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At least 55 records · Page 3

Data-driven closure modeling for hypersonic turbulent flows

The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations remain a workhorse technology for simulating compressible fluid flows of practical interest. Due to model-form errors, however, RANS models can yield erroneous predictions that preclude their use on mission-critical problems. This report summarizes work performed from FY22-FY24 focused on improving RANS models for hypersonic flows using data-driven modeling and scientific machine learning. In this work we: 1. Investigate the current capabilities of RANS models in Sandia’s parallel aerodynamics and re-entry code (SPARC) for hypersonic flows with a focus on shock boundary layer interactions (SBLIs), 2. Assess several established corrections that exist in the literature aimed at improving predictions for SBLIs, 3. Develop improved models for the Reynolds stress tensor using tensor-basis neural networks, 4. Develop a neural-network-based variable turbulent Prandtl number model to reduce errors in wall heating in SBLIs. 5. Begin future investigations including employing the LIFE framework to improve wall heating predictions in SBLIs as well as the ensemble Kalman filter. We find that current RANS models in SPARC are deficient for complex SBLI flows. In particular, no current model jointly predicts wall heat flux, wall shear stress, and wall pressure with reasonable accuracy. Existing corrections help, but do not alleviate this issue altogether. The development of improved models for the Reynolds stress tensor via tensor-basis neural networks results in more predictive RANS models across a suite of low-speed and high-speed cases. For hypersonic boundary layers, the inclusion of the wall-normal Reynolds stress via TBNNs has an appreciable impact on the wall-normal momentum balance and wall quantities. However, we find that improvements to the Reynolds stress tensor do not address the over-prediction in wall heat flux in SBLIs. We find that a neural-network-based variable turbulent Prandtl number model systematically and substantially improves wall heating predictions for a range of SBLI cases.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Mechanical signals in plant development: a new method for single cell studies

Cell division, which is critical to plant development and morphology, requires the orchestration of hundreds of intracellular processes. In the end, however, cells must make critical decisions, based on a discrete set of mechanical signals such as stress, strain, and shear, to divide in such a way that they will survive the mechanical loads generated by turgor pressure and cell enlargement within the growing tissues. Here we report on a method whereby tobacco protoplasts swirled into a 1.5% agarose entrapment medium will survive and divide. The application of a controlled mechanical load to agarose blocks containing protoplasts orients the primary division plane of the embedded cells. Photoelastic analysis of the agarose entrapment medium can identify the lines of principal stress within the agarose, confirming the hypothesis that cells divide either parallel or perpendicular to the principal stress tensors. The coincidence between the orientation of the new division wall and the orientation of the principal stress tensors suggests that the perception of mechanical stress is a characteristic of individual plant cells. The ability of a cell to determine a shear-free orientation for a new partition wall may be related to the applied load through the deformation of the matrix material. In an isotropic matrix a uniaxial load will produce a rotationally symmetric strain field, which will define a shear-free plane. Where high stress intensities combine with the loading geometry to produce multiaxial loads there will be no axis of rotational symmetry and hence no shear free plane. This suggests that two mechanisms may be orienting the division plane, one a mechanism that works in rotationally symmetrical fields, yielding divisions perpendicular to the compressive tensor, parallel to the long axis of the cell, and one in asymmetric fields, yielding divisions parallel to the short axis of the cell and the compressive tensor.

NASA Discipline Number 40-50↗

Subsurface stress evaluations under rolling/sliding contacts

A computer model has been developed for evaluating the subsurface stresses incurred within rolling/sliding (elastic) contacts. The model involves first defining the stress tensor at any point (x, y, or z) beneath the surface in terms of the surface stresses. The stress tensors are analyzed to determine the maximum shear stresses and stress reversals. As a result of computations with the model, several observations were made. For example, the maximum reversing shear stresses are on the plane of the orthogonal shear stress. Further, the magnitude of these stresses is not altered by friction. However, under very high friction (typical of dry contact) surface stresses can dominate over subsurface stresses.

