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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
DOE OSTI2015

Propagation characteristics of atmospheric-pressure He+O{sub 2} plasmas inside a simulated endoscope channel

Cold atmospheric-pressure plasmas have potential to be used for endoscope sterilization. In this study, a long quartz tube was used as the simulated endoscope channel, and an array of electrodes was warped one by one along the tube. Plasmas were generated in the inner channel of the tube, and their propagation characteristics in He+O{sub 2} feedstock gases were studied as a function of the oxygen concentration. It is found that each of the plasmas originates at the edge of an instantaneous cathode, and then it propagates bidirectionally. Interestingly, a plasma head with bright spots is formed in the hollow instantaneous cathode and moves towards its center part, and a plasma tail expands through the electrode gap and then forms a swallow tail in the instantaneous anode. The plasmas are in good axisymmetry when [O{sub 2}] ≤ 0.3%, but not for [O{sub 2}] ≥ 1%, and even behave in a stochastic manner when [O{sub 2}] = 3%. The antibacterial agents are charged species and reactive oxygen species, so their wall fluxes represent the “plasma dosage” for the sterilization. Such fluxes mainly act on the inner wall in the hollow electrode rather than that in the electrode gap, and they get to the maximum efficiency when the oxygen concentration is around 0.3%. It is estimated that one can reduce the electrode gap and enlarge the electrode width to achieve more homogenous and efficient antibacterial effect, which have benefits for sterilization applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Final technical report

This final report covers the final year of the project. Reports from previous years were included in the group report for that year. The objective of this part of the project was to compare results from two large-scale, nonlinear plasma simulation codes based on magnetohydrodynamics, M3D and M3D-C1, for plasma edge instabilities. This is a difficult undertaking and the comparison was only partially successful because, while the MHD equations are standard, there are a number of valid MHD models of the plasma dissipation that make different approximations to their physics and the numerical implementation of a given model can be quite different depending on the way that the rest of the equations are solved. Large differences arise, and have major effects on the predicted plasma behavior, in the case of the greatest interest to this project, the plasma edge region under conditions where the plasma edge instabilities are strongest and the background plasma changes abruptly from interior hot, dense conditions to an unconfined, cool, diffuse plasma outside the magnetic boundary surface. Experimental observations only partially measure the background plasma and there are many non-MHD processes that can have important effects (studied in the rest of the project). Comparisons for edge instabilities at very small amplitude, the so-called linear modes, had showed good agreement for a few interior plasma instabilities, but strong differences between the default models for the plasma edge.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1990

Particle acceleration by intense auroral VLF turbulence

Broadband turbulence in the lower-hybrid to plasma frequency range is found in a variety of forms in the suprauroral region, most notably as auroral hiss and VLF saucers. When the turbulence is intense, it is observed to be associated with ion conics (ions heated transverse to the geomagnetic field) and 'counter-streaming' electron fluxes (heated in both directions parallel to the field). A review is presented of the dispersion and propagation characteristics of whistler resonance-cone waves, which comprise the turbulence. Plasma simulation and mesoscale (Monte Carlo) simulation techniques are used to illustrate the interaction of the ambient plasma with the turbulence. These calculations demonstrate how this interaction results in transverse heating of the ions and parallel heating of the electrons of the plasma, leading to the formation of the observed heated and accelerated particle fluxes.

Retterer, John M.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Scaling the Ion Inertial Length and Its Implications for Modeling Reconnection in Global Simulations

