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At least 397 records · Page 22

The GOES-R Lightning Mapper Sensor

The Lightning Mapper Sensor on GOES-R builds on previous measurements of lightning from low earth orbit by the OTD (Optical Transient Detector) and LIS (Lightning Imaging Sensor) sensors. Unlike observations from low earth orbit, the GOES-R platform will allow continuous monitoring of lightning activity over the Continental United States and southern Canada, Central and South America, and portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The LMS will detect total (cloud-to-ground and intracloud) lightning at storm scale resolution (approx. 8 km) using a highly sensitive Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detector array. Discrimination between lightning optical transients and a bright sunlit background scene is accomplished by employing spectral, spatial, and temporal filtering along with a background subtraction technique. The result is 24 hour detection capability of total lightning. These total lightning observations can be made available to users within about 20 seconds. Research indicates a number of ways that total lightning observations from LMS could benefit operational activities, including 1) potential increases in lead times and reduced false alarms for severe thunderstorm and tornado Warnings, 2) improved routing of &rail around thunderstorms, 3) support for spacecraft launches and landings, 4) improved ability to monitor tropical cyclone intensity, 5) ability to monitor thunderstorm intensification/weakening during radar outages or where radar coverage is poor, 6) better identification of deep convection for the initialization of numerical prediction models, 7) improved forest fire forecasts, 8) identification of convective initiation, 9) identification of heavy convective snowfall, and 10) enhanced temporal resolution of storm evolution (1 minute) than is available from radar observations. Total lightning data has been used in an operational environment since July 2003 at the Huntsville, Alabama National Weather Service office. Total lightning measurements are obtained by the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) and have successfully been used in warning decisions. Every 2 minutes, total lightning counts in 2 km by 2 km horizontal, 1 km vertical grids are available to forecasters on an AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) workstation. Experience with the LMA total lightning data is used to illustrate the potential use of LMS data that would be available to forecasters across the US. This abstract is for submission as a presentation to the National Weather Association Annual Meeting to be held 16-21 October 2004 in Portland, OR. This abstract will be published in the conference proceedings.

Buechler, Dennis↗

Mesoscale and severe storms (Mass) data management and analysis system

Progress on the Mesoscale and Severe Storms (MASS) data management and analysis system is described. An interactive atmospheric data base management software package to convert four types of data (Sounding, Single Level, Grid, Image) into standard random access formats is implemented and integrated with the MASS AVE80 Series general purpose plotting and graphics display data analysis software package. An interactive analysis and display graphics software package (AVE80) to analyze large volumes of conventional and satellite derived meteorological data is enhanced to provide imaging/color graphics display utilizing color video hardware integrated into the MASS computer system. Local and remote smart-terminal capability is provided by installing APPLE III computer systems within individual scientist offices and integrated with the MASS system, thus providing color video display, graphics, and characters display of the four data types.

Hickey, J. S.↗

CAPRI: Using a Geometric Foundation for Computational Analysis and Design

CAPRI (Computational Analysis Programming Interface) is a software development tool intended to make computerized design, simulation and analysis faster and more efficient. The computational steps traditionally taken for most engineering analysis (Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), structural analysis, etc.) are: Surface Generation, usually by employing a Computer Aided Design (CAD) system; Grid Generation, preparing the volume for the simulation; Flow Solver, producing the results at the specified operational point; Post-processing Visualization, interactively attempting to understand the results. It should be noted that the structures problem is more tractable than CFD; there are fewer mesh topologies used and the grids are not as fine (this problem space does not have the length scaling issues of fluids). For CFD, these steps have worked well in the past for simple steady-state simulations at the expense of much user interaction. The data was transmitted between phases via files. In most cases, the output from a CAD system could go IGES files. The output from Grid Generators and Solvers do not really have standards though there are a couple of file formats that can be used for a subset of the gridding (i.e. PLOT3D) data formats and the upcoming CGNS). The user would have to patch up the data or translate from one format to another to move to the next step. Sometimes this could take days. Instead of the serial approach to analysis, CAPRI takes a geometry centric approach. CAPRI is a software building tool-kit that refers to two ideas: (1) A simplified, object-oriented, hierarchical view of a solid part integrating both geometry and topology definitions, and (2) programming access to this part or assembly and any attached data. The connection to the geometry is made through an Application Programming Interface (API) and not a file system.

