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At least 1,549 records · Page 86

Mixed time integration methods for transient thermal analysis of structures

The computational methods used to predict and optimize the thermal-structural behavior of aerospace vehicle structures are reviewed. In general, two classes of algorithms, implicit and explicit, are used in transient thermal analysis of structures. Each of these two methods has its own merits. Due to the different time scales of the mechanical and thermal responses, the selection of a time integration method can be a difficult yet critical factor in the efficient solution of such problems. Therefore mixed time integration methods for transient thermal analysis of structures are being developed. The computer implementation aspects and numerical evaluation of these mixed time implicit-explicit algorithms in thermal analysis of structures are presented. A computationally-useful method of estimating the critical time step for linear quadrilateral element is also given. Numerical tests confirm the stability criterion and accuracy characteristics of the methods. The superiority of these mixed time methods to the fully implicit method or the fully explicit method is also demonstrated.

Liu, W. K.↗

Adaptive-Sweep Algorithm for Spacecraft Carrier Acquisition and Tracking: System Analysis and Implementation

This paper presents an adaptive-sweep algorithm that can be used in conjunction with a Phased-Lock Loop to acquire and track the carrier of a Binary Phase-shift Keying signal with residual carrier. This algorithm is useful in proximity links where no Doppler pre-compensation is available at the transmitter, and allows the receiver to acquire the incoming carrier even if the experienced Doppler shift is several orders of magnitude larger than the PLL bandwidth. Other applications for this algorithm include Multiple Uplink per Antenna at the Deep Space Network, and generation of observables (Doppler shift, Doppler rate, range rate) for in-situ navigation purposes. This paper enhances a previously presented adaptive-sweep algorithm and its performance analysis in two fronts. First, the algorithm now uses the direction function to automatically estimate the required frequency jump to achieve PLL lock. This enables a fully adaptive-sweep scheme in which system implementer does not need to manually select thresholds. On the other hand, we study the system performance in the presence of Additive White Gaussian Noise and derive necessary conditions for the system to operate at low signal-to-noise conditions. This allows us to create design rules that specify all parameters of the algorithm given a set of system-level requirements. To test the performance of the proposed algorithm, we implement it in GNU Radio, an open-source Software-Defined Radio that interfaces with several commercial radio peripherals. We use this implementation to demonstrate carrier lock and quantify system performance under different noise conditions. We also test the algorithm using open-loop recordings of two downlinks between the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Deep Space Network. We show that even after large frequency jumps (tens of kHz), the proposed system is able to rapidly reacquire the carrier and continue operation.

Divsalar, Dariush↗

Adaptive Inverse Control for Rotorcraft Vibration Reduction

This thesis extends the Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm to solve the mult!ple-input, multiple-output problem of alleviating N/Rev (revolutions per minute by number of blades) helicopter fuselage vibration by means of adaptive inverse control. A frequency domain locally linear model is used to represent the transfer matrix relating the higher harmonic pitch control inputs to the harmonic vibration outputs to be controlled. By using the inverse matrix as the controller gain matrix, an adaptive inverse regulator is formed to alleviate the N/Rev vibration. The stability and rate of convergence properties of the extended LMS algorithm are discussed. It is shown that the stability ranges for the elements of the stability gain matrix are directly related to the eigenvalues of the vibration signal information matrix for the learning phase, but not for the control phase. The overall conclusion is that the LMS adaptive inverse control method can form a robust vibration control system, but will require some tuning of the input sensor gains, the stability gain matrix, and the amount of control relaxation to be used. The learning curve of the controller during the learning phase is shown to be quantitatively close to that predicted by averaging the learning curves of the normal modes. For higher order transfer matrices, a rough estimate of the inverse is needed to start the algorithm efficiently. The simulation results indicate that the factor which most influences LMS adaptive inverse control is the product of the control relaxation and the the stability gain matrix. A small stability gain matrix makes the controller less sensitive to relaxation selection, and permits faster and more stable vibration reduction, than by choosing the stability gain matrix large and the control relaxation term small. It is shown that the best selections of the stability gain matrix elements and the amount of control relaxation is basically a compromise between slow, stable convergence and fast convergence with increased possibility of unstable identification. In the simulation studies, the LMS adaptive inverse control algorithm is shown to be capable of adapting the inverse (controller) matrix to track changes in the flight conditions. The algorithm converges quickly for moderate disturbances, while taking longer for larger disturbances. Perfect knowledge of the inverse matrix is not required for good control of the N/Rev vibration. However it is shown that measurement noise will prevent the LMS adaptive inverse control technique from controlling the vibration, unless the signal averaging method presented is incorporated into the algorithm.

