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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Reliability-based hull geometry optimisation of a point-absorber wave energy converter with power take-off structural reliability objectives

Recent studies have focused on optimising wave energy converter (WEC) designs, maximising their power performance and techno-economic feasibility. Reliability has yet to be fully considered in these formulations, despite its impact on cost and performance. In this study, this gap is addressed by developing a reliability-based design optimisation framework for WEC hull geometries to explore the trade-off between power performance and power take-off (PTO) system damage equivalent loading (DEL). Optimised hull geometries for two sites are considered (from the centre of the North Sea and off the west coast of Norway), and two directions of motions (heave and surge). Results indicate that site characteristics affect the potential power production and DEL for an optimal WEC design. These are also affected by the direction of motion for power extraction, which also significantly changes optimal hull shape characteristics. Optimal surging WEC designs have edges facing oncoming wave directions, while heaving WECs have pointed bottoms, both to streamline movement. Larger, more convex WECs result in greater power production and DEL, while smaller, more concave WECs result in lesser power production and DEL. These findings underline the importance of considering WEC hull geometry in early design processes to optimise cost, power production, and reliability.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2023

Three-dimensional broadband nonlinear phased array imaging

System include an ultrasonic transducer configured to couple to a nondestructive testing (NDT) sample and configured to produce and direct an ultrasonic probe wave at a selected frequency into a subsurface region of the NDT sample, a 3D laser scanning vibrometer configured to direct a detection beam in a scan area on a surface of the NDT sample and to receive a return beam from the scan area, and to detect, based on the return beam, a 3D motion of the surface across a wideband frequency range, and a processor, and a memory configured with instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to produce sub-surface image data of the NDT sample at multiple harmonics of the selected frequency in the wideband frequency range based on the detected 3D surface motion, wherein the sub-surface image data describes a nonlinear defect response produced in the NDT sample by interaction of the ultrasonic probe wave with the subsurface region.

Remillieux, Marcel↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigation of Nonlinear Difference-Frequency Wave Excitation on a Semisubmersible Offshore-Wind Platform with Bichromatic-Wave CFD Simulations: Preprint

The natural surge and pitch frequencies of semisubmersible offshore wind platforms are typically designed to be below the wave frequencies to avoid direct excitation. However, surge or pitch resonance can be excited by the nonlinear low-frequency loads generated by irregular incident waves. Second-order potential-flow models with added Morison drag have been found to underpredict this low-frequency excitation and response. As part of the OC6 project, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to enable a better understanding of the low-frequency loads and the limitations of lower-fidelity models. The focus of the current paper is to set up a computationally cost-effective CFD simulation of a fixed semisubmersible platform to investigate nonlinear difference-frequency loads and establish the corresponding uncertainty in the results. Due to the high computing cost, CFD simulations of irregular waves can be challenging. Instead, simulations were performed with bichromatic waves having a shorter repeat period. A preliminary comparison with Quadratic Transfer Functions from second-order potential-flow theory shows that CFD models consistently predict higher nonlinear wave loads at the difference frequency, likely due to flow separation and viscous drag not accounted for in potential-flow theory.

2nd order↗
DOE OSTI2023

Anomalous cross-field transport in a Hall thruster inferred from direct measurement of instability growth rates

The contribution of the electron drift instability to anomalous electron transport is experimentally assessed in a Hall effect discharge. The transport is represented by an anomalous collision frequency, which is related through quasilinear theory to the energy and growth rate of the instability. The wave energy is measured directly with ion saturation probes, while estimates of the growth rate are employed based on both linearized theory and direct measurement. The latter measurement is performed with a bispectral analysis method. The wave-driven collision frequency is compared to measurements of the actual collision frequency inferred from a method based on laser- induced fluorescence. It is found that estimates for transport using linearized theory for the growth differ by over an order of magnitude from the actual anomalous collision frequency in the plasma. The wave-driven anomalous collision frequency with measured growth, however, is shown to agree with the electron collision frequency in magnitude and capture aspects of the trends in spatial variation. This result demonstrates experimentally that wave-driven effects ultimately can explain the observed cross-field transport in these devices. As a result, the implications of this finding are discussed in the context of the key lengthscales that drive the transport as well as the implications identifying reduced fidelity models that could be used to predict anomalous collision frequency.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Azimuthal and axial structures in 3D particle-in-cell simulation of Penning discharge

