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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 19 records

A nearly-monotone genuinely multidimensional scheme for the Euler equations

Recent progress made in the development of a genuinely multidimensional finite-volume method for the Euler equations is reported. In this method, wave information is derived from a reconstruction procedure applied to the data on a triangle. The algorithm is therefore best suited to application on an unstructured grid. A flux formula which provides nearly-monotone solutions is also presented. The new method is tested on three simple 2D flows, and the results show that dominant-wave resolution is high, and that strong-wave transitions are nearly monotone.

Parpia, Ijaz H.↗

Shock Capturing via Limiting for High-Order Methods Including Discontinuous Galerkin

As is well-known, popular high-order methods such as discontinuous Galerkin (DG) and flux reconstruction (FR) tend to generate oscillations near shocks and discontinuities, which can lead to negative pressure or density, ultimately causing code breakdown. For standard second-order methods, one approach to mitigating oscillations is to impose constraints on the calculated slopes, ensuring they do not become excessively steep. This limiting process is rooted in the idea of preserving monotonicity introduced by Van Leer (1974): when the data are monotone, limiting the slopes result in a monotone piecewise linear solution. However, a drawback of this approach is the loss of accuracy near extrema, where the non-monotone solution is somewhat flattened and achieves only first-order accuracy.

numerical methods↗

Application of Local Discretization Methods in the NASA Finite-Volume General Circulation Model

We present the basic ideas of the dynamics system of the finite-volume General Circulation Model developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for climate simulations and other applications in meteorology. The dynamics of this model is designed with emphases on conservative and monotonic transport, where the property of Lagrangian conservation is used to maintain the physical consistency of the computational fluid for long-term simulations. As the model benefits from the noise-free solutions of monotonic finite-volume transport schemes, the property of Lagrangian conservation also partly compensates the accuracy of transport for the diffusion effects due to the treatment of monotonicity. By faithfully maintaining the fundamental laws of physics during the computation, this model is able to achieve sufficient accuracy for the global consistency of climate processes. Because the computing algorithms are based on local memory, this model has the advantage of efficiency in parallel computation with distributed memory. Further research is yet desirable to reduce the diffusion effects of monotonic transport for better accuracy, and to mitigate the limitation due to fast-moving gravity waves for better efficiency.

Yeh, Kao-San↗

Wave diffraction in weak cosmic-ray-modified shocks

Weakly multidirectional, long-wavelength cosmic-ray-modified shocks are studied via multiple scale perturbation techniques. The effects of diffraction are discussed in terms of Green's function solutions of the linearized 1 + 3D Burgers and 1 + 3D KdVB equations, and also in terms of solutions with singular Dirac delta initial distributions. The solutions show a monotonic decrease of the wave-front curvature with increasing time owing to the effects of wave diffraction. The shape of the wave surface is discussed in terms of solutions S to the wave eikonal equation corresponding to singular initial conditions. For the fast magnetosonic wave propagating in the positive x-direction, the wave phase surface S = 0 has elliptic cross sections with the planes x = constant and has a convex paraboloidal shape. Plane-wave solutions of the 1 + 3D KdVB equation are discussed.

Webb, G. M.↗

Development of advanced high strength tantalum base alloys. Part 1: Screening investigation

Five experimental tantalum alloy compositions containing 13-18% W+Re+Hf solid solution solute additions with dispersed phase strengthening achieved by carbon or nitrogen additions were prepared as 1.4 inch diameter ingot processed to 3/8 inch diameter rod and evaluated. Elevated temperature tensile and creep strength increased monotonically with increasing solute content. Room temperature elongation decreased for 20% to less than 2% as the solute content was increased above 16%. Phase identification indicated that the precipitating phase in the carbide containing alloys was Ta2C.

