SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Grid Simulation”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

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

At least 559 records · Page 31

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2019

Kestrel Results at Liftoff Conditions for a Space Launch System Configuration in Proximity to the Launch Tower

Aerodynamic data books for Space Launch System vehicles require databases for the integrated forces and moments and section loads during liftoff and transition to the ascent phase of flight. While the force and moment database can be generated from wind tunnel results, computational analyses are necessary to provide the extensive surface information required to generate proper lineloads. Of the two flight regimes, the liftoff problem is the more costly and complex situation to simulate, as it requires modeling of the vehicle in proximity to the launch tower. The effects of massive separation on the leeward pressure fields of both the tower and vehicle are not well captured with RANS methods, necessitating the use of more advanced methods, such as Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation, in conjunction with computational grids sufficiently refined to resolve the wakes. Details on the computational setup for employing the Kestrel flow solver to address the liftoff problem are presented. The methodology involves the use of independent unstructured near-body grids for the vehicle and the tower, overset by a solution adaptive Cartesian off-body grid. Results from the simulations are compared to experimental results from a test in the NASA Langley Research Center 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel.

Computational fluid dynamics↗

NASA NTRS2001

Time-Dependent Simulation of Incompressible Flow in a Turbopump Using Overset Grid Approach

This paper reports the progress being made towards complete unsteady turbopump simulation capability by using overset grid systems. A computational model of a turbo-pump impeller is used as a test case for the performance evaluation of the MPI, hybrid MPI/Open-MP, and MLP versions of the INS3D code. Relative motion of the grid system for rotor-stator interaction was obtained by employing overset grid techniques. Unsteady computations for a turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.3 Million grid points, are performed on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. The approach taken for these simulations, and the performance of the parallel versions of the code are presented.

Kiris, Cetin↗

DOE OSTI2018

On the role of finite grid extent in SOLPS-ITER edge plasma simulations for JET H-mode discharges with metallic wall

The impact of the finite grid size in SOLPS-ITER edge plasma simulations is assessed for JET H-mode discharges with a metal wall. For a semi-horizontal divertor configuration it is shown that the separatrix density is at least 30% higher when a narrow scrape-off layer (SOL) grid width is chosen in SOLPS-ITER compared to the case for which the SOL grid width is maximised. The density increase is caused by kinetic neutrals being not confined inside the divertor region because of the reduced extent of the plasma grid. In this case, an enhanced level of reflections of energetic neutrals at the low-field side (LFS) metal divertor wall is observed. This leads to a shift of the ionisation source further upstream which must be accounted for as a numerical artefact. An overestimate in the cooling at the divertor entrance is observed in this case, identified by a reduced heat flux decay parameters λ q div . Otherwise and further upstream the mid-plane heat decay length λ q parameter is not affected by any change in divertor dissipation. This confirms the assumptions made for the ITER divertor design studies, i.e. that λ q upstream is essentially set by the assumptions for the ratio radial to parallel heat conductivity. It is also shown that even for attached conditions the decay length relations λ ne > λ Te > λ q hold in the near-SOL upstream. Thus for interpretative edge plasma simulations one must take the (experimental) value of λ ne into account, rather than λ q , as the former actually defines the required minimum upstream SOL grid extent.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

A Machine‐Learning‐Assisted Stochastic Cloud Population Model as a Parameterization of Cumulus Convection

Abstract A machine‐learning‐assisted stochastic cloud population model is coupled with the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to represent fluctuations in the cloud‐base mass flux associated with the life cycles and interactions among cumulus convection cells. In this cloud population model, the size distribution and the associated cloud‐base mass flux of the convective cells are related to their previous state and to the change in the total convective area via a transition function. The convective area tendency in turn is assumed to depend on the cloud‐base mass flux that is resolved by the host WRF model. The transition function is represented by a single hidden‐layer neural network trained by the evolution of convective cell size distributions in a 1‐km grid‐spacing WRF simulation run over the Australian Monsoon region. At every grid point of the host model, the cloud population model predicts the cell size and cloud‐base mass flux distributions from which a random sample of cells is fed to an entraining parcel model that calculates precipitation as well as the associated liquid water potential temperature and total moisture tendencies. These tendencies are averaged over the cells and provided to the host model. Several regional simulations are performed over tropical and midlatitude domains to test this as a potential approach to scale‐aware parameterization. It is shown that such an approach could be a new promising path to simulating realistic precipitation statistics and propagation of precipitation associated with the Madden‐Julian Oscillation while maintaining realistic depictions of the diurnal cycle over both land and ocean.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2014