Jacklin, Stephen A.↗

ELSI: A unified software interface for Kohn–Sham electronic structure solvers

Solving the electronic structure from a generalized or standard eigenproblem is often the bottleneck in large scale calculations based on Kohn-Sham density-functional theory. This problem must be addressed by essentially all current electronic structure codes, based on similar matrix expressions, and by high-performance computation. We here present a unified software interface, ELSI, to access different strategies that address the Kohn-Sham eigenvalue problem. Currently supported algorithms include the dense generalized eigensolver library ELPA, the orbital minimization method implemented in libOMM, and the pole expansion and selected inversion (PEXSI) approach with lower computational complexity for semilocal density functionals. The ELSI interface aims to simplify the implementation and optimal use of the different strategies, by offering (a) a unified software framework designed for the electronic structure solvers in Kohn-Sham density-functional theory; (b) reasonable default parameters for a chosen solver; (c) automatic conversion between input and internal working matrix formats, and in the future (d) recommendation of the optimal solver depending on the specific problem. As a result, comparative benchmarks are shown for system sizes up to 11,520 atoms (172,800 basis functions) on distributed memory supercomputing architectures.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Boundary-consistent B-spline filtering schemes and application to high-fidelity simulations of turbulence

A filtering operation, based on B-spline discretizations, is introduced to target weakly growing mesh-scale oscillations that can arise in high-fidelity turbulence simulations. This is a spectral regularization that can be described using the singular values of a banded matrix operator, with the filtering strength set by a scalar- or vector-valued penalty parameter. The penalty parameter can be specified though it can also be advantageously selected to minimize the generalized cross validation (GCV) measure of distance between the pre- and post-filtered solutions. Efficient algorithms are developed to compute both the scalar and vector penalty parameters. The B-spline filter has a sharper localization to high-wavenumber than compact or explicit filters of the same stencil width and is demonstrated for solutions of the Burgers' equation, decaying Burgers' turbulence, and compressible Navier–Stokes turbulent channel flow. Furthermore, these simulations confirm the scheme's numerical stability and ability to narrowly target the high wavenumber components of numerical solutions. An advantage over finite-difference filters is that these B-spline filters are stable on bounded domains and even preserve formal order of accuracy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Glass Design Using Machine Learning Property Models with Prediction Uncertainties: Nuclear Waste Glass Formulation

The United States Department of Energy is responsible for managing the legacy nuclear waste stored in underground tanks at the Hanford Site. The waste will be separately vitrified as low-activity waste and high-level waste fractions. Waste glass formulation algorithms have been traditionally developed using partial quadratic mixture property-composition models. Recently, machine learning (ML) techniques have been used to predict glass properties and discover new glass materials for nuclear waste vitrification, and these advancements can be utilized to improve waste glass composition design. In this proof-of-principle study, ML algorithms such as Gaussian process regression (GPR) were used to interpolate glass properties (e.g., viscosity, electrical conductivity, chemical durability). After selecting appropriate sets of GPR hyper-parameters for each property, an optimization program was developed to formulate glass compositions to maximize waste loading while simultaneously satisfying property within constraints. The results of the ML-based waste loadings and glass compositions were compared to those obtained using the traditional methods. Comparing to the previous glass design framework, the ML-based optimization methods offer improved glass designs and a streamlined approach to generation of optimally designed data and near real-time updates.

