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At least 397 records · Page 22

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NASA NTRS1992

Convergence acceleration of the Proteus computer code with multigrid methods

Presented here is the first part of a study to implement convergence acceleration techniques based on the multigrid concept in the Proteus computer code. A review is given of previous studies on the implementation of multigrid methods in computer codes for compressible flow analysis. Also presented is a detailed stability analysis of upwind and central-difference based numerical schemes for solving the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Results are given of a convergence study of the Proteus code on computational grids of different sizes. The results presented here form the foundation for the implementation of multigrid methods in the Proteus code.

Demuren, A. O.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Acoustic analysis using numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations

Numerical solutions of the time-dependent compressible Navier-Stokes equations are employed to analyze the unsteady features of jet flows which contribute to jet noise. The turbulent-mass flux spectra are examined in detail in the numerical analysis, and MacCormack's explicit finite difference algorithm is used to solve the governing equations. The computational grid is based on an axisymmetric jet with simple exponential stretching used to optimize the resolution of critical unsteady flow features. The time-varying numerical data are analyzed, and the time averages of the velocity and turbulence-intensity profiles are shown to agree with experimental data. Grid refinement and longer run times improved the prediction of the experimental mass-flux spectra. The numerical procedure can be extended to 3D jet-flow configurations to study the related 3D unsteady flow features.

Scott, James N.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Aerobrake aerothermodynamic environment predictions in support of the Aeroassist Flight Experiment

A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation of the flow past an Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) aerobrake under wind tunnel test conditions has been made. The Navier-Stokes equations in three dimensions were solved numerically using a finite-volume, implicit approach. Comparisons with experimental data include surface pressures and heat transfer rates and aerodynamic coefficients. Agreement with experiment is shown to be excellent. The dependence of the solution on the computational grid is explored. The present work is preliminary to simulation of the flow past the AFE under flight conditions, which at present cannot be duplicated with ground-based experimental facilities.

Fay, John F.↗

NASA NTRS1992

A numerical model for coupling between atomization and spray dynamics in liquid rocket thrust chambers

This paper describes a novel method of coupling the atomization and spray combustion processes encountered in coaxial injection elements of liquid rocket engine thrust chambers. This method is based on the Jet-Embedding technique in which the liquid jet core equations and the gas phase equations are solved separately. The liquid and gas phase solutions, however, are coupled through the boundary conditions at the interface between the phases. The computational grid for the gas phase calculations are adapted to the shape of the liquid jet core. The axial variation of droplet sizes are calculated using a stability analysis appropriate for the atomization regime of liquid jet breakup. The predictions of this method have been validated with experimental data on low speed water jets. Using this method, calculations are performed for the SSME fuel preburner single injector flow field. The results obtained are in good agreement with the predictions of the volume-of-fluid method.

Giridharan, M. G.↗

NASA NTRS1992

AXAF VETA-I mirror encircled energy measurements and data reduction

The AXAF VETA-I mirror encircled energy was measured with a series of apertures and two flow gas proportional counters at five X-ray energies ranging from 0.28 to 2.3 keV. The proportional counter has a thin plastic window with an opaque wire mesh supporting grid. Depending on the counter position, this mesh can cause the X-ray transmission to vary as much as +/-9 percent, which directly translates into an error in the encircled energy. In order to correct this wire mesh effect, window scan measurements were made, in which the counter was scanned in both horizontal (Y) and vertical (Z) directions with the aperture fixed. Post VETA measurement of the VXDS setup were made to determine the exact geometry and position of the mesh grid. Computer models of the window mesh were developed to simulate the X-ray transmission based on this measurement. The window scan data were fitted to such mesh models and corrections were made. After this study, the mesh effect was well understood and the final results of the encircled energy were obtained with an uncertainty of less than 0.8 percent.