Examining System-Wide Impacts of Solar PV Control Systems with a Power Hardware-in-the-Loop Platform

High penetration levels of distributed solar PV power generation can lead to adverse power quality impacts such as excessive voltage rise, voltage flicker, and reactive power values that result in unacceptable voltage levels. Advanced inverter control schemes have been proposed that have the potential to mitigate many power quality concerns. However, closed-loop control may lead to unintended behavior in deployed systems as complex interactions can occur between numerous operating devices. In order to enable the study of the performance of advanced control schemes in a detailed distribution system environment, a Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) platform has been developed. In the HIL system, GridLAB-D, a distribution system simulation tool, runs in real-time mode at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and supplies power system parameters at a point of common coupling to hardware located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Hardware inverters interact with grid and PV simulators emulating an operational distribution system and power output from the inverters is measured and sent to PNNL to update the real-time distribution system simulation. The platform is described and initial test cases are presented. The platform is used to study the system-wide impacts and the interactions of controls applied to inverters that are integrated into a simulation of the IEEE 8500-node test feeder, with inverters in either constant power factor control or active volt/VAR control. We demonstrate that this HIL platform is well-suited to the study of advanced inverter controls and their impacts on the power quality of a distribution feeder. Additionally, the results from HIL are used to validate GridLAB-D simulations of advanced inverter controls.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Recent Hydrodynamic Modeling Enhancements in OpenFAST

To improve the hydrodynamic modeling capabilities of the offshore wind design and modeling tool OpenFAST, a restructuring of the HydroDyn hydrodynamics module was undertaken with several new features implemented. The generation of the wave field is now separated from HydroDyn into a new module called SeaState. Unlike previous versions of HydroDyn, which precomputed the wave kinematics at the undisplaced positions of the hydrodynamic nodes, the new SeaState module computes the complete time history of the wave field at the vertices of a user-defined wave grid. During the simulation, the wave kinematics at any point within the grid can be efficiently interpolated, allowing the strip-theory wave loads to be evaluated based on the wave kinematics at the displaced structure position. A phase correction was also implemented for the potential-flow wave-exciting loads to account for large structure displacements. Several wave-stretching methods were implemented for the strip-theory solution along with a wave-load redistribution method that ensures smooth variation of the nodal loads as the nodes of a discrete hydrodynamic mesh enter and exit the water. The load smoothing is included to avoid the excitation of unphysical high-frequency structural vibration during hydroelastic simulations. The MacCamy-Fuchs diffraction correction for the strip-theory solution and the capability to insert a constrained NewWave into extreme stochastic sea states with directional spreading were also added. The present article documents the formulations of the new improvements to HydroDyn with example applications and numerical results.

constrained wave↗

DOE OSTI2022

Recent Hydrodynamic Modeling Enhancements in OpenFAST: Preprint

constrained wave↗

DOE OSTI2025

Control Design and EMT Simulation Toward the Restoration of Faulted Wind-Dominant Grids

Present power engineers have been challenged to employ electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations to study the restoration of wind-dominant grids. This paper addresses this hurdle by developing strategies to: (i) reliably control the dc-link voltage of grid-forming wind turbines with dc-coupled batteries, (ii) tune controllers to stably interconnect wind power plants into a grid under recovery, and (iii) autonomously make restoration decisions if transmission faults occur during restoration. These contributions are assessed via EMT simulations of wind-dominant versions of the WSCC 9-bus grid and a 22-bus power system. Furthermore, this paper is significant to address recommendations by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2016

Temperature and precipitation extremes in century-long gridded observations, reanalyses, and atmospheric model simulations