Kannel, J. W.↗

Computation of turbulent flows

All of the work deals with a model that incorporates dynamical equations for the mean velocity field, for all components of the Reynolds stress tensor, and for the 'isotropic dissipation'. The trace of the Reynolds stress tensor provides a velocity scale for the turbulence. For completeness, a turbulence length or time scale is also needed; many workers impose the length scales, but in a generalized model it must be evolved by the turbulence itself. In order, the following special classes of flows are considered: (1) decay of isotropic turbulence, (2) return to isotropy in homogeneous turbulence without strain, (3) homogeneous turbulence with strain, and (4) inhomogeneous turbulence with strain and turbulent transport.

Reynolds, W. C.↗

Principal stress formulation of continua motion

Principal stress coordinates are formulated for a material without tension, with the equations of motion projected onto a selected coordinate system. The translations are achieved by forming the local basis vector in correspondence with the local stress tensor. The principal stress coordinates are described as orthogonal and curvilinear, and the metric is defined. The kinematics and dynamics of the principal stress coordinates are analyzed, the latter in orthogonal coordinates, and an analytic formulation of the dynamics of a no-tension material is provided. Finally, elastic granular material such as sand, soil, etc., which are more complicated versions of no-tension material, are explored.

Zak, M.↗

Bootstrapping 2d ϕ 4 theory with Hamiltonian truncation data

We combine the methods of Hamiltonian Truncation and the recently proposed generalisation of the S-matrix bootstrap that includes local operators to determine the two-particle scattering amplitude and the two-particle form factor of the stress tensor at s > 0 in the 2d Φ 4 theory. We use the form factor of the stress tensor at s ≤ 0 and its spectral density computed using Lightcone Conformal Truncation (LCT), and inject them into the generalized S-matrix bootstrap set-up. The obtained results for the scattering amplitude and the form factor are fully reliable only in the elastic regime. We independently construct the “pure” S-matrix bootstrap bounds (bootstrap without including matrix elements of local operators), and find that the sinh-Gordon model and its analytic continuation the “staircase model” saturate these bounds. Surprisingly, the Φ 4 two-particle scattering amplitude also very nearly saturates these bounds, and moreover is extremely close to that of the sinh-Gordon/staircase model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Drag viscosity of metals and its connection to Coulomb drag

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in studies of hydrodynamic transport in electronic systems. We investigate the electron viscosity of metals and find a component that is closely related to Coulomb drag. By using linear-response theory, viscosity, which is a transport coefficient for momentum, can be extracted from the retarded correlation function of the momentum flux, i.e., the stress tensor. There exists a previously overlooked contribution to the shear viscosity from the interacting part of the stress tensor which accounts for the momentum flow induced by interactions. This contribution, which we dub drag viscosity, is caused by the frictional drag force due to long-range interactions. It is therefore linked to Coulomb drag which also originates from the interaction-induced drag force. Starting from the Kubo formula and using the Keldysh technique, we compute the drag viscosity of two- and three-dimensional metals along with the drag resistivity of double-layer two-dimensional electronic systems. Both the drag resistivity and drag viscosity exhibit a crossover from quadratic-in-$\textit{T}$ behavior at low temperatures to a linear behavior at higher temperatures. Although the drag viscosity appears relatively small compared with the normal Drude component for the clean metals, it may dominate hydrodynamic transport in some systems, which are discussed in the conclusion.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Kinetic study of strong shock waves in fully ionized plasmas

Fully kinetic simulations are used in this work to study strong shock waves in fully ionized plasmas for charge state 𝑍 ranging from 1 to 18. The ion stress tensor amplitude agrees well with classical predictions within the compression layer; however, its spatial structure is noticeably shaped by nonlocal transport effects. The electron stress tensor remains significantly smaller than that of the ions for all values of 𝑍 considered. Ion overheating in the compression layer is observed to scale approximately linearly with 𝑍. Both findings diverge from hydrodynamic models based on classical electron stress formulations. In conclusion, the electrons exhibit strong nonlocal behavior in the compression layer, with Knudsen numbers approaching unity for 𝑍 ≥ 6.

