Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Adjoint methods”

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 649 records · Page 36

Higher-Mode Applications of Fission Matrix Capability for MCNP

In this work, the fission matrix method, implemented into MCNP6, is used to study criticality calculations and compute quantities of practical use. Physically, the fission matrix consists of spatial transition terms between two fission generations. With a sufficiently refined mesh (achieved here with a sparse storage scheme) these rates can be accurately tallied without knowledge of the correct fission distribution. The matrix can then be solved for K-eigenvalues and eigenvectors. The right and left eigenvectors correspond to forward and adjoint fission source modes, respectively.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Monte Carlo Calculations of Eigenvalue Sensitivities to System Dimensions

A Monte Carlo method is developed that computes sensitivities or derivatives of the k-eigenvalue with respect to interface boundary locations for uniform expansions or contractions. The method is implemented in a research version of MCNP6, and its results are compared with reference solutions obtained from equivalent multigroup calculations with PARTISN (discrete ordinates) and direct Monte Carlo perturbations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Non-Abelian gauged supergravities as double copies

Scattering amplitudes have the potential to provide new insights to the study of supergravity theories with gauged R-symmetry and Minkowski vacua. Such gaugings break supersymmetry spontaneously, either partly or completely. In this paper, we develop a framework for double-copy constructions of Abelian and non-Abelian gaugings of N=8 supergravity with these properties. They are generally obtained as the double copy of a spontaneously-broken (possibly supersymmeric) gauge theory and a theory with explicitly-broken supersymmetry. We first identify purely-adjoint deformations of N=4 super-Yang-Millstheorythatpreservethedualitybetweencolorandkinematics. A combination of Higgsing and orbifolding yields the needed duality-satisfying gauge-theory factors with multiple matter representations. We present three explicit examples. Two are Cremmer-Scherk-Schwarz gaugings with unbroken N=6,4 supersymmetry and U(1) gauge group. The third has unbroken N=4 supersymmetry and SU(2) × U(1) gauge group. We also discuss examples in which the double-copy method gives theories with explicitly-broken supersymmetry.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

MrHyDE v.1.0

SAND2024-01324O MrHyDE, which stands for Multi-resolution Hybridized Differential Equations, is a general-purpose C++ package for the solution of coupled multiphysics and multiscale systems on massively parallel computing systems. MrHyDE is designed to enable moving beyond forward simulation for multiscale applications which includes optimization, control, uncertainty quantification, and stochastic inversion. The framework provides interfaces to several packages within the Trilinos framework and leverages automatic differentiation to enable adjoint capabilities for large-scale, gradient-based optimization. MrHyDE provides automated multiscale capabilities through a subgrid model interface and multiscale Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps. For extreme-scale applications, MrHyDE provides in situ data-compression algorithms to reduce memory requirements while maintaining performance. MrHyDE is a general-purpose, computational framework for the solution of multiscale and multiphysics applications. It uses a combination of structure-preserving, physics-compatible discretizations, fully implicit methods, multi-resolution schemes, or fully explicit methods. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

SciDAC↗

Neutron noise calculations in a hexagonal geometry and comparison with analytical solutions

This paper presents the development of a neutronic and kinetic solver for hexagonal geometries. The tool is developed based on the diffusion theory with multi-energy groups and multi-groups of delayed neutron precursors allowing the solutions of forward and adjoint problems of static and dynamic states, and is applicable to both thermal and fast systems with hexagonal geometries. In the dynamic problems, the small stationary fluctuations of macroscopic cross sections are considered as noise sources, and then the induced first order noise is calculated fully in the frequency domain. Numerical algorithms for solving the static and noise equations are implemented with a spatial discretization based on finite differences and a power iterative solution. A coarse mesh finite difference method has been adopted for speeding up the convergence. Since no other numerical tool could calculate frequency-dependent noise in hexagonal geometry, validation calculations have been performed and benchmarked to analytical solutions based on a 2-D homogeneous system with two-energy groups and one-group of delayed neutron precursor, in which point-like perturbations of thermal absorption cross section at central and non-central positions are considered as noise sources. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

