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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Computational studies of hydraulic stressors for biological performance assessment in a hydropower plant with Kaplan turbine

We report Hydropower is currently one of the preeminent sources of renewable energy in the United States and globally. Hydropower plants also have detrimental impacts on the environment and ecology, including direct impacts to anadromous fish populations. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) – based Biological Performance Assessment (BioPA) toolset is used for biological evaluations of fish passage through hydropower plants. The hydraulic environment of a hydropower plant was evaluated using CFD coupled with discrete element method (DEM) simulations. The predicted flow field and particle collision rate were validated against the experimental data in a water flume that has an idealized hydroturbine distributor geometry. Flow simulations were conducted to evaluate the hydraulic stressors, such as nadir pressure, fluid shear, runner collision, in a physical scale in a hydropower plant with Kaplan turbine which are responsible for injury and mortality of fish in a downstream migration. The cumulative exposure probability for the nadir pressure and collision with turbine runner was found to decrease with increased discharge rate. The lowest discharge rate shows the higher value of cumulative shear exposure probability. The maximum value of collision velocity increases with increased discharge rate. We offer the conclusions that will help in understanding various hydraulic stressors for biological assessment for environmentally sustainable hydroturbine passage.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Emergence of Intermediate Range Order in Jammed Packings

We perform a structural analysis of large scale jammed packings of monodisperse, frictionless and frictional spheres to elucidate structural signatures of the static structure factor in the low-to-intermediate wave number region. We employ discrete element method simulations containing up to 8×10^{7} particles, in which the particle friction coefficient(s), including sliding, rolling, and twisting interactions, are varied. At intermediate wave number values, corresponding to length scales that lie between that of the nearest neighbor primary peak and the system size, we find the emergence of a prepeak-a signature of intermediate range order-that grows with increasing friction. We correlate the emergence of this peak to real space fluctuations in the local particle coordination number, which exhibits a grainy fluctuating field throughout the packing process that is retained in the final, mechanically stable state. While the formation of the prepeak shows varying degrees of robustness to packing protocol changes, our results suggest that preparation history may be used to construct packings with variable large length scale structural properties.

Monti, Joseph M↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sierra/SolidMechanics 4.56 Capabilities In Development

This user's guide documents capabilities in Sierra/SolidMechanics which remain "in-development" and thus are not tested and hardened to the standards of capabilities listed in Sierra/SM 4.56 User's Guide. Capabilities documented herein are available in Sierra/SM for experimental use only until their official release. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, novel discretization approaches such as peridynamics and the reproducing kernel particle method (RKPM), numerical fracture and failure modeling aids such as the extended finite element method (XFEM) and J-integral, explicit time step control techniques, dynamic mesh rebalancing, as well as a variety of new material models and finite element formulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sierra/SolidMechanics 4.58. Capabilities In Development

This user’s guide documents capabilities in Sierra/SolidMechanics which remain “in-development” and thus are not tested and hardened to the standards of capabilities listed in Sierra/SM 4.58 User’s Guide. Capabilities documented herein are available in Sierra/SM for experimental use only until their official release. These capabilities include, but are not limited to, novel discretization approaches such as peridynamics and the reproducing kernel particle method (RKPM), numerical fracture and failure modeling aids such as the extended finite element method (XFEM) and /-integral, explicit time step control techniques, dynamic mesh rebalancing, as well as a variety of new material models and finite element formulations

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2002

A New Method for Estimating the Single Scattering Phase Functions of Regolith Grains

