Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “source models”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

A study of the sources and sinks of methane and methyl chloroform using a global three-dimensional Lagrangian tropospheric tracer transport model

Sources and sinks of methane and methyl chloroform are investigated using a global three-dimensional Lagrangian tropospheric tracer transport model with parameterized hydroxyl and temperature fields. Using the hydroxyl radical field calibrated to the methyl chloroform observations, the globally averaged release of methane and its spatial and temporal distribution were investigated. Two source function models of the spatial and temporal distribution of the flux of methane to the atmosphere were developed. The first model was based on the assumption that methane is emitted as a proportion of net primary productivity (NPP). The second model identified source regions for methane from rice paddies, wetlands, enteric fermentation, termites, and biomass burning based on high-resolution land use data. The most significant difference between the two models were predictions of methane fluxes over China and South East Asia, the location of most of the world's rice paddies, indicating that either the assumption that a uniform fraction of NPP is converted to methane is not valid for rice paddies, or that NPP is underestimated for rice paddies, or that present methane emission estimates from rice paddies are too high.

Taylor, John A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Source Term Model for an Array of Vortex Generator Vanes

A source term model was developed for numerical simulations of an array of vortex generators. The source term models the side force created by a vortex generator being modeled. The model is obtained by introducing a side force to the momentum and energy equations that can adjust its strength automatically based on a local flow. The model was tested and calibrated by comparing data from numerical simulations and experiments of a single low-profile vortex generator vane, which is only a fraction of the boundary layer thickness, over a flat plate. The source term model allowed a grid reduction of about seventy percent when compared with the numerical simulations performed on a fully gridded vortex generator without adversely affecting the development and capture of the vortex created. The source term model was able to predict the shape and size of the stream wise vorticity and velocity contours very well when compared with both numerical simulations and experimental data.

Buning, P. G.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Source Term Model for Vortex Generator Vanes in a Navier-Stokes Computer Code

A source term model for an array of vortex generators was implemented into a non-proprietary Navier-Stokes computer code, OVERFLOW. The source term models the side force created by a vortex generator vane. The model is obtained by introducing a side force to the momentum and energy equations that can adjust its strength automatically based on the local flow. The model was tested and calibrated by comparing data from numerical simulations and experiments of a single low profile vortex generator vane on a flat plate. In addition, the model was compared to experimental data of an S-duct with 22 co-rotating, low profile vortex generators. The source term model allowed a grid reduction of about seventy percent when compared with the numerical simulations performed on a fully gridded vortex generator on a flat plate without adversely affecting the development and capture of the vortex created. The source term model was able to predict the shape and size of the stream-wise vorticity and velocity contours very well when compared with both numerical simulations and experimental data. The peak vorticity and its location were also predicted very well when compared to numerical simulations and experimental data. The circulation predicted by the source term model matches the prediction of the numerical simulation. The source term model predicted the engine fan face distortion and total pressure recovery of the S-duct with 22 co-rotating vortex generators very well. The source term model allows a researcher to quickly investigate different locations of individual or a row of vortex generators. The researcher is able to conduct a preliminary investigation with minimal grid generation and computational time.

Waithe, Kenrick A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A source-sink model of the generation of plate tectonics from non-Newtonian mantle flow

