SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “FLOW VELOCITY, HIGH - SUPERSONIC”

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 73 records · Page 4

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2024

On detrending stream velocity time series for robust tidal flow turbulence characterization

We investigated the impact of detrending techniques on turbulence quantities from tidal stream flow data, focusing on the autocorrelation function, $ρ_{uu}$, and velocity spectrum, $Φ(f)$. Standard detrending methods, including high-pass frequency-based and polynomial-based techniques, are examined, alongside a proposed alternative method, the empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Our results highlight that intervals of flow acceleration and deceleration, typical in tidal and riverine flows, significantly affect the estimation of turbulence quantities using high-pass frequency filtering and polynomial detrending of varying orders. These methods can strongly influence $ρ_{uu}$ and $Φ(f)$, thereby affecting the accurate estimation of derived quantities. We examine two variations of detrending data using EMD; the first removes only the EMD residue, and the second removes both the residue and the largest scale intrinsic mode function (IMF). By comparing the detrended spectra with the modeled von Kármán spectra, we demonstrate that the second variation (i.e., removing the residue and the largest scale IMF) successfully removed the large-scale trend of the data while retaining the energy of other scales.

Detrend↗

DOE OSTI2021

Influence of gas expansion on the propagation of a premixed flame in a spatially periodic shear flow

It has been previously demonstrated that thermal gas expansion might have a role in boundary layer flashback of premixed turbulent flames, inducing local flow-reversal in the boundary layer's low-velocity streaks on the reactants’ side of the flame and facilitating its upstream propagation. Here, we perform a two-dimensional numerical investigation of the interaction between a periodic shear flow and a laminar premixed flame. The periodic shear is a simplified model for the oncoming prolonged streamwise velocity streaks with alternating regions of high and low velocities found in turbulent boundary layers in the vicinity of the walls. The parametric study focuses on the amplitude and wavelength of the periodic shear flow and on the gas expansion ratio (unburnt-to-burnt density ratio). With the increase of the amplitudes of the periodic shear flow and of the gas expansion, the curved flame velocity increases monotonically. The flame velocity dependence on the periodic shear wavelength is non-monotonic, which is consistent with previous theoretical studies of curved premixed flame velocity. The flame shape that is initially formed by the oncoming periodic shear appears to be metastable. At a later stage of the flame propagation, the flame shape transforms into the stationary one dominated by the Darrieus-Landau instability.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2021

Collective optical Thomson scattering in pulsed-power driven high energy density physics experiments (invited)

Optical collective Thomson scattering is used to diagnose magnetized high energy density physics experiments at the Magpie pulsed-power generator at Imperial College London. The system uses an amplified pulse from the 2nd harmonic of a Nd:YAG laser (3 J, 8 ns, 532 nm) to probe a wide diversity of hightemperature plasma objects; with densities in the range of 10 17 -10 19 cm -3 and temperatures between 10 eV and a few keV. The scattered light is collected from 100 μm-scale volumes within the plasmas, which are imaged onto optical fiber arrays. Multiple collection systems observe these volumes from different directions, providing simultaneous probing with different scattering K-vectors (and different associated α-parameters, typically in the range 0.5 – 3) allowing independent measurements of separate velocity components of the bulk plasma flow. The fiber arrays are coupled to an imaging spectrometer with a gated ICCD. The spectrometer is configured to view the ion-acoustic waves (IAWs) of the collective Thomson scattered spectrum. Fits to the spectra with the theoretical spectral density function S(K,ω) yield measurements of the local plasma temperatures and velocities. Fitting is constrained by independent measurements of the electron density from laser interferometry, and the corresponding spectra for different scattering vectors. Furthermore, this TS diagnostic has been successfully implemented on a wide range of experiments, revealing temperature and flow velocity transitions across magnetized shocks, inside rotating plasma jets and imploding wire arrays, as well as providing direct measurements of drift velocities inside a magnetic reconnection current sheet.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2020

Dam-Break Flow Measurements of Liquid–Granular Mixtures in a Channelized Reservoir