We report the results of a 3D particle-in-cell simulation of cylindrical Penning discharge with the axial magnetic field in the so-called reflex configuration, where the cathode and anti-cathode are biased to the same negative potential. The discharge is supported by thermal electron emission from the cathode. Electron and ion collisions, including ionization, are fully accounted for. The emphasis is on a specific regime in which the plasma potential at the center of the discharge is positive with respect to the chamber walls, serving as an anode. Spatial and temporal scales of the observed azimuthal and axial fluctuations and structures are characterized. It is suggested that azimuthal structures are caused by the dissipative gradient-drift instability. We find that the axial fluctuations related to the plasma-beam instabilities are weakly correlated with the azimuthal perturbations of the density, so that the azimuthal modes rotate as a whole and do not show any axial shear. The behavior of the electric potential is more involved, demonstrating intermittent standing wave and propagating structures in the axial direction that modulate the electron transport, producing the standing wave pattern (along the z-direction) in the radial electron flux.

3D PIC simulation of discharge↗
DOE OSTI2023

Wave Detection and Tracking Within a Rotating Detonation Engine Through Object Detection

As the operational time window of experimental rotating detonation engines (RDEs) is expanded and the technology matures toward integration within gas turbines, monitoring techniques must evolve to offer computationally efficient and highly time-resolved diagnostics. In this study, computer vision object detection methodology that seeks to reduce data processing time and calculate wave velocity within drastically reduced time intervals as compared to traditional high-frame-rate RDE images analysis techniques is proposed. The adapted you-only-look-once object detection network is trained to detect individual detonation waves within single down-axis RDE images. The wave location and rotational direction detected within a frame are tracked through a series of high-speed images to calculate the frame-to-frame wave velocity with the time-step resolution of $\mathrm{20 μs}$ across a series of frames. The analysis of the annotation box size and image linearization effects is presented, demonstrating the lowest frame-to-frame velocity total uncertainty of $\mathrm{±3.8\%}$ and the highest classification speed of 9.5 frames per second using linearized images. Linearized images “unwrap” the RDE annulus pixel region to a reduced image size. Here, this new method offers great reductions in data processing times and unsteady detonation behavior insight at intervals more comparable to the timescales of detonation wave interactions via the application of machine learning to experimental RDE data.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Boundary-layer receptivity to oblique freestream vorticity waves for a high-enthalpy hypersonic flow

The receptivity of a Mach 15 straight-cone boundary layer to oblique freestream vorticity waves is investigated using direct numerical simulation (DNS) alongside linear stability theory and the linear parabolized stability equations. A thermochemical nonequilibrium gas model is used. Oblique freestream vorticity waves at frequencies of 400, 800, and 1200 kHz are considered, with incident angles ranging from 0° to 29.4° at 400 kHz, 0° to 15.7° at 800 kHz, and 0° to 20.6° at 1200 kHz. The 400 kHz case is of primary interest due to the strong second-mode amplification at this frequency. Although the underlying base flow is axisymmetric, the oblique vorticity waves lead to a fully three-dimensional boundary-layer disturbance whose characteristics vary depending on the azimuthal ray relative to the freestream wave. Moving downstream within the second-mode instability region, some clear trends emerge in terms of the boundary-layer disturbance amplitudes; that is, disturbance amplitudes are highest at the leeward ray (relative to the freestream wave), but weakest about halfway between the windward and leeward rays. Increasing the incident angle causes the amplitudes to increase on the leeward ray and decrease on the windward ray. Moreover, the boundary-layer disturbance throughout contains a wide spectrum of azimuthal wavenumbers in which the disturbance energy falls off at higher wavenumbers. Increasing the incident angle causes the azimuthal spectrum of the boundary-layer disturbance to broaden overall. Qualitatively similar results are found for the two higher frequencies leading up to the peak-amplitude locations corresponding to the second-mode instability.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Direct numerical simulations of turbulent reacting flows with shock waves and stiff chemistry using many-core/GPU acceleration

