Surface Modeling and Grid Generation of Orbital Sciences X34 Vehicle. Phase 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alter, Stephen J.

1997-01-01

The surface modeling and grid generation requirements, motivations, and methods used to develop Computational Fluid Dynamic volume grids for the X34-Phase 1 are presented. The requirements set forth by the Aerothermodynamics Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center serve as the basis for the final techniques used in the construction of all volume grids, including grids for parametric studies of the X34. The Integrated Computer Engineering and Manufacturing code for Computational Fluid Dynamics (ICEM/CFD), the Grid Generation code (GRIDGEN), the Three-Dimensional Multi-block Advanced Grid Generation System (3DMAGGS) code, and Volume Grid Manipulator (VGM) code are used to enable the necessary surface modeling, surface grid generation, volume grid generation, and grid alterations, respectively. All volume grids generated for the X34, as outlined in this paper, were used for CFD simulations within the Aerothermodynamics Branch.

Enabling campus grids with open science grid technology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weitzel, Derek; Bockelman, Brian; Swanson, David

2011-01-01

The Open Science Grid is a recognized key component of the US national cyber-infrastructure enabling scientific discovery through advanced high throughput computing. The principles and techniques that underlie the Open Science Grid can also be applied to Campus Grids since many of the requirements are the same, even if the implementation technologies differ. We find five requirements for a campus grid: trust relationships, job submission, resource independence, accounting, and data management. The Holland Computing Center's campus grid at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was designed to fulfill the requirements of a campus grid. A bridging daemon was designed to bring non-Condormore » clusters into a grid managed by Condor. Condor features which make it possible to bridge Condor sites into a multi-campus grid have been exploited at the Holland Computing Center as well.« less

Development of numerical methods for overset grids with applications for the integrated Space Shuttle vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, William M.

1995-01-01

Algorithms and computer code developments were performed for the overset grid approach to solving computational fluid dynamics problems. The techniques developed are applicable to compressible Navier-Stokes flow for any general complex configurations. The computer codes developed were tested on different complex configurations with the Space Shuttle launch vehicle configuration as the primary test bed. General, efficient and user-friendly codes were produced for grid generation, flow solution and force and moment computation.

High-resolution computer-aided moire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sciammarella, Cesar A.; Bhat, Gopalakrishna K.

1991-12-01

This paper presents a high resolution computer assisted moire technique for the measurement of displacements and strains at the microscopic level. The detection of micro-displacements using a moire grid and the problem associated with the recovery of displacement field from the sampled values of the grid intensity are discussed. A two dimensional Fourier transform method for the extraction of displacements from the image of the moire grid is outlined. An example of application of the technique to the measurement of strains and stresses in the vicinity of the crack tip in a compact tension specimen is given.

GLAD: a system for developing and deploying large-scale bioinformatics grid.

PubMed

Teo, Yong-Meng; Wang, Xianbing; Ng, Yew-Kwong

2005-03-01

Grid computing is used to solve large-scale bioinformatics problems with gigabytes database by distributing the computation across multiple platforms. Until now in developing bioinformatics grid applications, it is extremely tedious to design and implement the component algorithms and parallelization techniques for different classes of problems, and to access remotely located sequence database files of varying formats across the grid. In this study, we propose a grid programming toolkit, GLAD (Grid Life sciences Applications Developer), which facilitates the development and deployment of bioinformatics applications on a grid. GLAD has been developed using ALiCE (Adaptive scaLable Internet-based Computing Engine), a Java-based grid middleware, which exploits the task-based parallelism. Two bioinformatics benchmark applications, such as distributed sequence comparison and distributed progressive multiple sequence alignment, have been developed using GLAD.

An Analysis of Performance Enhancement Techniques for Overset Grid Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Djomehri, J. J.; Biswas, R.; Potsdam, M.; Strawn, R. C.; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The overset grid methodology has significantly reduced time-to-solution of high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations about complex aerospace configurations. The solution process resolves the geometrical complexity of the problem domain by using separately generated but overlapping structured discretization grids that periodically exchange information through interpolation. However, high performance computations of such large-scale realistic applications must be handled efficiently on state-of-the-art parallel supercomputers. This paper analyzes the effects of various performance enhancement techniques on the parallel efficiency of an overset grid Navier-Stokes CFD application running on an SGI Origin2000 machine. Specifically, the role of asynchronous communication, grid splitting, and grid grouping strategies are presented and discussed. Results indicate that performance depends critically on the level of latency hiding and the quality of load balancing across the processors.

Computational physical oceanography -- A comprehensive approach based on generalized CFD/grid techniques for planetary scale simulations of oceanic flows. Final report, September 1, 1995--August 31, 1996

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beddhu, M.; Jiang, M.Y.; Whitfield, D.L.

The original intention for this work was to impart the technology that was developed in the field of computational aeronautics to the field of computational physical oceanography. This technology transfer involved grid generation techniques and solution procedures to solve the governing equations over the grids thus generated. Specifically, boundary fitting non-orthogonal grids would be generated over a sphere taking into account the topography of the ocean floor and the topography of the continents. The solution methodology to be employed involved the application of an upwind, finite volume discretization procedure that uses higher order numerical fluxes at the cell faces tomore » discretize the governing equations and an implicit Newton relaxation technique to solve the discretized equations. This report summarizes the efforts put forth during the past three years to achieve these goals and indicates the future direction of this work as it is still an ongoing effort.« less

JIGSAW-GEO (1.0): Locally Orthogonal Staggered Unstructured Grid Generation for General Circulation Modelling on the Sphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engwirda, Darren

2017-01-01

An algorithm for the generation of non-uniform, locally orthogonal staggered unstructured spheroidal grids is described. This technique is designed to generate very high-quality staggered VoronoiDelaunay meshes appropriate for general circulation modelling on the sphere, including applications to atmospheric simulation, ocean-modelling and numerical weather prediction. Using a recently developed Frontal-Delaunay refinement technique, a method for the construction of high-quality unstructured spheroidal Delaunay triangulations is introduced. A locally orthogonal polygonal grid, derived from the associated Voronoi diagram, is computed as the staggered dual. It is shown that use of the Frontal-Delaunay refinement technique allows for the generation of very high-quality unstructured triangulations, satisfying a priori bounds on element size and shape. Grid quality is further improved through the application of hill-climbing-type optimisation techniques. Overall, the algorithm is shown to produce grids with very high element quality and smooth grading characteristics, while imposing relatively low computational expense. A selection of uniform and non-uniform spheroidal grids appropriate for high-resolution, multi-scale general circulation modelling are presented. These grids are shown to satisfy the geometric constraints associated with contemporary unstructured C-grid-type finite-volume models, including the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS-O). The use of user-defined mesh-spacing functions to generate smoothly graded, non-uniform grids for multi-resolution-type studies is discussed in detail.

JIGSAW-GEO (1.0): locally orthogonal staggered unstructured grid generation for general circulation modelling on the sphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engwirda, Darren

2017-06-01

An algorithm for the generation of non-uniform, locally orthogonal staggered unstructured spheroidal grids is described. This technique is designed to generate very high-quality staggered Voronoi-Delaunay meshes appropriate for general circulation modelling on the sphere, including applications to atmospheric simulation, ocean-modelling and numerical weather prediction. Using a recently developed Frontal-Delaunay refinement technique, a method for the construction of high-quality unstructured spheroidal Delaunay triangulations is introduced. A locally orthogonal polygonal grid, derived from the associated Voronoi diagram, is computed as the staggered dual. It is shown that use of the Frontal-Delaunay refinement technique allows for the generation of very high-quality unstructured triangulations, satisfying a priori bounds on element size and shape. Grid quality is further improved through the application of hill-climbing-type optimisation techniques. Overall, the algorithm is shown to produce grids with very high element quality and smooth grading characteristics, while imposing relatively low computational expense. A selection of uniform and non-uniform spheroidal grids appropriate for high-resolution, multi-scale general circulation modelling are presented. These grids are shown to satisfy the geometric constraints associated with contemporary unstructured C-grid-type finite-volume models, including the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS-O). The use of user-defined mesh-spacing functions to generate smoothly graded, non-uniform grids for multi-resolution-type studies is discussed in detail.

Computational System For Rapid CFD Analysis In Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barson, Steven L.; Ascoli, Edward P.; Decroix, Michelle E.; Sindir, Munir M.

1995-01-01

Computational system comprising modular hardware and software sub-systems developed to accelerate and facilitate use of techniques of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in engineering environment. Addresses integration of all aspects of CFD analysis process, including definition of hardware surfaces, generation of computational grids, CFD flow solution, and postprocessing. Incorporates interfaces for integration of all hardware and software tools needed to perform complete CFD analysis. Includes tools for efficient definition of flow geometry, generation of computational grids, computation of flows on grids, and postprocessing of flow data. System accepts geometric input from any of three basic sources: computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), or definition by user.

GRID3D-v2: An updated version of the GRID2D/3D computer program for generating grid systems in complex-shaped three-dimensional spatial domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinthorsson, E.; Shih, T. I-P.; Roelke, R. J.

1991-01-01

In order to generate good quality systems for complicated three-dimensional spatial domains, the grid-generation method used must be able to exert rather precise controls over grid-point distributions. Several techniques are presented that enhance control of grid-point distribution for a class of algebraic grid-generation methods known as the two-, four-, and six-boundary methods. These techniques include variable stretching functions from bilinear interpolation, interpolating functions based on tension splines, and normalized K-factors. The techniques developed in this study were incorporated into a new version of GRID3D called GRID3D-v2. The usefulness of GRID3D-v2 was demonstrated by using it to generate a three-dimensional grid system in the coolent passage of a radial turbine blade with serpentine channels and pin fins.

Advanced Methodology for Simulation of Complex Flows Using Structured Grid Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinthorsson, Erlendur; Modiano, David

1995-01-01

Detailed simulations of viscous flows in complicated geometries pose a significant challenge to current capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). To enable routine application of CFD to this class of problems, advanced methodologies are required that employ (a) automated grid generation, (b) adaptivity, (c) accurate discretizations and efficient solvers, and (d) advanced software techniques. Each of these ingredients contributes to increased accuracy, efficiency (in terms of human effort and computer time), and/or reliability of CFD software. In the long run, methodologies employing structured grid systems will remain a viable choice for routine simulation of flows in complex geometries only if genuinely automatic grid generation techniques for structured grids can be developed and if adaptivity is employed more routinely. More research in both these areas is urgently needed.

2-dimensional implicit hydrodynamics on adaptive grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stökl, A.; Dorfi, E. A.

2007-12-01

We present a numerical scheme for two-dimensional hydrodynamics computations using a 2D adaptive grid together with an implicit discretization. The combination of these techniques has offered favorable numerical properties applicable to a variety of one-dimensional astrophysical problems which motivated us to generalize this approach for two-dimensional applications. Due to the different topological nature of 2D grids compared to 1D problems, grid adaptivity has to avoid severe grid distortions which necessitates additional smoothing parameters to be included into the formulation of a 2D adaptive grid. The concept of adaptivity is described in detail and several test computations demonstrate the effectivity of smoothing. The coupled solution of this grid equation together with the equations of hydrodynamics is illustrated by computation of a 2D shock tube problem.

Hybrid Grid Techniques for Propulsion Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koomullil, Roy P.; Soni, Bharat K.; Thornburg, Hugh J.

1996-01-01

During the past decade, computational simulation of fluid flow for propulsion activities has progressed significantly, and many notable successes have been reported in the literature. However, the generation of a high quality mesh for such problems has often been reported as a pacing item. Hence, much effort has been expended to speed this portion of the simulation process. Several approaches have evolved for grid generation. Two of the most common are structured multi-block, and unstructured based procedures. Structured grids tend to be computationally efficient, and have high aspect ratio cells necessary for efficently resolving viscous layers. Structured multi-block grids may or may not exhibit grid line continuity across the block interface. This relaxation of the continuity constraint at the interface is intended to ease the grid generation process, which is still time consuming. Flow solvers supporting non-contiguous interfaces require specialized interpolation procedures which may not ensure conservation at the interface. Unstructured or generalized indexing data structures offer greater flexibility, but require explicit connectivity information and are not easy to generate for three dimensional configurations. In addition, unstructured mesh based schemes tend to be less efficient and it is difficult to resolve viscous layers. Recently hybrid or generalized element solution and grid generation techniques have been developed with the objective of combining the attractive features of both structured and unstructured techniques. In the present work, recently developed procedures for hybrid grid generation and flow simulation are critically evaluated, and compared to existing structured and unstructured procedures in terms of accuracy and computational requirements.

Computer animation challenges for computational fluid dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vines, Mauricio; Lee, Won-Sook; Mavriplis, Catherine

2012-07-01

Computer animation requirements differ from those of traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigations in that visual plausibility and rapid frame update rates trump physical accuracy. We present an overview of the main techniques for fluid simulation in computer animation, starting with Eulerian grid approaches, the Lattice Boltzmann method, Fourier transform techniques and Lagrangian particle introduction. Adaptive grid methods, precomputation of results for model reduction, parallelisation and computation on graphical processing units (GPUs) are reviewed in the context of accelerating simulation computations for animation. A survey of current specific approaches for the application of these techniques to the simulation of smoke, fire, water, bubbles, mixing, phase change and solid-fluid coupling is also included. Adding plausibility to results through particle introduction, turbulence detail and concentration on regions of interest by level set techniques has elevated the degree of accuracy and realism of recent animations. Basic approaches are described here. Techniques to control the simulation to produce a desired visual effect are also discussed. Finally, some references to rendering techniques and haptic applications are mentioned to provide the reader with a complete picture of the challenges of simulating fluids in computer animation.

Topography Modeling in Atmospheric Flows Using the Immersed Boundary Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ackerman, A. S.; Senocak, I.; Mansour, N. N.; Stevens, D. E.

2004-01-01

Numerical simulation of flow over complex geometry needs accurate and efficient computational methods. Different techniques are available to handle complex geometry. The unstructured grid and multi-block body-fitted grid techniques have been widely adopted for complex geometry in engineering applications. In atmospheric applications, terrain fitted single grid techniques have found common use. Although these are very effective techniques, their implementation, coupling with the flow algorithm, and efficient parallelization of the complete method are more involved than a Cartesian grid method. The grid generation can be tedious and one needs to pay special attention in numerics to handle skewed cells for conservation purposes. Researchers have long sought for alternative methods to ease the effort involved in simulating flow over complex geometry.

GENIE - Generation of computational geometry-grids for internal-external flow configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soni, B. K.

1988-01-01

Progress realized in the development of a master geometry-grid generation code GENIE is presented. The grid refinement process is enhanced by developing strategies to utilize bezier curves/surfaces and splines along with weighted transfinite interpolation technique and by formulating new forcing function for the elliptic solver based on the minimization of a non-orthogonality functional. A two step grid adaptation procedure is developed by optimally blending adaptive weightings with weighted transfinite interpolation technique. Examples of 2D-3D grids are provided to illustrate the success of these methods.

Techniques for grid manipulation and adaptation. [computational fluid dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choo, Yung K.; Eisemann, Peter R.; Lee, Ki D.

1992-01-01

Two approaches have been taken to provide systematic grid manipulation for improved grid quality. One is the control point form (CPF) of algebraic grid generation. It provides explicit control of the physical grid shape and grid spacing through the movement of the control points. It works well in the interactive computer graphics environment and hence can be a good candidate for integration with other emerging technologies. The other approach is grid adaptation using a numerical mapping between the physical space and a parametric space. Grid adaptation is achieved by modifying the mapping functions through the effects of grid control sources. The adaptation process can be repeated in a cyclic manner if satisfactory results are not achieved after a single application.

Towards Effective Clustering Techniques for the Analysis of Electric Power Grids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hogan, Emilie A.; Cotilla Sanchez, Jose E.; Halappanavar, Mahantesh

2013-11-30

Clustering is an important data analysis technique with numerous applications in the analysis of electric power grids. Standard clustering techniques are oblivious to the rich structural and dynamic information available for power grids. Therefore, by exploiting the inherent topological and electrical structure in the power grid data, we propose new methods for clustering with applications to model reduction, locational marginal pricing, phasor measurement unit (PMU or synchrophasor) placement, and power system protection. We focus our attention on model reduction for analysis based on time-series information from synchrophasor measurement devices, and spectral techniques for clustering. By comparing different clustering techniques onmore » two instances of realistic power grids we show that the solutions are related and therefore one could leverage that relationship for a computational advantage. Thus, by contrasting different clustering techniques we make a case for exploiting structure inherent in the data with implications for several domains including power systems.« less

GENIE(++): A Multi-Block Structured Grid System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Tonya; Nadenthiran, Naren; Thornburg, Hugh; Soni, Bharat K.

1996-01-01

The computer code GENIE++ is a continuously evolving grid system containing a multitude of proven geometry/grid techniques. The generation process in GENIE++ is based on an earlier version. The process uses several techniques either separately or in combination to quickly and economically generate sculptured geometry descriptions and grids for arbitrary geometries. The computational mesh is formed by using an appropriate algebraic method. Grid clustering is accomplished with either exponential or hyperbolic tangent routines which allow the user to specify a desired point distribution. Grid smoothing can be accomplished by using an elliptic solver with proper forcing functions. B-spline and Non-Uniform Rational B-splines (NURBS) algorithms are used for surface definition and redistribution. The built in sculptured geometry definition with desired distribution of points, automatic Bezier curve/surface generation for interior boundaries/surfaces, and surface redistribution is based on NURBS. Weighted Lagrance/Hermite transfinite interpolation methods, interactive geometry/grid manipulation modules, and on-line graphical visualization of the generation process are salient features of this system which result in a significant time savings for a given geometry/grid application.

A Simple Algebraic Grid Adaptation Scheme with Applications to Two- and Three-dimensional Flow Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hsu, Andrew T.; Lytle, John K.

1989-01-01

An algebraic adaptive grid scheme based on the concept of arc equidistribution is presented. The scheme locally adjusts the grid density based on gradients of selected flow variables from either finite difference or finite volume calculations. A user-prescribed grid stretching can be specified such that control of the grid spacing can be maintained in areas of known flowfield behavior. For example, the grid can be clustered near a wall for boundary layer resolution and made coarse near the outer boundary of an external flow. A grid smoothing technique is incorporated into the adaptive grid routine, which is found to be more robust and efficient than the weight function filtering technique employed by other researchers. Since the present algebraic scheme requires no iteration or solution of differential equations, the computer time needed for grid adaptation is trivial, making the scheme useful for three-dimensional flow problems. Applications to two- and three-dimensional flow problems show that a considerable improvement in flowfield resolution can be achieved by using the proposed adaptive grid scheme. Although the scheme was developed with steady flow in mind, it is a good candidate for unsteady flow computations because of its efficiency.

Implicit schemes and parallel computing in unstructured grid CFD

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Venkatakrishnam, V.

1995-01-01

The development of implicit schemes for obtaining steady state solutions to the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations on unstructured grids is outlined. Applications are presented that compare the convergence characteristics of various implicit methods. Next, the development of explicit and implicit schemes to compute unsteady flows on unstructured grids is discussed. Next, the issues involved in parallelizing finite volume schemes on unstructured meshes in an MIMD (multiple instruction/multiple data stream) fashion are outlined. Techniques for partitioning unstructured grids among processors and for extracting parallelism in explicit and implicit solvers are discussed. Finally, some dynamic load balancing ideas, which are useful in adaptive transient computations, are presented.

Multiple grid problems on concurrent-processing computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eberhardt, D. S.; Baganoff, D.

1986-01-01

Three computer codes were studied which make use of concurrent processing computer architectures in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The three parallel codes were tested on a two processor multiple-instruction/multiple-data (MIMD) facility at NASA Ames Research Center, and are suggested for efficient parallel computations. The first code is a well-known program which makes use of the Beam and Warming, implicit, approximate factored algorithm. This study demonstrates the parallelism found in a well-known scheme and it achieved speedups exceeding 1.9 on the two processor MIMD test facility. The second code studied made use of an embedded grid scheme which is used to solve problems having complex geometries. The particular application for this study considered an airfoil/flap geometry in an incompressible flow. The scheme eliminates some of the inherent difficulties found in adapting approximate factorization techniques onto MIMD machines and allows the use of chaotic relaxation and asynchronous iteration techniques. The third code studied is an application of overset grids to a supersonic blunt body problem. The code addresses the difficulties encountered when using embedded grids on a compressible, and therefore nonlinear, problem. The complex numerical boundary system associated with overset grids is discussed and several boundary schemes are suggested. A boundary scheme based on the method of characteristics achieved the best results.

A coarse-grid-projection acceleration method for finite-element incompressible flow computations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kashefi, Ali; Staples, Anne; FiN Lab Team

2015-11-01

Coarse grid projection (CGP) methodology provides a framework for accelerating computations by performing some part of the computation on a coarsened grid. We apply the CGP to pressure projection methods for finite element-based incompressible flow simulations. Based on it, the predicted velocity field data is restricted to a coarsened grid, the pressure is determined by solving the Poisson equation on the coarse grid, and the resulting data are prolonged to the preset fine grid. The contributions of the CGP method to the pressure correction technique are twofold: first, it substantially lessens the computational cost devoted to the Poisson equation, which is the most time-consuming part of the simulation process. Second, it preserves the accuracy of the velocity field. The velocity and pressure spaces are approximated by Galerkin spectral element using piecewise linear basis functions. A restriction operator is designed so that fine data are directly injected into the coarse grid. The Laplacian and divergence matrices are driven by taking inner products of coarse grid shape functions. Linear interpolation is implemented to construct a prolongation operator. A study of the data accuracy and the CPU time for the CGP-based versus non-CGP computations is presented. Laboratory for Fluid Dynamics in Nature.

IGB grid: User's manual (A turbomachinery grid generation code)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beach, T. A.; Hoffman, G.

1992-01-01

A grid generation code called IGB is presented for use in computational investigations of turbomachinery flowfields. It contains a combination of algebraic and elliptic techniques coded for use on an interactive graphics workstation. The instructions for use and a test case are included.

Operational forecasting with the subgrid technique on the Elbe Estuary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sehili, Aissa

2017-04-01

Modern remote sensing technologies can deliver very detailed land surface height data that should be considered for more accurate simulations. In that case, and even if some compromise is made with regard to grid resolution of an unstructured grid, simulations still will require large grids which can be computationally very demanding. The subgrid technique, first published by Casulli (2009), is based on the idea of making use of the available detailed subgrid bathymetric information while performing computations on relatively coarse grids permitting large time steps. Consequently, accuracy and efficiency are drastically enhanced if compared to the classical linear method, where the underlying bathymetry is solely discretized by the computational grid. The algorithm guarantees rigorous mass conservation and nonnegative water depths for any time step size. Computational grid-cells are permitted to be wet, partially wet or dry and no drying threshold is needed. The subgrid technique is used in an operational forecast model for water level, current velocity, salinity and temperature of the Elbe estuary in Germany. Comparison is performed with the comparatively highly resolved classical unstructured grid model UnTRIM. The daily meteorological forcing data are delivered by the German Weather Service (DWD) using the ICON-EU model. Open boundary data are delivered by the coastal model BSHcmod of the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH). Comparison of predicted water levels between classical and subgrid model shows a very good agreement. The speedup in computational performance due to the use of the subgrid technique is about a factor of 20. A typical daily forecast can be carried out within less than 10 minutes on standard PC-like hardware. The model is capable of permanently delivering highly resolved temporal and spatial information on water level, current velocity, salinity and temperature for the whole estuary. The model offers also the possibility to recalculate any previous situation. This can be helpful to figure out for instance the context in which a certain event occurred like an accident. In addition to measurement, the model can be used to improve navigability by adjusting the tidal transit-schedule for container vessels that are depending on the tide to approach or leave the port of Hamburg.

An algebraic homotopy method for generating quasi-three-dimensional grids for high-speed configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moitra, Anutosh

1989-01-01

A fast and versatile procedure for algebraically generating boundary conforming computational grids for use with finite-volume Euler flow solvers is presented. A semi-analytic homotopic procedure is used to generate the grids. Grids generated in two-dimensional planes are stacked to produce quasi-three-dimensional grid systems. The body surface and outer boundary are described in terms of surface parameters. An interpolation scheme is used to blend between the body surface and the outer boundary in order to determine the field points. The method, albeit developed for analytically generated body geometries is equally applicable to other classes of geometries. The method can be used for both internal and external flow configurations, the only constraint being that the body geometries be specified in two-dimensional cross-sections stationed along the longitudinal axis of the configuration. Techniques for controlling various grid parameters, e.g., clustering and orthogonality are described. Techniques for treating problems arising in algebraic grid generation for geometries with sharp corners are addressed. A set of representative grid systems generated by this method is included. Results of flow computations using these grids are presented for validation of the effectiveness of the method.

A Diagnostic Study of Computer Application of Structural Communication Grid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahar, Mehmet; Aydin, Fatih; Karakirik, Erol

2009-01-01

In this article, Structural communication grid (SCG), an alternative measurement and evaluation technique, has been firstly summarised and the design, development and implementation of a computer based SCG system have been introduced. The system is then tested on a sample of 154 participants consisting of candidate students, science teachers and…

Technical Report Series on Global Modeling and Data Assimilation. Volume 16; Filtering Techniques on a Stretched Grid General Circulation Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Takacs, Lawrence L.; Sawyer, William; Suarez, Max J. (Editor); Fox-Rabinowitz, Michael S.

1999-01-01

This report documents the techniques used to filter quantities on a stretched grid general circulation model. Standard high-latitude filtering techniques (e.g., using an FFT (Fast Fourier Transformations) to decompose and filter unstable harmonics at selected latitudes) applied on a stretched grid are shown to produce significant distortions of the prognostic state when used to control instabilities near the pole. A new filtering technique is developed which accurately accounts for the non-uniform grid by computing the eigenvectors and eigenfrequencies associated with the stretching. A filter function, constructed to selectively damp those modes whose associated eigenfrequencies exceed some critical value, is used to construct a set of grid-spaced weights which are shown to effectively filter without distortion. Both offline and GCM (General Circulation Model) experiments are shown using the new filtering technique. Finally, a brief examination is also made on the impact of applying the Shapiro filter on the stretched grid.

Implementation of control point form of algebraic grid-generation technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choo, Yung K.; Miller, David P.; Reno, Charles J.

1991-01-01

The control point form (CPF) provides explicit control of physical grid shape and grid spacing through the movement of the control points. The control point array, called a control net, is a space grid type arrangement of locations in physical space with an index for each direction. As an algebraic method CPF is efficient and works well with interactive computer graphics. A family of menu-driven, interactive grid-generation computer codes (TURBO) is being developed by using CPF. Key features of TurboI (a TURBO member) are discussed and typical results are presented. TurboI runs on any IRIS 4D series workstation.

Tools and Techniques for Measuring and Improving Grid Performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Biswas, Rupak; Frumkin, M.; Smith, W.; VanderWijngaart, R.; Wong, P.; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This viewgraph presentation provides information on NASA's geographically dispersed computing resources, and the various methods by which the disparate technologies are integrated within a nationwide computational grid. Many large-scale science and engineering projects are accomplished through the interaction of people, heterogeneous computing resources, information systems and instruments at different locations. The overall goal is to facilitate the routine interactions of these resources to reduce the time spent in design cycles, particularly for NASA's mission critical projects. The IPG (Information Power Grid) seeks to implement NASA's diverse computing resources in a fashion similar to the way in which electric power is made available.

Parallel computational fluid dynamics '91; Conference Proceedings, Stuttgart, Germany, Jun. 10-12, 1991

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinsch, K. G. (Editor); Schmidt, W. (Editor); Ecer, A. (Editor); Haeuser, Jochem (Editor); Periaux, J. (Editor)

1992-01-01

A conference was held on parallel computational fluid dynamics and produced related papers. Topics discussed in these papers include: parallel implicit and explicit solvers for compressible flow, parallel computational techniques for Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, grid generation techniques for parallel computers, and aerodynamic simulation om massively parallel systems.

Coarse Grid CFD for underresolved simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Class, Andreas G.; Viellieber, Mathias O.; Himmel, Steffen R.

2010-11-01

CFD simulation of the complete reactor core of a nuclear power plant requires exceedingly huge computational resources so that this crude power approach has not been pursued yet. The traditional approach is 1D subchannel analysis employing calibrated transport models. Coarse grid CFD is an attractive alternative technique based on strongly under-resolved CFD and the inviscid Euler equations. Obviously, using inviscid equations and coarse grids does not resolve all the physics requiring additional volumetric source terms modelling viscosity and other sub-grid effects. The source terms are implemented via correlations derived from fully resolved representative simulations which can be tabulated or computed on the fly. The technique is demonstrated for a Carnot diffusor and a wire-wrap fuel assembly [1]. [4pt] [1] Himmel, S.R. phd thesis, Stuttgart University, Germany 2009, http://bibliothek.fzk.de/zb/berichte/FZKA7468.pdf

Domain Decomposition By the Advancing-Partition Method for Parallel Unstructured Grid Generation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzadeh, Shahyar Z.; Zagaris, George

2009-01-01

A new method of domain decomposition has been developed for generating unstructured grids in subdomains either sequentially or using multiple computers in parallel. Domain decomposition is a crucial and challenging step for parallel grid generation. Prior methods are generally based on auxiliary, complex, and computationally intensive operations for defining partition interfaces and usually produce grids of lower quality than those generated in single domains. The new technique, referred to as "Advancing Partition," is based on the Advancing-Front method, which partitions a domain as part of the volume mesh generation in a consistent and "natural" way. The benefits of this approach are: 1) the process of domain decomposition is highly automated, 2) partitioning of domain does not compromise the quality of the generated grids, and 3) the computational overhead for domain decomposition is minimal. The new method has been implemented in NASA's unstructured grid generation code VGRID.

Load Balancing Strategies for Multi-Block Overset Grid Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Djomehri, M. Jahed; Biswas, Rupak; Lopez-Benitez, Noe; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The multi-block overset grid method is a powerful technique for high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations about complex aerospace configurations. The solution process uses a grid system that discretizes the problem domain by using separately generated but overlapping structured grids that periodically update and exchange boundary information through interpolation. For efficient high performance computations of large-scale realistic applications using this methodology, the individual grids must be properly partitioned among the parallel processors. Overall performance, therefore, largely depends on the quality of load balancing. In this paper, we present three different load balancing strategies far overset grids and analyze their effects on the parallel efficiency of a Navier-Stokes CFD application running on an SGI Origin2000 machine.

Minimizing Cache Misses Using Minimum-Surface Bodies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frumkin, Michael; VanderWijngaart, Rob; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A number of known techniques for improving cache performance in scientific computations involve the reordering of the iteration space. Some of these reorderings can be considered as coverings of the iteration space with the sets having good surface-to-volume ratio. Use of such sets reduces the number of cache misses in computations of local operators having the iteration space as a domain. First, we derive lower bounds which any algorithm must suffer while computing a local operator on a grid. Then we explore coverings of iteration spaces represented by structured and unstructured grids which allow us to approach these lower bounds. For structured grids we introduce a covering by successive minima tiles of the interference lattice of the grid. We show that the covering has low surface-to-volume ratio and present a computer experiment showing actual reduction of the cache misses achieved by using these tiles. For planar unstructured grids we show existence of a covering which reduces the number of cache misses to the level of structured grids. On the other hand, we present a triangulation of a 3-dimensional cube such that any local operator on the corresponding grid has significantly larger number of cache misses than a similar operator on a structured grid.

Time-Dependent Simulation of Incompressible Flow in a Turbopump Using Overset Grid Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin; Kwak, Dochan

2001-01-01

This paper reports the progress being made towards complete unsteady turbopump simulation capability by using overset grid systems. A computational model of a turbo-pump impeller is used as a test case for the performance evaluation of the MPI, hybrid MPI/Open-MP, and MLP versions of the INS3D code. Relative motion of the grid system for rotor-stator interaction was obtained by employing overset grid techniques. Unsteady computations for a turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.3 Million grid points, are performed on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. The approach taken for these simulations, and the performance of the parallel versions of the code are presented.

Enhanced Representation of Turbulent Flow Phenomena in Large-Eddy Simulations of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer using Grid Refinement with Pseudo-Spectral Numerics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torkelson, G. Q.; Stoll, R., II

2017-12-01

Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is a tool commonly used to study the turbulent transport of momentum, heat, and moisture in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL). For a wide range of ABL LES applications, representing the full range of turbulent length scales in the flow field is a challenge. This is an acute problem in regions of the ABL with strong velocity or scalar gradients, which are typically poorly resolved by standard computational grids (e.g., near the ground surface, in the entrainment zone). Most efforts to address this problem have focused on advanced sub-grid scale (SGS) turbulence model development, or on the use of massive computational resources. While some work exists using embedded meshes, very little has been done on the use of grid refinement. Here, we explore the benefits of grid refinement in a pseudo-spectral LES numerical code. The code utilizes both uniform refinement of the grid in horizontal directions, and stretching of the grid in the vertical direction. Combining the two techniques allows us to refine areas of the flow while maintaining an acceptable grid aspect ratio. In tests that used only refinement of the vertical grid spacing, large grid aspect ratios were found to cause a significant unphysical spike in the stream-wise velocity variance near the ground surface. This was especially problematic in simulations of stably-stratified ABL flows. The use of advanced SGS models was not sufficient to alleviate this issue. The new refinement technique is evaluated using a series of idealized simulation test cases of neutrally and stably stratified ABLs. These test cases illustrate the ability of grid refinement to increase computational efficiency without loss in the representation of statistical features of the flow field.

Adaptive grid generation in a patient-specific cerebral aneurysm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hodis, Simona; Kallmes, David F.; Dragomir-Daescu, Dan

2013-11-01

Adapting grid density to flow behavior provides the advantage of increasing solution accuracy while decreasing the number of grid elements in the simulation domain, therefore reducing the computational time. One method for grid adaptation requires successive refinement of grid density based on observed solution behavior until the numerical errors between successive grids are negligible. However, such an approach is time consuming and it is often neglected by the researchers. We present a technique to calculate the grid size distribution of an adaptive grid for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in a complex cerebral aneurysm geometry based on the kinematic curvature and torsion calculated from the velocity field. The relationship between the kinematic characteristics of the flow and the element size of the adaptive grid leads to a mathematical equation to calculate the grid size in different regions of the flow. The adaptive grid density is obtained such that it captures the more complex details of the flow with locally smaller grid size, while less complex flow characteristics are calculated on locally larger grid size. The current study shows that kinematic curvature and torsion calculated from the velocity field in a cerebral aneurysm can be used to find the locations of complex flow where the computational grid needs to be refined in order to obtain an accurate solution. We found that the complexity of the flow can be adequately described by velocity and vorticity and the angle between the two vectors. For example, inside the aneurysm bleb, at the bifurcation, and at the major arterial turns the element size in the lumen needs to be less than 10% of the artery radius, while at the boundary layer, the element size should be smaller than 1% of the artery radius, for accurate results within a 0.5% relative approximation error. This technique of quantifying flow complexity and adaptive remeshing has the potential to improve results accuracy and reduce computational time for patient-specific hemodynamics simulations, which are used to help assess the likelihood of aneurysm rupture using CFD calculated flow patterns.

Multi-Resolution Unstructured Grid-Generation for Geophysical Applications on the Sphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Engwirda, Darren

2015-01-01

An algorithm for the generation of non-uniform unstructured grids on ellipsoidal geometries is described. This technique is designed to generate high quality triangular and polygonal meshes appropriate for general circulation modelling on the sphere, including applications to atmospheric and ocean simulation, and numerical weather predication. Using a recently developed Frontal-Delaunay-refinement technique, a method for the construction of high-quality unstructured ellipsoidal Delaunay triangulations is introduced. A dual polygonal grid, derived from the associated Voronoi diagram, is also optionally generated as a by-product. Compared to existing techniques, it is shown that the Frontal-Delaunay approach typically produces grids with near-optimal element quality and smooth grading characteristics, while imposing relatively low computational expense. Initial results are presented for a selection of uniform and non-uniform ellipsoidal grids appropriate for large-scale geophysical applications. The use of user-defined mesh-sizing functions to generate smoothly graded, non-uniform grids is discussed.

3D automatic Cartesian grid generation for Euler flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Melton, John E.; Enomoto, Francis Y.; Berger, Marsha J.

1993-01-01

We describe a Cartesian grid strategy for the study of three dimensional inviscid flows about arbitrary geometries that uses both conventional and CAD/CAM surface geometry databases. Initial applications of the technique are presented. The elimination of the body-fitted constraint allows the grid generation process to be automated, significantly reducing the time and effort required to develop suitable computational grids for inviscid flowfield simulations.

Use of CAD Geometry in MDO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Samareh, Jamshid A.

1996-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) geometry in a Multi-Disciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) environment. Two techniques are presented to facilitate the use of CAD geometry by different disciplines, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational Structural Mechanics (CSM). One method is to transfer the load from a CFD grid to a CSM grid. The second method is to update the CAD geometry for CSM deflection.

Time-partitioning simulation models for calculation on parallel computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Milner, Edward J.; Blech, Richard A.; Chima, Rodrick V.

1987-01-01

A technique allowing time-staggered solution of partial differential equations is presented in this report. Using this technique, called time-partitioning, simulation execution speedup is proportional to the number of processors used because all processors operate simultaneously, with each updating of the solution grid at a different time point. The technique is limited by neither the number of processors available nor by the dimension of the solution grid. Time-partitioning was used to obtain the flow pattern through a cascade of airfoils, modeled by the Euler partial differential equations. An execution speedup factor of 1.77 was achieved using a two processor Cray X-MP/24 computer.

PLUM: Parallel Load Balancing for Unstructured Adaptive Meshes. Degree awarded by Colorado Univ.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliker, Leonid

1998-01-01

Dynamic mesh adaption on unstructured grids is a powerful tool for computing large-scale problems that require grid modifications to efficiently resolve solution features. By locally refining and coarsening the mesh to capture physical phenomena of interest, such procedures make standard computational methods more cost effective. Unfortunately, an efficient parallel implementation of these adaptive methods is rather difficult to achieve, primarily due to the load imbalance created by the dynamically-changing nonuniform grid. This requires significant communication at runtime, leading to idle processors and adversely affecting the total execution time. Nonetheless, it is generally thought that unstructured adaptive- grid techniques will constitute a significant fraction of future high-performance supercomputing. Various dynamic load balancing methods have been reported to date; however, most of them either lack a global view of loads across processors or do not apply their techniques to realistic large-scale applications.

Convergence acceleration of viscous flow computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, G. M.

1982-01-01

A multiple-grid convergence acceleration technique introduced for application to the solution of the Euler equations by means of Lax-Wendroff algorithms is extended to treat compressible viscous flow. Computational results are presented for the solution of the thin-layer version of the Navier-Stokes equations using the explicit MacCormack algorithm, accelerated by a convective coarse-grid scheme. Extensions and generalizations are mentioned.

Investigation of upwind, multigrid, multiblock numerical schemes for three dimensional flows. Volume 1: Runge-Kutta methods for a thin layer Navier-Stokes solver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cannizzaro, Frank E.; Ash, Robert L.

1992-01-01

A state-of-the-art computer code has been developed that incorporates a modified Runge-Kutta time integration scheme, upwind numerical techniques, multigrid acceleration, and multi-block capabilities (RUMM). A three-dimensional thin-layer formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations is employed. For turbulent flow cases, the Baldwin-Lomax algebraic turbulence model is used. Two different upwind techniques are available: van Leer's flux-vector splitting and Roe's flux-difference splitting. Full approximation multi-grid plus implicit residual and corrector smoothing were implemented to enhance the rate of convergence. Multi-block capabilities were developed to provide geometric flexibility. This feature allows the developed computer code to accommodate any grid topology or grid configuration with multiple topologies. The results shown in this dissertation were chosen to validate the computer code and display its geometric flexibility, which is provided by the multi-block structure.

Efficient Development of High Fidelity Structured Volume Grids for Hypersonic Flow Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alter, Stephen J.

2003-01-01

A new technique for the control of grid line spacing and intersection angles of a structured volume grid, using elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) is presented. Existing structured grid generation algorithms make use of source term hybridization to provide control of grid lines, imposing orthogonality implicitly at the boundary and explicitly on the interior of the domain. A bridging function between the two types of grid line control is typically used to blend the different orthogonality formulations. It is shown that utilizing such a bridging function with source term hybridization can result in the excessive use of computational resources and diminishes robustness. A new approach, Anisotropic Lagrange Based Trans-Finite Interpolation (ALBTFI), is offered as a replacement to source term hybridization. The ALBTFI technique captures the essence of the desired grid controls while improving the convergence rate of the elliptic PDEs when compared with source term hybridization. Grid generation on a blunt cone and a Shuttle Orbiter is used to demonstrate and assess the ALBTFI technique, which is shown to be as much as 50% faster, more robust, and produces higher quality grids than source term hybridization.

Running GCM physics and dynamics on different grids: Algorithm and tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molod, A.

2006-12-01

The major drawback in the use of sigma coordinates in atmospheric GCMs, namely the error in the pressure gradient term near sloping terrain, leaves the use of eta coordinates an important alternative. A central disadvantage of an eta coordinate, the inability to retain fine resolution in the vertical as the surface rises above sea level, is addressed here. An `alternate grid' technique is presented which allows the tendencies of state variables due to the physical parameterizations to be computed on a vertical grid (the `physics grid') which retains fine resolution near the surface, while the remaining terms in the equations of motion are computed using an eta coordinate (the `dynamics grid') with coarser vertical resolution. As a simple test of the technique a set of perpetual equinox experiments using a simplified lower boundary condition with no land and no topography were performed. The results show that for both low and high resolution alternate grid experiments, much of the benefit of increased vertical resolution for the near surface meridional wind (and mass streamfield) can be realized by enhancing the vertical resolution of the `physics grid' in the manner described here. In addition, approximately half of the increase in zonal jet strength seen with increased vertical resolution can be realized using the `alternate grid' technique. A pair of full GCM experiments with realistic lower boundary conditions and topography were also performed. It is concluded that the use of the `alternate grid' approach offers a promising way forward to alleviate a central problem associated with the use of the eta coordinate in atmospheric GCMs.

Free-wake computation of helicopter rotor flowfields in forward flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, K.; Schlechtriem, S.; Caradonna, F. X.; Steinhoff, John

1993-01-01

A new method has been developed for computing advancing rotor flows. This method uses the Vorticity Embedding technique, which has been developed and validated over the last several years for hovering rotor problems. In this work, the unsteady full potential equation is solved on an Eulerian grid with an embedded vortical velocity field. This vortical velocity accounts for the influence of the wake. Dynamic grid changes that are required to accommodate prescribed blade motion and deformation are included using a novel grid blending method. Free wake computations have been performed on a two-bladed AH-1G rotor at low advance ratios including blade motion. Computed results are compared with experimental data. The sudden variations in airloads due to blade-vortex interactions on the advancing and retreating sides are well captured. The sensitivity of the computed solution to various factors like core size, time step and grids has been investigated. Computed wake geometries and their influence on the aerodynamic loads at these advance ratios are also discussed.