Dam-break flows of granular materials exhibit a complex non-Newtonian rheology, which is strongly influenced by various factors, such as the characteristics of the granular material, the degree of initial compaction, and saturation level of the granular matrix. Specially adapted nonintrusive techniques are required to investigate these flows in the laboratory. This paper investigated the nonintrusive technique of image analysis. The methodologies used in the measurement of bulk flow parameters, such as flow depth, front velocity, and flow rate, and the extraction of detailed flow characteristics such as velocity profiles, were discussed in the context of a series of granular dam-break flow experiments. These experiments were performed under three types of initial conditions: dry, saturated (water filling the pore space), and submerged (a layer of saturated granular material submerged under water) using four types of granular materials—PET pellets, crushed walnut shells, urea, and sand—with grain sizes ranging from 200 μm to 2.9 mm. High-speed cameras were used to capture the evolution and local properties of the flow, such as velocity fields using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Bulk properties of the flow were obtained by tracking the surface profile of the granular matrix and the water table. The extracted profiles were used to measure the evolution of the volume of the granular matrix and the fluid phase separately upstream and downstream of the gate, which allowed measuring the dilatancy (increase in pore space). The study showed that the image analysis techniques are versatile and can be adapted to measure different flow parameters in a variety of granular flows to better understand and analyze their complex behavior. Finally, the advantages and drawbacks of each image analysis technique were discussed and best-practice recommendations were provided.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2024

Interactions of laser-driven tin ejecta microjets over phase transition boundaries

Ejecta microjets offer an experimental methodology to study high-speed particle laden-flow interactions, as microjets consist of millions of particulates traveling at velocities of several kilometers per second and are easily generated by most common shock drives. Previous experiments on the OMEGA Extended Performance laser found that collisions between two counter-propagating laser-driven tin ejecta microjets varied as a function of drive pressure; jets generated near shock pressures of 10 GPa passed through each other without interacting, whereas jets generated at shock pressures of over 100 GPa interacted strongly, forming a cloud around the center interaction point. In this paper, we present a more systematic scan of tin ejecta microjet collisions over intermediate pressure regimes to identify how and at what shock pressure interaction behavior onsets. Radiographs of interacting microjets at five different laser drive energies qualitatively demonstrate that interaction behavior onsets slowly as a function of laser drive energy. Quantitative mass and density metrics from each radiograph provide trends on jet characteristics and collisional mass dispersion. It is observed that jetting mass, jet densities, and mass dispersion increase with increasing drive pressures and that the increased jet density at the higher drive energies may account for the increased mass dispersion. This work provides an important step in the understanding of tin ejecta microjet collisions and paves the way for future studies on the physics dominating high-speed particle-laden flow interactions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2023

Device and method for improving specific energy requirement of plasma pyrolyzing or reforming systems

Devices and methods for reducing the specific energy required to reform or pyrolyze reactants in plasmas operating at high flow rates and high pressures are presented. These systems and methods include 1) introducing electrons and/or easily ionized materials to a plasma reactor, 2) increasing turbulence and swirl velocity of the flows of feed gases to have improved mixing in a plasma reactor, and 3) reducing slippage from a plasma reactor system. Such plasma systems may allow plasma reactors to operate at lower temperatures, higher pressure, with improved plasma ignition, increased throughput and improved energy efficiency. In preferred embodiments, the plasma reactors are used to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon, or carbon monoxide through reforming and pyrolysis reactions. Preferred feedstocks include methane, carbon dioxide, and other hydrocarbons.

Bromberg, Leslie↗

DOE OSTI2020

Investigation of fouling mechanisms for diesel engine exhaust heat recovery

The effect of diesel engine exhaust fouling on heat and mass exchangers for waste heat recovery is investigated. Experiments are conducted for a range of operating conditions relevant to the use of the waste heat from a diesel engine for powering a 2.71 kW capacity absorption heat pump. Thermal resistances of fouling layers as well as their effects on pressure drop are determined, and the underlying mechanisms for deposition and removal are investigated. Fouling layer effects are most severe for the lowest coolant temperatures and 100% generator load. At these conditions, the fouling thermal resistance is approximately 70% of the total resistance, and the ratio of the steady-state pressure drop to the baseline pressure drop is 3.25. Flow induced shear is found to be the primary growth inhibiting mechanism at high exhaust velocities. Findings from this study can guide heat exchanger design for a variety of waste heat recovery systems.

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Toward prediction of turbulent atmospheric flows over propagating oceanic waves via machine-learning augmented large-eddy simulation

Wind-wave interactions have important effects on the energy harvesting of offshore wind farms. High-fidelity large-eddy simulation (LES) is a powerful approach for investigating wind-wave interactions in turbulent oceanic environments. Due to the large scale of the flow domain and the high grid resolution required to resolve multi-scale flow motions, however, brute-force LES of wind-wave interactions is computationally very expensive. We propose augmenting brute-force LES via machine-learning data-driven modeling (ML-LES) to dramatically reduce the computational time required to obtain converged turbulence statistics when the brute-force approach is employed. Namely, we employ a convolutional neural network (CNN) autoencoder trained and validated with LES data sets to develop a highly efficient ML-LES approach for computing turbulence statistics from just a few snapshots of instantaneous LES flow fields. Further, our results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of ML-LES in predicting the mean velocity, velocity fluctuations, and turbulence kinetic energy in highly stretched computational grid systems required to carry out simulations in real-life oceanic environments.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2024