Zhao, Ping↗

NASA NTRS1993

Numerical simulations of galactic wakes

We have performed a series of numerical simulations which examine the simple but realistic case of a galaxy with a smooth potential corresponding to a King profile, and with no interstellar medium. This corresponds to the case of an early-type cluster galaxy that has previously been stripped of its gas. The simulations provide a numerical basis for future work involving galaxies with interstellar media. We use a time-explicit finite difference code (Lufkin & Hawley 1992, ApJ submitted) to obtain solutions to the nonlinear equations for adiabatic flow in axisymmetry. The computational grid covers a region extending 500 kpc from a stationary galaxy radially and along the symmetry axis. We use a graded mesh, allowing for full resolution near the galaxy. Because the assumed potential has a finite depth, no artificial inner boundary condition is necessary; reflection symmetry at the axis is assumed. With a total grid size of 64 radial x 128 vertical, each run requires approximately 5 minutes of cpu time on the NCSA Cray-2.

Lufkin, Eric A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Adaptive multigrid domain decomposition solutions for viscous interacting flows

Several viscous incompressible flows with strong pressure interaction and/or axial flow reversal are considered with an adaptive multigrid domain decomposition procedure. Specific examples include the triple deck structure surrounding the trailing edge of a flat plate, the flow recirculation in a trough geometry, and the flow in a rearward facing step channel. For the latter case, there are multiple recirculation zones, of different character, for laminar and turbulent flow conditions. A pressure-based form of flux-vector splitting is applied to the Navier-Stokes equations, which are represented by an implicit lowest-order reduced Navier-Stokes (RNS) system and a purely diffusive, higher-order, deferred-corrector. A trapezoidal or box-like form of discretization insures that all mass conservation properties are satisfied at interfacial and outflow boundaries, even for this primitive-variable, non-staggered grid computation.

Rubin, Stanley G.↗

NASA NTRS1993

The 3-D viscous flow CFD analysis of the propeller effect on an advanced ducted propeller subsonic inlet

A time marching Navier-Stokes code called PARC3D was used to study the 3-D viscous flow associated with an advanced ducted propeller (ADP) subsonic inlet at take-off operating conditions. At a free stream Mach number of 0.2, experimental data for the inlet-with-propeller test model indicated that the airflow was attached on the cowl windward lip at an angle of attack of 25 degrees became unstable at 29 degrees, and separated at 30 degrees. An experimental study with a similar inlet and with no propeller (through-flow) indicated that flow separation occurred at an angle of attack a few degrees below the value observed when the inlet was tested with the propeller. This tends to indicate that the propeller exerts a favorable effect on the inlet performance. During the through-flow experiment a stationary blockage device was used to successfully simulate the propeller effect on the inlet flow field at angles of attack. In the present numerical study, this flow blockage was modeled via a PARC3D computational boundary condition (BC) called the screen BC. The principle formulation of this BC was based on the one-and-half dimension actuator disk theory. This screen BC was applied at the inlet propeller face station of the computational grid. Numerical results were obtained with and without the screen BC. The application of the screen BC in this numerical study provided results which are similar to the results of past experimental efforts in which either the blockage device or the propeller was used.

Iek, Chanthy↗

NASA NTRS1993

Stability and transition on swept wings

This paper describes the extension and application of the Parabolized Stability Equations (PSE) to the stability and transition of the supersonic three-dimensional laminar boundary layer on a swept wing. The problem formulation uses a general coordinate transformation for arbitrary curvilinear body-fitted computational grids. Some testing using these coordinates is briefly described to help validate the software used for the investigation. The disturbance amplitude ratios as a function of chord position for supersonic (Mach 1.5) boundary layers on untapered, untwisted wings of different sweep angles are then presented and compared with those obtained from local parallel analyses.

Stuckert, Greg↗

NASA NTRS1993

AXAF VETA-I mirror encircled energy measurements and data reduction

The AXAF VETA-I mirror encircled energy was measured with a series of apertures and two flow gas proportional counters at five X-ray energies ranging from 0.28 to 2.3 keV. The proportional counter has a thin plastic window with an opaque wire mesh supporting grid. Depending on the counter position, this mesh can cause the X-ray transmission to vary as much as +/- 9 percent, which directly translates into an error in the encircled energy. In order to correct this wire mesh effect, window scan measurements were made, in which the counter was scanned in both horizontal (Y) and vertical (Z) directions with the aperture fixed. Post VETA measurement of the VXDS setup were made to determine the exact geometry and position of the mesh grid. Computer models of the window mesh were developed to simulate the X-ray transmission based on this measurement. The window scan data were fitted to such mesh models and corrections were made. After this study, the mesh effect was well understood and the final results of the encircled energy were obtained with an uncertainty of less than 0.8 percent.