Analysis of the Harrier forebody/inlet design using computational techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chow, Chuen-Yen

1993-01-01

Under the support of this Cooperative Agreement, computations of transonic flow past the complex forebody/inlet configuration of the AV-8B Harrier II have been performed. The actual aircraft configuration was measured and its surface and surrounding domain were defined using computational structured grids. The thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations were used to model the flow along with the Chimera embedded multi-grid technique. A fully conservative, alternating direction implicit (ADI), approximately-factored, partially flux-split algorithm was employed to perform the computation. An existing code was altered to conform with the needs of the study, and some special engine face boundary conditions were developed. The algorithm incorporated the Chimera technique and an algebraic turbulence model in order to deal with the embedded multi-grids and viscous governing equations. Comparison with experimental data has yielded good agreement for the simplifications incorporated into the analysis. The aim of the present research was to provide a methodology for the numerical solution of complex, combined external/internal flows. This is the first time-dependent Navier-Stokes solution for a geometry in which the fuselage and inlet share a wall. The results indicate the methodology used here is a viable tool for transonic aircraft modeling.

Domain Decomposition By the Advancing-Partition Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pirzadeh, Shahyar Z.

2008-01-01

A new method of domain decomposition has been developed for generating unstructured grids in subdomains either sequentially or using multiple computers in parallel. Domain decomposition is a crucial and challenging step for parallel grid generation. Prior methods are generally based on auxiliary, complex, and computationally intensive operations for defining partition interfaces and usually produce grids of lower quality than those generated in single domains. The new technique, referred to as "Advancing Partition," is based on the Advancing-Front method, which partitions a domain as part of the volume mesh generation in a consistent and "natural" way. The benefits of this approach are: 1) the process of domain decomposition is highly automated, 2) partitioning of domain does not compromise the quality of the generated grids, and 3) the computational overhead for domain decomposition is minimal. The new method has been implemented in NASA's unstructured grid generation code VGRID.

Using Minimum-Surface Bodies for Iteration Space Partitioning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frumlin, Michael; VanderWijngaart, Rob F.; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A number of known techniques for improving cache performance in scientific computations involve the reordering of the iteration space. Some of these reorderings can be considered as coverings of the iteration space with the sets having good surface-to-volume ratio. Use of such sets reduces the number of cache misses in computations of local operators having the iteration space as a domain. We study coverings of iteration spaces represented by structured and unstructured grids. For structured grids we introduce a covering based on successive minima tiles of the interference lattice of the grid. We show that the covering has good surface-to-volume ratio and present a computer experiment showing actual reduction of the cache misses achieved by using these tiles. For unstructured grids no cache efficient covering can be guaranteed. We present a triangulation of a 3-dimensional cube such that any local operator on the corresponding grid has significantly larger number of cache misses than a similar operator on a structured grid.

Multidisciplinary Simulation Acceleration using Multiple Shared-Memory Graphical Processing Units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kemal, Jonathan Yashar

For purposes of optimizing and analyzing turbomachinery and other designs, the unsteady Favre-averaged flow-field differential equations for an ideal compressible gas can be solved in conjunction with the heat conduction equation. We solve all equations using the finite-volume multiple-grid numerical technique, with the dual time-step scheme used for unsteady simulations. Our numerical solver code targets CUDA-capable Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) produced by NVIDIA. Making use of MPI, our solver can run across networked compute notes, where each MPI process can use either a GPU or a Central Processing Unit (CPU) core for primary solver calculations. We use NVIDIA Tesla C2050/C2070 GPUs based on the Fermi architecture, and compare our resulting performance against Intel Zeon X5690 CPUs. Solver routines converted to CUDA typically run about 10 times faster on a GPU for sufficiently dense computational grids. We used a conjugate cylinder computational grid and ran a turbulent steady flow simulation using 4 increasingly dense computational grids. Our densest computational grid is divided into 13 blocks each containing 1033x1033 grid points, for a total of 13.87 million grid points or 1.07 million grid points per domain block. To obtain overall speedups, we compare the execution time of the solver's iteration loop, including all resource intensive GPU-related memory copies. Comparing the performance of 8 GPUs to that of 8 CPUs, we obtain an overall speedup of about 6.0 when using our densest computational grid. This amounts to an 8-GPU simulation running about 39.5 times faster than running than a single-CPU simulation.

Performance Enhancement Strategies for Multi-Block Overset Grid CFD Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Djomehri, M. Jahed; Biswas, Rupak

2003-01-01

The overset grid methodology has significantly reduced time-to-solution of highfidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations about complex aerospace configurations. The solution process resolves the geometrical complexity of the problem domain by using separately generated but overlapping structured discretization grids that periodically exchange information through interpolation. However, high performance computations of such large-scale realistic applications must be handled efficiently on state-of-the-art parallel supercomputers. This paper analyzes the effects of various performance enhancement strategies on the parallel efficiency of an overset grid Navier-Stokes CFD application running on an SGI Origin2000 machinc. Specifically, the role of asynchronous communication, grid splitting, and grid grouping strategies are presented and discussed. Details of a sophisticated graph partitioning technique for grid grouping are also provided. Results indicate that performance depends critically on the level of latency hiding and the quality of load balancing across the processors.

Computer Simulation of the Population Growth (Schizosaccharomyces Pombe) Experiment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daley, Michael; Hillier, Douglas

1981-01-01

Describes a computer program (available from authors) developed to simulate "Growth of a Population (Yeast) Experiment." Students actively revise the counting techniques with realistically simulated haemocytometer or eye-piece grid and are reminded of the necessary dilution technique. Program can be modified to introduce such variables…

Fast generation of three-dimensional computational boundary-conforming periodic grids of C-type. [for turbine blades and propellers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dulikravich, D. S.

1982-01-01

A fast computer program, GRID3C, was developed to generate multilevel three dimensional, C type, periodic, boundary conforming grids for the calculation of realistic turbomachinery and propeller flow fields. The technique is based on two analytic functions that conformally map a cascade of semi-infinite slits to a cascade of doubly infinite strips on different Riemann sheets. Up to four consecutively refined three dimensional grids are automatically generated and permanently stored on four different computer tapes. Grid nonorthogonality is introduced by a separate coordinate shearing and stretching performed in each of three coordinate directions. The grids are easily clustered closer to the blade surface, the trailing and leading edges and the hub or shroud regions by changing appropriate input parameters. Hub and duct (or outer free boundary) have different axisymmetric shapes. A vortex sheet of arbitrary thickness emanating smoothly from the blade trailing edge is generated automatically by GRID3C. Blade cross sectional shape, chord length, twist angle, sweep angle, and dihedral angle can vary in an arbitrary smooth fashion in the spanwise direction.

Efficient Redundancy Techniques in Cloud and Desktop Grid Systems using MAP/G/c-type Queues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chakravarthy, Srinivas R.; Rumyantsev, Alexander

2018-03-01

Cloud computing is continuing to prove its flexibility and versatility in helping industries and businesses as well as academia as a way of providing needed computing capacity. As an important alternative to cloud computing, desktop grids allow to utilize the idle computer resources of an enterprise/community by means of distributed computing system, providing a more secure and controllable environment with lower operational expenses. Further, both cloud computing and desktop grids are meant to optimize limited resources and at the same time to decrease the expected latency for users. The crucial parameter for optimization both in cloud computing and in desktop grids is the level of redundancy (replication) for service requests/workunits. In this paper we study the optimal replication policies by considering three variations of Fork-Join systems in the context of a multi-server queueing system with a versatile point process for the arrivals. For services we consider phase type distributions as well as shifted exponential and Weibull. We use both analytical and simulation approach in our analysis and report some interesting qualitative results.

Applications of multigrid software in the atmospheric sciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, J.; Garcia, R.; Gross, B.; Hack, J.; Haidvogel, D.; Pizzo, V.

1992-01-01

Elliptic partial differential equations from different areas in the atmospheric sciences are efficiently and easily solved utilizing the multigrid software package named MUDPACK. It is demonstrated that the multigrid method is more efficient than other commonly employed techniques, such as Gaussian elimination and fixed-grid relaxation. The efficiency relative to other techniques, both in terms of storage requirement and computational time, increases quickly with grid size.

Prediction of Undsteady Flows in Turbomachinery Using the Linearized Euler Equations on Deforming Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, William S.; Hall, Kenneth C.

1994-01-01

A linearized Euler solver for calculating unsteady flows in turbomachinery blade rows due to both incident gusts and blade motion is presented. The model accounts for blade loading, blade geometry, shock motion, and wake motion. Assuming that the unsteadiness in the flow is small relative to the nonlinear mean solution, the unsteady Euler equations can be linearized about the mean flow. This yields a set of linear variable coefficient equations that describe the small amplitude harmonic motion of the fluid. These linear equations are then discretized on a computational grid and solved using standard numerical techniques. For transonic flows, however, one must use a linear discretization which is a conservative linearization of the non-linear discretized Euler equations to ensure that shock impulse loads are accurately captured. Other important features of this analysis include a continuously deforming grid which eliminates extrapolation errors and hence, increases accuracy, and a new numerically exact, nonreflecting far-field boundary condition treatment based on an eigenanalysis of the discretized equations. Computational results are presented which demonstrate the computational accuracy and efficiency of the method and demonstrate the effectiveness of the deforming grid, far-field nonreflecting boundary conditions, and shock capturing techniques. A comparison of the present unsteady flow predictions to other numerical, semi-analytical, and experimental methods shows excellent agreement. In addition, the linearized Euler method presented requires one or two orders-of-magnitude less computational time than traditional time marching techniques making the present method a viable design tool for aeroelastic analyses.

Investigation of advancing front method for generating unstructured grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, A. M.; Tiwari, S. N.

1992-01-01

The advancing front technique is used to generate an unstructured grid about simple aerodynamic geometries. Unstructured grids are generated using VGRID2D and VGRID3D software. Specific problems considered are a NACA 0012 airfoil, a bi-plane consisting of two NACA 0012 airfoil, a four element airfoil in its landing configuration, and an ONERA M6 wing. Inviscid time dependent solutions are computed on these geometries using USM3D and the results are compared with standard test results obtained by other investigators. A grid convergence study is conducted for the NACA 0012 airfoil and compared with a structured grid. A structured grid is generated using GRIDGEN software and inviscid solutions computed using CFL3D flow solver. The results obtained by unstructured grid for NACA 0012 airfoil showed an asymmetric distribution of flow quantities, and a fine distribution of grid was required to remove this asymmetry. On the other hand, the structured grid predicted a very symmetric distribution, but when the total number of points were compared to obtain the same results it was seen that structured grid required more grid points.

A High Performance SOAP Engine for Grid Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ning; Welzl, Michael; Zhang, Liang

Web Service technology still has many defects that make its usage for Grid computing problematic, most notably the low performance of the SOAP engine. In this paper, we develop a novel SOAP engine called SOAPExpress, which adopts two key techniques for improving processing performance: SCTP data transport and dynamic early binding based data mapping. Experimental results show a significant and consistent performance improvement of SOAPExpress over Apache Axis.

Surface Location In Scene Content Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, E. L.; Tio, J. B. K.; McPherson, C. A.; Hwang, J. J.

1981-12-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe techniques and algorithms for the location in three dimensions of planar and curved object surfaces using a computer vision approach. Stereo imaging techniques are demonstrated for planar object surface location using automatic segmentation, vertex location and relational table matching. For curved surfaces, the locations of corresponding 'points is very difficult. However, an example using a grid projection technique for the location of the surface of a curved cup is presented to illustrate a solution. This method consists of first obtaining the perspective transformation matrix from the images, then using these matrices to compute the three dimensional point locations of the grid points on the surface. These techniques may be used in object location for such applications as missile guidance, robotics, and medical diagnosis and treatment.

Subsonic Analysis of 0.04-Scale F-16XL Models Using an Unstructured Euler Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lessard, Wendy B.

1996-01-01

The subsonic flow field about an F-16XL airplane model configuration was investigated with an inviscid unstructured grid technique. The computed surface pressures were compared to wind-tunnel test results at Mach 0.148 for a range of angles of attack from 0 deg to 20 deg. To evaluate the effect of grid dependency on the solution, a grid study was performed in which fine, medium, and coarse grid meshes were generated. The off-surface vortical flow field was locally adapted and showed improved correlation to the wind-tunnel data when compared to the nonadapted flow field. Computational results are also compared to experimental five-hole pressure probe data. A detailed analysis of the off-body computed pressure contours, velocity vectors, and particle traces are presented and discussed.

Natural pixel decomposition for computational tomographic reconstruction from interferometric projection: algorithms and comparison

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cha, Don J.; Cha, Soyoung S.

1995-09-01

A computational tomographic technique, termed the variable grid method (VGM), has been developed for improving interferometric reconstruction of flow fields under ill-posed data conditions of restricted scanning and incomplete projection. The technique is based on natural pixel decomposition, that is, division of a field into variable grid elements. The performances of two algorithms, that is, original and revised versions, are compared to investigate the effects of the data redundancy criteria and seed element forming schemes. Tests of the VGMs are conducted through computer simulation of experiments and reconstruction of fields with a limited view angel of 90 degree(s). The temperature fields at two horizontal sections of a thermal plume of two interacting isothermal cubes, produced by a finite numerical code, are analyzed as test fields. The computer simulation demonstrates the superiority of the revised VGM to either the conventional fixed grid method or the original VGM. Both the maximum and average reconstruction errors are reduced appreciably. The reconstruction shows substantial improvement in the regions with dense scanning by probing rays. These regions are usually of interest in engineering applications.

A Scheduling Algorithm for Computational Grids that Minimizes Centralized Processing in Genome Assembly of Next-Generation Sequencing Data

PubMed Central

Lima, Jakelyne; Cerdeira, Louise Teixeira; Bol, Erick; Schneider, Maria Paula Cruz; Silva, Artur; Azevedo, Vasco; Abelém, Antônio Jorge Gomes

2012-01-01

Improvements in genome sequencing techniques have resulted in generation of huge volumes of data. As a consequence of this progress, the genome assembly stage demands even more computational power, since the incoming sequence files contain large amounts of data. To speed up the process, it is often necessary to distribute the workload among a group of machines. However, this requires hardware and software solutions specially configured for this purpose. Grid computing try to simplify this process of aggregate resources, but do not always offer the best performance possible due to heterogeneity and decentralized management of its resources. Thus, it is necessary to develop software that takes into account these peculiarities. In order to achieve this purpose, we developed an algorithm aimed to optimize the functionality of de novo assembly software ABySS in order to optimize its operation in grids. We run ABySS with and without the algorithm we developed in the grid simulator SimGrid. Tests showed that our algorithm is viable, flexible, and scalable even on a heterogeneous environment, which improved the genome assembly time in computational grids without changing its quality. PMID:22461785

A Hyperspherical Adaptive Sparse-Grid Method for High-Dimensional Discontinuity Detection

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Guannan; Webster, Clayton G.; Gunzburger, Max D.; ...

2015-06-24

This study proposes and analyzes a hyperspherical adaptive hierarchical sparse-grid method for detecting jump discontinuities of functions in high-dimensional spaces. The method is motivated by the theoretical and computational inefficiencies of well-known adaptive sparse-grid methods for discontinuity detection. Our novel approach constructs a function representation of the discontinuity hypersurface of an N-dimensional discontinuous quantity of interest, by virtue of a hyperspherical transformation. Then, a sparse-grid approximation of the transformed function is built in the hyperspherical coordinate system, whose value at each point is estimated by solving a one-dimensional discontinuity detection problem. Due to the smoothness of the hypersurface, the newmore » technique can identify jump discontinuities with significantly reduced computational cost, compared to existing methods. In addition, hierarchical acceleration techniques are also incorporated to further reduce the overall complexity. Rigorous complexity analyses of the new method are provided as are several numerical examples that illustrate the effectiveness of the approach.« less

A hyper-spherical adaptive sparse-grid method for high-dimensional discontinuity detection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Guannan; Webster, Clayton G.; Gunzburger, Max D.

This work proposes and analyzes a hyper-spherical adaptive hierarchical sparse-grid method for detecting jump discontinuities of functions in high-dimensional spaces is proposed. The method is motivated by the theoretical and computational inefficiencies of well-known adaptive sparse-grid methods for discontinuity detection. Our novel approach constructs a function representation of the discontinuity hyper-surface of an N-dimensional dis- continuous quantity of interest, by virtue of a hyper-spherical transformation. Then, a sparse-grid approximation of the transformed function is built in the hyper-spherical coordinate system, whose value at each point is estimated by solving a one-dimensional discontinuity detection problem. Due to the smoothness of themore » hyper-surface, the new technique can identify jump discontinuities with significantly reduced computational cost, compared to existing methods. Moreover, hierarchical acceleration techniques are also incorporated to further reduce the overall complexity. Rigorous error estimates and complexity analyses of the new method are provided as are several numerical examples that illustrate the effectiveness of the approach.« less

Computations of Unsteady Viscous Compressible Flows Using Adaptive Mesh Refinement in Curvilinear Body-fitted Grid Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinthorsson, E.; Modiano, David; Colella, Phillip

1994-01-01

A methodology for accurate and efficient simulation of unsteady, compressible flows is presented. The cornerstones of the methodology are a special discretization of the Navier-Stokes equations on structured body-fitted grid systems and an efficient solution-adaptive mesh refinement technique for structured grids. The discretization employs an explicit multidimensional upwind scheme for the inviscid fluxes and an implicit treatment of the viscous terms. The mesh refinement technique is based on the AMR algorithm of Berger and Colella. In this approach, cells on each level of refinement are organized into a small number of topologically rectangular blocks, each containing several thousand cells. The small number of blocks leads to small overhead in managing data, while their size and regular topology means that a high degree of optimization can be achieved on computers with vector processors.

A generic efficient adaptive grid scheme for rocket propulsion modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mo, J. D.; Chow, Alan S.

1993-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop an efficient, time-accurate numerical algorithm to discretize the Navier-Stokes equations for the predictions of internal one-, two-dimensional and axisymmetric flows. A generic, efficient, elliptic adaptive grid generator is implicitly coupled with the Lower-Upper factorization scheme in the development of ALUNS computer code. The calculations of one-dimensional shock tube wave propagation and two-dimensional shock wave capture, wave-wave interactions, shock wave-boundary interactions show that the developed scheme is stable, accurate and extremely robust. The adaptive grid generator produced a very favorable grid network by a grid speed technique. This generic adaptive grid generator is also applied in the PARC and FDNS codes and the computational results for solid rocket nozzle flowfield and crystal growth modeling by those codes will be presented in the conference, too. This research work is being supported by NASA/MSFC.

Numerical method for predicting flow characteristics and performance of nonaxisymmetric nozzles, theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, P. D.

1979-01-01

The theoretical foundation and formulation of a numerical method for predicting the viscous flowfield in and about isolated three dimensional nozzles of geometrically complex configuration are presented. High Reynolds number turbulent flows are of primary interest for any combination of subsonic, transonic, and supersonic flow conditions inside or outside the nozzle. An alternating-direction implicit (ADI) numerical technique is employed to integrate the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations until an asymptotic steady-state solution is reached. Boundary conditions are computed with an implicit technique compatible with the ADI technique employed at interior points of the flow region. The equations are formulated and solved in a boundary-conforming curvilinear coordinate system. The curvilinear coordinate system and computational grid is generated numerically as the solution to an elliptic boundary value problem. A method is developed that automatically adjusts the elliptic system so that the interior grid spacing is controlled directly by the a priori selection of the grid spacing on the boundaries of the flow region.

Simulation of Etching in Chlorine Discharges Using an Integrated Feature Evolution-Plasma Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hwang, Helen H.; Bose, Deepak; Govindan, T. R.; Meyyappan, M.; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

To better utilize its vast collection of heterogeneous resources that are geographically distributed across the United States, NASA is constructing a computational grid called the Information Power Grid (IPG). This paper describes various tools and techniques that we are developing to measure and improve the performance of a broad class of NASA applications when run on the IPG. In particular, we are investigating the areas of grid benchmarking, grid monitoring, user-level application scheduling, and decentralized system-level scheduling.

Three-dimensional elliptic grid generation technique with application to turbomachinery cascades

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, S. C.; Schwab, J. R.

1988-01-01

Described is a numerical method for generating 3-D grids for turbomachinery computational fluid dynamic codes. The basic method is general and involves the solution of a quasi-linear elliptic partial differential equation via pointwise relaxation with a local relaxation factor. It allows specification of the grid point distribution on the boundary surfaces, the grid spacing off the boundary surfaces, and the grid orthogonality at the boundary surfaces. A geometry preprocessor constructs the grid point distributions on the boundary surfaces for general turbomachinery cascades. Representative results are shown for a C-grid and an H-grid for a turbine rotor. Two appendices serve as user's manuals for the basic solver and the geometry preprocessor.

A multigrid nonoscillatory method for computing high speed flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, C. P.; Shieh, T. H.

1993-01-01

A multigrid method using different smoothers has been developed to solve the Euler equations discretized by a nonoscillatory scheme up to fourth order accuracy. The best smoothing property is provided by a five-stage Runge-Kutta technique with optimized coefficients, yet the most efficient smoother is a backward Euler technique in factored and diagonalized form. The singlegrid solution for a hypersonic, viscous conic flow is in excellent agreement with the solution obtained by the third order MUSCL and Roe's method. Mach 8 inviscid flow computations for a complete entry probe have shown that the accuracy is at least as good as the symmetric TVD scheme of Yee and Harten. The implicit multigrid method is four times more efficient than the explicit multigrid technique and 3.5 times faster than the single-grid implicit technique. For a Mach 8.7 inviscid flow over a blunt delta wing at 30 deg incidence, the CPU reduction factor from the three-level multigrid computation is 2.2 on a grid of 37 x 41 x 73 nodes.

Application of a Navier-Stokes Solver to the Analysis of Multielement Airfoils and Wings Using Multizonal Grid Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Kenneth M.; Biedron, Robert T.; Whitlock, Mark

1995-01-01

A computational study was performed to determine the predictive capability of a Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes code (CFL3D) for two-dimensional and three-dimensional multielement high-lift systems. Three configurations were analyzed: a three-element airfoil, a wing with a full span flap and a wing with a partial span flap. In order to accurately model these complex geometries, two different multizonal structured grid techniques were employed. For the airfoil and full span wing configurations, a chimera or overset grid technique was used. The results of the airfoil analysis illustrated that although the absolute values of lift were somewhat in error, the code was able to predict reasonably well the variation with Reynolds number and flap position. The full span flap analysis demonstrated good agreement with experimental surface pressure data over the wing and flap. Multiblock patched grids were used to model the partial span flap wing. A modification to an existing patched- grid algorithm was required to analyze the configuration as modeled. Comparisons with experimental data were very good, indicating the applicability of the patched-grid technique to analyses of these complex geometries.

Parallel Adaptive Mesh Refinement for High-Order Finite-Volume Schemes in Computational Fluid Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwing, Alan Michael

For computational fluid dynamics, the governing equations are solved on a discretized domain of nodes, faces, and cells. The quality of the grid or mesh can be a driving source for error in the results. While refinement studies can help guide the creation of a mesh, grid quality is largely determined by user expertise and understanding of the flow physics. Adaptive mesh refinement is a technique for enriching the mesh during a simulation based on metrics for error, impact on important parameters, or location of important flow features. This can offload from the user some of the difficult and ambiguous decisions necessary when discretizing the domain. This work explores the implementation of adaptive mesh refinement in an implicit, unstructured, finite-volume solver. Consideration is made for applying modern computational techniques in the presence of hanging nodes and refined cells. The approach is developed to be independent of the flow solver in order to provide a path for augmenting existing codes. It is designed to be applicable for unsteady simulations and refinement and coarsening of the grid does not impact the conservatism of the underlying numerics. The effect on high-order numerical fluxes of fourth- and sixth-order are explored. Provided the criteria for refinement is appropriately selected, solutions obtained using adapted meshes have no additional error when compared to results obtained on traditional, unadapted meshes. In order to leverage large-scale computational resources common today, the methods are parallelized using MPI. Parallel performance is considered for several test problems in order to assess scalability of both adapted and unadapted grids. Dynamic repartitioning of the mesh during refinement is crucial for load balancing an evolving grid. Development of the methods outlined here depend on a dual-memory approach that is described in detail. Validation of the solver developed here against a number of motivating problems shows favorable comparisons across a range of regimes. Unsteady and steady applications are considered in both subsonic and supersonic flows. Inviscid and viscous simulations achieve similar results at a much reduced cost when employing dynamic mesh adaptation. Several techniques for guiding adaptation are compared. Detailed analysis of statistics from the instrumented solver enable understanding of the costs associated with adaptation. Adaptive mesh refinement shows promise for the test cases presented here. It can be considerably faster than using conventional grids and provides accurate results. The procedures for adapting the grid are light-weight enough to not require significant computational time and yield significant reductions in grid size.

TopMaker: Technique Developed for Automatic Multiblock Topology Generation Using the Medial Axis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rigby, David L.

2004-01-01

The TopMaker technique was developed in an effort to reduce the time required for grid generation in complex numerical studies. Topology generation accounts for much of the man-hours required for structured multiblock grids. With regard to structured multiblock grids, topology refers to how the blocks are arranged and connected. A two-dimensional multiblock topology generation technique has been developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Very general configurations can be addressed by the technique. A configuration is defined by a collection of non-intersecting closed curves, which will be referred to as loops. More than a single loop implies that holes exist in the domain, which poses no problem. This technique requires only the medial vertices and the touch points that define each vertex. From the information about the medial vertices, the connectivity between medial vertices is generated. The physical shape of the medial edge is not required. By applying a few simple rules to each medial edge, a multiblock topology can be generated without user intervention. The resulting topologies contain only the level of complexity dictated by the configurations. Grid lines remain attached to the boundary except at sharp concave turns, where a change in index family is introduced as would be desired. Keeping grid lines attached to the boundary is especially important in computational fluid dynamics, where highly clustered grids are used near no-slip boundaries. This technique is simple and robust and can easily be incorporated into the overall grid-generation process.

MrGrid: A Portable Grid Based Molecular Replacement Pipeline

PubMed Central

Reboul, Cyril F.; Androulakis, Steve G.; Phan, Jennifer M. N.; Whisstock, James C.; Goscinski, Wojtek J.; Abramson, David; Buckle, Ashley M.

2010-01-01

Background The crystallographic determination of protein structures can be computationally demanding and for difficult cases can benefit from user-friendly interfaces to high-performance computing resources. Molecular replacement (MR) is a popular protein crystallographic technique that exploits the structural similarity between proteins that share some sequence similarity. But the need to trial permutations of search models, space group symmetries and other parameters makes MR time- and labour-intensive. However, MR calculations are embarrassingly parallel and thus ideally suited to distributed computing. In order to address this problem we have developed MrGrid, web-based software that allows multiple MR calculations to be executed across a grid of networked computers, allowing high-throughput MR. Methodology/Principal Findings MrGrid is a portable web based application written in Java/JSP and Ruby, and taking advantage of Apple Xgrid technology. Designed to interface with a user defined Xgrid resource the package manages the distribution of multiple MR runs to the available nodes on the Xgrid. We evaluated MrGrid using 10 different protein test cases on a network of 13 computers, and achieved an average speed up factor of 5.69. Conclusions MrGrid enables the user to retrieve and manage the results of tens to hundreds of MR calculations quickly and via a single web interface, as well as broadening the range of strategies that can be attempted. This high-throughput approach allows parameter sweeps to be performed in parallel, improving the chances of MR success. PMID:20386612

Segmentation of Unstructured Datasets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhat, Smitha

1996-01-01

Datasets generated by computer simulations and experiments in Computational Fluid Dynamics tend to be extremely large and complex. It is difficult to visualize these datasets using standard techniques like Volume Rendering and Ray Casting. Object Segmentation provides a technique to extract and quantify regions of interest within these massive datasets. This thesis explores basic algorithms to extract coherent amorphous regions from two-dimensional and three-dimensional scalar unstructured grids. The techniques are applied to datasets from Computational Fluid Dynamics and from Finite Element Analysis.

GRID2D/3D: A computer program for generating grid systems in complex-shaped two- and three-dimensional spatial domains. Part 2: User's manual and program listing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, R. T.; Shih, T. I.-P.; Nguyen, H. L.; Roelke, R. J.

1990-01-01

An efficient computer program, called GRID2D/3D, was developed to generate single and composite grid systems within geometrically complex two- and three-dimensional (2- and 3-D) spatial domains that can deform with time. GRID2D/3D generates single grid systems by using algebraic grid generation methods based on transfinite interpolation in which the distribution of grid points within the spatial domain is controlled by stretching functions. All single grid systems generated by GRID2D/3D can have grid lines that are continuous and differentiable everywhere up to the second-order. Also, grid lines can intersect boundaries of the spatial domain orthogonally. GRID2D/3D generates composite grid systems by patching together two or more single grid systems. The patching can be discontinuous or continuous. For continuous composite grid systems, the grid lines are continuous and differentiable everywhere up to the second-order except at interfaces where different single grid systems meet. At interfaces where different single grid systems meet, the grid lines are only differentiable up to the first-order. For 2-D spatial domains, the boundary curves are described by using either cubic or tension spline interpolation. For 3-D spatial domains, the boundary surfaces are described by using either linear Coon's interpolation, bi-hyperbolic spline interpolation, or a new technique referred to as 3-D bi-directional Hermite interpolation. Since grid systems generated by algebraic methods can have grid lines that overlap one another, GRID2D/3D contains a graphics package for evaluating the grid systems generated. With the graphics package, the user can generate grid systems in an interactive manner with the grid generation part of GRID2D/3D. GRID2D/3D is written in FORTRAN 77 and can be run on any IBM PC, XT, or AT compatible computer. In order to use GRID2D/3D on workstations or mainframe computers, some minor modifications must be made in the graphics part of the program; no modifications are needed in the grid generation part of the program. The theory and method used in GRID2D/3D is described.

GRID2D/3D: A computer program for generating grid systems in complex-shaped two- and three-dimensional spatial domains. Part 1: Theory and method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shih, T. I.-P.; Bailey, R. T.; Nguyen, H. L.; Roelke, R. J.

1990-01-01

An efficient computer program, called GRID2D/3D was developed to generate single and composite grid systems within geometrically complex two- and three-dimensional (2- and 3-D) spatial domains that can deform with time. GRID2D/3D generates single grid systems by using algebraic grid generation methods based on transfinite interpolation in which the distribution of grid points within the spatial domain is controlled by stretching functions. All single grid systems generated by GRID2D/3D can have grid lines that are continuous and differentiable everywhere up to the second-order. Also, grid lines can intersect boundaries of the spatial domain orthogonally. GRID2D/3D generates composite grid systems by patching together two or more single grid systems. The patching can be discontinuous or continuous. For continuous composite grid systems, the grid lines are continuous and differentiable everywhere up to the second-order except at interfaces where different single grid systems meet. At interfaces where different single grid systems meet, the grid lines are only differentiable up to the first-order. For 2-D spatial domains, the boundary curves are described by using either cubic or tension spline interpolation. For 3-D spatial domains, the boundary surfaces are described by using either linear Coon's interpolation, bi-hyperbolic spline interpolation, or a new technique referred to as 3-D bi-directional Hermite interpolation. Since grid systems generated by algebraic methods can have grid lines that overlap one another, GRID2D/3D contains a graphics package for evaluating the grid systems generated. With the graphics package, the user can generate grid systems in an interactive manner with the grid generation part of GRID2D/3D. GRID2D/3D is written in FORTRAN 77 and can be run on any IBM PC, XT, or AT compatible computer. In order to use GRID2D/3D on workstations or mainframe computers, some minor modifications must be made in the graphics part of the program; no modifications are needed in the grid generation part of the program. This technical memorandum describes the theory and method used in GRID2D/3D.

3D Feature Extraction for Unstructured Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silver, Deborah

1996-01-01

Visualization techniques provide tools that help scientists identify observed phenomena in scientific simulation. To be useful, these tools must allow the user to extract regions, classify and visualize them, abstract them for simplified representations, and track their evolution. Object Segmentation provides a technique to extract and quantify regions of interest within these massive datasets. This article explores basic algorithms to extract coherent amorphous regions from two-dimensional and three-dimensional scalar unstructured grids. The techniques are applied to datasets from Computational Fluid Dynamics and those from Finite Element Analysis.

Specialized CFD Grid Generation Methods for Near-Field Sonic Boom Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Michael A.; Campbell, Richard L.; Elmiligui, Alaa; Cliff, Susan E.; Nayani, Sudheer N.

2014-01-01

Ongoing interest in analysis and design of low sonic boom supersonic transports re- quires accurate and ecient Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools. Specialized grid generation techniques are employed to predict near- eld acoustic signatures of these con- gurations. A fundamental examination of grid properties is performed including grid alignment with ow characteristics and element type. The issues a ecting the robustness of cylindrical surface extrusion are illustrated. This study will compare three methods in the extrusion family of grid generation methods that produce grids aligned with the freestream Mach angle. These methods are applied to con gurations from the First AIAA Sonic Boom Prediction Workshop.

A Simulation Algorithm to Approximate the Area of Mapped Forest Inventory Plots

Treesearch

William A. Bechtold; Naser E. Heravi; Matthew E. Kinkenon

2003-01-01

Calculating the area of polygons associated with mapped forest inventory plots can be mathematically cumbersome, especially when computing change between inventories. We developed a simulation technique that utilizes a computer-generated dot grid and geometry to estimate the area of mapped polygons within any size circle. The technique also yields a matrix of change in...

Directional kriging implementation for gridded data interpolation and comparative study with common methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmoudabadi, H.; Briggs, G.

2016-12-01

Gridded data sets, such as geoid models or datum shift grids, are commonly used in coordinate transformation algorithms. Grid files typically contain known or measured values at regular fixed intervals. The process of computing a value at an unknown location from the values in the grid data set is called "interpolation". Generally, interpolation methods predict a value at a given point by computing a weighted average of the known values in the neighborhood of the point. Geostatistical Kriging is a widely used interpolation method for irregular networks. Kriging interpolation first analyzes the spatial structure of the input data, then generates a general model to describe spatial dependencies. This model is used to calculate values at unsampled locations by finding direction, shape, size, and weight of neighborhood points. Because it is based on a linear formulation for the best estimation, Kriging it the optimal interpolation method in statistical terms. The Kriging interpolation algorithm produces an unbiased prediction, as well as the ability to calculate the spatial distribution of uncertainty, allowing you to estimate the errors in an interpolation for any particular point. Kriging is not widely used in geospatial applications today, especially applications that run on low power devices or deal with large data files. This is due to the computational power and memory requirements of standard Kriging techniques. In this paper, improvements are introduced in directional kriging implementation by taking advantage of the structure of the grid files. The regular spacing of points simplifies finding the neighborhood points and computing their pairwise distances, reducing the the complexity and improving the execution time of the Kriging algorithm. Also, the proposed method iteratively loads small portion of interest areas in different directions to reduce the amount of required memory. This makes the technique feasible on almost any computer processor. Comparison between kriging and other standard interpolation methods demonstrated more accurate estimations in less denser data files.

A simple algorithm to improve the performance of the WENO scheme on non-uniform grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Wen-Feng; Ren, Yu-Xin; Jiang, Xiong

2018-02-01

This paper presents a simple approach for improving the performance of the weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) finite volume scheme on non-uniform grids. This technique relies on the reformulation of the fifth-order WENO-JS (WENO scheme presented by Jiang and Shu in J. Comput. Phys. 126:202-228, 1995) scheme designed on uniform grids in terms of one cell-averaged value and its left and/or right interfacial values of the dependent variable. The effect of grid non-uniformity is taken into consideration by a proper interpolation of the interfacial values. On non-uniform grids, the proposed scheme is much more accurate than the original WENO-JS scheme, which was designed for uniform grids. When the grid is uniform, the resulting scheme reduces to the original WENO-JS scheme. In the meantime, the proposed scheme is computationally much more efficient than the fifth-order WENO scheme designed specifically for the non-uniform grids. A number of numerical test cases are simulated to verify the performance of the present scheme.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None, None

Smart grids are susceptible to cyber-attack as a result of new communication, control and computation techniques employed in the grid. In this paper, we characterize and analyze the resiliency of smart grid communication architecture, specifically an RF mesh based architecture, under cyber attacks. We analyze the resiliency of the communication architecture by studying the performance of high-level smart grid functions such as metering, and demand response which depend on communication. Disrupting the operation of these functions impacts the operational resiliency of the smart grid. Our analysis shows that it takes an attacker only a small fraction of meters to compromisemore » the communication resiliency of the smart grid. We discuss the implications of our result to critical smart grid functions and to the overall security of the smart grid.« less

Development and Application of Agglomerated Multigrid Methods for Complex Geometries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nishikawa, Hiroaki; Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.

2010-01-01

We report progress in the development of agglomerated multigrid techniques for fully un- structured grids in three dimensions, building upon two previous studies focused on efficiently solving a model diffusion equation. We demonstrate a robust fully-coarsened agglomerated multigrid technique for 3D complex geometries, incorporating the following key developments: consistent and stable coarse-grid discretizations, a hierarchical agglomeration scheme, and line-agglomeration/relaxation using prismatic-cell discretizations in the highly-stretched grid regions. A signi cant speed-up in computer time is demonstrated for a model diffusion problem, the Euler equations, and the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for 3D realistic complex geometries.

Algebraic grid adaptation method using non-uniform rational B-spline surface modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Jiann-Cherng; Soni, B. K.

1992-01-01

An algebraic adaptive grid system based on equidistribution law and utilized by the Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) surface for redistribution is presented. A weight function, utilizing a properly weighted boolean sum of various flow field characteristics is developed. Computational examples are presented to demonstrate the success of this technique.

Advances in Parallelization for Large Scale Oct-Tree Mesh Generation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Connell, Matthew; Karman, Steve L.

2015-01-01

Despite great advancements in the parallelization of numerical simulation codes over the last 20 years, it is still common to perform grid generation in serial. Generating large scale grids in serial often requires using special "grid generation" compute machines that can have more than ten times the memory of average machines. While some parallel mesh generation techniques have been proposed, generating very large meshes for LES or aeroacoustic simulations is still a challenging problem. An automated method for the parallel generation of very large scale off-body hierarchical meshes is presented here. This work enables large scale parallel generation of off-body meshes by using a novel combination of parallel grid generation techniques and a hybrid "top down" and "bottom up" oct-tree method. Meshes are generated using hardware commonly found in parallel compute clusters. The capability to generate very large meshes is demonstrated by the generation of off-body meshes surrounding complex aerospace geometries. Results are shown including a one billion cell mesh generated around a Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle geometry, which was generated on 64 processors in under 45 minutes.

Arc-Length Continuation and Multi-Grid Techniques for Nonlinear Elliptic Eigenvalue Problems,

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-03-19

size of the finest grid. We use the (AM) adaptive version of the Cycle C algorithm , unless otherwise stated. The first modified algorithm is the...by computing the derivative, uk, at a known solution and use it to get a better initial guess for the next value of X in a predictor - corrector fashion...factorization of the Jacobian Gu computed already in the Newton step. Using such a predictor - corrector method will often allow us to take a much bigger step

A locally refined rectangular grid finite element method - Application to computational fluid dynamics and computational physics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, David P.; Melvin, Robin G.; Bieterman, Michael B.; Johnson, Forrester T.; Samant, Satish S.

1991-01-01

The present FEM technique addresses both linear and nonlinear boundary value problems encountered in computational physics by handling general three-dimensional regions, boundary conditions, and material properties. The box finite elements used are defined by a Cartesian grid independent of the boundary definition, and local refinements proceed by dividing a given box element into eight subelements. Discretization employs trilinear approximations on the box elements; special element stiffness matrices are included for boxes cut by any boundary surface. Illustrative results are presented for representative aerodynamics problems involving up to 400,000 elements.

Analyzing Resiliency of the Smart Grid Communication Architectures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anas AlMajali, Anas; Viswanathan, Arun; Neuman, Clifford

Smart grids are susceptible to cyber-attack as a result of new communication, control and computation techniques employed in the grid. In this paper, we characterize and analyze the resiliency of smart grid communication architecture, specifically an RF mesh based architecture, under cyber attacks. We analyze the resiliency of the communication architecture by studying the performance of high-level smart grid functions such as metering, and demand response which depend on communication. Disrupting the operation of these functions impacts the operational resiliency of the smart grid. Our analysis shows that it takes an attacker only a small fraction of meters to compromisemore » the communication resiliency of the smart grid. We discuss the implications of our result to critical smart grid functions and to the overall security of the smart grid.« less

An Advanced Framework for Improving Situational Awareness in Electric Power Grid Operation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Yousu; Huang, Zhenyu; Zhou, Ning

With the deployment of new smart grid technologies and the penetration of renewable energy in power systems, significant uncertainty and variability is being introduced into power grid operation. Traditionally, the Energy Management System (EMS) operates the power grid in a deterministic mode, and thus will not be sufficient for the future control center in a stochastic environment with faster dynamics. One of the main challenges is to improve situational awareness. This paper reviews the current status of power grid operation and presents a vision of improving wide-area situational awareness for a future control center. An advanced framework, consisting of parallelmore » state estimation, state prediction, parallel contingency selection, parallel contingency analysis, and advanced visual analytics, is proposed to provide capabilities needed for better decision support by utilizing high performance computing (HPC) techniques and advanced visual analytic techniques. Research results are presented to support the proposed vision and framework.« less

Smart Grid Privacy through Distributed Trust

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipton, Benjamin

Though the smart electrical grid promises many advantages in efficiency and reliability, the risks to consumer privacy have impeded its deployment. Researchers have proposed protecting privacy by aggregating user data before it reaches the utility, using techniques of homomorphic encryption to prevent exposure of unaggregated values. However, such schemes generally require users to trust in the correct operation of a single aggregation server. We propose two alternative systems based on secret sharing techniques that distribute this trust among multiple service providers, protecting user privacy against a misbehaving server. We also provide an extensive evaluation of the systems considered, comparing their robustness to privacy compromise, error handling, computational performance, and data transmission costs. We conclude that while all the systems should be computationally feasible on smart meters, the two methods based on secret sharing require much less computation while also providing better protection against corrupted aggregators. Building systems using these techniques could help defend the privacy of electricity customers, as well as customers of other utilities as they move to a more data-driven architecture.

Accurate solutions for transonic viscous flow over finite wings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vatsa, V. N.

1986-01-01

An explicit multistage Runge-Kutta type time-stepping scheme is used for solving the three-dimensional, compressible, thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. A finite-volume formulation is employed to facilitate treatment of complex grid topologies encountered in three-dimensional calculations. Convergence to steady state is expedited through usage of acceleration techniques. Further numerical efficiency is achieved through vectorization of the computer code. The accuracy of the overall scheme is evaluated by comparing the computed solutions with the experimental data for a finite wing under different test conditions in the transonic regime. A grid refinement study ir conducted to estimate the grid requirements for adequate resolution of salient features of such flows.

Low Boom Configuration Analysis with FUN3D Adjoint Simulation Framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Michael A.

2011-01-01

Off-body pressure, forces, and moments for the Gulfstream Low Boom Model are computed with a Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes solver coupled with the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model. This is the first application of viscous output-based adaptation to reduce estimated discretization errors in off-body pressure for a wing body configuration. The output adaptation approach is compared to an a priori grid adaptation technique designed to resolve the signature on the centerline by stretching and aligning the grid to the freestream Mach angle. The output-based approach produced good predictions of centerline and off-centerline measurements. Eddy viscosity predicted by the SA turbulence model increased significantly with grid adaptation. Computed lift as a function of drag compares well with wind tunnel measurements for positive lift, but predicted lift, drag, and pitching moment as a function of angle of attack has significant differences from the measured data. The sensitivity of longitudinal forces and moment to grid refinement is much smaller than the differences between the computed and measured data.