glass formulation, machine learning, constraints, ↗

Toward First-Principles Design of Organic Nonlinear Optical Materials: Crystal Structure Prediction and Halogen Bonding Impact on Hyperpolarizabilities of 2-Iodo-3-hydroxypyridine

Computational methods can potentially accelerate development of more efficient organic materials for second harmonic generation. Here, we test the method that includes the evolutionary algorithm for predicting crystal structure and prognosis of nonlinear optical properties based on the predicted structure. For this test, we selected 2-iodo-3-hydroxypyridine, which exhibits second harmonic generation intensity comparable to that of urea. We performed global minimization of the lattice energy and found the experimental structure when many-body dispersion correction is added to the density functional theory values. We analyzed geometric preferences of the halogen bonding in predicted virtual polymorphs. We also found linear correlation between the lengths of the iodine–iodine halogen bonds and calculated second order susceptibilities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Non-Adiabatic Excited State Molecular Dynamics Methodologies: comparison and convergence

Direct atomistic simulation of nonadiabatic molecular dynamics is a challenging goal that allows important insights into fundamental physical phenomena. A variety of frameworks, ranging from fully quantum treatment of nuclei to semiclassical and mixed quantum–classical approaches, were developed. These algorithms are then coupled to specific electronic structure techniques. Such diversity and lack of standardized implementation make it difficult to compare the performance of different methodologies when treating realistic systems. Here, we compare three popular methods for large chromophores: Ehrenfest, surface hopping, and multiconfigurational Ehrenfest with ab initio multiple cloning (MCE-AIMC). These approaches are implemented in the NEXMD software, which features a common computational chemistry model. The resulting comparisons reveal the method performance for population relaxation and coherent vibronic dynamics. Finally, we study the numerical convergence of MCE-AIMC algorithms by considering the number of trajectories, cloning thresholds, and Gaussian wavepacket width. Our results provide helpful reference data for selecting an optimal methodology for simulating excited-state molecular dynamics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Statistical Properties of Magnetic Structures and Energy Dissipation during Turbulent Reconnection in the Earth's Magnetotail

Here, we present the first statistical study of magnetic structures and associated energy dissipation observed during a single period of turbulent magnetic reconnection, by using the in situ measurements of the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the Earth's magnetotail on 26 July 2017. The structures are selected by identifying a bipolar signature in the magnetic field and categorized as plasmoids or current sheets via an automated algorithm which examines current density and plasma flow. The size of the plasmoids forms a decaying exponential distribution ranging from subelectron up to ion scales. The presence of substantial number of current sheets is consistent with a physical picture of dynamic production and merging of plasmoids during turbulent reconnection. The magnetic structures are locations of significant energy dissipation via electric field parallel to the local magnetic field, while dissipation via perpendicular electric field dominates outside of the structures. Significant energy also returns from particles to fields.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Modelling galaxy cluster triaxiality in stacked cluster weak lensing analyses

Counts of galaxy clusters offer a high-precision probe of cosmology, but control of systematic errors will determine the accuracy of this measurement. Using Buzzard simulations, we quantify one such systematic, the triaxiality distribution of clusters identified with the redMaPPer optical cluster finding algorithm, which was used in the Dark Energy Survey Year-1 (DES Y1) cluster cosmology analysis. We test whether redMaPPer selection biases the clusters’ shape and orientation and find that it only biases orientation, preferentially selecting clusters with their major axes oriented along the line of sight. Modelling the richness–mass relation as log-linear, we find that the log-richness amplitude ln (A) is boosted from the lowest to highest orientation bin with a significance of 14σ, while the orientation dependence of the richness-mass slope and intrinsic scatter is minimal. We also find that the weak lensing shear-profile ratios of cluster-associated dark haloes in different orientation bins resemble a ‘bottleneck’ shape that can be quantified with a Cauchy function. We test the correlation of orientation with two other leading systematics in cluster cosmology – miscentering and projection – and find a null correlation. The resulting mass bias predicted from our templates confirms the DES Y1 finding that triaxiality is a leading source of bias in cluster cosmology. However, the richness-dependence of the bias confirms that triaxiality does not fully resolve the tension at low-richness between DES Y1 cluster cosmology and other probes. Our model can be used for quantifying the impact of triaxiality bias on cosmological constraints for upcoming weak lensing surveys of galaxy clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Optimizing Distributed Photovoltaic System Set Points Under Uncertainty