Zhao, Ping↗

NASA NTRS1993

Simulated rarefied aerodynamics of the Magellan spacecraft during aerobraking

Aerodynamic loads upon the Magellan spacecraft during aerobraking through the atmosphere of Venus are computed at off-design attitudes with a direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) particle method. Simulated rarefied flows at nominal altitudes near 140 km and an entry speed of 8.6 km/s were compared to simulated and analytic free molecular results. Aerodynamic moments, forces, and heating for rarefied entry at all attitudes were 7-10 percent below free molecular results. All moments acted to restore the vehicle to its nominal zero-pitch, zero-yaw attitude. Suggested canting of the solar panels is an innovative configuration to assess gas-surface interaction during aerobraking. The resulting roll torques about the central body-axis as predicted in rarefied flow simulations were nearly twice that predicted for free molecular flow, although differences became less distinct for thermal accommodation coefficients well below unity. Roll torques increased dramatically with reduced accommodation coefficients employed in the simulation. In the DSMC code, periodic free-molecule boundary conditions and a coarse computational grid and body resolution served to minimize the simulation size and cost while retaining solution validity.

Haas, Brian L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Energy considerations in computational aeroacoustics

A finite-volume multistage time-stepping Euler code is used to investigate the use of CFD algorithms for the direct calculation of acoustics. The 2D compressible inviscid flow about an accelerating or decelerating circular cylinder is used as a model problem. The time evolution of the energy transfer from the cylinder to the fluid, as the cylinder is moved from rest to some nonnegligible velocity, is clearly seen. By examining the temporal and spatial characteristics of the numerical solution, a distinction can be made between the propagating acoustic energy, the convecting energy associated with the entropy change in the fluid, and the energy contained in the local aerodynamic field. Systematic variation of the cylinder acceleration shows that the radiated acoustic energy depends strongly upon the rate of acceleration or deceleration. The computational grid has a large effect on the ratio of acoustic energy to nonphysical entropy associated energy, while the role of the explicit artificial viscosity seems to be of second order. The entropy term was nearly negligible in all cases the cylinder was started slowly.

Brentner, Kenneth S.↗

NASA NTRS1993

A parallel adaptive mesh refinement algorithm

Over recent years, Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) algorithms which dynamically match the local resolution of the computational grid to the numerical solution being sought have emerged as powerful tools for solving problems that contain disparate length and time scales. In particular, several workers have demonstrated the effectiveness of employing an adaptive, block-structured hierarchical grid system for simulations of complex shock wave phenomena. Unfortunately, from the parallel algorithm developer's viewpoint, this class of scheme is quite involved; these schemes cannot be distilled down to a small kernel upon which various parallelizing strategies may be tested. However, because of their block-structured nature such schemes are inherently parallel, so all is not lost. In this paper we describe the method by which Quirk's AMR algorithm has been parallelized. This method is built upon just a few simple message passing routines and so it may be implemented across a broad class of MIMD machines. Moreover, the method of parallelization is such that the original serial code is left virtually intact, and so we are left with just a single product to support. The importance of this fact should not be underestimated given the size and complexity of the original algorithm.