Hapke's photometric model has been widely used in solar system remote sensing applications for nearly two decades. Recently, Hapke extended his model to describe the coherent-backscatter opposition effect and multiple-scattering by particles with anisotropic single particle phase functions (SPPF's). A practical difficulty for retrieving Hapke's model parameters from typical planet, satellite, and asteroid photometry data sets is that the model employs a large number of adjustable parameters (at least eight) that can be reliably constrained only for a small number of planetary data sets in which both disk-resolved and whole-disk observations are available from opposition to very large phase angles. The present work aims to reduce the number of adjustable parameters and preserve (or even enhance) the model's accuracy and usefulness by expressing Hapke's parameters in terms of more fundamental physical properties on which they mutually depend. The most difficult part of this task, described here, is to develop a simple method for computing the effective SPPF for structurally complex regolith grains from optical constants, grain-size distribution, and average regolith porosity. The development of light-scattering models for irregularly shaped particles is a large, complex subject and many sophisticated methods, such as Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA) and Monte-Carlo simulations, have been explored elsewhere. Many of these methods are computationally intensive and probably impractical for routine substitution in Hapke's model. Here, progress is reported in developing a practical, semi-empirical method for estimating the directional scattering behavior (i.e. SPPF) of irregular regolith grains. The method employs Optical Transfer Function (OTF) techniques to model how the structural complexity of regolith particles broaden and attenuate the angular distribution of scattered light relative to that expected from ideal spherical particles of equivalent size and composition.

Helfenstein, P.↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Review of Computational Models for the Flow of Milled Biomass Part II: Continuum-Mechanics Models

The design of efficient material-handling systems for milled lignocellulosic biomass is challenging due to their complex particle morphologies and frictional interactions. Computational modeling, including the discrete element method (DEM) and continuum-based finite-element/volume methods, may offer scientific insight and predictive capabilities for the flow of milled biomass in hoppers and feeders. Herein, this article (Part II) presents a review of current state-of-the-art continuum models for the flow of milled biomass, whereas DEM models are reviewed in a companion article (Part I). Advances of numerical methods to solve the global governing equations are discussed first, followed by a comprehensive review of constitutive models for granular materials, including Drucker–Prager, hypoplastic, Cambridge-type, inertial-rheology, and nonlocal granular fluidity models. Specifically, we provide in-depth discussion on the suitability of those models for milled lignocellulosic biomass materials in terms of nonlinear elasticity, dependence of flow strength on pressure, density and shear rate, and compaction (dilation) associated with hardening (softening). Furthermore, our study shows that, despite the recent advances in continuum granular flow modeling, the most suitable constitutive models still need further development to account for material parametrization, multiflow regimes, and multiscale behavior before they can be reliably used to optimize the design and operation of biomass handling systems.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Devising novel methods for the controlled synthesis with morphology and size control of scintillator materials

Nanoscale scintillators represent an important class of materials underlying the functioning of high resolution, high ‘light yield’ radiation detection equipment, applicable for medicine in addition to security and environmental monitoring. This current study has focused on the controlled synthesis of Cs 2 ZnX 4 (X = Cl, Br) not only due to its very fast and promising radioluminescence decay time but also because no reliable synthesis protocols have been reported for producing nanoscale motifs of this material, to date. Solution-based methods can be used to synthesize products, possessing different, discrete morphologies with the ability to dictate particle size and shape. Specifically, we have demonstrated that a hot injection technique can be used to fabricate nanoscale rods and plates. Using this method, we systematically studied the effect of varying reaction variables, such as (i) reaction temperature, (ii) surfactants, and (iii) reaction time. As synthesized nanorods of Cs 2 ZnCl 4 possessed lengths of 101.3 ± 24.4 nm with widths of 17.3 ± 4.5 nm, whereas Cs 2 ZnBr 4 , created under identical conditions, were characterized by lengths of 206 ± 50 nm and widths of 26.7 ± 12.6 nm. Ligand-assisted re-precipitation (LARP) was used to produce the corresponding micron-sized particles. Under these conditions, we successfully synthesized spindles and spherical particles of Cs 2 ZnCl 4 with sizes of 1.58 ± 0.16 μm and 1.03 ± 0.34 μm, respectively, whereas plates of Cs 2 ZnBr 4 were prepared with average sizes of 0.76 ± 0.21 μm. High resolution synchrotron mapping, using the hard X-ray nanoprobe at NSLS II, was used to confirm the expected spatial distribution of Cs, Zn, and Cl within the as-produced crystals. Nanorods of Cs 2 ZnCl 4 and Cs 2 ZnBr 4 were subsequently tested for scintillation light yield and decay times. Preliminary results showed that Cs 2 ZnCl 4 maintained a light yield of 100–300 photons per MeV with a fast decay component of 2.6 ns. Finally, the Cs 2 ZnBr 4 analogue did not give rise to any perceptible scintillation emission.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Discrete ordinates analysis of the forced-flight variance reduction technique in Monte Carlo neutral particle transport simulations