We explore the potential for using dynamic programming (DP) and approximate dynamic programming (ADP) techniques to optimize the set points of distributed photovoltaic (DGPV) inverters under uncertainty about future DGPV deployment. We consider a case where a large (=1MW) system is installed first, and growth in deployment of small rooftop systems is anticipated, but uncertain. We find that for a real feeder (EPRI's J1 feeder), a significant reduction in the number and severity of voltage violations can be expected when DP or ADP is used compared to selecting set points based on the current conditions (the traditional myopic approach). Additionally, we find that using a simple ADP algorithm, sampled backward induction, is more than twice as fast as DP with similar outcomes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Representative Period Selection for Robust Capacity Expansion Planning in Low-carbon Grids

With the increasing urgency to decarbonize power systems, while mitigating extreme events, capacity expansion models can play a vital role in reliably planning the expansion of power systems and facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources. Optimizing capacity expansion generally involves selecting surrogate representative days from forecasts of load and the generation profiles of variable renewable energy resources. To properly select those representative days, we propose a novel input-based approach in combination with the k-means clustering algorithm that utilize three unique operational inputs: load shedding, renewable curtailment, and transmission congestion. The proposed method allows for more robust and cost-effective capacity planning. The method is validated using a capacity expansion model and a production cost model based on California Independent System Operator (CAISO)'s decarbonization goals, and results in reduced costs and drastically lower load shedding.

Anderson, Osten P.↗

Statistical properties of magnetic structures and energy dissipation during turbulent reconnection in the Earth's magnetotail

We present the first statistical study of magnetic structures and associated energy dissipation observed during a single period of turbulent magnetic reconnection, by using the in situ measurements of the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the Earth's magnetotail on 26 July 2017. The structures are selected by identifying a bipolar signature in the magnetic field and categorized as plasmoids or current sheets via an automated algorithm which examines current density and plasma flow. The size of the plasmoids forms a decaying exponential distribution ranging from subelectron up to ion scales. The presence of substantial number of current sheets is consistent with a physical picture of dynamic production and merging of plasmoids during turbulent reconnection. The magnetic structures are locations of significant energy dissipation via electric field parallel to the local magnetic field, while dissipation via perpendicular electric field dominates outside of the structures. Significant energy also returns from particles to fields.

Magnetotail↗

Advanced Reactors-Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX) Coupling: Theoretical Modeling and Experimental Validation

The overall goal of the research project was to model the behavior of the advanced reactorintermediate heat exchange system and to develop advanced control techniques for off-normal conditions. The specific objectives defined for the project were: 1. To develop the steady-state thermal hydraulic design of the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX); 2. To develop mathematical models to describe the advanced nuclear reactor-IHX-chemical process/power generation coupling during normal and off-normal operations, and to simulate models using multiphysics software; 3. To develop control strategies using genetic algorithm or neural network techniques and couple these techniques with the multiphysics software; 4. To validate the models experimentally The project objectives were accomplished by defining and executing four different tasks corresponding to these specific objectives. The first task involved selection of IHX candidates and developing steady state designs for those. The second task involved modeling of the transient and offnormal operation of the reactor-IHX system. The subsequent task dealt with the development of control strategies and involved algorithm development and simulation. The last task involved experimental validation of the thermal hydraulic performances of the two prototype heat exchangers designed and fabricated for the project at steady state and transient conditions to simulate the coupling of the reactor- IHX-process plant system. The experimental work utilized the two test facilities at The Ohio State University (OSU) including one existing High-Temperature Helium Test Facility (HTHF) and the newly developed high-temperature molten salt facility.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Monsoon Extremes: Impacts, Metrics, and Synoptic-Scale Drivers

