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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 739 records · Page 41
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Laser scattering by submicron droplets formed during the electrical explosion of thin metal wires

Abstract This paper presents the results of studying dispersed media formation during the electrical explosion of thin metal wires in vacuum by using low-current generators (~1–10 kA). Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the composition and structure of the corresponding explosion products as well as to the problem of their visualization using simultaneous laser interferometry and shadow imaging at two wavelengths (1.064 µ m and 0.532 µ m). Our findings indicate the important role in the visualization of the explosion products that belongs to multiple scattering by submicron droplets of dense condensed matter, which are mixed with metal vapor. The hypothesis on the existence of submicron droplets in the products of exploding metal wires correlates with the results obtained by soft x-ray radiography combined with a laser probing technique. Taking into account the multiple scattering by submicron droplets, it is possible to significantly clarify the parameters of the explosion products visualized via laser probing techniques as well as to gain a deeper insight into the physics behind the electrical wire explosion.

Physics↗
NASA NTRS2005

Mode-expansion method for predicting radar signature above rough ocean surfaces at low-grazing angle

The Mode-Expansion Method (MEM) is introduced to calculate the electromagnetic (EM) waves scattered by 2-D rough water surfaces at low-grazing angles. The Electric Field Integral Equation (EFIE) is used in defining the problem and is simplified by using the Impedance Boundary Condition (IBC). The surface currents are expressed as the sum of modes expanded as the Fourier series with incident wave as the dominant mode. It is shown that, by the MEM and for the geometry with transmitting and receiving waves at low-grazing angles, very few modes are needed in solving the forward scattering field with reasonable accuracy.

electromagnetic (EM)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Adaptive Methods for Radial Basis Functions

Radial basis functions (RBFs) are a powerful tool for constructing high-order accurate reduced representations of scattered data in arbitrary dimension and on manifolds. We present a method of constructing data approximations in which we utilize a functional tail to capture a global background profile and a RBF neural network (NN) to capture the smaller-scale features. In the RBF NN the RBF centers, matrix shape parameters were selected adaptively for each RBF. We also utilized a geodesic notion of distance on the manifold on which the data lies, e.g., the spherical geodesic for data on the sphere. Although each of these ideas have been been investigated separately in previous works, their combination into a single algorithm is novel. We defined a machine learning problem in which these properties are learned to minimize the data reduction error. We demonstrate the algorithm for applications of scattered data reduction in the plane and on the sphere.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1986

Generalized three-dimensional experimental lightning code (G3DXL) user's manual

Information concerning the programming, maintenance and operation of the G3DXL computer program is presented and the theoretical basis for the code is described. The program computes time domain scattering fields and surface currents and charges induced by a driving function on and within a complex scattering object which may be perfectly conducting or a lossy dielectric. This is accomplished by modeling the object with cells within a three-dimensional, rectangular problem space, enforcing the appropriate boundary conditions and differencing Maxwell's equations in time. In the present version of the program, the driving function can be either the field radiated by a lightning strike or a direct lightning strike. The F-106 B aircraft is used as an example scattering object.

Kunz, Karl S.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Data Mining and Visualization of High-Dimensional ICME Data for Additive Manufacturing

Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) methods combining CALPHAD with process-based simulations can produce rich, high-dimensional data for alloy and process design. In ICME methods for metallurgical applications, the visualization and interpretation of such high-dimensional data has previously been through heat maps represented in 2 or 3 dimensions. While such an approach is ideal when one variable is varied at a time, in the case of high-dimensional data with multiple variables varied simultaneously, as is the case in additive manufacturing, interpreting the trends through two- or three-dimensional heat maps becomes challenging. Here, we propose a strategy of mixed visual data mining and quantitative analysis for high-dimensional metallurgical and process data using high-throughput thermodynamic calculations. Two case studies show the application of the proposed approach. The first case study investigated the effects of feedstock chemistry on the δ ferrite formation in 316L stainless steel powders used for binder jet additive manufacturing. The second case study linked Scheil–Gulliver calculations to a process model for dissimilar joining of aluminum alloys 5356 and 6111 during laser hot-wire additive manufacturing. Both cases contained thousands of calculated data points, showcasing the utility of visual data analysis through parallel coordinate plotting, Pearson correlation coefficient matrices, and scatter matrices compared to traditional process maps. These visualization techniques can be extended to many additive manufacturing problems to capture process–structure–property relationships for additively manufactured components.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multiphysics FISPACT-II and TENDL-2019 simulation: neutron-induced damage metrics

