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At least 703 records · Page 39

On options for interdisciplinary analysis and design optimization

The interdisciplinary optimization of engineering systems is discussed from the standpoint of the computational alternatives available to the designer. The analysis of such systems typically requires the solution of coupled systems of nonlinear algebraic equations. The solution procedure is necessarily iterative in nature. It is shown that the system can be solved by fixed point iteration, by Newton's method, or by a combination of the two. However, the need for sensitivity analysis may affect the choice of analysis solution method. Similarly, the optimization of the system can be formulated in several ways that are discussed in the paper. It is shown that the effect of the topology of the interaction between disciplines is a key factor in the choice of analysis, sensitivity and optimization methods. Several examples are presented to illustrate the discussion.

Haftka, R. T.↗

Analysis of an arched outer-race ball bearing considering centrifugal forces

A Newton-Raphson method of iteration was used in evaluating the radial and axial projection of the distance between the ball center and the outer raceway groove curvature center (V and W). Fatigue life evaluations were made. The similar analysis of a conventional bearing can be directly obtained from the arched bearing analysis by simply letting the amount of arching be zero (g = 0) and not considering equations related to the unloaded half of the outer race. The analysis was applied to a 150-mm angular contact ball bearing. Results for life, contact loads, and angles are shown for a conventional bearing (g = 0) and two arched bearings (g = 0.127 mm (0.005 in.), and 0.254 mm (0.010 in.)). The results indicate that an arched bearing is highly desirable for high speed applications. In particular, for a DN value of 3 million (20,000 rpm) and an applied axial load of 4448 N (1000 lb), an arched bearing shows an improvement in life of 306 percent over that of a conventional bearing. At 4.2 million DN (28,000 rpm), the corresponding improvement is 340 percent. It was also found for low speeds, the arched bearing does not offer the advantages that it does for high speed applications.

Hamrock, B. J.↗

Mechanical characterization of fine-grain dispersion-strengthened tungsten as a plasma facing material

Field-Assisted Sintering Technology (FAST) was used to produce fine-grained, dispersion-strengthened tungsten (W) materials. Investigated materials 4138, 4353, and 4355 composed of 3 wt% ZrC sintered at 1800 °C, 5 wt% ZrC sintered at 1800 °C, and 3 wt% ZrC sintered at 2000 °C, respectively. They were compared against ITER-grade W. A series of mechanical and thermal property testing and microstructure studies were conducted to study them as a potential plasma facing material (PFM) for fusion reactors. Hardness testing showed that manufacturing conditions substantially altered hardness. Material 4355 had an average HV10 value of 497.2 ± 16.8, slightly higher than ITER-grade at 378.5 ± 40.3. However, material 4353 was substantially higher with an HV10 value of 738.9 ± 31.7 over the investigated temperature range. Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) analysis showed that FAST produced substantially smaller grains than the hot-rolled ITER-grade W material, offering notable control over grain size. Materials 4353 and 4355 had grain sizes of 0.44 ± 0.20 µm and 3.67 ± 0.89 µm, respectively, whereas ITER-grade 27.14 ± 19.76 µm at room temperature. The fine grain structures showed no net coarsening after 1 hr. anneals up to 1800 °C, several hundred degrees above the 1100 – 1500 °C recrystallization range reported for conventional W. Inverse application of the Zener pinning relationship to the measured grain sizes indicates that these two FAST sintering conditions produce markedly different effective dispersoid populations, with effective particle diameters of approximately 90 nm at a peak sintering temperature of 1800 °C and approximately 460 nm at 2000 °C, respectively. This result demonstrates that the FAST thermal condition itself, and not the nominal ZrC content alone, governs the pinning effectiveness of the dispersion. Thermal diffusivity measurements support this finding independently. Materials of identical composition sintered at different temperatures differ by approximately 19% in measured thermal diffusivity with statistically indistinguishable density, while materials of different composition and sintering temperature converge to within approximately 2%. At a representative divertor heat flux of 10 MW/m², the lower thermal conductivity of the fine-grained materials corresponds to approximately 28 to 33 °C per millimeter of armor thickness relative to ITER-grade W, traded against a substantially larger margin to recrystallization-driven degradation. While high temperature tensile testing revealed likely contamination that motivates refinement of the manufacturing process, FAST-produced, fine-grained, dispersion-strengthened W offers process-controlled microstructural stability well above the operating temperatures of conventional W and supports its continued development as a PFM for economically viable commercial fusion power.

