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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 1,207 records · Page 67
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2011

Uncertainty Assessments of 2D and Axisymmetric Hypersonic Shock Wave - Turbulent Boundary Layer Interaction Simulations at Compression Corners

This paper is one of a series of five papers in a special session organized by the NASA Fundamental Aeronautics Program that addresses uncertainty assessments for CFD simulations in hypersonic flow. Simulations of a shock emanating from a compression corner and interacting with a fully developed turbulent boundary layer are evaluated herein. Mission relevant conditions at Mach 7 and Mach 14 are defined for a pre-compression ramp of a scramjet powered vehicle. Three compression angles are defined, the smallest to avoid separation losses and the largest to force a separated flow engaging more complicated flow physics. The Baldwin-Lomax and the Cebeci-Smith algebraic models, the one-equation Spalart-Allmaras model with the Catrix-Aupoix compressibility modification and two-equation models including Menter SST, Wilcox k-omega 98, and Wilcox k-omega 06 turbulence models are evaluated. Each model is fully defined herein to preclude any ambiguity regarding model implementation. Comparisons are made to existing experimental data and Van Driest theory to provide preliminary assessment of model form uncertainty. A set of coarse grained uncertainty metrics are defined to capture essential differences among turbulence models. Except for the inability of algebraic models to converge for some separated flows there is no clearly superior model as judged by these metrics. A preliminary metric for the numerical component of uncertainty in shock-turbulent-boundary-layer interactions at compression corners sufficiently steep to cause separation is defined as 55%. This value is a median of differences with experimental data averaged for peak pressure and heating and for extent of separation captured in new, grid-converged solutions presented here. This value is consistent with existing results in a literature review of hypersonic shock-turbulent-boundary-layer interactions by Roy and Blottner and with more recent computations of MacLean.

Gnoffo, Peter A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Experiments on shock/vortex interactions

The interaction between a shock wave and a supersonic streamwise vortex is a fundamental fluid-dynamics problem with numerous practical applications. This paper describes an experimental study of this phenomenon. In particular, supersonic streamwise vortices of varying strength and Mach number were generated and measured using five-hole and total-temperature probes. In addition, the interactions between a vortex and either an oblique or a normal shock wave were visualized using schlieren and planar-laser-scattering techniques. The mean-flow measurements show both similarities and differences between the supersonic streamwise vortex and its incompressible counterpart, while the flow-visualization results show that the shock/vortex interaction is always unsteady and that, under certain conditions, the vortex can burst. The conditions necessary for supersonic vortex breakdown are presented.

Cattafesta, L. N., III↗
DOE OSTI2015

Local Electronic And Dielectric Properties at Nanosized Interfaces (Final Report)

The behavior of grain boundaries and interfaces has been a focus of fundamental research for decades because variations of structure and composition at interfaces dictate mechanical, electrical, optical and dielectric properties in solids. Similarly, the consequence of atomic and electronic structures of surfaces to chemical and physical interactions are critical due to their implications to catalysis and device fabrication. Increasing fundamental understanding of surfaces and interfaces has materially advanced technologies that directly bear on energy considerations. Currently, exciting developments in materials processing are enabling creative new electrical, optical and chemical device configurations. Controlled synthesis of nanoparticles, semiconducting nanowires and nanorods, optical quantum dots, etc. along with a range of strategies for assembling and patterning nanostructures portend the viability of new devices that have the potential to significantly impact the energy landscape. As devices become smaller the impact of interfaces and surfaces grows geometrically. As with other nanoscale phenomena, small interfaces do not exhibit the same properties as do large interfaces. The size dependence of interface properties had not been explored and understanding at the most fundamental level is necessary to the advancement of nanostructured devices. An equally important factor in the behavior of interfaces in devices is the ability to examine the interfaces under realistic conditions. For example, interfaces and boundaries dictate the behavior of oxide fuel cells which operate at extremely high temperatures in dynamic high pressure chemical environments. These conditions preclude the characterization of local properties during fuel cell operation. The objective of this research was to determine the size and interface atomic structure dependence of the electronic properties of metal/oxide interfaces using model materials systems of noble metals on SrTiO 3 surfaces; and to develop experimental techniques to probe spatially localized properties under extreme conditions. The outcomes of this research summarized in more detail below include; Discovery of the presence of multiple size dependent transport mechanisms at nanoscale interfaces and determination of the critical size parameter associated with a transition from one to another; Determination of the effect of interface atomic structure and electronic structure at nanoscale interfaces on electronic transport across the interfaces, in particular the role of states associated with under coordinated cations enabling resonant tunneling and/or band bending; Discovery and characterization of size dependent resistive switching at nanoscale interfaces; These advances required the development of a process to produce nanosized contacts with controlled interface orientation over sizes (diameters) ranging from 20-500nm and the determination of the mechanical and electrical parameters for robust and accurate measurement of frequency dependent properties of nanoscale interfaces; Invention of a chamber that enables in situ scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopy at high temperature and reactive gas environments; and First measurement of interface properties in an operating solid oxide fuel cell, quantifying the local electrical potentials and energies associated with two reaction mechanisms.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Electrostatic solvation free energies of charged hard spheres using molecular dynamics with density functional theory interactions