Buckman, R. W., Jr.↗

Interactions of anesthetics with the water-hexane interface. A molecular dynamics study

The free energy profiles characterizing the transfer of nine solutes across the liquid-vapor interfaces of water and hexane and across the water-hexane interface were calculated from molecular dynamics simulations. Among the solutes were n-butane and three of its halogenated derivatives, as well as three halogenated cyclobutanes. The two remaining molecules, dichlorodifluoromethane and 1,2-dichloroperfluoroethane, belong to series of halo-substituted methanes and ethanes, described in previous studies (J. Chem. Phys. 1996, 104, 3760; Chem. Phys. 1996, 204, 337). Each series of molecules contains structurally similar compounds that differ greatly in anesthetic potency. The accuracy of the simulations was tested by comparing the calculated and the experimental free energies of solvation of all nine compounds in water and in hexane. In addition. the calculated and the measured surface excess concentrations of n-butane at the water liquid-vapor interface were compared. In all cases, good agreement with experimental results was found. At the water-hexane interface, the free energy profiles for polar molecules exhibited significant interfacial minima, whereas the profiles for nonpolar molecules did not. The existence of these minima was interpreted in terms of a balance between the free energy contribution arising from solute-solvent interactions and the work to form a cavity that accommodates the solute. These two contributions change monotonically, but oppositely, across the interface. The interfacial solubilities of the solutes, obtained from the free energy profiles, correlate very well with their anesthetic potencies. This is the case even when the Meyer-Overton hypothesis, which predicts a correlation between anesthetic potency and solubility in oil, fails.

NASA Center ARC↗

Analytic theory for the determination of velocity and stability of bubbles in a Hele-Shaw cell. Part 1: Velocity selection

An asymptotic theory is presented for the determination of velocity and linear stability of a steady symmetric bubble in a Hele-Shaw cell for small surface tension. In the first part, the bubble velocity U relative to the fluid velocity at infinity is determined for small surface tension T by determining transcendentally small correction to the asymptotic series solution. It is found that for any relative bubble velocity U in the interval (U(c),2), solutions exist at a countably infinite set of values of T (which has zero as its limit point) corresponding to the different branches of bubble solutions. U(c) decreases monotonically from 2 to 1 as the bubble area increases from 0 to infinity. However, for a bubble of arbitrarily given size, as T approaches 0, solution exists on any given branch with relative bubble velocity U satisfying the relation 2-U = cT to the 2/3 power, where c depends on the branch but is independent of the bubble area. The analytical evidence further suggests that there are no solutions for U greater than 2. These results are in agreement with earlier analytical results for a finger. In Part 2, an analytic theory is presented for the determination of the linear stability of the bubble in the limit of zero surface tension. Only the solution branch corresponding to the largest possible U for given surface tension is found to be stable, while all the others are unstable, in accordance with earlier numerical results.

Tanveer, Saleh↗

The artificial compression method for computation of shocks and contact discontinuities. III - Self-adjusting hybrid schemes

This paper presents a new computational method for the calculation of discontinuous solutions of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, which deal effectively with both shock and contact discontinuities. The method consists of two stages: in the first stage a standard finite-difference scheme is hybridized with a nonoscillatory first order accurate method to provide for the monotonic variation of the solution near discontinuities, and in the second stage artificial compression is applied to sharpen transitions at discontinuities. This modification of a standard finite-difference method results in a scheme which preserves the order of truncation error of the original method and yet yields a sharp and oscillation free transition for both shocks and contact discontinuities. The modification can be easily implemented in existing computer codes.

Harten, A.↗

Viscosity estimates for the crust and upper mantle from patterns of lacustrine shoreline deformation in the Eastern Great Basin