A Stochastic Maximum Principle for General Mean-Field Systems

In this paper we study the optimal control problem for a class of general mean-field stochastic differential equations, in which the coefficients depend, nonlinearly, on both the state process as well as of its law. In particular, we assume that the control set is a general open set that is not necessary convex, and the coefficients are only continuous on the control variable without any further regularity or convexity. We validate the approach of Peng (SIAM J Control Optim 2(4):966–979, 1990) by considering the second order variational equations and the corresponding second order adjoint process in this setting, and we extend the Stochastic Maximum Principle of Buckdahn et al. (Appl Math Optim 64(2):197–216, 2011) to this general case.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Experiments on the transportation of a magnetized plasma stream in the GOL-3 facility

The program of the deep upgrade of the GOL-3 multiple-mirror trap is presented. The upgrade is aimed at creating a new GOL-NB open trap located at the GOL-3 site and intended to directly demonstrate the efficiency of using multiple-mirror magnetic cells to improve longitudinal plasma confinement in a gasdynamic open trap. The GOL-NB device will consist of a new central trap, adjoint cells with a multiple-mirror magnetic field, and end tanks (magnetic flux expanders). Plasma in the central trap will be heated by neutral beam injection with a power of up to 1.5 MW and duration of 1 ms. At present, physical experiments directed at developing plasma technologies that are novel for this facility are being carried out using the 6-m-long autonomous part of the GOL-3 solenoid. The aim of this work was to develop a method for filling the central trap with a low-temperature start plasma. Transportation of a plasma stream from an arc source over a distance of 3 m in a uniform magnetic field with an induction of 0.5–4.5 T is demonstrated. In these experiments, the axial plasma density was (1–4) × 10{sup 20} m{sup –3} and the mirror ratio varied from 5 to 60. In general, the experiments confirmed the correctness of the adopted decisions for the start plasma source of the GOL-NB device.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Optimal Harvesting in a Periodic Food Chain Model with Size Structures in Predators

In this paper, we investigate a periodic food chain model with harvesting, where the predators have size structures and are described by first-order partial differential equations. First, we establish the existence of a unique non-negative solution by using the Banach fixed point theorem. Then, we provide optimality conditions by means of normal cone and adjoint system. Finally, we derive the existence of an optimal strategy by means of Ekeland’s variational principle. Here the objective functional represents the net economic benefit yielded from harvesting.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Scientific Computational Imaging Code (SCICO)

Scientific Computational Imaging Code (SCICO) is a Python package for solving the inverse problems that arise in scientific imaging applications. Its primary focus is providing methods for solving ill-posed inverse problems by using an appropriate prior model of the reconstruction space. SCICO includes a growing suite of operators, cost functionals, regularizers, and optimization routines that may be combined to solve a wide range of problems, and is designed so that it is easy to add new building blocks. SCICO is built on top of JAX rather than NumPy, enabling GPU/TPU acceleration, just-in-time compilation, and automatic gradient functionality, which is used to automatically compute the adjoints of linear operators. An example of how to solve a multi-channel tomography problem with SCICO is shown in Figure 1. The SCICO source code is available from GitHub, and pre-built packages are available from PyPI. It has extensive online documentation, including API documentation and usage examples, which can be run online at Google Colab and binder.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Reduced-order modeling of neutron transport separated in energy by Minimax Proper Generalized Decomposition

In this article, we demonstrate a Petrov-Galerkin Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD) known as Minimax PGD for modeling neutron transport separated in energy. To compare the Minimax with the classical Galerkin PGD, we assess both on a model problem of UO{sub 2} or Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel pins in an infinite lattice with 3 industry-standard energy meshes. We find the Minimax PGD achieves a superior decomposition to Galerkin PGD, both with and without update of the energy modes. This suggests Minimax PGD may be more computationally efficient, provided this reduction in modes (to achieve a given accuracy) outweighs the cost of solving the necessary adjoint problems. In either case, we note that PGD offers an a priori Reduced-Order Model (ROM) which may be dramatically cheaper to solve than the full-order model, especially in problems with fine to ultrafine energy meshes. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Online adaptive basis refinement and compression for reduced-order models via vector-space sieving