This paper presents mathematical formulations and methods to predict the effect of forced-flight variance reduction on Monte Carlo tally variance and calculation time. This includes deducing biasing operators that are then used to construct a history-score probability density function (HSPDF), which represents all possible Monte Carlo random walks and gives the probability of a Monte Carlo history scoring in a tally from a particular phase-space position. The history-score moment equations (HSMEs), the statistical moments of the HSPDF, are then derived to calculate the statistical behavior of the Monte Carlo tally when forced-flight variance reduction is applied. In addition, the future-time equation (FTE) is derived to predict the Monte Carlo computational time as a result of applying forced-flight variance reduction. The solutions of the HSMEs and FTE can be used to predict Monte Carlo computational cost. Furthermore, this work also describes a discrete ordinates method to solve the forced-flight HSMEs and FTE. Several 1-D and 2-D test problems verify that the derivations are performed and implemented correctly.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Bridging particle and reactor scales in the simulation of biomass fast pyrolysis by coupling particle resolved simulation and coarse grained CFD-DEM

Efficient utilization of biomass is challenging due to the complexity of the feedstock at molecular, particle, and reactor scales. Direct coupling of particle scale model and reactor scale simulation is computationally infeasible. In this work, the results from a particle resolved simulation were used to calibrate the heat transfer and reaction kinetics of particles. A hybrid drag model was used to consider the different fluidization properties of sands and biomass particles. The computation cost was reduced using a coarse-grained Discrete Element Method (DEM). The simulated conversion rate, char yield, tar yield, and pyrolysis gas yield compare well with experiment. The residence time and axial distributions of biomass were also analyzed. This novel multi-scale method provides an efficient and accurate tool for the modeling of biomass pyrolysis reactors.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Thermally reflective membrane apparatuses, and related fluid treatment systems and methods

A thermally reflective membrane apparatus comprises a housing structure, and a thermally reflective membrane contained within the housing structure. The thermally reflective membrane comprises a semipermeable structure, and a porous, thermally reflective structure physically contacting the semipermeable structure. The porous, thermally reflective structure comprises discrete thermally reflective particles, and a binder material coupling the discrete thermally reflective particles to one another and the semipermeable structure. A fluid treatment system and method of treating a fluid are also described.

Klaehn, John R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

An index to characterize gas‐solid and solid‐solid mixing from average volume fraction fields

Abstract A mixing index based on solid volume fraction fields is developed for gas‐solid flows. Conventional mixing indices are based on particle realizations of granular mixing and are applicable to experimental data or discrete element method simulations. However, these indices cannot be used as‐is for multifluid models, and an index for characterizing mixing in gas‐solid flows from continuous fields is needed. The performance of the new mixing index is tested in two applications. The first is a 3D simulation of the mixing of biomass and sand in a fluidized bed reactor, and the second is a 2D simulation of binary particle segregation in a fluidized bed. The simulations are performed using OpenFOAM®. The mixing index is used to quantify gas‐solid mixing using solid volume fractions and solid‐solid mixing using solid fractions. The formulation of conventional mixing indices is extended to be used with solid volume fractions fields, and methods for performance improvement are presented.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Dispersion and the speed-limited particle-in-cell algorithm