A model of mantle convection which generates plate tectonics requires strain rate- or stress-dependent rheology in order to produce strong platelike flows with weak margins as well as strike-slip deformation and plate spin (i.e., toroidal motion). Here, we employ a simple model of source-sink driven surface flow to determine the form of such a rheology that is appropriate for Earth's present-day plate motions. In this model, lithospheric motion is treated as shallow layer flow driven by sources and sinks which correspond to spreading centers and subduction zones, respectively. Two plate motion models are used to derive the source sink field. As originally implied in the simpler Cartesian version of this model, the classical power law rheologies do not generate platelike flows as well as the hypothetical Whitehead-Gans stick-slip rheology (which incorporates a simple self-lubrication mechanism). None of the fluid rheologies examined, however, produce more than approximately 60% of the original maximum shear. For either plate model, the viscosity fields produced by the power law rheologies are diffuse, and the viscosity lows over strike-slip shear zones or pseudo-margins are not as small as over the prescribed convergent-divergent margins. In contrast, the stick-slip rheology generates very platelike viscosity fields, with sharp gradients at the plate boundaries, and margins with almost uniformly low viscosity. Power law rheologies with high viscosity contrasts, however, lead to almost equally favorable comparisons, though these also yield the least platelike viscosity fields. This implies that the magnitude of toroidal flow and platelike strength distributions are not necessarily related and thus may present independent constraints on the determination of a self-consistent plate-mantle rheology.

Bercovici, David↗
NASA NTRS2005

Source Term Model for Steady Micro Jets in a Navier-Stokes Computer Code

A source term model for steady micro jets was implemented into a non-proprietary Navier-Stokes computer code, OVERFLOW. The source term models the mass flow and momentum created by a steady blowing micro jet. The model is obtained by adding the momentum and mass flow created by the jet to the Navier-Stokes equations. The model was tested by comparing with data from numerical simulations of a single, steady micro jet on a flat plate in two and three dimensions. The source term model predicted the velocity distribution well compared to the two-dimensional plate using a steady mass flow boundary condition, which was used to simulate a steady micro jet. The model was also compared to two three-dimensional flat plate cases using a steady mass flow boundary condition to simulate a steady micro jet. The three-dimensional comparison included a case with a grid generated to capture the circular shape of the jet and a case without a grid generated for the micro jet. The case without the jet grid mimics the application of the source term. The source term model compared well with both of the three-dimensional cases. Comparisons of velocity distribution were made before and after the jet and Mach and vorticity contours were examined. The source term model allows a researcher to quickly investigate different locations of individual or several steady micro jets. The researcher is able to conduct a preliminary investigation with minimal grid generation and computational time.

Waithe, Kenrick A.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Geoid anomalies in the vicinity of subduction zones

In the considered investigation, attention is given to the line source model, a surface source model, an application of the model, and a model of the thermal lithosphere associated with marginal basins. It is found that undulations in the altimetrically observed geoid of the southwest Pacific are strongly controlled by positive density anomalies in the subducting slabs of the region and the effects of elevation of the geotherm in behind arc lithosphere (corresponding to young marginal basins). Finer details of slab geometry do not obviously manifest themselves in the observed geoid. Such gravitational effects are quite attenuated at sea level and are apparently mixed with crustal effects, oceanographic noise, etc. It appears that slabs in global composite may contribute substantially to intermediate and long wavelength portions (down to spherical harmonic degree 3 or 4) of the earth's gravity field.

Mcadoo, D. C.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The NASA Ames Mars Global Climate Model: Benchmarking Publicly Released Source Code and Model Output

We have recently publicly released source code from the new NASA Ames Mars Global Climate Model (MGCM), which is based on NOAA/GFDL cubed-sphere finite volume (FV3-based) dynamical core (https://github.com/nasa/AmesGCM). We also we have a manuscript in preparation that aims to document the status of the new MGCM, and present selected simulations generated from it with interpretations and comparisons to both observations and the Ames Legacy MGCM. Output from our reference simulation will be made publicly available as well. One of our ongoing goals is to understand the underlying causes for differences between results produced with the new FV3-based dynamical core compared to the Legacy C-grid dynamical core. While the thermal and dynamical fields predicted with the new and Legacy GCMs are broadly similar for much of the year, there are key differences at low resolution when no external drag is applied to the new MGCM. This is particularly clear during a seasonal window of ~100 degrees of Ls surrounding southern summer solstice, when the predicted northern hemisphere polar warming is significantly over-predicted in the new MGCM. When we apply Rayleigh drag throughout much of the tropics and sub-tropics to the new MGCM, the simulated zonal mean structure of the atmosphere is much more consistent with both MCS observations and Legacy MGCM simulations. We note that the Kling et al. (2023; this meeting) study demonstrates that the behavior that we see with Rayleigh drag here can be recovered with high resolution simulations (in the horizontal and in the vertical) or with parameterized orographic and non-orographic gravity waves at lower resolution. While this work is still in progress, our preliminary conclusion is that the new dynamical core is less dissipative than the Legacy dynamical core. At low to moderate resolution, users of the new MGCM will need to be careful to use some sort of external drag, either in the form of gravity wave drag parameterizations or the simpler Rayleigh drag.