Compressible reacting flows may display sharp spatial variation related to shocks, contact discontinuities or reactive zones embedded within relatively smooth regions. The presence of such phenomena emphasizes the relevance of shock-capturing schemes such as the weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme as an essential ingredient of the numerical solver. However, these schemes are complex and have more computational cost than the simple high-order compact or non-compact schemes. In this paper, we present the implementation of a seventh-order, minimally-dissipative mapped WENO (WENO7M) scheme in a newly developed direct numerical simulation (DNS) code called KAUST Adaptive Reactive Flows Solver (KARFS). In order to make efficient use of the computer resources and reduce the solution time, without compromising the resolution requirement, the WENO routines are accelerated via graphics processing unit (GPU) computation. The performance characteristics and scalability of the code are studied using different grid sizes and block decomposition. Furthermore, the performance portability of KARFS is demonstrated on a variety of architectures including NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPUs and NVIDIA Kepler K20X GPUs. In addition, the capability and potential of the newly implemented WENO7M scheme in KARFS to perform DNS of compressible flows is also demonstrated with model problems involving shocks, isotropic turbulence, detonations and flame propagation into a stratified mixture with complex chemical kinetics.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Time-resolved unsteady shock motion and spectral analysis of a hypersonic shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction over a double-cone

Direct experimental measurements of double-cone shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction dynamics at Mach 7.2 were collected using a schlieren-based shock-detection algorithm at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The points of flow separation and reattachment were spatially and spectrally evaluated at 300 kHz for time-resolved characterization of the unsteadiness of this flow field. The separation bubble was found to rapidly expand and contract about a large mean length. Spectral analysis of the velocity fluctuations of this motion revealed this behavior to be a turbulent phenomenon, with spectral energy trends consistent with the Kolmogorov theory for the turbulent energy cascade.

Glasby, Ryan [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evaluation of a frequency-dependent phase shift in chirped Raman lasers for atom gravimeters

Light-pulse atom gravimetry has emerged as a powerful technique for precisely measuring absolute gravitational acceleration. Raman lasers are commonly used in this technique to coherently manipulate the atomic wave packet, of which the effective frequency is chirped continuously to compensate for the Doppler shift. In this study we investigate an additional phase shift in the Raman lasers that arises due to the frequency chirp. Here, we directly measure this phase shift by recording the beat signal of the Raman lasers with a high-speed oscilloscope, providing an independent evaluation of the resultant error in atom gravimeters caused by this phase shift. Concurrently, we detect the influence of the additional phase shift on gravity measurements using our atom gravimeter, and the results are in good agreement with the independent evaluation. Notably, there may still be a residual error at the microgal level when performing differential measurements by reversing the direction of the effective wave vector of the Raman lasers. We propose that this residual error can in principle be eliminated by selecting the same chirp frequency range for both directions in the differential measurement.

Xu, Yaoyao [Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technolo↗
DOE OSTI2022

A unique gravitational wave signal from phase transition during inflation

We study the properties of the gravitational wave (GW) signals produced by first-order phase transitions during the inflation era. We show that the power spectrum of the GW oscillates with its wave number. This signal can be observed directly by future terrestrial and spatial gravitational wave detectors and through the B-mode spectrum in CMB. This oscillatory feature of GW is generic for any approximately instantaneous sources occurring during inflation and is distinct from the GW from phase transitions after the inflation. The details of the GW spectrum contain information about the scale of the phase transition and the later evolution of the universe.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Extracting doubly excited state lifetimes in helium directly in the time domain with attosecond noncollinear four-wave-mixing spectroscopy

The helium atom, with one nucleus and two electrons, is a prototypical system to study quantum many-body dynamics. Doubly excited states, or quantum states in which both electrons are excited by one photon, showcase electronic-correlation mediated effects. In this paper, the natural lifetimes of the doubly excited 1 P o 2 s n p Rydberg series and the 1 S e 2 p 2 dark state in helium in the 60–65 eV region are measured directly in the time domain with extreme-ultraviolet/near-infrared noncollinear attosecond four-wave-mixing (FWM) spectroscopy. The measured lifetimes agree with lifetimes deduced from spectral linewidths and theoretical predictions, and the roles of specific decay mechanisms are considered. While complex spectral line shapes in the form of Fano resonances are common in absorption spectroscopy of autoionizing states, the background-free and thus homodyned character of noncollinear FWM results exclusively in Lorentzian spectral features in the absence of strong-field effects. The onset of strong-field effects that would affect the extraction of accurate natural lifetimes in helium by FWM is determined to be approximately 0.3 Rabi cycles. This study provides a systematic understanding of the FWM parameters necessary to enable accurate lifetime extractions, which can be utilized in more complex quantum systems in the future. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Rupprecht, Patrick (ORCID:000000026491793X)↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Moving-Wave Implementation in WRF to Study the Impact of Surface Water Waves on the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Abstract While numerous modeling studies have focused on the interaction of ocean surface waves with the atmospheric boundary layer, most employ idealized waves that are either monochromatic or synthetically generated from a theoretical wave spectrum, and the atmospheric solvers are typically incompressible. To study wind–wave coupling in real-world scenarios, a model that can simulate both realistic meteorological and wave conditions is necessary. In this paper we describe the implementation of a moving bottom boundary condition into the Weather Research and Forecasting Model for large-eddy simulation applications. We first describe the moving bottom boundary conditions within WRF’s pressure-based vertical coordinate system. We then validate our code with idealized test cases that have analytical solutions, including flow over a monochromatic wave with and without viscosity. Finally, we present results from turbulent flows over a moving monochromatic wave with different wave ages, and demonstrate satisfactory agreement of the wave growth rate with results from the literature. We also compare atmospheric stress and wind parameters from two physically equivalent cases. The first specifies a wind moving in the same direction as a propagating wave, while the second involves a stationary wave with the wind adjusted such that the wind relative to the wave is the same as in the first case. Results indicate that the velocity and Reynolds stress profiles for the two cases match, further validating the moving bottom implementation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Array directivity enhancement by leveraging angle-dependent scattering

