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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 955 records · Page 53

An improved multilevel Monte Carlo method for estimating probability distribution functions in stochastic oil reservoir simulations

In this paper, we develop an improved multilevel Monte Carlo (MLMC) method for estimating cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of a quantity of interest, coming from numerical approximation of large-scale stochastic subsurface simulations. Compared with Monte Carlo (MC) methods, that require a significantly large number of high-fidelity model executions to achieve a prescribed accuracy when computing statistical expectations, MLMC methods were originally proposed to significantly reduce the computational cost with the use of multifidelity approximations. The improved performance of the MLMC methods depends strongly on the decay of the variance of the integrand as the level increases. However, the main challenge in estimating CDFs is that the integrand is a discontinuous indicator function whose variance decays slowly. To address this difficult task, we approximate the integrand using a smoothing function that accelerates the decay of the variance. In addition, we design a novel a posteriori optimization strategy to calibrate the smoothing function, so as to balance the computational gain and the approximation error. The combined proposed techniques are integrated into a very general and practical algorithm that can be applied to a wide range of subsurface problems for high-dimensional uncertainty quantification, such as a fine-grid oil reservoir model considered in this effort. The numerical results reveal that with the use of the calibrated smoothing function, the improved MLMC technique significantly reduces the computational complexity compared to the standard MC approach. Finally, we discuss several factors that affect the performance of the MLMC method and provide guidance for effective and efficient usage in practice.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Extended Physics-Informed Neural Networks (XPINNs): A Generalized Space-Time Domain Decomposition Based Deep Learning Framework for Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

Here we propose a generalized space-time domain decomposition approach for the physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to solve nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) on arbitrary complex-geometry domains. The proposed framework, named eXtended PINNs ( X P I N N s ), further pushes the boundaries of both PINNs as well as conservative PINNs (cPINNs), which is a recently proposed domain decomposition approach in the PINN framework tailored to conservation laws. Compared to PINN, the XPINN method has large representation and parallelization capacity due to the inherent property of deployment of multiple neural networks in the smaller subdomains. Unlike cPINN, XPINN can be extended to any type of PDEs. Moreover, the domain can be decomposed in any arbitrary way (in space and time), which is not possible in cPINN. Thus, XPINN offers both space and time parallelization, thereby reducing the training cost more effectively. In each subdomain, a separate neural network is employed with optimally selected hyperparameters, e.g., depth/width of the network, number and location of residual points, activation function, optimization method, etc. A deep network can be employed in a subdomain with complex solution, whereas a shallow neural network can be used in a subdomain with relatively simple and smooth solutions. We demonstrate the versatility of XPINN by solving both forward and inverse PDE problems, ranging from one-dimensional to three-dimensional problems, from time-dependent to time-independent problems, and from continuous to discontinuous problems, which clearly shows that the XPINN method is promising in many practical problems. The proposed XPINN method is the generalization of PINN and cPINN methods, both in terms of applicability as well as domain decomposition approach, which efficiently lends itself to parallelized computation. The XPINN code is available on h t t p s : / / g i t h u b . c o m / A m e y a J a g t a p / X P I N N s .

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Shock-ramp analysis test problem

Quasi-isentropic (ramp) compression is now a well-established experimental method and so are the analysis techniques to give Lagrangian sound speed, pressure, and density along the sample material's isentrope. A shock followed by ramp compression is a natural extension to investigate, for example, shock melt and refreeze on compression, or isentropes of states off the Hugoniot or principal isentrope. In practice, graded-density impactors produce initial shocks, compression by shaped laser pulses may be unable to produce a smooth pressure increase from zero, and incidental perturbations on the drive pulse may also give rise to shocks, so robust shock-ramp analysis methods will be needed. Appropriate analysis methods are needed for shock-ramp experiments, based on those for quasi-isentropic compression, and these require validation. This paper describes three different analyses of a shock-ramp test problem, including an assessment of their estimated errors. The methods tested were based on hydrodynamic characteristics or integration backward in space. All methods gave the known Lagrangian sound speed to within ~1%, and pressure and volume to within less than 2% and 1%, demonstrating that the analysis methods of isentropic compression experiments can be confidently extended to the analysis of shock and ramp compression.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Bootstrap AMG for spectral clustering