Z Line VISAR Analysis with the LineVISAR SMASH Class

The Z line VISAR system (ZLV) is a spatially-resolved velocimeter that measures surface velocities in high-energy density experiments on the Z Pulsed Power Facility to facilitate the investigation of fusion, power flow, and dynamic material physics. The data measured in these experiments are analyzed with the LineVISAR SMASH class, a MATLAB software suite that provides tools for data importation, streak image correction, spatiotemporal registration, wrapped phase computation, phase unwrapping, shock handling, and velocity calculation. This report overviews the LineVISAR class, discusses its use, provides example implementations, and supplies analysis specifics not typically recorded in journal publications.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Hanford Waste Treatment Plant LAB Facility Stack Effluent Monitoring: Sampling Probe Location Qualification Evaluation

The WTP LAB stack monitor locations were qualified using scale model stacks to mitigate the risk of identifying that sampling locations do not meet the qualification criteria on the full-scale stack. As required by the ANSI/HPS N13.1-1999 standard, the scale model and its sampling location were geometrically similar to the actual stack and the Reynolds numbers for both the actual and model stacks were >10,000. An additional criterion is that the DV of the full-scale stack must be between 1/6 DV and 6 DV of the scale model stack tests. Verification tests of the LAB stacks were performed at normal operating conditions. The maximum 6 DV value from the scale model testing determines the maximum conditions for which the full-scale stack may be operated and remain in compliance with the stack verification criterion. The remaining criteria for the stack verification to be considered valid involve the flow angle and velocity uniformity results. First, the flow angle at the full-scale stack must be = 20°. Second, the velocity uniformity at the full-scale stack must be = 20% COV. Finally, the velocity uniformity results for the actual and scale model stacks must agree within 5% COV. In general, these criteria were met through the full-scale stack tests at the LAB facility. Some specific items for each scale model and full-scale stack comparison should be noted in assessing the validity of the verification tests. The LB-C2 scale model stacks were performed with single fan operations at then-minimum flow conditions. These conditions resulted in DV values that were too low to meet the DV range criterion, and therefore are unable to be used in qualifying single fan operations on the full-scale stack. However, the single fan operations demonstrated COV values for velocity uniformity as well as flow angles that were comparable to the dual-fan operations at high flows. Overall, the test conditions and test results were within the range of acceptable values based on current design flow rates. Single fan operations are expected to only occur infrequently for maintenance needs and is therefore not a planned operating condition at this time. The LB-S1 scale model stacks were performed at three fan combinations, and in each combination, at least one test was performed at the then-minimum flow conditions as well as at then-maximum flow conditions. While the then-minimum flow conditions result in a DV range that is lower than the verification test DV value, and therefore does not meet the criterion, these tests are un-necessary for the verification test acceptance. The normal and maximum flow conditions from the scale model stack tests meet the DV range criterion, and the velocity uniformity test results compare favorably with the full-scale stack results. The LB-S2 scale model stacks were performed at nominally the same maximum flow condition; however, the 6 DV value for Fan A operation was slightly lower than the full-scale stack test DV. The COV values from the scale model stacks were comparable between the Fan A and Fan B results, and the overall test conditions are within the range of acceptable values. The stack verification is therefore considered acceptable for both Fan A and Fan B operations. The verification tests were performed at flows that were appreciably higher than the design conditions, and further elevated flow rates would be beyond the range of acceptable DV. Based on these stack verification test results, the three LAB filtered exhaust stacks meet the qualification criteria provided in the ANSI/HPS N13.1-1999 standard. Further changes to the system configuration or operating conditions that are outside the bounds described in this and the scale model test reports (Glissmeyer, Flaherty, and Piepel (2001), Glissmeyer and Geeting (2013)) may require additional tests and additional analyses to determine compliance with the standard.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2023

Dynamics of multilayer Rayleigh–Taylor instability at moderately high Atwood numbers