Determining the solvation free energies of single ions in water is one of the most fundamental problems in physical chemistry and yet many unresolved questions remain. In particular, the ability to decompose the solvation free energy into simple and intuitive contributions will have important implications for models of electrolyte solution. In this paper, we provide definitions of the various types of single ion solvation free energies based on different simulation protocols. We calculate solvation free energies of charged hard spheres using density functional theory interaction potentials with molecular dynamics simulation and isolate the effects of charge and cavitation, comparing to the Born (linear response) model. We show that using uncorrected Ewald summation leads to unphysical values for the single ion solvation free energy and that charging free energies for cations are approximately linear as a function of charge but that there is a small non-linearity for small anions. The charge hydration asymmetry for hard spheres, determined with quantum mechanics, is much larger than for the analogous real ions. Finally, this suggests that real ions, particularly anions, are significantly more complex than simple charged hard spheres, a commonly employed representation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ferromagnetic gyroscopes for tests of fundamental physics

Abstract A ferromagnetic gyroscope (FG) is a ferromagnet whose angular momentum is dominated by electron spin polarization and that will process under the action of an external torque, such as that due to a magnetic field. Here we model and analyze FG dynamics and sensitivity, focusing on practical schemes for experimental realization. In the case of a freely floating FG, we model the transition from dynamics dominated by libration in relatively high externally applied magnetic fields, to those dominated by precession at relatively low applied fields. Measurement of the libration frequency enables in situ determination of the magnetic field and a technique to reduce the field below the threshold for which precession dominates the FG dynamics. We note that evidence of gyroscopic behavior is present even at magnetic fields much larger than the threshold field below which precession dominates. We also model the dynamics of an FG levitated above a type-I superconductor via the Meissner effect, and find that for FGs with dimensions larger than about 100 nm the observed precession frequency is reduced compared to that of a freely floating FG. This is due to an effect akin to negative feedback that arises from the distortion of the field from the FG by the superconductor. Finally we assess the sensitivity of an FG levitated above a type-I superconductor to exotic spin-dependent interactions under practical experimental conditions, demonstrating the potential of FGs for tests of fundamental physics.

Physics↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Interactions of a Flame and Its Self-Induced Boundary Layer

The interaction of a laminar flame with its self-generated boundary layer in a rectangular channel was numerically simulated using the two-dimensional, reacting, Navier-Stokes equations. A two species chemistry model was implemented which simulates the stoichiometric reaction of acetylene and air. Calculations were performed to investigate the effects of altering the boundary condition of the wall temperature, the Lewis number, the dynamic viscosity, and the ignition method. The purpose of this study was to examine the fundamental physics of the formation of the boundary layer and the interaction of the flame as it propagates into the boundary layer that its own motion has created.