This paper discusses temporally continuous and discrete forms of the speed-limited particle-in-cell (SLPIC) method first treated by Werner et al. [Phys. Plasmas 25, 123512 (2018)]. The dispersion relation for a 1D1V electrostatic plasma whose fast particles are speed-limited is derived and analyzed. By examining the normal modes of this dispersion relation, we show that the imposed speed-limiting substantially reduces the frequency of fast electron plasma oscillations while preserving the correct physics of lower-frequency plasma dynamics (e.g. ion acoustic wave dispersion and damping). We then demonstrate how the timestep constraints of conventional electrostatic particle-in-cell methods are relaxed by the speed-limiting approach, thus enabling larger timesteps and faster simulations. Here, these results indicate that the SLPIC method is a fast, accurate, and powerful technique for modeling plasmas wherein electron kinetic behavior is nontrivial (such that a fluid/Boltzmann representation for electrons is inadequate) but evolution is on ion timescales.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Theoretical Study of the Single Electron Optical Stochastic Cooling Experiment at the IOTA Facility (Final Technical Report)

The objectives of this proposal were to explore fundamental aspects of radiation from individual and small groups of electrons in the optical stochastic cooling experiment conducted at Fermi National Laboratory's IOTA facility. Professor Swapan Chattopadhyay collaborated directly with the IOTA team on their initial experimental endeavors. Concurrently, a team from Berkeley, including Prof. Wurtele, Dr. Charman, and Dr. Greggory Penn from LBNL, and Prof. Chattapadhyay, pursued a theoretical exploration to identify potential subsequent experiments for IOTA. A wide range of possible experiments were considered, but they do not allow for tests for new quantum mechanical phenomena at the precision level of the current IOTA apparatus. However, the experimentally observed optical stochastic cooling of a single electron in IOTA validated the relevance of the classical electromagnetic field nature of the continuous electron-radiation interaction (as opposed to discrete instantaneous photon emissions and associated 'classical particle trajectory jumps') responsible for cooling and pointed towards innovative methods of experimental techniques to measure 'turn-by-turn' field correlations. Such measurements have the promise of bridging the transition from classical fields building up to discrete quantum transitions and enhance proper theoretical understanding.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assessing Critical Conditions for Scour Near Obstructions using Bed Shear, Particle Onset of Motion Balances, and CFD-DEM Modeling of Granular Beds

Computational Fluid Dynamics combined with a Discrete Element Method is one of the computational methods that can be used to model multiphase flows. In this method various phases, gas and liquid or solid, are present in the same computational domain. The local averaged Navier–Stokes equations determine the flow of the continuous phase fluid and are solved using the traditional CFD finite volume approach. DEM is based on a Lagrangian formulation, which solves the equations of motion, expressed in ordinary differential equations, for representative particles as they move in space and time. The interactions between the continuous fluid phase and discrete solid phase are modeled with the use of Newton’s laws of motion via drag force. The particles interact with each other and with the boundaries of the fluid continuum, and the resulting contact forces are included in the equations of motion. The properties of solid particles and boundaries are treated as elastic bodies, with specified density, elastic modulus, and Poisson’s ratio. Particle shapes may vary from single spherical particles to more complex-shaped composite particles. The particles may be introduced into the domain by random or structured injection at a point, surface, or volume, depending on the application. More details on the formulation can be found in the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ User’s Manual and OpenFOAM website.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Partnership Center for High-Fidelity Boundary Plasma Simulation (Final Report)

