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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.

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At least 613 records · Page 34

Portable C++ Code that can Look and Feel Like Fortran Code with Yet Another Kernel Launcher (YAKL)

This paper introduces the Yet Another Kernel Launcher (YAKL) C++ portability library, which strives to enable user-level code with the look and feel of Fortran code. The intended audience includes both C++ developers and Fortran developers unfamiliar with C++. The C++ portability approach is briefly explained, YAKL’s main features are described, and code examples are given that demonstrate YAKL’s usage. YAKL fills a niche capability important particularly to scientific applications seeking to port Fortran code quickly to a portable C++ library. YAKL places heavy emphasis on simplicity, readability, and productivity with performance mainly emphasizing Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Central to YAKL’s ability to allow Fortran-like user-level code are three features: (1) a multi-dimensional Array class that allows Fortran behavior; (2) a limited library of Fortran intrinsic functions; and (3) an efficient pool allocator that transparently enables cheap frequent allocations and deallocations of YAKL Arrays. While YAKL allows Fortran-style code, it also allows Arrays that exhibit C-like behavior as well, including row-major index ordering and lower bounds of “0”. YAKL currently supports CPUs, CPU threading, and Nvidia, AMD, and Intel GPUs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Flux Quantization and Aharonov-Bohm Effect in Superconducting Rings

Superconductivity is a macroscopic coherent state exhibiting various quantum phenomena such as magnetic flux quantization. When a superconducting ring is placed in a magnetic field, a current flows to expel the field from the ring and to ensure that the enclosed flux is an integer multiple of h/(2|e|). Although the quantization of magnetic flux in ring structures is extensively studied in literature, the applied magnetic field is typically assumed to be homogeneous, implicitly implying an interplay between field expulsion and flux quantization. Here, we propose to decouple these two effects by employing an Aharonov-Bohm-like structure where the superconducting ring is threaded by a magnetic core (to which the applied field is confined). Although the magnetic field vanishes inside the ring, the formation of vortices takes place, corresponding to a change in the flux state of the ring. The time evolution of the density of superconducting electrons is studied using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Photosensitive free-standing ultra-thin carbyne–gold films

In the article we introduce the experiment of the photostimulation effect in the tunneling conductivity of free-standing thin carbyne-gold films. We observe a sharp increase of the conductivity of hybrid film due to the electromagnetic exciting at the frequencies which are close to the plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticles. The use of carbyne threads as a stabilizing matrix makes it possible to obtain free-standing thin films that demonstrate a good structural stability. The tunnel current–voltage measurements demonstrate a strong dependence of the current value on the intensity of green laser radiation used to photostimulate thin C–Au in area of the measuring experiment.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Solving Recent Challenges for Wrought Ni-Base Superalloys

This paper reviews the status of technology in design and manufacture of new wrought 21 polycrystalline Ni-base superalloys for critical engineering applications. There is a strong 22 motivation to develop new alloys that are capable of operating at higher temperatures to 23 realise improvements in thermal efficiency, which are necessary to achieve environmental 24 targets for reduced emissions of harmful green-house gases. From the aerospace sector, 25 the development of new powder metallurgy and ingot metallurgy alloys are discussed for 26 disk rotor and static applications. New compositions for powder metallurgy contain about 27 50-55% of gamma prime (γ') strengthening precipitates to ensure components operate 28 successfully at temperatures up to 788°C (1450°F). In contrast, new compositions for ingot 29 metallurgy aim to occupy a design space in temperature capability between Alloy 718 and 30 current powder alloys that are in-service, and show levels of γ' of about 30-44%. The focus 31 in developing these alloys was design for manufacturability. To complement the aerospace 32 developments, a review of work to understand the suitability of candidate alloys for multiple 33 applications in Advanced-Ultra Supercritical (AUSC) power plants has been undertaken by 34 Detrois, Jablonski and Hawk from the National Energy Technology Laboratory. In these 35 power plants, steam temperatures are required to reach 700-760°C. The common thread is 36 to develop alloys that demonstrate a combination of high temperature properties, which are 37 reliant on both the alloy composition and microstructure and can be produced readily at the 38 right price. For the AUSC applications, the emphasis is on high temperature strength, long 39 term creep life, phase stability, oxidation resistance and robust welding for fabrications. 40 Whereas for powder disk rotors in aircraft engines, the priority is enhanced resistance to 41 time dependent crack growth, phase stability and resistance to environmental damage, while 42 extending the current strength levels, which are shown by existing alloys, to higher 43 temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Carbon Nanotube Fiber Ionization Mass Spectrometry: A Fundamental Study of a Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Functionalized Corona Discharge Pin for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Analysis