Ott, James D.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tuning metal-support interactions in nickel–zeolite catalysts leads to enhanced stability during dry reforming of methane

Ni-based catalysts are highly reactive for dry reforming of methane (DRM) but they are prone to rapid deactivation due to sintering and/or coking. In this study, we present a straightforward approach for anchoring dispersed Ni sites with strengthened metal-support interactions, which leads to Ni active sites embedded in dealuminated Beta zeolite with superior stability and rates for DRM. The process involves solid-state grinding of dealuminated Beta zeolites and nickel nitrate, followed by calcination under finely controlled gas flow conditions. By combining in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy and ab initio simulations, it is elucidated that the efficient removal of byproducts during catalyst synthesis is conducted to strengthen Ni–Si interactions that suppress coking and sintering after 100 h of time-on-stream. Transient isotopic kinetic experiments shed light on the differences in intrinsic turnover frequency of Ni species and explain performance trends. This work constructs a fundamental understanding regarding the implication of facile synthesis protocols on metal-support interaction in zeolite-supported Ni sites, and it lays the needed foundations on how these interactions can be tuned for outstanding DRM performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Comprehensive study of the interactions between the critical dimensionless numbers associated with multiphase flow in 3D porous media

Multiphase flow in porous media is of signifcant interest in many engineering applications, such as geologic carbon sequestration, enhanced oil recovery, and groundwater contamination and remediation. In order to advance the fundamental understanding of multiphase flow in complex three-dimensional (3D) porous media, the interactions between the critical dimensionless numbers, including the contact angle, viscosity ratio, and capillary (Ca) number, were explored using X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) scanning and lattice Boltzmann (LB) modeling. In this study, the 3D pore structure information was extracted from micro-CT images and then used as interior boundary conditions of flow modeling in a pore-scale LB simulator to simulate multiphase flow within the pore space. A Berea sandstone sample was scanned and then two-phase flow LB simulations were performed based on the micro-CT images. The LB-simulated water/CO 2 distributions agreed well with the micro-CT scanned images. Simulation findings showed that a decreasing contact angle causes a decrease in wetting-fluid relative permeability and an increase in non-wetting fluid relative permeability. A rising Ca number increases both wetting and non-wetting fluid relative permeabilities. An increasing viscosity ratio (the ratio of non-wetting fluid viscosity to wetting fluid viscosity) facilitates the increase of non-wetting fluid relative permeability and mitigates the reduction of wetting fluid relative permeability, when the contact angle decreases continuously. The primary novel finding of this study is that the viscosity ratio affects the rate of change of the relative permeability curves for both phases when the contact angle changes continuously. To date, we believe it is the first time that comprehensive interactions between these dimensionless numbers are demonstrated in a sandstone sample based on real 3D structures. We also investigated the role of the changes of flow direction and sample location on relative permeability curves. Simulation results showed that the change in non-wetting fluid relative permeability was larger when the flow direction was switched from vertical to horizontal, which indicated that there was stronger anisotropy in larger pore networks that were primarily occupied by the non-wetting fluid.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Status of the NPDGamma experiment

We report that the NPDGamma experiment measures the parity-violating (PV) gamma asymmetry from polarized cold neutrons captured on protons at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The (PV) neutron spin asymmetry A γ of photons from polarized cold neutron capture on protons is proportional to the ΔI=1 long range weak meson coupling h$1\atop{π}$ between nucleons in the hadronic weak interaction (HWI). Liquid para-hydrogen production data taking concluded in April 2014 and once the background aluminum asymmetry measurements are complete, the PV asymmetry A γ can be extracted. Finally, preliminary results of the analysis of A γ are presented.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1981

Continental rifting - Progress and outlook

It is noted that in spite of the flood of new data on continental rifts in the last 15 years, there is little consensus about the basic mechanisms and causes of rifting. The remarkable similarities in rift cross sections (shown in a figure), are considered to suggest that the anomalous lithospheric structure of rifts is more dependent on lithosphere properties than the mode of rifting. It is thought that there is a spectrum of rifting processes for which two fundamental mechanisms can be postulated: an active mechanism, whereby thermal energy is transmitted into the lithosphere from the underlying asthenosphere, and a passive mechanism by which mechanical energy is transmitted laterally through the lithosphere as a consequence of plate interactions at a distance. In order to permit the concept of the two fundamentally different mechanisms to be tested, a tentative classification is proposed that divides rifts into two basic categories: active rifting and passive rifting. Here, the magnitude of active rifting will depend on the rate at which lithosphere moves over the thermal source, with rifts being restricted to stationary or slow-moving plates.

