ion intercalation in the galleries between layered materials provides a means of modifying interlayer separation and coupling, but it is also known to drive the shearing of the layers. In this article, we explore the distinct ligand coordination environments afforded by vanadyl oxygens of singular [V 4 O 10 ] sheets and examine how the size, polarizability, and stoichiometry of Group I cations sandwiched between such layers determine the interlocking of the sheets in stacked structures. Based on the topochemical insertion of alkali-metal ions into the layered λ-V 2 O 5 , we identify seven types of guest ion coordination sites discretized into four distinct regimes of interlayer shear in units of half octahedral widths. The coordination preferences of intercalated cations govern how they interlock 2D [V 4 O 10 ] sheets and engender specific shear conformations. We present evidence that static and dynamic disorder in guest ion arrangement modulate the magnetic structure of the intercalated compounds based on electrostatic polarization, localization of charge and spin density, and lattice distortion. The results illustrate the use of topochemical ion insertion to modulate stacking relationships and magnetic transition characteristics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energy Transport and Conversion Above a Bright Discrete Auroral Arc

Magnetically connected observations of particle distributions and luminosity from the Reimei spacecraft are used to examine energy transport and conversion occurring above a discrete auroral arc. By combining imaging and in situ measurements it is shown how transverse electromagnetic and kinetic energy fluxes measured along the spacecraft trajectory converge across geomagnetic field-lines into the acceleration region. It is shown how cross-field energy transport is facilitated by the formation of vortices along the length of the arc. From an integration over the vertical extent of the acceleration region it is shown that the transverse and field-aligned flow of energy into the arc locally supports the dissipation needed to power the electron acceleration observed. Estimates of gradients in electromagnetic and kinetic energy flows show how field-aligned electron energization in the acceleration region is supported by the divergence of Poynting flux along and across the background magnetic field.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

A discretized representation for Monte Carlo simulation of deformed semiflexible chains

In this study, we present a novel orientation discretization approach based on the rhombic triacontahedron for Monte Carlo simulations of semiflexible polymer chains, aiming at enhancing structural analysis through rheo-small-angle scattering (rheo-SAS). Our approach provides a more accurate representation of the geometric features of semiflexible chains under deformation, surpassing the capabilities of traditional lattice structures. Validation against the Kratky–Porod chain system demonstrated superior consistency, underscoring its potential to significantly improve the precision of uncovering geometric details from rheo-SAS data. Further, this approach opens new avenues for investigating the conformations of semiflexible polymers and mechanically induced phase transitions in more complex polymer structures, offering deeper insights into their behavior under various conditions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