PuMA and Multiscale Modeling
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The Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software was initially developed to analyze tomographic reconstructions of fibrous materials, commonly used as insulators in NASA spacecrafts. Since then, the software grew in capabilities and it is now able to compute many different geometric and physical properties, which are often anisotropic at multiple scales. In addition, PuMA can generate its own artificial microstructures in order to study their performance. This talk will give an overview of the main functions and display its application to some of the widely used carbon ablators for heatshields, including the more challenging woven architectures.
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The NASA Entry Systems Modeling project maintains a portfolio of computational model and tool development activities focused on reducing performance uncertainties in ablative Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials for NASA missions. The development activities span material scale and strive to allow microstructural characterization of material structure and properties, mesoscale analyses of damage, and macroscale evaluation of heatshield performance and recession in a given aerothermodynamic environment. This talk will detail the application of developed capabilities at all three scales to the woven TPS material that the Agency has selected as the heatshield for the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System (MSR-EES) mission – 3D Mid-Density Carbon Phenolic (3MDCP). Each of the applications focuses on driving down uncertainties in material performance and thus risk for MSR-EES and other future missions that may leverage woven TPS. At the microscale, machine learning techniques are used to characterize images from destructive microscopy and inform structural variability. At the mesoscale, Lagrangian techniques are used to simulate ballistic impact and interpret damage modes noted in experiments. At the macroscale, coupled flow-material response techniques are validated by Arc Jet testing to enable heatshield design for missions with massive ablation.
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The Colloquium and Workshop on Multiscale Coupled Modeling was held for the purpose of addressing modeling issues of importance to planning for the Cooperative Multiscale Experiment (CME). The colloquium presentations attempted to assess the current ability of numerical models to accurately simulate the development and evolution of mesoscale cloud and precipitation systems and their cycling of water substance, energy, and trace species. The primary purpose of the workshop was to make specific recommendations for the improvement of mesoscale models prior to the CME, their coupling with cloud, cumulus ensemble, hydrology, air chemistry models, and the observational requirements to initialize and verify these models.
Despite the availability of computational resources and advancements in numerical computing capabilities, the multiscale models core to understanding, predicting the behaviors of, and designing energy and environmental systems involving porous media are still 1.) developed through by-hand derivations and 2.) limited by many methodological assumptions employed during model derivation. As a result, the advancement of effective media models for engineering DOE mission-critical systems (e.g., batteries, flow batteries, electrolyzers, geothermal systems, subsurface chemical storage systems, etc.) is slow (i.e., it takes years for models to traverse from stages of “development” to “practical utilization”), hindering our ability to effectively optimize such systems and stay at the cutting-edge of the energy frontier. In this work, we aimed to address these limitations by 1.) automating and accelerating multiscale model derivation via symbolic computing and 2.) develop a novel multiscale modeling methodology for flow and transport through porous media that avoids the typical assumptions hindering previous models. As a result of our efforts, we 1.) developed a hybrid symbolic-numeric code called Fouriera for fully-automating the implementation of multiphysical and phase-field models via the Fourier spectral method for materials science research, and 2.) advanced a multiscale modeling methodology called The Method of Finite Averages that rigorously predicts the behaviors of flow and transport through heterogeneous porous media under the influence of non-local effects and strong advection. Ultimately, these deliverables provide strong foundations from which further efforts can advance multiscale modeling tools and capabilities that do not intrinsically rely on 1.) the speed and mathematical capabilities of humans, nor 2.) the methodological assumptions limiting current models.
Multiscale modeling requires the linking of models at different levels of detail, with the goal of gaining accelerations from lower fidelity models while recovering fine details from higher resolution models. Communication across resolutions is particularly important in modeling soft matter, where tight couplings exist between molecular-level details and mesoscale structures. While multiscale modeling of biomolecules has become a critical component in exploring their structure and self-assembly, backmapping from coarse-grained to fine-grained, or atomistic, representations presents a challenge, despite recent advances through machine learning. A major hurdle, especially for strategies utilizing machine learning, is that backmappings can only approximately recover the atomistic ensemble of interest. We demonstrate conditions for which backmapped configurations may be reweighted to exactly recover the desired atomistic ensemble. By training separate decoding models for each sidechain type, we develop an algorithm based on normalizing flows and geometric algebra attention to autoregressively propose backmapped configurations for any protein sequence. Critical for reweighting with modern protein force fields, our trained models include all hydrogen atoms in the backmapping and make probabilities associated with atomistic configurations directly accessible. We also demonstrate, however, that reweighting is extremely challenging despite state-of-the-art performance on recently developed metrics and generation of configurations with low energies in atomistic protein force fields. Through detailed analysis of configurational weights, we show that machine-learned backmappings must not only generate configurations with reasonable energies, but also correctly assign relative probabilities under the generative model. These are broadly important considerations in generative modeling of atomistic molecular configurations.