This paper investigates the multilayer Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) using statistically stationary experiments conducted in a gas tunnel. Employing diagnostics such as particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF), we make simultaneous velocity–density measurements to study how dynamics and mixing are linked in this variable density flow. Experiments are conducted in a newly built, blow-down three-layer gas tunnel facility. Mixing between three gas streams is studied, where the top and bottom streams are comprised of air, and the middle stream is an air–helium mixture. Shear is minimized between these streams by matching their inlet velocities. The four experimental conditions investigated here consist of two different density ratios (Atwood numbers 0.3 and 0.6), each investigated at two instability development times (or equivalently, two streamwise locations), and all experiments are with the same middle stream thickness of 3 cm. The growth of the middle layer is measured using laser-based planar Mie scattering visualization. The mixing width is found to grow linearly with time at late times. Various quantitative measures of molecular mixing indicate a very high degree of molecular mixing at late times in the multilayer RTI flow. The vertical turbulent mass flux $a_y$ is calculated. In addition to mostly negative values of $a_y$ , typical of buoyancy-dominated flows due to negative correlation between velocity and density fluctuations, positive regions are also observed in profiles of $a_y$ due to entrainment and erosion at the lower edge of the mixing region. Global energy budgets are calculated for the multilayer RTI flow at late times and it is found that the majority of potential energy released has been dissipated due to viscous effects, and a large value of mixing efficiency ( $\sim$ 60 %) is observed.

Mechanics↗

DOE OSTI2026

Validation of OpenPronghorn for Periodic Hill Flow Separation

OpenPronghorn is an open-source, MOOSE-based thermal-hydraulics simulation tool used for advanced reactor analysis. As an open-source code, it offers a transparent framework for validating governing equations, assumptions, and numerical methods against established benchmarks. This study evaluates OpenPronghorn's RANS turbulence model against the ERCOFTAC Case 81 periodic hill benchmark, a standard test case for separated turbulent flow featuring curved-wall separation, recirculation, shear-layer development, and reattachment. Streamwise velocity profiles predicted by OpenPronghorn were compared to reference LES data at multiple x/h locations. Results show that OpenPronghorn captures the overall trend of the velocity profiles, but the largest discrepancies occur in the separated-flow region, where turbulence is highly anisotropic and strongly affected by adverse pressure gradients and wall curvature—conditions that are inherently difficult for standard RANS models to resolve. Future work will test alternative k-e model variants and correction terms to improve prediction accuracy in this region.

42 - ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2021

High-speed phase contrast imaging of spray breakup of jet fuels under combusting conditions

X-ray phase contrast imaging is conducted at 90,517 Hz on a fuel spray to characterize the breakup of the bulk fuel into ligaments and individual droplets in a single-sector, swirl-stabilized combustor under reacting conditions. Phase contrast imaging is used to qualitatively assess spray breakup for two fuels: Jet-A, which represents a normal viscosity fuel, and a blend of JP-5 (64%) and farnesane (36% by volume), which represents a high-viscosity fuel, at three fuel-flow rates and two air inlet temperatures. Time-series images of the fuels show that atomization occurs much more rapidly at higher fuel pressure with thinner ligaments being rapidly shredded. The high-viscosity fuel is qualitatively observed to have markedly longer, thicker ligaments and larger droplet diameters after the primary breakup than the normal viscosity fuel. Using an image processing and droplet quantification strategy, the mean droplet velocity magnitudes were found to decrease with decreasing fuel pressure and fuel-flow rate. The increase in preheat temperature from 323 to 370 K results in an increase in the mean droplet velocity magnitude and a decrease in numerical average and Sauter mean diameter, indicating improved atomization. The high-viscosity fuel was found to have larger average droplet diameters at each condition than the normal viscosity fuel. The increased preheat is found to enhance the combustion efficiency, which is hypothesized to couple with the improved atomization due to the higher combustion temperatures. This indicates the importance of examining spray atomization and breakup under realistic combusting conditions for relevant fuels as the heat release directly couples with the atomization process.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2022

Simulation of dislocation evolution in microparticle impacts over a wide range of impact velocities

We report the dynamic loading environment created by high velocity microparticle impacts is very difficult to model. The extremely high strain rates, large deformations, and high temperatures affect the flow stress of the material in ways that standard flow stress models cannot capture. Plastic deformation and strain hardening in metals is controlled by the motion of dislocations. Dislocations can be nucleated, stored as forest dislocations, or be annihilated as loading progresses. A comprehensive accounting of dislocation density change is needed to accurately describe rate and temperature dependent dislocation glide and evolution across the wide rage of loading conditions present in microparticle impact problems. Therefore, we implement and apply a newly proposed flow stress model (Hunter and Preston, 2015, 2022) that is then coupled with mobile and immobile dislocation density evolution equations. This model is implemented in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s hydrodynamics code, FLAG, to model copper-on-copper microparticle impacts. This new strength model allows for accurate simulation of particle rebound and flattening across a wide range of impact velocities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Comparative Analysis of Direct and Indirect Cooling of Wide-Bandgap Power Modules and Performance Enhancement of Jet Impingement-Based Direct Substrate Cooling