Nuclear interactions can be the source of atomic displacement, irradiation-induced defects and transmutation in structural materials. Such quantities are derived from, or can be correlated to, nuclear kinematic simulations of primary atomic energy distributions spectra and the quantification of the numbers of secondary defects produced per primary as a function of the available recoils, residual and emitted, energies. Recoil kinematics of neutral, residual, gas, proton, alpha particle emissions are now more rigorously treated based on recent, complete and enhanced nuclear data parsed in state-of-the-art processing tools. Defect production metrics are the starting point in the complex problem of correlating and simulating the behaviour of materials under irradiation, as experimental information is rare or scattered. Detailed, segregated primary knock-on-atom metrics are now becoming available as the starting point of further simulation processes of isolated and clustered defects in material lattices. This allows more materials, lattices, neutron incident energy ranges, and irradiation conditions to be explored with sufficient data to adequately cover both standard and novel applications and materials: the broader reactor applications landscape. The damage metrics of of materials are systematically explored under typical but different reactor's type environment. The inventory code FISPACT-II combined with the enhanced nuclear data forms of the TENDL-2019 libraries allow one to not only calculate dpa from mostly scattering events but to also properly predict gas production, nuclear heating and transmutation under the same conditions.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impulse Response Results from FOPEN Simulations

Foliage penetration (FOPEN) radar at lower frequencies (VHF, UHF) is a well-studied area with many contributions. However, there is growing interest in using higher Ku-band frequencies (12-18 GHz) for FOPEN. Specifically, the reduced wavelength sizes provide some key saliencies for developing more optimized detection solutions. The disadvantage is that exploiting Ku-band for FOPEN is complicated because higher frequencies have pronounced scattering effects due to their smaller wavelengths. A methodology has been developed to model and simulate FOPEN problems that characterize the phenomenology of Ku-band EM wave transmissions through moderate foliage. The details of this research are documented in multiple reports. The main focus of this report is to describe the FOPEN model simulation scene setup, validation and results.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1977

Distribution and concentration of suspended matter in Delaware Bay

The author has identified the following significant results. The problem of remote sensing of suspended matter in water was analyzed in terms of the single-scattering albedo, and a semiempirical relationship between satellite radiance measurements and the concentration of suspended matter in the water was developed. The relationship was tested using data from the 7 July 1973 LANDSAT overpass of Delaware Bay with good results. Suspended sediment concentration maps for the entire Delaware Bay were prepared using radiance values extracted from LANDSAT MSS imagery and correlating them with ground truth samples collected from boats and helicopter.

Klemas, V.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Infrared observations of the dust coma

The main infrared observational results were briefly reviewed at the start of this session. The new results are summarized. All of these results have yet to be synthesized into a self-consistent picture of the dust grain composition, dust production history, outburst mechanisms, and composition of the nucleus. The workshop discussion was helpful in pointing out problems faced by theorists, such as data quality, the lack of the proper theory for computing the scattering and emission of irregular particles, and in some cases the lack of optical constants of realistic materials. It is expected that the gross spectral and dynamical properties of Halley's Comet can be understood in time, even if the details of the observations and the theoretical calculations continue to vex us in the future.

Campins, Humberto C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Comptonization of gamma rays by cold electrons

An analytic method is developed for calculating the emergent spectrum of gamma-rays and X-rays scattered in a homogeneous medium with low-temperature electrons. The Klein-Nishina corrections of the scattering cross section and absorption processes are taken in account. The wavelength relaxation and the spatial diffusion problems are solved separately, and the emergent spectrum is calculated by convolving the evolution function of the spectrum in an infinite medium with the photon luminosity resulting from the spatial diffusion in a finite sphere. The analytic results are compared with that of Monte Carlo calculations and it is concluded that the analytic result is quite accurate.

Xu, Yueming↗
NASA NTRS1994

How well was total ozone abundance inferred with Mariner 9?

Ozone is a key to understanding atmospheric chemistry on Mars. Over 20 photochemical models of the martian atmosphere have been published, and O3 is often used as a benchmark for these models. O3 abundance has been inferred from instrumentation on several spacecraft, with the most complete coverage provided by Mariner 9. The Mariner 9 UV spectrometer scanned from 2100 to 3500 Angstroms with a spectral resolution of 15 Angstroms and an effective field-of-view of approximately 300 sq km. The only atmospheric absorption in the 2000 to 3000 A wavelength region was previously assumed to come from the Hartley band system of ozone, which has an opacity of order unity at winter polar latitudes. Therefore, the amount of ozone was inferred by fitting this absorption feature with laboratory data of ozone absorption. Mars O3 shows strong seasonal and latitudinal variation, with column abundances ranging from 0.2 micron-atm at equatorial latitudes to 60 micron-atm over northern winter polar latitudes (1 micron-atm is a column abundance of 2.689 x 10 exp 15 molecules cm(exp -2)). However, the O3 abundance is never great enough to significantly affect atmospheric temperatures or surface temperatures and frost amounts. Some of the previously-inferred O3 abundances are shown. A radiative transfer computer model is used to re-examine the Mariner 9 UV spectra. Assuming a constant mixing ratio for O3 and no chemical or radiative interaction between O3 and clouds/dust, it is shown that when typical amounts of dust and cloud are present that significant underestimation of O3 abundance occurs. A factor of 3 times as much O3 is needed to generate the same spectrum the spacecraft would measure for a cloudy, dusty atmosphere as for a clear atmosphere. If the scattering properties of martian clouds and dust were well known, then their appearance would not be a problem, as a model would be capable of retrieving the O3 abundance. However, these properties are not well known, which raises doubts about the effectiveness of the UV reflectance spectroscopy technique for measuring O3 abundance on Mars.