Graph Laplacian is a popular tool for analyzing graphs, particularly in graph partitioning and clustering. Given a notion of similarity (via an adjacency matrix), graph clustering refers to identifying different groups such that vertices in the same group are more similar compared to vertices across different groups. Data clustering can be reformulated in terms of a graph clustering problem when the given set of data is represented as a graph, also known as similarity graph. In this context, eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian are often used to obtain a new geometric representation of the original data set that generally enhances cluster properties and improves cluster detection. Here, we apply a bootstrap algebraic multigrid (AMG) method that constructs a set of vectors associated with the graph Laplacian. These vectors, referred to as algebraically smooth ones, span a low-dimensional Euclidean space, which we use to represent the data, enabling cluster detection both in synthetic and in realistic well-clustered graphs. We show that, in the case of a good quality bootstrap AMG, the computed smooth vectors employed in the construction of the final AMG operator, which by construction is spectrally equivalent to the originally given graph Laplacian, accurately approximate the space in the lower portion of the spectrum of the preconditioned operator. Thus, our approach can be viewed as a spectral clustering technique associated with the generalized spectral problem (Laplace operator versus the final AMG operator), and hence, it can be seen as an extension of the classical spectral clustering that employs a standard eigenvalue problem.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

J-variational inequalities and zeroes of a family of maximal monotone operators by sunny generalized nonexpansive retraction

In this paper, using generalized resolvents and retractions onto shrinking closed subsets, we present new extragradient algorithms for finding the solution of a J-variational-like inequality, the zero points of a family of maximal monotone operators, and the solution set of mixed equilibrium problems for a J-α-inverse-strongly monotone-like operator in a 2-uniformly convex and 2-uniformly smooth Banach space. By introducing the new definitions, we prove strong convergence of generated iterates in the extragradient methods. Using FMINCON optimization toolbox in MATLAB, we give some numerical examples and compare them with several existence results in the literature to illustrate the usability of our results.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Muon reconstruction in the Daya Bay water pools

Muon reconstruction in the Daya Bay water pools would serve to verify the simulated muon fluxes and offer the possibility of studying cosmic muons in general. This reconstruction is, however, complicated by many optical obstacles and the small coverage of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) as compared to other large water Cherenkov detectors. The PMTs’ timing information is useful only in the case of direct, unreflected Cherenkov light. This requires PMTs to be added and removed as an hypothesized muon trajectory is iteratively improved, to account for the changing effects of obstacles and direction of light. Therefore, muon reconstruction in the Daya Bay water pools does not lend itself to a general fitting procedure employing smoothly varying functions with continuous derivatives. Here, we describe an algorithm which overcomes these complications. It employs the method of Least Mean Squares to determine an hypothesized trajectory from the PMTs’ charge-weighted positions. This initially hypothesized trajectory is then iteratively refined using the PMTs’ timing information. Reconstructions with simulated data reproduce the simulated trajectory to within about 5° in direction and about 45 cm in position at the pool surface, with a bias that tends to pull tracks away from the vertical by about 3°.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Quantifying Temperature Dependence of Electronic Band Gaps and Optical Properties in SnO 2 and SnO via First-Principles Simulations

Tin metal oxides SnO x ( x = 1, 2) have gained interest as gas-sensing materials. For their applications as high-temperature sensors, however, a better understanding of their temperature dependence sensing responses is needed. Here, we comparatively quantify the temperature-dependent electronic band gaps and optical properties of SnO 2 and SnO using first-principles calculations. Without considering the temperature effect, SnO 2 and SnO are predicted to have direct and indirect band gaps of 2.18 and 1.66 eV, respectively, at the PBE + U -GGA level that we employed. The temperature effect on the electronic and optical properties is captured by taking account of the electron–phonon interaction. Band gap renormalization with temperature is calculated via the Allen–Heine–Cardona theory. For both oxides, we find a monotonic decrease in the electronic band gap such that renormalization at zero point (0 K) is ~–0.17 and ~–0.52 eV at 1000 K. These results are also analyzed by employing an analytical equation that helps characterize the band gap shift with temperature. In addition, the optical properties at finite temperatures are simulated using the frozen-phonon method that combines electron–phonon coupling with the momentum matrix. As temperature increases, the optical property spectra are smoothed because of the smearing effect, which diminishes optical constants at shorter wavelengths. Our results are of interest for high-temperature functional materials in applications of optical detection.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A generalized Poisson solver for first-principles device simulations

Electronic structure calculations of atomistic systems based on density functional theory involve solving the Poisson equation. In this paper, we present a plane-wave based algorithm for solving the generalized Poisson equation subject to periodic or homogeneous Neumann conditions on the boundaries of the simulation cell and Dirichlet type conditions imposed at arbitrary subdomains. In this way, source, drain, and gate voltages can be imposed across atomistic models of electronic devices. Dirichlet conditions are enforced as constraints in a variational framework giving rise to a saddle point problem. The resulting system of equations is then solved using a stationary iterative method in which the generalized Poisson operator is preconditioned with the standard Laplace operator. The solver can make use of any sufficiently smooth function modelling the dielectric constant, including density dependent dielectric continuum models. For all the boundary conditions, consistent derivatives are available and molecular dynamics simulations can be performed. The convergence behaviour of the scheme is investigated and its capabilities are demonstrated.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