Parker, Gabe [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000190394100)↗

A novel framework for hosting capacity analysis with spatio-temporal probabilistic voltage sensitivity analysis

Smart grids are envisioned to accommodate high penetration of distributed photovoltaic (PV) generation, which may cause adverse grid impacts in terms of voltage violations. Therefore, PV Hosting capacity is being used as a planning tool to determine the maximum PV installation capacity that causes the first voltage violation and above which would require infrastructure upgrades. Additionally, traditional methods of Hosting capacity analysis are scenario based and computationally complex as they rely on iterative load flow algorithms that require investigating a large number of scenarios for accurate assessment of PV impacts. Therefore, this paper presents a computationally efficient analytical approach to compute the probability distribution of voltage change due to random behavior of randomly located multiple distributed PVs. The proposed approach is based on Spatio-temporal probabilistic voltage sensitivity analysis that exploits both spatial and temporal uncertainties associated with PV injections. Thereafter, the derived distribution is used to quantify voltage violations for various PV penetration levels and subsequently determine the hosting capacity of the system without the need to examine large number of scenarios. Results of the proposed framework are validated via conventional load flow based simulation approach on the IEEE 37 and IEEE 123 node test systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Solving Upwind-Biased Discretizations: Defect-Correction Iterations

This paper considers defect-correction solvers for a second order upwind-biased discretization of the 2D convection equation. The following important features are reported: (1) The asymptotic convergence rate is about 0.5 per defect-correction iteration. (2) If the operators involved in defect-correction iterations have different approximation order, then the initial convergence rates may be very slow. The number of iterations required to get into the asymptotic convergence regime might grow on fine grids as a negative power of h. In the case of a second order target operator and a first order driver operator, this number of iterations is roughly proportional to h-1/3. (3) If both the operators have the second approximation order, the defect-correction solver demonstrates the asymptotic convergence rate after three iterations at most. The same three iterations are required to converge algebraic error below the truncation error level. A novel comprehensive half-space Fourier mode analysis (which, by the way, can take into account the influence of discretized outflow boundary conditions as well) for the defect-correction method is developed. This analysis explains many phenomena observed in solving non-elliptic equations and provides a close prediction of the actual solution behavior. It predicts the convergence rate for each iteration and the asymptotic convergence rate. As a result of this analysis, a new very efficient adaptive multigrid algorithm solving the discrete problem to within a given accuracy is proposed. Numerical simulations confirm the accuracy of the analysis and the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The results of the numerical tests are reported.

Diskin, Boris↗

Efficacy of FTIR Analysis in Determining CO2 Loading on Diglycolamine

In support of advanced air revitalization technologies to enable human spaceflight beyond low earth orbit, performance studies have been conducted using a liquid amine, Diglycolamine (DGA) between teams at NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center (JSC) and Ames Research Center (ARC). Liquid amines have been used in regenerable earth-based systems to remove CO2 from industrial systems as well as for closed-environment air revitalization because they can be regenerated at lower temperatures than solid sorbent systems. As an additional advantage to solid sorbent-based systems, liquid sorbents can be cycled between an adsorbing contactor and degassing chamber, thereby reducing system complexity by operation in a continuous loop. In an effort to inform a regeneration system design for micro-gravity applications, ARC has performed a number of tests to characterize the degas mechanics of DGA. In order to accurately measure the amount of CO2 captured or released by the amine, methods such as gravimetric weighing and chemical desorption are reasonable, however the first iteration test setup for a scaled down degas system required analysis on small sample sizes. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was experimentally evaluated to analyze CO2 concentration because it can produce measurements with sample sizes on the order of 100's of μL. Calibration against chemical desorption showed relatively good correlation and test data showed reasonable adherence to expected trends, however more extensive testing should be conducted to fully validate the usage of FTIR to determine CO2 loading on DGA.