In this paper, a multiscale modelling strategy is used to study the effect of grain-boundary sliding on stress localization in a polycrystalline microstructure with an uneven distribution of grain size. The development of the molecular dynamics (MD) analysis used to interrogate idealized grain microstructures with various types of grain boundaries and the multiscale modelling strategies for modelling large systems of grains is discussed. Both molecular-dynamics and finite-element (FE) simulations for idealized polycrystalline models of identical geometry are presented with the purpose of demonstrating the effectiveness of the adapted finite-element method using cohesive zone models to reproduce grain-boundary sliding and its effect on the stress distribution in a polycrystalline metal. The yield properties of the grain-boundary interface, used in the FE simulations, are extracted from a MD simulation on a bicrystal. The models allow for the study of the load transfer between adjacent grains of very different size through grain-boundary sliding during deformation. A large-scale FE simulation of 100 grains of a typical microstructure is then presented to reveal that the stress distribution due to grain-boundary sliding during uniform tensile strain can lead to stress localization of two to three times the background stress, thus suggesting a significant effect on the failure properties of the metal.
The central objective of this project was to address the challenge of modeling and simulating complex multiscale turbulence phenomena by leveraging physics-guided machine learning (PGML) and hybrid modeling approaches. By integrating physics-based methods with data-driven models, the research focused on achieving robust and scalable solutions for geophysical turbulence, enhancing numerical weather prediction and climate research tools. The project resulted in significant advancements in computational modeling paradigms, predictive tools for reduced-order modeling, and innovative algorithms for fluid dynamics.
First results of a three-dimensional multiscale MHD model of the interaction of an expanding cometary atmosphere with the magnetized solar wind are presented. The model starts with a supersonic and super-Alfvenic solar wind far upstream of the comet (25 Gm upstream of the nucleus) with arbitrary interplanetary magnetic field orientation. The solar wind is continuously mass loaded with cometary ions originating from a 10-km size nucleus. The effects of photoionization, electron impact ionization, recombination, and ion-neutral frictional drag are taken into account in the model. The governing equations are solved on an adaptively refined unstructured Cartesian grid using our new multiscale upwind scalar conservation laws-type numerical technique (MUSCL). We have named this the multiscale adaptive upwind scheme for MHD (MAUS-MHD). The combination of the adaptive refinement with the MUSCL-scheme allows the entire cometary atmosphere to be modeled, while still resolving both the shock and the diamagnetic cavity of the comet. The main findings are the following: (1) Mass loading decelerates the solar wind flow upstream of the weak cometary shock wave (M approximately equals 2, M(sub A) approximately equals 2), which forms at a subsolar standoff distance of about 0.35 Gm. (2) A cometary plasma cavity is formed at around 3 x 10(exp 3) km from the nucleus. Inside this cavity the plasma expands outward due to the frictional interaction between ions and neutrals. On the nightside this plasma cavity considerably narrows and a relatively fast and dense cometary plasma beam is ejected into the tail. (3) Inside the plasma cavity a teardrop-shaped inner shock is formed, which is terminated by a Mach disk on the nightside. Only the region inside the inner shock is the 'true' diamagnetic cavity. (4) The model predicts four distinct current systems in the inner coma: the density peak current, the cavity boundary current, the inner shock current, and finally the cross-tail current. (5) The calculated plasma parameters (magnetic field, plasma density, speed, and temperature) are in very good agreement with published Giotto observations.
Megawatt (MW) electric aircraft propulsion (EAP) is seen as a significant contributor toward achieving the goals set forth by the Sustainable Flight National Partnership. A large part of enabling MW EAP is developing specific-power-dense electric machines. As specific-power-dense electric machines are scaled up from kW to MW power levels, the thermal stresses on the machines increase in both magnitude and performance-affecting characteristics. This is particularly true for the stators of these machines. Analysis via thermal resistance network modeling and multiscale modeling reveals that increasing amounts of heat will be trapped in the stator windings as the power levels increase. The challenges this presents can be addressed through material advancements whereby materials gain multifunctionality. Specifically, the electrical insulation and potting materials, along with the electrical conductor, that compose the stator slot must work together (gain multifunctionality) to relieve the increased thermal stress. Materials research at the NASA Glenn Research Center points to some useful solutions in this trade space.
Megawatt (MW) electric aircraft propulsion (EAP) is seen as a significant contributor toward achieving the goals set forth by the Sustainable Flight National Partnership. A large part of enabling MW EAP is developing specific-power-dense electric machines. As specific-power-dense electric machines are scaled up from kW to MW power levels, the thermal stresses on the machines increase in both magnitude and performance-affecting characteristics. This is particularly true for the stators of these machines. Analysis via thermal resistance network modeling and multiscale modeling reveals that increasing amounts of heat will be trapped in the stator windings as the power levels increase. The challenges this presents can be addressed through material advancements whereby materials gain multifunctionality. Specifically, the electrical insulation and potting materials, along with the electrical conductor, that compose the stator slot must work together (gain multifunctionality) to relieve the increased thermal stress. Materials research at the NASA Glenn Research Center points to some useful solutions in this trade space.
The original scope aimed to broaden participation in the 10th International Conference on Multiscale Materials Modeling (MMM 10) by supporting travel and accommodation for 10 junior scientists from U.S. Institutions. A funding request of $\$$10,000 was submitted to partially offset the cost of registration and local accommodation for these early-career participants. Since the award was made close to the date MMM 10 was to be held, we requested a no-cost extension to defer this travel support to the 11th International Conference on Multiscale Materials Modeling (MMM 11), which was held in Prague Congress Center in the Czech Republic. The scope of the travel award remained the same: supporting travel and accommodation for 10 junior scientists from U.S. Institutions.
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