Baker, B. H.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Performance Assessments of Demand Flexibility from Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings: Issues and Considerations

This SEE Action Network report explains basic concepts and fundamental considerations for assessing the actual demand flexibility performance of buildings participating in demand flexibility programs and responding to time-varying retail rates. Demand flexibility is the capability of distributed energy resources (DERs) to adjust a building’s load profile across different timescales. Assessments determine the timing, location, quantity, and quality of grid services provided. The results can be used for financial settlements and to improve performance of demand flexibility, support its consideration in resource potential studies and electricity system planning, and contribute to cost-effectiveness evaluations. While practitioners and regulators regularly find opportunities to improve performance assessments of demand-related services, to a large degree current best practices are sufficient for basic service offerings as demand flexibility is implemented today. However, advances in assessment practices will be required in a future with grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) that provide continuous demand flexibility by integrating multiple DERs and flexibility modes (load shed, load shift, modulate, and generate). Example practices include using new baseline constructs—including whether baselines are even required for certain building flexibility modes or configurations, deploying more advanced metering and analytics, further developing cybersecurity standards, improving communication standards for increased interoperability, and establishing performance metrics and assessment procedures for load modulation as it is more fully defined and implemented. This report provides information on prioritizing and designing performance assessment elements for demand flexibility programs and time-varying retail rates, assessment protocols, and research and development needs. Additional research sponsored by DOE’s Building Technologies Office offers more detailed technical information on assessing performance of demand flexibility, including definition of performance metrics.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2018

Prospects and applications of plasmon-exciton interactions in the near-field regime

Plasmonics is a rapidly developing field at the boundary of fundamental sciences and device engineering, which exploits the ability of metal nanostructures to concentrate electromagnetic radiation. The principal challenge lies in achieving an efficient conversion of the plasmon-concentrated field into some form of useful energy. To date, a substantial progress has been made within the scientific community in identifying the major pathways of the plasmon energy conversion. Strategies based on the hot electron injection and the near-field energy transfer have already shown promise in a number of proof-of-principle plasmonic architectures. Nevertheless, there are several fundamental questions that need to be addressed in the future to facilitate the transition of plasmonics to a variety of applications in both light amplification and optical detection. Of particular interest is a plasmon-induced resonance energy transfer (PIRET) process that couples the plasmon evanescent field to a semiconductor absorber via dipole-dipole interaction. This relatively unexplored mechanism has emerged as a promising light conversion strategy in the areas of photovoltaics and photocatalysis and represents the main focus of the present minireview. Along these lines, we highlight the key advances in this area and review some of the challenges associated with applications of the PIRET mechanism in nanostructured systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Hidden depths in the local Universe: The Stellar Stream Legacy Survey

Context. Mergers and tidal interactions between massive galaxies and their dwarf satellites are a fundamental prediction of the Lambda-cold dark matter cosmology. These events are thought to provide important observational diagnostics of non-linear structure formation. Stellar streams in the Milky Way and Andromeda are spectacular evidence for ongoing satellite disruption. However, constructing a statistically meaningful sample of tidal streams beyond the Local Group has proven a daunting observational challenge, and the full potential for deepening our understanding of galaxy assembly using stellar streams has yet to be realised. Aims. Here we introduce the Stellar Stream Legacy Survey, a systematic imaging survey of tidal features associated with dwarf galaxy accretion around a sample of ~3100 nearby galaxies within z~0.02, including about 940 Milky Way analogues. Methods. Our survey exploits public deep imaging data from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys, which reach surface brightness as faint as ~29 mag arcsec –2 in the r band. As a proof of concept of our survey, we report the detection and broad-band photometry of 24 new stellar streams in the local Universe. Results. We discuss how these observations can yield new constraints on galaxy formation theory through comparison to mock observations from cosmological galaxy simulations. These tests will probe the present-day mass assembly rate of galaxies, the stellar populations and orbits of satellites, the growth of stellar halos, and the resilience of stellar disks to satellite bombardment.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Cosmological Probes of Dark Matter Interactions: The Next Decade

Cosmological observations offer unique and robust avenues for probing the fundamental nature of dark matter particles-they broadly test a range of compelling theoretical scenarios, often surpassing or complementing the reach of terrestrial and other experiments. We discuss observational and theoretical advancements that will play a pivotal role in realizing a strong program of cosmological searches for the identity of dark matter in the coming decade. Specifically, we focus on measurements of the cosmic-microwave-background anisotropy and spectral distortions, and tracers of structure (such as the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest, galaxies, and the cosmological 21-cm signal).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