Diglycolamine↗

Methodology for sensitivity analysis, approximate analysis, and design optimization in CFD for multidisciplinary applications

In this study involving advanced fluid flow codes, an incremental iterative formulation (also known as the delta or correction form) together with the well-known spatially-split approximate factorization algorithm, is presented for solving the very large sparse systems of linear equations which are associated with aerodynamic sensitivity analysis. For smaller 2D problems, a direct method can be applied to solve these linear equations in either the standard or the incremental form, in which case the two are equivalent. Iterative methods are needed for larger 2D and future 3D applications, however, because direct methods require much more computer memory than is currently available. Iterative methods for solving these equations in the standard form are generally unsatisfactory due to an ill-conditioning of the coefficient matrix; this problem can be overcome when these equations are cast in the incremental form. These and other benefits are discussed. The methodology is successfully implemented and tested in 2D using an upwind, cell-centered, finite volume formulation applied to the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. Results are presented for two sample airfoil problems: (1) subsonic low Reynolds number laminar flow; and (2) transonic high Reynolds number turbulent flow.

Taylor, Arthur C., III↗

Boundary formulations for shape sensitivity of temperature dependent conductivity problems

Used in concert with the Kirchhoff transformation, implicit differentiation of the discretized boundary integral equations governing the conduction of heat in solids with temperature dependent thermal conductivity is shown to generate an accurate and economical approach for computation of shape sensitivities. For problems with specified temperature and heat flux boundary conditions, a linear problem results for both the analysis and sensitivity analysis. In problems with either convection or radiation boundary conditions, a nonlinear problem is generated. Several iterative strategies are presented for the solution of the resulting sets of nonlinear equations and the computational performances examined in detail. Multizone analysis and zone condensation strategies are demonstrated to provide substantive computational economies in this process for models with either localized nonlinear boundary conditions or regions of geometric insensitivity to design variables. A series of nonlinear example problems is presented that have closed form solutions. Exact analytical expressions for the shape sensitivities associated with these problems are developed and these are compared with the sensitivities computed using the boundary element formulation.

Kane, James H.↗

On nonlinear finite element analysis in single-, multi- and parallel-processors

Numerical solution of nonlinear equilibrium problems of structures by means of Newton-Raphson type iterations is reviewed. Each step of the iteration is shown to correspond to the solution of a linear problem, therefore the feasibility of the finite element method for nonlinear analysis is established. Organization and flow of data for various types of digital computers, such as single-processor/single-level memory, single-processor/two-level-memory, vector-processor/two-level-memory, and parallel-processors, with and without sub-structuring (i.e. partitioning) are given. The effect of the relative costs of computation, memory and data transfer on substructuring is shown. The idea of assigning comparable size substructures to parallel processors is exploited. Under Cholesky type factorization schemes, the efficiency of parallel processing is shown to decrease due to the occasional shared data, just as that due to the shared facilities.

Utku, S.↗

Time dependent difference theory for sound propagation in axisymmetric ducts with plug flow

The time dependent governing acoustic-difference equations and boundary conditions are developed and solved for sound propagation in an axisymmetric (cylindrical) hard wall duct with a plug mean flow and spinning acoustic modes. The analysis begins with a harmonic sound source radiating into a quiescent duct. This explicit iteration method then calculates stepwise in real time to obtain the transient as well as the 'steady' state solutions of the acoustic field. The time dependent finite difference analysis has two advantages over the steady state finite difference and finite element techniques: (1)the elimination of large matrix storage requirements, and (2)shorter solution times under most conditions.

Baumeister, K. J.↗

Time dependent difference theory for sound propagation in axisymmetric ducts with plug flow

The time dependent governing/acoustic-difference equations and boundary conditions are developed and solved for sound propagation in an axisymmetric (cylindrical) hard wall duct with a plug mean flow and spinning acoustic modes. The analysis begins with a harmonic sound source radiating into a quiescent duct. This explicit iteration method then calculates stepwise in real time to obtain the transient as well as the 'steady' state solutions of the acoustic field. The time dependent finite difference analysis has two advantages over the steady state finite difference and finite element techniques: (1) the elimination of large matrix storage requirements, and (2) shorter solution times under most conditions.