With the development of high-power and high-torque machines, requirements for high-power density electronics are increasing. Thermal management of such systems requires high heat extraction. Conventional air cooling based heat sinks and cold plate based liquid cooling have their own benefits for various applications but has limitations for high power density applications. The current study explores a jet impingement based direct substrate cooling system that was implemented for a SiC based direct bonded Cu substrate for various power losses. Numerical comparison between jet impingement cooling and conventional horizontal/indirect cooling (pin fin heat sink and genetic algorithm-optimized heat sink) showed that the area weighted average of the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is high for both horizontal cooling designs, and the local HTC is higher for jet impingement. Design iterations were undertaken to resolve the bottleneck of this cooling system. Increasing the number of nozzles helped to cover more area at the direct bonded Cu bottom plate, which drops the chip temperature considerably. With a constant flow rate, increasing the number of nozzles would decrease local jet velocity, which reduces the heat extraction by jet impingement. This issue can be addressed by reducing the diameter of nozzle but doing so results in a high pressure drop where the design constraint is 2 psi. A flared nozzle design is proposed, which has a higher spreading angle of the jet that increases the flow coverage and reduces the pressure drop of the coolant loop.

Barua, Himel↗

DOE OSTI2026

Learning turbulent flows with generative models for super resolution and sparse flow reconstruction

Neural operators are promising surrogates for dynamical systems but when trained with standard L 2 losses they tend to oversmooth fine-scale turbulent structures. Here, we show that combining operator learning with generative modeling overcomes this limitation. We consider three practical turbulent-flow challenges where conventional neural operators fail: spatio-temporal super-resolution, forecasting, and sparse flow reconstruction. For Schlieren jet super-resolution, an adversarially trained neural operator (adv-NO) reduces the energy-spectrum error by 15 × while preserving sharp gradients at neural operator-like inference cost. For 3D homogeneous isotropic turbulence, adv-NO trained on only 160 timesteps from a single trajectory forecasts accurately for five eddy-turnover times and offers 114 × wall-clock speed-up at inference than the baseline diffusion-based forecasters, enabling near-real-time rollouts. For reconstructing cylinder wake flows from highly sparse Particle Tracking Velocimetry-like inputs, a conditional generative model infers full 3D velocity and pressure fields with correct phase alignment and statistics. These advances enable accurate reconstruction and forecasting at low compute cost, bringing near-real-time analysis and control within reach in experimental and computational fluid mechanics.

Fluid dynamics↗

DOE OSTI2021

Graph convolutional networks applied to unstructured flow field data

Abstract Many scientific and engineering processes produce spatially unstructured data. However, most data-driven models require a feature matrix that enforces both a set number and order of features for each sample. They thus cannot be easily constructed for an unstructured dataset. Therefore, a graph based data-driven model to perform inference on fields defined on an unstructured mesh, using a graph convolutional neural network (GCNN) is presented. The ability of the method to predict global properties from spatially irregular measurements with high accuracy is demonstrated by predicting the drag force associated with laminar flow around airfoils from scattered velocity measurements. The network can infer from field samples at different resolutions, and is invariant to the order in which the measurements within each sample are presented. The GCNN method, using inductive convolutional layers and adaptive pooling, is able to predict this quantity with a validation R 2 above 0.98, and a Normalized Mean Squared Error below 0.01, without relying on spatial structure.

Ogoke, Francis (ORCID:0000000224327783)↗

DOE OSTI2023

Flow Development in Radial Plane of Rotating Detonation Engine Integrated with Aerospike

In this study, axial and radial velocity components are measured downstream of a rotating detonation engine (RDE) integrated with an aerospike by using particle image velocimetry (PIV) at 100 kHz. The RDE is operated at high pressures obtained by restricting the RDE exit with a converging nozzle, which also directs the flow radially toward the aerospike. Reactants, methane fuel, and enriched air (67% oxygen and 33% nitrogen) are supplied from separate plenums at ambient temperature. PIV data are presented to investigate how pressure ratios within the RDE channel affect the flow evolution across the aerospike. The RDE is shown to operate stably and consistently in a single wave mode for all six test runs. The study highlights large temporal and spatial variations in both axial and radial flow velocities at the nozzle throat that persist downstream across the aerospike. Each point in the flowfield oscillates at the frequency recorded inside the RDE channel. Overall, the temporally and spatially varying aerospike flowfield is far from the ideal case of a uniform flow at its exit, and it points toward the need to condition the flow within the RDE channel to produce more uniform conditions at the nozzle throat.

Engineering↗