Haimes, Robert↗

Dominant balance-based adaptive mesh refinement for incompressible fluid flows

This work introduces a novel adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method that utilizes dominant balance analysis (DBA) for efficient and accurate grid adaptation in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The proposed method leverages a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to classify grid cells into active and passive regions based on the dominant physical interactions within the equation space. By modeling truncation error probabilistically from discretized terms, the method identifies regions of high interaction where numerical accuracy is most sensitive to resolution. Unlike traditional AMR strategies, this approach does not rely on heuristic-based sensors or user-defined thresholds, providing a fully automated and problem-independent framework for AMR. Applied to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for steady and unsteady flow past a cylinder, the DBA-based AMR method achieves comparable accuracy to high-resolution grids while reducing computational costs by up to 70 %. The validation highlights the method’s effectiveness in capturing complex flow features while minimizing grid cells, directing computational resources toward regions with the most critical dynamics. This modular and scalable strategy is adaptable to a wide range of applications, presenting a promising tool for efficient high-fidelity simulations in CFD and other multiphysics domains.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

The Volume Grid Manipulator (VGM): A Grid Reusability Tool

This document is a manual describing how to use the Volume Grid Manipulation (VGM) software. The code is specifically designed to alter or manipulate existing surface and volume structured grids to improve grid quality through the reduction of grid line skewness, removal of negative volumes, and adaption of surface and volume grids to flow field gradients. The software uses a command language to perform all manipulations thereby offering the capability of executing multiple manipulations on a single grid during an execution of the code. The command language can be input to the VGM code by a UNIX style redirected file, or interactively while the code is executing. The manual consists of 14 sections. The first is an introduction to grid manipulation; where it is most applicable and where the strengths of such software can be utilized. The next two sections describe the memory management and the manipulation command language. The following 8 sections describe simple and complex manipulations that can be used in conjunction with one another to smooth, adapt, and reuse existing grids for various computations. These are accompanied by a tutorial section that describes how to use the commands and manipulations to solve actual grid generation problems. The last two sections are a command reference guide and trouble shooting sections to aid in the use of the code as well as describe problems associated with generated scripts for manipulation control.

Alter, Stephen J.↗

A generic efficient adaptive grid scheme for rocket propulsion modeling

The objective of this research is to develop an efficient, time-accurate numerical algorithm to discretize the Navier-Stokes equations for the predictions of internal one-, two-dimensional and axisymmetric flows. A generic, efficient, elliptic adaptive grid generator is implicitly coupled with the Lower-Upper factorization scheme in the development of ALUNS computer code. The calculations of one-dimensional shock tube wave propagation and two-dimensional shock wave capture, wave-wave interactions, shock wave-boundary interactions show that the developed scheme is stable, accurate and extremely robust. The adaptive grid generator produced a very favorable grid network by a grid speed technique. This generic adaptive grid generator is also applied in the PARC and FDNS codes and the computational results for solid rocket nozzle flowfield and crystal growth modeling by those codes will be presented in the conference, too. This research work is being supported by NASA/MSFC.

Mo, J. D.↗

Out-of-Core Streamline Visualization on Large Unstructured Meshes

It's advantageous for computational scientists to have the capability to perform interactive visualization on their desktop workstations. For data on large unstructured meshes, this capability is not generally available. In particular, particle tracing on unstructured grids can result in a high percentage of non-contiguous memory accesses and therefore may perform very poorly with virtual memory paging schemes. The alternative of visualizing a lower resolution of the data degrades the original high-resolution calculations. This paper presents an out-of-core approach for interactive streamline construction on large unstructured tetrahedral meshes containing millions of elements. The out-of-core algorithm uses an octree to partition and restructure the raw data into subsets stored into disk files for fast data retrieval. A memory management policy tailored to the streamline calculations is used such that during the streamline construction only a very small amount of data are brought into the main memory on demand. By carefully scheduling computation and data fetching, the overhead of reading data from the disk is significantly reduced and good memory performance results. This out-of-core algorithm makes possible interactive streamline visualization of large unstructured-grid data sets on a single mid-range workstation with relatively low main-memory capacity: 5-20 megabytes. Our test results also show that this approach is much more efficient than relying on virtual memory and operating system's paging algorithms.