Baumeister, K. J.↗

Modification and evaluation of a Barnes-type objective analysis scheme for surface meteorological data

The Purdue Regional Objective Analysis of the Mesoscale (PROAM) is a Barness-type scheme for the analysis of surface meteorological data. Modifications are introduced to the original version in order to increase its flexibility and to permit greater ease of usage. The code was rewritten for an interactive computer environment. Furthermore, a multiple iteration technique suggested by Barnes was implemented for greater accuracy. PROAM was subjected to a series of experiments in order to evaluate its performance under a variety of analysis conditions. The tests include use of a known analytic temperature distribution in order to quantify error bounds for the scheme. Similar experiments were conducted using actual atmospheric data. Results indicate that the multiple iteration technique increases the accuracy of the analysis. Furthermore, the tests verify appropriate values for the analysis parameters in resolving meso-beta scale phenomena.

Smith, D. R.↗

Computational materials assessment of the D/Li-stripping neutron source as a prototypical facility for fusion materials testing

As the US fusion materials community awaits the selection and design of a fusion prototypical neutron source (FPNS), a risk reduction exercise has been conducted to (i) provide an updated materials performance evaluation using state-of-the-art computational materials modeling, (ii) expand on legacy analysis based on pure Fe to other relevant fusion structural materials types, and (iii) ensure that materials response under FPNS operational conditions is consistent with referential fusion reactor conditions. The current paper describes the efforts undertaken to assemble a comprehensive computational methodology that includes neutronics, primary damage calculations, atomistic simulations of displacement cascades, chemical inventory evolution calculations, and a computational thermodynamic analysis of emerging phases during irradiation. Our work extends existing studies in pure Fe to reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels, tungsten, silicon carbide, and vanadium alloys. We focus on the single-beam deuteron/lithium-stripping neutron source behind the IFMIF-DONES concept, which we assess against ITER, two DEMO designs, and an ideal pure 14-MeV flux. Our analysis indicates that, within standard uncertainties inherent to the models employed, the DONES concept adequately captures fusion conditions in the four materials analyzed. Our work is intended as a comprehensive irradiation damage analysis of fusion-representative neutron sources, to be used for further neutron source evaluation and fusion facility operation.

Marian, Jaime [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, C↗

A novel random forest approach to revealing interactions and controls on chlorophyll concentration and bacterial communities during coastal phytoplankton blooms

Abstract Increasing occurrence of harmful algal blooms across the land–water interface poses significant risks to coastal ecosystem structure and human health. Defining significant drivers and their interactive impacts on blooms allows for more effective analysis and identification of specific conditions supporting phytoplankton growth. A novel iterative Random Forests (iRF) machine-learning model was developed and applied to two example cases along the California coast to identify key stable interactions: (1) phytoplankton abundance in response to various drivers due to coastal conditions and land-sea nutrient fluxes, (2) microbial community structure during algal blooms. In Example 1, watershed derived nutrients were identified as the least significant interacting variable associated with Monterey Bay phytoplankton abundance. In Example 2, through iRF analysis of field-based 16S OTU bacterial community and algae datasets, we independently found stable interactions of prokaryote abundance patterns associated with phytoplankton abundance that have been previously identified in laboratory-based studies. Our study represents the first iRF application to marine algal blooms that helps to identify ocean, microbial, and terrestrial conditions that are considered dominant causal factors on bloom dynamics.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Shutdown Dose Rate Analysis Using the Multi-Step CADIS Method

The Multi-Step Consistent Adjoint Driven Importance Sampling (MS-CADIS) hybrid Monte Carlo (MC)/deterministic radiation transport method was proposed to speed up the shutdown dose rate (SDDR) neutron MC calculation using an importance function that represents the neutron importance to the final SDDR. This work applied the MS-CADIS method to the ITER SDDR benchmark problem. The MS-CADIS method was also used to calculate the SDDR uncertainty resulting from uncertainties in the MC neutron calculation and to determine the degree of undersampling in SDDR calculations because of the limited ability of the MC method to tally detailed spatial and energy distributions. The analysis that used the ITER benchmark problem compared the efficiency of the MS-CADIS method to the traditional approach of using global MC variance reduction techniques for speeding up SDDR neutron MC calculation. Compared to the standard Forward-Weighted-CADIS (FW-CADIS) method, the MS-CADIS method increased the efficiency of the SDDR neutron MC calculation by 69%. The MS-CADIS method also increased the fraction of nonzero scoring mesh tally elements in the space-energy regions of high importance to the final SDDR.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