Lindner, Bernhard Lee↗
NASA NTRS1994

Monte Carlo prediction of radiative heat transfer in inhomogeneous, anisotropic, nongray media

A Monte Carlo solution technique has been formulated to predict the radiative heat transfer in three-dimensional, inhomogeneous participating media which exhibit spectrally dependent emission and absorption and anisotropic scattering. Details of the technique and selected numerical sensitivities are discussed. The technique was applied to a problem involving a medium composed of a gas mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen and suspended carbon particles. A homogeneous medium was modeled to examine the effect of total pressure and carbon-particle concentration on radiative heat transfer. Variation in total pressure, over the range studied, had minimal effect on the amount of heat radiated to the enclosure walls and on the radiative-flux distribution within the medium. Increases in the carbon particle concentration produced significantly higher heat fluxes at the boundaries and altered the radiative flux distribution. The technique was then applied to an inhomogeneous medium to examine effects of specific temperature and carbon particle concentration distributions on radiative heat transfer. For the inhomogeneous conditions examined, the largest radiative flux divergence occurs near the center of the medium and the regions near some enclosure walls act as energy sinks.

HEAT FLUXES↗
NASA NTRS1995

Critical point of the solar wind by radio sounding data

Results of the close-to-Sun plasmas sounding at the transonic region of the solar wind, where the sub-to supersonic flow transition proceeds (at 10 to 40 solar radii from the Sun), are presented. Natural sources of two types were used, water vapour maser sources at 1.35 cm and guasars at 2.9 m wavelength. scattering observations cover the period of 1986 to 1993, Russian Academy of Sciences telescopes RT-22 and DCR-1000 were used, IPS index and scattering angle being the immediate results of observations. Extensive studies of the scintillation index and scattering angle radial profiles reveal a remarkable structural detail, 'transonic region forrunner'-narrow region of diminished scattering close to the internal border of the extended transonic region with its characteristic enhanced scattering. Comparisons of the scattering and plasma velocity profiles let it possible to determine the critical point positions by the comparatively simple scattering observations. This new possibility widely improves the process of the basic data accumulation in the fundamental problem of the solar wind acceleration mechanism.

Lotova, N. A.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Intercomparison of Models Representing Direct Shortwave Radiative Forcing by Sulfate Aerosols

The importance of aerosols as agents of climate change has recently been highlighted. However, the magnitude of aerosol forcing by scattering of shortwave radiation (direct forcing) is still very uncertain even for the relatively well characterized sulfate aerosol. A potential source of uncertainty is in the model representation of aerosol optical properties and aerosol influences on radiative transfer in the atmosphere. Although radiative transfer methods and codes have been compared in the past, these comparisons have not focused on aerosol forcing (change in net radiative flux at the top of the atmosphere). Here we report results of a project involving 12 groups using 15 models to examine radiative forcing by sulfate aerosol for a wide range of values of particle radius, aerosol optical depth, surface albedo, and solar zenith angle. Among the models that were employed were high and low spectral resolution models incorporating a variety of radiative transfer approximations as well as a line-by-line model. The normalized forcings (forcing per sulfate column burden) obtained with the several radiative transfer models were examined, and the discrepancies were characterized. All models simulate forcings of comparable amplitude and exhibit a similar dependence on input parameters. As expected for a non-light-absorbing aerosol, forcings were negative (cooling influence) except at high surface albedo combined with small solar zenith angle. The relative standard deviation of the zenith-angle-averaged normalized broadband forcing for 15 models-was 8% for particle radius near the maximum in this forcing (approx. 0.2 microns) and at low surface albedo. Somewhat greater model-to-model discrepancies were exhibited at specific solar zenith angles. Still greater discrepancies were exhibited at small particle radii and much greater discrepancies were exhibited at high surface albedos, at which the forcing changes sign; in these situations, however, the normalized forcing is quite small quite small. Discrepancies among the models arise from inaccuracies in Mie calculations, differing treatment of the angular scattering phase function, differing wavelength and angular resolution, and differing treatment of multiple scattering. These results imply the need for standardized radiative transfer methods tailored to the direct aerosol forcing problem. However, the relatively small spread in these results suggests that the uncertainty in forcing arising from the treatment of radiative forcing of a well-characterized aerosol at well-specified surface albedo is smaller than some of the other sources of uncertainty in estimates of direct forcing by anthropogenic sulfate aerosols and anthropogenic aerosols generally.