Ueng, Shyh-Kuang↗

Ion Engine Plume Interaction Calculations for Prototypical Prometheus 1

Prometheus 1 is a conceptual mission to demonstrate the use of atomic energy for distant space missions. The hypothetical spacecraft design considered in this paper calls for multiple ion thrusters, each with considerably higher beam energy and beam current than have previously flown in space. The engineering challenges posed by such powerful thrusters relate not only to the thrusters themselves, but also to designing the spacecraft to avoid potentially deleterious effects of the thruster plumes. Accommodation of these thrusters requires good prediction of the highest angle portions of the main beam, as well as knowledge of clastically scattered and charge exchange ions, predictions for grid erosion and contamination of surfaces by eroded grid material, and effects of the plasma plume on radio transmissions. Nonlinear interactions of multiple thrusters are also of concern. In this paper we describe two- and three-dimensional calculations for plume structure and effects of conceptual Prometheus 1 ion engines. Many of the techniques used have been validated by application to ground test data for the NSTAR and NEXT ion engines. Predictions for plume structure and possible sputtering and contamination effects will be presented.

Mandell, Myron J.↗

Beyond Price-Taker: Multiscale Optimization of Wind and Battery Integrated Energy Systems

Integrating renewable energy into the electric grid is challenging due to the intermittency and variability of wind and other non-dispatchable resources. Integrated energy systems (IESs) combine multiple energy technologies (e.g., fossil, nuclear, renewables, storage) to reduce costs and improve flexibility and reliability. However, standard techno-economic analysis (TEA) methods often overestimate the benefits of IESs because they fail to account for energy market adjustments. This paper systematically studies the limitations of the prevailing price-taker assumption for TEA and optimization of hybrid energy systems. As an illustrative case study, we retrofit an existing wind farm in the RTS-GMLC test system (which loosely mimics the Southwest U.S.) with battery energy storage to form an IES. We show that the standard price-taker model overestimates the electricity revenue and the net present value (NPV) of the IES up to 178% and 30.4%, respectively, compared to our more rigorous multiscale optimization. These differences arise because introducing storage creates a more flexible resource that impacts the larger wholesale electricity market. Moreover, this work highlights the impact of the IES has on the market via various strategic bidding, and underscores the importance of moving beyond price-taker for optimal storage sizing and TEA of IESs. We conclude by discussing opportunities to generalize the proposed framework to other IESs, and highlight emerging research questions regarding the complex interactions between IESs and markets.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

ENSAERO - A multidisciplinary program for fluid/structural interaction studies of aerospace vehicles

A computational procedure is developed that uses a moving zonal grid concept to model complex flexible aerospace vehicles. The Euler/Navier-Stokes equations are used to model the flow, and computations are made using efficient methods based on both central and upwind schemes. The structure is represented by a finite element method which can model general aerospace vehicles. Provisions are made to accommodate other disciplines such as controls and thermal loads. The code is capable of computing unsteady flows on flexible wings with vortical flows. Adaptation of this procedure for parallel processing and validation for complete aerospace configurations is in progress.

Guruswamy, G. P.↗

Existing Methods for Grid Strength Assessment and Role of Hydropower in Future Grids

