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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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The Thick Level-Set model for dynamic fragmentation

The Thick Level-Set (TLS) model is implemented to simulate brittle media undergoing dynamic fragmentation. This non-local model is discretized by the finite element method with damage represented as a continuous field over the domain. A level-set function defines the extent and severity of damage, and a length scale is introduced to limit the damage gradient. Numerical studies in one dimension demonstrate that the proposed method reproduces the rate-dependent energy dissipation and fragment length observations from analytical, numerical, and experimental approaches. In conclusion, additional studies emphasize the importance of appropriate bulk constitutive models and sufficient spatial resolution of the length scale.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Analysis on shock attenuation in gap test configuration for characterizing energetic materials

A pyrotechnic system consisting of donor/acceptor pair separated by a gap relies on shock attenuation characteristics of the gap material and shock sensitivity of the donor and the acceptor charges. Despite of its common use, a numerical study of such a pyrotechnic train configuration is seldom reported because proper modeling of the full process requires precise capturing of the shock wave attenuation in the gap prior to triggering a full detonation of a high explosive and accurate description of the high strain rate dynamics of the explosively loaded inert confinements. We apply a hybrid particle level-set based multimaterial hydrocode with reactive flow models for pentolite donor and heavily aluminized cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine as the acceptor charge. The complex shock interaction, a critical gap thickness, an acoustic impedance, and go/no-go characteristics of the pyrotechnic system are quantitatively investigated.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Reactor physics characterization of triply periodic minimal surface-based nuclear fuel lattices

Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) lattices are receiving substantial attention in numerous engineering fields due to their impressive topology-driven physical characteristics. TPMS lattices are periodic structures of two distinct intertwined volume domains separated by an area-minimizing surface or wall. TPMS lattices have been observed in nature, such as biological membranes, skeletons, block copolymers, sea urchins, butterfly wings, and equipotential surfaces in crystals. Intriguingly, the topology of TPMS lattices can be easily parametrized via level-set equations and thus are heavily numerically and experimentally studied. Here, a significant research effort is currently applying TPMS lattices for heat exchangers and sinks. This paper extends TPMS lattice applications to nuclear reactor fuel designs, with a focus on identifying relevant TPMS geometric parameters controlling neutronics characteristics, such as reactivity, neutron spectrum, and heat removal properties. We found that fuel surface-area-to-volume ratios for TPMS lattices can be two orders of magnitude larger than current cylindrical fuel rods. Further, the selected TPMS lattice and its implicit equation, the unit cell pitch, wall thickness, and structure porosity are design parameters enabling neutronics optimization for both thermal and fast spectrum configurations, paving the way for exceptionally compact and dense nuclear core concepts.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Dynamical Modeling of Surface Tension

In a recent review it is said that free-surface flows 'represent some of the difficult remaining challenges in computational fluid dynamics'. There has been progress with the development of new approaches to treating interfaces, such as the level-set method and the improvement of older methods such as the VOF method. A common theme of many of the new developments has been the regularization of discontinuities at the interface. One example of this approach is the continuum surface force (CSF) formulation for surface tension, which replaces the surface stress given by Laplace's equation by an equivalent volume force. Here, we describe how CSF formulation might be made more useful. Specifically, we consider a derivation of the CSF equations from a minimization of surface energy as outlined by Jacqmin (1996). This reformulation suggests that if one eliminates the computation of curvature in terms of a unit normal vector, parasitic currents may be eliminated. For this reformulation to work, it is necessary that transition region thickness be controlled. Various means for this, in addition to the one discussed by Jacqmin (1996), are discussed.

Brackbill, Jeremiah U.↗

DSD2D-FLS 2010: Bdzil's 2010 DSD Code Base; Computing tb and Dn with Edits to Reduce the Noise in the Dn Field Near HE Boundaries

The full level-set function code, DSD3D, is fully described in LA-14336 (2007) [1]. This ASCI-supported, DSD code project was the last such LANL DSD code project that I was involved with before my retirement in 2007. My part in the project was to design and build the core DSD3D solver, which was to include a robust DSD boundary condition treatment. A robust boundary condition treatment was required, since for an important local “customer,” the only description of the explosives’ boundary was through volume fraction data. Given this requirement, the accuracy issues I had encountered with our “fast-tube,” narrowband, DSD2D solver, and the difficulty we had building an efficient MPI-parallel version of the narrowband DSD2D, I decided DSD3D should be built as a full level-set function code, using a totally local DSD boundary condition algorithm for the level-­set function, phi, which did not rely on the gradient of the level-­set function being one, |grad(phi)| = 1. The narrowband DSD2D solver was built on the assumption that |grad(phi)| could be driven to one, and near the boundaries of the explosive this condition was not being satisfied. Since the narrowband is typically no more than10*dx wide, narrowband methods are discrete methods with a fixed, non-­resolvable error, where the error is related to the thickness of the band: the narrower the band the larger the errors. Such a solution represents a discrete approximation to the true solution and does not limit to the solution of the underlying PDEs under grid resolution.The full level-­set function code, DSD3D, is fully described in LA-14336 (2007) [1]. This ASCI-­supported, DSD code project was the last such LANL DSD code project that I was involved with before my retirement in 2007. My part in the project was to design and build the core DSD3D solver, which was to include a robust DSD boundary condition treatment. A robust boundary condition treatment was required, since for an important local “customer,” the only description of the explosives’ boundary was through volume fraction data. Given this requirement, the accuracy issues I had encountered with our “fast-­tube,” narrowband, DSD2D solver, and the difficulty we had building an efficient MPI-parallel version of the narrowband DSD2D, I decided DSD3D should be built as a full level-­set function code, using a totally local DSD boundary condition algorithm for the level-­set function, phi, which did not rely on the gradient of the level-­set function being one, |grad(phi)| = 1. The narrowband DSD2D solver was built on the assumption that |grad(phi)| could be driven to one, and near the boundaries of the explosive this condition was not being satisfied. Since the narrowband is typically no more than10*dx wide, narrowband methods are discrete methods with a fixed, non-resolvable error, where the error is related to the thickness of the band: the narrower the band the larger the errors. Such a solution represents a discrete approximation to the true solution and does not limit to the solution of the underlying PDEs under grid resolution.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