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At least 1,477 records · Page 82

Impact of wake steering on loads of downstream wind turbines at an above-rated condition

Wake steering strategies often seek to gain power at the expense of increased fatigue loads. Here, we investigate the feasibility of applying wake steering at an above-rated condition. In such a condition, the farm is operating at rated power, and thus, increased power output is not the goal. Instead, wake steering is considered in the context of load reduction. We perform a sweep of wind directions and yaw misalignment angles, ranging from negative to positive values. This approach allows us to obtain trends and identify asymmetries in turbine response for symmetric scenarios. We use a wind farm consisting of five aligned IEA Wind 15-MW reference wind turbines, and analyze trends related to the blade-root, low-speed shaft, and tower-base moments, both in terms of standard deviation and damage equivalent loads. We show that for any given fixed wind direction, the turbines can be yawed such that the fatigue loads are reduced. Reductions of up to 5% (depending on the component) in terms of standard deviation and damage equivalent loads can be achieved by negatively yawing the turbine. A negative yaw misalignment has shown to be the direction of larger improvements. Such results contrast those found for below-rated conditions, where a positive yaw misalignment is typically preferred. However, since load reduction is not uniform across all component loads, more study and consideration is required before operational recommendations can be made.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

GIM3E: Condition-specific Models of Cellular Metabolism Developed from Metabolomics and Expression Data

Motivation: Genome-scale metabolic models have been used extensively to investigate alterations in cellular metabolism. The accuracy of these models to represent cellular metabolism in specific conditions has been improved by constraining the model with omics data sources. However, few practical methods for integrating metabolomics data with other omics data sources into genome-scale models of metabolism have been reported. Results: GIMMME (Gene Inactivation Moderated by Metabolism, Metabolomics, and Expression) is an algorithm that enables the development of condition-specific models based on an objective function, transcriptomics, and intracellular metabolomics data. GIMMME establishes metabolite utilization requirements with metabolomics data, uses model-paired transcriptomics data to find experimentally supported solutions, and also provides calculations of the turnover (production / consumption) flux of metabolites. GIMMME was employed to investigate the effects of integrating additional omics datasets to create increasingly constrained solution spaces of Salmonella Typhimurium metabolism during growth in both rich and virulence media. This integration proved to be informative and resulted in a requirement of additional active reactions (12 in each case) or metabolites (26 or 29, respectively). The addition of constraints from transcriptomics also impacted the allowed solution space, and the cellular metabolites with turnover fluxes that were necessarily altered by the change in conditions increased from 118 to 271 of 1397. Availability: GIMMME has been implemented in Python and requires a COBRApy 0.2.x. The algorithm and sample data described here are freely available at: http://opencobra.sourceforge.net/

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Prey-switching to fishery discards does not compensate for poor natural foraging conditions in breeding albatross

Abstract Fishery discards supplement food for many seabirds, but the impacts of declining discards are poorly understood. Discards may be beneficial for some populations but have negative impacts by increasing bycatch risk or because they are junk-food. The Falkland Islands support > 70% of global black-browed albatross Thalassarche melanophris populations, which feed on discards. However, the effect of discards on population demographics, and implications of fishery management changes, are unknown. We analysed stomach contents of black-browed albatross chicks across eight breeding seasons (2004–2020) from New Island, Falkland Islands, to assess variation in discard consumption and how this relates to foraging conditions and breeding success. Across years, 68%–98% of samples contained natural prey, whilst 23%–88% of samples contained fishery discards. Discard consumption was positively related to fishery catches of hoki Macruronus magellanicus and sea surface temperature anomalies SSTA (°C), and negatively related to breeding success. These results suggest a diet-switching behaviour for Falkland Islands albatrosses, whereby birds switch from preferred natural prey to suboptimal discards when environmental conditions, and hence natural feeding opportunities, are unfavourable. Crucially, this study highlights that fishery discards do not compensate for poor natural foraging conditions for breeding albatrosses in the long term.