Abstract We investigate the use of artificially increased ion and electron kinetic scales in global plasma simulations. We argue that as long as the global and ion inertial scales remain well separated, (1) the overall global solution is not strongly sensitive to the value of the ion inertial scale, while (2) the ion inertial scale dynamics will also be similar to the original system, but it occurs at a larger spatial scale, and (3) structures at intermediate scales, such as magnetic islands, grow in a self‐similar manner. To investigate the validity and limitations of our scaling hypotheses, we carry out many simulations of a two‐dimensional magnetosphere with the magnetohydrodynamics with embedded particle‐in‐cell (MHD‐EPIC) model. The PIC model covers the dayside reconnection site. The simulation results confirm that the hypotheses are true as long as the increased ion inertial length remains less than about 5% of the magnetopause standoff distance. Since the theoretical arguments are general, we expect these results to carry over to three dimensions. The computational cost is reduced by the third and fourth powers of the scaling factor in two‐ and three‐dimensional simulations, respectively, which can be many orders of magnitude. The present results suggest that global simulations that resolve kinetic scales for reconnection are feasible. This is a crucial step for applications to the magnetospheres of Earth, Saturn, and Jupiter and to the solar corona.

Tóth, Gábor↗
NASA NTRS1990

Simulation study of ion two-stream instability in the auroral acceleration region

Particle in cell plasma simulation technique has been used to study the effect of the ion two-stream instability on hydrogen and oxygen distributions at small relative drifts. Whether heating due to parallel modes which are unstable at low drifts might be sufficient to quench oblique modes which are unstable at higher drifts is investigated. It is found that this is not the case and that the oblique modes contribute significantly to heating.

Gray, Perry C.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Center for Tokamak Transient Simulations (RPI Unstructured Mesh Developments for FES SciDAC4 Partnerships) (Final Report)

The goal of this project was the development of unstructured mesh technologies for fusion simulation codes” for FES SciDAC partnerships and to integrate those technologies into the simulation workflows of those partnerships. Specific developments were executed in support of the following FES SciDAC4 partnerships: Partnership Center for High‐fidelity Boundary Plasma Simulation (HBPS), Center for Integrated Simulation of Fusion Relevant RF (RF‐SciDAC), Center for Plasma Surface Interactions: Predicting the Performance and Impact of Dynamic PFC Surfaces (PSI2), and Center for Tokamak Transient Simulations (CTTS). The key unstructured mesh development areas addressed in this project include (i) methods to most effectively perform PIC calculations on unstructured meshes; (ii) creating meshes for fusion systems accounting for any desired level of geometric complexity and providing physics aware mesh configurations, (iii) adapting unstructured meshes to control the discretization errors, (iv) executing unstructured mesh calculations on GPU accelerated systems, (v) supporting physics/application‐specific PIC operations including surface/wall interactions of particles, (vi) providing infrastructure tools to support the interactions of solvers with unstructured meshes, and (vii) providing advanced methods for coupling plasma physics codes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1983

Numerical simulation of a disk-shaped electron accelerating electrostatic probe

This paper presents a method utilizing the numerical plasma simulation particle-in-cell technique for studying electron accelerating probe characteristics. A probe configuration other than the commonly used plane, cylindrical, or spherical case will be studied; the probe configuration used is that of a disk. Cylindrical geometry is used in the simulation model. One of the advantages of a numerical simulation is the ease with which the details of the system can be examined. Therefore, in addition to the current-voltage characteristics of the static probe, other results are presented such as the time evolution of the plasma properties and studies of the sheath region surrounding the probe.

Nonnast, J. H.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Effects of laser-plasma instabilities on hydro evolution in an OMEGA-EP long-scale-length experiment

Laser-plasma instabilities and hydro evolution of the coronal plasma in an OMEGA EP long-scale-length experiment with planar targets were studied with particle-in-cell (PIC) and hydrodynamic simulations. Plasma and laser conditions were first obtained in a two-dimensional DRACO hydro simulation with only inverse-bremsstrahlung absorption. Using these conditions, an OSIRIS PIC simulation was performed to study laser absorption and hot-electron generation caused by laser-plasma instabilities (LPIs) near the quarter-critical region. The obtained PIC information was subsequently coupled to another DRACO simulation to examine how the LPIs affect the overall hydrodynamics. Lastly, the results showed that the LPI-induced laser absorption increased the electron temperature but did not significantly change the density scale length in the corona.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1993

Hybrid simulations of the effects of interstellar pickup hydrogen on the solar wind termination shock