Melinda April Kahre↗
NASA NTRS1994

A test of source-surface model predictions of heliospheric current sheet inclination

The orientation of the heliospheric current sheet predicted from a source surface model is compared with the orientation determined from minimum-variance analysis of International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE) 3 magnetic field data at 1 AU near solar maximum. Of the 37 cases analyzed, 28 have minimum variance normals that lie orthogonal to the predicted Parker spiral direction. For these cases, the correlation coefficient between the predicted and measured inclinations is 0.6. However, for the subset of 14 cases for which transient signatures (either interplanetary shocks or bidirectional electrons) are absent, the agreement in inclinations improves dramatically, with a correlation coefficient of 0.96. These results validate not only the use of the source surface model as a predictor but also the previously questioned usefulness of minimum variance analysis across complex sector boundaries. In addition, the results imply that interplanetary dynamics have little effect on current sheet inclination at 1 AU. The dependence of the correlation on transient occurrence suggests that the leading edge of a coronal mass ejection (CME), where transient signatures are detected, disrupts the heliospheric current sheet but that the sheet re-forms between the trailing legs of the CME. In this way the global structure of the heliosphere, reflected both in the source surface maps and in the interplanetary sector structure, can be maintained even when the CME occurrence rate is high.

Burton, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Low luminosity galactic X-ray sources

Models of soft X-ray emission from low-luminosity galactic X-ray sources are compared with currently available data. Emphasis is placed on disk population stars, irrespective of source temperatures spectral type, luminosity class, and age; and predictions of source temperatures and variability have been used to distinguish between the various models. It is tentatively found that the X-ray emission characteristics of late and early spectral types, and young and old stars, share many similarities; an economical explanation for this is the manifestation of coronal surface activity modulated by the stellar parameters that govern stellar magnetic activity (e.g., rotation). In some cases (such as for OB stars), a proper theory accounting for the heating of the coronal plasma does not exist.

Vaiana, G. S.↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Effects of Ambient Conditions on Helicopter Rotor Source Noise Modeling

A new physics-based method called Fundamental Rotorcraft Acoustic Modeling from Experiments (FRAME) is used to demonstrate the change in rotor harmonic noise of a helicopter operating at different ambient conditions. FRAME is based upon a non-dimensional representation of the governing acoustic and performance equations of a single rotor helicopter. Measured external noise is used together with parameter identification techniques to develop a model of helicopter external noise that is a hybrid between theory and experiment. The FRAME method is used to evaluate the main rotor harmonic noise of a Bell 206B3 helicopter operating at different altitudes. The variation with altitude of Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) noise, known to be a strong function of the helicopter s advance ratio, is dependent upon which definition of airspeed is flown by the pilot. If normal flight procedures are followed and indicated airspeed (IAS) is held constant, the true airspeed (TAS) of the helicopter increases with altitude. This causes an increase in advance ratio and a decrease in the speed of sound which results in large changes to BVI noise levels. Results also show that thickness noise on this helicopter becomes more intense at high altitudes where advancing tip Mach number increases because the speed of sound is decreasing and advance ratio increasing for the same indicated airspeed. These results suggest that existing measurement-based empirically derived helicopter rotor noise source models may give incorrect noise estimates when they are used at conditions where data were not measured and may need to be corrected for mission land-use planning purposes.