Kuepfer, Amanda (ORCID:0000000235598802)↗

The force explosion condition is consistent with spherically symmetric CCSN explosions

ABSTRACT One of the major challenges in core-collapse supernova (CCSN) theory is to predict which stars explode and which collapse to black holes. The analytic force explosion condition (FEC) shows promise in predicting which stars explode in that the FEC is consistent with CCSN simulations that use the light-bulb approximation for neutrino heating and cooling. In this follow-up manuscript, we take the next step and show that the FEC is consistent with the explosion condition when using actual neutrino transport in gr1d simulations. Since most 1D simulations do not explode, to facilitate this test, we enhance the heating efficiency within the gain region. To compare the analytic FEC and radiation-hydrodynamic simulations, this manuscript also presents a practical translation of the physical parameters. For example: we replace the neutrino power deposited in the gain region, Lντg, with the net neutrino heating in the gain region; rather than assuming that $\dot{M}$ is the same everywhere, we calculate $\dot{M}$ within the gain region; and we use the neutrino opacity at the gain radius. With small, yet practical modifications, we show that the FEC predicts the explosion conditions in spherically symmetric CCSN simulations that use neutrino transport.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A rigorous framework for an improved Messinger/Myers model of ice accretion under conditions of variable property and unsteady aircraft icing

We analyse the Messinger/Myers model by critically evaluating simplifying assumptions through a rigorous formulation of the rime ice accretion process. We explore the effects of both constant and variable ice density and thermal conductivity, along with the effects of sublimation from the ice surface. The effects of key factors such as droplet impact rate, ambient temperature relative to the freezing temperature and the temperature difference between the ambient air and the airfoil surface are examined. Under these varying conditions, the present rigorous formulation is used to assess the significance of unsteady effects, variable ice properties and sublimation. We observe that the Myers model performs remarkably well in certain icing situations and analyse the reasons for this strong performance. We also show that partially relaxing the model’s assumptions can lead to poorer performance. The Myers model can lead to overprediction of ice surface temperature and correspondingly underprediction of transition time under conditions of relatively weak sublimation and surface cooling. A modified Myers model is presented, which can be used to recover near-perfect results under widely varying icing conditions of relevance. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Heat and mass transfer in frost and ice’.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Dominant effect of anharmonicity on the equation of state and thermal conductivity of MgO under extreme conditions

Understanding heat transfer in the earth mantle region is of great scientific interest but highly challenging due to dissimilar conditions from our daily lives. Thermal conductivity of highly pressured and thermally activated materials can be completely different from that at ambient condition. In this study we calculate the equation of state and thermal conductivity of cubic crystalline MgO, a major component of the mantle, in such an environment. It is shown that the material properties are not accurately captured unless rigorous treatment of anharmonicity of phonon vibrational motion is explicitly applied. To predict renormalized phonon dispersion relations, interatomic force constants of high-order expansion are required, especially at elevated temperature. The anharmonicity plays an increasingly substantial role for regulating volume expansion as temperature rises, because the Gibbs free energy of MgO considerably deviates from what was predicted by the quasiharmonic approximation. We find that the lattice thermal conductivity of MgO and the heat transfer of the earth's mantle are reliably estimated only when both the temperature-dependent renormalization of phonon frequencies and four-phonon scattering effects are taken into consideration. We map the characteristics at Geotherm into contour diagrams in which equilibrium volumes and the thermal conductivities are described as functions of temperature and pressure. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity values of MgO in this study are smaller than those in previous theoretical studies due to the additional incorporation of four-phonon scatterings in the calculations. Specifically, deviation between the values in previous studies and in this study becomes larger as thermodynamic variables reach those near the core-mantle boundary. For instance, thermal conductivities of 52.15 and 23.67 Wm -1 K -1 are estimated at ambient and extreme conditions (T = 4000K and P = 135 GPa), respectively.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Step-flow anisotropy of the m-plane GaN (1100) grown under nitrogen-rich conditions by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

The homoepitaxial growth of m-plane (1100) GaN was investigated by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy under nitrogen-rich conditions. The surface morphologies as a function of sample miscut were studied, providing evidence for a strong growth anisotropy that is a consequence of the anisotropy of Ga adatom diffusion barriers on the m-plane surface recently calculated ab initio[Lymperakis and Neugebauer, Phys. Rev. B 79, 241308(R) (2009)]. We found that substrate miscut toward [0001] implies a step flow toward <1126> while substrate miscut toward [0001] causes formation of atomic steps either perpendicular or parallel to the [0001] direction, under N-rich conditions at 730 deg C. We describe the growth conditions for achieving atomically flat m-plane GaN layers with parallel atomic steps.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Traces of nonequilibrium effects, initial condition, bulk dynamics, and elementary collisions in the charm observables