Hybrid (kinetic ions/fluid electrons) plasma simulations are used to study the effects of a population of energetic interstellar pickup hydrogen ions on the solar wind termination shock. The pickup hydrogen is treated as a second ion species in the simulations, and thus the effects of the pick-ups on the shock, as well as the effects of the shock on the pickups, are treated in a fully self-consistent manner. For quasi-perpendicular shocks with 10-20 percent pickup hydrogen the pickup ions manifest themselves in a small foot ahead of the shock ramp caused by pickup ion reflection. For oblique shocks with smaller angles between the field and the shock normal, a large fraction of the pickup ions are reflected and move back upstream where they excite large amplitude magnetosonic waves which steepen into shocklets. These backstreaming pickup ions may provide advance warning of a spacecraft encounter with the termination shock.

Liewer, P. C.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electron Cyclotron Emission–Based Separatrix Identification in ITER with OMFIT Synthetic Modeling

Accurate determination of the separatrix location is essential for understanding edge plasma behavior and optimizing confinement in tokamaks, especially in next-generation devices such as ITER. In this study, a synthetic microwave diagnostics module was developed and implemented in the OMFIT framework to assess the feasibility of an electron cyclotron emission–based separatrix detection method in ITER plasmas. Simulations were carried out using ITER H-mode equilibrium scenarios with different plasma density profiles and different pedestal widths. Here, the results show that the electron emission temperature profiles consistently exhibit an inversion pattern near the edge, with a well-defined minimum point that could serve as a proxy for the separatrix location. However, unlike in the DIII-D, the minimum point in ITER is systematically offset by approximately 2 cm into the scrape-off layer, independent of density or pedestal width, which is within the radial resolution range (2 to 5 cm) determined by the 500-MHz channel spacing. While the method does not provide the exact separatrix location, it offers a reliable indicator of the boundary region and has potential applications for real-time boundary monitoring in ITER and other future fusion devices.

Electron cyclotron emission↗
DOE OSTI2016

MAGNETIC NULL POINTS IN KINETIC SIMULATIONS OF SPACE PLASMAS

We present a systematic attempt to study magnetic null points and the associated magnetic energy conversion in kinetic particle-in-cell simulations of various plasma configurations. We address three-dimensional simulations performed with the semi-implicit kinetic electromagnetic code iPic3D in different setups: variations of a Harris current sheet, dipolar and quadrupolar magnetospheres interacting with the solar wind, and a relaxing turbulent configuration with multiple null points. Spiral nulls are more likely created in space plasmas: in all our simulations except lunar magnetic anomaly (LMA) and quadrupolar mini-magnetosphere the number of spiral nulls prevails over the number of radial nulls by a factor of 3–9. We show that often magnetic nulls do not indicate the regions of intensive energy dissipation. Energy dissipation events caused by topological bifurcations at radial nulls are rather rare and short-lived. The so-called X-lines formed by the radial nulls in the Harris current sheet and LMA simulations are rather stable and do not exhibit any energy dissipation. Energy dissipation is more powerful in the vicinity of spiral nulls enclosed by magnetic flux ropes with strong currents at their axes (their cross sections resemble 2D magnetic islands). These null lines reminiscent of Z-pinches efficiently dissipate magnetic energy due to secondary instabilities such as the two-stream or kinking instability, accompanied by changes in magnetic topology. Current enhancements accompanied by spiral nulls may signal magnetic energy conversion sites in the observational data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1974

Computational study of nonlinear plasma waves

A low-noise plasma simulation model is developed and applied to a series of linear and nonlinear problems associated with electrostatic wave propagation in a one-dimensional, collisionless, Maxwellian plasma, in the absence of magnetic field. It is demonstrated that use of the hybrid simulation model allows economical studies to be carried out in both the linear and nonlinear regimes with better quantitative results, for comparable computing time, than can be obtained by conventional particle simulation models, or direct solution of the Vlasov equation. The characteristics of the hybrid simulation model itself are first investigated, and it is shown to be capable of verifying the theoretical linear dispersion relation at wave energy levels as low as .000001 of the plasma thermal energy. Having established the validity of the hybrid simulation model, it is then used to study the nonlinear dynamics of monochromatic wave, sideband instability due to trapped particles, and satellite growth.