An ontology-based knowledge graph for representing interactions involving RNA molecules

The "RNA world" represents a novel frontier for the study of fundamental biological processes and human diseases and is paving the way for the development of new drugs tailored to each patient's biomolecular characteristics. Although scientific data about coding and non-coding RNA molecules are constantly produced and available from public repositories, they are scattered across different databases and a centralized, uniform, and semantically consistent representation of the "RNA world" is still lacking. We propose RNA-KG, a knowledge graph (KG) encompassing biological knowledge about RNAs gathered from more than 60 public databases, integrating functional relationships with genes, proteins, and chemicals and ontologically grounded biomedical concepts. To develop RNA-KG, we first identified, pre-processed, and characterized each data source; next, we built a meta-graph that provides an ontological description of the KG by representing all the bio-molecular entities and medical concepts of interest in this domain, as well as the types of interactions connecting them. Finally, we leveraged an instance-based semantically abstracted knowledge model to specify the ontological alignment according to which RNA-KG was generated. RNA-KG can be downloaded in different formats and also queried by a SPARQL endpoint. A thorough topological analysis of the resulting heterogeneous graph provides further insights into the characteristics of the "RNA world". RNA-KG can be both directly explored and visualized, and/or analyzed by applying computational methods to infer bio-medical knowledge from its heterogeneous nodes and edges. The resource can be easily updated with new experimental data, and specific views of the overall KG can be extracted according to the bio-medical problem to be studied.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Wang-Landau sampling of the interplay between surface adsorption and folding of HP lattice proteins

Generic features associated with the adsorption of proteins on solid surfaces are reviewed within the framework of the hydrophobic-polar (HP) lattice protein model. The thermodynamic behavior and structural properties of various HP protein sequences interacting with attractive surfaces have been studied using extensive Wang-Landau sampling with different types of surfaces, each of which attracts either: all monomers, only hydrophobic (H) monomers, or only polar (P) monomers, respectively. Consequently, different types of folding behavior occur for varied surface strengths. Analysis of the combined patterns of various structural observables, e.g., the derivatives of the numbers of interaction contacts, together with the specific heat, leads to the identification of fundamental categories of folding and transition hierarchies. We also inferred a connection between the transition categories and the relative surface strengths, i.e., the ratios of the surface attractive strengths to the intra-chain attraction among H monomers. We thus believe that the folding hierarchies and identification scheme are generic for different HP sequences interacting with attractive surfaces, regardless of the chain length, sequence, or surface attraction.

Li, Ying Wai↗
DOE OSTI2021

Discovering new forces with gravitational waves from supermassive black holes

Supermassive black hole binary mergers generate a stochastic gravitational wave background detectable by pulsar timing arrays. While the amplitude of this background is subject to significant uncertainties, the frequency dependence is a robust prediction of general relativity. Here we show that the effects of new forces beyond the Standard Model can modify this prediction and introduce unique features into the spectral shape. In particular, we consider the possibility that black holes in binaries are charged under a new long-range force, and we find that pulsar timing arrays are capable of robustly detecting such forces. Supermassive black holes and their environments can acquire charge due to high-energy particle production or dark sector interactions, making the measurement of the spectral shape a powerful test of fundamental physics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1971

On some problems in a theory of thermally and mechanically interacting continuous media

Using a linearized theory of thermally and mechanically interacting mixture of linear elastic solid and viscous fluid, we derive a fundamental relation in an integral form called a reciprocity relation. This reciprocity relation relates the solution of one initial-boundary value problem with a given set of initial and boundary data to the solution of a second initial-boundary value problem corresponding to a different initial and boundary data for a given interacting mixture. From this general integral relation, reciprocity relations are derived for a heat-conducting linear elastic solid, and for a heat-conducting viscous fluid. An initial-boundary value problem is posed and solved for the mixture of linear elastic solid and viscous fluid. With the aid of the Laplace transform and the contour integration, a real integral representation for the displacement of the solid constituent is obtained as one of the principal results of the analysis.

Lee, Y. M.↗