Physics - Plasma physics↗

Implicit Large-Eddy Simulations of Compressible Mixing Layers

Implicit large-eddy simulations of the self-similar regions of two compressible mixing layers at high Reynolds number and convective Mach numbers of 0.381 and 0.690 were carried out. Experimental data was used as the input into a synthetic eddy method turbulent inflow boundary condition to initiate simulations. Computational grids with nearly isotropic cells were used and the grid counts ranged from 24 to 270 million points. Agreement with experimental velocity and Reynolds stress data was good given the simplifications of the simulation. The decrease in mixing layer growth rate with increasing compressibility compares well with the literature. Budgets for the Reynolds stress transport equation were extracted from the simulations. It was demonstrated that the grids used did not resolve the dissipation term at the experimental Reynolds number. However, low Reynolds number simulations indicate that the numerical dissipation replaces the physical dissipation and the dissipation term in the transport equation can be represented by the summation term that quantifies the imbalance in the budget. The budgets for the high Reynolds number mixing layers agree well with previous low Reynolds number studies; indicating that the primary mechanism for the reduced growth rate and increased anistropy of the Reynolds stress tensor due to compressibility is a reduction in the pressure-strain and production terms. A new scaling based on the magnitude of the Reynolds stress tensor is proposed. This scaling provides better relative comparisons between the data and shows that the decrease in pressure-strain in the shear component is the primary driver in reducing the transverse normal stress.

turbulence↗

Strongly Anisotropic Thermomechanical Response to Shock Wave Loading in Oriented Samples of the Triclinic Molecular Crystal 1,3,5-Triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene

All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to study shock wave loading in oriented single crystals of the highly anisotropic triclinic molecular crystal 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB). The crystal structure consists of planar hydrogen-bonded sheets of individually planar TATB molecules that stack into graphitic-like layers. Shocks were studied for seven systematically prepared crystal orientations with limiting cases that correspond to shock propagation exactly perpendicular and exactly parallel to the graphitic-like layers. The simulations were performed for initially defect-free crystals using a reverse-ballistic configuration that generates explicit, supported shocks. Final longitudinal stress components are between ≈8.5 and ≈10.5 GPa for the 1.0 km s –1 impact speed studied. Orientation-dependent properties are reported including shock speeds, stresses, temperatures, compression ratios, and local material strain rates. Spatiotemporal maps of the temperature, stress tensor, material flow, and molecular orientations reveal complicated processes that arise for specific shock directions. Furthermore, the results indicate that TATB shock response is highly sensitive to crystal orientation, with significant qualitative differences for the time evolution of the stress tensor and temperature, elastic/inelastic compression response, defect formation and growth, critical von Mises stress, and strain rates during shock rise that span nearly an order of magnitude. A variety of inelastic deformation mechanisms are identified, ranging from crumpling of graphitic-like layers to dislocation-mediated plasticity to intense shear strain localization. To our knowledge, these are the first systematic MD simulations and analysis of explicit shock wave propagation along nontrivial crystal directions in a triclinic molecular crystal.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