Heavy quarks produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are known to be sensitive probes of the hot and dense QCD matter they traverse. In this paper we study how their dynamics is affected by the nature of the bulk evolution of the QCD matter, the initial condition of the system, and the treatment of elementary interactions between heavy quarks and the surrounding medium. For the same initial condition and the same quark-gluon plasma (QGP) expansion scenario we discuss the consequences of the assumption of a local equilibrium by comparing the consequences for the nuclear modification factor $R_{AA}$ and the elliptic flows of charm quarks, scrutinizing the different components of the final distribution of charm quarks. For this purpose we employ the parton-hadron-string dynamics (PHSD) model, which is an off-shell microscopic transport approach, as well as the linearized-Boltzmann (LB) scheme obtained by coarse graining the PHSD bulk and assuming local equilibrium for the interactions of the charm quarks with the bulk. The $R_{AA}$ of charm quarks stemming from the later LB approach is also compared to a genuine fluid dynamics evolution initiated by the coarse grained PHSD, which allows us to further assess the consequences of reducing the full $\textit{n}$-body dynamics. We then proceed to a systematic comparison of PHSD (in its LB approximation) with MC@HQ, another transport model for heavy flavors which also relies on the LB approach. In particular, we investigate the consequences for the nuclear modification factor of charm quarks if we vary separately the initial heavy quark distribution function in matter, the expansion dynamics of the QGP, and the elementary interactions of heavy quarks of these models. We find that the results for both models vary significantly depending on the details of the calculation. However, both models achieve very similar predictions for key heavy quark observables for certain combinations of initial condition, bulk evolution, and interactions. In this work, we conclude that this ambiguity limits our ability to determine the different properties of the system based on the current set of observables.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Mechanisms and models of the turbulent boundary layers at transcritical conditions

Computational models for high-pressure transcritical turbulence in wall-modeled large-eddy simulation typically rely on wall-function models to overcome the need for resolving the boundary layer structures. However, the mechanisms and models of turbulent boundary layer at transcritical conditions remain poorly understood since the near-wall flow and heat transfer are significantly affected by the enhanced fluctuations and steep gradients in thermodynamic properties. Here, to address this issue, we study the mechanisms of transcritical turbulent boundary layers and wall-attached models at transcritical conditions. It is shown that the real-fluid variable-property effects are associated with the coupling between the near-wall cycle and the wall-normal coherent motions in the outer layer, resulting in the amplification of turbulent energy in the outer layer and noticeable energy transfer between the log-layer and the outer layer; hence, turbulence in the log-layer is modulated by the outer layer. Based on this underlying physical principle, we propose the characteristic velocity and length scales for the attached eddy at transcritical conditions, and extend the attached eddy model to transcritical turbulent boundary layers by introducing a mixed scaling that incorporates both inner and outer scalings. We show that the new characteristic scales and extended attached-eddy model perform well in characterizing the structures in transcritical turbulent boundary layers.

Li, Fangbo↗

First Measurement of Z Opacity Sample Evolution near Solar Interior Conditions Using Time-Resolved Spectroscopy

Opacity model differences with Fe opacity measurements at high temperature (T>1⁢8⁢0 eV ) and high electron density (𝑛 𝑒 >3×10 22 cm −3 ) at nearly solar interior conditions have remained unresolved [Bailey et al., Nature 517, 56 (2015) and Nagayama et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 235001 (2019)]. Systematic errors from temporal gradients are one hypothesis for the discrepancy. Past data recorded on x-ray film provided spectral measurements over a time determined by the 2.8-ns backlighter duration. Here, we present the first measurements of opacity sample temporal evolution using novel hCMOS ultrafast x-ray camera technology. The measured conditions, measured backlighter time history, and modeled opacities are used to show that temporal gradients do not resolve the model-data discrepancy. The methods demonstrated provide potential advantages, including opacities at more extreme conditions, spectral line shift measurements, and improved measurements at other facilities.

atomic spectra↗

Genome-Scale Metabolic Model for the Green Alga Chlorella vulgaris UTEX 395 Accurately Predicts Phenotypes under Autotrophic, Heterotrophic, and Mixotrophic Growth Conditions