The power system is undergoing rapid evolution with increasing penetration of inverter-based resources (IBRs), large loads, microgrids, and power electronic devices. Ensuring reliable and stable operation of the modern power grid is a multi-faceted challenge that requires detailed understanding of this complex system. Dynamic stability is a major concern in maintaining the security of power grids as the generation mixes and large loads transitions to include high shares of power electronic devices. The operation of IBRs in regions with low system strength and higher grid impedances has been found to be the main reason behind many of the power system instabilities that manifest themselves in various types of oscillations and interactions that, if not properly addressed and damped, can jeopardize the reliable operation of the power system. Weak grid conditions compound such stability problems, particularly when many IBRs operate in proximity to and connect to weak power grids. Therefore, it is important to assess grid strength for planning, integration and operation of IBRs for a given power system. In this report, we aim to understand and classify existing methodologies for grid strength assessment, along with their limitations and future needs. Further, we aim to utilize the huge untapped potential in utilizing hydro energy resources in addressing some of the pertinent challenges of grid strength and reliable operation of modern power systems. Hydropower, historically valued for its flexibility and dispatchability, now faces new constraints due to reduced share of synchronous machines in the generation mix and seasonal variability of available water resources. Yet, these same plants present untapped potential beyond energy generation - notably, as providers of critical grid services. This report explores how hydropower plants, particularly through operation as synchronous condensers, can play a pivotal role in strengthening the grid amid evolving system dynamics.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

Boundary-Layer-Coupled and Decoupled Clouds in Global Storm-Resolving Models: Comparisons With the ARM Observations

The accurate representation of interactions between clouds and planetary boundary layer (PBL) is a persistent challenge in climate models, critical for simulating surface energy budget. The emergence of kilometer-grid-scale global storm resolving models (GSRMs) offers the potential for enhanced details of PBL processes in these complex interactions. This study evaluates the representation of PBL-coupled and decoupled clouds in nine GSRM simulations against extensive ground-based observations by the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, across six sites encompassing diverse regimes such as marine and continental environments in tropics and midlatitude. By differentiating coupling based on the relative positions between cloud bases and PBL tops, our analysis focuses on the simulation of PBL height, cloud frequency, position and vertical extent. The GSRMs generally exhibit commendable agreements with observed cloud structures and PBL diurnal cycles across different ARM sites. In contrast to the relatively consistent representation of decoupled clouds, discrepancies exist between the simulated and the observed coupled clouds, particularly in areas of intense convection, for example, over tropical rainforests and mountainous regions. These biases are probably associated with the models' tendency to underestimate the boundary layer humidity and the frequency of coupled clouds within different ranges of PBL heights. This study underscores the importance for continuous improvements in the representation of boundary layer and convection within these global kilometer-grid-scale models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Transfer Learning Trained LSTM Models for Household Load Profile Forecasting

Grid edge renewable energy resources, such as rooftop solar photovoltaics, closely interact with consumer load profiles. Therefore, forecasting future electricity demand, ideally at the individual household level, is indispensable. In this paper, we present a transfer learning enhanced household load profile forecasting method. First, we tune a long short-term memory forecasting model to perform day-ahead prediction of household electricity load profiles. Then we improve these individualized models using transfer learning, and we use k-means clustering to create optimal source data sets. We find average improvements of 4.38% (largest improvement of 10.71%) when the entire data set was used to train the source model and 2.45% (largest improvement of 11.57%) in the mean absolute error when households were first clustered and used to train separate source models for each cluster. We find that transfer learning with clustered data can effectively boost the forecasting performance of the LSTM models. We use realistic household power measurements for 148 real residential households in Austin, Texas.

deep learning↗

ChargeX OCPI Recommendations

The Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) is an open protocol that enables electric vehicle (EV) charging systems to work together across networks. It supports communication and data sharing between Charge Point Operators (CPOs), who manage charging stations, and e-Mobility Service Providers (eMSPs), who provide charging services to EV drivers. OCPI facilitates functions like user authorization, remote charge point control, charging session data exchange, and billing through Charge Detail Records (CDRs). This allows EV roaming, so drivers can charge at different networks without multiple accounts. As the EV market grows due to increased adoption and technological advancements, OCPI faces higher demands. This has revealed issues with CDR format consistency, timestamp standardization across regions, transmission of EV-side error codes for troubleshooting, and support for new use cases. These challenges can affect operations and user experience, particularly as the industry starts considering Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) systems, where EVs supply energy to the grid, and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) technologies for broader energy interactions. Using feedback from the ChargeX Diagnostics taskforce discussions, industry 1-on-1 meetings, technical standards, and OCPI’s evolution through versions (e.g., OCPI 2.1.1, 2.2, and 2.2.1), this report identifies these issues and suggests practical recommendations. These aim to improve interoperability, streamline operations, and prepare OCPI for future trends in the EV charging ecosystem.

