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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 1,027 records · Page 57
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1977

Prediction of jump phenomena in rotationally-coupled maneuvers of aircraft, including nonlinear aerodynamic effects

An analytical method has been developed for predicting critical control inputs for which nonlinear rotational coupling may cause sudden jumps in aircraft response. The analysis includes the effect of aerodynamics which are nonlinear in angle of attack. The method involves the simultaneous solution of two polynomials in roll rate, whose coefficients are functions of angle of attack and the control inputs. Results obtained using this procedure are compared with calculated time histories to verify the validity of the method for predicting jump-like instabilities.

Young, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Research and applications in aeroservoelasticity at the NASA Langley Research Center

A review of analytical methods used to analyze flexible vehicles with active controls is presented. Methods used to approximate and correct unsteady aerodynamic forces used in the analysis are discussed. Recent advances in the application of optimal methods to digital control law synthesis are presented. The use of active controls in an integrated design process is also discussed. Finally, the results of recent wind-tunnel studies aimed at demonstrating active control concepts and validating the analytical methods are presented.

Abel, Irving↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multisource Data Fusion Outage Location in Distribution Systems via Probabilistic Graphical Models

Efficient outage location is critical to enhancing the resilience of power distribution systems. However, accurate outage location requires combining massive evidence received from diverse data sources, including smart meter (SM) last gasp signals, customer trouble calls, social media messages, weather data, vegetation information, and physical parameters of the network. This is a computationally complex task due to the high dimensionality of data in distribution grids. In this paper, we propose a multi-source data fusion approach to locate outage events in partially observable distribution systems using Bayesian networks (BNs). A novel aspect of the proposed approach is that it takes multi-source evidence and the complex structure of distribution systems into account using a probabilistic graphical method. Our method can radically reduce the computational complexity of outage location inference in high-dimensional spaces. The graphical structure of the proposed BN is established based on the network’s topology and the causal relationship between random variables, such as the states of branches/customers and evidence. Utilizing this graphical model, accurate outage locations are obtained by leveraging a Gibbs sampling (GS) method, to infer the probabilities of de-energization for all branches. Compared with commonly-used exact inference methods that have exponential complexity in the size of the BN, GS quantifies the target conditional probability distributions in a timely manner. As a result, a case study of several real-world distribution systems is presented to validate the proposed method.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1983

Application of the method of lines for solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations using a nonuniform grid distribution

The feasibility of the method of lines for solutions of physical problems requiring nonuniform grid distributions is investigated. To attain this, it is also necessary to investigate the stiffness characteristics of the pertinent equations. For specific applications, the governing equations considered are those for viscous, incompressible, two dimensional and axisymmetric flows. These equations are transformed from the physical domain having a variable mesh to a computational domain with a uniform mesh. The two governing partial differential equations are the vorticity and stream function equations. The method of lines is used to solve the vorticity equation and the successive over relaxation technique is used to solve the stream function equation. The method is applied to three laminar flow problems: the flow in ducts, curved-wall diffusers, and a driven cavity. Results obtained for different flow conditions are in good agreement with available analytical and numerical solutions. The viability and validity of the method of lines are demonstrated by its application to Navier-Stokes equations in the physical domain having a variable mesh.

Abolhassani, J. S.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Data-driven analysis of neutron diffraction line profiles: application to plastically deformed Ta

Abstract Non-destructive evaluation of plastically deformed metals, particularly diffraction line profile analysis (DLPA), is valuable both to estimate dislocation densities and arrangements and to validate microstructure-aware constitutive models. To date, the interpretation of whole line diffraction profiles relies on the use of semi-analytical models such as the extended convolutional multiple whole profile (eCMWP) method. This study introduces and validates two data-driven DLPA models to extract dislocation densities from experimentally gathered whole line diffraction profiles. Using two distinct virtual diffraction models accounting for both strain and instrument induced broadening, a database of virtual diffraction whole line profiles of Ta single crystals is generated using discrete dislocation dynamics. The databases are mined to create Gaussian process regression-based surrogate models, allowing dislocation densities to be extracted from experimental profiles. The method is validated against 11 experimentally gathered whole line diffraction profiles from plastically deformed Ta polycrystals. The newly proposed model predicts dislocation densities consistent with estimates from eCMWP. Advantageously, this data driven LPA model can distinguish broadening originating from the instrument and from the dislocation content even at low dislocation densities. Finally, the data-driven model is used to explore the effect of heterogeneous dislocation densities in microstructures containing grains, which may lead to more accurate data-driven predictions of dislocation density in plastically deformed polycrystals.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cryogenic single-port calibration for superconducting microwave resonator measurements