On the large eddy simulation of turbulent flows in complex geometry

Application of the method of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) to a turbulent flow consists of three separate steps. First, a filtering operation is performed on the Navier-Stokes equations to remove the small spatial scales. The resulting equations that describe the space time evolution of the 'large eddies' contain the subgrid-scale (sgs) stress tensor that describes the effect of the unresolved small scales on the resolved scales. The second step is the replacement of the sgs stress tensor by some expression involving the large scales - this is the problem of 'subgrid-scale modeling'. The final step is the numerical simulation of the resulting 'closed' equations for the large scale fields on a grid small enough to resolve the smallest of the large eddies, but still much larger than the fine scale structures at the Kolmogorov length. In dividing a turbulent flow field into 'large' and 'small' eddies, one presumes that a cut-off length delta can be sensibly chosen such that all fluctuations on a scale larger than delta are 'large eddies' and the remainder constitute the 'small scale' fluctuations. Typically, delta would be a length scale characterizing the smallest structures of interest in the flow. In an inhomogeneous flow, the 'sensible choice' for delta may vary significantly over the flow domain. For example, in a wall bounded turbulent flow, most statistical averages of interest vary much more rapidly with position near the wall than far away from it. Further, there are dynamically important organized structures near the wall on a scale much smaller than the boundary layer thickness. Therefore, the minimum size of eddies that need to be resolved is smaller near the wall. In general, for the LES of inhomogeneous flows, the width of the filtering kernel delta must be considered to be a function of position. If a filtering operation with a nonuniform filter width is performed on the Navier-Stokes equations, one does not in general get the standard large eddy equations. The complication is caused by the fact that a filtering operation with a nonuniform filter width in general does not commute with the operation of differentiation. This is one of the issues that we have looked at in detail as it is basic to any attempt at applying LES to complex geometry flows. Our principal findings are summarized.

Ghosal, Sandip↗

Analysis of faults and pit chains in Noctis Labyrinthus: Implications for early extension and possible magmatic plumbing

Noctis Labyrinthus has been a region of disputed origin due to its complexity and poor understanding of how various processes and mechanisms may have combined to form it. The surface is an integrated record of intensive tectonic activity expressed by a multiple extended sets of dip-slip faults oriented in different directions, and thought to have acted on this region over its history. These faults are always coalescent to pits and pit chains displaying a complicated geological history in the region. To understand this geological history, we mapped the surface features in Noctis Labyrinthus using the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard Mars Express ND2 nadir channel basemaps, and we adapted the Digital Terrain Map (DTM) from the Mission Experiment Gridded Data Record (MEGDR) of Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) onboard Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) for the topography. We have investigated the spatial distribution and trend of fault systems, the pit chains' morphology, and the correlation between these two types of features. Our results show three fault systems: i) NS and NNE-SSW, ii) EW and ENE-WSW, and iii) NNW-SSE and NW. The analysis of the faults trending, cross-cutting correlation and the superimposition led to identify multiple intersections between these faults that have been alongside with the reactivations of some inherited faults. We interpreted the first system of fault to be related to coeval lateral extension, generated by regional stress tensor, which is probably related to the slight bending of Valles Marineris within two phases of bidirectional extension. The second system of faults has been generated by the radial oblate stress tensor related to the formation of the small shield volcanoes in Syria Planum. However, the third system is likely related to the external driving process, probably in the Tharsis province. We classified pits in four evolutionary stages based on their morphometric attributes. We believe that the formation of the pit chains in Noctis Labyrinthus is related to a surface collapse after a pressure drop related to the magma chamber deflation associated with Syria Planum volcanic province. We propose a deformational model based on early extension and magmatic plumbing as driving processes for the formation of Noctis Labyrinthus.

Mayssa El Yazidi↗

A new approach to the formulation of scalar flux closure

This report shows that if a stochastic differential equation (Langevin equation) for velocity fluctuation vector is known, it is possible to derive the equations for scalar flux transport. Durbin and Speziale (1994) showed that the second moment of this stochastic differential equation gives an equation for the evolution of Reynolds stress tensor. Similarly, the stochastic equation will give an equation for scalar flux. Therefore, a coupling between these two is present. The basis for the present work is that there should be Langevin equations that can produce acceptable models for both the Reynolds stress tensor and the scalar flux vector. Having found this basic Langevin equation, the amount of work needed to model the second order closure problems is reduced; using the well developed models for Reynolds stress equations, it will be possible to derive corresponding models for scalar flux equation.