The green microalgae Chlorella vulgaris has been widely recognized as a promising candidate for biofuel production due to its ability to store high lipid content and its natural metabolic versatility. Compartmentalized genome-scale metabolic models constructed from genome sequences enable quantitative insight into the transport and metabolism of compounds within a target organism. These metabolic models have long been utilized to generate optimized design strategies for an improved production process. Here, we describe the reconstruction, validation, and application of a genome-scale metabolic model for C. vulgaris UTEX 395, iCZ843. The reconstruction represents the most comprehensive model for any eukaryotic photosynthetic organism to date, based on the genome size and number of genes in the reconstruction. The highly curated model accurately predicts phenotypes under photoautotrophic, heterotrophic, and mixotrophic conditions. The model was validated against experimental data and lays the foundation for model-driven strain design and medium alteration to improve yield. Calculated flux distributions under different trophic conditions show that a number of key pathways are affected by nitrogen starvation conditions, including central carbon metabolism and amino acid, nucleotide, and pigment biosynthetic pathways. Moreover, model prediction of growth rates under various medium compositions and subsequent experimental validation showed an increased growth rate with the addition of tryptophan and methionine.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Quartz conditioning crystal for X-ray rocking curve topography

A large α-quartz crystal designed to condition the monochromatic beam at beamline 1-BM of the Advanced Photon Source is presented. The purpose of this crystal was to provide a precise match to the Bragg angle of quartz crystals that are commonly used to make analyzers for plasma diagnostics. In order to characterize these analyzers, area detectors need to be positioned at distances from the analyzer at upwards of 1000 mm. As a result of this precise matching, a Bragg-reflected beam from such an analyzer is precisely parallel to the beam incident on the conditioning crystal. This situation alleviates the need to adjust the position of the area detector as the distance between the analyzer and the area detector is varied. That is, there is no need to account for vertical displacement of the diffracted-beam image as a function of this distance. Additionally, verification that the analyzer is set to the correct Bragg reflection is obtained by scanning this distance, because only for a spurious reflection will there be a vertical displacement. This is a very useful check. To commission the conditioning crystal, diffraction from a high-quality flat quartz crystal was mapped using a CCD. Bragg diffraction from the 40$\bar{40}$ reflection at 8.5 keV was studied over an area of 23 × 31 mm. The theoretical Darwin width of the flat sample in this case was 4.7 µrad. An FWHM value near 6 µrad was measured over almost the entire mapped area. These data demonstrate that the resolution function for this four-crystal arrangement is ~4 µrad. Data are also presented for a 0.1 mm-thick α-quartz wafer pressed into a concave form, having a nominal radius of 500 mm and intended for use as an analyzer. Because analyzers are bent crystals, diffraction occurs in narrow bands. When a multiple exposure is made as a function of rocking angle a striped pattern is obtained, which is commonly referred to as a zebra-stripe pattern. A series of zebra stripes from the 30$\bar{33}$ Bragg reflection of the bent wafer over its 25 mm-diameter area were recorded on a CCD. The zebra-stripe pattern was analyzed to show a uniform bending to a radius of 497.0 ± 0.3 mm, in support of the nominal value. An r.m.s. slope error of 7 µrad was also obtained from this analysis.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Dynamic structural and microstructural responses of a metal–organic framework type material to carbon dioxide under dual gas flow and supercritical conditions

The structural and microstructural responses of a model metal–organic framework material, Ni(3-methyl-4,4'-bipyridine)[Ni(CN) 4 ] (Ni-BpyMe or PICNIC-21), to CO 2 adsorption and desorption are reported for in situ small-angle X-ray scattering and X-ray diffraction measurements under different gas pressure conditions for two technologically important cases. These conditions are single or dual gas flow (CO 2 with N 2 , CH 4 or H 2 at sub-critical CO 2 partial pressures and ambient temperatures) and supercritical CO 2 (with static pressures and temperatures adjusted to explore the gas, liquid and supercritical fluid regimes on the CO 2 phase diagram). The experimental results are compared with density functional theory calculations that seek to predict where CO 2 and other gas molecules are accommodated within the sorbent structure as a function of gas pressure conditions, and hence the degree of swelling and contraction in the associated structure spacings and void spaces. Furthermore, these predictions illustrate the insights that can be gained concerning how such sorbents can be designed or modified to optimize the desired gas sorption properties relevant to enhanced gas recovery or to addressing carbon dioxide reduction through carbon mitigation, or even direct air capture of CO 2 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Avoiding Divergent Oscillation of Cascode GaN Device under High Current Turn-off Condition

Cascode structure is widely used for high voltage normally-on GaN devices. However, the capacitance mismatch between the high voltage GaN device and the low voltage normally- off Si MOSFET may induce several undesired features, such as Si MOSFET reaches avalanche during turn-off, and high voltage GaN device loses ZVS turn-on condition internally during soft-switching turn-on process in every switching cycle. This paper presents another issue associated with the capacitance mismatch in the cascode GaN devices. Divergent oscillation could occur at high current turn-off condition, and eventually destroy the device. The intrinsic reason of this phenomenon is analyzed in detail in this paper. A simple solution is proposed by adding an additional capacitor whose position is critical and should be optimized. Experimental results validate the theoretical analysis, and show that the proposed method improves device performance significantly under high current turn-off condition.