Superconducting circuit testing and materials loss characterization requires robust and reliable methods for the extraction of internal and coupling quality factors of microwave resonators. Additionally, a common method, imposed by limitations on the device design or experimental configuration, is the single-port reflection geometry, i.e. reflection-mode. However, impedance mismatches in cryogenic systems must be accounted for through calibration of the measurement chain while it is at low temperatures. In this paper, we demonstrate a data-based, single-port calibration using commercial microwave standards and a vector network analyzer with samples at millikelvin temperature in a dilution refrigerator, making this method useful for measurements of quantum phenomena. Finally, we cross reference our data-based, single-port calibration and reflection measurement with over-coupled 2D- and 3D-resonators against well established two-port techniques corroborating the validity of our method.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advanced Computational Modeling of High-Level Waste Vitrification at the Hanford Site

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected vitrification for stabilizing legacy tank waste at the Hanford site, where radioactive waste from plutonium production was historically stored in underground tanks. This waste will be separated into low-activity waste (LAW) and high-level waste (HLW) fractions and processed at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). At WTP, glass melters are used for the vitrification of radioactive tank waste, transforming it into a stable borosilicate glass form for safe long-term storage. The melter vessel is constructed from highly durable and heat-resistant materials, where the vitrification process occurs. The main regions that are modeled are the melt pool, plenum, cold cap, riser/discharge chamber, and surrounding structure with insulation layers. Forced convection induced by air bubblers at the base of the melter ensure uniform temperature distribution and provide heat to the cold cap layer. The cold cap is a region of reacting batch feed that floats on top of the molten glass and is where the batch-to-glass reactions occur. Joule heating provided by electrodes mounted along the vertical walls of the melter and immersed directly in the glass, generates the necessary heat for the net endothermic conversion processes that occur in the cold cap. The high temperatures, radioactivity, and opaque nature of the glass prevent direct observation inside the melters. Therefore, computational models are essential for providing insight into factors that affect melter throughput. Thermocouples in the plenum provide operators with plenum temperature measurements. Operational adjustments include bubbling rate, voltage supplied to the electrodes, feed adjustments, and glass removal rate. Different computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models have been developed, each serving a specific purpose. There are CFD models of different scale melters, as well as models that capture the two-phase flow interfaces of rising bubbles in the molten glass or models with a simplified molten glass region so that the surrounding structure and plenum can be feasibly incorporated. Pilot-scale melter models have been developed to serve as validation of the methods employed in the simulation of the full-scale WTP melters. Models incorporating resolved bubbling are used to develop momentum source terms to implement into a single phase, multi-region, steady-state flow model that is being validated by measured process parameters such as glass production rate, voltage, input power, plenum temperatures, etc. The resolved bubbling model uses the multiphase volume of fluid approach to model the system with a high-resolution interface capturing scheme to maintain sharp interfaces between the molten glass and the air phase. The suite of CFD models is continually being improved to incorporate more realistic physics and achieve faster turnaround time. For example, an incremental controller is implemented to automatically adjust electrode voltage within the simulation to a molten glass set point temperature of 1150°C. Newer models feature improved meshes to ensure conformal meshes between regions and eliminate unnecessary mesh refinement in areas that are not of interest (such as boundary layers in offgas ports). Instead of explicitly modeling the structural, refractory, and insulation layers of the melter, a thermal resistance approach is used with published correlations used for boundary conditions. The development of robust and efficient CFD models will be instrumental in enabling the WTP to successfully fulfill its mission of safely stabilizing legacy nuclear waste.