Mass spectrometry continues to tackle many complicated tasks, and ongoing research seeks to simplify its instrumentation as well as sampling. The desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) source was the first ambient ionization source to function without extensive gas requirements and chromatography. Electrospray techniques generally have low efficiency for ionization of nonpolar analytes and some researchers have resorted to methods such as direct analysis in real time (DART) or desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (DAPCI) for their analysis. In this work, a carbon nanotube fiber ionization (nanoCFI) source was developed and was found to be capable of solid phase microextraction (SPME) of nonpolar analytes as well as ionization and sampling similar to that of direct probe atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (DP-APCI). Conductivity and adsorption were maintained by utilizing a corona pin functionalized with a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) thread. Quantitative work with the nanoCFI source with a designed corona discharge pin insert demonstrated linearity up to 0.97 (R{sup 2}) of three target PAHs with phenanthrene internal standard. .

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Mesoscopic Modeling and Rapid Simulation of Incremental Changes in Epidemic Scenarios on GPUs

In simulation-based studies and analyses of epidemics, a major challenge lies in resolving the conflict between fidelity of models and the speed of their simulation. Another related challenge arises in dealing with the large number of what–if scenarios that need to be explored. Here, we describe new computational methods that together provide an approach to dealing with both challenges. A mesoscopic modeling approach is described that strikes a middle ground between macroscopic models based on coupled differential equations and microscopic models built on fine-grained behaviors at the individual entity level. The mesoscopic approach offers the ability to incorporate complex compositions of multiple layers of dynamics even while retaining the potential for aggregate behaviors at varying levels. It also is an excellent match to the accelerator-based architectures of modern computing platforms in which graphical processing units (GPUs) can be exploited for fast simulation via the parallel execution mode of single instruction multiple thread (SIMT). The challenge of simulating a large number of scenarios is addressed via a method of sharing model state and computation across a tree of what–if scenarios that are localized, incremental changes to a large base simulation. A combination of the mesoscopic modeling approach and the incremental what–if scenario tree evaluation has been implemented in the software on modern GPUs. Synthetic simulation scenarios are presented to demonstrate the computational characteristics of our approach. Results from the experiments with large population data, including USA, UK, and India, illustrate the modeling methodology and computational performance on thousands of synthetically generated what–if scenarios. Execution of our implementation scaled to 8192 GPUs of supercomputing platforms demonstrates the ability to rapidly evaluate what–if scenarios several orders of magnitude faster than the conventional methods.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Columnar Grain-driven Plasticity and Cracking in Nanotwinned FCC Metals

The mechanisms of strengthening and plasticity in columnar-grained metals with preferentially oriented nano-sized twins have been examined traditionally by considering dislocation processes, but rarely from the perspective of grain boundary (GB) deformation. Here, the effects of GB strain accommodation on plastic deformation in four different columnar-grained nanocrystalline nanotwinned (nt) face-centered-cubic metals (Cu, Ag, Al, and Ni) were studied by large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. It is observed that in tensile deformation parallel to coherent twin boundaries (CTBs), the dislocation mechanisms in each metal are identical and associated with GB emissions of jog and threading dislocations at small and large CTB spacings, respectively. However, CTB strengthening effects are increasingly more pronounced in columnar-grained nt metals as their shear modulus increases, which is rationalized by the dependence of GB stress concentrations on twin size, metal type and strain rate. Also, while flow stresses in nt-Cu, nt-Ag, and nt-Al metals increase linearly with decreasing CTB spacing, a maximum strength limit is reached in nt-Ni below a critical CTB spacing of 6 nm. The strength limit in nt-Ni results from columnar GB cracking induced by prominent GB sliding. For columnar-grained microstructures, GB sliding is equivalent in nt-Ag and nt-Al and slightly lower in nt-Cu but markedly higher in nt-Ni. These findings underscore the importance of new GB deformation mechanisms on plasticity and fracture in columnar-grained nt metals and enrich our understanding of CTB strengthening in fcc metals synthesized in the literature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Future foundries: A convergent manufacturing platform

This article introduces the Future Foundries platform developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a first-generation research system designed to demonstrate convergent manufacturing. Convergent manufacturing brings together additive, subtractive, and transformative processes in a digitally interconnected environment to enable end-to-end production workflows. By linking traditionally discrete steps, convergent platforms accelerate production, improve repeatability, and support high-mix, low-volume manufacturing. The Future Foundries platform exemplifies this vision in practice by combining four modular, vendor-agnostic process cells that include robotic WAAM, induction heating, optical metrology, and machining, coordinated through an automated pallet handler and a ROS 2-based digital thread. This architecture provides the flexibility and scalability needed for agile production in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises and for field deployable manufacturing. Two case studies illustrate the platform’s capabilities. The first presents an integrated workflow for fabricating, transforming, and repairing critical replacement components, showing how consolidated thermal, additive, inspection, and machining operations reduce manual part handling and streamline process flow. The second case study highlights coordinated multi-part production enabled by automated pallet logistics and multi-cell scheduling. Together, these examples showcase convergent manufacturing as a practical and scalable strategy for strengthening domestic casting and forging capacity, improving supply-chain resilience, and enabling rapid, adaptable production of mission-critical components.