One-baryon spectrum and analytical properties of one-baryon dispersion curves in 3 + 1 dimensional strongly coupled lattice QCD with three flavors

Considering a 3 + 1 dimensional lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) model defined with the improved Wilson action, three flavors, and 4 × 4 Dirac spin matrices, in the strong coupling regime, we reanalyze the question of the existence of the eightfold way baryons and complete our previous work where the existence of isospin octet baryons was rigorously solved. Here, we show the existence of isospin decuplet baryons which are associated with isolated dispersion curves in the subspace of the underlying quantum mechanical Hilbert space with vectors constructed with an odd number of fermion and antifermion basic quark and antiquark fields. Moreover, smoothness properties for these curves are obtained. The present work deals with a case for which the traditional method to solve the implicit equation for the dispersion curves, based on the use of the analytic implicit function theorem, cannot be applied. We do not have only one but two solutions for each one-baryon decuplet sector with fixed spin third component. Instead, we apply the Weierstrass preparation theorem, which also provides a general method for the general degenerate case. This work is completed by analyzing a spectral representation for the two-baryon correlations and providing the leading behaviors of the field strength normalization and the mass of the spectral contributions with more than one-particle. These are needed results for a rigorous analysis of the two-baryon and meson-baryon particle spectra.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

An application of survival analysis to disruption prediction via Random Forests</strong

We report one of the most pressing challenges facing the fusion community is adequately mitigating or, even better, avoiding disruptions of tokamak plasmas. However, before this can be done, disruptions must first be predicted with sufficient warning time to actuate a response. The established field of survival analysis provides a convenient statistical framework for time-to-event (i.e. time-to-disruption) studies. This paper demonstrates the integration of an existing disruption prediction machine learning algorithm with the Kaplan–Meier estimator of survival probability. Specifically discussed are the implied warning times from binary classification of disruption databases and the interpretation of output signals from Random Forest algorithms trained and tested on these databases. This survival analysis approach is applied to both smooth and noisy test data to highlight important features of the survival and hazard functions. In addition, this method is applied to three Alcator C-Mod plasma discharges and compared to a threshold-based scheme for triggering alarms. In one case, both techniques successfully predict the disruption; although, in another, neither warns of the impending disruption with enough time to mitigate. For the final discharge, the survival analysis approach could avoid the false alarm triggered by the threshold method. Limitations of this analysis and opportunities for future work are also presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Edge Reconstruction in a Quantum Spin Hall Insulator

We study interaction-driven edge reconstruction in a quantum spin Hall insulator described by the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model with Kanamori-Hubbard interactions using the real-space density matrix renormalization group method in both the grand-canonical and canonical ensembles. For a two-dimensional cylinder with a smooth edge, we identify discrete particle-number transitions that lead to a spin-polarized edge state stabilized by an emergent ferromagnetic exchange interaction. The reconstruction is orbital-selective, occurring predominantly in the 𝑠-orbital channel. Our results reveal a microscopic mechanism for emergent fluctuating moments at the edge that could compromise the topological protection of helical edge states by time-reversal symmetry.

Soni, Rahul [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000317714299)↗

Tailored approach to study Legionella infection using a lattice light sheet microscope (LLSM)

Legionella is a genus of ubiquitous environmental pathogens found in freshwater systems, moist soil, and composted materials. More than four decades of Legionella research has provided important insights into Legionella pathogenesis. Although standard commercial microscopes have led to significant advances in understanding Legionella pathogenesis, great potential exists in the deployment of more advanced imaging techniques to provide additional insights. The lattice light sheet microscope (LLSM) is a recently developed microscope for 4D live cell imaging with high resolution and minimum photo-damage. We built a LLSM with an improved version for the optical layout with two path-stretching mirror sets and a novel reconfigurable galvanometer scanner ( RGS ) module to improve the reproducibility and reliability of the alignment and maintenance of the LLSM. We commissioned this LLSM to study Legionella pneumophila infection with a tailored workflow designed over instrumentation, experiments, and data processing methods. Our results indicate that Legionella pneumophila infection is correlated with a series of morphological signatures such as smoothness, migration pattern and polarity both statistically and dynamically. Our work demonstrates the benefits of using LLSM for studying long-term questions in bacterial infection. Our free-for-use modifications and workflow designs on the use of LLSM system contributes to the adoption and promotion of the state-of-the-art LLSM technology for both academic and commercial applications.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Effects of curvature-related DEM contact model on the macro- and micro-mechanical behaviours of granular soils