Within the Partnership Center for High-Fidelity Boundary Plasma Simulation (HBPS), work at UT-Austin was aimed at improved verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification (VVUQ) for edge plasma simulations and on performing gyrokinetics simulations of pedestal instabilities and turbulence in order to expand foundational understanding of pedestal transport. Regarding VVUQ, the accomplishments can be summarized as follows. First, it was shown that the Moment Preserving Constrained Resampling technique, when applied periodically in particle-in-cell simulations in the XGC code, can dramatically improve the accuracy of the simulation at essentially equivalent computational cost. Second, a technique for estimating model correlations, which are required to solve the model selection and sample allocation problem in multifidelity UQ techniques, without sampling the highest fidelity, most computationally expensive model, was developed and demonstrated. Third, previously developed methods for estimating statistical and discretization errors were applied to numerical methods relevant to edge plasma simulations, namely in particle-in-cell-based approaches, and shown to work. Finally, benchmark studies for comparing gyrokinetic codes were developed and performed, leading to reasonable agreement between four commonly used codes. Regarding physics studies, gyrokinetic simulations to investigate microtearing modes in the DIII-D pedestal were performed using the GENE code.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Powder spreading, densification, and part deformation in binder jetting additive manufacturing

Binder jetting additive manufacturing (AM) can print complex structures in economical and scalable manner. Binder jetting AM comprises of deposition and weak binding of particles, known as green part, at room temperature and subsequent binder removal and sintering densification at high temperatures. However, during the densification (i.e., sintering), the part significantly deforms due to volume shrinkage. The deformation during sintering is difficult to predict, which prevents the widespread application of this technology. In this research, powder spreading simulation using discrete element method (DEM) was performed first to capture local variations in powder bed configuration. Second, finite element method (FEM) with a phenomenological continuum constitutive model was used to predict part shrinkage during the sintering process. DEM simulation showed variations in packing density, particle segregation, formation of uneven powder bed surface, and shift in particle size distribution (PSD). The sintering simulation modeled part deformation with a reasonable accuracy of 3% for solid-state sintering and intermediate liquid phase sintering. A demonstration case with non-uniform initial packing density showed that inhomogeneous green part density and PSD should be accounted for prediction of part deformation in binder jetting AM.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1990

Turbulence modulation effect on evaporating spray characterization

The effects of turbulence modulation on the evaporating spray characteristics of a liquid fuel jet are numerically investigated. Two modulation models are implemented into the k-epsilon two-equation model. The gas phase is solved by a pressure-based method on a Eulerian frame and droplets are solved by a stochastic discrete particle technique based on Lagrangian formulation. The k-epsilon models are used to characterize the time and length scales of the gas phase turbulence for droplet dispersions and droplet/turbulence interactions. The modulation models are found to have significant effects on gas phase dynamics, and are less important for the droplet dynamics. Numerical predictions are compared with the experimental data of Drallemier and Peters (1990).

Shang, H. M.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Generative Ensemble Regression: Learning Particle Dynamics from Observations of Ensembles with Physics-informed Deep Generative Models

Here, we propose a new method for inferring the governing stochastic ordinary differential equations (SODEs) by observing particle ensembles at discrete and sparse time instants, i.e., multiple “snapshots.” Particle coordinates at a single time instant, possibly noisy or truncated, are recorded in each snapshot but are unpaired across the snapshots. By training a physics-informed generative model that generates “fake” sample paths, we aim to fit the observed particle ensemble distributions with a curve in the probability measure space, which is induced from the inferred particle dynamics. We employ different metrics to quantify the differences between distributions, e.g., the sliced Wasserstein distances and the adversarial losses in generative adversarial networks. We refer to this method as generative “ensemble-regression” (GER), in analogy to the classic “point-regression,” where we infer the dynamics by performing regression in the Euclidean space. We illustrate the GER by learning the drift and diffusion terms of particle ensembles governed by SODEs with Brownian motions and Lévy processes up to 100 dimensions. We also discuss how to treat cases with noisy or truncated observations. Apart from systems consisting of independent particles, we also tackle nonlocal interacting particle systems with unknown interaction potential parameters by constructing a physics-informed loss function. Finally, we investigate scenarios of paired observations and discuss how to reduce the dimensionality in such cases by proving a convergence theorem that provides theoretical support.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