Convergent manufacturing↗

Multigroup Monte Carlo on GPUs: Comparison of history- and event-based algorithms

This article presents an investigation of the performance of different multigroup Monte Carlo transport algorithms on GPUs with a discussion of both history-based and event-based approaches. Several algorithmic improvements are introduced for both approaches. By modifying the history-based algorithm that is traditionally favored in CPU-based MC codes to occasionally filter out dead particles to reduce thread divergence, performance exceeds that of either the pure history-based or event-based approaches. The impacts of several algorithmic choices are discussed, including performance studies on Kepler and Pascal generation NVIDIA GPUs for fixed source and eigenvalue calculations. Single-device performance equivalent to 20–40 CPU cores on the K40 GPU and 60–80 CPU cores on the P100 GPU is achieved. Last, in addition, nearly perfect multi-device parallel weak scaling is demonstrated on more than 16,000 nodes of the Titan supercomputer.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Continuous-energy Monte Carlo neutron transport on GPUs in the Shift code

Here, a continuous-energy Monte Carlo neutron transport solver executing on GPUs has been developed within the Shift code. Several algorithmic approaches are considered, including both history-based and event-based implementations. Unlike in previous work involving multigroup Monte Carlo transport, it is demonstrated that event-based algorithms significantly outperform a history-based approach for continuous-energy transport as a result of increased device occupancy and reduced thread divergence. Numerical results are presented for detailed full-core models of a small modular reactor (SMR), including a model containing depleted fuel materials. These results demonstrate the substantial gains in performance that are possible with the latest-generation of GPUs. On the depleted SMR core configuration, an NVIDIA P100 GPU with 56 streaming multiprocessors provides performance equivalent to 90 CPU cores, and the latest V100 GPU with 80 multiprocessors offers the performance of more than 150 CPU cores.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Efficient Computation of Doppler-Broadened Elastic Scattering Kernel Moments Using Ladder-Operator Formulation

Anefficient routine for computing Legendre moments of the Doppler-broadened elastic scattering kernel, including resonance scattering effects, has been implemented in the ISOXML module of Griffin. Isotropic scattering in the center-of-mass system and the ideal gas model for target motion are assumed. A ladder-operator formulation is introduced to compute all Legendre moments from order 0 to N simultaneously, enabling near-linear scaling of computational cost with respect to the maximum Legendre order. A physics-based strategy for constructing outgoing energy grids has also been developed, in which a tailored base grid is combined with adaptive refinement to maintain accuracy while limiting the number of outgoing energy points. For energies between resonances, a constant cross-section model is employed to further reduce computational cost. In addition, a quantitative criterion is derived to determine isotope-wise cut-off incident energies based on a prescribed up-scattering probability coverage. For 238U, up to incident energies of approximately 75, 230, and 661 eV at 294, 900, and 2500 K (corresponding to a 2% up-scattering probability threshold), computation of P0 kernels requires 1–8 s and computation of P0–P5 kernels requires 0.4–4 min using a single thread, while maintaining 1–3% relative error in up-scattering probability. These results demonstrate that the proposed formulation enables accurate and computationally practical Doppler-broadened kernel generation for online multigroup cross-section production in Griffin.

Doppler-broadening↗

Molecular weaving of chicken-wire covalent organic frameworks

Molecular weaving is the interlacing of covalently linked threads to make extended structures. Although weaving based on 3D networks has been reported, the 2D forms remain largely unexplored. Reticular chemistry uses mutually embracing tetrahedral metal complexes as crossing points, which, when linked, typically lead to 3D woven structures. Realizing 2D weaving patterns requires crossing points with an overall planar geometry. We show that polynuclear helicates composed of multiple metal-complex units, and therefore multiple turns, are well suited in this regard. By reticulating helicate units, we successfully obtained 2D weaving structures based on the familiar chicken-wire pattern.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Anion-derived contact ion pairing as a unifying principle for electrolyte design