Shabany, Y.↗

Islands in non-minimal dilaton gravity: exploring effective theories for black hole evaporation

We start from (3 + 1)-dimensional Einstein gravity with minimally coupled massless scalar matter, through spherical dimensional reduction, the matter theory is non-minimally coupled with the dilaton in (1 + 1)-dimensions. Despite its simplicity, constructing a self-consistent one-loop effective theory for this model remains a challenge, partially due to a Weyl-invariant ambiguity in the effective action. With a universal splitting property for the one-loop action, the ambiguity can be identified with the state-dependent part of the covariant quantum stress tensor. By introducing on-shell equivalent auxiliary fields to construct minimal candidates of Weyl-invariant terms, we derive a one-parameter family of one-loop actions with unique, regular, and physical stress tensors corresponding to the Boulware, Hartle-Hawking and Unruh states. We further study the back-reacted geometry and the corresponding quantum extremal islands that were inaccessible without a consistent one-loop theory. Along the way, we elaborate on the implications of our construction for the non-minimal dilaton gravity model.

2D Gravity↗

Turbulence modeling for non-equilibrium flow

The work performed during this year has involved further assessment and extension of the k-epsilon-v(exp 2) model, and initiation of work on scalar transport. The latter is introduced by the contribution of Y. Shabany to this volume. Flexible, computationally tractable models are needed for engineering CFD. As computational technology has progressed, the ability and need to use elaborate turbulence closure models has increased. The objective of our work is to explore and develop new analytical frameworks that might extend the applicability of the modeling techniques. In past years the development of a method for near-wall modeling was described. The method has been implemented into a CFD code and its viability has been demonstrated by various test cases. Further tests are reported herein. Non-equilibrium near-wall models are needed for some heat transfer applications. Scalar transport seems generally to be more sensitive to non-equilibrium effects than is momentum transport. For some applications turbulence anisotropy plays a role and an estimate of the full Reynolds stress tensor is needed. We have begun work on scalar transport per se, but in this brief I will only report on an extension of the k-epsilon-v(exp 2) model to predict the Reynolds stress tensor.

Durbin, P. A.↗

Hopper flows of mixtures of spherical and rod‐like particles via the multisphere method

Abstract The discharge of granular media from hoppers plays a vital role in many solids handling operations. The dynamic flow of poly‐disperse nonspherical particles differs markedly from mono‐disperse spheres and highlights the need to rigorously account for particle shape effects. The multisphere discrete element method (MS‐DEM) was utilized here to examine the bulk packing fraction, discharge rate, collisional stress tensor, and order parameter of a bi‐disperse sphere‐rod mixture evacuating a hopper. A modified form of the Myers and Sellers correlation with variable shape factor is capable of replicating the MS‐DEM discharge data. The collisional stress tensor is observed to be highly symmetric for mono‐disperse spheres but becomes asymmetric when rod‐like particles are introduced. The order parameter within the hopper increases significantly during discharge and the rod‐like particles undergo shear induced alignment with their long dimensions orthogonal to the outflow plane.

Lattanzi, Aaron M.↗

T Duality and T T ¯ -like Deformations of Sigma Models

We initiate the study of the interplay between T duality and classical stress tensor deformations in two-dimensional sigma models. We first show that a general Abelian T duality commutes with the T T ¯ deformation, which can be engineered by a gravitational dressing. Then, by using an auxiliary field formulation of stress tensor deformations of the principal chiral model (PCM), we prove that non-Abelian T duality and arbitrary T T ¯ -like flows also commute for theories in this class. We argue that all such auxiliary field deformations of both the PCM and its T dual are classically integrable. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Bielli, Daniele (ORCID:0009000640034768)↗

The numerical simulation of multistage turbomachinery flows

The effect of the unsteady flow field in a multistage compressor on the time-averaged performance was assessed. The energy transport by the unsteady deterministic flow field was taken into account. The magnitude of the body force resulting from the aerodynamic loading on a blade row was compared to the gradient of the stress tensor associated with the unsteady time-resolved flow field generated by the blade row. The magnitude of the work performed by these forces was compared to the divergence of the energy correlations produced by the unsteady time-resolved flow field. The stress tensor and the energy correlations are non-negligible in the end wall regions. The results suggest that the turbulence is the primary source of flow mixing in the midspan region.

Adamczyk, John J.↗