Boucher, O.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Resonances in Positronium Hydride

We re-examine the problem of calculating the positions and widths of the lowest-lying resonances in the Ps + H scattering system which consists of two electrons, one positron and one proton. The first of these resonances, for L=0, was found by the methods of complex rotation and stabilization, and later described as a Feshbach resonance lying close to a bound state in the closed-channel e (+) + H (-) system. Recently, results for the L=1 and 2 scattering states were published, and it was found, surprisingly, that there is a larae shift in the positions of these resonances. In this work we repeat the analysis for L=1 and find an unexpected explanation for the shift.

DiRienzi, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS2015

Polarized Bidirectional Reflectance of Optically Thick Sparse Particulate Layers: an Efficient Numerically Exact Radiative-Transfer Solution

We describe a simple yet efficient numerical algorithm for computing polarized bidirectional reflectance of an optically thick (semi-infinite), macroscopically flat layer composed of statistically isotropic and mirror symmetric random particles. The spatial distribution of the particles is assumed to be sparse, random, and statistically uniform. The 44 Stokes reflection matrix is calculated by iterating the Ambartsumian's vector nonlinear integral equation. The result is a numerically exact solution of the vector radiative transfer equation and as such fully satisfies the energy conservation law and the fundamental reciprocity relation. Since this technique bypasses the computation of the internal radiation field, it is very fast and highly accurate. The FORTRAN implementation of the technique is publicly available on the World Wide Web at http://www.giss.nasa.gov/staff/ mmishchenko/brf. It can be combined with several existing computer programs providing the requisite single-scattering properties of spherical or morphologically complex particles and applied to a wide range of optical characterization problems. Benchmark results obtained with this program can be used for testing alternative solvers of the vector radiative transfer equation.

radiative transfer↗
DOE OSTI2024

Performance Improvements of the Griffin Solvers in FY24

The Griffin code is a MOOSE-based reactor physics application jointly developed by Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory under the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation Program. This fiscal year, we have made significant efforts to improve the performance of transport solver options and cross-section generation for the efficient use of Griffin in advanced reactor applications. For the HFEM-PN solver, the residual evaluations of HFEM kernels were optimized by utilizing the pre- computed averaged cross sections for individual elements. Numerical integration involving the evaluation of basis functions at quadrature points was bypassed by facilitating precomputed element mass matrices for response matrices. Red-black iterations were improved by introducing a new generalized minimum residual based solver. The memory usage of response matrix storage was significantly reduced by applying basis function rotations on interfaces and calculating volumetric odd-parity moments on the fly. Additionally, the adjoint flux and transient calculation capabilities of the HFEM-PN solver were successfully implemented and verified using the TWIGL benchmark problem. For the DFEM-SN solver, memory footprint and computation time were significantly reduced by not treating angular flux vectors as the MOOSE nonlinear system vectors. Specifically for IQS, scalar adjoint weighting was introduced to further eliminate angular adjoint flux storage in the MOOSE auxiliary system. It was demonstrated through the three-dimensional Advanced Burner Test Reactor core problem that the memory usage for transient calculations with the IQS method was reduced by over 7.5× compared to before the optimizations. For the self-shielding application programming interface, a new double-heterogeneity treatment method, named the Bell Function-Based Analytic Two-Region Slowing Down Method, was developed to efficiently flux-volume homogenize TRISO particles with the matrix. Additionally, optimizations were made to hyper- fine group (HFG) slowing down calculations by pretabulating collision probability coefficients and grouping isotopes, significantly reducing the computational time for calculating scattering sources per HFG. Lastly, the pin power reconstruction module was extended to account for temporal behavior in a microreactor analysis problem, specifically for a control drum transient. Verification tests for each of these improvements demonstrated significant performance enhancements and memory reduction.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Probing nanopore structure and confined fluid behavior in shale matrix: A review on small-angle neutron scattering studies

Although continued growth in unconventional oil and gas production is generally projected, its long-term growth potential and sustainability have significant uncertainties. A critical problem is the low hydrocarbon recovery rates from shale and other tight formations using the horizontal well drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques: < 10% for tight oil and ~ 20% for shale gas. Moreover, the production rate for a given well typically declines rapidly within one year. The low recoveries and declining production of shale oil and gas reservoirs are apparently related to the small porosity (a few to a few hundred nm) and low permeability (10 –16 –10 –20 m 2 ) of shale matrix, which make the enclosed hydrocarbon fluids difficult to access. Furthermore, to enhance the hydrocarbon recovery from shale matrix, it is essential to study its nanopore structure and confined fluid behavior.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