Enabling new electrochemical technologies requires systems that can operate under ever-more demanding conditions, and progress in energy storage applications reveals tantalizing opportunities to reimagine electrolyte design for performance at extreme potentials. Here, a common thread among these innovations is the formation of significant populations of contact ion pairs (CIPs) in the electrolyte, regardless of the specific cation chemistry or solvent system. The examples summarized in this review suggest that a set of general electrolyte design rules likely exists, where the purposeful selection of anion chemistry can yield CIP structures with tunable control over reaction thermodynamics, kinetics, and interphase chemistry. Identifying the relevant descriptors for high-performance, anion-derived CIP structures can be achieved utilizing a combined experimental and computational approach, aided by machine learning and artificial intelligence, to more rapidly survey the vast combinatorial space available and to enable a new generation of electrolytes for decarbonized electrochemical processes at scale.

electrochemistry↗

A compute-bound formulation of Galerkin model reduction for linear time-invariant dynamical systems

This work aims to advance computational methods for projection-based reduced-order models (ROMs) of linear time-invariant (LTI) dynamical systems. For such systems, current practice relies on ROM formulations expressing the state as a rank-1 tensor (i.e., a vector), leading to computational kernels that are memory bandwidth bound and, therefore, ill-suited for scalable performance on modern architectures. This weakness can be particularly limiting when tackling many-query studies, where one needs to run a large number of simulations. This work introduces a reformulation, called rank-2 Galerkin, of the Galerkin ROM for LTI dynamical systems which converts the nature of the ROM problem from memory bandwidth to compute bound. We present the details of the formulation and its implementation, and demonstrate its utility through numerical experiments using, as a test case, the simulation of elastic seismic shear waves in an axisymmetric domain. We quantify and analyze performance and scaling results for varying numbers of threads and problem sizes. In conclusion, we present an end-to-end demonstration of using the rank-2 Galerkin ROM for a Monte Carlo sampling study. We show that the rank-2 Galerkin ROM is one order of magnitude more efficient than the rank-1 Galerkin ROM (the current practice) and about 970 times more efficient than the full-order model, while maintaining accuracy in both the mean and statistics of the field.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Effect of topology changes on the breakup of a periodic liquid jet

Here, the breakup of a periodic jet is examined computationally, using a front-tracking/finite-volume method, where the interface is represented by connected marker points moving with the fluid, while the governing equations are solved on a fixed grid. Tracking the interface allows control of whether topology changes take place or not. The Reynolds and Capillary numbers are kept relatively low ($Re = 150$ and $Ca = 2$) so most of the flow is well resolved. The effect of topology changes is examined by following the jet until it has mostly disintegrated, for different “coalescence criterion,” based on the thickness of thin films and threads. The evolution of both two-dimensional and fully three-dimensional flows is examined. It is found that although there is a significant difference between the evolution when no breakup takes place and when it does, once breakup takes place the evolution is relatively insensitive to exactly how it is triggered for a range of coalescence criterion, and any differences are mostly confined to the smallest scales.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

GPU-accelerated DNS of compressible turbulent flows

Here, this paper explores strategies to transform an existing CPU-based high-performance computational fluid dynamics solver, HyPar, for compressible flow simulations on emerging exascale heterogeneous (CPU+GPU) computing platforms. The scientific motivation for developing a GPU-enhanced version of HyPar is to simulate canonical turbulent flows at the highest resolution possible on such platforms. We show that optimizing memory operations and thread blocks results in 200x speedup of computationally intensive kernels compared with a CPU core. Using multiple GPUs and CUDA-aware MPI communication, we demonstrate both strong and weak scaling of our GPU-based HyPar implementation on the NVIDIA Volta V100 GPUs. We simulate the decay of homogeneous isotropic turbulence in a triply periodic box on grids with up to 1024 3 points (5.3 billion degrees of freedom) and on up to 1,024 GPUs. We compare the wall times for CPU-only and CPU+GPU simulations. The results presented in the paper are obtained on the Summit and Lassen supercomputers at Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, respectively.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

FDTD: Solving 1+1D delay PDE in parallel

We present a proof of concept for solving a 1+1D complex-valued, delay partial differential equation (PDE) that emerges in the study of waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) by adapting the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The delay term is spatially non-local, rendering conventional approaches such as the method of lines inapplicable. Here, we show that by properly designing the grid and by supplying the (partial) exact solution as the boundary condition, the delay PDE can be numerically solved. In addition, we demonstrate that while the delay imposes strong data dependency, multi-thread parallelization can nevertheless be applied to such a problem. Our code provides a numerically exact solution to the time-dependent multi-photon scattering problem in waveguide QED.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