Matsuda, Y.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Three-dimensional two-fluid Braginskii simulations of the large plasma device

The Large Plasma Device (LAPD) is modeled using the 3D Global Braginskii Solver code. Comparisons to experimental measurements are made in the low-bias regime in which there is an intrinsic E × B rotation of the plasma. In the simulations, this rotation is caused primarily by sheath effects and may be a likely mechanism for the intrinsic rotation seen in LAPD. Simulations show strong qualitative agreement with the data, particularly the radial dependence of the density fluctuations, cross-correlation lengths, radial flux dependence outside of the cathode edge, and camera imagery. Kelvin Helmholtz (KH) turbulence at relatively large scales is the dominant driver of cross-field transport in these simulations with smaller-scale drift waves and sheath modes playing a secondary role. Plasma holes and blobs arising from KH vortices in the simulations are consistent with the scale sizes and overall appearance of those in LAPD camera images. The addition of ion-neutral collisions in the simulations at previously theorized values reduces the radial particle flux by about a factor of two, from values that are somewhat larger than the experimentally measured flux to values that are somewhat lower than the measurements. This reduction is due to a modest stabilizing contribution of the collisions on the KH-modes driving the turbulent transport.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Adaptive inverse ray-tracing for accurate and efficient modeling of cross beam energy transfer in hydrodynamics simulations

Integrated hydrodynamics simulations of inertial confinement fusion rely on reduced physics models. To reproduce experimental trends, these models often feature tuning parameters, but this comes with a risk: the over-tuning of one model can hide physics inadequacies in another. The ray-based models of cross-beam-energy transfer (CBET) represent this risk. In this paper, we present an accurate and efficient model of CBET suitable for inline implementation in 3D hydrodynamics simulations. Inverse Ray Tracing (IRT) is used to compute the ray field in a 3D permittivity profile described on an unstructured tetrahedral mesh using the Inline Field Reconstruction and Interaction using Inverse Tracing framework. CBET is accounted for through perturbations to the permittivity associated with ion acoustic waves driven by the overlapped fields. Large gradients in the permittivity are resolved by coupling the IRT to a recursive Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) algorithm. The use of AMR also allows for the resolution of caustics, with accurate field reconstruction performed using the Etalon integral method. Comparisons of the model with wave-based solutions from the Laser Plasma Simulation Environment demonstrate its ability to control energy conservation and gain convergence through the AMR depth only, without the use of ad hoc physical models or artificial tuning parameters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Up–down symmetry breaking in global tokamak edge simulations

In global tokamak edge simulations, plasma density and temperature are found to be poloidally asymmetric despite the (nearly) symmetric geometry and boundary conditions. In particular, in the closed flux region, the ion temperature tends to be higher at the bottom, that is, in the direction of the ion drift, due to the action of the binormal component of the ion heat flux. The plasma density exhibits similar asymmetric pattern but with opposite polarity; it is higher on top, meaning in the direction of the electron drift. The ion temperature up–down symmetry breaking was accounted for in neoclassical transport, and through the force-balance constraint these effects further cause the density to be up–down asymmetric. Analytic estimates of the asymmetry on plasma profiles are given, and its impact on flows and turbulence are also discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2013