Du, Weijing↗

High power RF conditioning of 2856 MHz, 40 keV prototype buncher cavity system

An on axis biperiodic buncher cavity system at 2856 MHz with three bunching cells plus one power feed cell has been designed and fabricated for 40 keV pulsed electron beam injection from a thermionic gun. The vacuum and high power RF conditioning prior to the beam injection is presented in this paper. Initially the cavity system along with the in-flange fast current transformer and the beam diagnostics chamber has been baked at 60-65 °C for 22 hours under a vacuum ≤ 6 x 10{sup -6} mbar. The final ultimate vacuum was 2.3 x 10{sup -6} mbar and it took 195 seconds to reach to 1 x 10{sup -5} mbar with the gate valve closed. After this the high power RF conditioning was done from 0.3 MW to 1.2 MW input RF power with 4μsec. pulse at 1 Hz PRF. At this point the ultimate vacuum reached to 2.3 x 10{sup -6} mbar and reached to 1 x 10{sup -5} mbar in 195 seconds after closing the gate valve. Finally the system was conditioned with 1MW, 4μsec. RF pulses at 20 Hz PRF. (author)

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Use of Modal Sensitivity to Operating Conditions for Damping Control in Power Systems

Small signal stability is an inherent characteristic of dynamic systems such as power systems. Pole positioning through power system stabilizers (PSS) is often used for improving damping in power systems. A well-designed PSS can be very effective in damping oscillations, especially local oscillations. However, designing PSSs for inter-area oscillations has been a very challenging task due to time-varying operating conditions affecting the characteristics of inter-area oscillations. This paper explores the sensitivity relationship between oscillations and operating conditions and employs the relationship to derive recommendations for operator’s actions to adjust operating conditions so as to improve damping. Low damping is usually considered to be a result of heavy power transfer in long distance. Studies in this paper show that this generally holds true while locations have significant impact on damping of oscillations. Therefore it is important to consider locations in deriving recommendations. This paper proposes the concept of relative modal sensitivity and presents the application of relative modal sensitivity to derive recommendations for operator’s action in damping control.

Huang, Zhenyu↗

Conditional Experts for Improved Building Damage Assessment Across Satellite Imagery View Angles

Rapid building damage assessment (BDA) is vital in guiding disaster response missions and estimating population distribution across impacted areas. While commercial satellite imagery providers have enabled near-daily monitoring of the Earth, near-realtime assessment of disaster scenarios frequently requires analysis of off-nadir imagery, as satellites are often far from impacted areas for at-nadir post-event imaging to occur Such scenarios are, however, underrepresented in existing BDA datasets and methodologies. With this motivation, we investigate generalization capabilities of current BDA practices across overhead view-angles and strategies for their improvement. Using a labeled dataset of images capturing conflict-related damages, we first train a baseline BDA architecture using imbalanced and balanced datasets with respect to view-angle. Then, we explore conditional convolutions parameterized on image features, image nadir, and their combination as a mechanism for conditioning on view-angles. Experiments demonstrate the limitations of current practice and the potential of conditional mechanisms to increase model robustness to view-angle variations.

Ambrozio Dias, Philipe↗

Aggregated Modeling and Control of Air Conditioning Loads for Demand Response

Demand response is playing an increasingly important role in the efficient and reliable operation of the electric grid. Modeling the dynamic behavior of a large population of responsive loads is especially important to evaluate the effectiveness of various demand response strategies. In this paper, a highly-accurate aggregated model is developed for a population of air conditioning loads. The model effectively includes statistical information of the population, systematically deals with load heterogeneity, and accounts for second-order dynamics necessary to accurately capture the transient dynamics in the collective response. Based on the model, a novel aggregated control strategy is designed for the load population under realistic conditions. The proposed controller is fully responsive and achieves the control objective without sacrificing end-use performance. The proposed aggregated modeling and control strategies are validated through realistic simulations using GridLAB-D. Extensive simulation results indicate that the proposed approach can effectively manage a large number of air conditioning systems to provide various demand response services, such as frequency regulation and peak load reduction.

Zhang, Wei↗