The Fast Multipole Method and Fourier Convolution for the Solution of Acoustic Scattering on Regular Volumetric Grids

PubMed Central

Hesford, Andrew J.; Waag, Robert C.

2010-01-01

The fast multipole method (FMM) is applied to the solution of large-scale, three-dimensional acoustic scattering problems involving inhomogeneous objects defined on a regular grid. The grid arrangement is especially well suited to applications in which the scattering geometry is not known a priori and is reconstructed on a regular grid using iterative inverse scattering algorithms or other imaging techniques. The regular structure of unknown scattering elements facilitates a dramatic reduction in the amount of storage and computation required for the FMM, both of which scale linearly with the number of scattering elements. In particular, the use of fast Fourier transforms to compute Green's function convolutions required for neighboring interactions lowers the often-significant cost of finest-level FMM computations and helps mitigate the dependence of FMM cost on finest-level box size. Numerical results demonstrate the efficiency of the composite method as the number of scattering elements in each finest-level box is increased. PMID:20835366

The fast multipole method and Fourier convolution for the solution of acoustic scattering on regular volumetric grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hesford, Andrew J.; Waag, Robert C.

2010-10-01

The fast multipole method (FMM) is applied to the solution of large-scale, three-dimensional acoustic scattering problems involving inhomogeneous objects defined on a regular grid. The grid arrangement is especially well suited to applications in which the scattering geometry is not known a priori and is reconstructed on a regular grid using iterative inverse scattering algorithms or other imaging techniques. The regular structure of unknown scattering elements facilitates a dramatic reduction in the amount of storage and computation required for the FMM, both of which scale linearly with the number of scattering elements. In particular, the use of fast Fourier transforms to compute Green's function convolutions required for neighboring interactions lowers the often-significant cost of finest-level FMM computations and helps mitigate the dependence of FMM cost on finest-level box size. Numerical results demonstrate the efficiency of the composite method as the number of scattering elements in each finest-level box is increased.

The Fast Multipole Method and Fourier Convolution for the Solution of Acoustic Scattering on Regular Volumetric Grids.

PubMed

Hesford, Andrew J; Waag, Robert C

2010-10-20

The fast multipole method (FMM) is applied to the solution of large-scale, three-dimensional acoustic scattering problems involving inhomogeneous objects defined on a regular grid. The grid arrangement is especially well suited to applications in which the scattering geometry is not known a priori and is reconstructed on a regular grid using iterative inverse scattering algorithms or other imaging techniques. The regular structure of unknown scattering elements facilitates a dramatic reduction in the amount of storage and computation required for the FMM, both of which scale linearly with the number of scattering elements. In particular, the use of fast Fourier transforms to compute Green's function convolutions required for neighboring interactions lowers the often-significant cost of finest-level FMM computations and helps mitigate the dependence of FMM cost on finest-level box size. Numerical results demonstrate the efficiency of the composite method as the number of scattering elements in each finest-level box is increased.

High order accurate and low dissipation method for unsteady compressible viscous flow computation on helicopter rotor in forward flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Li; Weng, Peifen

2014-02-01

An improved fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO-Z) scheme combined with the moving overset grid technique has been developed to compute unsteady compressible viscous flows on the helicopter rotor in forward flight. In order to enforce periodic rotation and pitching of the rotor and relative motion between rotor blades, the moving overset grid technique is extended, where a special judgement standard is presented near the odd surface of the blade grid during search donor cells by using the Inverse Map method. The WENO-Z scheme is adopted for reconstructing left and right state values with the Roe Riemann solver updating the inviscid fluxes and compared with the monotone upwind scheme for scalar conservation laws (MUSCL) and the classical WENO scheme. Since the WENO schemes require a six point stencil to build the fifth-order flux, the method of three layers of fringes for hole boundaries and artificial external boundaries is proposed to carry out flow information exchange between chimera grids. The time advance on the unsteady solution is performed by the full implicit dual time stepping method with Newton type LU-SGS subiteration, where the solutions of pseudo steady computation are as the initial fields of the unsteady flow computation. Numerical results on non-variable pitch rotor and periodic variable pitch rotor in forward flight reveal that the approach can effectively capture vortex wake with low dissipation and reach periodic solutions very soon.

An objective isobaric/isentropic technique for upper air analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mancuso, R. L.; Endlich, R. M.; Ehernberger, L. J.

1981-01-01

An objective meteorological analysis technique is presented whereby both horizontal and vertical upper air analyses are performed. The process used to interpolate grid-point values from the upper-air station data is the same as for grid points on both an isobaric surface and a vertical cross-sectional plane. The nearby data surrounding each grid point are used in the interpolation by means of an anisotropic weighting scheme, which is described. The interpolation for a grid-point potential temperature is performed isobarically; whereas wind, mixing-ratio, and pressure height values are interpolated from data that lie on the isentropic surface that passes through the grid point. Two versions (A and B) of the technique are evaluated by qualitatively comparing computer analyses with subjective handdrawn analyses. The objective products of version A generally have fair correspondence with the subjective analyses and with the station data, and depicted the structure of the upper fronts, tropopauses, and jet streams fairly well. The version B objective products correspond more closely to the subjective analyses, and show the same strong gradients across the upper front with only minor smoothing.

Gridless particle technique for the Vlasov-Poisson system in problems with high degree of symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boella, E.; Coppa, G.; D'Angola, A.; Peiretti Paradisi, B.

2018-03-01

In the paper, gridless particle techniques are presented in order to solve problems involving electrostatic, collisionless plasmas. The method makes use of computational particles having the shape of spherical shells or of rings, and can be used to study cases in which the plasma has spherical or axial symmetry, respectively. As a computational grid is absent, the technique is particularly suitable when the plasma occupies a rapidly changing space region.

Rapid Airplane Parametric Input Design (RAPID)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Robert E.

1995-01-01

RAPID is a methodology and software system to define a class of airplane configurations and directly evaluate surface grids, volume grids, and grid sensitivity on and about the configurations. A distinguishing characteristic which separates RAPID from other airplane surface modellers is that the output grids and grid sensitivity are directly applicable in CFD analysis. A small set of design parameters and grid control parameters govern the process which is incorporated into interactive software for 'real time' visual analysis and into batch software for the application of optimization technology. The computed surface grids and volume grids are suitable for a wide range of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. The general airplane configuration has wing, fuselage, horizontal tail, and vertical tail components. The double-delta wing and tail components are manifested by solving a fourth order partial differential equation (PDE) subject to Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. The design parameters are incorporated into the boundary conditions and therefore govern the shapes of the surfaces. The PDE solution yields a smooth transition between boundaries. Surface grids suitable for CFD calculation are created by establishing an H-type topology about the configuration and incorporating grid spacing functions in the PDE equation for the lifting components and the fuselage definition equations. User specified grid parameters govern the location and degree of grid concentration. A two-block volume grid about a configuration is calculated using the Control Point Form (CPF) technique. The interactive software, which runs on Silicon Graphics IRIS workstations, allows design parameters to be continuously varied and the resulting surface grid to be observed in real time. The batch software computes both the surface and volume grids and also computes the sensitivity of the output grid with respect to the input design parameters by applying the precompiler tool ADIFOR to the grid generation program. The output of ADIFOR is a new source code containing the old code plus expressions for derivatives of specified dependent variables (grid coordinates) with respect to specified independent variables (design parameters). The RAPID methodology and software provide a means of rapidly defining numerical prototypes, grids, and grid sensitivity of a class of airplane configurations. This technology and software is highly useful for CFD research for preliminary design and optimization processes.

Automatic structured grid generation using Gridgen (some restrictions apply)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chawner, John R.; Steinbrenner, John P.

1995-01-01

The authors have noticed in the recent grid generation literature an emphasis on the automation of structured grid generation. The motivation behind such work is clear; grid generation is easily the most despised task in the grid-analyze-visualize triad of computational analysis (CA). However, because grid generation is closely coupled to both the design and analysis software and because quantitative measures of grid quality are lacking, 'push button' grid generation usually results in a compromise between speed, control, and quality. Overt emphasis on automation obscures the substantive issues of providing users with flexible tools for generating and modifying high quality grids in a design environment. In support of this paper's tongue-in-cheek title, many features of the Gridgen software are described. Gridgen is by no stretch of the imagination an automatic grid generator. Despite this fact, the code does utilize many automation techniques that permit interesting regenerative features.

CFD in the 1980's from one point of view

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lomax, Harvard

1991-01-01

The present interpretive treatment of the development history of CFD in the 1980s gives attention to advancements in such algorithmic techniques as flux Jacobian-based upwind differencing, total variation-diminishing and essentially nonoscillatory schemes, multigrid methods, unstructured grids, and nonrectangular structured grids. At the same time, computational turbulence research gave attention to turbulence modeling on the bases of increasingly powerful supercomputers and meticulously constructed databases. The major future developments in CFD will encompass such capabilities as structured and unstructured three-dimensional grids.

Posteriori error determination and grid adaptation for AMR and ALE computational fluid dynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lapenta, G. M.

2002-01-01

We discuss grid adaptation for application to AMR and ALE codes. Two new contributions are presented. First, a new method to locate the regions where the truncation error is being created due to an insufficient accuracy: the operator recovery error origin (OREO) detector. The OREO detector is automatic, reliable, easy to implement and extremely inexpensive. Second, a new grid motion technique is presented for application to ALE codes. The method is based on the Brackbill-Saltzman approach but it is directly linked to the OREO detector and moves the grid automatically to minimize the error.

Application of an unstructured grid flow solver to planes, trains and automobiles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spragle, Gregory S.; Smith, Wayne A.; Yadlin, Yoram

1993-01-01

Rampant, an unstructured flow solver developed at Fluent Inc., is used to compute three-dimensional, viscous, turbulent, compressible flow fields within complex solution domains. Rampant is an explicit, finite-volume flow solver capable of computing flow fields using either triangular (2d) or tetrahedral (3d) unstructured grids. Local time stepping, implicit residual smoothing, and multigrid techniques are used to accelerate the convergence of the explicit scheme. The paper describes the Rampant flow solver and presents flow field solutions about a plane, train, and automobile.

Parallel 3D Mortar Element Method for Adaptive Nonconforming Meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feng, Huiyu; Mavriplis, Catherine; VanderWijngaart, Rob; Biswas, Rupak

2004-01-01

High order methods are frequently used in computational simulation for their high accuracy. An efficient way to avoid unnecessary computation in smooth regions of the solution is to use adaptive meshes which employ fine grids only in areas where they are needed. Nonconforming spectral elements allow the grid to be flexibly adjusted to satisfy the computational accuracy requirements. The method is suitable for computational simulations of unsteady problems with very disparate length scales or unsteady moving features, such as heat transfer, fluid dynamics or flame combustion. In this work, we select the Mark Element Method (MEM) to handle the non-conforming interfaces between elements. A new technique is introduced to efficiently implement MEM in 3-D nonconforming meshes. By introducing an "intermediate mortar", the proposed method decomposes the projection between 3-D elements and mortars into two steps. In each step, projection matrices derived in 2-D are used. The two-step method avoids explicitly forming/deriving large projection matrices for 3-D meshes, and also helps to simplify the implementation. This new technique can be used for both h- and p-type adaptation. This method is applied to an unsteady 3-D moving heat source problem. With our new MEM implementation, mesh adaptation is able to efficiently refine the grid near the heat source and coarsen the grid once the heat source passes. The savings in computational work resulting from the dynamic mesh adaptation is demonstrated by the reduction of the the number of elements used and CPU time spent. MEM and mesh adaptation, respectively, bring irregularity and dynamics to the computer memory access pattern. Hence, they provide a good way to gauge the performance of computer systems when running scientific applications whose memory access patterns are irregular and unpredictable. We select a 3-D moving heat source problem as the Unstructured Adaptive (UA) grid benchmark, a new component of the NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB). In this paper, we present some interesting performance results of ow OpenMP parallel implementation on different architectures such as the SGI Origin2000, SGI Altix, and Cray MTA-2.

Grid-Enabled Quantitative Analysis of Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

large-scale, multi-modality computerized image analysis . The central hypothesis of this research is that large-scale image analysis for breast cancer...pilot study to utilize large scale parallel Grid computing to harness the nationwide cluster infrastructure for optimization of medical image ... analysis parameters. Additionally, we investigated the use of cutting edge dataanalysis/ mining techniques as applied to Ultrasound, FFDM, and DCE-MRI Breast

Trends in life science grid: from computing grid to knowledge grid.

PubMed

Konagaya, Akihiko

2006-12-18

Grid computing has great potential to become a standard cyberinfrastructure for life sciences which often require high-performance computing and large data handling which exceeds the computing capacity of a single institution. This survey reviews the latest grid technologies from the viewpoints of computing grid, data grid and knowledge grid. Computing grid technologies have been matured enough to solve high-throughput real-world life scientific problems. Data grid technologies are strong candidates for realizing "resourceome" for bioinformatics. Knowledge grids should be designed not only from sharing explicit knowledge on computers but also from community formulation for sharing tacit knowledge among a community. Extending the concept of grid from computing grid to knowledge grid, it is possible to make use of a grid as not only sharable computing resources, but also as time and place in which people work together, create knowledge, and share knowledge and experiences in a community.

Trends in life science grid: from computing grid to knowledge grid

PubMed Central

Konagaya, Akihiko

2006-01-01

Background Grid computing has great potential to become a standard cyberinfrastructure for life sciences which often require high-performance computing and large data handling which exceeds the computing capacity of a single institution. Results This survey reviews the latest grid technologies from the viewpoints of computing grid, data grid and knowledge grid. Computing grid technologies have been matured enough to solve high-throughput real-world life scientific problems. Data grid technologies are strong candidates for realizing "resourceome" for bioinformatics. Knowledge grids should be designed not only from sharing explicit knowledge on computers but also from community formulation for sharing tacit knowledge among a community. Conclusion Extending the concept of grid from computing grid to knowledge grid, it is possible to make use of a grid as not only sharable computing resources, but also as time and place in which people work together, create knowledge, and share knowledge and experiences in a community. PMID:17254294

Solving Partial Differential Equations on Overlapping Grids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Henshaw, W D

2008-09-22

We discuss the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs) on overlapping grids. This is a powerful technique for efficiently solving problems in complex, possibly moving, geometry. An overlapping grid consists of a set of structured grids that overlap and cover the computational domain. By allowing the grids to overlap, grids for complex geometries can be more easily constructed. The overlapping grid approach can also be used to remove coordinate singularities by, for example, covering a sphere with two or more patches. We describe the application of the overlapping grid approach to a variety of different problems. These include the solutionmore » of incompressible fluid flows with moving and deforming geometry, the solution of high-speed compressible reactive flow with rigid bodies using adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), and the solution of the time-domain Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism.« less

TopMaker: A Technique for Automatic Multi-Block Topology Generation Using the Medial Axis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heidmann, James D. (Technical Monitor); Rigby, David L.

2004-01-01

A two-dimensional multi-block topology generation technique has been developed. Very general configurations are addressable by the technique. A configuration is defined by a collection of non-intersecting closed curves, which will be referred to as loops. More than a single loop implies that holes exist in the domain, which poses no problem. This technique requires only the medial vertices and the touch points that define each vertex. From the information about the medial vertices, the connectivity between medial vertices is generated. The physical shape of the medial edge is not required. By applying a few simple rules to each medial edge, the multiblock topology is generated with no user intervention required. The resulting topologies contain only the level of complexity dictated by the configurations. Grid lines remain attached to the boundary except at sharp concave turns where a change in index family is introduced as would be desired. Keeping grid lines attached to the boundary is especially important in the area of computational fluid dynamics where highly clustered grids are used near no-slip boundaries. This technique is simple and robust and can easily be incorporated into the overall grid generation process.

Visualization of Octree Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) in Astrophysical Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Labadens, M.; Chapon, D.; Pomaréde, D.; Teyssier, R.

2012-09-01

Computer simulations are important in current cosmological research. Those simulations run in parallel on thousands of processors, and produce huge amount of data. Adaptive mesh refinement is used to reduce the computing cost while keeping good numerical accuracy in regions of interest. RAMSES is a cosmological code developed by the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (English: Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission) which uses Octree adaptive mesh refinement. Compared to grid based AMR, the Octree AMR has the advantage to fit very precisely the adaptive resolution of the grid to the local problem complexity. However, this specific octree data type need some specific software to be visualized, as generic visualization tools works on Cartesian grid data type. This is why the PYMSES software has been also developed by our team. It relies on the python scripting language to ensure a modular and easy access to explore those specific data. In order to take advantage of the High Performance Computer which runs the RAMSES simulation, it also uses MPI and multiprocessing to run some parallel code. We would like to present with more details our PYMSES software with some performance benchmarks. PYMSES has currently two visualization techniques which work directly on the AMR. The first one is a splatting technique, and the second one is a custom ray tracing technique. Both have their own advantages and drawbacks. We have also compared two parallel programming techniques with the python multiprocessing library versus the use of MPI run. The load balancing strategy has to be smartly defined in order to achieve a good speed up in our computation. Results obtained with this software are illustrated in the context of a massive, 9000-processor parallel simulation of a Milky Way-like galaxy.

More IMPATIENT: A Gridding-Accelerated Toeplitz-based Strategy for Non-Cartesian High-Resolution 3D MRI on GPUs

PubMed Central

Gai, Jiading; Obeid, Nady; Holtrop, Joseph L.; Wu, Xiao-Long; Lam, Fan; Fu, Maojing; Haldar, Justin P.; Hwu, Wen-mei W.; Liang, Zhi-Pei; Sutton, Bradley P.

2013-01-01

Several recent methods have been proposed to obtain significant speed-ups in MRI image reconstruction by leveraging the computational power of GPUs. Previously, we implemented a GPU-based image reconstruction technique called the Illinois Massively Parallel Acquisition Toolkit for Image reconstruction with ENhanced Throughput in MRI (IMPATIENT MRI) for reconstructing data collected along arbitrary 3D trajectories. In this paper, we improve IMPATIENT by removing computational bottlenecks by using a gridding approach to accelerate the computation of various data structures needed by the previous routine. Further, we enhance the routine with capabilities for off-resonance correction and multi-sensor parallel imaging reconstruction. Through implementation of optimized gridding into our iterative reconstruction scheme, speed-ups of more than a factor of 200 are provided in the improved GPU implementation compared to the previous accelerated GPU code. PMID:23682203

Computational Issues Associated with Temporally Deforming Geometries Such as Thrust Vectoring Nozzles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyalakuntla, Kishore; Soni, Bharat K.; Thornburg, Hugh J.; Yu, Robert

1996-01-01

During the past decade, computational simulation of fluid flow around complex configurations has progressed significantly and many notable successes have been reported, however, unsteady time-dependent solutions are not easily obtainable. The present effort involves unsteady time dependent simulation of temporally deforming geometries. Grid generation for a complex configuration can be a time consuming process and temporally varying geometries necessitate the regeneration of such grids for every time step. Traditional grid generation techniques have been tried and demonstrated to be inadequate to such simulations. Non-Uniform Rational B-splines (NURBS) based techniques provide a compact and accurate representation of the geometry. This definition can be coupled with a distribution mesh for a user defined spacing. The present method greatly reduces cpu requirements for time dependent remeshing, facilitating the simulation of more complex unsteady problems. A thrust vectoring nozzle has been chosen to demonstrate the capability as it is of current interest in the aerospace industry for better maneuverability of fighter aircraft in close combat and in post stall regimes. This current effort is the first step towards multidisciplinary design optimization which involves coupling the aerodynamic heat transfer and structural analysis techniques. Applications include simulation of temporally deforming bodies and aeroelastic problems.

NPSS on NASA's IPG: Using CORBA and Globus to Coordinate Multidisciplinary Aeroscience Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lopez, Isaac; Follen, Gregory J.; Gutierrez, Richard; Naiman, Cynthia G.; Foster, Ian; Ginsburg, Brian; Larsson, Olle; Martin, Stuart; Tuecke, Steven; Woodford, David

2000-01-01

Within NASA's High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) program, the NASA Glenn Research Center is developing an environment for the analysis/design of aircraft engines called the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS). The vision for NPSS is to create a "numerical test cell" enabling full engine simulations overnight on cost-effective computing platforms. To this end, NPSS integrates multiple disciplines such as aerodynamics, structures, and heat transfer and supports "numerical zooming" between O-dimensional to 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional component engine codes. In order to facilitate the timely and cost-effective capture of complex physical processes, NPSS uses object-oriented technologies such as C++ objects to encapsulate individual engine components and CORBA ORBs for object communication and deployment across heterogeneous computing platforms. Recently, the HPCC program has initiated a concept called the Information Power Grid (IPG), a virtual computing environment that integrates computers and other resources at different sites. IPG implements a range of Grid services such as resource discovery, scheduling, security, instrumentation, and data access, many of which are provided by the Globus toolkit. IPG facilities have the potential to benefit NPSS considerably. For example, NPSS should in principle be able to use Grid services to discover dynamically and then co-schedule the resources required for a particular engine simulation, rather than relying on manual placement of ORBs as at present. Grid services can also be used to initiate simulation components on parallel computers (MPPs) and to address inter-site security issues that currently hinder the coupling of components across multiple sites. These considerations led NASA Glenn and Globus project personnel to formulate a collaborative project designed to evaluate whether and how benefits such as those just listed can be achieved in practice. This project involves firstly development of the basic techniques required to achieve co-existence of commodity object technologies and Grid technologies; and secondly the evaluation of these techniques in the context of NPSS-oriented challenge problems. The work on basic techniques seeks to understand how "commodity" technologies (CORBA, DCOM, Excel, etc.) can be used in concert with specialized "Grid" technologies (for security, MPP scheduling, etc.). In principle, this coordinated use should be straightforward because of the Globus and IPG philosophy of providing low-level Grid mechanisms that can be used to implement a wide variety of application-level programming models. (Globus technologies have previously been used to implement Grid-enabled message-passing libraries, collaborative environments, and parameter study tools, among others.) Results obtained to date are encouraging: we have successfully demonstrated a CORBA to Globus resource manager gateway that allows the use of CORBA RPCs to control submission and execution of programs on workstations and MPPs; a gateway from the CORBA Trader service to the Grid information service; and a preliminary integration of CORBA and Grid security mechanisms. The two challenge problems that we consider are the following: 1) Desktop-controlled parameter study. Here, an Excel spreadsheet is used to define and control a CFD parameter study, via a CORBA interface to a high throughput broker that runs individual cases on different IPG resources. 2) Aviation safety. Here, about 100 near real time jobs running NPSS need to be submitted, run and data returned in near real time. Evaluation will address such issues as time to port, execution time, potential scalability of simulation, and reliability of resources. The full paper will present the following information: 1. A detailed analysis of the requirements that NPSS applications place on IPG. 2. A description of the techniques used to meet these requirements via the coordinated use of CORBA and Globus. 3. A description of results obtained to date in the first two challenge problems.

Novel grid-based optical Braille conversion: from scanning to wording

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoosefi Babadi, Majid; Jafari, Shahram

2011-12-01

Grid-based optical Braille conversion (GOBCO) is explained in this article. The grid-fitting technique involves processing scanned images taken from old hard-copy Braille manuscripts, recognising and converting them into English ASCII text documents inside a computer. The resulted words are verified using the relevant dictionary to provide the final output. The algorithms employed in this article can be easily modified to be implemented on other visual pattern recognition systems and text extraction applications. This technique has several advantages including: simplicity of the algorithm, high speed of execution, ability to help visually impaired persons and blind people to work with fax machines and the like, and the ability to help sighted people with no prior knowledge of Braille to understand hard-copy Braille manuscripts.

Development of a pressure based multigrid solution method for complex fluid flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shyy, Wei

1991-01-01

In order to reduce the computational difficulty associated with a single grid (SG) solution procedure, the multigrid (MG) technique was identified as a useful means for improving the convergence rate of iterative methods. A full MG full approximation storage (FMG/FAS) algorithm is used to solve the incompressible recirculating flow problems in complex geometries. The algorithm is implemented in conjunction with a pressure correction staggered grid type of technique using the curvilinear coordinates. In order to show the performance of the method, two flow configurations, one a square cavity and the other a channel, are used as test problems. Comparisons are made between the iterations, equivalent work units, and CPU time. Besides showing that the MG method can yield substantial speed-up with wide variations in Reynolds number, grid distributions, and geometry, issues such as the convergence characteristics of different grid levels, the choice of convection schemes, and the effectiveness of the basic iteration smoothers are studied. An adaptive grid scheme is also combined with the MG procedure to explore the effects of grid resolution on the MG convergence rate as well as the numerical accuracy.

Changing from computing grid to knowledge grid in life-science grid.

PubMed

Talukdar, Veera; Konar, Amit; Datta, Ayan; Choudhury, Anamika Roy

2009-09-01

Grid computing has a great potential to become a standard cyber infrastructure for life sciences that often require high-performance computing and large data handling, which exceeds the computing capacity of a single institution. Grid computer applies the resources of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time. It is useful to scientific problems that require a great number of computer processing cycles or access to a large amount of data.As biologists,we are constantly discovering millions of genes and genome features, which are assembled in a library and distributed on computers around the world.This means that new, innovative methods must be developed that exploit the re-sources available for extensive calculations - for example grid computing.This survey reviews the latest grid technologies from the viewpoints of computing grid, data grid and knowledge grid. Computing grid technologies have been matured enough to solve high-throughput real-world life scientific problems. Data grid technologies are strong candidates for realizing a "resourceome" for bioinformatics. Knowledge grids should be designed not only from sharing explicit knowledge on computers but also from community formulation for sharing tacit knowledge among a community. By extending the concept of grid from computing grid to knowledge grid, it is possible to make use of a grid as not only sharable computing resources, but also as time and place in which people work together, create knowledge, and share knowledge and experiences in a community.

Simulation of hypersonic rarefied flows with the immersed-boundary method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruno, D.; De Palma, P.; de Tullio, M. D.

2011-05-01

This paper provides a validation of an immersed boundary method for computing hypersonic rarefied gas flows. The method is based on the solution of the Navier-Stokes equation and is validated versus numerical results obtained by the DSMC approach. The Navier-Stokes solver employs a flexible local grid refinement technique and is implemented on parallel machines using a domain-decomposition approach. Thanks to the efficient grid generation process, based on the ray-tracing technique, and the use of the METIS software, it is possible to obtain the partitioned grids to be assigned to each processor with a minimal effort by the user. This allows one to by-pass the expensive (in terms of time and human resources) classical generation process of a body fitted grid. First-order slip-velocity boundary conditions are employed and tested for taking into account rarefied gas effects.

Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian Method with Local Structured Adaptive Mesh Refinement for Modeling Shock Hydrodynamics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, R W; Pember, R B; Elliott, N S

2001-10-22

A new method that combines staggered grid Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) techniques with structured local adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) has been developed for solution of the Euler equations. This method facilitates the solution of problems currently at and beyond the boundary of soluble problems by traditional ALE methods by focusing computational resources where they are required through dynamic adaption. Many of the core issues involved in the development of the combined ALEAMR method hinge upon the integration of AMR with a staggered grid Lagrangian integration method. The novel components of the method are mainly driven by the need to reconcile traditionalmore » AMR techniques, which are typically employed on stationary meshes with cell-centered quantities, with the staggered grids and grid motion employed by Lagrangian methods. Numerical examples are presented which demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method.« less

Optimization of freeform surfaces using intelligent deformation techniques for LED applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isaac, Annie Shalom; Neumann, Cornelius

2018-04-01

For many years, optical designers have great interests in designing efficient optimization algorithms to bring significant improvement to their initial design. However, the optimization is limited due to a large number of parameters present in the Non-uniform Rationaly b-Spline Surfaces. This limitation was overcome by an indirect technique known as optimization using freeform deformation (FFD). In this approach, the optical surface is placed inside a cubical grid. The vertices of this grid are modified, which deforms the underlying optical surface during the optimization. One of the challenges in this technique is the selection of appropriate vertices of the cubical grid. This is because these vertices share no relationship with the optical performance. When irrelevant vertices are selected, the computational complexity increases. Moreover, the surfaces created by them are not always feasible to manufacture, which is the same problem faced in any optimization technique while creating freeform surfaces. Therefore, this research addresses these two important issues and provides feasible design techniques to solve them. Finally, the proposed techniques are validated using two different illumination examples: street lighting lens and stop lamp for automobiles.

Sparse grid techniques for particle-in-cell schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ricketson, L. F.; Cerfon, A. J.

2017-02-01

We propose the use of sparse grids to accelerate particle-in-cell (PIC) schemes. By using the so-called ‘combination technique’ from the sparse grids literature, we are able to dramatically increase the size of the spatial cells in multi-dimensional PIC schemes while paying only a slight penalty in grid-based error. The resulting increase in cell size allows us to reduce the statistical noise in the simulation without increasing total particle number. We present initial proof-of-principle results from test cases in two and three dimensions that demonstrate the new scheme’s efficiency, both in terms of computation time and memory usage.

Analysis of a High-Lift Multi-Element Airfoil using a Navier-Stokes Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitlock, Mark E.

1995-01-01

A thin-layer Navier-Stokes code, CFL3D, was utilized to compute the flow over a high-lift multi-element airfoil. This study was conducted to improve the prediction of high-lift flowfields using various turbulence models and improved glidding techniques. An overset Chimera grid system is used to model the three element airfoil geometry. The effects of wind tunnel wall modeling, changes to the grid density and distribution, and embedded grids are discussed. Computed pressure and lift coefficients using Spalart-Allmaras, Baldwin-Barth, and Menter's kappa-omega - Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence models are compared with experimental data. The ability of CFL3D to predict the effects on lift coefficient due to changes in Reynolds number changes is also discussed.

Comments regarding two upwind methods for solving two-dimensional external flows using unstructured grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kleb, W. L.

1994-01-01

Steady flow over the leading portion of a multicomponent airfoil section is studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) employing an unstructured grid. To simplify the problem, only the inviscid terms are retained from the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations - leaving the Euler equations. The algorithm is derived using the finite-volume approach, incorporating explicit time-marching of the unsteady Euler equations to a time-asymptotic, steady-state solution. The inviscid fluxes are obtained through either of two approximate Riemann solvers: Roe's flux difference splitting or van Leer's flux vector splitting. Results are presented which contrast the solutions given by the two flux functions as a function of Mach number and grid resolution. Additional information is presented concerning code verification techniques, flow recirculation regions, convergence histories, and computational resources.

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpar, D. M. (Principal Investigator)

1981-01-01

Progress is reported in reading MAGSAT tapes in modeling procedure developed to compute the magnetic fields at satellite orbit due to current distributions in the ionosphere. The modeling technique utilizes a linear current element representation of the large-scale space-current system.

SOMAR-LES: A framework for multi-scale modeling of turbulent stratified oceanic flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chalamalla, Vamsi K.; Santilli, Edward; Scotti, Alberto; Jalali, Masoud; Sarkar, Sutanu

2017-12-01

A new multi-scale modeling technique, SOMAR-LES, is presented in this paper. Localized grid refinement gives SOMAR (the Stratified Ocean Model with Adaptive Resolution) access to small scales of the flow which are normally inaccessible to general circulation models (GCMs). SOMAR-LES drives a LES (Large Eddy Simulation) on SOMAR's finest grids, forced with large scale forcing from the coarser grids. Three-dimensional simulations of internal tide generation, propagation and scattering are performed to demonstrate this multi-scale modeling technique. In the case of internal tide generation at a two-dimensional bathymetry, SOMAR-LES is able to balance the baroclinic energy budget and accurately model turbulence losses at only 10% of the computational cost required by a non-adaptive solver running at SOMAR-LES's fine grid resolution. This relative cost is significantly reduced in situations with intermittent turbulence or where the location of the turbulence is not known a priori because SOMAR-LES does not require persistent, global, high resolution. To illustrate this point, we consider a three-dimensional bathymetry with grids adaptively refined along the tidally generated internal waves to capture remote mixing in regions of wave focusing. The computational cost in this case is found to be nearly 25 times smaller than that of a non-adaptive solver at comparable resolution. In the final test case, we consider the scattering of a mode-1 internal wave at an isolated two-dimensional and three-dimensional topography, and we compare the results with Legg (2014) numerical experiments. We find good agreement with theoretical estimates. SOMAR-LES is less dissipative than the closure scheme employed by Legg (2014) near the bathymetry. Depending on the flow configuration and resolution employed, a reduction of more than an order of magnitude in computational costs is expected, relative to traditional existing solvers.

Project Final Report: Ubiquitous Computing and Monitoring System (UCoMS) for Discovery and Management of Energy Resources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tzeng, Nian-Feng; White, Christopher D.; Moreman, Douglas

2012-07-14

The UCoMS research cluster has spearheaded three research areas since August 2004, including wireless and sensor networks, Grid computing, and petroleum applications. The primary goals of UCoMS research are three-fold: (1) creating new knowledge to push forward the technology forefronts on pertinent research on the computing and monitoring aspects of energy resource management, (2) developing and disseminating software codes and toolkits for the research community and the public, and (3) establishing system prototypes and testbeds for evaluating innovative techniques and methods. Substantial progress and diverse accomplishment have been made by research investigators in their respective areas of expertise cooperatively onmore » such topics as sensors and sensor networks, wireless communication and systems, computational Grids, particularly relevant to petroleum applications.« less

A Computational and Experimental Investigation of a Delta Wing with Vertical Tails

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krist. Sherrie L.; Washburn, Anthony E.; Visser, Kenneth D.

2004-01-01

The flow over an aspect ratio 1 delta wing with twin vertical tails is studied in a combined computational and experimental investigation. This research is conducted in an effort to understand the vortex and fin interaction process. The computational algorithm used solves both the thin-layer Navier-Stokes and the inviscid Euler equations and utilizes a chimera grid-overlapping technique. The results are compared with data obtained from a detailed experimental investigation. The laminar case presented is for an angle of attack of 20 and a Reynolds number of 500; 000. Good agreement is observed for the physics of the flow field, as evidenced by comparisons of computational pressure contours with experimental flow-visualization images, as well as by comparisons of vortex-core trajectories. While comparisons of the vorticity magnitudes indicate that the computations underpredict the magnitude in the wing primary-vortex-core region, grid embedding improves the computational prediction.

A computational and experimental investigation of a delta wing with vertical tails

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krist, Sherrie L.; Washburn, Anthony E.; Visser, Kenneth D.

1993-01-01

The flow over an aspect ratio 1 delta wing with twin vertical tails is studied in a combined computational and experimental investigation. This research is conducted in an effort to understand the vortex and fin interaction process. The computational algorithm used solves both the thin-layer Navier-Stokes and the inviscid Euler equations and utilizes a chimera grid-overlapping technique. The results are compared with data obtained from a detailed experimental investigation. The laminar case presented is for an angle of attack of 20 deg and a Reynolds number of 500,000. Good agreement is observed for the physics of the flow field, as evidenced by comparisons of computational pressure contours with experimental flow-visualization images, as well as by comparisons of vortex-core trajectories. While comparisons of the vorticity magnitudes indicate that the computations underpredict the magnitude in the wing primary-vortex-core region, grid embedding improves the computational prediction.

High-Maneuverability Airframe: Initial Investigation of Configuration’s Aft End for Increased Stability, Range, and Maneuverability

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

including the interaction effects between the fins and canards. 2. Solution Technique 2.1 Computational Aerodynamics The double-precision solver of a...and overset grids (unified-grid). • Total variation diminishing discretization based on a new multidimensional interpolation framework. • Riemann ... solvers to provide proper signal propagation physics including versions for preconditioned forms of the governing equations. • Consistent and

An assessment of the adaptive unstructured tetrahedral grid, Euler Flow Solver Code FELISA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Djomehri, M. Jahed; Erickson, Larry L.

1994-01-01

A three-dimensional solution-adaptive Euler flow solver for unstructured tetrahedral meshes is assessed, and the accuracy and efficiency of the method for predicting sonic boom pressure signatures about simple generic models are demonstrated. Comparison of computational and wind tunnel data and enhancement of numerical solutions by means of grid adaptivity are discussed. The mesh generation is based on the advancing front technique. The FELISA code consists of two solvers, the Taylor-Galerkin and the Runge-Kutta-Galerkin schemes, both of which are spacially discretized by the usual Galerkin weighted residual finite-element methods but with different explicit time-marching schemes to steady state. The solution-adaptive grid procedure is based on either remeshing or mesh refinement techniques. An alternative geometry adaptive procedure is also incorporated.

A Structured Grid Based Solution-Adaptive Technique for Complex Separated Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thornburg, Hugh; Soni, Bharat K.; Kishore, Boyalakuntla; Yu, Robert

1996-01-01

The objective of this work was to enhance the predictive capability of widely used computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes through the use of solution adaptive gridding. Most problems of engineering interest involve multi-block grids and widely disparate length scales. Hence, it is desirable that the adaptive grid feature detection algorithm be developed to recognize flow structures of different type as well as differing intensity, and adequately address scaling and normalization across blocks. In order to study the accuracy and efficiency improvements due to the grid adaptation, it is necessary to quantify grid size and distribution requirements as well as computational times of non-adapted solutions. Flow fields about launch vehicles of practical interest often involve supersonic freestream conditions at angle of attack exhibiting large scale separate vortical flow, vortex-vortex and vortex-surface interactions, separated shear layers and multiple shocks of different intensity. In this work, a weight function and an associated mesh redistribution procedure is presented which detects and resolves these features without user intervention. Particular emphasis has been placed upon accurate resolution of expansion regions and boundary layers. Flow past a wedge at Mach=2.0 is used to illustrate the enhanced detection capabilities of this newly developed weight function.

Grid and basis adaptive polynomial chaos techniques for sensitivity and uncertainty analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perkó, Zoltán, E-mail: Z.Perko@tudelft.nl; Gilli, Luca, E-mail: Gilli@nrg.eu; Lathouwers, Danny, E-mail: D.Lathouwers@tudelft.nl

2014-03-01

The demand for accurate and computationally affordable sensitivity and uncertainty techniques is constantly on the rise and has become especially pressing in the nuclear field with the shift to Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty methodologies in the licensing of nuclear installations. Besides traditional, already well developed methods – such as first order perturbation theory or Monte Carlo sampling – Polynomial Chaos Expansion (PCE) has been given a growing emphasis in recent years due to its simple application and good performance. This paper presents new developments of the research done at TU Delft on such Polynomial Chaos (PC) techniques. Our work ismore » focused on the Non-Intrusive Spectral Projection (NISP) approach and adaptive methods for building the PCE of responses of interest. Recent efforts resulted in a new adaptive sparse grid algorithm designed for estimating the PC coefficients. The algorithm is based on Gerstner's procedure for calculating multi-dimensional integrals but proves to be computationally significantly cheaper, while at the same it retains a similar accuracy as the original method. More importantly the issue of basis adaptivity has been investigated and two techniques have been implemented for constructing the sparse PCE of quantities of interest. Not using the traditional full PC basis set leads to further reduction in computational time since the high order grids necessary for accurately estimating the near zero expansion coefficients of polynomial basis vectors not needed in the PCE can be excluded from the calculation. Moreover the sparse PC representation of the response is easier to handle when used for sensitivity analysis or uncertainty propagation due to the smaller number of basis vectors. The developed grid and basis adaptive methods have been implemented in Matlab as the Fully Adaptive Non-Intrusive Spectral Projection (FANISP) algorithm and were tested on four analytical problems. These show consistent good performance both in terms of the accuracy of the resulting PC representation of quantities and the computational costs associated with constructing the sparse PCE. Basis adaptivity also seems to make the employment of PC techniques possible for problems with a higher number of input parameters (15–20), alleviating a well known limitation of the traditional approach. The prospect of larger scale applicability and the simplicity of implementation makes such adaptive PC algorithms particularly appealing for the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of complex systems and legacy codes.« less

Computation of unsteady transonic aerodynamics with steady state fixed by truncation error injection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fung, K.-Y.; Fu, J.-K.

1985-01-01

A novel technique is introduced for efficient computations of unsteady transonic aerodynamics. The steady flow corresponding to body shape is maintained by truncation error injection while the perturbed unsteady flows corresponding to unsteady body motions are being computed. This allows the use of different grids comparable to the characteristic length scales of the steady and unsteady flows and, hence, allows efficient computation of the unsteady perturbations. An example of typical unsteady computation of flow over a supercritical airfoil shows that substantial savings in computation time and storage without loss of solution accuracy can easily be achieved. This technique is easy to apply and requires very few changes to existing codes.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Deka, Deepjyoti; Backhaus, Scott N.; Chertkov, Michael

Traditionally power distribution networks are either not observable or only partially observable. This complicates development and implementation of new smart grid technologies, such as those related to demand response, outage detection and management, and improved load-monitoring. In this two part paper, inspired by proliferation of the metering technology, we discuss estimation problems in structurally loopy but operationally radial distribution grids from measurements, e.g. voltage data, which are either already available or can be made available with a relatively minor investment. In Part I, the objective is to learn the operational layout of the grid. Part II of this paper presentsmore » algorithms that estimate load statistics or line parameters in addition to learning the grid structure. Further, Part II discusses the problem of structure estimation for systems with incomplete measurement sets. Our newly suggested algorithms apply to a wide range of realistic scenarios. The algorithms are also computationally efficient – polynomial in time– which is proven theoretically and illustrated computationally on a number of test cases. The technique developed can be applied to detect line failures in real time as well as to understand the scope of possible adversarial attacks on the grid.« less

Fully implicit adaptive mesh refinement algorithm for reduced MHD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philip, Bobby; Pernice, Michael; Chacon, Luis

2006-10-01

In the macroscopic simulation of plasmas, the numerical modeler is faced with the challenge of dealing with multiple time and length scales. Traditional approaches based on explicit time integration techniques and fixed meshes are not suitable for this challenge, as such approaches prevent the modeler from using realistic plasma parameters to keep the computation feasible. We propose here a novel approach, based on implicit methods and structured adaptive mesh refinement (SAMR). Our emphasis is on both accuracy and scalability with the number of degrees of freedom. As a proof-of-principle, we focus on the reduced resistive MHD model as a basic MHD model paradigm, which is truly multiscale. The approach taken here is to adapt mature physics-based technology to AMR grids, and employ AMR-aware multilevel techniques (such as fast adaptive composite grid --FAC-- algorithms) for scalability. We demonstrate that the concept is indeed feasible, featuring near-optimal scalability under grid refinement. Results of fully-implicit, dynamically-adaptive AMR simulations in challenging dissipation regimes will be presented on a variety of problems that benefit from this capability, including tearing modes, the island coalescence instability, and the tilt mode instability. L. Chac'on et al., J. Comput. Phys. 178 (1), 15- 36 (2002) B. Philip, M. Pernice, and L. Chac'on, Lecture Notes in Computational Science and Engineering, accepted (2006)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koniges, A.E.; Craddock, G.G.; Schnack, D.D.

