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An Advanced Actuator Line Method for Wind Energy Applications and Beyond: Preprint
The actuator line method to represent rotor aerodynamics within computational fluid dynamics has been in use for over a decade. This method applies a body force to the flow field along rotating lines corresponding to the individual rotor blades and employs tabular airfoil data to compute the force distribution. The actuator line method is attractive because compared to blade-resolved simulations, the required mesh is much simpler and the computational cost is lower. This work proposes a higher fidelity variant of the actuator line method meant to fill the space between current actuator line and blade-resolved simulations. It contains modifications in two key areas. The first is that of freestream velocity vector estimation along the line, which is necessary to compute the lift and drag along the line using tabular airfoil data. Most current methods rely on point sampling in which the location of sampling is ambiguous. Here we test a velocity sampling method that uses a properly weighted integral over space, removing this ambiguity. The second area of improvement is the function used to project the one-dimensional actuator line force onto the three-dimensional fluid mesh as a body force. We propose and test a projection function that spreads the force over a region that looks something like a real blade with the hope that it will produce the blade local and near wake flow features with more accuracy and higher fidelity. Our goal is that between these two improvements, not only will the flow field predictions be enhanced, but also the spanwise loading will be made more accurate. We refer to this combination of improvements as the advanced actuator line method. We apply these improvements to two different wind turbine cases. Although there is a strong wind energy motivation in our work, there is no reason these advanced actuator line ideas cannot be used in other applications, such as helicopter rotors.
All-Solid-State Electro-Chemo-Mechanical Actuator Operating at Room Temperature
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Experience of developing highly reliable Tuner components (piezo actuators and cold stepper motor actuators) for SRF Linac
The resonance control team at FNAL has led the design of the LCLS-II SRF Linac SRF cavity tuner subsystem. The Linac is expected to operate for over 30 years, and the longevity of the tuner is crucial to the overall reliability of the Linac. When the tuner's design was started, there were no active actuators (stepper and piezo) that could meet the longevity requirements of the Linac. The FNAL resonance control team, in collaboration with industrial partners (Phytron and PI), has developed actuators that have been shown to withstand a cryogenic and insulating vacuum environment for over 100 years in accelerated lifetime tests. Details of actuators design and longevity testing will be presented. Now, practically all (small and large) SRF systems that are under construction around the world are using actuators developed at FNAL. A review of possible actuators improvement will be presented.
Synergetic effects of K + and Mg 2+ ion intercalation on the electrochemical and actuation properties of the two-dimensional Ti 3 C 2 MXene
Two-dimensional materials, such as MXenes, are attractive candidates for energy storage and electrochemical actuators due to their high volume changes upon ion intercalation. Of special interest for boosting energy storage is the intercalation of multivalent ions such as Mg 2+ , which suffers from sluggish intercalation and transport kinetics due to its ion size. By combining traditional electrochemical characterization techniques with electrochemical dilatometry and contact resonance atomic force microscopy, the synergetic effects of the pre-intercalation of K + ions are demonstrated to improve the charge storage of multivalent ions, as well as tune the mechanical and actuation properties of the Ti 3 C 2 MXene. Our results have important implications for quantitatively understanding the charge storage processes in intercalation compounds and provide a new path for studying the mechanical evolution of energy storage materials.
Validation of Actuator Line and Actuator Disk Models with Filtered Lifting Line Corrections Implemented in Nalu-Wind Large Eddy Simulations of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer
Turbine generator power from simulations using Actuator Line Models and Actuator Disk Models with a Filtered Lifting Line Correction are compared to field data of a V27 turbine. Preliminary results of the wake characteristics are also presented. Turbine quantities of interest from traditional ALM and ADM with the Gaussian kernel (..epsilon..) set at the optimum value for matching power production and that resolve the kernel at all mesh sizes are also presented. The atmospheric boundary layer is simulated using Nalu-Wind, a Large Eddy Simulation code which is part of the ExaWind code suite. The effect of mesh resolution on quantities of interest is also examined.
HAZARD ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL ENGINEERED SAFETY FEATURES ACTUATION SYSTEM IN ADVANCED NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS USING A REDUNDANCY-GUIDED APPROACH
Replacing the existing aging analog instrumentation and control (I&C) systems with modern safety control and protection digital technology offers one of the foremost means of performance improvements and cost reductions for the existing nuclear power plants (NPPs). However, the qualification of digital I&C systems remains a challenge, especially considering the issue of software common-cause failures (CCFs), which are difficult to address. With the application and upgrades of advanced digital I&C systems, software CCFs have become a potential threat to plant safety because most redundant designs use similar digital platforms or software in the operating and application systems. With complex designs of multilayer redundancy to meet the single-failure criterion, digital I&C safety systems (e.g., engineered safety-features actuation system [ESFAS]) are of a particular concern in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing procedures. This paper applies a modularized approach to conduct redundancy-guided systems-theoretic hazard analysis for an advanced digital ESFAS with multilevel redundancy designs. Systematic methods and risk-informed tools are incorporated to address both hardware and software CCFs, which provide guidance to eliminate the triggers of potential single points of failure in the design of digital safety systems in advanced plant designs.