This project was led by UC Berkeley with a subcontract to UC Davis and collaborative funding at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). It produced new understanding of transient atmospheric disturbances in monsoon regions, the precipitation extremes they produce, and the sensitivity of precipitation and monsoon winds to fine-scale orography (i.e., the narrow mountain ranges that are difficult to represent in conventional Earth system models). Fundamental research undertaken as part of this project led to discovery of new mechanisms that control the generation of extreme weather events and that govern the spatial patterns of intense precipitation in monsoon climates—including the North American monsoon. These research accomplishments are summarized below and documented in a series of 23 publications, 20 of which were led by project personnel (the others were collaborative work led by staff of other projects). One of the publications produced by this project was in Nature, where it was selected for the main cover image, and another was in PNAS. The project also produced two datasets and a tracking algorithm, both of which are publicly available and listed below. The project trained three Ph.D. students and four postdoctoral scientists, the vast majority of whom have progressed to more advanced positions in their scientific careers. Although the university funding for this project ended in 2022, the LBNL component of the project proceeded for almost one year longer; this report is being provided after completion of all components of the project.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Development of Multimodal Few-Shot Analytics for Electron Micrographs

Recent advances in materials data analytics have provided new avenues for determining process-structure-property (PSP) linkages in a variety of materials. Machine learning techniques including few-shot learning have increased the efficiency of classifying microscopy images for the purposes of material characterization. Attempts at creating a multimodal approach can provide further improvements to current models and help extract more salient features from data. In this vein, raw spectrum data was taken to provide an additional modality to our current pyCHIP classifier. Modifications in segmentation also show potential in improving the accuracy of the pyCHIP classifier. Classifier output was analyzed using network graphs and unsupervised clustering algorithms such as spectral clustering to detect better segmentation methods than the current “chipping” approach. We suggest that the chip selection process can be automated in the future using a combination of these techniques to enable high-throughput analyses.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Classification of Nuclear Reactor Operations Using Spatial Importance and Multisensor Networks

Distributed multisensor networks record multiple data streams that can be used as inputs to machine learning models designed to classify operations relevant to proliferation at nuclear reactors. The goal of this work is to demonstrate methods to assess the importance of each node (a single multisensor) and region (a group of proximate multisensors) to machine learning model performance in a reactor monitoring scenario. This, in turn, provides insight into model behavior, a critical requirement of data-driven applications in nuclear security. Using data collected at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory via a network of Merlyn multisensors, two different models were trained to classify the reactor’s operational state: a hidden Markov model (HMM), which is simpler and more transparent, and a feed-forward neural network, which is less inherently interpretable. Traditional wrapper methods for feature importance were extended to identify nodes and regions in the multisensor network with strong positive and negative impacts on the classification problem. These spatial-importance algorithms were evaluated on the two different classifiers. The classification accuracy was then improved relative to baseline models via feature selection from 0.583 to 0.839 and from 0.811 ± 0.005 to 0.884 ± 0.004 for the HMM and feed-forward neural network, respectively. While some differences in node and region importance were observed when using different classifiers and wrapper methods, the nodes near the facility’s cooling tower were consistently identified as important—a conclusion further supported by studies on feature importance in decision trees. Node and region importance methods are model-agnostic, inform feature selection for improved model performance, and can provide insight into opaque classification models in the nuclear security domain.

Tibbetts, Jake↗

An optimized buffer controlled data compression system

The digital data compression system considered uses a buffer controlled aperture algorithm which minimizes the mean-squared error between the reconstructed receiver output and transmitter input. The data compression technique selected is based on the zero-order floating aperture prediction rule. It is assumed that the statistics of the input data are initially uniformly distributed, stationary, and first-order Markov. The problem is solved for stationary data. An approach is presented for extending the results to slowly varying uniformly distributed nonstationary Markov data.

Dosik, P. H.↗