32 - ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZA↗

The screen hole plasma sheath of an ion accelerator system

Results of the first probing of the screen hole sheath of an ion accelerator system are presented. The screen hole sheath, represented as a set of equipotential contours, extends over a large distance within the discharge plasma. Under no conditions examined does the sheath enter the screen hole. Edge hole defocusing of multiaperture accelerator systems is due primarily to local plasma density variations rather than adjacent screen hole sheath interactions. The sheath boundary is independent of screen-to-accelerator grid spacing when the grid set is operated at the minimum ion beam divergence condition. Significant ion focusing effects occur in the sheath adjacent to the screen grid webbing leading to increased ion source beam current efficiency with decreasing screen-to-accelerator grid separation and/or screen grid thickness.

Aston, G.↗

AGARD Fluid Dynamics Panel Symposium on Applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Aeronautics: Proceedings

The Fluid Dynamics Panel of AGARD arranged a Symposium on Applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Aeronautics, on 7 to 10 April 1986 in Aix-en-Provence, France. The purpose of the Symposium was to provide an assessment of the status of CFD in aerodynamic design and analysis, with an emphasis on emerging applications of advanced computational techniques to complex configurations. Sessions were devoted specifically to grid generation, methods for inviscid flows, calculations of viscous-inviscid interactions, and methods for solving the Navier-Stokes equations. The 31 papers presented at the meeting are published in AGARD Conference Proceedings CP-412 and are listed in the Appendix of this report. A brief synopsis of each paper and some general conclusions and recommendations are given.

Mccroskey, W. J.↗

Estimation of continental precipitation recycling

The total amount of water that precipitates on large continental regions is supplied by two mechanisms: 1) advection from the surrounding areas external to the region and 2) evaporation and transpiration from the land surface within the region. The latter supply mechanism is tantamount to the recycling of precipitation over the continental area. The degree to which regional precipitation is supplied by recycled moisture is a potentially significant climate feedback mechanism and land surface-atmosphere interaction, which may contribute to the persistence and intensification of droughts. Gridded data on observed wind and humidity in the global atmosphere are used to determine the convergence of atmospheric water vapor over continental regions. A simplified model of the atmospheric moisture over continents and simultaneous estimates of regional precipitation are employed to estimate, for several large continental regions, the fraction of precipitation that is locally derived. The results indicate that the contribution of regional evaporation to regional precipitation varies substantially with location and season. For the regions studied, the ratio of locally contributed to total monthly precipitation generally lies between 0. 10 and 0.30 but is as high as 0.40 in several cases.

Brubaker, Kaye L.↗

Convective Systems Over the Japan Sea: Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations

Wintertime observations of MCSs (Mesoscale Convective Systems) over the Sea of Japan - 2001 (WMO-01) were collected from January 12 to February 1, 2001. One of the major objectives is to better understand and forecast snow systems and accompanying disturbances and the associated key physical processes involved in the formation and development of these disturbances. Multiple observation platforms (e.g., upper-air soundings, Doppler radar, wind profilers, radiometers, etc.) during WMO-01 provided a first attempt at investigating the detailed characteristics of convective storms and air pattern changes associated with winter storms over the Sea of Japan region. WMO-01 also provided estimates of the apparent heat source (Q1) and apparent moisture sink (Q2). The vertical integrals of Q1 and Q2 are equal to the surface precipitation rates. The horizontal and vertical adjective components of Q1 and Q2 can be used as large-scale forcing for the Cloud Resolving Models (CRMs). The Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model is a CRM (typically run with a 1-km grid size). The GCE model has sophisticated microphysics and allows explicit interactions between clouds, radiation, and surface processes. It will be used to understand and quantify precipitation processes associated with wintertime convective systems over the Sea of Japan (using data collected during the WMO-01). This is the first cloud-resolving model used to simulate precipitation processes in this particular region. The GCE model-simulated WMO-01 results will also be compared to other GCE model-simulated weather systems that developed during other field campaigns (i.e., South China Sea, west Pacific warm pool region, eastern Atlantic region and central USA).

Tao, Wei-Kuo↗