The purpose of the workshop was to assemble workers, both within and outside of the fusion-related computations areas, for discussion regarding the issues of dynamically adaptive gridding. There were three invited talks related to adaptive gridding application experiences in various related fields of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and nine short talks reporting on the progress of adaptive techniques in the specific areas of scrape-off-layer (SOL) modeling and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability. Adaptive mesh methods have been successful in a number of diverse fields of CFD for over a decade. The method involves dynamic refinement of computed field profiles in a waymore » that disperses uniformly the numerical errors associated with discrete approximations. Because the process optimizes computational effort, adaptive mesh methods can be used to study otherwise the intractable physical problems that involve complex boundary shapes or multiple spatial/temporal scales. Recent results indicate that these adaptive techniques will be required for tokamak fluid-based simulations involving the diverted tokamak SOL modeling and MHD simulations problems related to the highest priority ITER relevant issues.Individual papers are indexed separately on the energy data bases.« less

Grid adaption using Chimera composite overlapping meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, Kai-Hsiung; Liou, Meng-Sing; Chow, Chuen-Yen

1993-01-01

The objective of this paper is to perform grid adaptation using composite over-lapping meshes in regions of large gradient to capture the salient features accurately during computation. The Chimera grid scheme, a multiple overset mesh technique, is used in combination with a Navier-Stokes solver. The numerical solution is first converged to a steady state based on an initial coarse mesh. Solution-adaptive enhancement is then performed by using a secondary fine grid system which oversets on top of the base grid in the high-gradient region, but without requiring the mesh boundaries to join in any special way. Communications through boundary interfaces between those separated grids are carried out using tri-linear interpolation. Applications to the Euler equations for shock reflections and to a shock wave/boundary layer interaction problem are tested. With the present method, the salient features are well resolved.

Grid adaptation using chimera composite overlapping meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, Kai-Hsiung; Liou, Meng-Sing; Chow, Chuen-Yen

1994-01-01

The objective of this paper is to perform grid adaptation using composite overlapping meshes in regions of large gradient to accurately capture the salient features during computation. The chimera grid scheme, a multiple overset mesh technique, is used in combination with a Navier-Stokes solver. The numerical solution is first converged to a steady state based on an initial coarse mesh. Solution-adaptive enhancement is then performed by using a secondary fine grid system which oversets on top of the base grid in the high-gradient region, but without requiring the mesh boundaries to join in any special way. Communications through boundary interfaces between those separated grids are carried out using trilinear interpolation. Application to the Euler equations for shock reflections and to shock wave/boundary layer interaction problem are tested. With the present method, the salient features are well-resolved.

Grid adaptation using Chimera composite overlapping meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, Kai-Hsiung; Liou, Meng-Sing; Chow, Chuen-Yen

1993-01-01

The objective of this paper is to perform grid adaptation using composite over-lapping meshes in regions of large gradient to capture the salient features accurately during computation. The Chimera grid scheme, a multiple overset mesh technique, is used in combination with a Navier-Stokes solver. The numerical solution is first converged to a steady state based on an initial coarse mesh. Solution-adaptive enhancement is then performed by using a secondary fine grid system which oversets on top of the base grid in the high-gradient region, but without requiring the mesh boundaries to join in any special way. Communications through boundary interfaces between those separated grids are carried out using tri-linear interpolation. Applications to the Euler equations for shock reflections and to a shock wave/boundary layer interaction problem are tested. With the present method, the salient features are well resolved.

Grid convergence errors in hemodynamic solution of patient-specific cerebral aneurysms.

PubMed

Hodis, Simona; Uthamaraj, Susheil; Smith, Andrea L; Dennis, Kendall D; Kallmes, David F; Dragomir-Daescu, Dan

2012-11-15

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become a cutting-edge tool for investigating hemodynamic dysfunctions in the body. It has the potential to help physicians quantify in more detail the phenomena difficult to capture with in vivo imaging techniques. CFD simulations in anatomically realistic geometries pose challenges in generating accurate solutions due to the grid distortion that may occur when the grid is aligned with complex geometries. In addition, results obtained with computational methods should be trusted only after the solution has been verified on multiple high-quality grids. The objective of this study was to present a comprehensive solution verification of the intra-aneurysmal flow results obtained on different morphologies of patient-specific cerebral aneurysms. We chose five patient-specific brain aneurysm models with different dome morphologies and estimated the grid convergence errors for each model. The grid convergence errors were estimated with respect to an extrapolated solution based on the Richardson extrapolation method, which accounts for the degree of grid refinement. For four of the five models, calculated velocity, pressure, and wall shear stress values at six different spatial locations converged monotonically, with maximum uncertainty magnitudes ranging from 12% to 16% on the finest grids. Due to the geometric complexity of the fifth model, the grid convergence errors showed oscillatory behavior; therefore, each patient-specific model required its own grid convergence study to establish the accuracy of the analysis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distributed Accounting on the Grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thigpen, William; Hacker, Thomas J.; McGinnis, Laura F.; Athey, Brian D.

2001-01-01

By the late 1990s, the Internet was adequately equipped to move vast amounts of data between HPC (High Performance Computing) systems, and efforts were initiated to link together the national infrastructure of high performance computational and data storage resources together into a general computational utility 'grid', analogous to the national electrical power grid infrastructure. The purpose of the Computational grid is to provide dependable, consistent, pervasive, and inexpensive access to computational resources for the computing community in the form of a computing utility. This paper presents a fully distributed view of Grid usage accounting and a methodology for allocating Grid computational resources for use on a Grid computing system.

Asynchronous Replica Exchange Software for Grid and Heterogeneous Computing.

PubMed

Gallicchio, Emilio; Xia, Junchao; Flynn, William F; Zhang, Baofeng; Samlalsingh, Sade; Mentes, Ahmet; Levy, Ronald M

2015-11-01

Parallel replica exchange sampling is an extended ensemble technique often used to accelerate the exploration of the conformational ensemble of atomistic molecular simulations of chemical systems. Inter-process communication and coordination requirements have historically discouraged the deployment of replica exchange on distributed and heterogeneous resources. Here we describe the architecture of a software (named ASyncRE) for performing asynchronous replica exchange molecular simulations on volunteered computing grids and heterogeneous high performance clusters. The asynchronous replica exchange algorithm on which the software is based avoids centralized synchronization steps and the need for direct communication between remote processes. It allows molecular dynamics threads to progress at different rates and enables parameter exchanges among arbitrary sets of replicas independently from other replicas. ASyncRE is written in Python following a modular design conducive to extensions to various replica exchange schemes and molecular dynamics engines. Applications of the software for the modeling of association equilibria of supramolecular and macromolecular complexes on BOINC campus computational grids and on the CPU/MIC heterogeneous hardware of the XSEDE Stampede supercomputer are illustrated. They show the ability of ASyncRE to utilize large grids of desktop computers running the Windows, MacOS, and/or Linux operating systems as well as collections of high performance heterogeneous hardware devices.

Semi-implicit integration factor methods on sparse grids for high-dimensional systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Dongyong; Chen, Weitao; Nie, Qing

2015-07-01

Numerical methods for partial differential equations in high-dimensional spaces are often limited by the curse of dimensionality. Though the sparse grid technique, based on a one-dimensional hierarchical basis through tensor products, is popular for handling challenges such as those associated with spatial discretization, the stability conditions on time step size due to temporal discretization, such as those associated with high-order derivatives in space and stiff reactions, remain. Here, we incorporate the sparse grids with the implicit integration factor method (IIF) that is advantageous in terms of stability conditions for systems containing stiff reactions and diffusions. We combine IIF, in which the reaction is treated implicitly and the diffusion is treated explicitly and exactly, with various sparse grid techniques based on the finite element and finite difference methods and a multi-level combination approach. The overall method is found to be efficient in terms of both storage and computational time for solving a wide range of PDEs in high dimensions. In particular, the IIF with the sparse grid combination technique is flexible and effective in solving systems that may include cross-derivatives and non-constant diffusion coefficients. Extensive numerical simulations in both linear and nonlinear systems in high dimensions, along with applications of diffusive logistic equations and Fokker-Planck equations, demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of the new methods, indicating potential broad applications of the sparse grid-based integration factor method.

ICASE/LaRC Workshop on Adaptive Grid Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

South, Jerry C., Jr. (Editor); Thomas, James L. (Editor); Vanrosendale, John (Editor)

1995-01-01

Solution-adaptive grid techniques are essential to the attainment of practical, user friendly, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications. In this three-day workshop, experts gathered together to describe state-of-the-art methods in solution-adaptive grid refinement, analysis, and implementation; to assess the current practice; and to discuss future needs and directions for research. This was accomplished through a series of invited and contributed papers. The workshop focused on a set of two-dimensional test cases designed by the organizers to aid in assessing the current state of development of adaptive grid technology. In addition, a panel of experts from universities, industry, and government research laboratories discussed their views of needs and future directions in this field.

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpar, D. M. (Principal Investigator)

1982-01-01

The status of the initial testing of the modeling procedure developed to compute the magnetic fields at satellite orbit due to current distributions in the ionosphere and magnetosphere is reported. The modeling technique utilizes a linear current element representation of the large scale space-current system.

Investigation of Advanced Counterrotation Blade Configuration Concepts for High Speed Turboprop Systems. Task 2: Unsteady Ducted Propfan Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Edward J.; Delaney, Robert A.; Bettner, James L.

1991-01-01

The primary objective was the development of a time dependent 3-D Euler/Navier-Stokes aerodynamic analysis to predict unsteady compressible transonic flows about ducted and unducted propfan propulsion systems at angle of attack. The resulting computer codes are referred to as Advanced Ducted Propfan Analysis Codes (ADPAC). A computer program user's manual is presented for the ADPAC. Aerodynamic calculations were based on a four stage Runge-Kutta time marching finite volume solution technique with added numerical dissipation. A time accurate implicit residual smoothing operator was used for unsteady flow predictions. For unducted propfans, a single H-type grid was used to discretize each blade passage of the complete propeller. For ducted propfans, a coupled system of five grid blocks utilizing an embedded C grid about the cowl leading edge was used to discretize each blade passage. Grid systems were generated by a combined algebraic/elliptic algorithm developed specifically for ducted propfans. Numerical calculations were compared with experimental data for both ducted and unducted flows.

GreenView and GreenLand Applications Development on SEE-GRID Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mihon, Danut; Bacu, Victor; Gorgan, Dorian; Mészáros, Róbert; Gelybó, Györgyi; Stefanut, Teodor

2010-05-01

The GreenView and GreenLand applications [1] have been developed through the SEE-GRID-SCI (SEE-GRID eInfrastructure for regional eScience) FP7 project co-funded by the European Commission [2]. The development of environment applications is a challenge for Grid technologies and software development methodologies. This presentation exemplifies the development of the GreenView and GreenLand applications over the SEE-GRID infrastructure by the Grid Application Development Methodology [3]. Today's environmental applications are used in vary domains of Earth Science such as meteorology, ground and atmospheric pollution, ground metal detection or weather prediction. These applications run on satellite images (e.g. Landsat, MERIS, MODIS, etc.) and the accuracy of output results depends mostly of the quality of these images. The main drawback of such environmental applications regards the need of computation power and storage power (some images are almost 1GB in size), in order to process such a large data volume. Actually, almost applications requiring high computation resources have approached the migration onto the Grid infrastructure. This infrastructure offers the computing power by running the atomic application components on different Grid nodes in sequential or parallel mode. The middleware used between the Grid infrastructure and client applications is ESIP (Environment Oriented Satellite Image Processing Platform), which is based on gProcess platform [4]. In its current format, gProcess is used for launching new processes on the Grid nodes, but also for monitoring the execution status of these processes. This presentation highlights two case studies of Grid based environmental applications, GreenView and GreenLand [5]. GreenView is used in correlation with MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite images and meteorological datasets, in order to produce pseudo colored temperature and vegetation maps for different geographical CEE (Central Eastern Europe) regions. On the other hand, GreenLand is used for generating maps for different vegetation indexes (e.g. NDVI, EVI, SAVI, GEMI) based on Landsat satellite images. Both applications are using interpolation and random value generation algorithms, but also specific formulas for computing vegetation index values. The GreenView and GreenLand applications have been experimented over the SEE-GRID infrastructure and the performance evaluation is reported in [6]. The improvement of the execution time (obtained through a better parallelization of jobs), the extension of geographical areas to other parts of the Earth, and new user interaction techniques on spatial data and large set of satellite images are the goals of the future work. References [1] GreenView application on Wiki, http://wiki.egee-see.org/index.php/GreenView [2] SEE-GRID-SCI Project, http://www.see-grid-sci.eu/ [3] Gorgan D., Stefanut T., Bâcu V., Mihon D., Grid based Environment Application Development Methodology, SCICOM, 7th International Conference on "Large-Scale Scientific Computations", 4-8 June, 2009, Sozopol, Bulgaria, (To be published by Springer), (2009). [4] Gorgan D., Bacu V., Stefanut T., Rodila D., Mihon D., Grid based Satellite Image Processing Platform for Earth Observation Applications Development. IDAACS'2009 - IEEE Fifth International Workshop on "Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications", 21-23 September, Cosenza, Italy, IEEE Published in Computer Press, 247-252 (2009). [5] Mihon D., Bacu V., Stefanut T., Gorgan D., "Grid Based Environment Application Development - GreenView Application". ICCP2009 - IEEE 5th International Conference on Intelligent Computer Communication and Processing, 27 Aug, 2009 Cluj-Napoca. Published by IEEE Computer Press, pp. 275-282 (2009). [6] Danut Mihon, Victor Bacu, Dorian Gorgan, Róbert Mészáros, Györgyi Gelybó, Teodor Stefanut, Practical Considerations on the GreenView Application Development and Execution over SEE-GRID. SEE-GRID-SCI User Forum, 9-10 Dec 2009, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, ISBN: 978-975-403-510-0, pp. 167-175 (2009).

Optimization of computations for adjoint field and Jacobian needed in 3D CSEM inversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dehiya, Rahul; Singh, Arun; Gupta, Pravin K.; Israil, M.

2017-01-01

We present the features and results of a newly developed code, based on Gauss-Newton optimization technique, for solving three-dimensional Controlled-Source Electromagnetic inverse problem. In this code a special emphasis has been put on representing the operations by block matrices for conjugate gradient iteration. We show how in the computation of Jacobian, the matrix formed by differentiation of system matrix can be made independent of frequency to optimize the operations at conjugate gradient step. The coarse level parallel computing, using OpenMP framework, is used primarily due to its simplicity in implementation and accessibility of shared memory multi-core computing machine to almost anyone. We demonstrate how the coarseness of modeling grid in comparison to source (comp`utational receivers) spacing can be exploited for efficient computing, without compromising the quality of the inverted model, by reducing the number of adjoint calls. It is also demonstrated that the adjoint field can even be computed on a grid coarser than the modeling grid without affecting the inversion outcome. These observations were reconfirmed using an experiment design where the deviation of source from straight tow line is considered. Finally, a real field data inversion experiment is presented to demonstrate robustness of the code.

Application of multi-grid method on the simulation of incremental forging processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramadan, Mohamad; Khaled, Mahmoud; Fourment, Lionel

2016-10-01

Numerical simulation becomes essential in manufacturing large part by incremental forging processes. It is a splendid tool allowing to show physical phenomena however behind the scenes, an expensive bill should be paid, that is the computational time. That is why many techniques are developed to decrease the computational time of numerical simulation. Multi-Grid method is a numerical procedure that permits to reduce computational time of numerical calculation by performing the resolution of the system of equations on several mesh of decreasing size which allows to smooth faster the low frequency of the solution as well as its high frequency. In this paper a Multi-Grid method is applied to cogging process in the software Forge 3. The study is carried out using increasing number of degrees of freedom. The results shows that calculation time is divide by two for a mesh of 39,000 nodes. The method is promising especially if coupled with Multi-Mesh method.

Helicopter Rotor Blade Computation in Unsteady Flows Using Moving Overset Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahmad, Jasim; Duque, Earl P. N.

1996-01-01

An overset grid thin-layer Navier-Stokes code has been extended to include dynamic motion of helicopter rotor blades through relative grid motion. The unsteady flowfield and airloads on an AH-IG rotor in forward flight were computed to verify the methodology and to demonstrate the method's potential usefulness towards comprehensive helicopter codes. In addition, the method uses the blade's first harmonics measured in the flight test to prescribe the blade motion. The solution was impulsively started and became periodic in less than three rotor revolutions. Detailed unsteady numerical flow visualization techniques were applied to the entire unsteady data set of five rotor revolutions and exhibited flowfield features such as blade vortex interaction and wake roll-up. The unsteady blade loads and surface pressures compare well against those from flight measurements. Details of the method, a discussion of the resulting predicted flowfield, and requirements for future work are presented. Overall, given the proper blade dynamics, this method can compute the unsteady flowfield of a general helicopter rotor in forward flight.

Turbulent Output-Based Anisotropic Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Michael A.; Carlson, Jan-Renee

2010-01-01

Controlling discretization error is a remaining challenge for computational fluid dynamics simulation. Grid adaptation is applied to reduce estimated discretization error in drag or pressure integral output functions. To enable application to high O(10(exp 7)) Reynolds number turbulent flows, a hybrid approach is utilized that freezes the near-wall boundary layer grids and adapts the grid away from the no slip boundaries. The hybrid approach is not applicable to problems with under resolved initial boundary layer grids, but is a powerful technique for problems with important off-body anisotropic features. Supersonic nozzle plume, turbulent flat plate, and shock-boundary layer interaction examples are presented with comparisons to experimental measurements of pressure and velocity. Adapted grids are produced that resolve off-body features in locations that are not known a priori.

Grid Generation Techniques Utilizing the Volume Grid Manipulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alter, Stephen J.

1998-01-01

This paper presents grid generation techniques available in the Volume Grid Manipulation (VGM) code. The VGM code is designed to manipulate existing line, surface and volume grids to improve the quality of the data. It embodies an easy to read rich language of commands that enables such alterations as topology changes, grid adaption and smoothing. Additionally, the VGM code can be used to construct simplified straight lines, splines, and conic sections which are common curves used in the generation and manipulation of points, lines, surfaces and volumes (i.e., grid data). These simple geometric curves are essential in the construction of domain discretizations for computational fluid dynamic simulations. By comparison to previously established methods of generating these curves interactively, the VGM code provides control of slope continuity and grid point-to-point stretchings as well as quick changes in the controlling parameters. The VGM code offers the capability to couple the generation of these geometries with an extensive manipulation methodology in a scripting language. The scripting language allows parametric studies of a vehicle geometry to be efficiently performed to evaluate favorable trends in the design process. As examples of the powerful capabilities of the VGM code, a wake flow field domain will be appended to an existing X33 Venturestar volume grid; negative volumes resulting from grid expansions to enable flow field capture on a simple geometry, will be corrected; and geometrical changes to a vehicle component of the X33 Venturestar will be shown.

A Research Program in Computer Technology

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-01-01

barrier walls within the cell in a grid or "waffle" pattern, sepnrnting each pixel from its neighbors. The walls need not extend to the front surface...migration and degradation of display p(.rformanco. The grid can be made of photoresist film by standard photolithographic techniques. I xtruurrs. Using the EP...this variation is normally quite smooth, but significant. However, for use in a smart terminal, where visible cursor feedback is available or where

Fabricating High-Resolution X-Ray Collimators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Appleby, Michael; Atkinson, James E.; Fraser, Iain; Klinger, Jill

2008-01-01

A process and method for fabricating multi-grid, high-resolution rotating modulation collimators for arcsecond and sub-arcsecond x-ray and gamma-ray imaging involves photochemical machining and precision stack lamination. The special fixturing and etching techniques that have been developed are used for the fabrication of multiple high-resolution grids on a single array substrate. This technology has application in solar and astrophysics and in a number of medical imaging applications including mammography, computed tomography (CT), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and gamma cameras used in nuclear medicine. This collimator improvement can also be used in non-destructive testing, hydrodynamic weapons testing, and microbeam radiation therapy.

On Accuracy of Adaptive Grid Methods for Captured Shocks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yamaleev, Nail K.; Carpenter, Mark H.

2002-01-01

The accuracy of two grid adaptation strategies, grid redistribution and local grid refinement, is examined by solving the 2-D Euler equations for the supersonic steady flow around a cylinder. Second- and fourth-order linear finite difference shock-capturing schemes, based on the Lax-Friedrichs flux splitting, are used to discretize the governing equations. The grid refinement study shows that for the second-order scheme, neither grid adaptation strategy improves the numerical solution accuracy compared to that calculated on a uniform grid with the same number of grid points. For the fourth-order scheme, the dominant first-order error component is reduced by the grid adaptation, while the design-order error component drastically increases because of the grid nonuniformity. As a result, both grid adaptation techniques improve the numerical solution accuracy only on the coarsest mesh or on very fine grids that are seldom found in practical applications because of the computational cost involved. Similar error behavior has been obtained for the pressure integral across the shock. A simple analysis shows that both grid adaptation strategies are not without penalties in the numerical solution accuracy. Based on these results, a new grid adaptation criterion for captured shocks is proposed.

An interpolation-free ALE scheme for unsteady inviscid flows computations with large boundary displacements over three-dimensional adaptive grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Re, B.; Dobrzynski, C.; Guardone, A.

2017-07-01

A novel strategy to solve the finite volume discretization of the unsteady Euler equations within the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian framework over tetrahedral adaptive grids is proposed. The volume changes due to local mesh adaptation are treated as continuous deformations of the finite volumes and they are taken into account by adding fictitious numerical fluxes to the governing equation. This peculiar interpretation enables to avoid any explicit interpolation of the solution between different grids and to compute grid velocities so that the Geometric Conservation Law is automatically fulfilled also for connectivity changes. The solution on the new grid is obtained through standard ALE techniques, thus preserving the underlying scheme properties, such as conservativeness, stability and monotonicity. The adaptation procedure includes node insertion, node deletion, edge swapping and points relocation and it is exploited both to enhance grid quality after the boundary movement and to modify the grid spacing to increase solution accuracy. The presented approach is assessed by three-dimensional simulations of steady and unsteady flow fields. The capability of dealing with large boundary displacements is demonstrated by computing the flow around the translating infinite- and finite-span NACA 0012 wing moving through the domain at the flight speed. The proposed adaptive scheme is applied also to the simulation of a pitching infinite-span wing, where the bi-dimensional character of the flow is well reproduced despite the three-dimensional unstructured grid. Finally, the scheme is exploited in a piston-induced shock-tube problem to take into account simultaneously the large deformation of the domain and the shock wave. In all tests, mesh adaptation plays a crucial role.

A computationally efficient Bayesian sequential simulation approach for the assimilation of vast and diverse hydrogeophysical datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nussbaumer, Raphaël; Gloaguen, Erwan; Mariéthoz, Grégoire; Holliger, Klaus

2016-04-01

Bayesian sequential simulation (BSS) is a powerful geostatistical technique, which notably has shown significant potential for the assimilation of datasets that are diverse with regard to the spatial resolution and their relationship. However, these types of applications of BSS require a large number of realizations to adequately explore the solution space and to assess the corresponding uncertainties. Moreover, such simulations generally need to be performed on very fine grids in order to adequately exploit the technique's potential for characterizing heterogeneous environments. Correspondingly, the computational cost of BSS algorithms in their classical form is very high, which so far has limited an effective application of this method to large models and/or vast datasets. In this context, it is also important to note that the inherent assumption regarding the independence of the considered datasets is generally regarded as being too strong in the context of sequential simulation. To alleviate these problems, we have revisited the classical implementation of BSS and incorporated two key features to increase the computational efficiency. The first feature is a combined quadrant spiral - superblock search, which targets run-time savings on large grids and adds flexibility with regard to the selection of neighboring points using equal directional sampling and treating hard data and previously simulated points separately. The second feature is a constant path of simulation, which enhances the efficiency for multiple realizations. We have also modified the aggregation operator to be more flexible with regard to the assumption of independence of the considered datasets. This is achieved through log-linear pooling, which essentially allows for attributing weights to the various data components. Finally, a multi-grid simulating path was created to enforce large-scale variance and to allow for adapting parameters, such as, for example, the log-linear weights or the type of simulation path at various scales. The newly implemented search method for kriging reduces the computational cost from an exponential dependence with regard to the grid size in the original algorithm to a linear relationship, as each neighboring search becomes independent from the grid size. For the considered examples, our results show a sevenfold reduction in run time for each additional realization when a constant simulation path is used. The traditional criticism that constant path techniques introduce a bias to the simulations was explored and our findings do indeed reveal a minor reduction in the diversity of the simulations. This bias can, however, be largely eliminated by changing the path type at different scales through the use of the multi-grid approach. Finally, we show that adapting the aggregation weight at each scale considered in our multi-grid approach allows for reproducing both the variogram and histogram, and the spatial trend of the underlying data.

Time-domain analysis of planar microstrip devices using a generalized Yee-algorithm based on unstructured grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gedney, Stephen D.; Lansing, Faiza

1993-01-01

The generalized Yee-algorithm is presented for the temporal full-wave analysis of planar microstrip devices. This algorithm has the significant advantage over the traditional Yee-algorithm in that it is based on unstructured and irregular grids. The robustness of the generalized Yee-algorithm is that structures that contain curved conductors or complex three-dimensional geometries can be more accurately, and much more conveniently modeled using standard automatic grid generation techniques. This generalized Yee-algorithm is based on the the time-marching solution of the discrete form of Maxwell's equations in their integral form. To this end, the electric and magnetic fields are discretized over a dual, irregular, and unstructured grid. The primary grid is assumed to be composed of general fitted polyhedra distributed throughout the volume. The secondary grid (or dual grid) is built up of the closed polyhedra whose edges connect the centroid's of adjacent primary cells, penetrating shared faces. Faraday's law and Ampere's law are used to update the fields normal to the primary and secondary grid faces, respectively. Subsequently, a correction scheme is introduced to project the normal fields onto the grid edges. It is shown that this scheme is stable, maintains second-order accuracy, and preserves the divergenceless nature of the flux densities. Finally, for computational efficiency the algorithm is structured as a series of sparse matrix-vector multiplications. Based on this scheme, the generalized Yee-algorithm has been implemented on vector and parallel high performance computers in a highly efficient manner.

An Embedded 3D Fracture Modeling Approach for Simulating Fracture-Dominated Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Geothermal Reservoirs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnston, Henry; Wang, Cong; Winterfeld, Philip

An efficient modeling approach is described for incorporating arbitrary 3D, discrete fractures, such as hydraulic fractures or faults, into modeling fracture-dominated fluid flow and heat transfer in fractured geothermal reservoirs. This technique allows 3D discrete fractures to be discretized independently from surrounding rock volume and inserted explicitly into a primary fracture/matrix grid, generated without including 3D discrete fractures in prior. An effective computational algorithm is developed to discretize these 3D discrete fractures and construct local connections between 3D fractures and fracture/matrix grid blocks of representing the surrounding rock volume. The constructed gridding information on 3D fractures is then added tomore » the primary grid. This embedded fracture modeling approach can be directly implemented into a developed geothermal reservoir simulator via the integral finite difference (IFD) method or with TOUGH2 technology This embedded fracture modeling approach is very promising and computationally efficient to handle realistic 3D discrete fractures with complicated geometries, connections, and spatial distributions. Compared with other fracture modeling approaches, it avoids cumbersome 3D unstructured, local refining procedures, and increases computational efficiency by simplifying Jacobian matrix size and sparsity, while keeps sufficient accuracy. Several numeral simulations are present to demonstrate the utility and robustness of the proposed technique. Our numerical experiments show that this approach captures all the key patterns about fluid flow and heat transfer dominated by fractures in these cases. Thus, this approach is readily available to simulation of fractured geothermal reservoirs with both artificial and natural fractures.« less

Calculation of three-dimensional (3-D) internal flow by means of the velocity-vorticity formulation on a staggered grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stremel, Paul M.

1995-01-01

A method has been developed to accurately compute the viscous flow in three-dimensional (3-D) enclosures. This method is the 3-D extension of a two-dimensional (2-D) method developed for the calculation of flow over airfoils. The 2-D method has been tested extensively and has been shown to accurately reproduce experimental results. As in the 2-D method, the 3-D method provides for the non-iterative solution of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations by means of a fully coupled implicit technique. The solution is calculated on a body fitted computational mesh incorporating a staggered grid methodology. In the staggered grid method, the three components of vorticity are defined at the centers of the computational cell sides, while the velocity components are defined as normal vectors at the centers of the computational cell faces. The staggered grid orientation provides for the accurate definition of the vorticity components at the vorticity locations, the divergence of vorticity at the mesh cell nodes and the conservation of mass at the mesh cell centers. The solution is obtained by utilizing a fractional step solution technique in the three coordinate directions. The boundary conditions for the vorticity and velocity are calculated implicitly as part of the solution. The method provides for the non-iterative solution of the flow field and satisfies the conservation of mass and divergence of vorticity to machine zero at each time step. To test the method, the calculation of simple driven cavity flows have been computed. The driven cavity flow is defined as the flow in an enclosure driven by a moving upper plate at the top of the enclosure. To demonstrate the ability of the method to predict the flow in arbitrary cavities, results will he shown for both cubic and curved cavities.

Time-Domain Computation Of Electromagnetic Fields In MMICs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lansing, Faiza S.; Rascoe, Daniel L.

1995-01-01

Maxwell's equations solved on three-dimensional, conformed orthogonal grids by finite-difference techniques. Method of computing frequency-dependent electrical parameters of monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) involves time-domain computation of propagation of electromagnetic field in response to excitation by single pulse at input terminal, followed by computation of Fourier transforms to obtain frequency-domain response from time-domain response. Parameters computed include electric and magnetic fields, voltages, currents, impedances, scattering parameters, and effective dielectric constants. Powerful and efficient means for analyzing performance of even complicated MMIC.

Implementation of ADI: Schemes on MIMD parallel computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderwijngaart, Rob F.

1993-01-01

In order to simulate the effects of the impingement of hot exhaust jets of High Performance Aircraft on landing surfaces a multi-disciplinary computation coupling flow dynamics to heat conduction in the runway needs to be carried out. Such simulations, which are essentially unsteady, require very large computational power in order to be completed within a reasonable time frame of the order of an hour. Such power can be furnished by the latest generation of massively parallel computers. These remove the bottleneck of ever more congested data paths to one or a few highly specialized central processing units (CPU's) by having many off-the-shelf CPU's work independently on their own data, and exchange information only when needed. During the past year the first phase of this project was completed, in which the optimal strategy for mapping an ADI-algorithm for the three dimensional unsteady heat equation to a MIMD parallel computer was identified. This was done by implementing and comparing three different domain decomposition techniques that define the tasks for the CPU's in the parallel machine. These implementations were done for a Cartesian grid and Dirichlet boundary conditions. The most promising technique was then used to implement the heat equation solver on a general curvilinear grid with a suite of nontrivial boundary conditions. Finally, this technique was also used to implement the Scalar Penta-diagonal (SP) benchmark, which was taken from the NAS Parallel Benchmarks report. All implementations were done in the programming language C on the Intel iPSC/860 computer.

An overlapped grid method for multigrid, finite volume/difference flow solvers: MaGGiE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baysal, Oktay; Lessard, Victor R.

1990-01-01

The objective is to develop a domain decomposition method via overlapping/embedding the component grids, which is to be used by upwind, multi-grid, finite volume solution algorithms. A computer code, given the name MaGGiE (Multi-Geometry Grid Embedder) is developed to meet this objective. MaGGiE takes independently generated component grids as input, and automatically constructs the composite mesh and interpolation data, which can be used by the finite volume solution methods with or without multigrid convergence acceleration. Six demonstrative examples showing various aspects of the overlap technique are presented and discussed. These cases are used for developing the procedure for overlapping grids of different topologies, and to evaluate the grid connection and interpolation data for finite volume calculations on a composite mesh. Time fluxes are transferred between mesh interfaces using a trilinear interpolation procedure. Conservation losses are minimal at the interfaces using this method. The multi-grid solution algorithm, using the coaser grid connections, improves the convergence time history as compared to the solution on composite mesh without multi-gridding.

Multiple grid arrangement improves ligand docking with unknown binding sites: Application to the inverse docking problem.

PubMed

Ban, Tomohiro; Ohue, Masahito; Akiyama, Yutaka

2018-04-01

The identification of comprehensive drug-target interactions is important in drug discovery. Although numerous computational methods have been developed over the years, a gold standard technique has not been established. Computational ligand docking and structure-based drug design allow researchers to predict the binding affinity between a compound and a target protein, and thus, they are often used to virtually screen compound libraries. In addition, docking techniques have also been applied to the virtual screening of target proteins (inverse docking) to predict target proteins of a drug candidate. Nevertheless, a more accurate docking method is currently required. In this study, we proposed a method in which a predicted ligand-binding site is covered by multiple grids, termed multiple grid arrangement. Notably, multiple grid arrangement facilitates the conformational search for a grid-based ligand docking software and can be applied to the state-of-the-art commercial docking software Glide (Schrödinger, LLC). We validated the proposed method by re-docking with the Astex diverse benchmark dataset and blind binding site situations, which improved the correct prediction rate of the top scoring docking pose from 27.1% to 34.1%; however, only a slight improvement in target prediction accuracy was observed with inverse docking scenarios. These findings highlight the limitations and challenges of current scoring functions and the need for more accurate docking methods. The proposed multiple grid arrangement method was implemented in Glide by modifying a cross-docking script for Glide, xglide.py. The script of our method is freely available online at http://www.bi.cs.titech.ac.jp/mga_glide/. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A fast dynamic grid adaption scheme for meteorological flows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fiedler, B.H.; Trapp, R.J.

1993-10-01

The continuous dynamic grid adaption (CDGA) technique is applied to a compressible, three-dimensional model of a rising thermal. The computational cost, per grid point per time step, of using CDGA instead of a fixed, uniform Cartesian grid is about 53% of the total cost of the model with CDGA. The use of general curvilinear coordinates contributes 11.7% to this total, calculating and moving the grid 6.1%, and continually updating the transformation relations 20.7%. Costs due to calculations that involve the gridpoint velocities (as well as some substantial unexplained costs) contribute the remaining 14.5%. A simple way to limit the costmore » of calculating the grid is presented. The grid is adapted by solving an elliptic equation for gridpoint coordinates on a coarse grid and then interpolating the full finite-difference grid. In this application, the additional costs per grid point of CDGA are shown to be easily offset by the savings resulting from the reduction in the required number of grid points. In simulation of the thermal costs are reduced by a factor of 3, as compared with those of a companion model with a fixed, uniform Cartesian grid. 8 refs., 8 figs.« less

Efficient Fluid Dynamic Design Optimization Using Cartesian Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dadone, A.; Grossman, B.; Sellers, Bill (Technical Monitor)

2004-01-01

This report is subdivided in three parts. The first one reviews a new approach to the computation of inviscid flows using Cartesian grid methods. The crux of the method is the curvature-corrected symmetry technique (CCST) developed by the present authors for body-fitted grids. The method introduces ghost cells near the boundaries whose values are developed from an assumed flow-field model in vicinity of the wall consisting of a vortex flow, which satisfies the normal momentum equation and the non-penetration condition. The CCST boundary condition was shown to be substantially more accurate than traditional boundary condition approaches. This improved boundary condition is adapted to a Cartesian mesh formulation, which we call the Ghost Body-Cell Method (GBCM). In this approach, all cell centers exterior to the body are computed with fluxes at the four surrounding cell edges. There is no need for special treatment corresponding to cut cells which complicate other Cartesian mesh methods.

Parallel Unsteady Turbopump Simulations for Liquid Rocket Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin C.; Kwak, Dochan; Chan, William

2000-01-01

This paper reports the progress being made towards complete turbo-pump simulation capability for liquid rocket engines. Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) turbo-pump impeller is used as a test case for the performance evaluation of the MPI and hybrid MPI/Open-MP versions of the INS3D code. Then, a computational model of a turbo-pump has been developed for the shuttle upgrade program. Relative motion of the grid system for rotor-stator interaction was obtained by employing overset grid techniques. Time-accuracy of the scheme has been evaluated by using simple test cases. Unsteady computations for SSME turbo-pump, which contains 136 zones with 35 Million grid points, are currently underway on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. Results from time-accurate simulations with moving boundary capability, and the performance of the parallel versions of the code will be presented in the final paper.

Development of iterative techniques for the solution of unsteady compressible viscous flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hixon, Duane; Sankar, L. N.

1993-01-01

During the past two decades, there has been significant progress in the field of numerical simulation of unsteady compressible viscous flows. At present, a variety of solution techniques exist such as the transonic small disturbance analyses (TSD), transonic full potential equation-based methods, unsteady Euler solvers, and unsteady Navier-Stokes solvers. These advances have been made possible by developments in three areas: (1) improved numerical algorithms; (2) automation of body-fitted grid generation schemes; and (3) advanced computer architectures with vector processing and massively parallel processing features. In this work, the GMRES scheme has been considered as a candidate for acceleration of a Newton iteration time marching scheme for unsteady 2-D and 3-D compressible viscous flow calculation; from preliminary calculations, this will provide up to a 65 percent reduction in the computer time requirements over the existing class of explicit and implicit time marching schemes. The proposed method has ben tested on structured grids, but is flexible enough for extension to unstructured grids. The described scheme has been tested only on the current generation of vector processor architecture of the Cray Y/MP class, but should be suitable for adaptation to massively parallel machines.

User Manual for Beta Version of TURBO-GRD: A Software System for Interactive Two-Dimensional Boundary/ Field Grid Generation, Modification, and Refinement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choo, Yung K.; Slater, John W.; Henderson, Todd L.; Bidwell, Colin S.; Braun, Donald C.; Chung, Joongkee

1998-01-01

TURBO-GRD is a software system for interactive two-dimensional boundary/field grid generation. modification, and refinement. Its features allow users to explicitly control grid quality locally and globally. The grid control can be achieved interactively by using control points that the user picks and moves on the workstation monitor or by direct stretching and refining. The techniques used in the code are the control point form of algebraic grid generation, a damped cubic spline for edge meshing and parametric mapping between physical and computational domains. It also performs elliptic grid smoothing and free-form boundary control for boundary geometry manipulation. Internal block boundaries are constructed and shaped by using Bezier curve. Because TURBO-GRD is a highly interactive code, users can read in an initial solution, display its solution contour in the background of the grid and control net, and exercise grid modification using the solution contour as a guide. This process can be called an interactive solution-adaptive grid generation.

An Approach for Dynamic Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slater, John W.; Liou, Meng-Sing; Hindman, Richard G.

1994-01-01

An approach is presented for the generation of two-dimensional, structured, dynamic grids. The grid motion may be due to the motion of the boundaries of the computational domain or to the adaptation of the grid to the transient, physical solution. A time-dependent grid is computed through the time integration of the grid speeds which are computed from a system of grid speed equations. The grid speed equations are derived from the time-differentiation of the grid equations so as to ensure that the dynamic grid maintains the desired qualities of the static grid. The grid equations are the Euler-Lagrange equations derived from a variational statement for the grid. The dynamic grid method is demonstrated for a model problem involving boundary motion, an inviscid flow in a converging-diverging nozzle during startup, and a viscous flow over a flat plate with an impinging shock wave. It is shown that the approach is more accurate for transient flows than an approach in which the grid speeds are computed using a finite difference with respect to time of the grid. However, the approach requires significantly more computational effort.

Introducing Enabling Computational Tools to the Climate Sciences: Multi-Resolution Climate Modeling with Adaptive Cubed-Sphere Grids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jablonowski, Christiane

The research investigates and advances strategies how to bridge the scale discrepancies between local, regional and global phenomena in climate models without the prohibitive computational costs of global cloud-resolving simulations. In particular, the research explores new frontiers in computational geoscience by introducing high-order Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) techniques into climate research. AMR and statically-adapted variable-resolution approaches represent an emerging trend for atmospheric models and are likely to become the new norm in future-generation weather and climate models. The research advances the understanding of multi-scale interactions in the climate system and showcases a pathway how to model these interactions effectively withmore » advanced computational tools, like the Chombo AMR library developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The research is interdisciplinary and combines applied mathematics, scientific computing and the atmospheric sciences. In this research project, a hierarchy of high-order atmospheric models on cubed-sphere computational grids have been developed that serve as an algorithmic prototype for the finite-volume solution-adaptive Chombo-AMR approach. The foci of the investigations have lied on the characteristics of both static mesh adaptations and dynamically-adaptive grids that can capture flow fields of interest like tropical cyclones. Six research themes have been chosen. These are (1) the introduction of adaptive mesh refinement techniques into the climate sciences, (2) advanced algorithms for nonhydrostatic atmospheric dynamical cores, (3) an assessment of the interplay between resolved-scale dynamical motions and subgrid-scale physical parameterizations, (4) evaluation techniques for atmospheric model hierarchies, (5) the comparison of AMR refinement strategies and (6) tropical cyclone studies with a focus on multi-scale interactions and variable-resolution modeling. The results of this research project demonstrate significant advances in all six research areas. The major conclusions are that statically-adaptive variable-resolution modeling is currently becoming mature in the climate sciences, and that AMR holds outstanding promise for future-generation weather and climate models on high-performance computing architectures.« less

Adaptive Grid Refinement for Atmospheric Boundary Layer Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Hooft, Antoon; van Heerwaarden, Chiel; Popinet, Stephane; van der linden, Steven; de Roode, Stephan; van de Wiel, Bas

2017-04-01

We validate and benchmark an adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) algorithm for numerical simulations of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The AMR technique aims to distribute the computational resources efficiently over a domain by refining and coarsening the numerical grid locally and in time. This can be beneficial for studying cases in which length scales vary significantly in time and space. We present the results for a case describing the growth and decay of a convective boundary layer. The AMR results are benchmarked against two runs using a fixed, fine meshed grid. First, with the same numerical formulation as the AMR-code and second, with a code dedicated to ABL studies. Compared to the fixed and isotropic grid runs, the AMR algorithm can coarsen and refine the grid such that accurate results are obtained whilst using only a fraction of the grid cells. Performance wise, the AMR run was cheaper than the fixed and isotropic grid run with similar numerical formulations. However, for this specific case, the dedicated code outperformed both aforementioned runs.

Additional Security Considerations for Grid Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eidson, Thomas M.

2003-01-01

The use of Grid computing environments is growing in popularity. A Grid computing environment is primarily a wide area network that encompasses multiple local area networks, where some of the local area networks are managed by different organizations. A Grid computing environment also includes common interfaces for distributed computing software so that the heterogeneous set of machines that make up the Grid can be used more easily. The other key feature of a Grid is that the distributed computing software includes appropriate security technology. The focus of most Grid software is on the security involved with application execution, file transfers, and other remote computing procedures. However, there are other important security issues related to the management of a Grid and the users who use that Grid. This note discusses these additional security issues and makes several suggestions as how they can be managed.