Knowledge about long-term changes in climate extremes is vital to better understand multidecadal climate variability and long-term changes and to place today's extreme events in a historical context. While global changes in temperature and precipitation extremes since the midtwentieth century are well studied, knowledge about century-scale changes is limited. This paper analyses a range of largely independent observations-based data sets covering 1901–2010 for long-term changes and interannual variability in daily scale temperature and precipitation extremes. We compare across data sets for consistency to ascertain our confidence in century-scale changes in extremes. We find consistent warming trends in temperature extremes globally and in most land areas over the past century. For precipitation extremes we find global tendencies toward more intense rainfall throughout much of the twentieth century; however, local changes are spatially more variable. While global time series of the different data sets agree well after about 1950, they often show different changes during the first half of the twentieth century. In regions with good observational coverage, gridded observations and reanalyses agree well throughout the entire past century. Finally, simulations with an atmospheric model suggest that ocean temperatures and sea ice may explain up to about 50% of interannual variability in the global average of temperature extremes, and about 15% in the global average of moderate precipitation extremes, but local correlations are mostly significant only in low latitudes.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2016

Large-eddy simulation, fuel rod vibration and grid-to-rod fretting in pressurized water reactors

Grid-to-rod fretting (GTRF) in pressurized water reactors is a flow-induced vibration phenomenon that results in wear and fretting of the cladding material on fuel rods. GTRF is responsible for over 70% of the fuel failures in pressurized water reactors in the United States. Predicting the GTRF wear and concomitant interval between failures is important because of the large costs associated with reactor shutdown and replacement of fuel rod assemblies. The GTRF-induced wear process involves turbulent flow, mechanical vibration, tribology, and time-varying irradiated material properties in complex fuel assembly geometries. This paper presents a new approach for predicting GTRF induced fuel rod wear that uses high-resolution implicit large-eddy simulation to drive nonlinear transient dynamics computations. The GTRF fluid–structure problem is separated into the simulation of the turbulent flow field in the complex-geometry fuel-rod bundles using implicit large-eddy simulation, the calculation of statistics of the resulting fluctuating structural forces, and the nonlinear transient dynamics analysis of the fuel rod. Ultimately, the methods developed here, can be used, in conjunction with operational management, to improve reactor core designs in which fuel rod failures are minimized or potentially eliminated. Furthermore, robustness of the behavior of both the structural forces computed from the turbulent flow simulations and the results from the transient dynamics analyses highlight the progress made towards achieving a predictive simulation capability for the GTRF problem.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2013

Hurricanes in an Aquaplanet World: Implications of the Impacts of External Forcing and Model Horizontal Resolution

High-resolution climate models have been shown to improve the statistics of tropical storms and hurricanes compared to low-resolution models. The impact of increasing horizontal resolution in the tropical storm simulation is investigated exclusively using a series of Atmospheric Global Climate Model (AGCM) runs with idealized aquaplanet steady-state boundary conditions and a fixed operational storm-tracking algorithm. The results show that increasing horizontal resolution helps to detect more hurricanes, simulate stronger extreme rainfall, and emulate better storm structures in the models. However, increasing model resolution does not necessarily produce stronger hurricanes in terms of maximum wind speed, minimum sea level pressure, and mean precipitation, as the increased number of storms simulated by high-resolution models is mainly associated with weaker storms. The spatial scale at which the analyses are conducted appears to have more important control on these meteorological statistics compared to horizontal resolution of the model grid. When the simulations are analyzed on common low-resolution grids, the statistics of the hurricanes, particularly the hurricane counts, show reduced sensitivity to the horizontal grid resolution and signs of scale invariant.

aquaplanet↗

DOE OSTI2021

Integrating New Arctic Plant Functional Types in a Land Surface Model Using Above- and Belowground Field Observations: Modeling Archive