On the Degradation of the Effectiveness of Nonlinear Diffusion Acceleration with Parallel Block Jacobi Splitting

MOOSE's radiation transport module Rattlesnake comprises a first order S N solver that can be accelerated with a flexible Nonlinear Diffusion Acceleration. At each NDA iteration, the streaming and collision operator of the S{sub N} equations are (approximately) inverted using a transport sweep. When executed on multiple processors parallel block Jacobi (PBJ) splitting is utilized lagging the processor sub-domain's incoming angular fluxes making the implemented method asynchronous, i.e. the convergence properties of NDA become dependent on the number of concurrent tasks and details of the partitioning. Within this work, we study the NDA convergence properties for the two-dimensional C5G7 benchmark problem PBJ with p = 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 60, 72, 96 and 144 concurrent tasks. Rosa studied the convergence properties of PBJ splitting methods with and without transport synthetic acceleration (TSA) in slab geometry and two-dimensional Cartesian geometry, respectively. Rosa's iteration scheme lags both the incoming angular fluxes and the scattering source making it very similar to the method described here. Rosa found by means of Fourier analysis that convergence of unaccelerated PBJ can degrade for optically thin subdomains, i.e. for a large number of processors given a fixed domain size. Depending on the choice of parameters application of TSA can lead to an effective algorithm. In contrast to Rosa's work, this work focuses on PBJ splitting for NDA accelerated solution of the multigroup eigenvalue problem. Later, Zerr and Anistratov used their integral transport matrix method in conjunction with PBJ. This iteration scheme is different as it does not lag the scattering source. Nevertheless, Fourier analysis with Diamond Difference spatial discretization showed that the method degrades with increasing the overall size of the spatial domain while keeping the sub-domain size constant. In the case of an infinite medium, the observed spectral radius becomes unity. These references establish the iterative performance of PBJ for one-group fixed source problems discretized on rectangular cells, but for the Rattlesnake first order NDA method, an emphasis lies on multigroup eigenvalue problems. In this setting, the additional complication arises that the low order equations are not exactly inverted, but only to some iterative criterion. Further, as the low order problem is solved using Jacobian-Free Newton Krylov methods, a suitable preconditioner for the GMRES iterations is required. As the effectiveness of the preconditioners may decrease when more concurrent processes are used, we expect the low order solve to impact the overall effectiveness of the NDA method in parallel execution as well. Therefore, this work focuses on the question of how detrimental the asynchronicity of the high and low order iterative solutions is for the effectiveness of NDA solutions of realistic, unstructured grid, multigroup eigenvalue problems. The iterative convergence properties of Rattlesnake's NDA method for multigroup eigenvalue problems are studied for varying number of concurrent processes. Rattlesnake's NDA method is asynchronous because the high order transport sweep uses PBJ splitting and because the low order solve's preconditioners, algebraic multigrid and additive Schwarz, are asynchronous. We found that up to 144 processes the number of Picard iterations increases by a factor of 2-3 affecting but not destroying NDA's parallel performance for the C5G7 benchmark problem, a representative LWR (light water reactor) configuration. The solution of the NDA low order eigenvalue problem posed greater problems than expected for the solvers currently available in Rattlesnake mainly because of problems to effectively precondition the modified low-order problem. As a matter of fact, the low order problem becomes an advection-diffusion problem. Non-robustness was observed for the AMG preconditioned coarse mesh acceleration for more than 60 concurrent processes, which was fixed by increasing the number of permissible V-cycles per AMG call. For fine mesh acceleration AMG proved to be ineffective and we resorted to ASM. For both AMG and ASM, increasing number of linear iterations per nonlinear are observed when increasing the number of processes, but for ASM this problem appears to be worse. The results from this work also indicate that initial development efforts should be diverted from implementation of a high-order parallel sweeping algorithm to the effective and robust iterative solution of the low order NDA multigroup eigenvalue problem. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