Cloud Computing for the Grid: GridControl: A Software Platform to Support the Smart Grid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

GENI Project: Cornell University is creating a new software platform for grid operators called GridControl that will utilize cloud computing to more efficiently control the grid. In a cloud computing system, there are minimal hardware and software demands on users. The user can tap into a network of computers that is housed elsewhere (the cloud) and the network runs computer applications for the user. The user only needs interface software to access all of the cloud’s data resources, which can be as simple as a web browser. Cloud computing can reduce costs, facilitate innovation through sharing, empower users, and improvemore » the overall reliability of a dispersed system. Cornell’s GridControl will focus on 4 elements: delivering the state of the grid to users quickly and reliably; building networked, scalable grid-control software; tailoring services to emerging smart grid uses; and simulating smart grid behavior under various conditions.« less

Using High-Resolution Forward Model Simulations of Ideal Atmospheric Tracers to Assess the Spatial Information Content of Inverse CO2 Flux Estimates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pawson, Steven; Nielsen, J. Eric

2011-01-01

Attribution of observed atmospheric carbon concentrations to emissions on the country, state or city level is often inferred using "inversion" techniques. Such computations are often performed using advanced mathematical techniques, such as synthesis inversion or four-dimensional variational analysis, that invoke tracing observed atmospheric concentrations backwards through a transport model to a source region. It is, to date, not well understood how well such techniques can represent fine spatial (and temporal) structure in the inverted flux fields. This question is addressed using forward-model computations with idealized tracers emitted at the surface in a large number of grid boxes over selected regions and examining how distinctly these emitted tracers can be detected downstream. Initial results show that tracers emitted in half-degree grid boxes over a large region of the Eastern USA cannot be distinguished from each other, even at short distances over the Atlantic Ocean, when they are emitted in grid boxes separated by less than five degrees of latitude - especially when only total-column observations are available. A large number of forward model simulations, with varying meteorological conditions, are used to assess how distinctly three types observations (total column, upper tropospheric column, and surface mixing ratio) can separate emissions from different sources. Inferences inverse modeling and source attribution will be drawn.

An efficient coordinate transformation technique for unsteady, transonic aerodynamic analysis of low aspect-ratio wings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guruswamy, G. P.; Goorjian, P. M.

1984-01-01

An efficient coordinate transformation technique is presented for constructing grids for unsteady, transonic aerodynamic computations for delta-type wings. The original shearing transformation yielded computations that were numerically unstable and this paper discusses the sources of those instabilities. The new shearing transformation yields computations that are stable, fast, and accurate. Comparisons of those two methods are shown for the flow over the F5 wing that demonstrate the new stability. Also, comparisons are made with experimental data that demonstrate the accuracy of the new method. The computations were made by using a time-accurate, finite-difference, alternating-direction-implicit (ADI) algorithm for the transonic small-disturbance potential equation.

Integrating aerodynamic surface modeling for computational fluid dynamics with computer aided structural analysis, design, and manufacturing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thorp, Scott A.

1992-01-01

This presentation will discuss the development of a NASA Geometry Exchange Specification for transferring aerodynamic surface geometry between LeRC systems and grid generation software used for computational fluid dynamics research. The proposed specification is based on a subset of the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES). The presentation will include discussion of how the NASA-IGES standard will accommodate improved computer aided design inspection methods and reverse engineering techniques currently being developed. The presentation is in viewgraph format.

Assessment of Hybrid RANS/LES Turbulence Models for Aeroacoustics Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vatsa, Veer N.; Lockard, David P.

2010-01-01

Predicting the noise from aircraft with exposed landing gear remains a challenging problem for the aeroacoustics community. Although computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has shown promise as a technique that could produce high-fidelity flow solutions, generating grids that can resolve the pertinent physics around complex configurations can be very challenging. Structured grids are often impractical for such configurations. Unstructured grids offer a path forward for simulating complex configurations. However, few unstructured grid codes have been thoroughly tested for unsteady flow problems in the manner needed for aeroacoustic prediction. A widely used unstructured grid code, FUN3D, is examined for resolving the near field in unsteady flow problems. Although the ultimate goal is to compute the flow around complex geometries such as the landing gear, simpler problems that include some of the relevant physics, and are easily amenable to the structured grid approaches are used for testing the unstructured grid approach. The test cases chosen for this study correspond to the experimental work on single and tandem cylinders conducted in the Basic Aerodynamic Research Tunnel (BART) and the Quiet Flow Facility (QFF) at NASA Langley Research Center. These configurations offer an excellent opportunity to assess the performance of hybrid RANS/LES turbulence models that transition from RANS in unresolved regions near solid bodies to LES in the outer flow field. Several of these models have been implemented and tested in both structured and unstructured grid codes to evaluate their dependence on the solver and mesh type. Comparison of FUN3D solutions with experimental data and numerical solutions from a structured grid flow solver are found to be encouraging.

Techniques and resources for storm-scale numerical weather prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Droegemeier, Kelvin; Grell, Georg; Doyle, James; Soong, Su-Tzai; Skamarock, William; Bacon, David; Staniforth, Andrew; Crook, Andrew; Wilhelmson, Robert

1993-01-01

The topics discussed include the following: multiscale application of the 5th-generation PSU/NCAR mesoscale model, the coupling of nonhydrostatic atmospheric and hydrostatic ocean models for air-sea interaction studies; a numerical simulation of cloud formation over complex topography; adaptive grid simulations of convection; an unstructured grid, nonhydrostatic meso/cloud scale model; efficient mesoscale modeling for multiple scales using variable resolution; initialization of cloud-scale models with Doppler radar data; and making effective use of future computing architectures, networks, and visualization software.

An Analysis of Elliptic Grid Generation Techniques Using an Implicit Euler Solver.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-06-09

automatic determination of the control fu.nction, . elements of covariant metric tensor in the elliptic grid generation system , from the Cm = 1,2,3...computational fluid d’nan1-cs code. Tne code Inclues a tnree-dimensional current research is aimed primaril: at algebraic generation system based on transfinite...start the iterative solution of the f. ow, nea, transfer, and combustion proble:s. elliptic generation system . Tn13 feature also .:ven-.ts :.t be made

Distributed intrusion detection system based on grid security model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Jie; Liu, Yahui

2008-03-01

Grid computing has developed rapidly with the development of network technology and it can solve the problem of large-scale complex computing by sharing large-scale computing resource. In grid environment, we can realize a distributed and load balance intrusion detection system. This paper first discusses the security mechanism in grid computing and the function of PKI/CA in the grid security system, then gives the application of grid computing character in the distributed intrusion detection system (IDS) based on Artificial Immune System. Finally, it gives a distributed intrusion detection system based on grid security system that can reduce the processing delay and assure the detection rates.

Investigation of advanced counterrotation blade configuration concepts for high speed turboprop systems. Task 2: Unsteady ducted propfan analysis computer program users manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Edward J.; Delaney, Robert A.; Bettner, James L.

1991-01-01

The primary objective of this study was the development of a time-dependent three-dimensional Euler/Navier-Stokes aerodynamic analysis to predict unsteady compressible transonic flows about ducted and unducted propfan propulsion systems at angle of attack. The computer codes resulting from this study are referred to as Advanced Ducted Propfan Analysis Codes (ADPAC). This report is intended to serve as a computer program user's manual for the ADPAC developed under Task 2 of NASA Contract NAS3-25270, Unsteady Ducted Propfan Analysis. Aerodynamic calculations were based on a four-stage Runge-Kutta time-marching finite volume solution technique with added numerical dissipation. A time-accurate implicit residual smoothing operator was utilized for unsteady flow predictions. For unducted propfans, a single H-type grid was used to discretize each blade passage of the complete propeller. For ducted propfans, a coupled system of five grid blocks utilizing an embedded C-grid about the cowl leading edge was used to discretize each blade passage. Grid systems were generated by a combined algebraic/elliptic algorithm developed specifically for ducted propfans. Numerical calculations were compared with experimental data for both ducted and unducted propfan flows. The solution scheme demonstrated efficiency and accuracy comparable with other schemes of this class.

Demonstration Of Ultra HI-FI (UHF) Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dyson, Rodger W.

2004-01-01

Computational aero-acoustics (CAA) requires efficient, high-resolution simulation tools. Most current techniques utilize finite-difference approaches because high order accuracy is considered too difficult or expensive to achieve with finite volume or finite element methods. However, a novel finite volume approach (Ultra HI-FI or UHF) which utilizes Hermite fluxes is presented which can achieve both arbitrary accuracy and fidelity in space and time. The technique can be applied to unstructured grids with some loss of fidelity or with multi-block structured grids for maximum efficiency and resolution. In either paradigm, it is possible to resolve ultra-short waves (less than 2 PPW). This is demonstrated here by solving the 4th CAA workshop Category 1 Problem 1.

Euler Technology Assessment for Preliminary Aircraft Design: Compressibility Predictions by Employing the Cartesian Unstructured Grid SPLITFLOW Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finley, Dennis B.; Karman, Steve L., Jr.

1996-01-01

The objective of the second phase of the Euler Technology Assessment program was to evaluate the ability of Euler computational fluid dynamics codes to predict compressible flow effects over a generic fighter wind tunnel model. This portion of the study was conducted by Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, using an in-house Cartesian-grid code called SPLITFLOW. The Cartesian grid technique offers several advantages, including ease of volume grid generation and reduced number of cells compared to other grid schemes. SPLITFLOW also includes grid adaption of the volume grid during the solution to resolve high-gradient regions. The SPLITFLOW code predictions of configuration forces and moments are shown to be adequate for preliminary design, including predictions of sideslip effects and the effects of geometry variations at low and high angles-of-attack. The transonic pressure prediction capabilities of SPLITFLOW are shown to be improved over subsonic comparisons. The time required to generate the results from initial surface data is on the order of several hours, including grid generation, which is compatible with the needs of the design environment.

Towards Integrating Distributed Energy Resources and Storage Devices in Smart Grid.

PubMed

Xu, Guobin; Yu, Wei; Griffith, David; Golmie, Nada; Moulema, Paul

2017-02-01

Internet of Things (IoT) provides a generic infrastructure for different applications to integrate information communication techniques with physical components to achieve automatic data collection, transmission, exchange, and computation. The smart grid, as one of typical applications supported by IoT, denoted as a re-engineering and a modernization of the traditional power grid, aims to provide reliable, secure, and efficient energy transmission and distribution to consumers. How to effectively integrate distributed (renewable) energy resources and storage devices to satisfy the energy service requirements of users, while minimizing the power generation and transmission cost, remains a highly pressing challenge in the smart grid. To address this challenge and assess the effectiveness of integrating distributed energy resources and storage devices, in this paper we develop a theoretical framework to model and analyze three types of power grid systems: the power grid with only bulk energy generators, the power grid with distributed energy resources, and the power grid with both distributed energy resources and storage devices. Based on the metrics of the power cumulative cost and the service reliability to users, we formally model and analyze the impact of integrating distributed energy resources and storage devices in the power grid. We also use the concept of network calculus, which has been traditionally used for carrying out traffic engineering in computer networks, to derive the bounds of both power supply and user demand to achieve a high service reliability to users. Through an extensive performance evaluation, our data shows that integrating distributed energy resources conjointly with energy storage devices can reduce generation costs, smooth the curve of bulk power generation over time, reduce bulk power generation and power distribution losses, and provide a sustainable service reliability to users in the power grid.

Towards Integrating Distributed Energy Resources and Storage Devices in Smart Grid

PubMed Central

Xu, Guobin; Yu, Wei; Griffith, David; Golmie, Nada; Moulema, Paul

2017-01-01

Internet of Things (IoT) provides a generic infrastructure for different applications to integrate information communication techniques with physical components to achieve automatic data collection, transmission, exchange, and computation. The smart grid, as one of typical applications supported by IoT, denoted as a re-engineering and a modernization of the traditional power grid, aims to provide reliable, secure, and efficient energy transmission and distribution to consumers. How to effectively integrate distributed (renewable) energy resources and storage devices to satisfy the energy service requirements of users, while minimizing the power generation and transmission cost, remains a highly pressing challenge in the smart grid. To address this challenge and assess the effectiveness of integrating distributed energy resources and storage devices, in this paper we develop a theoretical framework to model and analyze three types of power grid systems: the power grid with only bulk energy generators, the power grid with distributed energy resources, and the power grid with both distributed energy resources and storage devices. Based on the metrics of the power cumulative cost and the service reliability to users, we formally model and analyze the impact of integrating distributed energy resources and storage devices in the power grid. We also use the concept of network calculus, which has been traditionally used for carrying out traffic engineering in computer networks, to derive the bounds of both power supply and user demand to achieve a high service reliability to users. Through an extensive performance evaluation, our data shows that integrating distributed energy resources conjointly with energy storage devices can reduce generation costs, smooth the curve of bulk power generation over time, reduce bulk power generation and power distribution losses, and provide a sustainable service reliability to users in the power grid1. PMID:29354654

A numerical study of mixing in supersonic combustors with hypermixing injectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, J.

1993-01-01

A numerical study was conducted to evaluate the performance of wall mounted fuel-injectors designed for potential Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (SCRAM-jet) engine applications. The focus of this investigation was to numerically simulate existing combustor designs for the purpose of validating the numerical technique and the physical models developed. Three different injector designs of varying complexity were studied to fully understand the computational implications involved in accurate predictions. A dual transverse injection system and two streamwise injector designs were studied. The streamwise injectors were designed with swept ramps to enhance fuel-air mixing and combustion characteristics at supersonic speeds without the large flow blockage and drag contribution of the transverse injection system. For this study, the Mass-Average Navier-Stokes equations and the chemical species continuity equations were solved. The computations were performed using a finite-volume implicit numerical technique and multiple block structured grid system. The interfaces of the multiple block structured grid systems were numerically resolved using the flux-conservative technique. Detailed comparisons between the computations and existing experimental data are presented. These comparisons show that numerical predictions are in agreement with the experimental data. These comparisons also show that a number of turbulence model improvements are needed for accurate combustor flowfield predictions.

A numerical study of mixing in supersonic combustors with hypermixing injectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, J.

1992-01-01

A numerical study was conducted to evaluate the performance of wall mounted fuel-injectors designed for potential Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (SCRAM-jet) engine applications. The focus of this investigation was to numerically simulate existing combustor designs for the purpose of validating the numerical technique and the physical models developed. Three different injector designs of varying complexity were studied to fully understand the computational implications involved in accurate predictions. A dual transverse injection system and two streamwise injector designs were studied. The streamwise injectors were designed with swept ramps to enhance fuel-air mixing and combustion characteristics at supersonic speeds without the large flow blockage and drag contribution of the transverse injection system. For this study, the Mass-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations and the chemical species continuity equations were solved. The computations were performed using a finite-volume implicit numerical technique and multiple block structured grid system. The interfaces of the multiple block structured grid systems were numerically resolved using the flux-conservative technique. Detailed comparisons between the computations and existing experimental data are presented. These comparisons show that numerical predictions are in agreement with the experimental data. These comparisons also show that a number of turbulence model improvements are needed for accurate combustor flowfield predictions.

Setting Up a Grid-CERT: Experiences of an Academic CSIRT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moller, Klaus

2007-01-01

Purpose: Grid computing has often been heralded as the next logical step after the worldwide web. Users of grids can access dynamic resources such as computer storage and use the computing resources of computers under the umbrella of a virtual organisation. Although grid computing is often compared to the worldwide web, it is vastly more complex…

Hierarchical and Parallelizable Direct Volume Rendering for Irregular and Multiple Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilhelms, Jane; VanGelder, Allen; Tarantino, Paul; Gibbs, Jonathan

1996-01-01

A general volume rendering technique is described that efficiently produces images of excellent quality from data defined over irregular grids having a wide variety of formats. Rendering is done in software, eliminating the need for special graphics hardware, as well as any artifacts associated with graphics hardware. Images of volumes with about one million cells can be produced in one to several minutes on a workstation with a 150 MHz processor. A significant advantage of this method for applications such as computational fluid dynamics is that it can process multiple intersecting grids. Such grids present problems for most current volume rendering techniques. Also, the wide range of cell sizes (by a factor of 10,000 or more), which is typical of such applications, does not present difficulties, as it does for many techniques. A spatial hierarchical organization makes it possible to access data from a restricted region efficiently. The tree has greater depth in regions of greater detail, determined by the number of cells in the region. It also makes it possible to render useful 'preview' images very quickly (about one second for one-million-cell grids) by displaying each region associated with a tree node as one cell. Previews show enough detail to navigate effectively in very large data sets. The algorithmic techniques include use of a kappa-d tree, with prefix-order partitioning of triangles, to reduce the number of primitives that must be processed for one rendering, coarse-grain parallelism for a shared-memory MIMD architecture, a new perspective transformation that achieves greater numerical accuracy, and a scanline algorithm with depth sorting and a new clipping technique.

Finite volume model for two-dimensional shallow environmental flow

USGS Publications Warehouse

Simoes, F.J.M.

2011-01-01

This paper presents the development of a two-dimensional, depth integrated, unsteady, free-surface model based on the shallow water equations. The development was motivated by the desire of balancing computational efficiency and accuracy by selective and conjunctive use of different numerical techniques. The base framework of the discrete model uses Godunov methods on unstructured triangular grids, but the solution technique emphasizes the use of a high-resolution Riemann solver where needed, switching to a simpler and computationally more efficient upwind finite volume technique in the smooth regions of the flow. Explicit time marching is accomplished with strong stability preserving Runge-Kutta methods, with additional acceleration techniques for steady-state computations. A simplified mass-preserving algorithm is used to deal with wet/dry fronts. Application of the model is made to several benchmark cases that show the interplay of the diverse solution techniques.

Cooperative solutions coupling a geometry engine and adaptive solver codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dickens, Thomas P.

1995-01-01

Follow-on work has progressed in using Aero Grid and Paneling System (AGPS), a geometry and visualization system, as a dynamic real time geometry monitor, manipulator, and interrogator for other codes. In particular, AGPS has been successfully coupled with adaptive flow solvers which iterate, refining the grid in areas of interest, and continuing on to a solution. With the coupling to the geometry engine, the new grids represent the actual geometry much more accurately since they are derived directly from the geometry and do not use refits to the first-cut grids. Additional work has been done with design runs where the geometric shape is modified to achieve a desired result. Various constraints are used to point the solution in a reasonable direction which also more closely satisfies the desired results. Concepts and techniques are presented, as well as examples of sample case studies. Issues such as distributed operation of the cooperative codes versus running all codes locally and pre-calculation for performance are discussed. Future directions are considered which will build on these techniques in light of changing computer environments.

High performance GPU processing for inversion using uniform grid searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venetis, Ioannis E.; Saltogianni, Vasso; Stiros, Stathis; Gallopoulos, Efstratios

2017-04-01

Many geophysical problems are described by systems of redundant, highly non-linear systems of ordinary equations with constant terms deriving from measurements and hence representing stochastic variables. Solution (inversion) of such problems is based on numerical, optimization methods, based on Monte Carlo sampling or on exhaustive searches in cases of two or even three "free" unknown variables. Recently the TOPological INVersion (TOPINV) algorithm, a grid search-based technique in the Rn space, has been proposed. TOPINV is not based on the minimization of a certain cost function and involves only forward computations, hence avoiding computational errors. The basic concept is to transform observation equations into inequalities on the basis of an optimization parameter k and of their standard errors, and through repeated "scans" of n-dimensional search grids for decreasing values of k to identify the optimal clusters of gridpoints which satisfy observation inequalities and by definition contain the "true" solution. Stochastic optimal solutions and their variance-covariance matrices are then computed as first and second statistical moments. Such exhaustive uniform searches produce an excessive computational load and are extremely time consuming for common computers based on a CPU. An alternative is to use a computing platform based on a GPU, which nowadays is affordable to the research community, which provides a much higher computing performance. Using the CUDA programming language to implement TOPINV allows the investigation of the attained speedup in execution time on such a high performance platform. Based on synthetic data we compared the execution time required for two typical geophysical problems, modeling magma sources and seismic faults, described with up to 18 unknown variables, on both CPU/FORTRAN and GPU/CUDA platforms. The same problems for several different sizes of search grids (up to 1012 gridpoints) and numbers of unknown variables were solved on both platforms, and execution time as a function of the grid dimension for each problem was recorded. Results indicate an average speedup in calculations by a factor of 100 on the GPU platform; for example problems with 1012 grid-points require less than two hours instead of several days on conventional desktop computers. Such a speedup encourages the application of TOPINV on high performance platforms, as a GPU, in cases where nearly real time decisions are necessary, for example finite fault modeling to identify possible tsunami sources.

Proposal for grid computing for nuclear applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Idris, Faridah Mohamad; Ismail, Saaidi; Haris, Mohd Fauzi B.

2014-02-12

The use of computer clusters for computational sciences including computational physics is vital as it provides computing power to crunch big numbers at a faster rate. In compute intensive applications that requires high resolution such as Monte Carlo simulation, the use of computer clusters in a grid form that supplies computational power to any nodes within the grid that needs computing power, has now become a necessity. In this paper, we described how the clusters running on a specific application could use resources within the grid, to run the applications to speed up the computing process.

Improvements in sub-grid, microphysics averages using quadrature based approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chowdhary, K.; Debusschere, B.; Larson, V. E.

2013-12-01

Sub-grid variability in microphysical processes plays a critical role in atmospheric climate models. In order to account for this sub-grid variability, Larson and Schanen (2013) propose placing a probability density function on the sub-grid cloud microphysics quantities, e.g. autoconversion rate, essentially interpreting the cloud microphysics quantities as a random variable in each grid box. Random sampling techniques, e.g. Monte Carlo and Latin Hypercube, can be used to calculate statistics, e.g. averages, on the microphysics quantities, which then feed back into the model dynamics on the coarse scale. We propose an alternate approach using numerical quadrature methods based on deterministic sampling points to compute the statistical moments of microphysics quantities in each grid box. We have performed a preliminary test on the Kessler autoconversion formula, and, upon comparison with Latin Hypercube sampling, our approach shows an increased level of accuracy with a reduction in sample size by almost two orders of magnitude. Application to other microphysics processes is the subject of ongoing research.

A Grid Sourcing and Adaptation Study Using Unstructured Grids for Supersonic Boom Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carter, Melissa B.; Deere, Karen A.

2008-01-01

NASA created the Supersonics Project as part of the NASA Fundamental Aeronautics Program to advance technology that will make a supersonic flight over land viable. Computational flow solvers have lacked the ability to accurately predict sonic boom from the near to far field. The focus of this investigation was to establish gridding and adaptation techniques to predict near-to-mid-field (<10 body lengths below the aircraft) boom signatures at supersonic speeds using the USM3D unstructured grid flow solver. The study began by examining sources along the body the aircraft, far field sourcing and far field boundaries. The study then examined several techniques for grid adaptation. During the course of the study, volume sourcing was introduced as a new way to source grids using the grid generation code VGRID. Two different methods of using the volume sources were examined. The first method, based on manual insertion of the numerous volume sources, made great improvements in the prediction capability of USM3D for boom signatures. The second method (SSGRID), which uses an a priori adaptation approach to stretch and shear the original unstructured grid to align the grid and pressure waves, showed similar results with a more automated approach. Due to SSGRID s results and ease of use, the rest of the study focused on developing a best practice using SSGRID. The best practice created by this study for boom predictions using the CFD code USM3D involved: 1) creating a small cylindrical outer boundary either 1 or 2 body lengths in diameter (depending on how far below the aircraft the boom prediction is required), 2) using a single volume source under the aircraft, and 3) using SSGRID to stretch and shear the grid to the desired length.

Fast Computation of Ground Motion Shaking Map base on the Modified Stochastic Finite Fault Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, W.; Zhong, Q.; Shi, B.

2012-12-01

Rapidly regional MMI mapping soon after a moderate-large earthquake is crucial to loss estimation, emergency services and planning of emergency action by the government. In fact, many countries show different degrees of attention on the technology of rapid estimation of MMI , and this technology has made significant progress in earthquake-prone countries. In recent years, numerical modeling of strong ground motion has been well developed with the advances of computation technology and earthquake science. The computational simulation of strong ground motion caused by earthquake faulting has become an efficient way to estimate the regional MMI distribution soon after earthquake. In China, due to the lack of strong motion observation in network sparse or even completely missing areas, the development of strong ground motion simulation method has become an important means of quantitative estimation of strong motion intensity. In many of the simulation models, stochastic finite fault model is preferred to rapid MMI estimating for its time-effectiveness and accuracy. In finite fault model, a large fault is divided into N subfaults, and each subfault is considered as a small point source. The ground motions contributed by each subfault are calculated by the stochastic point source method which is developed by Boore, and then summed at the observation point to obtain the ground motion from the entire fault with a proper time delay. Further, Motazedian and Atkinson proposed the concept of Dynamic Corner Frequency, with the new approach, the total radiated energy from the fault and the total seismic moment are conserved independent of subfault size over a wide range of subfault sizes. In current study, the program EXSIM developed by Motazedian and Atkinson has been modified for local or regional computations of strong motion parameters such as PGA, PGV and PGD, which are essential for MMI estimating. To make the results more reasonable, we consider the impact of V30 for the ground shaking intensity, and the results of the comparisons between the simulated and observed MMI for the 2004 Mw 6.0 Parkfield earthquake, the 2008 Mw 7.9Wenchuan earthquake and the 1976 Mw 7.6Tangshan earthquake is fairly well. Take Parkfield earthquake as example, the simulative result reflect the directivity effect and the influence of the shallow velocity structure well. On the other hand, the simulative data is in good agreement with the network data and NGA (Next Generation Attenuation). The consumed time depends on the number of the subfaults and the number of the grid point. For the 2004 Mw 6.0 Parkfield earthquake, the grid size we calculated is 2.5° × 2.5°, the grid space is 0.025°, and the total time consumed is about 1.3hours. For the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, the grid size calculated is 10° × 10°, the grid space is 0.05°, the total number of grid point is more than 40,000, and the total time consumed is about 7.5 hours. For t the 1976 Mw 7.6 Tangshan earthquake, the grid size we calculated is 4° × 6°, the grid space is 0.05°, and the total time consumed is about 2.1 hours. The CPU we used is 3.40GHz, and such computational time could further reduce by using GPU computing technique and other parallel computing technique. This is also our next focus.

Computational aeroelasticity using a pressure-based solver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamakoti, Ramji

A computational methodology for performing fluid-structure interaction computations for three-dimensional elastic wing geometries is presented. The flow solver used is based on an unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model. A well validated k-ε turbulence model with wall function treatment for near wall region was used to perform turbulent flow calculations. Relative merits of alternative flow solvers were investigated. The predictor-corrector-based Pressure Implicit Splitting of Operators (PISO) algorithm was found to be computationally economic for unsteady flow computations. Wing structure was modeled using Bernoulli-Euler beam theory. A fully implicit time-marching scheme (using the Newmark integration method) was used to integrate the equations of motion for structure. Bilinear interpolation and linear extrapolation techniques were used to transfer necessary information between fluid and structure solvers. Geometry deformation was accounted for by using a moving boundary module. The moving grid capability was based on a master/slave concept and transfinite interpolation techniques. Since computations were performed on a moving mesh system, the geometric conservation law must be preserved. This is achieved by appropriately evaluating the Jacobian values associated with each cell. Accurate computation of contravariant velocities for unsteady flows using the momentum interpolation method on collocated, curvilinear grids was also addressed. Flutter computations were performed for the AGARD 445.6 wing at subsonic, transonic and supersonic Mach numbers. Unsteady computations were performed at various dynamic pressures to predict the flutter boundary. Results showed favorable agreement of experiment and previous numerical results. The computational methodology exhibited capabilities to predict both qualitative and quantitative features of aeroelasticity.

An improved ant colony optimization algorithm with fault tolerance for job scheduling in grid computing systems

PubMed Central

Idris, Hajara; Junaidu, Sahalu B.; Adewumi, Aderemi O.

2017-01-01

The Grid scheduler, schedules user jobs on the best available resource in terms of resource characteristics by optimizing job execution time. Resource failure in Grid is no longer an exception but a regular occurring event as resources are increasingly being used by the scientific community to solve computationally intensive problems which typically run for days or even months. It is therefore absolutely essential that these long-running applications are able to tolerate failures and avoid re-computations from scratch after resource failure has occurred, to satisfy the user’s Quality of Service (QoS) requirement. Job Scheduling with Fault Tolerance in Grid Computing using Ant Colony Optimization is proposed to ensure that jobs are executed successfully even when resource failure has occurred. The technique employed in this paper, is the use of resource failure rate, as well as checkpoint-based roll back recovery strategy. Check-pointing aims at reducing the amount of work that is lost upon failure of the system by immediately saving the state of the system. A comparison of the proposed approach with an existing Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm is discussed. The experimental results of the implemented Fault Tolerance scheduling algorithm show that there is an improvement in the user’s QoS requirement over the existing ACO algorithm, which has no fault tolerance integrated in it. The performance evaluation of the two algorithms was measured in terms of the three main scheduling performance metrics: makespan, throughput and average turnaround time. PMID:28545075

SAGE - MULTIDIMENSIONAL SELF-ADAPTIVE GRID CODE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davies, C. B.

1994-01-01

SAGE, Self Adaptive Grid codE, is a flexible tool for adapting and restructuring both 2D and 3D grids. Solution-adaptive grid methods are useful tools for efficient and accurate flow predictions. In supersonic and hypersonic flows, strong gradient regions such as shocks, contact discontinuities, shear layers, etc., require careful distribution of grid points to minimize grid error and produce accurate flow-field predictions. SAGE helps the user obtain more accurate solutions by intelligently redistributing (i.e. adapting) the original grid points based on an initial or interim flow-field solution. The user then computes a new solution using the adapted grid as input to the flow solver. The adaptive-grid methodology poses the problem in an algebraic, unidirectional manner for multi-dimensional adaptations. The procedure is analogous to applying tension and torsion spring forces proportional to the local flow gradient at every grid point and finding the equilibrium position of the resulting system of grid points. The multi-dimensional problem of grid adaption is split into a series of one-dimensional problems along the computational coordinate lines. The reduced one dimensional problem then requires a tridiagonal solver to find the location of grid points along a coordinate line. Multi-directional adaption is achieved by the sequential application of the method in each coordinate direction. The tension forces direct the redistribution of points to the strong gradient region. To maintain smoothness and a measure of orthogonality of grid lines, torsional forces are introduced that relate information between the family of lines adjacent to one another. The smoothness and orthogonality constraints are direction-dependent, since they relate only the coordinate lines that are being adapted to the neighboring lines that have already been adapted. Therefore the solutions are non-unique and depend on the order and direction of adaption. Non-uniqueness of the adapted grid is acceptable since it makes possible an overall and local error reduction through grid redistribution. SAGE includes the ability to modify the adaption techniques in boundary regions, which substantially improves the flexibility of the adaptive scheme. The vectorial approach used in the analysis also provides flexibility. The user has complete choice of adaption direction and order of sequential adaptions without concern for the computational data structure. Multiple passes are available with no restraint on stepping directions; for each adaptive pass the user can choose a completely new set of adaptive parameters. This facility, combined with the capability of edge boundary control, enables the code to individually adapt multi-dimensional multiple grids. Zonal grids can be adapted while maintaining continuity along the common boundaries. For patched grids, the multiple-pass capability enables complete adaption. SAGE is written in FORTRAN 77 and is intended to be machine independent; however, it requires a FORTRAN compiler which supports NAMELIST input. It has been successfully implemented on Sun series computers, SGI IRIS's, DEC MicroVAX computers, HP series computers, the Cray YMP, and IBM PC compatibles. Source code is provided, but no sample input and output files are provided. The code reads three datafiles: one that contains the initial grid coordinates (x,y,z), one that contains corresponding flow-field variables, and one that contains the user control parameters. It is assumed that the first two datasets are formatted as defined in the plotting software package PLOT3D. Several machine versions of PLOT3D are available from COSMIC. The amount of main memory is dependent on the size of the matrix. The standard distribution medium for SAGE is a 5.25 inch 360K MS-DOS format diskette. It is also available on a .25 inch streaming magnetic tape cartridge in UNIX tar format or on a 9-track 1600 BPI ASCII CARD IMAGE format magnetic tape. SAGE was developed in 1989, first released as a 2D version in 1991 and updated to 3D in 1993.

Nonlinear ship waves and computational fluid dynamics

PubMed Central

MIYATA, Hideaki; ORIHARA, Hideo; SATO, Yohei

2014-01-01

Research works undertaken in the first author’s laboratory at the University of Tokyo over the past 30 years are highlighted. Finding of the occurrence of nonlinear waves (named Free-Surface Shock Waves) in the vicinity of a ship advancing at constant speed provided the start-line for the progress of innovative technologies in the ship hull-form design. Based on these findings, a multitude of the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) techniques have been developed over this period, and are highlighted in this paper. The TUMMAC code has been developed for wave problems, based on a rectangular grid system, while the WISDAM code treats both wave and viscous flow problems in the framework of a boundary-fitted grid system. These two techniques are able to cope with almost all fluid dynamical problems relating to ships, including the resistance, ship’s motion and ride-comfort issues. Consequently, the two codes have contributed significantly to the progress in the technology of ship design, and now form an integral part of the ship-designing process. PMID:25311139

Contingency Analysis Post-Processing With Advanced Computing and Visualization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Yousu; Glaesemann, Kurt; Fitzhenry, Erin

Contingency analysis is a critical function widely used in energy management systems to assess the impact of power system component failures. Its outputs are important for power system operation for improved situational awareness, power system planning studies, and power market operations. With the increased complexity of power system modeling and simulation caused by increased energy production and demand, the penetration of renewable energy and fast deployment of smart grid devices, and the trend of operating grids closer to their capacity for better efficiency, more and more contingencies must be executed and analyzed quickly in order to ensure grid reliability andmore » accuracy for the power market. Currently, many researchers have proposed different techniques to accelerate the computational speed of contingency analysis, but not much work has been published on how to post-process the large amount of contingency outputs quickly. This paper proposes a parallel post-processing function that can analyze contingency analysis outputs faster and display them in a web-based visualization tool to help power engineers improve their work efficiency by fast information digestion. Case studies using an ESCA-60 bus system and a WECC planning system are presented to demonstrate the functionality of the parallel post-processing technique and the web-based visualization tool.« less

Refinement Of Hexahedral Cells In Euler Flow Computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Melton, John E.; Cappuccio, Gelsomina; Thomas, Scott D.

1996-01-01

Topologically Independent Grid, Euler Refinement (TIGER) computer program solves Euler equations of three-dimensional, unsteady flow of inviscid, compressible fluid by numerical integration on unstructured hexahedral coordinate grid refined where necessary to resolve shocks and other details. Hexahedral cells subdivided, each into eight smaller cells, as needed to refine computational grid in regions of high flow gradients. Grid Interactive Refinement and Flow-Field Examination (GIRAFFE) computer program written in conjunction with TIGER program to display computed flow-field data and to assist researcher in verifying specified boundary conditions and refining grid.

Fan noise prediction assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bent, Paul H.

1995-01-01

This report is an evaluation of two techniques for predicting the fan noise radiation from engine nacelles. The first is a relatively computational intensive finite element technique. The code is named ARC, an abbreviation of Acoustic Radiation Code, and was developed by Eversman. This is actually a suite of software that first generates a grid around the nacelle, then solves for the potential flowfield, and finally solves the acoustic radiation problem. The second approach is an analytical technique requiring minimal computational effort. This is termed the cutoff ratio technique and was developed by Rice. Details of the duct geometry, such as the hub-to-tip ratio and Mach number of the flow in the duct, and modal content of the duct noise are required for proper prediction.

Euler-Lagrangian computation for estuarine hydrodynamics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cheng, Ralph T.

1983-01-01

The transport of conservative and suspended matter in fluid flows is a phenomenon of Lagrangian nature because the process is usually convection dominant. Nearly all numerical investigations of such problems use an Eulerian formulation for the convenience that the computational grids are fixed in space and because the vast majority of field data are collected in an Eulerian reference frame. Several examples are given in this paper to illustrate a modeling approach which combines the advantages of both the Eulerian and Lagrangian computational techniques.

System design and implementation of digital-image processing using computational grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Zhanfeng; Luo, Jiancheng; Zhou, Chenghu; Huang, Guangyu; Ma, Weifeng; Ming, Dongping

2005-06-01

As a special type of digital image, remotely sensed images are playing increasingly important roles in our daily lives. Because of the enormous amounts of data involved, and the difficulties of data processing and transfer, an important issue for current computer and geo-science experts is developing internet technology to implement rapid remotely sensed image processing. Computational grids are able to solve this problem effectively. These networks of computer workstations enable the sharing of data and resources, and are used by computer experts to solve imbalances of network resources and lopsided usage. In China, computational grids combined with spatial-information-processing technology have formed a new technology: namely, spatial-information grids. In the field of remotely sensed images, spatial-information grids work more effectively for network computing, data processing, resource sharing, task cooperation and so on. This paper focuses mainly on the application of computational grids to digital-image processing. Firstly, we describe the architecture of digital-image processing on the basis of computational grids, its implementation is then discussed in detail with respect to the technology of middleware. The whole network-based intelligent image-processing system is evaluated on the basis of the experimental analysis of remotely sensed image-processing tasks; the results confirm the feasibility of the application of computational grids to digital-image processing.

Chimera grids in the simulation of three-dimensional flowfields in turbine-blade-coolant passages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stephens, M. A.; Rimlinger, M. J.; Shih, T. I.-P.; Civinskas, K. C.

1993-01-01

When computing flows inside geometrically complex turbine-blade coolant passages, the structure of the grid system used can affect significantly the overall time and cost required to obtain solutions. This paper addresses this issue while evaluating and developing computational tools for the design and analysis of coolant-passages, and is divided into two parts. In the first part, the various types of structured and unstructured grids are compared in relation to their ability to provide solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner. This comparison shows that the overlapping structured grids, known as Chimera grids, can rival and in some instances exceed the cost-effectiveness of unstructured grids in terms of both the man hours needed to generate grids and the amount of computer memory and CPU time needed to obtain solutions. In the second part, a computational tool utilizing Chimera grids was used to compute the flow and heat transfer in two different turbine-blade coolant passages that contain baffles and numerous pin fins. These computations showed the versatility and flexibility offered by Chimera grids.

Techniques for computer-aided analysis of ERTS-1 data, useful in geologic, forest and water resource surveys. [Colorado Rocky Mountains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffer, R. M.

1974-01-01

Forestry, geology, and water resource applications were the focus of this study, which involved the use of computer-implemented pattern-recognition techniques to analyze ERTS-1 data. The results have proven the value of computer-aided analysis techniques, even in areas of mountainous terrain. Several analysis capabilities have been developed during these ERTS-1 investigations. A procedure to rotate, deskew, and geometrically scale the MSS data results in 1:24,000 scale printouts that can be directly overlayed on 7 1/2 minutes U.S.G.S. topographic maps. Several scales of computer-enhanced "false color-infrared" composites of MSS data can be obtained from a digital display unit, and emphasize the tremendous detail present in the ERTS-1 data. A grid can also be superimposed on the displayed data to aid in specifying areas of interest.

Interoperability of GADU in using heterogeneous Grid resources for bioinformatics applications.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sulakhe, D.; Rodriguez, A.; Wilde, M.

2008-03-01

Bioinformatics tools used for efficient and computationally intensive analysis of genetic sequences require large-scale computational resources to accommodate the growing data. Grid computational resources such as the Open Science Grid and TeraGrid have proved useful for scientific discovery. The genome analysis and database update system (GADU) is a high-throughput computational system developed to automate the steps involved in accessing the Grid resources for running bioinformatics applications. This paper describes the requirements for building an automated scalable system such as GADU that can run jobs on different Grids. The paper describes the resource-independent configuration of GADU using the Pegasus-based virtual datamore » system that makes high-throughput computational tools interoperable on heterogeneous Grid resources. The paper also highlights the features implemented to make GADU a gateway to computationally intensive bioinformatics applications on the Grid. The paper will not go into the details of problems involved or the lessons learned in using individual Grid resources as it has already been published in our paper on genome analysis research environment (GNARE) and will focus primarily on the architecture that makes GADU resource independent and interoperable across heterogeneous Grid resources.« less

Overview of Sensitivity Analysis and Shape Optimization for Complex Aerodynamic Configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newman, Perry A.; Newman, James C., III; Barnwell, Richard W.; Taylor, Arthur C., III; Hou, Gene J.-W.

1998-01-01

This paper presents a brief overview of some of the more recent advances in steady aerodynamic shape-design sensitivity analysis and optimization, based on advanced computational fluid dynamics. The focus here is on those methods particularly well- suited to the study of geometrically complex configurations and their potentially complex associated flow physics. When nonlinear state equations are considered in the optimization process, difficulties are found in the application of sensitivity analysis. Some techniques for circumventing such difficulties are currently being explored and are included here. Attention is directed to methods that utilize automatic differentiation to obtain aerodynamic sensitivity derivatives for both complex configurations and complex flow physics. Various examples of shape-design sensitivity analysis for unstructured-grid computational fluid dynamics algorithms are demonstrated for different formulations of the sensitivity equations. Finally, the use of advanced, unstructured-grid computational fluid dynamics in multidisciplinary analyses and multidisciplinary sensitivity analyses within future optimization processes is recommended and encouraged.

Comparison of SOM point densities based on different criteria.

PubMed

Kohonen, T

1999-11-15

Point densities of model (codebook) vectors in self-organizing maps (SOMs) are evaluated in this article. For a few one-dimensional SOMs with finite grid lengths and a given probability density function of the input, the numerically exact point densities have been computed. The point density derived from the SOM algorithm turned out to be different from that minimizing the SOM distortion measure, showing that the model vectors produced by the basic SOM algorithm in general do not exactly coincide with the optimum of the distortion measure. A new computing technique based on the calculus of variations has been introduced. It was applied to the computation of point densities derived from the distortion measure for both the classical vector quantization and the SOM with general but equal dimensionality of the input vectors and the grid, respectively. The power laws in the continuum limit obtained in these cases were found to be identical.

Multidimensional Environmental Data Resource Brokering on Computational Grids and Scientific Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montella, Raffaele; Giunta, Giulio; Laccetti, Giuliano

Grid computing has widely evolved over the past years, and its capabilities have found their way even into business products and are no longer relegated to scientific applications. Today, grid computing technology is not restricted to a set of specific grid open source or industrial products, but rather it is comprised of a set of capabilities virtually within any kind of software to create shared and highly collaborative production environments. These environments are focused on computational (workload) capabilities and the integration of information (data) into those computational capabilities. An active grid computing application field is the fully virtualization of scientific instruments in order to increase their availability and decrease operational and maintaining costs. Computational and information grids allow to manage real-world objects in a service-oriented way using industrial world-spread standards.

Reprocessing the Historical Satellite Passive Microwave Record at Enhanced Spatial Resolutions using Image Reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardman, M.; Brodzik, M. J.; Long, D. G.; Paget, A. C.; Armstrong, R. L.