The deformed shorelines of Lake Bonneville constitute a classic source of information on lithospheric elastic thickness and upper mantle viscosity. We describe and apply a new model to a recently augmented data set. New data better constrain both the complex spatio-temporal pattern of the lake load and the crustal deformation response to that load. The history of lake level fluctuations has been significantly refined and somewhat modified. This is due to both more radiocarbon dates from within the Bonneville basin and to an improved calibration of the radiocarbon timescale itself. The data which constrain the crustal deformation pattern consist of ages and shoreline elevations from several hundred points which sample three major levels of Lake Bonneville and corresponding elevations from the high stands of three smaller lakes situated to the west of Lake Bonneville. The geometry of the Earth model incorporates an arbitrary number of layers overlying a half-space, and the rheology of each level can accommodate an arbitrary number of Maxwell viscoelastic elements in parallel. The inverse modeling comprises three complementary approaches: for the simplest configurations, we performed a direct search of the parameter space and delineated the irregular boundary of the subspace of acceptable models. For more complex configurations, we constrained the elastic parameters to their seismically determined values and then solved for viscosity versus depth profiles by either expressing the log(viscosity) versus log(depth) profile as a series of specially constructed orhtogonal polynomials, or by allowing each of 8-10 layers (plus the half-space) to have an independently determined viscosity. We found that the data do not strongly support (nor can they conclusively exclude) a more complex rheology than simple Maxwell viscoelasticity. The orthogonal polynomial solution exhibits an essentially monotonic decrease in viscosity with depth.

Bills, Bruce G.↗

XTRAN2L: A program for solving the general-frequency unsteady transonic small disturbance equation

A program, XTRAN2L, for solving the general-frequency unsteady transonic small disturbance potential equation was developed. It is a modification of the LTRAN2-NLR code. The alternating-direction-implicit (ADI) method of Rizzetta and Chin is used to advance solutions of the potential equation in time Engquist-Osher monotone spatial differencing is used in the ADI solution algorithm. As a result, the XTRAN2L code is more robust and more efficient than similar codes that use Murman-Cole type-dependent spatial differencing. Nonreflecting boundary conditions that are consistent with the general-frequency equation have been developed and implemented at the far-field boundaries. Use of those conditions allow the computational boundaries to be moved closer to the airfoil with no loss of accuracy. This makes the XTRAN2L code more economical to use.

Whitlow, W., Jr.↗

Completely monotone regression estimates of software failure rates

A method for estimating the present failure rate of a program is presented. A crude nonparameter estimate of the failure rate function is obtained from past failure times. This estimate is then smoothed by fitting a completely monotonic function, which is the solution of a quadratic programming problem. The value of the smoothed function at present time is used as the estimate of present failure rate. Results of a Monte Carlo study of performance are given.

Miller, D. R.↗

A generalized procedure for constructing an upwind based TVD scheme

A generalized formulation for constructing second- and higher-order accurate TVD (total variation diminishing) schemes is presented. A given scheme is made TVD by limiting antidiffusive flux differences with some linear functions, so-called limiters. The general idea of the formulation and its mathematical proof of Harten's TVD conditions is shown by applying the Lax-Wendroff method to scalar nonlinear equations and a constant-coefficient system of conservation laws. For the system of equations, several definitions are derived for the argument used in the limiter function and present their performance in numerical experiments. The formulation is extended to the nonlinear system. It is demonstrated that the present procedure can easily convert existing central or upwind, and second- or higher-order differencing schemes to preserve monotonicity and yield physically admissible solutions. The formulation is simple mathematically as well as numerically; both matrix-vector multiplication and Riemann solver are avoided. Although the notion of TVD is based on the initial value problem, application to the steady Euler equations of the formulation is also made.

Liou, Meng-Sing↗

A generalized procedure for constructing an upwind-based TVD scheme

A generalized formulation for constructing second- and higher-order accurate TVD (total variation diminishing) schemes is presented. A given scheme is made TVD by limiting antidiffusive flux differences with some nonlinear functions, so-called limiters. The general idea of the formulation and its mathematical proof of Harten's TVD conditions is shown by applying the Lax-Wendroff method to a scalar nonlinear equation and constant-coefficient system of conservation laws. For the system of equations, several definitions are derived for the argument used in the limiter function and present their performance to numerical experiments. Then the formulation is formally extended to the nonlinear system of equations. It is demonstrated that use of the present procedure allows easy conversion of existing central or upwind, and second- or higher-order differencing schemes so as to preserve monotonicity and to yield physically admissible solutions. The formulation is simple mathematically as well as numerically; neither matrix-vector multiplication nor Riemann solver is required. Roughly twice as much computational effort is needed as compared to conventional scheme. Although the notion of TVD is based on the initial value problem, application to the steady Euler equations of the formulation is also made. Numerical examples including various ranges of problems show both time- and spatial-accuracy in comparison with exact solutions.