This Modeling Archive is in support of an NGEE Arctic publication "Integrating New Arctic Plant Functional Types in a Land Surface Model Using Above- and Belowground Field Observations". We used field observations of biomass and leaf traits (Salmon et al., 2019b) across a gradient of plant communities on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska (Breen et al., 2020; Iversen et al., 2017) to replace the original ELM configuration with nine, arctic-specific PFTs. Original arctic PFTs in the model were (1) broadleaf deciduous boreal shrub and (2) C3 arctic grass. New PFTs were (1) lichen, (2) bryophyte, (3) evergreen dwarf shrub, (4) deciduous dwarf shrub, (5) deciduous low shrub, (6) deciduous low to tall shrub, (7) alder shrub, (8) forb, and (9) graminoid. New PFTs were parameterized and evaluated using site-level trait and biomass measurements (Salmon et al., 2019b), root C:N ratios and rooting depth patterns (Salmon et al., 2019c), and root biomass (Salmon et al., 2020). This archive contains forcing data and model output from ELM simulations conducted at the Kougarok Hillslope site (Kougarok Road Mile Marker 64). Simulations were conducted for the Kougarok Hillslope site using meteorological driving data from the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) downscaled climate projection dataset using NCAR-CCSM forcing (Bieniek et al., 2020 dataset; Walsh et al., 2018). The archive includes three versions of model simulations representing a progression from the original model configuration to an Arctic-specific configuration (see Output section below). Simulation 1 used grid cell data from a global E3SM configuration, including the fractional area of E3SM PFTs assigned to the grid cell containing the Kougarok Hillslope site in global simulations. This simulation did not distinguish between different plant communities on the Kougarok Hillslope, but instead used a single point simulation to represent the entire area. Simulation 2 used default E3SM PFT definitions combined with adjusted depth to bedrock for plant communities with shallow rocky layers to represent the role of abiotic soil factors in driving site differences (based on depth measurements of Iversen et al., 2019a), and adjusted the relative areas of the broadleaf deciduous boreal shrub and C3 arctic grass PFTs to reflect the observed spatial coverage of shrub and non-shrub PFTs across Kougarok Hillslope plant communities. Simulation 3 used the new arctic PFT definitions and parameterizations based on the vegetation types present at the site, along with the adjusted soil depths used in Simulation 2. Included are *.pdf, *.nc (NetCDF), *tar.gz, *.py, and *.bash files. We would like to thank Mary's Igloo Native Corporation for allowing us to perform this research on their land and giving us the opportunity to share this research with their community. Thanks to Shawn Serbin and Alistair Rogers for helpful discussions. Holly Vander Stel, Joanne Childs, and Stan Wullschleger helped with collection of field data. The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research. The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska. Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Simulations of the Modular Axisymmetric Scramjet Test Rig Under Reacting Flow Conditions

Simulations of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Modular Axisymmetric Scramjet Test Rig (MASTeR) are presented. MASTeR is a parametric test article capable of investigating various scramjet cavity flameholder designs and fueling strategies with the goal to characterize and optimize flameholding capability. In the current work, three cavity aspect ratios, and two fueling strategies (upstream and in-cavity) with ethylene at a nominal facility pressure and temperature condition are evaluated. The reacting simulations are performed, and the resulting flow characteristics are discussed. For each configuration and fueling strategy, cavity residence time, entrainment rate, and fuel-air equivalence ratio are computed. The MASTeR geometry is defined in Engineering Sketch Pad (ESP) and the simulations use a sketch-to-solution (S2S) automated unstructured grid adaptation tool in VULCAN-CFD. This tool automatically generates a simulation grid from the ESP geometry and systematically adapts it to the numerical solution based on the Hessian error estimate of a specified flow field parameter. Reynolds averaged simulations (RAS) are used with a two-equation linear eddy viscosity and diffusivity model. The resulting database can be compared with the experimental data as those become available, and explored to develop models for cavity performance for scramjet propulsion design applications.

hypersonics↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Simulations of the Modular Axisymmetric Scramjet Test Rig Under Reacting Flow Conditions

Simulations of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Modular Axisymmetric Scramjet Test Rig (MASTeR) are presented. MASTeR is a parametric test article capable of investigating various scramjet cavity flameholder designs and fueling strategies with the goal to characterize and optimize flameholding capability. In the current work, three cavity aspect ratios, three depths, and two fueling strategies (upstream and in-cavity) with ethylene at a nominal facility pressure and temperature conditions are evaluated. The simulations are performed for mixing-only and reacting flows, and the resulting flow characteristics are compared. For each configuration and fueling strategy, cavity residence time, entrainment rate, and fuel-air equivalence ratio are computed. The MASTeR geometry is defined in the Engineering Sketch Pad (ESP) and the simulations use a sketch-to-solution (S2S) automated unstructured grid adaptation tool in VULCAN-CFD. This tool automatically generates a simulation grid from the ESP geometry and systematically adapts it to the numerical solution based on the Hessian error estimate of a specified flow field parameter. Reynolds averaged simulations (RAS) are used with typical two-equation linear eddy viscosity and diffusivity model. The resulting database can be compared with the experimental data as those becomes available and explored to develop models for cavity performance for scramjet propulsion design applications.

hypersonics↗

DOE OSTI2021

OCHRE: The Object-oriented, Controllable, High-resolution Residential Energy Model for Dynamic Integration Studies