2015-12-01

Beginning in 1978, the satellite passive microwave data record has been a mainstay of remote sensing of the cryosphere, providing twice-daily, near-global spatial coverage for monitoring changes in hydrologic and cryospheric parameters that include precipitation, soil moisture, surface water, vegetation, snow water equivalent, sea ice concentration and sea ice motion. Currently available global gridded passive microwave data sets serve a diverse community of hundreds of data users, but do not meet many requirements of modern Earth System Data Records (ESDRs) or Climate Data Records (CDRs), most notably in the areas of intersensor calibration, quality-control, provenance and consistent processing methods. The original gridding techniques were relatively primitive and were produced on 25 km grids using the original EASE-Grid definition that is not easily accommodated in modern software packages. Further, since the first Level 3 data sets were produced, the Level 2 passive microwave data on which they were based have been reprocessed as Fundamental CDRs (FCDRs) with improved calibration and documentation. We are funded by NASA MEaSUREs to reprocess the historical gridded data sets as EASE-Grid 2.0 ESDRs, using the most mature available Level 2 satellite passive microwave (SMMR, SSM/I-SSMIS, AMSR-E) records from 1978 to the present. We have produced prototype data from SSM/I and AMSR-E for the year 2003, for review and feedback from our Early Adopter user community. The prototype data set includes conventional, low-resolution ("drop-in-the-bucket" 25 km) grids and enhanced-resolution grids derived from the two candidate image reconstruction techniques we are evaluating: 1) Backus-Gilbert (BG) interpolation and 2) a radiometer version of Scatterometer Image Reconstruction (SIR). We summarize our temporal subsetting technique, algorithm tuning parameters and computational costs, and include sample SSM/I images at enhanced resolutions of up to 3 km. We are actively working with our Early Adopters to finalize content and format of this new, consistently-processed high-quality satellite passive microwave ESDR.

Grid Computing in K-12 Schools. Soapbox Digest. Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2004

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AEL, 2004

2004-01-01

Grid computing allows large groups of computers (either in a lab, or remote and connected only by the Internet) to extend extra processing power to each individual computer to work on components of a complex request. Grid middleware, recognizing priorities set by systems administrators, allows the grid to identify and use this power without…

Parallel computing in genomic research: advances and applications

PubMed Central

Ocaña, Kary; de Oliveira, Daniel

2015-01-01

Today’s genomic experiments have to process the so-called “biological big data” that is now reaching the size of Terabytes and Petabytes. To process this huge amount of data, scientists may require weeks or months if they use their own workstations. Parallelism techniques and high-performance computing (HPC) environments can be applied for reducing the total processing time and to ease the management, treatment, and analyses of this data. However, running bioinformatics experiments in HPC environments such as clouds, grids, clusters, and graphics processing unit requires the expertise from scientists to integrate computational, biological, and mathematical techniques and technologies. Several solutions have already been proposed to allow scientists for processing their genomic experiments using HPC capabilities and parallelism techniques. This article brings a systematic review of literature that surveys the most recently published research involving genomics and parallel computing. Our objective is to gather the main characteristics, benefits, and challenges that can be considered by scientists when running their genomic experiments to benefit from parallelism techniques and HPC capabilities. PMID:26604801

Parallel computing in genomic research: advances and applications.

PubMed

Ocaña, Kary; de Oliveira, Daniel

2015-01-01

Today's genomic experiments have to process the so-called "biological big data" that is now reaching the size of Terabytes and Petabytes. To process this huge amount of data, scientists may require weeks or months if they use their own workstations. Parallelism techniques and high-performance computing (HPC) environments can be applied for reducing the total processing time and to ease the management, treatment, and analyses of this data. However, running bioinformatics experiments in HPC environments such as clouds, grids, clusters, and graphics processing unit requires the expertise from scientists to integrate computational, biological, and mathematical techniques and technologies. Several solutions have already been proposed to allow scientists for processing their genomic experiments using HPC capabilities and parallelism techniques. This article brings a systematic review of literature that surveys the most recently published research involving genomics and parallel computing. Our objective is to gather the main characteristics, benefits, and challenges that can be considered by scientists when running their genomic experiments to benefit from parallelism techniques and HPC capabilities.

Digital terrain tapes: user guide

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1980-01-01

DMATC's digital terrain tapes are a by-product of the agency's efforts to streamline the production of raised-relief maps. In the early 1960's DMATC developed the Digital Graphics Recorder (DGR) system that introduced new digitizing techniques and processing methods into the field of three-dimensional mapping. The DGR system consisted of an automatic digitizing table and a computer system that recorded a grid of terrain elevations from traces of the contour lines on standard topographic maps. A sequence of computer accuracy checks was performed and then the elevations of grid points not intersected by contour lines were interpolated. The DGR system produced computer magnetic tapes which controlled the carving of plaster forms used to mold raised-relief maps. It was realized almost immediately that this relatively simple tool for carving plaster molds had enormous potential for storing, manipulating, and selectively displaying (either graphically or numerically) a vast number of terrain elevations. As the demand for the digital terrain tapes increased, DMATC began developing increasingly advanced digitizing systems and now operates the Digital Topographic Data Collection System (DTDCS). With DTDCS, two types of data elevations as contour lines and points, and stream and ridge lines are sorted, matched, and resorted to obtain a grid of elevation values for every 0.01 inch on each map (approximately 200 feet on the ground). Undefined points on the grid are found by either linear or or planar interpolation.

Current Grid Generation Strategies and Future Requirements in Hypersonic Vehicle Design, Analysis and Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Papadopoulos, Periklis; Venkatapathy, Ethiraj; Prabhu, Dinesh; Loomis, Mark P.; Olynick, Dave; Arnold, James O. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

Recent advances in computational power enable computational fluid dynamic modeling of increasingly complex configurations. A review of grid generation methodologies implemented in support of the computational work performed for the X-38 and X-33 are presented. In strategizing topological constructs and blocking structures factors considered are the geometric configuration, optimal grid size, numerical algorithms, accuracy requirements, physics of the problem at hand, computational expense, and the available computer hardware. Also addressed are grid refinement strategies, the effects of wall spacing, and convergence. The significance of grid is demonstrated through a comparison of computational and experimental results of the aeroheating environment experienced by the X-38 vehicle. Special topics on grid generation strategies are also addressed to model control surface deflections, and material mapping.

A New Stellar Atmosphere Grid and Comparisons with HST /STIS CALSPEC Flux Distributions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bohlin, Ralph C.; Fleming, Scott W.; Gordon, Karl D.

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph has measured the spectral energy distributions for several stars of types O, B, A, F, and G. These absolute fluxes from the CALSPEC database are fit with a new spectral grid computed from the ATLAS-APOGEE ATLAS9 model atmosphere database using a chi-square minimization technique in four parameters. The quality of the fits are compared for complete LTE grids by Castelli and Kurucz (CK04) and our new comprehensive LTE grid (BOSZ). For the cooler stars, the fits with the MARCS LTE grid are also evaluated, while the hottest stars are also fit with the NLTE Lanzmore » and Hubeny OB star grids. Unfortunately, these NLTE models do not transition smoothly in the infrared to agree with our new BOSZ LTE grid at the NLTE lower limit of T {sub eff} = 15,000 K. The new BOSZ grid is available via the Space Telescope Institute MAST archive and has a much finer sampled IR wavelength scale than CK04, which will facilitate the modeling of stars observed by the James Webb Space Telescope . Our result for the angular diameter of Sirius agrees with the ground-based interferometric value.« less

Direct Replacement of Arbitrary Grid-Overlapping by Non-Structured Grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, Kai-Hsiung; Liou, Meng-Sing

1994-01-01

A new approach that uses nonstructured mesh to replace the arbitrarily overlapped structured regions of embedded grids is presented. The present methodology uses the Chimera composite overlapping mesh system so that the physical domain of the flowfield is subdivided into regions which can accommodate easily-generated grid for complex configuration. In addition, a Delaunay triangulation technique generates nonstructured triangular mesh which wraps over the interconnecting region of embedded grids. It is designed that the present approach, termed DRAGON grid, has three important advantages: eliminating some difficulties of the Chimera scheme, such as the orphan points and/or bad quality of interpolation stencils; making grid communication in a fully conservative way; and implementation into three dimensions is straightforward. A computer code based on a time accurate, finite volume, high resolution scheme for solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations has been further developed to include both the Chimera overset grid and the nonstructured mesh schemes. For steady state problems, the local time stepping accelerates convergence based on a Courant - Friedrichs - Leury (CFL) number near the local stability limit. Numerical tests on representative steady and unsteady supersonic inviscid flows with strong shock waves are demonstrated.

A New Stellar Atmosphere Grid and Comparisons with HST/STIS CALSPEC Flux Distributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohlin, Ralph C.; Mészáros, Szabolcs; Fleming, Scott W.; Gordon, Karl D.; Koekemoer, Anton M.; Kovács, József

2017-05-01

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph has measured the spectral energy distributions for several stars of types O, B, A, F, and G. These absolute fluxes from the CALSPEC database are fit with a new spectral grid computed from the ATLAS-APOGEE ATLAS9 model atmosphere database using a chi-square minimization technique in four parameters. The quality of the fits are compared for complete LTE grids by Castelli & Kurucz (CK04) and our new comprehensive LTE grid (BOSZ). For the cooler stars, the fits with the MARCS LTE grid are also evaluated, while the hottest stars are also fit with the NLTE Lanz & Hubeny OB star grids. Unfortunately, these NLTE models do not transition smoothly in the infrared to agree with our new BOSZ LTE grid at the NLTE lower limit of T eff = 15,000 K. The new BOSZ grid is available via the Space Telescope Institute MAST archive and has a much finer sampled IR wavelength scale than CK04, which will facilitate the modeling of stars observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Our result for the angular diameter of Sirius agrees with the ground-based interferometric value.

Adaptive polynomial chaos techniques for uncertainty quantification of a gas cooled fast reactor transient

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perko, Z.; Gilli, L.; Lathouwers, D.

2013-07-01

Uncertainty quantification plays an increasingly important role in the nuclear community, especially with the rise of Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty methodologies. Sensitivity analysis, surrogate models, Monte Carlo sampling and several other techniques can be used to propagate input uncertainties. In recent years however polynomial chaos expansion has become a popular alternative providing high accuracy at affordable computational cost. This paper presents such polynomial chaos (PC) methods using adaptive sparse grids and adaptive basis set construction, together with an application to a Gas Cooled Fast Reactor transient. Comparison is made between a new sparse grid algorithm and the traditionally used techniquemore » proposed by Gerstner. An adaptive basis construction method is also introduced and is proved to be advantageous both from an accuracy and a computational point of view. As a demonstration the uncertainty quantification of a 50% loss of flow transient in the GFR2400 Gas Cooled Fast Reactor design was performed using the CATHARE code system. The results are compared to direct Monte Carlo sampling and show the superior convergence and high accuracy of the polynomial chaos expansion. Since PC techniques are easy to implement, they can offer an attractive alternative to traditional techniques for the uncertainty quantification of large scale problems. (authors)« less

Program Aids Specification Of Multiple-Block Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sorenson, R. L.; Mccann, K. M.

1993-01-01

3DPREP computer program aids specification of multiple-block computational grids. Highly interactive graphical preprocessing program designed for use on powerful graphical scientific computer workstation. Divided into three main parts, each corresponding to principal graphical-and-alphanumerical display. Relieves user of some burden of collecting and formatting many data needed to specify blocks and grids, and prepares input data for NASA's 3DGRAPE grid-generating computer program.

Development of a CFD Code for Analysis of Fluid Dynamic Forces in Seals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Athavale, Mahesh M.; Przekwas, Andrzej J.; Singhal, Ashok K.

1991-01-01

The aim is to develop a 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code for the analysis of fluid flow in cylindrical seals and evaluation of the dynamic forces on the seals. This code is expected to serve as a scientific tool for detailed flow analysis as well as a check for the accuracy of the 2D industrial codes. The features necessary in the CFD code are outlined. The initial focus was to develop or modify and implement new techniques and physical models. These include collocated grid formulation, rotating coordinate frames and moving grid formulation. Other advanced numerical techniques include higher order spatial and temporal differencing and an efficient linear equation solver. These techniques were implemented in a 2D flow solver for initial testing. Several benchmark test cases were computed using the 2D code, and the results of these were compared to analytical solutions or experimental data to check the accuracy. Tests presented here include planar wedge flow, flow due to an enclosed rotor, and flow in a 2D seal with a whirling rotor. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results for an annular seal and a 7-cavity labyrinth seal are also included.

"Tools For Analysis and Visualization of Large Time- Varying CFD Data Sets"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilhelms, Jane; vanGelder, Allen

1999-01-01

During the four years of this grant (including the one year extension), we have explored many aspects of the visualization of large CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) datasets. These have included new direct volume rendering approaches, hierarchical methods, volume decimation, error metrics, parallelization, hardware texture mapping, and methods for analyzing and comparing images. First, we implemented an extremely general direct volume rendering approach that can be used to render rectilinear, curvilinear, or tetrahedral grids, including overlapping multiple zone grids, and time-varying grids. Next, we developed techniques for associating the sample data with a k-d tree, a simple hierarchial data model to approximate samples in the regions covered by each node of the tree, and an error metric for the accuracy of the model. We also explored a new method for determining the accuracy of approximate models based on the light field method described at ACM SIGGRAPH (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics) '96. In our initial implementation, we automatically image the volume from 32 approximately evenly distributed positions on the surface of an enclosing tessellated sphere. We then calculate differences between these images under different conditions of volume approximation or decimation.

Mapping PetaSHA Applications to TeraGrid Architectures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Y.; Moore, R.; Olsen, K.; Zhu, J.; Dalguer, L. A.; Day, S.; Cruz-Atienza, V.; Maechling, P.; Jordan, T.

2007-12-01

The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) has a science program in developing an integrated cyberfacility - PetaSHA - for executing physics-based seismic hazard analysis (SHA) computations. The NSF has awarded PetaSHA 15 million allocation service units this year on the fastest supercomputers available within the NSF TeraGrid. However, one size does not fit all, a range of systems are needed to support this effort at different stages of the simulations. Enabling PetaSHA simulations on those TeraGrid architectures to solve both dynamic rupture and seismic wave propagation have been a challenge from both hardware and software levels. This is an adaptation procedure to meet specific requirements of each architecture. It is important to determine how fundamental system attributes affect application performance. We present an adaptive approach in our PetaSHA application that enables the simultaneous optimization of both computation and communication at run-time using flexible settings. These techniques optimize initialization, source/media partition and MPI-IO output in different ways to achieve optimal performance on the target machines. The resulting code is a factor of four faster than the orignial version. New MPI-I/O capabilities have been added for the accurate Staggered-Grid Split-Node (SGSN) method for dynamic rupture propagation in the velocity-stress staggered-grid finite difference scheme (Dalguer and Day, JGR, 2007), We use execution workflow across TeraGrid sites for managing the resulting data volumes. Our lessons learned indicate that minimizing time to solution is most critical, in particular when scheduling large scale simulations across supercomputer sites. The TeraShake platform has been ported to multiple architectures including TACC Dell lonestar and Abe, Cray XT3 Bigben and Blue Gene/L. Parallel efficiency of 96% with the PetaSHA application Olsen-AWM has been demonstrated on 40,960 Blue Gene/L processors at IBM TJ Watson Center. Notable accomplishments using the optimized code include the M7.8 ShakeOut rupture scenario, as part of the southern San Andreas Fault evaluation SoSAFE. The ShakeOut simulation domain is the same as used for the SCEC TeraShake simulations (600 km by 300 km by 80 km). However, the higher resolution of 100 m with frequency content up to 1 Hz required 14.4 billion grid points, eight times more than the TeraShake scenarios. The simulation used 2000 TACC Dell linux Lonestar processors and took 56 hours to compute 240 seconds of wave propagation. The pre-processing input partition, as well as post-processing analysis has been performed on the SDSC IBM Datastar p655 and p690. In addition, as part of the SCEC DynaShake computational platform, the SGSN capability was used to model dynamic rupture propagation for the ShakeOut scenario that match the proposed surface slip and size of the event. Mapping applications to different architectures require coordination of many areas of expertise in hardware and application level, an outstanding challenge faced on the current petascale computing effort. We believe our techniques as well as distributed data management through data grids have provided a practical example of how to effectively use multiple compute resources, and our results will benefit other geoscience disciplines as well.

Predict Dem Bones!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, John S.

1994-01-01

A detailed analysis and computer-based solution to a puzzle addressing the arrangement of dominoes on a grid is presented. The problem is one used in a college-level data structures or algorithms course. The solution uses backtracking to generate all possible answers. Details of the use of backtracking and techniques for mapping abstract problems…

Multiprocessor computer overset grid method and apparatus

DOEpatents

Barnette, Daniel W.; Ober, Curtis C.

2003-01-01

A multiprocessor computer overset grid method and apparatus comprises associating points in each overset grid with processors and using mapped interpolation transformations to communicate intermediate values between processors assigned base and target points of the interpolation transformations. The method allows a multiprocessor computer to operate with effective load balance on overset grid applications.

Static Aeroelastic Predictions for a Transonic Transport Model Using an Unstructured-Grid Flow Solver Coupled With a Structural Plate Technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allison, Dennis O.; Cavallo, Peter A.

2003-01-01

An equivalent-plate structural deformation technique was coupled with a steady-state unstructured-grid three-dimensional Euler flow solver and a two-dimensional strip interactive boundary-layer technique. The objective of the research was to assess the extent to which a simple accounting for static model deformations could improve correlations with measured wing pressure distributions and lift coefficients at transonic speeds. Results were computed and compared to test data for a wing-fuselage model of a generic low-wing transonic transport at a transonic cruise condition over a range of Reynolds numbers and dynamic pressures. The deformations significantly improved correlations with measured wing pressure distributions and lift coefficients. This method provided a means of quantifying the role of dynamic pressure in wind-tunnel studies of Reynolds number effects for transonic transport models.

Graphics and Flow Visualization of Computer Generated Flow Fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kathong, M.; Tiwari, S. N.

1987-01-01

Flow field variables are visualized using color representations described on surfaces that are interpolated from computational grids and transformed to digital images. Techniques for displaying two and three dimensional flow field solutions are addressed. The transformations and the use of an interactive graphics program for CFD flow field solutions, called PLOT3D, which runs on the color graphics IRIS workstation are described. An overview of the IRIS workstation is also described.

Numerical study of three-dimensional separation and flow control at a wing/body junction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ash, Robert L.; Lakshmanan, Balakrishnan

1989-01-01

The problem of three-dimensional separation and flow control at a wing/body junction has been investigated numerically using a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes code. The numerical code employs an algebraic grid generation technique for generating the grid for unmodified junction and an elliptic grid generation technique for filleted fin junction. The results for laminar flow past a blunt fin/flat plate junction demonstrate that after grid refinement, the computations agree with experiment and reveal a strong dependency of the number of vortices at the junction on Mach number and Reynolds number. The numerical results for pressure distribution, particle paths and limiting streamlines for turbulent flow past a swept fin show a decrease in the peak pressure and in the extent of the separated flow region compared to the laminar case. The results for a filleted juncture indicate that the streamline patterns lose much of their vortical character with proper filleting. Fillets with a radius of three and one-half times the fin leading edge diameter or two times the incoming boundary layer thickness, significantly weaken the usual necklace interaction vortex for the Mach number and Reynolds number considered in the present study.

Study of Geometric Porosity on Static Stability and Drag Using Computational Fluid Dynamics for Rigid Parachute Shapes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greathouse, James S.; Schwing, Alan M.

2015-01-01

This paper explores use of computational fluid dynamics to study the e?ect of geometric porosity on static stability and drag for NASA's Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle main parachute. Both of these aerodynamic characteristics are of interest to in parachute design, and computational methods promise designers the ability to perform detailed parametric studies and other design iterations with a level of control previously unobtainable using ground or flight testing. The approach presented here uses a canopy structural analysis code to define the inflated parachute shapes on which structured computational grids are generated. These grids are used by the computational fluid dynamics code OVERFLOW and are modeled as rigid, impermeable bodies for this analysis. Comparisons to Apollo drop test data is shown as preliminary validation of the technique. Results include several parametric sweeps through design variables in order to better understand the trade between static stability and drag. Finally, designs that maximize static stability with a minimal loss in drag are suggested for further study in subscale ground and flight testing.

Computational models for the analysis of three-dimensional internal and exhaust plume flowfields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dash, S. M.; Delguidice, P. D.

1977-01-01

This paper describes computational procedures developed for the analysis of three-dimensional supersonic ducted flows and multinozzle exhaust plume flowfields. The models/codes embodying these procedures cater to a broad spectrum of geometric situations via the use of multiple reference plane grid networks in several coordinate systems. Shock capturing techniques are employed to trace the propagation and interaction of multiple shock surfaces while the plume interface, separating the exhaust and external flows, and the plume external shock are discretely analyzed. The computational grid within the reference planes follows the trace of streamlines to facilitate the incorporation of finite-rate chemistry and viscous computational capabilities. Exhaust gas properties consist of combustion products in chemical equilibrium. The computational accuracy of the models/codes is assessed via comparisons with exact solutions, results of other codes and experimental data. Results are presented for the flows in two-dimensional convergent and divergent ducts, expansive and compressive corner flows, flow in a rectangular nozzle and the plume flowfields for exhausts issuing out of single and multiple rectangular nozzles.

Investigation of Grid Adaptation to Reduce Computational Efforts for a 2-D Hydrogen-Fueled Dual-Mode Scramjet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foo, Kam Keong

A two-dimensional dual-mode scramjet flowpath is developed and evaluated using the ANSYS Fluent density-based flow solver with various computational grids. Results are obtained for fuel-off, fuel-on non-reacting, and fuel-on reacting cases at different equivalence ratios. A one-step global chemical kinetics hydrogen-air model is used in conjunction with the eddy-dissipation model. Coarse, medium and fine computational grids are used to evaluate grid sensitivity and to investigate a lack of grid independence. Different grid adaptation strategies are performed on the coarse grid in an attempt to emulate the solutions obtained from the finer grids. The goal of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using various mesh adaptation criteria to significantly decrease computational efforts for high-speed reacting flows.

Incompressible Navier-Stokes Solvers in Primative Variables and their Applications to Steady and Unsteady Flow Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin C.; Kwak, Dochan; Rogers, Stuart E.

2002-01-01

This paper reviews recent progress made in incompressible Navier-Stokes simulation procedures and their application to problems of engineering interest. Discussions are focused on the methods designed for complex geometry applications in three dimensions, and thus are limited to primitive variable formulation. A summary of efforts in flow solver development is given followed by numerical studies of a few example problems of current interest. Both steady and unsteady solution algorithms and their salient features are discussed. Solvers discussed here are based on a structured-grid approach using either a finite -difference or a finite-volume frame work. As a grand-challenge application of these solvers, an unsteady turbopump flow simulation procedure has been developed which utilizes high performance computing platforms. In the paper, the progress toward the complete simulation capability of the turbo-pump for a liquid rocket engine is reported. The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) turbo-pump is used as a test case for evaluation of two parallel computing algorithms that have been implemented in the INS3D code. The relative motion of the grid systems for the rotorstator interaction was obtained using overact grid techniques. Unsteady computations for the SSME turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.5 million grid points, are carried out on SCSI Origin 3000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. The same procedure has been extended to the development of NASA-DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) that is based on an axial blood pump. Computational, and clinical analysis of this device are presented.

A versatile software package for inter-subject correlation based analyses of fMRI.

PubMed

Kauppi, Jukka-Pekka; Pajula, Juha; Tohka, Jussi

2014-01-01

In the inter-subject correlation (ISC) based analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, the extent of shared processing across subjects during the experiment is determined by calculating correlation coefficients between the fMRI time series of the subjects in the corresponding brain locations. This implies that ISC can be used to analyze fMRI data without explicitly modeling the stimulus and thus ISC is a potential method to analyze fMRI data acquired under complex naturalistic stimuli. Despite of the suitability of ISC based approach to analyze complex fMRI data, no generic software tools have been made available for this purpose, limiting a widespread use of ISC based analysis techniques among neuroimaging community. In this paper, we present a graphical user interface (GUI) based software package, ISC Toolbox, implemented in Matlab for computing various ISC based analyses. Many advanced computations such as comparison of ISCs between different stimuli, time window ISC, and inter-subject phase synchronization are supported by the toolbox. The analyses are coupled with re-sampling based statistical inference. The ISC based analyses are data and computation intensive and the ISC toolbox is equipped with mechanisms to execute the parallel computations in a cluster environment automatically and with an automatic detection of the cluster environment in use. Currently, SGE-based (Oracle Grid Engine, Son of a Grid Engine, or Open Grid Scheduler) and Slurm environments are supported. In this paper, we present a detailed account on the methods behind the ISC Toolbox, the implementation of the toolbox and demonstrate the possible use of the toolbox by summarizing selected example applications. We also report the computation time experiments both using a single desktop computer and two grid environments demonstrating that parallelization effectively reduces the computing time. The ISC Toolbox is available in https://code.google.com/p/isc-toolbox/

A versatile software package for inter-subject correlation based analyses of fMRI

PubMed Central

Kauppi, Jukka-Pekka; Pajula, Juha; Tohka, Jussi

2014-01-01

In the inter-subject correlation (ISC) based analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, the extent of shared processing across subjects during the experiment is determined by calculating correlation coefficients between the fMRI time series of the subjects in the corresponding brain locations. This implies that ISC can be used to analyze fMRI data without explicitly modeling the stimulus and thus ISC is a potential method to analyze fMRI data acquired under complex naturalistic stimuli. Despite of the suitability of ISC based approach to analyze complex fMRI data, no generic software tools have been made available for this purpose, limiting a widespread use of ISC based analysis techniques among neuroimaging community. In this paper, we present a graphical user interface (GUI) based software package, ISC Toolbox, implemented in Matlab for computing various ISC based analyses. Many advanced computations such as comparison of ISCs between different stimuli, time window ISC, and inter-subject phase synchronization are supported by the toolbox. The analyses are coupled with re-sampling based statistical inference. The ISC based analyses are data and computation intensive and the ISC toolbox is equipped with mechanisms to execute the parallel computations in a cluster environment automatically and with an automatic detection of the cluster environment in use. Currently, SGE-based (Oracle Grid Engine, Son of a Grid Engine, or Open Grid Scheduler) and Slurm environments are supported. In this paper, we present a detailed account on the methods behind the ISC Toolbox, the implementation of the toolbox and demonstrate the possible use of the toolbox by summarizing selected example applications. We also report the computation time experiments both using a single desktop computer and two grid environments demonstrating that parallelization effectively reduces the computing time. The ISC Toolbox is available in https://code.google.com/p/isc-toolbox/ PMID:24550818

GSRP/David Marshall: Fully Automated Cartesian Grid CFD Application for MDO in High Speed Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

With the renewed interest in Cartesian gridding methodologies for the ease and speed of gridding complex geometries in addition to the simplicity of the control volumes used in the computations, it has become important to investigate ways of extending the existing Cartesian grid solver functionalities. This includes developing methods of modeling the viscous effects in order to utilize Cartesian grids solvers for accurate drag predictions and addressing the issues related to the distributed memory parallelization of Cartesian solvers. This research presents advances in two areas of interest in Cartesian grid solvers, viscous effects modeling and MPI parallelization. The development of viscous effects modeling using solely Cartesian grids has been hampered by the widely varying control volume sizes associated with the mesh refinement and the cut cells associated with the solid surface. This problem is being addressed by using physically based modeling techniques to update the state vectors of the cut cells and removing them from the finite volume integration scheme. This work is performed on a new Cartesian grid solver, NASCART-GT, with modifications to its cut cell functionality. The development of MPI parallelization addresses issues associated with utilizing Cartesian solvers on distributed memory parallel environments. This work is performed on an existing Cartesian grid solver, CART3D, with modifications to its parallelization methodology.

The implementation of an aeronautical CFD flow code onto distributed memory parallel systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ierotheou, C. S.; Forsey, C. R.; Leatham, M.

2000-04-01

The parallelization of an industrially important in-house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code for calculating the airflow over complex aircraft configurations using the Euler or Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The code discussed is the flow solver module of the SAUNA CFD suite. This suite uses a novel grid system that may include block-structured hexahedral or pyramidal grids, unstructured tetrahedral grids or a hybrid combination of both. To assist in the rapid convergence to a solution, a number of convergence acceleration techniques are employed including implicit residual smoothing and a multigrid full approximation storage scheme (FAS). Key features of the parallelization approach are the use of domain decomposition and encapsulated message passing to enable the execution in parallel using a single programme multiple data (SPMD) paradigm. In the case where a hybrid grid is used, a unified grid partitioning scheme is employed to define the decomposition of the mesh. The parallel code has been tested using both structured and hybrid grids on a number of different distributed memory parallel systems and is now routinely used to perform industrial scale aeronautical simulations. Copyright

Chimera Grid Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, William M.; Rogers, Stuart E.; Nash, Steven M.; Buning, Pieter G.; Meakin, Robert

2005-01-01

Chimera Grid Tools (CGT) is a software package for performing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis utilizing the Chimera-overset-grid method. For modeling flows with viscosity about geometrically complex bodies in relative motion, the Chimera-overset-grid method is among the most computationally cost-effective methods for obtaining accurate aerodynamic results. CGT contains a large collection of tools for generating overset grids, preparing inputs for computer programs that solve equations of flow on the grids, and post-processing of flow-solution data. The tools in CGT include grid editing tools, surface-grid-generation tools, volume-grid-generation tools, utility scripts, configuration scripts, and tools for post-processing (including generation of animated images of flows and calculating forces and moments exerted on affected bodies). One of the tools, denoted OVERGRID, is a graphical user interface (GUI) that serves to visualize the grids and flow solutions and provides central access to many other tools. The GUI facilitates the generation of grids for a new flow-field configuration. Scripts that follow the grid generation process can then be constructed to mostly automate grid generation for similar configurations. CGT is designed for use in conjunction with a computer-aided-design program that provides the geometry description of the bodies, and a flow-solver program.

GRAPE- TWO-DIMENSIONAL GRIDS ABOUT AIRFOILS AND OTHER SHAPES BY THE USE OF POISSON'S EQUATION

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sorenson, R. L.

1994-01-01

The ability to treat arbitrary boundary shapes is one of the most desirable characteristics of a method for generating grids, including those about airfoils. In a grid used for computing aerodynamic flow over an airfoil, or any other body shape, the surface of the body is usually treated as an inner boundary and often cannot be easily represented as an analytic function. The GRAPE computer program was developed to incorporate a method for generating two-dimensional finite-difference grids about airfoils and other shapes by the use of the Poisson differential equation. GRAPE can be used with any boundary shape, even one specified by tabulated points and including a limited number of sharp corners. The GRAPE program has been developed to be numerically stable and computationally fast. GRAPE can provide the aerodynamic analyst with an efficient and consistent means of grid generation. The GRAPE procedure generates a grid between an inner and an outer boundary by utilizing an iterative procedure to solve the Poisson differential equation subject to geometrical restraints. In this method, the inhomogeneous terms of the equation are automatically chosen such that two important effects are imposed on the grid. The first effect is control of the spacing between mesh points along mesh lines intersecting the boundaries. The second effect is control of the angles with which mesh lines intersect the boundaries. Along with the iterative solution to Poisson's equation, a technique of coarse-fine sequencing is employed to accelerate numerical convergence. GRAPE program control cards and input data are entered via the NAMELIST feature. Each variable has a default value such that user supplied data is kept to a minimum. Basic input data consists of the boundary specification, mesh point spacings on the boundaries, and mesh line angles at the boundaries. Output consists of a dataset containing the grid data and, if requested, a plot of the generated mesh. The GRAPE program is written in FORTRAN IV for batch execution and has been implemented on a CDC 6000 series computer with a central memory requirement of approximately 135K (octal) of 60 bit words. For plotted output the commercially available DISSPLA graphics software package is required. The GRAPE program was developed in 1980.

A simple grid implementation with Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing using BLAST as a model

PubMed Central

Pinthong, Watthanai; Muangruen, Panya

2016-01-01

Development of high-throughput technologies, such as Next-generation sequencing, allows thousands of experiments to be performed simultaneously while reducing resource requirement. Consequently, a massive amount of experiment data is now rapidly generated. Nevertheless, the data are not readily usable or meaningful until they are further analysed and interpreted. Due to the size of the data, a high performance computer (HPC) is required for the analysis and interpretation. However, the HPC is expensive and difficult to access. Other means were developed to allow researchers to acquire the power of HPC without a need to purchase and maintain one such as cloud computing services and grid computing system. In this study, we implemented grid computing in a computer training center environment using Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) as a job distributor and data manager combining all desktop computers to virtualize the HPC. Fifty desktop computers were used for setting up a grid system during the off-hours. In order to test the performance of the grid system, we adapted the Basic Local Alignment Search Tools (BLAST) to the BOINC system. Sequencing results from Illumina platform were aligned to the human genome database by BLAST on the grid system. The result and processing time were compared to those from a single desktop computer and HPC. The estimated durations of BLAST analysis for 4 million sequence reads on a desktop PC, HPC and the grid system were 568, 24 and 5 days, respectively. Thus, the grid implementation of BLAST by BOINC is an efficient alternative to the HPC for sequence alignment. The grid implementation by BOINC also helped tap unused computing resources during the off-hours and could be easily modified for other available bioinformatics software. PMID:27547555

GRID3O- FAST GENERATION OF MULTILEVEL, THREE-DIMENSIONAL BOUNDARY-CONFORMING O-TYPE COMPUTATIONAL GRIDS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dulikravich, D. S.

1994-01-01

A fast algorithm has been developed for accurately generating boundary-conforming, three-dimensional consecutively refined computational grids applicable to arbitrary wing-body and axial turbomachinery geometries. This algorithm has been incorporated into the GRID3O computer program. The method employed in GRID3O is based on using an analytic function to generate two-dimensional grids on a number of coaxial axisymmetric surfaces positioned between the centerbody and the outer radial boundary. These grids are of the O-type and are characterized by quasi-orthogonality, geometric periodicity, and an adequate resolution throughout the flow field. Because the built-in nonorthogonal coordinate stretching and shearing cause the grid lines leaving the blade or wing trailing-edge to end at downstream infinity, use of the generated grid simplifies the numerical treatment of three-dimensional trailing vortex sheets. The GRID3O program is written in FORTRAN IV for batch execution and has been implemented on an IBM 370 series computer with a central memory requirement of approximately 450K of 8 bit bytes. The GRID3O program was developed in 1981.

Convergence acceleration of the Proteus computer code with multigrid methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Demuren, A. O.; Ibraheem, S. O.

1992-01-01

Presented here is the first part of a study to implement convergence acceleration techniques based on the multigrid concept in the Proteus computer code. A review is given of previous studies on the implementation of multigrid methods in computer codes for compressible flow analysis. Also presented is a detailed stability analysis of upwind and central-difference based numerical schemes for solving the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. Results are given of a convergence study of the Proteus code on computational grids of different sizes. The results presented here form the foundation for the implementation of multigrid methods in the Proteus code.

Numerical simulation of steady three-dimensional flows in axial turbomachinery bladerows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basson, Anton Herman

The formulation for and application of a numerical model for low Mach number steady three-dimensional flows in axial turbomachinery blade rows is presented. The formulation considered here includes an efficient grid generation scheme (particularly suited to computational grids for the analysis of turbulent turbomachinery flows) and a semi-implicit, pressure-based computational fluid dynamics scheme that directly includes artificial dissipation, applicable to viscous and inviscid flows. The grid generation technique uses a combination of algebraic and elliptic methods, in conjunction with the Minimal Residual Method, to economically generate smooth structured grids. For typical H-grids in turbomachinery bladerows, when compared to a purely elliptic grid generation scheme, the presented grid generation scheme produces grids with much improved smoothness near the leading and trailing edges, allows the use of small near wall grid spacing required by low Reynolds number turbulence models, and maintains orthogonality of the grid near the solid boundaries even for high flow angle cascades. A specialized embedded H-grid for application particularly to tip clearance flows is presented. This topology smoothly discretizes the domain without modifying the tip shape, while requiring only minor modifications to H-grid flow solvers. Better quantitative modeling of the tip clearance vortex structure than that obtained with a pinched tip approximation is demonstrated. The formulation of artificial dissipation terms for a semi-implicit, pressure-based (SIMPLE type) flow solver, is presented. It is applied to both the Euler and the Navier-Stokes equations, expressed in generalized coordinates using a non-staggered grid. This formulation is compared to some SIMPLE and time marching formulations, revealing the artificial dissipation inherent in some commonly used semi-implicit formulations. The effect of the amount of dissipation on the accuracy of the solution and the convergence rate is quantitatively demonstrated for a number of flow cases. The ability of the formulation to model complex steady turbomachinery flows is demonstrated, e.g. for pressure driven secondary flows, turbine nozzle wakes, turbulent boundary layers. The formulation's modeling of blade surface heat transfer is assessed. The numerical model is used to investigate the structure of phenomena associated with tip clearance flows in a turbine nozzle.

Spatial services grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Jian; Li, Qi; Cheng, Jicheng

2005-10-01

This paper discusses the concept, key technologies and main application of Spatial Services Grid. The technologies of Grid computing and Webservice is playing a revolutionary role in studying the spatial information services. The concept of the SSG (Spatial Services Grid) is put forward based on the SIG (Spatial Information Grid) and OGSA (open grid service architecture). Firstly, the grid computing is reviewed and the key technologies of SIG and their main applications are reviewed. Secondly, the grid computing and three kinds of SIG (in broad sense)--SDG (spatial data grid), SIG (spatial information grid) and SSG (spatial services grid) and their relationships are proposed. Thirdly, the key technologies of the SSG (spatial services grid) is put forward. Finally, three representative applications of SSG (spatial services grid) are discussed. The first application is urban location based services gird, which is a typical spatial services grid and can be constructed on OGSA (Open Grid Services Architecture) and digital city platform. The second application is region sustainable development grid which is the key to the urban development. The third application is Region disaster and emergency management services grid.

Wide-area, real-time monitoring and visualization system

DOEpatents

Budhraja, Vikram S.; Dyer, James D.; Martinez Morales, Carlos A.

2013-03-19

A real-time performance monitoring system for monitoring an electric power grid. The electric power grid has a plurality of grid portions, each grid portion corresponding to one of a plurality of control areas. The real-time performance monitoring system includes a monitor computer for monitoring at least one of reliability metrics, generation metrics, transmission metrics, suppliers metrics, grid infrastructure security metrics, and markets metrics for the electric power grid. The data for metrics being monitored by the monitor computer are stored in a data base, and a visualization of the metrics is displayed on at least one display computer having a monitor. The at least one display computer in one said control area enables an operator to monitor the grid portion corresponding to a different said control area.

Wide-area, real-time monitoring and visualization system

DOEpatents

Budhraja, Vikram S [Los Angeles, CA; Dyer, James D [La Mirada, CA; Martinez Morales, Carlos A [Upland, CA

2011-11-15

A real-time performance monitoring system for monitoring an electric power grid. The electric power grid has a plurality of grid portions, each grid portion corresponding to one of a plurality of control areas. The real-time performance monitoring system includes a monitor computer for monitoring at least one of reliability metrics, generation metrics, transmission metrics, suppliers metrics, grid infrastructure security metrics, and markets metrics for the electric power grid. The data for metrics being monitored by the monitor computer are stored in a data base, and a visualization of the metrics is displayed on at least one display computer having a monitor. The at least one display computer in one said control area enables an operator to monitor the grid portion corresponding to a different said control area.

Real-time performance monitoring and management system

DOEpatents

Budhraja, Vikram S [Los Angeles, CA; Dyer, James D [La Mirada, CA; Martinez Morales, Carlos A [Upland, CA

2007-06-19

A real-time performance monitoring system for monitoring an electric power grid. The electric power grid has a plurality of grid portions, each grid portion corresponding to one of a plurality of control areas. The real-time performance monitoring system includes a monitor computer for monitoring at least one of reliability metrics, generation metrics, transmission metrics, suppliers metrics, grid infrastructure security metrics, and markets metrics for the electric power grid. The data for metrics being monitored by the monitor computer are stored in a data base, and a visualization of the metrics is displayed on at least one display computer having a monitor. The at least one display computer in one said control area enables an operator to monitor the grid portion corresponding to a different said control area.

Effect of elevation resolution on evapotranspiration simulations using MODFLOW.

PubMed

Kambhammettu, B V N P; Schmid, Wolfgang; King, James P; Creel, Bobby J

2012-01-01

Surface elevations represented in MODFLOW head-dependent packages are usually derived from digital elevation models (DEMs) that are available at much high resolution. Conventional grid refinement techniques to simulate the model at DEM resolution increases computational time, input file size, and in many cases are not feasible for regional applications. This research aims at utilizing the increasingly available high resolution DEMs for effective simulation of evapotranspiration (ET) in MODFLOW as an alternative to grid refinement techniques. The source code of the evapotranspiration package is modified by considering for a fixed MODFLOW grid resolution and for different DEM resolutions, the effect of variability in elevation data on ET estimates. Piezometric head at each DEM cell location is corrected by considering the gradient along row and column directions. Applicability of the research is tested for the lower Rio Grande (LRG) Basin in southern New Mexico. The DEM at 10 m resolution is aggregated to resampled DEM grid resolutions which are integer multiples of MODFLOW grid resolution. Cumulative outflows and ET rates are compared at different coarse resolution grids. Results of the analysis conclude that variability in depth-to-groundwater within the MODFLOW cell is a major contributing parameter to ET outflows in shallow groundwater regions. DEM aggregation methods for the LRG Basin have resulted in decreased volumetric outflow due to the formation of a smoothing error, which lowered the position of water table to a level below the extinction depth. © 2011, The Author(s). Ground Water © 2011, National Ground Water Association.

An Initial Multi-Domain Modeling of an Actively Cooled Structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinthorsson, Erlendur

1997-01-01

A methodology for the simulation of turbine cooling flows is being developed. The methodology seeks to combine numerical techniques that optimize both accuracy and computational efficiency. Key components of the methodology include the use of multiblock grid systems for modeling complex geometries, and multigrid convergence acceleration for enhancing computational efficiency in highly resolved fluid flow simulations. The use of the methodology has been demonstrated in several turbo machinery flow and heat transfer studies. Ongoing and future work involves implementing additional turbulence models, improving computational efficiency, adding AMR.

Geometry definition and grid generation for a complete fighter aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, T. A.

1986-01-01

Recent advances in computing power and numerical solution procedures have enabled computational fluid dynamicists to attempt increasingly difficult problems. In particular, efforts are focusing on computations of complex three-dimensional flow fields about realistic aerodynamic bodies. To perform such computations, a very accurate and detailed description of the surface geometry must be provided, and a three-dimensional grid must be generated in the space around the body. The geometry must be supplied in a format compatible with the grid generation requirements, and must be verified to be free of inconsistencies. This paper presents a procedure for performing the geometry definition of a fighter aircraft that makes use of a commercial computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing system. Furthermore, visual representations of the geometry are generated using a computer graphics system for verification of the body definition. Finally, the three-dimensional grids for fighter-like aircraft are generated by means of an efficient new parabolic grid generation method. This method exhibits good control of grid quality.

Geometry definition and grid generation for a complete fighter aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, Thomas A.

1986-01-01

Recent advances in computing power and numerical solution procedures have enabled computational fluid dynamicists to attempt increasingly difficult problems. In particular, efforts are focusing on computations of complex three-dimensional flow fields about realistic aerodynamic bodies. To perform such computations, a very accurate and detailed description of the surface geometry must be provided, and a three-dimensional grid must be generated in the space around the body. The geometry must be supplied in a format compatible with the grid generation requirements, and must be verified to be free of inconsistencies. A procedure for performing the geometry definition of a fighter aircraft that makes use of a commercial computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing system is presented. Furthermore, visual representations of the geometry are generated using a computer graphics system for verification of the body definition. Finally, the three-dimensional grids for fighter-like aircraft are generated by means of an efficient new parabolic grid generation method. This method exhibits good control of grid quality.