Liou, Meng-Sing↗

On the thermal instability of galactic and cluster halos

The paper presents a detailed study of thermal instabilities in cooling flows associated with galaxies and clusters of galaxies. In the case of purely radiation-driven accretion onto a central object such as the cD galaxy M87, it is found that the gas is largely subject to overstability, rather than to monotonic instability. If thermal conductivity is taken into account, the flow is stabilized on scales of several kiloparsecs, even if the conductivity is appreciably reduced (e.g., about 1 percent) with respect to the Spitzer value. In no case are the globular perturbations (i.e., perturbations with comparable radial and azimuthal dimensions) found to be monotonically unstable. The paper presents numerical solutions of the local dispersion relation for the cooling flow in M87 and discusses the possible consequences of the results for a correct understanding of cooling flows.

Malagoli, A.↗

Calculating Transonic Flows About Airfoils

Small disturbances and aeroelastic effects simulated. XTRAN2L computer program used to calculate two-dimensional transonic flows about airfoils. Uses time-accurate, alternating-direction, implicit (ADI) finite-difference scheme to solve two-dimensional complete unsteady transonic small-disturbance equation. Engquist-Osher monotone spatial differencing used in ADI solution algorithm to provide robust and efficient program. Written in FORTRAN V.

Seidel, David A.↗

Accurate Monotonicity - Preserving Schemes With Runge-Kutta Time Stepping

A new class of high-order monotonicity-preserving schemes for the numerical solution of conservation laws is presented. The interface value in these schemes is obtained by limiting a higher-order polynominal reconstruction. The limiting is designed to preserve accuracy near extrema and to work well with Runge-Kutta time stepping. Computational efficiency is enhanced by a simple test that determines whether the limiting procedure is needed. For linear advection in one dimension, these schemes are shown as well as the Euler equations also confirm their high accuracy, good shock resolution, and computational efficiency.

Suresh, A.↗

Separated flows near the nose of a body of revolution

The solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for the problem of cross-flow separataion about a deforming cylinder was achieved by iteration. It was shown that the separation starts at the rear stagnation point and the point of primary separation moves upstram along the cylinder surface. A general method of linear stability analysis for nonparallel external flows was constructed, which consists of representing the eigenfunctions with complete orthogonal sets and forms characteristic equations with the Galerkin method. The method was applied to the Kovasznay flow which is an exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equation. The results show that when the critical parameter is exceeded, there are only a few isolated unstable eigen-frequencies. Another exact solution is shown to be absolutely and monotonically stable with respect to infinitesimal disturbances of all frequencies. The flow is also globally, asymptotically, and monotonically stable in the mean with respect o three-dimensional disturbances. This result forms the sound foundation of rigorous stability analysis for nonparallel flows, and provides an invaluable test ground for future studies of nonparallel flows in which the basic states do not posses exact solutions. The application of this method to the study of the formation of spiral vorticies near the nose of a rotating body of revolution is underway. The same method will be applied to the stability analysis of reversed flow over a plate with suction.

Lin, S. P.↗

Hybrid Differential Dynamic Programming with Stochastic Search

Differential dynamic programming (DDP) has been demonstrated as a viable approach to low-thrust trajectory optimization, namely with the recent success of NASA's Dawn mission. The Dawn trajectory was designed with the DDP-based Static/Dynamic Optimal Control algorithm used in the Mystic software.1 Another recently developed method, Hybrid Differential Dynamic Programming (HDDP),2, 3 is a variant of the standard DDP formulation that leverages both first-order and second-order state transition matrices in addition to nonlinear programming (NLP) techniques. Areas of improvement over standard DDP include constraint handling, convergence properties, continuous dynamics, and multi-phase capability. DDP is a gradient based method and will converge to a solution nearby an initial guess. In this study, monotonic basin hopping (MBH) is employed as a stochastic search method to overcome this limitation, by augmenting the HDDP algorithm for a wider search of the solution space.

Aziz, Jonathan↗