Schmitz, Frederic H.↗
NASA NTRS2001

GCM Simulations of the Aerosol Indirect Effect: Sensitivity to Cloud Parameterization and Aerosol Burden

We describe the coupling of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) to an online sulfur chemistry model and source models for organic matter and sea-salt that is used to estimate the aerosol indirect effect. The cloud droplet number concentration is diagnosed empirically from field experiment datasets over land and ocean that observe droplet number and all three aerosol types simultaneously; corrections are made for implied variations in cloud turbulence levels. The resulting cloud droplet number is used to calculate variations in droplet effective radius, which in turn allows us to predict aerosol effects on cloud optical thickness and microphysical process rates. We calculate the aerosol indirect effect by differencing the top-of-the-atmosphere net cloud radiative forcing for simulations with present-day vs. pre-industrial emissions. Both the first (radiative) and second (microphysical) indirect effects are explored. We test the sensitivity of our results to cloud parameterization assumptions that control the vertical distribution of cloud occurrence, the autoconversion rate, and the aerosol scavenging rate, each of which feeds back significantly on the model aerosol burden. The global mean aerosol indirect effect for all three aerosol types ranges from -1.55 to -4.36 W/sq m in our simulations. The results are quite sensitive to the pre-industrial background aerosol burden, with low pre-industrial burdens giving strong indirect effects, and to a lesser extent to the anthropogenic aerosol burden, with large burdens giving somewhat larger indirect effects. Because of this dependence on the background aerosol, model diagnostics such as albedo-particle size correlations and column cloud susceptibility, for which satellite validation products are available, are not good predictors of the resulting indirect effect.

Menon, Surabi↗
NASA NTRS2001

GCM Simulations of the Aerosol Indirect Effect: Sensitivity to Cloud Parameterization and Aerosol Burden

We describe the coupling of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) to an online sulfur chemistry model and source models for organic matter and sea-salt that is used to estimate the aerosol indirect effect. The cloud droplet number concentration is diagnosed empirically from field experiment datasets over land and ocean that observe droplet number and all three aerosol types simultaneously; corrections are made for implied variations in cloud turbulence levels. The resulting cloud droplet number is used to calculate variations in droplet effective radius, which in turn allows us to predict aerosol effects on cloud optical thickness and microphysical process rates. We calculate the aerosol indirect effect by differencing the top-of-the-atmosphere net cloud radiative forcing for simulations with present-day vs. pre-industrial emissions. Both the first (radiative) and second (microphysical) indirect effects are explored. We test the sensitivity of our results to cloud parameterization assumptions that control the vertical distribution of cloud occurrence, the autoconversion rate, and the aerosol scavenging rate, each of which feeds back significantly on the model aerosol burden. The global mean aerosol indirect effect for all three aerosol types ranges from -1.55 to -4.36 W m(exp -2) in our simulations. The results are quite sensitive to the pre-industrial background aerosol burden, with low pre-industrial burdens giving strong indirect effects, and to a lesser extent to the anthropogenic aerosol burden, with large burdens giving somewhat larger indirect effects. Because of this dependence on the background aerosol, model diagnostics such as albedo-particle size correlations and column cloud susceptibility, for which satellite validation products are available, are not good predictors of the resulting indirect effect.

Menon, Surabi↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modeling Radiation Sources for Experimental Validation

To build on previously completed experimental work, I have been working to implement a model of our lab’s Americium-Beryllium neutron source and Ludlum detection instruments computationally to provide secondary verification of our experimental results. This has been done using the radiation transport code MCNP6 (Monte Carlo N-Particle). I have developed files to calculate the mass ratio of various composite materials that we have exposed to the radiation source, as well as the components of the detection instruments and converted all of these into geometric coordinates that define the experimental setup. Identifying the proper energy distribution and detector efficiencies as well as the correct interpretation of the detector physics have proven to be the most difficult and time-consuming challenges of the work. It is currently too early for results based on the most updated and accurate models. With this experience, the next step is to develop another source model of a proton beam to simulate exposures on other composite targets. This will be developed based on existing experimental datasets, but not used to validate them. Each of these projects will further define the radiation shielding needs for humans in space radiation environments that astronauts will someday be exposed to beyond Low Earth Orbit.