The LHCb Grid Simulation: Proof of Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hushchyn, M.; Ustyuzhanin, A.; Arzymatov, K.; Roiser, S.; Baranov, A.

2017-10-01

The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid provides access to data and computational resources to analyze it for researchers with different geographical locations. The grid has a hierarchical topology with multiple sites distributed over the world with varying number of CPUs, amount of disk storage and connection bandwidth. Job scheduling and data distribution strategy are key elements of grid performance. Optimization of algorithms for those tasks requires their testing on real grid which is hard to achieve. Having a grid simulator might simplify this task and therefore lead to more optimal scheduling and data placement algorithms. In this paper we demonstrate a grid simulator for the LHCb distributed computing software.

Results and applications of a space suit range-of-motion study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinhardt, AL

1989-01-01

The range of motion of space suits has traditionally been described using limited 2-D mapping of limb, torso, or arm movements performed in front of an orthogonal grid. A new technique for recovering extra-vehicular (EVA) space suit range-of-motion data during underwater testing was described in a paper presented by the author at the 1988 conference. The new technique uses digitized data which is automatically acquired from video images of the subject. Three-dimensional trajectories are recovered from these data, and can be displayed using 2-D computer graphics. Results of using this technique for the current shuttle EVA suit during underwater simulated weightlessness testing are discussed. Application of the data for use in animating anthropometric computer models is highlighted.

Integrated geometry and grid generation system for complex configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Akdag, Vedat; Wulf, Armin

1992-01-01

A grid generation system was developed that enables grid generation for complex configurations. The system called ICEM/CFD is described and its role in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) applications is presented. The capabilities of the system include full computer aided design (CAD), grid generation on the actual CAD geometry definition using robust surface projection algorithms, interfacing easily with known CAD packages through common file formats for geometry transfer, grid quality evaluation of the volume grid, coupling boundary condition set-up for block faces with grid topology generation, multi-block grid generation with or without point continuity and block to block interface requirement, and generating grid files directly compatible with known flow solvers. The interactive and integrated approach to the problem of computational grid generation not only substantially reduces manpower time but also increases the flexibility of later grid modifications and enhancements which is required in an environment where CFD is integrated into a product design cycle.

Challenges and Opportunities in Modeling of the Global Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janjic, Zavisa; Djurdjevic, Vladimir; Vasic, Ratko

2016-04-01

Modeling paradigms on global scales may need to be reconsidered in order to better utilize the power of massively parallel processing. For high computational efficiency with distributed memory, each core should work on a small subdomain of the full integration domain, and exchange only few rows of halo data with the neighbouring cores. Note that the described scenario strongly favors horizontally local discretizations. This is relatively easy to achieve in regional models. However, the spherical geometry complicates the problem. The latitude-longitude grid with local in space and explicit in time differencing has been an early choice and remained in use ever since. The problem with this method is that the grid size in the longitudinal direction tends to zero as the poles are approached. So, in addition to having unnecessarily high resolution near the poles, polar filtering has to be applied in order to use a time step of a reasonable size. However, the polar filtering requires transpositions involving extra communications as well as more computations. The spectral transform method and the semi-implicit semi-Lagrangian schemes opened the way for application of spectral representation. With some variations, such techniques are currently dominating in global models. Unfortunately, the horizontal non-locality is inherent to the spectral representation and implicit time differencing, which inhibits scaling on a large number of cores. In this respect the lat-lon grid with polar filtering is a step in the right direction, particularly at high resolutions where the Legendre transforms become increasingly expensive. Other grids with reduced variability of grid distances, such as various versions of the cubed sphere and the hexagonal/pentagonal ("soccer ball") grids, were proposed almost fifty years ago. However, on these grids, large-scale (wavenumber 4 and 5) fictitious solutions ("grid imprinting") with significant amplitudes can develop. Due to their large scales, that are comparable to the scales of the dominant Rossby waves, such fictitious solutions are hard to identify and remove. Another new challenge on the global scale is that the limit of validity of the hydrostatic approximation is rapidly being approached. Relaxing the hydrostatic approximation requieres careful reformulation of the model dynamics and more computations and communications. The unified Non-hydrostatic Multi-scale Model (NMMB) will be briefly discussed as an example. The non-hydrostatic dynamics were designed in such a way as to avoid over-specification. The global version is run on the latitude-longitude grid, and the polar filter selectively slows down the waves that would otherwise be unstable without modifying their amplitudes. The model has been successfully tested on various scales. The skill of the medium range forecasts produced by the NMMB is comparable to that of other major medium range models, and its computational efficiency on parallel computers is good.

Accuracy Improvement in Magnetic Field Modeling for an Axisymmetric Electromagnet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ilin, Andrew V.; Chang-Diaz, Franklin R.; Gurieva, Yana L.; Il,in, Valery P.

2000-01-01

This paper examines the accuracy and calculation speed for the magnetic field computation in an axisymmetric electromagnet. Different numerical techniques, based on an adaptive nonuniform grid, high order finite difference approximations, and semi-analitical calculation of boundary conditions are considered. These techniques are being applied to the modeling of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket. For high-accuracy calculations, a fourth-order scheme offers dramatic advantages over a second order scheme. For complex physical configurations of interest in plasma propulsion, a second-order scheme with nonuniform mesh gives the best results. Also, the relative advantages of various methods are described when the speed of computation is an important consideration.

Global 3-D FDTD Maxwell's-Equations Modeling of Ionospheric Disturbances Associated with Earthquakes Using an Optimized Geodesic Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simpson, J. J.; Taflove, A.

2005-12-01

We report a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computational solution of Maxwell's equations [1] that models the possibility of detecting and characterizing ionospheric disturbances above seismic regions. Specifically, we study anomalies in Schumann resonance spectra in the extremely low frequency (ELF) range below 30 Hz as observed in Japan caused by a hypothetical cylindrical ionospheric disturbance above Taiwan. We consider excitation of the global Earth-ionosphere waveguide by lightning in three major thunderstorm regions of the world: Southeast Asia, South America (Amazon region), and Africa. Furthermore, we investigate varying geometries and characteristics of the ionospheric disturbance above Taiwan. The FDTD technique used in this study enables a direct, full-vector, three-dimensional (3-D) time-domain Maxwell's equations calculation of round-the-world ELF propagation accounting for arbitrary horizontal as well as vertical geometrical and electrical inhomogeneities and anisotropies of the excitation, ionosphere, lithosphere, and oceans. Our entire-Earth model grids the annular lithosphere-atmosphere volume within 100 km of sea level, and contains over 6,500,000 grid-points (63 km laterally between adjacent grid points, 5 km radial resolution). We use our recently developed spherical geodesic gridding technique having a spatial discretization best described as resembling the surface of a soccer ball [2]. The grid is comprised entirely of hexagonal cells except for a small fixed number of pentagonal cells needed for completion. Grid-cell areas and locations are optimized to yield a smoothly varying area difference between adjacent cells, thereby maximizing numerical convergence. We compare our calculated results with measured data prior to the Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan as reported by Hayakawa et. al. [3]. Acknowledgement This work was suggested by Dr. Masashi Hayakawa, University of Electro-Communications, Chofugaoka, Chofu Tokyo. References [1] A. Taflove and S. C. Hagness, Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time- Domain Method, 3rd. ed. Norwood, MA: Artech House, 2005. [2] M. Hayakawa, K. Ohta, A. P. Nickolaenko, and Y. Ando, "Anomalous effect in Schumann resonance phenomena observed in Japan, possibly associated with the Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan," Ann. Geophysicae, in press. [3] J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, "3-D FDTD modeling of ULF/ELF propagation within the global Earth-ionosphere cavity using an optimized geodesic grid," Proc. IEEE AP-S International Symposium, Washington, D.C., July 2005.

Accurate pressure gradient calculations in hydrostatic atmospheric models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carroll, John J.; Mendez-Nunez, Luis R.; Tanrikulu, Saffet

1987-01-01

A method for the accurate calculation of the horizontal pressure gradient acceleration in hydrostatic atmospheric models is presented which is especially useful in situations where the isothermal surfaces are not parallel to the vertical coordinate surfaces. The present method is shown to be exact if the potential temperature lapse rate is constant between the vertical pressure integration limits. The technique is applied to both the integration of the hydrostatic equation and the computation of the slope correction term in the horizontal pressure gradient. A fixed vertical grid and a dynamic grid defined by the significant levels in the vertical temperature distribution are employed.

Efficient parallel seismic simulations including topography and 3-D material heterogeneities on locally refined composite grids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petersson, Anders; Rodgers, Arthur

2010-05-01

The finite difference method on a uniform Cartesian grid is a highly efficient and easy to implement technique for solving the elastic wave equation in seismic applications. However, the spacing in a uniform Cartesian grid is fixed throughout the computational domain, whereas the resolution requirements in realistic seismic simulations usually are higher near the surface than at depth. This can be seen from the well-known formula h ≤ L-P which relates the grid spacing h to the wave length L, and the required number of grid points per wavelength P for obtaining an accurate solution. The compressional and shear wave lengths in the earth generally increase with depth and are often a factor of ten larger below the Moho discontinuity (at about 30 km depth), than in sedimentary basins near the surface. A uniform grid must have a grid spacing based on the small wave lengths near the surface, which results in over-resolving the solution at depth. As a result, the number of points in a uniform grid is unnecessarily large. In the wave propagation project (WPP) code, we address the over-resolution-at-depth issue by generalizing our previously developed single grid finite difference scheme to work on a composite grid consisting of a set of structured rectangular grids of different spacings, with hanging nodes on the grid refinement interfaces. The computational domain in a regional seismic simulation often extends to depth 40-50 km. Hence, using a refinement ratio of two, we need about three grid refinements from the bottom of the computational domain to the surface, to keep the local grid size in approximate parity with the local wave lengths. The challenge of the composite grid approach is to find a stable and accurate method for coupling the solution across the grid refinement interface. Of particular importance is the treatment of the solution at the hanging nodes, i.e., the fine grid points which are located in between coarse grid points. WPP implements a new, energy conserving, coupling procedure for the elastic wave equation at grid refinement interfaces. When used together with our single grid finite difference scheme, it results in a method which is provably stable, without artificial dissipation, for arbitrary heterogeneous isotropic elastic materials. The new coupling procedure is based on satisfying the summation-by-parts principle across refinement interfaces. From a practical standpoint, an important advantage of the proposed method is the absence of tunable numerical parameters, which seldom are appreciated by application experts. In WPP, the composite grid discretization is combined with a curvilinear grid approach that enables accurate modeling of free surfaces on realistic (non-planar) topography. The overall method satisfies the summation-by-parts principle and is stable under a CFL time step restriction. A feature of great practical importance is that WPP automatically generates the composite grid based on the user provided topography and the depths of the grid refinement interfaces. The WPP code has been verified extensively, for example using the method of manufactured solutions, by solving Lamb's problem, by solving various layer over half- space problems and comparing to semi-analytic (FK) results, and by simulating scenario earthquakes where results from other seismic simulation codes are available. WPP has also been validated against seismographic recordings of moderate earthquakes. WPP performs well on large parallel computers and has been run on up to 32,768 processors using about 26 Billion grid points (78 Billion DOF) and 41,000 time steps. WPP is an open source code that is available under the Gnu general public license.

Evaluation of Counter-Based Dynamic Load Balancing Schemes for Massive Contingency Analysis on Over 10,000 Cores

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Yousu; Huang, Zhenyu; Rice, Mark J.

Contingency analysis studies are necessary to assess the impact of possible power system component failures. The results of the contingency analysis are used to ensure the grid reliability, and in power market operation for the feasibility test of market solutions. Currently, these studies are performed in real time based on the current operating conditions of the grid with a set of pre-selected contingency list, which might result in overlooking some critical contingencies caused by variable system status. To have a complete picture of a power grid, more contingencies need to be studied to improve grid reliability. High-performance computing techniques holdmore » the promise of being able to perform the analysis for more contingency cases within a much shorter time frame. This paper evaluates the performance of counter-based dynamic load balancing schemes for a massive contingency analysis program on 10,000+ cores. One million N-2 contingency analysis cases with a Western Electricity Coordinating Council power grid model have been used to demonstrate the performance. The speedup of 3964 with 4096 cores and 7877 with 10240 cores are obtained. This paper reports the performance of the load balancing scheme with a single counter and two counters, describes disk I/O issues, and discusses other potential techniques for further improving the performance.« less

Integrated Multi-Scale Data Analytics and Machine Learning for the Distribution Grid and Building-to-Grid Interface

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stewart, Emma M.; Hendrix, Val; Chertkov, Michael

This white paper introduces the application of advanced data analytics to the modernized grid. In particular, we consider the field of machine learning and where it is both useful, and not useful, for the particular field of the distribution grid and buildings interface. While analytics, in general, is a growing field of interest, and often seen as the golden goose in the burgeoning distribution grid industry, its application is often limited by communications infrastructure, or lack of a focused technical application. Overall, the linkage of analytics to purposeful application in the grid space has been limited. In this paper wemore » consider the field of machine learning as a subset of analytical techniques, and discuss its ability and limitations to enable the future distribution grid and the building-to-grid interface. To that end, we also consider the potential for mixing distributed and centralized analytics and the pros and cons of these approaches. Machine learning is a subfield of computer science that studies and constructs algorithms that can learn from data and make predictions and improve forecasts. Incorporation of machine learning in grid monitoring and analysis tools may have the potential to solve data and operational challenges that result from increasing penetration of distributed and behind-the-meter energy resources. There is an exponentially expanding volume of measured data being generated on the distribution grid, which, with appropriate application of analytics, may be transformed into intelligible, actionable information that can be provided to the right actors – such as grid and building operators, at the appropriate time to enhance grid or building resilience, efficiency, and operations against various metrics or goals – such as total carbon reduction or other economic benefit to customers. While some basic analysis into these data streams can provide a wealth of information, computational and human boundaries on performing the analysis are becoming significant, with more data and multi-objective concerns. Efficient applications of analysis and the machine learning field are being considered in the loop.« less

HOMAR: A computer code for generating homotopic grids using algebraic relations: User's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moitra, Anutosh

1989-01-01

A computer code for fast automatic generation of quasi-three-dimensional grid systems for aerospace configurations is described. The code employs a homotopic method to algebraically generate two-dimensional grids in cross-sectional planes, which are stacked to produce a three-dimensional grid system. Implementation of the algebraic equivalents of the homotopic relations for generating body geometries and grids are explained. Procedures for controlling grid orthogonality and distortion are described. Test cases with description and specification of inputs are presented in detail. The FORTRAN computer program and notes on implementation and use are included.

A grid-doubling finite-element technique for calculating dynamic three-dimensional spontaneous rupture on an earthquake fault

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barall, Michael

2009-01-01

We present a new finite-element technique for calculating dynamic 3-D spontaneous rupture on an earthquake fault, which can reduce the required computational resources by a factor of six or more, without loss of accuracy. The grid-doubling technique employs small cells in a thin layer surrounding the fault. The remainder of the modelling volume is filled with larger cells, typically two or four times as large as the small cells. In the resulting non-conforming mesh, an interpolation method is used to join the thin layer of smaller cells to the volume of larger cells. Grid-doubling is effective because spontaneous rupture calculations typically require higher spatial resolution on and near the fault than elsewhere in the model volume. The technique can be applied to non-planar faults by morphing, or smoothly distorting, the entire mesh to produce the desired 3-D fault geometry. Using our FaultMod finite-element software, we have tested grid-doubling with both slip-weakening and rate-and-state friction laws, by running the SCEC/USGS 3-D dynamic rupture benchmark problems. We have also applied it to a model of the Hayward fault, Northern California, which uses realistic fault geometry and rock properties. FaultMod implements fault slip using common nodes, which represent motion common to both sides of the fault, and differential nodes, which represent motion of one side of the fault relative to the other side. We describe how to modify the traction-at-split-nodes method to work with common and differential nodes, using an implicit time stepping algorithm.

Numerical Nuclear Second Derivatives on a Computing Grid: Enabling and Accelerating Frequency Calculations on Complex Molecular Systems.

PubMed

Yang, Tzuhsiung; Berry, John F

2018-06-04

The computation of nuclear second derivatives of energy, or the nuclear Hessian, is an essential routine in quantum chemical investigations of ground and transition states, thermodynamic calculations, and molecular vibrations. Analytic nuclear Hessian computations require the resolution of costly coupled-perturbed self-consistent field (CP-SCF) equations, while numerical differentiation of analytic first derivatives has an unfavorable 6 N ( N = number of atoms) prefactor. Herein, we present a new method in which grid computing is used to accelerate and/or enable the evaluation of the nuclear Hessian via numerical differentiation: NUMFREQ@Grid. Nuclear Hessians were successfully evaluated by NUMFREQ@Grid at the DFT level as well as using RIJCOSX-ZORA-MP2 or RIJCOSX-ZORA-B2PLYP for a set of linear polyacenes with systematically increasing size. For the larger members of this group, NUMFREQ@Grid was found to outperform the wall clock time of analytic Hessian evaluation; at the MP2 or B2LYP levels, these Hessians cannot even be evaluated analytically. We also evaluated a 156-atom catalytically relevant open-shell transition metal complex and found that NUMFREQ@Grid is faster (7.7 times shorter wall clock time) and less demanding (4.4 times less memory requirement) than an analytic Hessian. Capitalizing on the capabilities of parallel grid computing, NUMFREQ@Grid can outperform analytic methods in terms of wall time, memory requirements, and treatable system size. The NUMFREQ@Grid method presented herein demonstrates how grid computing can be used to facilitate embarrassingly parallel computational procedures and is a pioneer for future implementations.

Euler Technology Assessment program for preliminary aircraft design employing SPLITFLOW code with Cartesian unstructured grid method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finley, Dennis B.

1995-01-01

This report documents results from the Euler Technology Assessment program. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of Euler computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes for use in preliminary aircraft design. Both the accuracy of the predictions and the rapidity of calculations were to be assessed. This portion of the study was conducted by Lockheed Fort Worth Company, using a recently developed in-house Cartesian-grid code called SPLITFLOW. The Cartesian grid technique offers several advantages for this study, including ease of volume grid generation and reduced number of cells compared to other grid schemes. SPLITFLOW also includes grid adaptation of the volume grid during the solution convergence to resolve high-gradient flow regions. This proved beneficial in resolving the large vortical structures in the flow for several configurations examined in the present study. The SPLITFLOW code predictions of the configuration forces and moments are shown to be adequate for preliminary design analysis, including predictions of sideslip effects and the effects of geometry variations at low and high angles of attack. The time required to generate the results from initial surface definition is on the order of several hours, including grid generation, which is compatible with the needs of the design environment.

Synchrotron Imaging Computations on the Grid without the Computing Element

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Curri, A.; Pugliese, R.; Borghes, R.; Kourousias, G.

2011-12-01

Besides the heavy use of the Grid in the Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SRF) Elettra, additional special requirements from the beamlines had to be satisfied through a novel solution that we present in this work. In the traditional Grid Computing paradigm the computations are performed on the Worker Nodes of the grid element known as the Computing Element. A Grid middleware extension that our team has been working on, is that of the Instrument Element. In general it is used to Grid-enable instrumentation; and it can be seen as a neighbouring concept to that of the traditional Control Systems. As a further extension we demonstrate the Instrument Element as the steering mechanism for a series of computations. In our deployment it interfaces a Control System that manages a series of computational demanding Scientific Imaging tasks in an online manner. The instrument control in Elettra is done through a suitable Distributed Control System, a common approach in the SRF community. The applications that we present are for a beamline working in medical imaging. The solution resulted to a substantial improvement of a Computed Tomography workflow. The near-real-time requirements could not have been easily satisfied from our Grid's middleware (gLite) due to the various latencies often occurred during the job submission and queuing phases. Moreover the required deployment of a set of TANGO devices could not have been done in a standard gLite WN. Besides the avoidance of certain core Grid components, the Grid Security infrastructure has been utilised in the final solution.

Network gateway security method for enterprise Grid: a literature review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sujarwo, A.; Tan, J.

2017-03-01

The computational Grid has brought big computational resources closer to scientists. It enables people to do a large computational job anytime and anywhere without any physical border anymore. However, the massive and spread of computer participants either as user or computational provider arise problems in security. The challenge is on how the security system, especially the one which filters data in the gateway could works in flexibility depends on the registered Grid participants. This paper surveys what people have done to approach this challenge, in order to find the better and new method for enterprise Grid. The findings of this paper is the dynamically controlled enterprise firewall to secure the Grid resources from unwanted connections with a new firewall controlling method and components.

Multiresolution Iterative Reconstruction in High-Resolution Extremity Cone-Beam CT

PubMed Central

Cao, Qian; Zbijewski, Wojciech; Sisniega, Alejandro; Yorkston, John; Siewerdsen, Jeffrey H; Stayman, J Webster

2016-01-01

Application of model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) to high resolution cone-beam CT (CBCT) is computationally challenging because of the very fine discretization (voxel size <100 µm) of the reconstructed volume. Moreover, standard MBIR techniques require that the complete transaxial support for the acquired projections is reconstructed, thus precluding acceleration by restricting the reconstruction to a region-of-interest. To reduce the computational burden of high resolution MBIR, we propose a multiresolution Penalized-Weighted Least Squares (PWLS) algorithm, where the volume is parameterized as a union of fine and coarse voxel grids as well as selective binning of detector pixels. We introduce a penalty function designed to regularize across the boundaries between the two grids. The algorithm was evaluated in simulation studies emulating an extremity CBCT system and in a physical study on a test-bench. Artifacts arising from the mismatched discretization of the fine and coarse sub-volumes were investigated. The fine grid region was parameterized using 0.15 mm voxels and the voxel size in the coarse grid region was varied by changing a downsampling factor. No significant artifacts were found in either of the regions for downsampling factors of up to 4×. For a typical extremities CBCT volume size, this downsampling corresponds to an acceleration of the reconstruction that is more than five times faster than a brute force solution that applies fine voxel parameterization to the entire volume. For certain configurations of the coarse and fine grid regions, in particular when the boundary between the regions does not cross high attenuation gradients, downsampling factors as high as 10× can be used without introducing artifacts, yielding a ~50× speedup in PWLS. The proposed multiresolution algorithm significantly reduces the computational burden of high resolution iterative CBCT reconstruction and can be extended to other applications of MBIR where computationally expensive, high-fidelity forward models are applied only to a sub-region of the field-of-view. PMID:27694701

Applications of Computational Methods for Dynamic Stability and Control Derivatives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green, Lawrence L.; Spence, Angela M.

2004-01-01

Initial steps in the application o f a low-order panel method computational fluid dynamic (CFD) code to the calculation of aircraft dynamic stability and control (S&C) derivatives are documented. Several capabilities, unique to CFD but not unique to this particular demonstration, are identified and demonstrated in this paper. These unique capabilities complement conventional S&C techniques and they include the ability to: 1) perform maneuvers without the flow-kinematic restrictions and support interference commonly associated with experimental S&C facilities, 2) easily simulate advanced S&C testing techniques, 3) compute exact S&C derivatives with uncertainty propagation bounds, and 4) alter the flow physics associated with a particular testing technique from those observed in a wind or water tunnel test in order to isolate effects. Also presented are discussions about some computational issues associated with the simulation of S&C tests and selected results from numerous surface grid resolution studies performed during the course of the study.

B-spline Method in Fluid Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Botella, Olivier; Shariff, Karim; Mansour, Nagi N. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

B-spline functions are bases for piecewise polynomials that possess attractive properties for complex flow simulations : they have compact support, provide a straightforward handling of boundary conditions and grid nonuniformities, and yield numerical schemes with high resolving power, where the order of accuracy is a mere input parameter. This paper reviews the progress made on the development and application of B-spline numerical methods to computational fluid dynamics problems. Basic B-spline approximation properties is investigated, and their relationship with conventional numerical methods is reviewed. Some fundamental developments towards efficient complex geometry spline methods are covered, such as local interpolation methods, fast solution algorithms on cartesian grid, non-conformal block-structured discretization, formulation of spline bases of higher continuity over triangulation, and treatment of pressure oscillations in Navier-Stokes equations. Application of some of these techniques to the computation of viscous incompressible flows is presented.

Prediction of Business Jet Airloads Using The Overflow Navier-Stokes Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bounajem, Elias; Buning, Pieter G.

2001-01-01

The objective of this work is to evaluate the application of Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics technology, for the purpose of predicting off-design condition airloads on a business jet configuration in the transonic regime. The NASA Navier-Stokes flow solver OVERFLOW with Chimera overset grid capability, availability of several numerical schemes and convergence acceleration techniques was selected for this work. A set of scripts which have been compiled to reduce the time required for the grid generation process are described. Several turbulence models are evaluated in the presence of separated flow regions on the wing. Computed results are compared to available wind tunnel data for two Mach numbers and a range of angles-of-attack. Comparisons of wing surface pressure from numerical simulation and wind tunnel measurements show good agreement up to fairly high angles-of-attack.

Evaluation of several non-reflecting computational boundary conditions for duct acoustics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Willie R.; Zorumski, William E.; Hodge, Steve L.

1994-01-01

Several non-reflecting computational boundary conditions that meet certain criteria and have potential applications to duct acoustics are evaluated for their effectiveness. The same interior solution scheme, grid, and order of approximation are used to evaluate each condition. Sparse matrix solution techniques are applied to solve the matrix equation resulting from the discretization. Modal series solutions for the sound attenuation in an infinite duct are used to evaluate the accuracy of each non-reflecting boundary conditions. The evaluations are performed for sound propagation in a softwall duct, for several sources, sound frequencies, and duct lengths. It is shown that a recently developed nonlocal boundary condition leads to sound attenuation predictions considerably more accurate for short ducts. This leads to a substantial reduction in the number of grid points when compared to other non-reflecting conditions.

Tempest - Efficient Computation of Atmospheric Flows Using High-Order Local Discretization Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ullrich, P. A.; Guerra, J. E.

2014-12-01

The Tempest Framework composes several compact numerical methods to easily facilitate intercomparison of atmospheric flow calculations on the sphere and in rectangular domains. This framework includes the implementations of Spectral Elements, Discontinuous Galerkin, Flux Reconstruction, and Hybrid Finite Element methods with the goal of achieving optimal accuracy in the solution of atmospheric problems. Several advantages of this approach are discussed such as: improved pressure gradient calculation, numerical stability by vertical/horizontal splitting, arbitrary order of accuracy, etc. The local numerical discretization allows for high performance parallel computation and efficient inclusion of parameterizations. These techniques are used in conjunction with a non-conformal, locally refined, cubed-sphere grid for global simulations and standard Cartesian grids for simulations at the mesoscale. A complete implementation of the methods described is demonstrated in a non-hydrostatic setting.

The Adoption of Grid Computing Technology by Organizations: A Quantitative Study Using Technology Acceptance Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Udoh, Emmanuel E.

2010-01-01

Advances in grid technology have enabled some organizations to harness enormous computational power on demand. However, the prediction of widespread adoption of the grid technology has not materialized despite the obvious grid advantages. This situation has encouraged intense efforts to close the research gap in the grid adoption process. In this…

The HEPiX Virtualisation Working Group: Towards a Grid of Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cass, Tony

2012-12-01

The use of virtual machine images, as for example with Cloud services such as Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud, is attractive for users as they have a guaranteed execution environment, something that cannot today be provided across sites participating in computing grids such as the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid. However, Grid sites often operate within computer security frameworks which preclude the use of remotely generated images. The HEPiX Virtualisation Working Group was setup with the objective to enable use of remotely generated virtual machine images at Grid sites and, to this end, has introduced the idea of trusted virtual machine images which are guaranteed to be secure and configurable by sites such that security policy commitments can be met. This paper describes the requirements and details of these trusted virtual machine images and presents a model for their use to facilitate the integration of Grid- and Cloud-based computing environments for High Energy Physics.

A Debugger for Computational Grid Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hood, Robert; Jost, Gabriele; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This viewgraph presentation gives an overview of a debugger for computational grid applications. Details are given on NAS parallel tools groups (including parallelization support tools, evaluation of various parallelization strategies, and distributed and aggregated computing), debugger dependencies, scalability, initial implementation, the process grid, and information on Globus.

A Development of Lightweight Grid Interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwai, G.; Kawai, Y.; Sasaki, T.; Watase, Y.

2011-12-01

In order to help a rapid development of Grid/Cloud aware applications, we have developed API to abstract the distributed computing infrastructures based on SAGA (A Simple API for Grid Applications). SAGA, which is standardized in the OGF (Open Grid Forum), defines API specifications to access distributed computing infrastructures, such as Grid, Cloud and local computing resources. The Universal Grid API (UGAPI), which is a set of command line interfaces (CLI) and APIs, aims to offer simpler API to combine several SAGA interfaces with richer functionalities. These CLIs of the UGAPI offer typical functionalities required by end users for job management and file access to the different distributed computing infrastructures as well as local computing resources. We have also built a web interface for the particle therapy simulation and demonstrated the large scale calculation using the different infrastructures at the same time. In this paper, we would like to present how the web interface based on UGAPI and SAGA achieve more efficient utilization of computing resources over the different infrastructures with technical details and practical experiences.

Development of a Navier-Stokes algorithm for parallel-processing supercomputers. Ph.D. Thesis - Colorado State Univ., Dec. 1988

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swisshelm, Julie M.

1989-01-01

An explicit flow solver, applicable to the hierarchy of model equations ranging from Euler to full Navier-Stokes, is combined with several techniques designed to reduce computational expense. The computational domain consists of local grid refinements embedded in a global coarse mesh, where the locations of these refinements are defined by the physics of the flow. Flow characteristics are also used to determine which set of model equations is appropriate for solution in each region, thereby reducing not only the number of grid points at which the solution must be obtained, but also the computational effort required to get that solution. Acceleration to steady-state is achieved by applying multigrid on each of the subgrids, regardless of the particular model equations being solved. Since each of these components is explicit, advantage can readily be taken of the vector- and parallel-processing capabilities of machines such as the Cray X-MP and Cray-2.

CAGI: Computer Aided Grid Interface. A work in progress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soni, Bharat K.; Yu, Tzu-Yi; Vaughn, David

1992-01-01

Progress realized in the development of a Computer Aided Grid Interface (CAGI) software system in integrating CAD/CAM geometric system output and/or Interactive Graphics Exchange Standard (IGES) files, geometry manipulations associated with grid generation, and robust grid generation methodologies is presented. CAGI is being developed in a modular fashion and will offer fast, efficient and economical response to geometry/grid preparation, allowing the ability to upgrade basic geometry in a step-by-step fashion interactively and under permanent visual control along with minimizing the differences between the actual hardware surface descriptions and corresponding numerical analog. The computer code GENIE is used as a basis. The Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) representation of sculptured surfaces is utilized for surface grid redistribution. The computer aided analysis system, PATRAN, is adapted as a CAD/CAM system. The progress realized in NURBS surface grid generation, the development of IGES transformer, and geometry adaption using PATRAN will be presented along with their applicability to grid generation associated with rocket propulsion applications.

Error Estimates of the Ares I Computed Turbulent Ascent Longitudinal Aerodynamic Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abdol-Hamid, Khaled S.; Ghaffari, Farhad

2012-01-01

Numerical predictions of the longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics for the Ares I class of vehicles, along with the associated error estimate derived from an iterative convergence grid refinement, are presented. Computational results are based on an unstructured grid, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes analysis. The validity of the approach to compute the associated error estimates, derived from a base grid to an extrapolated infinite-size grid, was first demonstrated on a sub-scaled wind tunnel model at representative ascent flow conditions for which the experimental data existed. Such analysis at the transonic flow conditions revealed a maximum deviation of about 23% between the computed longitudinal aerodynamic coefficients with the base grid and the measured data across the entire roll angles. This maximum deviation from the wind tunnel data was associated with the computed normal force coefficient at the transonic flow condition and was reduced to approximately 16% based on the infinite-size grid. However, all the computed aerodynamic coefficients with the base grid at the supersonic flow conditions showed a maximum deviation of only about 8% with that level being improved to approximately 5% for the infinite-size grid. The results and the error estimates based on the established procedure are also presented for the flight flow conditions.

Characterization of Slosh Damping for Ortho-Grid and Iso-Grid Internal Tank Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Westra, Douglas G.; Sansone, Marco D.; Eberhart, Chad J.; West, Jeffrey S.

2016-01-01

Grid stiffened tank structures such as Ortho-Grid and Iso-Grid are widely used in cryogenic tanks for providing stiffening to the tank while reducing mass, compared to tank walls of constant cross-section. If the structure is internal to the tank, it will positively affect the fluid dynamic behavior of the liquid propellant, in regard to fluid slosh damping. As NASA and commercial companies endeavor to explore the solar system, vehicles will by necessity become more mass efficient, and design margin will be reduced where possible. Therefore, if the damping characteristics of the Ortho-Grid and Iso-Grid structure is understood, their positive damping effect can be taken into account in the systems design process. Historically, damping by internal structures has been characterized by rules of thumb and for Ortho-Grid, empirical design tools intended for slosh baffles of much larger cross-section have been used. There is little or no information available to characterize the slosh behavior of Iso-Grid internal structure. Therefore, to take advantage of these structures for their positive damping effects, there is much need for obtaining additional data and tools to characterize them. Recently, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center conducted both sub-scale testing and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of slosh damping for Ortho-Grid and Iso-Grid tanks for cylindrical tanks containing water. Enhanced grid meshing techniques were applied to the geometrically detailed and complex Ortho-Grid and Iso-Grid structures. The Loci-STREAM CFD program with the Volume of Fluid Method module for tracking and locating the water-air fluid interface was used to conduct the simulations. The CFD simulations were validated with the test data and new empirical models for predicting damping and frequency of Ortho-Grid and Iso-Grid structures were generated.

Developing science gateways for drug discovery in a grid environment.

PubMed

Pérez-Sánchez, Horacio; Rezaei, Vahid; Mezhuyev, Vitaliy; Man, Duhu; Peña-García, Jorge; den-Haan, Helena; Gesing, Sandra

2016-01-01

Methods for in silico screening of large databases of molecules increasingly complement and replace experimental techniques to discover novel compounds to combat diseases. As these techniques become more complex and computationally costly we are faced with an increasing problem to provide the research community of life sciences with a convenient tool for high-throughput virtual screening on distributed computing resources. To this end, we recently integrated the biophysics-based drug-screening program FlexScreen into a service, applicable for large-scale parallel screening and reusable in the context of scientific workflows. Our implementation is based on Pipeline Pilot and Simple Object Access Protocol and provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface to construct complex workflows, which can be executed on distributed computing resources, thus accelerating the throughput by several orders of magnitude.

Understanding the Role of Hemodynamics in the Initiation, Progression, Rupture, and Treatment Outcome of Cerebral Aneurysm from Medical Image-Based Computational Studies

PubMed Central

Castro, Marcelo A.

2013-01-01

About a decade ago, the first image-based computational hemodynamic studies of cerebral aneurysms were presented. Their potential for clinical applications was the result of a right combination of medical image processing, vascular reconstruction, and grid generation techniques used to reconstruct personalized domains for computational fluid and solid dynamics solvers and data analysis and visualization techniques. A considerable number of studies have captivated the attention of clinicians, neurosurgeons, and neuroradiologists, who realized the ability of those tools to help in understanding the role played by hemodynamics in the natural history and management of intracranial aneurysms. This paper intends to summarize the most relevant results in the field reported during the last years. PMID:24967285

Cubic spline numerical solution of an ablation problem with convective backface cooling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, S.; Wang, P.; Kahawita, R.

1984-08-01

An implicit numerical technique using cubic splines is presented for solving an ablation problem on a thin wall with convective cooling. A non-uniform computational mesh with 6 grid points has been used for the numerical integration. The method has been found to be computationally efficient, providing for the care under consideration of an overall error of about 1 percent. The results obtained indicate that the convective cooling is an important factor in reducing the ablation thickness.

EIAGRID: In-field optimization of seismic data acquisition by real-time subsurface imaging using a remote GRID computing environment.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heilmann, B. Z.; Vallenilla Ferrara, A. M.

2009-04-01

The constant growth of contaminated sites, the unsustainable use of natural resources, and, last but not least, the hydrological risk related to extreme meteorological events and increased climate variability are major environmental issues of today. Finding solutions for these complex problems requires an integrated cross-disciplinary approach, providing a unified basis for environmental science and engineering. In computer science, grid computing is emerging worldwide as a formidable tool allowing distributed computation and data management with administratively-distant resources. Utilizing these modern High Performance Computing (HPC) technologies, the GRIDA3 project bundles several applications from different fields of geoscience aiming to support decision making for reasonable and responsible land use and resource management. In this abstract we present a geophysical application called EIAGRID that uses grid computing facilities to perform real-time subsurface imaging by on-the-fly processing of seismic field data and fast optimization of the processing workflow. Even though, seismic reflection profiling has a broad application range spanning from shallow targets in a few meters depth to targets in a depth of several kilometers, it is primarily used by the hydrocarbon industry and hardly for environmental purposes. The complexity of data acquisition and processing poses severe problems for environmental and geotechnical engineering: Professional seismic processing software is expensive to buy and demands large experience from the user. In-field processing equipment needed for real-time data Quality Control (QC) and immediate optimization of the acquisition parameters is often not available for this kind of studies. As a result, the data quality will be suboptimal. In the worst case, a crucial parameter such as receiver spacing, maximum offset, or recording time turns out later to be inappropriate and the complete acquisition campaign has to be repeated. The EIAGRID portal provides an innovative solution to this problem combining state-of-the-art data processing methods and modern remote grid computing technology. In field-processing equipment is substituted by remote access to high performance grid computing facilities. The latter can be ubiquitously controlled by a user-friendly web-browser interface accessed from the field by any mobile computer using wireless data transmission technology such as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) or HSUPA/HSDPA (High-Speed Uplink/Downlink Packet Access). The complexity of data-manipulation and processing and thus also the time demanding user interaction is minimized by a data-driven, and highly automated velocity analysis and imaging approach based on the Common-Reflection-Surface (CRS) stack. Furthermore, the huge computing power provided by the grid deployment allows parallel testing of alternative processing sequences and parameter settings, a feature which considerably reduces the turn-around times. A shared data storage using georeferencing tools and data grid technology is under current development. It will allow to publish already accomplished projects, making results, processing workflows and parameter settings available in a transparent and reproducible way. Creating a unified database shared by all users will facilitate complex studies and enable the use of data-crossing techniques to incorporate results of other environmental applications hosted on the GRIDA3 portal.

Multigrid direct numerical simulation of the whole process of flow transition in 3-D boundary layers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Chaoqun; Liu, Zhining

1993-01-01

A new technology was developed in this study which provides a successful numerical simulation of the whole process of flow transition in 3-D boundary layers, including linear growth, secondary instability, breakdown, and transition at relatively low CPU cost. Most other spatial numerical simulations require high CPU cost and blow up at the stage of flow breakdown. A fourth-order finite difference scheme on stretched and staggered grids, a fully implicit time marching technique, a semi-coarsening multigrid based on the so-called approximate line-box relaxation, and a buffer domain for the outflow boundary conditions were all used for high-order accuracy, good stability, and fast convergence. A new fine-coarse-fine grid mapping technique was developed to keep the code running after the laminar flow breaks down. The computational results are in good agreement with linear stability theory, secondary instability theory, and some experiments. The cost for a typical case with 162 x 34 x 34 grid is around 2 CRAY-YMP CPU hours for 10 T-S periods.

Simulation of an Isolated Tiltrotor in Hover with an Unstructured Overset-Grid RANS Solver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee-Rausch, Elizabeth M.; Biedron, Robert T.

2009-01-01

An unstructured overset-grid Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver, FUN3D, is used to simulate an isolated tiltrotor in hover. An overview of the computational method is presented as well as the details of the overset-grid systems. Steady-state computations within a noninertial reference frame define the performance trends of the rotor across a range of the experimental collective settings. Results are presented to show the effects of off-body grid refinement and blade grid refinement. The computed performance and blade loading trends show good agreement with experimental results and previously published structured overset-grid computations. Off-body flow features indicate a significant improvement in the resolution of the first perpendicular blade vortex interaction with background grid refinement across the collective range. Considering experimental data uncertainty and effects of transition, the prediction of figure of merit on the baseline and refined grid is reasonable at the higher collective range- within 3 percent of the measured values. At the lower collective settings, the computed figure of merit is approximately 6 percent lower than the experimental data. A comparison of steady and unsteady results show that with temporal refinement, the dynamic results closely match the steady-state noninertial results which gives confidence in the accuracy of the dynamic overset-grid approach.

Using Multiple Grids To Compute Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rai, Man Mohan

1991-01-01

Paper discusses decomposition of global grids into multiple patched and/or overlaid local grids in computations of fluid flow. Such "domain decomposition" particularly useful in computation of flows about complicated bodies moving relative to each other; for example, flows associated with rotors and stators in turbomachinery and rotors and fuselages in helicopters.

A Grid Infrastructure for Supporting Space-based Science Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bradford, Robert N.; Redman, Sandra H.; McNair, Ann R. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Emerging technologies for computational grid infrastructures have the potential for revolutionizing the way computers are used in all aspects of our lives. Computational grids are currently being implemented to provide a large-scale, dynamic, and secure research and engineering environments based on standards and next-generation reusable software, enabling greater science and engineering productivity through shared resources and distributed computing for less cost than traditional architectures. Combined with the emerging technologies of high-performance networks, grids provide researchers, scientists and engineers the first real opportunity for an effective distributed collaborative environment with access to resources such as computational and storage systems, instruments, and software tools and services for the most computationally challenging applications.

Aeroacoustic Simulation of Nose Landing Gear on Adaptive Unstructured Grids With FUN3D

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vatsa, Veer N.; Khorrami, Mehdi R.; Park, Michael A.; Lockard, David P.

2013-01-01

Numerical simulations have been performed for a partially-dressed, cavity-closed nose landing gear configuration that was tested in NASA Langley s closed-wall Basic Aerodynamic Research Tunnel (BART) and in the University of Florida's open-jet acoustic facility known as the UFAFF. The unstructured-grid flow solver FUN3D, developed at NASA Langley Research center, is used to compute the unsteady flow field for this configuration. Starting with a coarse grid, a series of successively finer grids were generated using the adaptive gridding methodology available in the FUN3D code. A hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes/large eddy simulation (RANS/LES) turbulence model is used for these computations. Time-averaged and instantaneous solutions obtained on these grids are compared with the measured data. In general, the correlation with the experimental data improves with grid refinement. A similar trend is observed for sound pressure levels obtained by using these CFD solutions as input to a FfowcsWilliams-Hawkings noise propagation code to compute the farfield noise levels. In general, the numerical solutions obtained on adapted grids compare well with the hand-tuned enriched fine grid solutions and experimental data. In addition, the grid adaption strategy discussed here simplifies the grid generation process, and results in improved computational efficiency of CFD simulations.