Multivalent Cation-Induced Actuation of DNA-Mediated Colloidal Superlattices
Nanoparticles functionalized with DNA can assemble into ordered superlattices with defined crystal habits through programmable DNA “bonds”. Here, we examine the interactions of multivalent cations with these DNA bonds as a chemical approach for actuating colloidal superlattices. Multivalent cations alter DNA structure on the molecular scale, enabling the DNA “bond length” to be reversibly altered between 17 and 3 nm, ultimately leading to changes in the overall dimensions of the micrometer-sized superlattice. The identity, charge, and concentration of the cations each control the extent of actuation, with Ni2+ capable of inducing a remarkable >65% reversible change in crystal volume. In addition, these cations can increase “bond strength”, as evidenced by superlattice thermal stability enhancements of >60 °C relative to systems without multivalent cations. Molecular dynamics simulations provide insight into the conformational changes in DNA structure as the bond length approaches 3 nm and show that cations that screen the negative charge on the DNA backbone more effectively cause greater crystal contraction. Finally, taken together, the use of multivalent cations represents a powerful strategy to alter superlattice structure and stability, which can impact diverse applications through dynamic control of material properties, including the optical, magnetic, and mechanical properties.
Supramolecular-covalent hybrid polymers for light-activated mechanical actuation
Abstract not provided
Programming hierarchical anisotropy in microactuators for multimodal actuation
Our work introduces a simple strategy for tailoring hierarchical anisotropy in microactuators using thermoresponsive liquid crystalline elastomers, thereby enabling versatile multimodal actuation.
Soft actuators and soft actuating devices
A soft buckling linear actuator is described, including: a plurality of substantially parallel bucklable, elastic structural components each having its longest dimension along a first axis; and a plurality of secondary structural components each disposed between and bridging two adjacent bucklable, elastic structural components; wherein every two adjacent bucklable, elastic structural components and the secondary structural components in-between define a layer comprising a plurality of cells each capable of being connected with a fluid inflation or deflation source; the secondary structural components from two adjacent layers are not aligned along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis; and the secondary structural components are configured not to buckle, the bucklable, elastic structural components are configured to buckle along the second axis to generate a linear force, upon the inflation or deflation of the cells. Methods of actuation using the same are also described.
Soft actuators and soft actuating devices
A soft buckling linear actuator is described, including: a plurality of substantially parallel bucklable, elastic structural components each having its longest dimension along a first axis; and a plurality of secondary structural components each disposed between and bridging two adjacent bucklable, elastic structural components; wherein every two adjacent bucklable, elastic structural components and the secondary structural components in-between define a layer comprising a plurality of cells each capable of being connected with a fluid inflation or deflation source; the secondary structural components from two adjacent layers are not aligned along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis; and the secondary structural components are configured not to buckle, the bucklable, elastic structural components are configured to buckle along the second axis to generate a linear force, upon the inflation or deflation of the cells. Methods of actuation using the same are also described.
Optimal smoothing length scale for actuator line models of wind turbine blades based on Gaussian body force distribution: Wind energy, actuator line model
The actuator line model (ALM) is a commonly used method to represent lifting surfaces such as wind turbine blades within large-eddy simulations (LES). In the ALM, the lift and drag forces are replaced by an imposed body force that is typically smoothed over several grid points using a Gaussian kernel with some prescribed smoothing width e. To date, the choice of e has most often been based on numerical considerations related to the grid spacing used in LES. However, especially for finely resolved LES with grid spacings on the order of or smaller than the chord length of the blade, the best choice of e is not known. In this work, a theoretical approach is followed to determine the most suitable value of e, based on an analytical solution to the linearized inviscid flow response to a Gaussian force. We find that the optimal smoothing width eopt is on the order of 14%-25% of the chord length of the blade, and the center of force is located at about 13%-26% downstream of the leading edge of the blade for the cases considered. These optimal values do not depend on angle of attack and depend only weakly on the type of lifting surface. It is then shown that an even more realistic velocity field can be induced by a 2-D elliptical Gaussian lift-force kernel. Some results are also provided regarding drag force representation.