Juliana Simon↗
NASA NTRS2024

Where Dust Comes from: Global Assessment of Dust Source Attributions with AeroCom Models

The source of dust in the global atmosphere is an important factor to better understand the role of dust aerosols in the climate system. However, it is a difficult task to attribute the airborne dust over the remote land and ocean regions to their origins since dust from various sources are mixed during long-range transport. Recently, a multi-model experiment, namely the AeroCom-III Dust Source Attribution (DUSA), has been conducted to estimate the relative contribution of dust in various locations from different sources with tagged simulations from seven participating global models. The BASE run and a series of runs with nine tagged regions were made to estimate the contribution of dust emitted in East- and West-Africa, Middle East, Central- and East-Asia, North America, the Southern Hemisphere, and the prominent dust hot spots of the Bodélé and Taklimakan Deserts. The models generally agree in large scale mean dust distributions, however models show large diversity in dust source attribution. The inter-model differences are significant with the global model dust diversity in 30%–50%, but the differences in regional and seasonal scales are even larger. The multi-model analysis estimates that North Africa contributes 60% of global atmospheric dust loading, followed by Middle East and Central Asia sources (24%). Southern hemispheric sources account for 10% of global dust loading, however it contributes more than 70% of dust over the Southern Hemisphere. The study provides quantitative estimates of the impact of dust emitted from different source regions on the globe and various receptor regions including remote land, ocean, and the polar regions synthesized from the seven models.

Dust source attribution, Aerosol, Model↗
NASA NTRS2022

VESIcal: An Open-source Thermodynamic Model Engine for Mixed Volatile (H2O-CO2) Solubility in Silicate Melts

Modeling the solubility of volatiles in silicate melts is fundamental to the interpretation of volcanic systems and has implications for magma dynamics, eruption style, and material transport between the mantle, crust, and atmosphere. Recent advancements in computational capabilities and access to computing tools has outpaced the functionality and extensibility of previously available modeling platforms. Here we present VESIcal (Volatile Equilibria and Saturation Index calculator), the first comprehensive modeling tool for H2O, CO2, and mixed (H2O-CO2) solubility in silicate melts that: a) allows users access to seven popular models, with easy inter-comparison between models; b) provides universal functionality for all models (e.g., functions for calculating saturation pressures, degassing paths, etc.); c) can process large datasets (1,000’s of samples) automatically; d) can output computed data into an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file for post-modeling analysis; e) integrates plotting capabilities directly within the tool; and f) provides all of this within the framework of a python library, making the tool extensible by the user and allowing any of the model functions to be incorporated into any other code capable of calling python.Here we will provide a demonstration of VESIcal and its capabilities with applications to various volcanic processes affected by volatiles. VESIcal represents the first tool capable of directly comparing multiple solubility models and equations of state. We find that commonly used models predict surprisingly different volatile solubilities, particularly for pure CO2 or mixed CO2-H2O fluids. Even for melt compositions that are well represented in the calibration datasets of multiple models (e.g., MORBs), calculated solubilities for pure CO2 and pure H2O can deviate from one another by factors of >2 leading to 2x deviations in calculated saturation pressures (e.g., 5 to 10 kbar). The solubility of CO2 predicted by different rhyolitic models also differs substantially, overwhelming other sources of uncertainty such as analytical errors on measurements of volatile contents or uncertainties in crustal density profiles. This highlights the importance of model choice when drawing geological conclusions based on volatiles in magmas.

Kayla Iacovino↗