12 - MGMT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Synthesis and thermodynamics of uranium-incorporated α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles

Hematite nanoparticles were synthesized with U(VI) in circumneutral water through a coprecipitation and hydrothermal treatment process. XRD, TEM, and EXAFS analyses reveal that uranium may aggregate along grain boundaries and occupy Fe sites within hematite. The described synthesis method produces crystalline, single-phase iron oxide nanoparticles absent of surface-bound uranyl complexes. EXAFS data were comparable to spectra from existing studies whose syntheses were more representative of naturally occurring, extended aging processes. Herein this work provides and validates an accelerated method of synthesizing uranium-immobilized iron oxide nanoparticles for further mechanistic studies. High temperature oxide melt solution calorimetry measurements were performed to calculate the thermodynamic stability of uranium-incorporated iron oxide nanoparticles. Increasing uranium content within hematite resulted in more positive formation enthalpies. Standard formation enthalpies of U x Fe 2–2x O 3 were as high as 76.88 ± 2.83 kJ/mol relative to their binary oxides, or -764.04 ± 3.74 kJ/mol relative to their constituent elements, at x = 0.037. Data on the thermodynamic stability of uranium retention pathways may assist in predicting waste uranyl remobilization, as well as in developing more effective methods to retain uranium captured from aqueous environments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1971

Inversion problem for ion-atom differential elastic scattering.

The paper describes a practical application of Remler's (1971) method by which one constructs a set of phase shifts from high resolution measurements of the differential elastic scattering of protons by rare-gas atoms. These JWKB phase shifts are then formally inverted to determine the corresponding intermolecular potentials. The validity of the method is demonstrated by comparing an intermolecular potential obtained by direct inversion of experimental data with a fairly accurate calculation by Wolniewicz (1965).

Rich, W. G.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Estimating the weight of generally configured dual wing systems

Formulas available for the weight estimation of monoplane wings cannot be said to be appropriate for the estimation of generally configured dual wing systems. In the present paper a method is described which simultaneously generates a structural weight estimate and a fully stressed, quasi-optimal structure for a model of a dual wing system. The method is fast and inexpensive. It is ideally suited to preliminary design. To illustrate the method, a dual wing system and a conventional wing system are sized. Numerical computation is shown to be suitably fast for both cases and, for both cases, convergence to a final configuration is shown to be quite rapid. To illustrate the validity of the method, a conventional wing is sized and its weight obtained by the present method is compared to its weight determined by a reputable weight estimation formula. The results are shown to be very close.

Cronin, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Development of a fractional-step method for the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in generalized coordinate systems

A fractional step method is developed for solving the time-dependent three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in generalized coordinate systems. The primitive variable formulation uses the pressure, defined at the center of the computational cell, and the volume fluxes across the faces of the cells as the dependent variables, instead of the Cartesian components of the velocity. This choice is equivalent to using the contravariant velocity components in a staggered grid multiplied by the volume of the computational cell. The governing equations are discretized by finite volumes using a staggered mesh system. The solution of the continuity equation is decoupled from the momentum equations by a fractional step method which enforces mass conservation by solving a Poisson equation. This procedure, combined with the consistent approximations of the geometric quantities, is done to satisfy the discretized mass conservation equation to machine accuracy, as well as to gain the favorable convergence properties of the Poisson solver. The momentum equations are solved by an approximate factorization method, and a novel ZEBRA scheme with four-color ordering is devised for the efficient solution of the Poisson equation. Several two- and three-dimensional laminar test cases are computed and compared with other numerical and experimental results to validate the solution method. Good agreement is obtained in all cases.