Electrification and the growth of distributed energy resources (DERs), including flexible loads, are changing the energy landscape of electric distribution systems and creating new challenges and opportunities for electric utilities. Changes in demand profiles require improvements in distribution system load models, which have not historically accounted for device controllability or impacts on customer comfort. Although building modeling research has focused on these features, there is a need to incorporate them into distribution load models that include DERs and can be used to study grid-interactive buildings. In this paper, we present the Object-oriented, Controllable, High-resolution Residential Energy (OCHRE) model. OCHRE is a controllable thermal-electric residential energy model that captures building thermal dynamics, integrates grid-dependent electrical behavior, contains models for common DERs and end-use loads, and simulates at a time resolution down to 1 minute. It includes models for space heaters, air conditioners, water heaters, electric vehicles, photovoltaics, and batteries that are externally controllable and integrated in a co-simulation framework. Using a proposed zero energy ready community in Colorado, we co-simulate a distribution grid and 498 all-electric homes with a diverse set of efficiency levels and equipment properties. We show that controllable devices can reduce peak demand within a neighborhood by up to 73% during a critical peak period without sacrificing occupant comfort. We also demonstrate the importance of modeling load diversity at a high time resolution when quantifying power and voltage fluctuations across a distribution system.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2023

Fidelity Analysis of Complex Large-Scale Simulation Models of PEs (MARS) in Future Power Grids

With the proliferation of power electronic (PE)-based resources in the electric grid, there have been numerous different kinds of simulation models developed and studied to understand their dynamic behavior. Study of PE-based resources using each simulation model has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages. Therefore it is very important to carefully select the appropriate model for the evaluation of the PE-based resources. In this paper, one such effort is made to analyze the different types of models in the case of a multi-port autonomous reconfigurable solar power plant (MARS). The MARS integrates a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)-energy storage system (ESS) plant to high-voltage direct current (HVdc) system and transmission alternating current (ac) grid. The dynamic models are evaluated under different test cases varying the short-circuit ratio (SCR) and control algorithms. Recommendations are provided on the equipment study needs based on the analysis completed.

Marthi, Phani Ratna Vanamali↗

DOE OSTI2024

Sparse Linear Solvers for Large-scale Electromagnetic Transient Simulations

Linear solvers form the basis for electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations. There is a need to speed up EMT simulations as larger regions are analyzed using EMT simulations. For the same, the performance of linear solvers plays an important role. Exploiting the sparsity of the matrices generated in EMT simulations could assist with speed-up. Scalability is also crucial as power grids expand, demanding solutions capable of accommodating the increasing system size. Recent studies from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) increasingly emphasize that EMT simulation models of the power grid will grow larger with the inclusion of power electronics components. Parallelisms in sparsity patterns exploit modern central processing units (CPUs), multi-core CPUs, and graphics processing units (GPUs) architectures in sparse solver designs. Therefore, this paper explores publicly available existing linear solvers and investigates their efficiency in large-scale power grid simulations. A large-scale power grid is developed by increasing the size of the IEEE 39 bus test system to up to 39000 bus systems.

Hsu, Kuan-Chieh↗

DOE OSTI2017

Finite element simulation of gap opening between cladding tube and spacer grid in a fuel rod assembly using crystallographic models of irradiation growth and creep

A physically-based crystal plasticity framework for modeling irradiation growth and creep is interfaced with the finite element code ABAQUS in order to study the contact forces and the gap evolution between the spacer grid and the cladding tube as a function of irradiation in a representative section of a fuel rod assembly. Deformation mechanisms governing the gap opening are identified and correlated to the texture-dependent material response. Thus, in the absence of coolant flow-induced vibrations, these simulations predict the contribution of irradiation growth and creep to the gap opening between the cladding tube and the springs and dimples on the spacer grid. The simulated contact forces on the springs and dimples are compared to available experimental and modeling data. Various combinations of external loads are applied on the springs and dimples to simulate fuel rods in the interior and at the periphery of the fuel rod assembly. Furthermore, we found that loading conditions representative (to a first order approximation) of fuel rods at the periphery show higher gap opening. This is in agreement with in-reactor data, where rod leakages due to the synergistic effects of gap opening and coolant flow-induced vibrations were generally found to occur at the periphery of the fuel rod assembly.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