Quirk, James J.↗

NASA NTRS1994

The organic surface of 5145 Pholus: Constraints set by scattering theory

No known body in the Solar System has a spectrum redder than that of object 5145 Pholus. We use Hapke scattering theory and optical constants measured in this laboratory to examine the ability of mixtures of a number of organic solids and ices to reproduce the observed spectrum and phase variation. The primary materials considered are poly-HCN, kerogen, Murchison organic extract, Titan tholin, ice tholin, and water ice. In a computer grid search of over 10 million models, we find an intraparticle mixture of 15% Titan tholin, 10% poly-HCN, and 75% water ice with 10-micrometers particles to provide an excellent fit. Replacing water ice with ammonia ice improves the fits significantly while using a pure hydrocarbon tholin, Tholin alpha, instead of Titan tholin makes only modest improvements. All acceptable fits require Titan tholin or some comparable material to provide the steep slope in the visible, and poly-HCN or some comparable material to provide strong absorption in the near-infrared. A pure Titan tholin surface with 16-micrometers particles, as well as all acceptable Pholus models, fit the present spectrophotometric data for the transplutonian object 1992 QB(sub 1). The feasibility of gas-phase chemistry to generate material like Titan tholin on such small objects is examined. An irradiated transient atmosphere arising from sublimating ices may generate at most a few centimeters of tholin over the lifetime of the Solar System, but this is insignificant compared to the expected lag deposit of primordial contaminants left behind by the sublimating ice. Irradiation of subsurface N2/CH4 or NH3/CH4 ice by cosmic rays may generate approximately 20 cm of tholin in the upper 10 m of regolith in the same time scale but the identity of this tholin to its gas-phase equivalent has not been demonstrated.

Wilson, Peter D.↗

NASA NTRS1994

The delayed-detonation model of a type Ia supernovae. 1: The deflagration phase

The nature of the 'delayed detonation' mechanism of Khokhlov for the explosion of Type Ia supernovae is investigated by using two-dimensional numerical hydrodynamics simulations. A new algorithm is used to treat the deflagration front. Assuming that it propagates locally at the laminar flame speed, the deflagration is insufficient to unbind the star. Expansion shuts of the flame; much of this small production of iron group nuclei occurs at lower densities, which reduces the electron-capture problem. The burning front does become wrinkled, but the wavelength of the instability is much larger than the computational grid size and is resolved; this is consistent with previous analysis. Because the degenerate star has an adiabatic exponent only slightly above 4/3, the energy released by deflagration drives a pulsation of large amplitude. During the first expansion phase, adiabatic cooling shuts off the burning, and a Rayleigh-Taylor instability then gives mixing of high-entropy ashes with low-entropy fuel. During the first contraction phase, compressional heating reignites the material. This paper deals with the deflagration phase, from the onset of burning, through expansion and quenching of the flame, to the first contraction.

Arnett, David↗

NASA NTRS1995

Computing supernova collapse to neutron stars and black holes

We present a new numerical code for spherical hydrodynamics in general relativity. The code can handle gravitational collapse to a neutron star or to a black hole without the appearance of singularities. Moreover, the variables and equations in the code are very similar to those appearing in traditional Lagrangian supernova codes. Any such existing code can thus be easily adapted to treat collapse where the final fate is uncertain and may be either a neutron star or a black hole. The code is based on the formulation of Hernandez & Misner, in which retarded time is used as coordinate. This prevents the computational grid from penetrating inside any black hole that may form. We present the equations and a complete finite difference scheme for the adiabatic evolution of a fluid that obeys a gamma-law equation of state. We summarize the results of several testbed calculations performed to check our code. We also give the transformation of the analytic Oppenheimer-Snyder solution for homogeneous dust collapse to our coordinate system.

Baumgarte, Thomas W.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Load Balancing Unstructured Adaptive Grids for CFD Problems

Mesh adaption is a powerful tool for efficient unstructured-grid computations but causes load imbalance among processors on a parallel machine. A dynamic load balancing method is presented that balances the workload across all processors with a global view. After each parallel tetrahedral mesh adaption, the method first determines if the new mesh is sufficiently unbalanced to warrant a repartitioning. If so, the adapted mesh is repartitioned, with new partitions assigned to processors so that the redistribution cost is minimized. The new partitions are accepted only if the remapping cost is compensated by the improved load balance. Results indicate that this strategy is effective for large-scale scientific computations on distributed-memory multiprocessors.

Biswas, Rupak↗

NASA NTRS2001

A Framework for Control and Observation in Distributed Environments

As organizations begin to deploy large computational grids, it has become apparent that systems for observation and control of the resources, services, and applications that make up such grids are needed. Administrators must observe the operation of resources and services to ensure that they are operating correctly and they must control the resources and services to ensure that their operation meets the needs of users. Further, users need to observe the performance of their applications so that this performance can be improved and control how their applications execute in a dynamic grid environment. In this paper we describe our software framework for control and observation of resources, services, and applications that supports such uses and we provide examples of how our framework can be used.

Smith, Warren↗