MHD Simulations of the Plasma Flow in the Magnetic Nozzle

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of plasma through a magnetic nozzle is simulated by solving the governing equations for the plasma flow in the presence of an static magnetic field representing the applied nozzle. This work will numerically investigate the flow and behavior of the plasma as the inlet plasma conditions and magnetic nozzle field strength are varied. The MHD simulations are useful for addressing issues such as plasma detachment and to can be used to gain insight into the physical processes present in plasma flows found in thrusters that use magnetic nozzles. In the model, the MHD equations for a plasma, with separate temperatures calculated for the electrons and ions, are integrated over a finite cell volume with flux through each face computed for each of the conserved variables (mass, momentum, magnetic flux, energy) [1]. Stokes theorem is used to convert the area integrals over the faces of each cell into line integrals around the boundaries of each face. The state of the plasma is described using models of the ionization level, ratio of specific heats, thermal conductivity, and plasma resistivity. Anisotropies in current conduction due to Hall effect are included, and the system is closed using a real-gas equation of state to describe the relationship between the plasma density, temperature, and pressure.A separate magnetostatic solver is used to calculate the applied magnetic field, which is assumed constant for these calculations. The total magnetic field is obtained through superposition of the solution for the applied magnetic field and the self-consistently computed induced magnetic fields that arise as the flowing plasma reacts to the presence of the applied field. A solution for the applied magnetic field is represented in Fig. 1 (from Ref. [2]), exhibiting the classic converging-diverging field pattern. Previous research was able to demonstrate effects such as back-emf at a super-Alfvenic flow, which significantly alters the shape of the magnetic field in both the near- and far-field regions. However, in that work the downstream domain was constrained to a channel of constant cross-sectional area. In the present work we seek to address this issue by modeling the downstream region with a domain that permits free expansion of the plasma, permitting a better evaluation of the downstream effects the applied field has on the plasma. The inlet boundary conditions and applied magnetic field values will also be varied to determine the effect the initial plasma energy content and applied magnetic field energy density have on the near- and far-field plasma properties on the MHD code. This will determine the effect of inlet boundary conditions on the results downstream and address issues related to the restrictive numerical domain previously used.

Smith, T. E. R.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Recent advances in numerical simulation of space-plasma-physics problems

Computer simulations have become an increasingly popular, important and insightful tool for studying space plasmas. This review describes MHD and particle simulations, both of which treat the plasma and the electromagnetic field in which it moves in a self consistent fashion but on drastically different spatial and temporal scales. The complementary roles of simulation, observations and theory are stressed. Several examples of simulations being carried out in the area of magnetospheric plasma physics are described to illustrate the power, potential and limitations of the approach.

Birmingham, T. J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Challenges and approaches to interpretive modeling of boundary plasma and neutral transport in a closed, pumped divertor

An experimental discharge from the DIII-D tokamak is modeled using the SOLPS-ITER code suite and compared against measurements in the pumped and relatively closed upper divertor. Uncertainties of boundary plasma simulations are identified by attempting to match code inputs to experimental conditions, including iteratively solving transport coefficients to match upstream experimental profiles using varying quantities of core particle flux, different pumping models, and various assumptions of ion thermal transport. Simulated boundary conditions for particle injection at the core interface are shown to be relevant to the plasma solution at the divertor targets, even if upstream transport is modified so that plasma profiles are comparatively similar, although seperatrix density is not held constant. When upstream plasma profiles are matched to experimental measurements by varying diffusive transport coefficients, using either poloidally symmetric or ballooning structure, the model finds a majority of injected energy being transported radially off the computational domain, in conflict with experimental radiated power measurements and heat flux measurements at the divertor target. Imposing a maximum thermal diffusivity or radially shifting the experimental separatrix location of the fitted profiles to increase power conducted to the targets by increasing the upstream electron temperature does not significantly modify this result. Including a thermalizing plenum volume in the simulation domain is shown to maintain the experimental volumetric pumping rate without knowing the neutral energy distribution incident on the pump duct a priori. By modifying transport parameters to match different assumptions for ion temperature, downstream neutral pressure changes by more than a factor of two, suggesting that attention to ion thermal transport may be a critical parameter for simulations to accurately resolve recycling and neutral transport, particularly in a closed divertor geometry. In addition to quantifying various modeling uncertainties, this work motivates both further experimental study and modeling improvements to improve predictive capabilities.

divertor↗