Rosenfeld, Moshe↗
DOE OSTI2024

Systematic determination of a material’s magnetic ground state from first principles

Abstract We present a self-consistent method based on first-principles calculations to determine the magnetic ground state of materials, regardless of their dimensionality. Our methodology is founded on satisfying the stability conditions derived from the linear spin wave theory (LSWT) by optimizing the magnetic structure iteratively. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method by successfully predicting the experimental magnetic structures of NiO, FePS 3 , FeP, MnF 2 , FeCl 2 , and CuO. In each case, we compared our results with available experimental data and existing theoretical calculations reported in the literature. Finally, we discuss the validity of the method and the possible extensions.

Chemistry↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Scalable Meter Placement Method for Distribution System State Estimation

This paper studies the optimal meter placement problem for distribution system state estimation given limited measurement resources. We formulate the problem as a mixed integer semi-definite programming that minimizes the worst case estimation errors over a set of operating points. To solve the problem, we first relax the problem as a convex optimization problem. Motivated by the lack of scalability of existing solvers, we next leverage the special structure of the cost function and propose an algorithm based on barrier method that solves the problem with significantly better numerical performance. The proposed method has been validated on the IEEE 13-bus, IEEE 123-bus, and IEEE 8,500-bus feeders.

barrier method↗
DOE OSTI2025

Multivariate Analysis as a Tool for Validating Tester Matching

A method of applying Principal Component Analysis, Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analysis, and statistical analysis is described that can be applied to many types of testers to ascertain how well matched the performance of the testers in the analysis are to one another or how well matched a tester is to itself at a later time. This method is most useful for situations for which the same units have not been run across the testers being analyzed for matched performance.

Multari, Rosalie A [Sandia National Laboratories (↗
DOE OSTI2024

Validating the Funnel, Filter Paper, and Drainage Method for Maximum Water Holding Capacity Over a Wide Range of Soil Textures

The data provided includes the results of maximum water holding capacity using the funnel, filter paper, and drainage (FFPD) method, as well as soil water retention curves generated from the water desorption method (via pressure cells) for a full range of soil textures. It will also include data from sensitivity trials to test readily available materials and varying conditions the FFPD method could be expanded to use for more accessibility to community scientists. The format will be in data tables.

Nelson, Jessica↗
NASA NTRS1988

Constrained structural dynamic model verification using free vehicle suspension testing methods

Verification of the validity of a spacecraft's structural dynamic math model used in computing ascent (or in the case of the STS, ascent and landing) loads is mandatory. This verification process requires that tests be carried out on both the payload and the math model such that the ensuing correlation may validate the flight loads calculations. To properly achieve this goal, the tests should be performed with the payload in the launch constraint (i.e., held fixed at only the payload-booster interface DOFs). The practical achievement of this set of boundary conditions is quite difficult, especially with larger payloads, such as the 12-ton Hubble Space Telescope. The development of equations in the paper will show that by exciting the payload at its booster interface while it is suspended in the 'free-free' state, a set of transfer functions can be produced that will have minima that are directly related to the fundamental modes of the payload when it is constrained in its launch configuration.

Blair, Mark A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Validation of an Adaptive Combustion Instability Control Method for Gas-Turbine Engines

This paper describes ongoing testing of an adaptive control method to suppress high frequency thermo-acoustic instabilities like those found in lean-burning, low emission combustors that are being developed for future aircraft gas turbine engines. The method called Adaptive Sliding Phasor Averaged Control, was previously tested in an experimental rig designed to simulate a combustor with an instability of about 530 Hz. Results published earlier, and briefly presented here, demonstrated that this method was effective in suppressing the instability. Because this test rig did not exhibit a well pronounced instability, a question remained regarding the effectiveness of the control methodology when applied to a more coherent instability. To answer this question, a modified combustor rig was assembled at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The modified rig exhibited a more coherent, higher amplitude instability, but at a lower frequency of about 315 Hz. Test results show that this control method successfully reduced the instability pressure of the lower frequency test rig. In addition, due to a certain phenomena discovered and reported earlier, the so called Intra-Harmonic Coupling, a dramatic suppression of the instability was achieved by focusing control on the second harmonic of the instability. These results and their implications are discussed, as well as a hypothesis describing the mechanism of intra-harmonic coupling.

Kopasakis, George↗