The presented paper conducted a comprehensive comparison between the Hertz-Mindlin model and the linear spring model in true triaxial shear simulations of granular soils using the discrete element method (DEM). The no-slip Hertz-Mindlin model for general elastic non-spherical particles with smooth surfaces was revisited, and implemented for superellipsoidal particles in an in-house DEM code. Three groups of specimens with a grain size distribution of Ottawa 20-30 sands, consisting of spheres, ellipsoids, and superellipsoids, respectively, were subjected to triaxial shear DEM simulations with the Hertz-Mindlin model and the linear spring model. The corresponding mechanical behaviours were examined in terms of a series of macro-and micro-parameters. It is found that the linear spring model is able to resemble the Hertz-Mindlin model on aspects of both microscopic and macroscopic mechanical behaviours of granular media with spherical and/or non-spherical particles. This finding suggests that the linear spring model can be used to investigate micro-mechanical behaviours of granular soils even with complex particle shapes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Simulating Hydrodynamics in Cosmology with CRK-HACC

Abstract We introduce CRK-HACC, an extension of the Hardware/Hybrid Accelerated Cosmology Code (HACC), to resolve gas hydrodynamics in large-scale structure formation simulations of the universe. The new framework couples the HACC gravitational N -body solver with a modern smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach called conservative reproducing kernel SPH (CRKSPH). CRKSPH utilizes smoothing functions that exactly interpolate linear fields while manifestly preserving conservation laws (momentum, mass, and energy). The CRKSPH method has been incorporated to accurately model baryonic effects in cosmology simulations—an important addition targeting the generation of precise synthetic sky predictions for upcoming observational surveys. CRK-HACC inherits the codesign strategies of the HACC solver and is built to run on modern GPU-accelerated supercomputers. In this work, we summarize the primary solver components and present a number of standard validation tests to demonstrate code accuracy, including idealized hydrodynamic and cosmological setups, as well as self-similarity measurements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cholesky-based experimental design for Gaussian process and kernel-based emulation and calibration.

Gaussian processes and other kernel-based methods are used extensively to construct approximations of multivariate data sets. The accuracy of these approximations is dependent on the data used. This paper presents a computationally efficient algorithm to greedily select training samples that minimize the weighted L p error of kernel-based approximations for a given number of data. The method successively generates nested samples, with the goal of minimizing the error in high probability regions of densities specified by users. The algorithm presented is extremely simple and can be implemented using existing pivoted Cholesky factorization methods. Training samples are generated in batches which allows training data to be evaluated (labeled) in parallel. For smooth kernels, the algorithm performs comparably with the greedy integrated variance design but has significantly lower complexity. Numerical experiments demonstrate the efficacy of the approach for bounded, unbounded, multi-modal and non-tensor product densities. We also show how to use the proposed algorithm to efficiently generate surrogates for inferring unknown model parameters from data using Bayesian inference.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

An application of survival analysis to disruption prediction via Random Forests

One of the most pressing challenges facing the fusion community is adequately mitigating or, even better, avoiding disruptions of tokamak plasmas. However, before this can be done, disruptions must first be predicted with sufficient warning time to actuate a response. The established field of survival analysis provides a convenient statistical framework for time-to-event (i.e. time-to-disruption) studies. This paper demonstrates the integration of an existing disruption prediction machine learning algorithm with the Kaplan-Meier estimator of survival probability. Specifically discussed are the implied warning times from binary classification of disruption databases and the interpretation of output signals from Random Forest algorithms trained and tested on these databases. This survival analysis approach is applied to both smooth and noisy test data to highlight important features of the survival and hazard functions. In addition, this method is applied to three Alcator C-Mod plasma discharges and compared to a threshold-based scheme for triggering alarms. In one case, both techniques successfully predict the disruption; although, in another, neither warns of the impending disruption with enough time to mitigate. For the final discharge, the survival analysis approach could avoid the false alarm triggered by the threshold method. Limitations of this analysis and opportunities for future work are also presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Method of making a rocket nozzle

A method is described for forming the interior of a nozzle having uneven walls so that a throat of smooth converging and diverging sides is provided for passing flow. A metallic insert material is placed within the flow passageway adjacent to the area where the sharper throat constriction is to be formed, so that the material will flow through the inlet into the throat space when liquefied.

Campbell, D. H.↗