The quality of a sonar array's localization capabilities, often expressed as directivity, is limited by the sonar's aperture, that is, the length of the sonar array. Previous attempts to improve directivity, without increasing array size, have been moderately successful. Wave scattering within a nontraditional array, such as an array fabricated from a non-homogeneous material, could provide additional information to the localization calculations and improve array directivity without increasing the size of the array. An investigation of array directivity improvement through wave scattering is performed. This paper modifies existing localization and directivity calculations to consider the scattered waves and uses the derived equations to explain why previous proposed scattering was incapable of increasing directivity. Finally, a scattering relationship capable of enhancing array localization without increasing array size is proposed, and the directivity improvement claims are verified with beamform plot comparisons and directivity index calculations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Modeling and observations of North Atlantic cyclones: Implications for U.S. Offshore wind energy

To meet the Biden-Harris administration's goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind power by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050, expansion of wind energy into U.S. territorial waters prone to tropical cyclones (TCs) and extratropical cyclones (ETCs) is essential. This requires a deeper understanding of cyclone-related risks and the development of robust, resilient offshore wind energy systems. Here, this paper provides a comprehensive review of state-of-the-science measurement and modeling capabilities for studying TCs and ETCs, and their impacts across various spatial and temporal scales. We explore measurement capabilities for environments influenced by TCs and ETCs, including near-surface and vertical profiles of critical variables that characterize these cyclones. The capabilities and limitations of Earth system and mesoscale models are assessed for their effectiveness in capturing atmosphere–ocean–wave interactions that influence TC/ETC-induced risks under a changing climate. Additionally, we discuss microscale modeling capabilities designed to bridge scale gaps from the weather scale (a few kilometers) to the turbine scale (dozens to a few meters). We also review machine learning (ML)-based, data-driven models for simulating TC/ETC events at both weather and wind turbine scales. Special attention is given to extreme metocean conditions like extreme wind gusts, rapid wind direction changes, and high waves, which pose threats to offshore wind energy infrastructure. Finally, the paper outlines the research challenges and future directions needed to enhance the resilience and design of next-generation offshore wind turbines against extreme weather conditions.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spin Waves in Dirac Semimetal Ca 0.6⁢ Sr 0.4⁢ MnSb 2 Investigated with Neutrons by the Diffraction Method

The tunability of Dirac semimetals with antiferromagnetic Mn layers is of great interest. The observed sign change of interlayer magnetic coupling between CaMnBi 2 and SrMnBi 2 suggests ionic substitution as a potential tuning mechanism. If so, novel behavior near the compensation point could be expected. Here, to explore this, we study a mixed-cation analog, Ca 0.6⁢ Sr 0.4⁢ MnSb 2 , where Bi is replaced by Sb. Conventional inelastic neutron scattering is impractical due to the small crystal size (m ≈ 0.28 g) available for compositional studies; however, we find that using a neutron diffractometer with a wide-angle area detector we can obtain a good quality spin-wave signal, which is shaped by energy-momentum conservation and retains spectroscopic information even without direct energy analysis. Spin-wave modeling reveals an interlayer coupling quantitatively similar to SrMnSb 2 , indicating it is not directly tuned by ionic size and that the sign change in Bi-based compounds likely arises from the observed change in lattice symmetry. Beyond this key insight, our results present an efficient method for parametric and compositional studies of spin dynamics in small crystals.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