In many applications, projection-based reduced-order models (ROMs) have demonstrated the ability to provide rapid approximate solutions to high-fidelity full-order models (FOMs). However, there is no a priori assurance that these approximate solutions are accurate; their accuracy depends on the ability of the low-dimensional trial basis to represent the FOM solution. As a result, ROMs can generate inaccurate approximate solutions, e.g., when the FOM solution at the online prediction point is not well represented by training data used to construct the trial basis. To address this fundamental deficiency of standard model-reduction approaches, this work proposes a novel online-adaptive mechanism for efficiently enriching the trial basis in a manner that ensures convergence of the ROM to the FOM, yet does not incur any FOM solves. The mechanism is based on the previously proposed adaptive $h$-refinement method for ROMs, but improves upon this work in two crucial ways. First, the proposed method enables basis refinement with respect to any orthogonal basis (not just the Kronecker basis), thereby generalizing the refinement mechanism and enabling it to be tailored to the physics characterizing the problem at hand. Second, the proposed method provides a fast online algorithm for periodically compressing the enriched basis via an efficient proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method, which does not incur any operations that scale with the FOM dimension. We report these two features allow the proposed method to serve as (1) a failsafe mechanism for ROMs, as the method enables the ROM to satisfy any prescribed error tolerance online (even in the case of inadequate training), and (2) an efficient online basis-adaptation mechanism, as the combination of basis enrichment and compression enables the basis to adapt online while controlling its dimension.

42 ENGINEERING↗

SNM neutron detection using a time-gated synthetic aperture hybrid approach

This work focuses on using forward and adjoint transport in a hybrid application of 3-D deterministic (PENTRAN) and Monte Carlo (MCNP5) codes to model a series of neutron detector blocks. These blocks, or 'channels, ' contain a unique set of moderators with 4 atm He-3 detectors tuned to detect and profile a gross energy spectrum of a passing neutron (SNM) source. Ganging the units together as a large area system enables one to apply time gating the source-detector response to maximize signal to noise responses from a passing source with minimal background; multiple units may be positioned as a collective synthetic aperture detector array to be used as a way of performing real time neutron spectroscopy for detecting special nuclear materials in moving vehicles. The initial design, detector response coupling, confirmation of initial design functionality using adjoint transport calculations, and realistic simulation using PENTRAN and MCNP5 are presented. Future work will include optimization and application to realistic scenarios and additional sources. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Development of a New Fixed-source Sensitivity Tally Capability in the MCNP® code [Abstract]

The development of a new fixed-source sensitivity tally capability is currently underway in the MCNP code. In recent research and development efforts that utilize machine learning to both seek problematic nuclear data as well as design experiments optimized to improve the nuclear data, the adjoint-weighted k-eigenvalue sensitivity tally capabilities have been heavily essential. In this paper, the motivation to expand the sensitivity tally capabilities beyond k-eigenvalues toward diverse fixed-source problems along with preliminary results and verification will be discussed.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Negative magnetic eddy diffusivities from the test-field method and multiscale stability theory

The generation of a large-scale magnetic field in the kinematic regime in the absence of an α-effect is investigated by following two different approaches: the test-field method and the multiscale stability theory relying on the homogenization technique. Our computations of the magnetic eddy diffusivity tensor of the parity-invariant flow IV of G. O. Roberts and the modified Taylor–Green flow confirm the findings of previous studies and also explain some of their apparent contradictions. The two flows have large symmetry groups; this is used to considerably simplify the eddy diffusivity tensor. Finally, a new analytic result is presented: upon expressing the eddy diffusivity tensor in terms of solutions to auxiliary problems for the adjoint operator, we derive relations between the magnetic eddy diffusivity tensors that arise for mutually reverse small-scale flows v(x) and −v(x).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cross Section Generation Capability in Griffin

The Griffin code is a Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) based reactor multiphysics analysis application jointly developed by Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. The code includes a variety of steady-state solvers for fixed-source, k-eigenvalue, adjoint, and subcritical multiplication, as well as transient solvers for point-kinetics, improved quasi-static, and spatial dynamics. The code reads multigroup cross sections in the ISOXML format generated from external deterministic or Monte Carlo cross section generation codes. The implementation of the cross section generation capability in Griffin was initiated last year by plugging in the cross section application programming interface (CSAPI) and reviewing the methodologies for treating particulate fuels. The focus this year was on improving the CSAPI integration and implementing advanced self-shielding methods for applications to advanced reactor problems with TRISO fuels. First, the process for cross section library generation was updated to accurately and rigorously produce isotopic cross section data. Second, the equivalent Dancoff factor cell method performing slowing down calculations on the fly for the resonance treatment was implemented in CSAPI to improve the accuracy of effective multigroup cross sections in the resonance energy range. Third, the iterative local spatial self-shielding method was implemented under the calculation framework of the equivalent Dancoff factor cell method to accurately deal with the double heterogeneity effect of particulate fuel. The updated CSAPI with the advanced self-shielding methods, together with the cross section libraries generated based on the improved process, were tested for pin-cell, unit-cell, and fuel assembly problems with various resonance self-shielding conditions based on very high temperature reactor, high temperature test reactor, and Empire benchmark cores, indicating that the updated CSAPI in Griffin is able to produce multigroup cross sections accurately and efficiently. We also showed that the methodology worked well for pebble bed fuel from HTR-10, but the capability still needs to be fully integrated into CSAPI. In the future, further benchmark tests will be performed for various thermal reactor core problems, including particulate fuel-based pebble bed reactors.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Cross Section Generation Capability in Griffin

The Griffin code is a Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) based reactor multiphysics analysis application jointly developed by Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. The code includes a variety of steady-state solvers for fixed-source, k-eigenvalue, adjoint, and subcritical multiplication, as well as transient solvers for point-kinetics, improved quasi-static, and spatial dynamics. The code reads multigroup cross sections in the ISOXML format generated from external deterministic or Monte Carlo cross section generation codes. The implementation of the cross section generation capability in Griffin was initiated last year by plugging in the cross section application programming interface (CSAPI) and reviewing the methodologies for treating particulate fuels. The focus this year was on improving the CSAPI integration and implementing advanced self-shielding methods for applications to advanced reactor problems with TRISO fuels. First, the process for cross section library generation was updated to accurately and rigorously produce isotopic cross section data. Second, the on-the-fly slowing down method for the resonance treatment was implemented in CSAPI to improve the accuracy of effective multigroup cross sections in the resonance energy range. Among various on-the-fly slowing down methods, the equivalent Dancoff factor cell method was employed. Third, the iterative local spatial self-shielding method was implemented under the calculation framework of the equivalent Dancoff factor cell method to accurately deal with the double heterogeneity effect of particulate fuel. The updated CSAPI with the advanced self-shielding methods, together with the cross section libraries generated based on the improved process, were tested for the very high temperature reactor (VHTR), high temperature test reactor (HTTR), and Empire benchmark problems with various resonance self-shielding conditions, indicating that the updated CSAPI in Griffin is able to produce multigroup cross sections accurately and efficiently. We also show that the methodology works well for pebble bed fuel from HTR-10, but the capability still needs to be fully integrated into CSAPI. In the future, further benchmark tests will be performed for various thermal reactor core problems, including particulate fuel-based pebble bed reactors.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Improved accuracy in degenerate variational integrators for guiding centre and magnetic field line flow

First-order-accurate degenerate variational integration (DVI) was introduced in Ellison et al. ( Phys. Plasmas , vol. 25, 2018, 052502) for systems with a degenerate Lagrangian, i.e. one in which the velocity-space Hessian is singular. In this paper we introduce second-order-accurate DVI schemes, both with and without non-uniform time stepping. We show that it is not in general possible to construct a second-order scheme with a preserved two-form by composing a first-order scheme with its adjoint, and discuss the conditions under which such a composition is possible. We build two classes of second-order-accurate DVI schemes. We test these second-order schemes numerically on two systems having non-canonical variables, namely the magnetic field line and guiding centre systems. Variational integration for Hamiltonian systems with non-uniform time steps, in terms of an extended phase space Hamiltonian, is generalized to non-canonical variables. It is shown that preservation of proper degeneracy leads to single-step (one-step) methods without parasitic modes, i.e. to non-uniform time step DVIs. This extension applies to second-order-accurate as well as first-order schemes, and can be applied to adapt the time stepping to an error estimate.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Multi-Impulse to Time Optimal Finite Burn Trajectory Conversion

A novel conversion algorithm is presented that combines the fidelity of indirect optimization methods with the generality of direct methods to more easily solve time-optimal, finite-burn pseudo-rendezvous problems. An algorithm is described that converts a set of multiple-impulses, representing the entirety or a portion of a high- or low-thrust maneuver, to an exact time optimal finite-burn trajectory for a thrust limited, constant exhaust velocity spacecraft. A pseudo-rendezvous problem is one that yields a solution whose final time, position and velocity state is equal to that of the original post-impulsive trajectory. An iterative adjoint-control transformation is used to initialize the optimal control two-point boundary value problem. Examples are shown for both high and low-thrust non-coplanar Earth orbit transfers, as well as a low-thrust Hohmann-type Earth-Mars transfer.

Fogel, J.↗