Efficient parallelization for AMR MHD multiphysics calculations; implementation in AstroBEAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carroll-Nellenback, Jonathan J.; Shroyer, Brandon; Frank, Adam; Ding, Chen

2013-03-01

Current adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) simulations require algorithms that are highly parallelized and manage memory efficiently. As compute engines grow larger, AMR simulations will require algorithms that achieve new levels of efficient parallelization and memory management. We have attempted to employ new techniques to achieve both of these goals. Patch or grid based AMR often employs ghost cells to decouple the hyperbolic advances of each grid on a given refinement level. This decoupling allows each grid to be advanced independently. In AstroBEAR we utilize this independence by threading the grid advances on each level with preference going to the finer level grids. This allows for global load balancing instead of level by level load balancing and allows for greater parallelization across both physical space and AMR level. Threading of level advances can also improve performance by interleaving communication with computation, especially in deep simulations with many levels of refinement. While we see improvements of up to 30% on deep simulations run on a few cores, the speedup is typically more modest (5-20%) for larger scale simulations. To improve memory management we have employed a distributed tree algorithm that requires processors to only store and communicate local sections of the AMR tree structure with neighboring processors. Using this distributed approach we are able to get reasonable scaling efficiency (>80%) out to 12288 cores and up to 8 levels of AMR - independent of the use of threading.

Comparison of Computational and Experimental Results for a Transonic Variable-Speed Power-Turbine Blade Operating with Low Inlet Turbulence Levels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Booth, David; Flegel, Ashlie

2015-01-01

A computational assessment of the aerodynamic performance of the midspan section of a variable-speed power-turbine blade is described. The computation comprises a periodic single blade that represents the 2-D Midspan section VSPT blade that was tested in the NASA Glenn Research Center Transonic Turbine Blade Cascade Facility. A commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) software package, Pointwise and CFD++, was used for the grid generation and RANS and URANS computations. The CFD code, which offers flexibility in terms of turbulence and transition modeling options, was assessed in terms of blade loading, loss, and turning against test data from the transonic tunnel. Simulations were assessed at positive and negative incidence angles that represent the turbine cruise and take-off design conditions. The results indicate that the secondary flow induced at the positive incidence cruise condition results in a highly loaded case and transitional flow on the blade is observed. The negative incidence take-off condition is unloaded and the flow is very two-dimensional. The computational results demonstrate the predictive capability of the gridding technique and COTS software for a linear transonic turbine blade cascade with large incidence angle variation.

Comparison of Computational and Experimental Results for a Transonic Variable-speed Power-Turbine Blade Operating with Low Inlet Turbulence Levels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Booth, David T.; Flegel, Ashlie B.

2015-01-01

A computational assessment of the aerodynamic performance of the midspan section of a variable-speed power-turbine blade is described. The computation comprises a periodic single blade that represents the 2-D Midspan section VSPT blade that was tested in the NASA Glenn Research Center Transonic Turbine Blade Cascade Facility. A commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) software package, Pointwise and CFD++, was used for the grid generation and RANS and URANS computations. The CFD code, which offers flexibility in terms of turbulence and transition modeling options, was assessed in terms of blade loading, loss, and turning against test data from the transonic tunnel. Simulations were assessed at positive and negative incidence angles that represent the turbine cruise and take-off design conditions. The results indicate that the secondary flow induced at the positive incidence cruise condition results in a highly loaded case and transitional flow on the blade is observed. The negative incidence take-off condition is unloaded and the flow is very two-dimensional. The computational results demonstrate the predictive capability of the gridding technique and COTS software for a linear transonic turbine blade cascade with large incidence angle variation.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study on the fetal aortic coarctation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yue; Zhang, Yutao; Wang, Jingying

2018-03-01

Blood flows in normal and coarctate fetal aortas are simulated by the CFD technique using T-rex grids. The three-dimensional (3-D) digital model of the fetal arota is reconstructed by the computer-aided design (CAD) software based on two-dimensional (2-D) ultrasono tomographic images. Simulation results displays the development and enhancement of the secondary flow structure in the coarctate fetal arota. As the diameter narrow ratio rises greater than 45%, the pressure and wall shear stress (WSS) of the aorta arch increase exponentially, which is consistent with the conventional clinical concept. The present study also demonstrates that CFD is a very promising assistant technique to investigate human cardiovascular diseases.

Mechanics of Flapping Flight: Analytical Formulations of Unsteady Aerodynamics, Kinematic Optimization, Flight Dynamics, and Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taneja, Jayant Kumar

Electricity is an indispensable commodity to modern society, yet it is delivered via a grid architecture that remains largely unchanged over the past century. A host of factors are conspiring to topple this dated yet venerated design: developments in renewable electricity generation technology, policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and advances in information technology for managing energy systems. Modern electric grids are emerging as complex distributed systems in which a portfolio of power generation resources, often incorporating fluctuating renewable resources such as wind and solar, must be managed dynamically to meet uncontrolled, time-varying demand. Uncertainty in both supply and demand makes control of modern electric grids fundamentally more challenging, and growing portfolios of renewables exacerbate the challenge. We study three electricity grids: the state of California, the province of Ontario, and the country of Germany. To understand the effects of increasing renewables, we develop a methodology to scale renewables penetration. Analyzing these grids yields key insights about rigid limits to renewables penetration and their implications in meeting long-term emissions targets. We argue that to achieve deep penetration of renewables, the operational model of the grid must be inverted, changing the paradigm from load-following supplies to supply-following loads. To alleviate the challenge of supply-demand matching on deeply renewable grids, we first examine well-known techniques, including altering management of existing supply resources, employing utility-scale energy storage, targeting energy efficiency improvements, and exercising basic demand-side management. Then, we create several instantiations of supply-following loads -- including refrigerators, heating and cooling systems, and laptop computers -- by employing a combination of sensor networks, advanced control techniques, and enhanced energy storage. We examine the capacity of each load for supply-following and study the behaviors of populations of these loads, assessing their potential at various levels of deployment throughout the California electricity grid. Using combinations of supply-following strategies, we can reduce peak natural gas generation by 19% on a model of the California grid with 60% renewables. We then assess remaining variability on this deeply renewable grid incorporating supply-following loads, characterizing additional capabilities needed to ensure supply-demand matching in future sustainable electricity grids.

Probabilistic Learning by Rodent Grid Cells

PubMed Central

Cheung, Allen

2016-01-01

Mounting evidence shows mammalian brains are probabilistic computers, but the specific cells involved remain elusive. Parallel research suggests that grid cells of the mammalian hippocampal formation are fundamental to spatial cognition but their diverse response properties still defy explanation. No plausible model exists which explains stable grids in darkness for twenty minutes or longer, despite being one of the first results ever published on grid cells. Similarly, no current explanation can tie together grid fragmentation and grid rescaling, which show very different forms of flexibility in grid responses when the environment is varied. Other properties such as attractor dynamics and grid anisotropy seem to be at odds with one another unless additional properties are assumed such as a varying velocity gain. Modelling efforts have largely ignored the breadth of response patterns, while also failing to account for the disastrous effects of sensory noise during spatial learning and recall, especially in darkness. Here, published electrophysiological evidence from a range of experiments are reinterpreted using a novel probabilistic learning model, which shows that grid cell responses are accurately predicted by a probabilistic learning process. Diverse response properties of probabilistic grid cells are statistically indistinguishable from rat grid cells across key manipulations. A simple coherent set of probabilistic computations explains stable grid fields in darkness, partial grid rescaling in resized arenas, low-dimensional attractor grid cell dynamics, and grid fragmentation in hairpin mazes. The same computations also reconcile oscillatory dynamics at the single cell level with attractor dynamics at the cell ensemble level. Additionally, a clear functional role for boundary cells is proposed for spatial learning. These findings provide a parsimonious and unified explanation of grid cell function, and implicate grid cells as an accessible neuronal population readout of a set of probabilistic spatial computations. PMID:27792723

Numerical aerodynamic simulation facility. [for flows about three-dimensional configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, F. R.; Hathaway, A. W.

1978-01-01

Critical to the advancement of computational aerodynamics capability is the ability to simulate flows about three-dimensional configurations that contain both compressible and viscous effects, including turbulence and flow separation at high Reynolds numbers. Analyses were conducted of two solution techniques for solving the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations describing the mean motion of a turbulent flow with certain terms involving the transport of turbulent momentum and energy modeled by auxiliary equations. The first solution technique is an implicit approximate factorization finite-difference scheme applied to three-dimensional flows that avoids the restrictive stability conditions when small grid spacing is used. The approximate factorization reduces the solution process to a sequence of three one-dimensional problems with easily inverted matrices. The second technique is a hybrid explicit/implicit finite-difference scheme which is also factored and applied to three-dimensional flows. Both methods are applicable to problems with highly distorted grids and a variety of boundary conditions and turbulence models.

Refined numerical solution of the transonic flow past a wedge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liang, S.-M.; Fung, K.-Y.

1985-01-01

A numerical procedure combining the ideas of solving a modified difference equation and of adaptive mesh refinement is introduced. The numerical solution on a fixed grid is improved by using better approximations of the truncation error computed from local subdomain grid refinements. This technique is used to obtain refined solutions of steady, inviscid, transonic flow past a wedge. The effects of truncation error on the pressure distribution, wave drag, sonic line, and shock position are investigated. By comparing the pressure drag on the wedge and wave drag due to the shocks, a supersonic-to-supersonic shock originating from the wedge shoulder is confirmed.

Computer Aided Grid Interface: An Interactive CFD Pre-Processor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soni, Bharat K.

1997-01-01

NASA maintains an applications oriented computational fluid dynamics (CFD) efforts complementary to and in support of the aerodynamic-propulsion design and test activities. This is especially true at NASA/MSFC where the goal is to advance and optimize present and future liquid-fueled rocket engines. Numerical grid generation plays a significant role in the fluid flow simulations utilizing CFD. An overall goal of the current project was to develop a geometry-grid generation tool that will help engineers, scientists and CFD practitioners to analyze design problems involving complex geometries in a timely fashion. This goal is accomplished by developing the CAGI: Computer Aided Grid Interface system. The CAGI system is developed by integrating CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing) geometric system output and/or Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) files (including all the NASA-IGES entities), geometry manipulations and generations associated with grid constructions, and robust grid generation methodologies. This report describes the development process of the CAGI system.

Computer Aided Grid Interface: An Interactive CFD Pre-Processor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soni, Bharat K.

1996-01-01

NASA maintains an applications oriented computational fluid dynamics (CFD) efforts complementary to and in support of the aerodynamic-propulsion design and test activities. This is especially true at NASA/MSFC where the goal is to advance and optimize present and future liquid-fueled rocket engines. Numerical grid generation plays a significant role in the fluid flow simulations utilizing CFD. An overall goal of the current project was to develop a geometry-grid generation tool that will help engineers, scientists and CFD practitioners to analyze design problems involving complex geometries in a timely fashion. This goal is accomplished by developing the Computer Aided Grid Interface system (CAGI). The CAGI system is developed by integrating CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing) geometric system output and / or Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) files (including all the NASA-IGES entities), geometry manipulations and generations associated with grid constructions, and robust grid generation methodologies. This report describes the development process of the CAGI system.

Grid computing in large pharmaceutical molecular modeling.

PubMed

Claus, Brian L; Johnson, Stephen R

2008-07-01

Most major pharmaceutical companies have employed grid computing to expand their compute resources with the intention of minimizing additional financial expenditure. Historically, one of the issues restricting widespread utilization of the grid resources in molecular modeling is the limited set of suitable applications amenable to coarse-grained parallelization. Recent advances in grid infrastructure technology coupled with advances in application research and redesign will enable fine-grained parallel problems, such as quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics, which were previously inaccessible to the grid environment. This will enable new science as well as increase resource flexibility to load balance and schedule existing workloads.

Multiple-grid convergence acceleration of viscous and inviscid flow computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, G. M.

1983-01-01

A multiple-grid algorithm for use in efficiently obtaining steady solution to the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations is presented. The convergence of a simple, explicit fine-grid solution procedure is accelerated on a sequence of successively coarser grids by a coarse-grid information propagation method which rapidly eliminates transients from the computational domain. This use of multiple-gridding to increase the convergence rate results in substantially reduced work requirements for the numerical solution of a wide range of flow problems. Computational results are presented for subsonic and transonic inviscid flows and for laminar and turbulent, attached and separated, subsonic viscous flows. Work reduction factors as large as eight, in comparison to the basic fine-grid algorithm, were obtained. Possibilities for further performance improvement are discussed.

New Antarctic Gravity Anomaly Grid for Enhanced Geodetic and Geophysical Studies in Antarctica

PubMed Central

Scheinert, M.; Ferraccioli, F.; Schwabe, J.; Bell, R.; Studinger, M.; Damaske, D.; Jokat, W.; Aleshkova, N.; Jordan, T.; Leitchenkov, G.; Blankenship, D. D.; Damiani, T. M.; Young, D.; Cochran, J. R.; Richter, T. D.

2018-01-01

Gravity surveying is challenging in Antarctica because of its hostile environment and inaccessibility. Nevertheless, many ground-based, airborne and shipborne gravity campaigns have been completed by the geophysical and geodetic communities since the 1980s. We present the first modern Antarctic-wide gravity data compilation derived from 13 million data points covering an area of 10 million km2, which corresponds to 73% coverage of the continent. The remove-compute-restore technique was applied for gridding, which facilitated levelling of the different gravity datasets with respect to an Earth Gravity Model derived from satellite data alone. The resulting free-air and Bouguer gravity anomaly grids of 10 km resolution are publicly available. These grids will enable new high-resolution combined Earth Gravity Models to be derived and represent a major step forward towards solving the geodetic polar data gap problem. They provide a new tool to investigate continental-scale lithospheric structure and geological evolution of Antarctica. PMID:29326484

New Antarctic Gravity Anomaly Grid for Enhanced Geodetic and Geophysical Studies in Antarctica

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scheinert, M.; Ferraccioli, F.; Schwabe, J.; Bell, R.; Studinger, M.; Damaske, D.; Jokat, W.; Aleshkova, N.; Jordan, T.; Leitchenkov, G.;

A three-dimensional algebraic grid generation scheme for gas turbine combustors with inclined slots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, S. L.; Cline, M. C.; Chen, R.; Chang, Y. L.

1993-01-01

A 3D algebraic grid generation scheme is presented for generating the grid points inside gas turbine combustors with inclined slots. The scheme is based on the 2D transfinite interpolation method. Since the scheme is a 2D approach, it is very efficient and can easily be extended to gas turbine combustors with either dilution hole or slot configurations. To demonstrate the feasibility and the usefulness of the technique, a numerical study of the quick-quench/lean-combustion (QQ/LC) zones of a staged turbine combustor is given. Preliminary results illustrate some of the major features of the flow and temperature fields in the QQ/LC zones. Formation of co- and counter-rotating bulk flow and shape temperature fields can be observed clearly, and the resulting patterns are consistent with experimental observations typical of the confined slanted jet-in-cross flow. Numerical solutions show the method to be an efficient and reliable tool for generating computational grids for analyzing gas turbine combustors with slanted slots.

New Antarctic Gravity Anomaly Grid for Enhanced Geodetic and Geophysical Studies in Antarctica.

PubMed

Scheinert, M; Ferraccioli, F; Schwabe, J; Bell, R; Studinger, M; Damaske, D; Jokat, W; Aleshkova, N; Jordan, T; Leitchenkov, G; Blankenship, D D; Damiani, T M; Young, D; Cochran, J R; Richter, T D

2016-01-28

Gravity surveying is challenging in Antarctica because of its hostile environment and inaccessibility. Nevertheless, many ground-based, airborne and shipborne gravity campaigns have been completed by the geophysical and geodetic communities since the 1980s. We present the first modern Antarctic-wide gravity data compilation derived from 13 million data points covering an area of 10 million km 2 , which corresponds to 73% coverage of the continent. The remove-compute-restore technique was applied for gridding, which facilitated levelling of the different gravity datasets with respect to an Earth Gravity Model derived from satellite data alone. The resulting free-air and Bouguer gravity anomaly grids of 10 km resolution are publicly available. These grids will enable new high-resolution combined Earth Gravity Models to be derived and represent a major step forward towards solving the geodetic polar data gap problem. They provide a new tool to investigate continental-scale lithospheric structure and geological evolution of Antarctica.

An Integrated Software Package to Enable Predictive Simulation Capabilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Yousu; Fitzhenry, Erin B.; Jin, Shuangshuang

The power grid is increasing in complexity due to the deployment of smart grid technologies. Such technologies vastly increase the size and complexity of power grid systems for simulation and modeling. This increasing complexity necessitates not only the use of high-performance-computing (HPC) techniques, but a smooth, well-integrated interplay between HPC applications. This paper presents a new integrated software package that integrates HPC applications and a web-based visualization tool based on a middleware framework. This framework can support the data communication between different applications. Case studies with a large power system demonstrate the predictive capability brought by the integrated software package,more » as well as the better situational awareness provided by the web-based visualization tool in a live mode. Test results validate the effectiveness and usability of the integrated software package.« less

Intelligent energy allocation strategy for PHEV charging station using gravitational search algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Imran; Vasant, Pandian M.; Singh, Balbir Singh Mahinder; Abdullah-Al-Wadud, M.

2014-10-01

Recent researches towards the use of green technologies to reduce pollution and increase penetration of renewable energy sources in the transportation sector are gaining popularity. The development of the smart grid environment focusing on PHEVs may also heal some of the prevailing grid problems by enabling the implementation of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) concept. Intelligent energy management is an important issue which has already drawn much attention to researchers. Most of these works require formulation of mathematical models which extensively use computational intelligence-based optimization techniques to solve many technical problems. Higher penetration of PHEVs require adequate charging infrastructure as well as smart charging strategies. We used Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) to intelligently allocate energy to the PHEVs considering constraints such as energy price, remaining battery capacity, and remaining charging time.

Studies of Plasma Instabilities using Unstructured Discontinuous Galerkin Method with the Two-Fluid Plasma Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yang; Srinivasan, Bhuvana

2017-10-01

The discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method has the advantage of resolving shocks and sharp gradients that occur in neutral fluids and plasmas. An unstructured DG code has been developed in this work to study plasma instabilities using the two-fluid plasma model. Unstructured meshes are known to produce small and randomized grid errors compared to traditional structured meshes. Computational tests for Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in radially-converging flows are performed using the MHD model. Choice of grid geometry is not obvious for simulations of instabilities in these circular configurations. Comparisons of the effects for different grids are made. A 2D magnetic nozzle simulation using the two-fluid plasma model is also performed. A vacuum boundary condition technique is applied to accurately solve the Riemann problem on the edge of the plume.

Grids, virtualization, and clouds at Fermilab

DOE PAGES

Timm, S.; Chadwick, K.; Garzoglio, G.; ...

2014-06-11

Fermilab supports a scientific program that includes experiments and scientists located across the globe. To better serve this community, in 2004, the (then) Computing Division undertook the strategy of placing all of the High Throughput Computing (HTC) resources in a Campus Grid known as FermiGrid, supported by common shared services. In 2007, the FermiGrid Services group deployed a service infrastructure that utilized Xen virtualization, LVS network routing and MySQL circular replication to deliver highly available services that offered significant performance, reliability and serviceability improvements. This deployment was further enhanced through the deployment of a distributed redundant network core architecture andmore » the physical distribution of the systems that host the virtual machines across multiple buildings on the Fermilab Campus. In 2010, building on the experience pioneered by FermiGrid in delivering production services in a virtual infrastructure, the Computing Sector commissioned the FermiCloud, General Physics Computing Facility and Virtual Services projects to serve as platforms for support of scientific computing (FermiCloud 6 GPCF) and core computing (Virtual Services). Lastly, this work will present the evolution of the Fermilab Campus Grid, Virtualization and Cloud Computing infrastructure together with plans for the future.« less

Grids, virtualization, and clouds at Fermilab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timm, S.; Chadwick, K.; Garzoglio, G.; Noh, S.

2014-06-01

Fermilab supports a scientific program that includes experiments and scientists located across the globe. To better serve this community, in 2004, the (then) Computing Division undertook the strategy of placing all of the High Throughput Computing (HTC) resources in a Campus Grid known as FermiGrid, supported by common shared services. In 2007, the FermiGrid Services group deployed a service infrastructure that utilized Xen virtualization, LVS network routing and MySQL circular replication to deliver highly available services that offered significant performance, reliability and serviceability improvements. This deployment was further enhanced through the deployment of a distributed redundant network core architecture and the physical distribution of the systems that host the virtual machines across multiple buildings on the Fermilab Campus. In 2010, building on the experience pioneered by FermiGrid in delivering production services in a virtual infrastructure, the Computing Sector commissioned the FermiCloud, General Physics Computing Facility and Virtual Services projects to serve as platforms for support of scientific computing (FermiCloud 6 GPCF) and core computing (Virtual Services). This work will present the evolution of the Fermilab Campus Grid, Virtualization and Cloud Computing infrastructure together with plans for the future.

Development of a computer code for calculating the steady super/hypersonic inviscid flow around real configurations. Volume 1: Computational technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marconi, F.; Salas, M.; Yaeger, L.

1976-01-01

A numerical procedure has been developed to compute the inviscid super/hypersonic flow field about complex vehicle geometries accurately and efficiently. A second order accurate finite difference scheme is used to integrate the three dimensional Euler equations in regions of continuous flow, while all shock waves are computed as discontinuities via the Rankine Hugoniot jump conditions. Conformal mappings are used to develop a computational grid. The effects of blunt nose entropy layers are computed in detail. Real gas effects for equilibrium air are included using curve fits of Mollier charts. Typical calculated results for shuttle orbiter, hypersonic transport, and supersonic aircraft configurations are included to demonstrate the usefulness of this tool.

Near real-time traffic routing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Chaowei (Inventor); Xie, Jibo (Inventor); Zhou, Bin (Inventor); Cao, Ying (Inventor)

2012-01-01

A near real-time physical transportation network routing system comprising: a traffic simulation computing grid and a dynamic traffic routing service computing grid. The traffic simulator produces traffic network travel time predictions for a physical transportation network using a traffic simulation model and common input data. The physical transportation network is divided into a multiple sections. Each section has a primary zone and a buffer zone. The traffic simulation computing grid includes multiple of traffic simulation computing nodes. The common input data includes static network characteristics, an origin-destination data table, dynamic traffic information data and historical traffic data. The dynamic traffic routing service computing grid includes multiple dynamic traffic routing computing nodes and generates traffic route(s) using the traffic network travel time predictions.

Computational Aerodynamic Analysis of Three-Dimensional Ice Shapes on a NACA 23012 Airfoil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jun, GaRam; Oliden, Daniel; Potapczuk, Mark G.; Tsao, Jen-Ching

2014-01-01

The present study identifies a process for performing computational fluid dynamic calculations of the flow over full three-dimensional (3D) representations of complex ice shapes deposited on aircraft surfaces. Rime and glaze icing geometries formed on a NACA23012 airfoil were obtained during testing in the NASA Glenn Research Centers Icing Research Tunnel (IRT). The ice shape geometries were scanned as a cloud of data points using a 3D laser scanner. The data point clouds were meshed using Geomagic software to create highly accurate models of the ice surface. The surface data was imported into Pointwise grid generation software to create the CFD surface and volume grids. It was determined that generating grids in Pointwise for complex 3D icing geometries was possible using various techniques that depended on the ice shape. Computations of the flow fields over these ice shapes were performed using the NASA National Combustion Code (NCC). Results for a rime ice shape for angle of attack conditions ranging from 0 to 10 degrees and for freestream Mach numbers of 0.10 and 0.18 are presented. For validation of the computational results, comparisons were made to test results from rapid-prototype models of the selected ice accretion shapes, obtained from a separate study in a subsonic wind tunnel at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The computational and experimental results were compared for values of pressure coefficient and lift. Initial results show fairly good agreement for rime ice accretion simulations across the range of conditions examined. The glaze ice results are promising but require some further examination.

Computational Aerodynamic Analysis of Three-Dimensional Ice Shapes on a NACA 23012 Airfoil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jun, Garam; Oliden, Daniel; Potapczuk, Mark G.; Tsao, Jen-Ching

2014-01-01

The present study identifies a process for performing computational fluid dynamic calculations of the flow over full three-dimensional (3D) representations of complex ice shapes deposited on aircraft surfaces. Rime and glaze icing geometries formed on a NACA23012 airfoil were obtained during testing in the NASA Glenn Research Center's Icing Research Tunnel (IRT). The ice shape geometries were scanned as a cloud of data points using a 3D laser scanner. The data point clouds were meshed using Geomagic software to create highly accurate models of the ice surface. The surface data was imported into Pointwise grid generation software to create the CFD surface and volume grids. It was determined that generating grids in Pointwise for complex 3D icing geometries was possible using various techniques that depended on the ice shape. Computations of the flow fields over these ice shapes were performed using the NASA National Combustion Code (NCC). Results for a rime ice shape for angle of attack conditions ranging from 0 to 10 degrees and for freestream Mach numbers of 0.10 and 0.18 are presented. For validation of the computational results, comparisons were made to test results from rapid-prototype models of the selected ice accretion shapes, obtained from a separate study in a subsonic wind tunnel at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The computational and experimental results were compared for values of pressure coefficient and lift. Initial results show fairly good agreement for rime ice accretion simulations across the range of conditions examined. The glaze ice results are promising but require some further examination.

Gradient-based optimization with B-splines on sparse grids for solving forward-dynamics simulations of three-dimensional, continuum-mechanical musculoskeletal system models.

PubMed

Valentin, J; Sprenger, M; Pflüger, D; Röhrle, O

2018-05-01

Investigating the interplay between muscular activity and motion is the basis to improve our understanding of healthy or diseased musculoskeletal systems. To be able to analyze the musculoskeletal systems, computational models are used. Albeit some severe modeling assumptions, almost all existing musculoskeletal system simulations appeal to multibody simulation frameworks. Although continuum-mechanical musculoskeletal system models can compensate for some of these limitations, they are essentially not considered because of their computational complexity and cost. The proposed framework is the first activation-driven musculoskeletal system model, in which the exerted skeletal muscle forces are computed using 3-dimensional, continuum-mechanical skeletal muscle models and in which muscle activations are determined based on a constraint optimization problem. Numerical feasibility is achieved by computing sparse grid surrogates with hierarchical B-splines, and adaptive sparse grid refinement further reduces the computational effort. The choice of B-splines allows the use of all existing gradient-based optimization techniques without further numerical approximation. This paper demonstrates that the resulting surrogates have low relative errors (less than 0.76%) and can be used within forward simulations that are subject to constraint optimization. To demonstrate this, we set up several different test scenarios in which an upper limb model consisting of the elbow joint, the biceps and triceps brachii, and an external load is subjected to different optimization criteria. Even though this novel method has only been demonstrated for a 2-muscle system, it can easily be extended to musculoskeletal systems with 3 or more muscles. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Influence of Gridded Standoff Measurement Resolution on Numerical Bathymetric Inversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hesser, T.; Farthing, M. W.; Brodie, K.

2016-02-01

The bathymetry from the surfzone to the shoreline incurs frequent, active movement due to wave energy interacting with the seafloor. Methodologies to measure bathymetry range from point-source in-situ instruments, vessel-mounted single-beam or multi-beam sonar surveys, airborne bathymetric lidar, as well as inversion techniques from standoff measurements of wave processes from video or radar imagery. Each type of measurement has unique sources of error and spatial and temporal resolution and availability. Numerical bathymetry estimation frameworks can use these disparate data types in combination with model-based inversion techniques to produce a "best-estimate of bathymetry" at a given time. Understanding how the sources of error and varying spatial or temporal resolution of each data type affect the end result is critical for determining best practices and in turn increase the accuracy of bathymetry estimation techniques. In this work, we consider an initial step in the development of a complete framework for estimating bathymetry in the nearshore by focusing on gridded standoff measurements and in-situ point observations in model-based inversion at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, NC. The standoff measurement methods return wave parameters computed using linear wave theory from the direct measurements. These gridded datasets can range in temporal and spatial resolution that do not match the desired model parameters and therefore could lead to a reduction in the accuracy of these methods. Specifically, we investigate the affect of numerical resolution on the accuracy of an Ensemble Kalman Filter bathymetric inversion technique in relation to the spatial and temporal resolution of the gridded standoff measurements. The accuracies of the bathymetric estimates are compared with both high-resolution Real Time Kinematic (RTK) single-beam surveys as well as alternative direct in-situ measurements using sonic altimeters.

A Three-Dimensional Parallel Time-Accurate Turbopump Simulation Procedure Using Overset Grid System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin; Chan, William; Kwak, Dochan

2002-01-01

The objective of the current effort is to provide a computational framework for design and analysis of the entire fuel supply system of a liquid rocket engine, including high-fidelity unsteady turbopump flow analysis. This capability is needed to support the design of pump sub-systems for advanced space transportation vehicles that are likely to involve liquid propulsion systems. To date, computational tools for design/analysis of turbopump flows are based on relatively lower fidelity methods. An unsteady, three-dimensional viscous flow analysis tool involving stationary and rotational components for the entire turbopump assembly has not been available for real-world engineering applications. The present effort provides developers with information such as transient flow phenomena at start up, and nonuniform inflows, and will eventually impact on system vibration and structures. In the proposed paper, the progress toward the capability of complete simulation of the turbo-pump for a liquid rocket engine is reported. The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) turbo-pump is used as a test case for evaluation of the hybrid MPI/Open-MP and MLP versions of the INS3D code. CAD to solution auto-scripting capability is being developed for turbopump applications. The relative motion of the grid systems for the rotor-stator interaction was obtained using overset grid techniques. Unsteady computations for the SSME turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.5 million grid points, are carried out on Origin 3000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. Results from these time-accurate simulations with moving boundary capability are presented along with the performance of parallel versions of the code.

Spatiotemporal video deinterlacing using control grid interpolation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venkatesan, Ragav; Zwart, Christine M.; Frakes, David H.; Li, Baoxin

2015-03-01

With the advent of progressive format display and broadcast technologies, video deinterlacing has become an important video-processing technique. Numerous approaches exist in the literature to accomplish deinterlacing. While most earlier methods were simple linear filtering-based approaches, the emergence of faster computing technologies and even dedicated video-processing hardware in display units has allowed higher quality but also more computationally intense deinterlacing algorithms to become practical. Most modern approaches analyze motion and content in video to select different deinterlacing methods for various spatiotemporal regions. We introduce a family of deinterlacers that employs spectral residue to choose between and weight control grid interpolation based spatial and temporal deinterlacing methods. The proposed approaches perform better than the prior state-of-the-art based on peak signal-to-noise ratio, other visual quality metrics, and simple perception-based subjective evaluations conducted by human viewers. We further study the advantages of using soft and hard decision thresholds on the visual performance.

Computer simulations of phase field drops on super-hydrophobic surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedeli, Livio

2017-09-01

We present a novel quasi-Newton continuation procedure that efficiently solves the system of nonlinear equations arising from the discretization of a phase field model for wetting phenomena. We perform a comparative numerical analysis that shows the improved speed of convergence gained with respect to other numerical schemes. Moreover, we discuss the conditions that, on a theoretical level, guarantee the convergence of this method. At each iterative step, a suitable continuation procedure develops and passes to the nonlinear solver an accurate initial guess. Discretization performs through cell-centered finite differences. The resulting system of equations is solved on a composite grid that uses dynamic mesh refinement and multi-grid techniques. The final code achieves three-dimensional, realistic computer experiments comparable to those produced in laboratory settings. This code offers not only new insights into the phenomenology of super-hydrophobicity, but also serves as a reliable predictive tool for the study of hydrophobic surfaces.

WIND: Computer program for calculation of three dimensional potential compressible flow about wind turbine rotor blades

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dulikravich, D. S.

1980-01-01

A computer program is presented which numerically solves an exact, full potential equation (FPE) for three dimensional, steady, inviscid flow through an isolated wind turbine rotor. The program automatically generates a three dimensional, boundary conforming grid and iteratively solves the FPE while fully accounting for both the rotating cascade and Coriolis effects. The numerical techniques incorporated involve rotated, type dependent finite differencing, a finite volume method, artificial viscosity in conservative form, and a successive line overrelaxation combined with the sequential grid refinement procedure to accelerate the iterative convergence rate. Consequently, the WIND program is capable of accurately analyzing incompressible and compressible flows, including those that are locally transonic and terminated by weak shocks. The program can also be used to analyze the flow around isolated aircraft propellers and helicopter rotors in hover as long as the total relative Mach number of the oncoming flow is subsonic.

Parallel Proximity Detection for Computer Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinman, Jeffrey S. (Inventor); Wieland, Frederick P. (Inventor)

1997-01-01

The present invention discloses a system for performing proximity detection in computer simulations on parallel processing architectures utilizing a distribution list which includes movers and sensor coverages which check in and out of grids. Each mover maintains a list of sensors that detect the mover's motion as the mover and sensor coverages check in and out of the grids. Fuzzy grids are includes by fuzzy resolution parameters to allow movers and sensor coverages to check in and out of grids without computing exact grid crossings. The movers check in and out of grids while moving sensors periodically inform the grids of their coverage. In addition, a lookahead function is also included for providing a generalized capability without making any limiting assumptions about the particular application to which it is applied. The lookahead function is initiated so that risk-free synchronization strategies never roll back grid events. The lookahead function adds fixed delays as events are scheduled for objects on other nodes.

Parallel Proximity Detection for Computer Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinman, Jeffrey S. (Inventor); Wieland, Frederick P. (Inventor)

1998-01-01

The present invention discloses a system for performing proximity detection in computer simulations on parallel processing architectures utilizing a distribution list which includes movers and sensor coverages which check in and out of grids. Each mover maintains a list of sensors that detect the mover's motion as the mover and sensor coverages check in and out of the grids. Fuzzy grids are included by fuzzy resolution parameters to allow movers and sensor coverages to check in and out of grids without computing exact grid crossings. The movers check in and out of grids while moving sensors periodically inform the grids of their coverage. In addition, a lookahead function is also included for providing a generalized capability without making any limiting assumptions about the particular application to which it is applied. The lookahead function is initiated so that risk-free synchronization strategies never roll back grid events. The lookahead function adds fixed delays as events are scheduled for objects on other nodes.

A coarse-grid projection method for accelerating incompressible flow computations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

San, Omer; Staples, Anne E.

2013-01-01

We present a coarse-grid projection (CGP) method for accelerating incompressible flow computations, which is applicable to methods involving Poisson equations as incompressibility constraints. The CGP methodology is a modular approach that facilitates data transfer with simple interpolations and uses black-box solvers for the Poisson and advection-diffusion equations in the flow solver. After solving the Poisson equation on a coarsened grid, an interpolation scheme is used to obtain the fine data for subsequent time stepping on the full grid. A particular version of the method is applied here to the vorticity-stream function, primitive variable, and vorticity-velocity formulations of incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. We compute several benchmark flow problems on two-dimensional Cartesian and non-Cartesian grids, as well as a three-dimensional flow problem. The method is found to accelerate these computations while retaining a level of accuracy close to that of the fine resolution field, which is significantly better than the accuracy obtained for a similar computation performed solely using a coarse grid. A linear acceleration rate is obtained for all the cases we consider due to the linear-cost elliptic Poisson solver used, with reduction factors in computational time between 2 and 42. The computational savings are larger when a suboptimal Poisson solver is used. We also find that the computational savings increase with increasing distortion ratio on non-Cartesian grids, making the CGP method a useful tool for accelerating generalized curvilinear incompressible flow solvers.

Arc Length Based Grid Distribution For Surface and Volume Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mastin, C. Wayne

1996-01-01

Techniques are presented for distributing grid points on parametric surfaces and in volumes according to a specified distribution of arc length. Interpolation techniques are introduced which permit a given distribution of grid points on the edges of a three-dimensional grid block to be propagated through the surface and volume grids. Examples demonstrate how these methods can be used to improve the quality of grids generated by transfinite interpolation.

Measurement of transmission loss characteristics using acoustic intensity techniques at the KU-FRL Acoustic Test Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roskam, J.

1983-01-01

The transmission loss characteristics of panels using the acoustic intensity technique is presented. The theoretical formulation, installation of hardware, modifications to the test facility, and development of computer programs and test procedures are described. A listing of all the programs is also provided. The initial test results indicate that the acoustic intensity technique is easily adapted to measure transmission loss characteristics of panels. Use of this method will give average transmission loss values. The fixtures developed to position the microphones along the grid points are very useful in plotting the intensity maps of vibrating panels.

On Convergence Acceleration Techniques for Unstructured Meshes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mavriplis, Dimitri J.

1998-01-01

A discussion of convergence acceleration techniques as they relate to computational fluid dynamics problems on unstructured meshes is given. Rather than providing a detailed description of particular methods, the various different building blocks of current solution techniques are discussed and examples of solution strategies using one or several of these ideas are given. Issues relating to unstructured grid CFD problems are given additional consideration, including suitability of algorithms to current hardware trends, memory and cpu tradeoffs, treatment of non-linearities, and the development of efficient strategies for handling anisotropy-induced stiffness. The outlook for future potential improvements is also discussed.

Rapid Airplane Parametric Input Design(RAPID)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Robert E.; Bloor, Malcolm I. G.; Wilson, Michael J.; Thomas, Almuttil M.

2004-01-01

An efficient methodology is presented for defining a class of airplane configurations. Inclusive in this definition are surface grids, volume grids, and grid sensitivity. A small set of design parameters and grid control parameters govern the process. The general airplane configuration has wing, fuselage, vertical tail, horizontal tail, and canard components. The wing, tail, and canard components are manifested by solving a fourth-order partial differential equation subject to Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. The design variables are incorporated into the boundary conditions, and the solution is expressed as a Fourier series. The fuselage has circular cross section, and the radius is an algebraic function of four design parameters and an independent computational variable. Volume grids are obtained through an application of the Control Point Form method. Grid sensitivity is obtained by applying the automatic differentiation precompiler ADIFOR to software for the grid generation. The computed surface grids, volume grids, and sensitivity derivatives are suitable for a wide range of Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation and configuration optimizations.

A Roadmap for caGrid, an Enterprise Grid Architecture for Biomedical Research

PubMed Central

Saltz, Joel; Hastings, Shannon; Langella, Stephen; Oster, Scott; Kurc, Tahsin; Payne, Philip; Ferreira, Renato; Plale, Beth; Goble, Carole; Ervin, David; Sharma, Ashish; Pan, Tony; Permar, Justin; Brezany, Peter; Siebenlist, Frank; Madduri, Ravi; Foster, Ian; Shanbhag, Krishnakant; Mead, Charlie; Hong, Neil Chue

2012-01-01

caGrid is a middleware system which combines the Grid computing, the service oriented architecture, and the model driven architecture paradigms to support development of interoperable data and analytical resources and federation of such resources in a Grid environment. The functionality provided by caGrid is an essential and integral component of the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG™) program. This program is established by the National Cancer Institute as a nationwide effort to develop enabling informatics technologies for collaborative, multi-institutional biomedical research with the overarching goal of accelerating translational cancer research. Although the main application domain for caGrid is cancer research, the infrastructure provides a generic framework that can be employed in other biomedical research and healthcare domains. The development of caGrid is an ongoing effort, adding new functionality and improvements based on feedback and use cases from the community. This paper provides an overview of potential future architecture and tooling directions and areas of improvement for caGrid and caGrid-like systems. This summary is based on discussions at a roadmap workshop held in February with participants from biomedical research, Grid computing, and high performance computing communities. PMID:18560123

A roadmap for caGrid, an enterprise Grid architecture for biomedical research.

PubMed

Saltz, Joel; Hastings, Shannon; Langella, Stephen; Oster, Scott; Kurc, Tahsin; Payne, Philip; Ferreira, Renato; Plale, Beth; Goble, Carole; Ervin, David; Sharma, Ashish; Pan, Tony; Permar, Justin; Brezany, Peter; Siebenlist, Frank; Madduri, Ravi; Foster, Ian; Shanbhag, Krishnakant; Mead, Charlie; Chue Hong, Neil

2008-01-01

caGrid is a middleware system which combines the Grid computing, the service oriented architecture, and the model driven architecture paradigms to support development of interoperable data and analytical resources and federation of such resources in a Grid environment. The functionality provided by caGrid is an essential and integral component of the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) program. This program is established by the National Cancer Institute as a nationwide effort to develop enabling informatics technologies for collaborative, multi-institutional biomedical research with the overarching goal of accelerating translational cancer research. Although the main application domain for caGrid is cancer research, the infrastructure provides a generic framework that can be employed in other biomedical research and healthcare domains. The development of caGrid is an ongoing effort, adding new functionality and improvements based on feedback and use cases from the community. This paper provides an overview of potential future architecture and tooling directions and areas of improvement for caGrid and caGrid-like systems. This summary is based on discussions at a roadmap workshop held in February with participants from biomedical research, Grid computing, and high performance computing communities.

Scalability and performance of data-parallel pressure-based multigrid methods for viscous flows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blosch, E.L.; Shyy, W.

1996-05-01

A full-approximation storage multigrid method for solving the steady-state 2-d incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on staggered grids has been implemented in Fortran on the CM-5, using the array aliasing feature in CM-Fortran to avoid declaring fine-grid-sized arrays on all levels while still allowing a variable number of grid levels. Thus, the storage cost scales with the number of unknowns, allowing us to consider significantly larger problems than would otherwise be possible. Timings over a range of problem sizes and numbers of processors, up to 4096 x 4096 on 512 nodes, show that the smoothing procedure, a pressure-correction technique, is scalable andmore » that the restriction and prolongation steps are nearly so. The performance obtained for the multigrid method is 333 Mflops out of the theoretical peak 4 Gflops on a 32-node CM-5. In comparison, a single-grid computation obtained 420 Mflops. The decrease is due to the inefficiency of the smoothing iterations on the coarse grid levels. W cycles cost much more and are much less efficient than V cycles, due to the increased contribution from the coarse grids. The convergence rate characteristics of the pressure-correction multigrid method are investigated in a Re = 5000 lid-driven cavity flow and a Re = 300 symmetric backward-facing step flow, using either a defect-correction scheme or a second-order upwind scheme. A heuristic technique relating the convergence tolerances for the course grids to the truncation error of the discretization has been found effective and robust. With second-order upwinding on all grid levels, a 5-level 320 x 80 step flow solution was obtained in 20 V cycles, which corresponds to a smoothing rate of 0.7, and required 25 s on a 32-node CM-5. Overall, the convergence rates obtained in the present work are comparable to the most competitive findings reported in the literature. 62 refs., 13 figs.« less

Scalability and Performance of Data-Parallel Pressure-Based Multigrid Methods for Viscous Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blosch, Edwin L.; Shyy, Wei

1996-05-01

A full-approximation storage multigrid method for solving the steady-state 2-dincompressible Navier-Stokes equations on staggered grids has been implemented in Fortran on the CM-5,using the array aliasing feature in CM-Fortran to avoid declaring fine-grid-sized arrays on all levels while still allowing a variable number of grid levels. Thus, the storage cost scales with the number of unknowns,allowing us to consider significantly larger problems than would otherwise be possible. Timings over a range of problem sizes and numbers of processors, up to 4096 × 4096 on 512 nodes, show that the smoothing procedure, a pressure-correction technique, is scalable and that the restriction and prolongation steps are nearly so. The performance obtained for the multigrid method is 333 Mflops out of the theoretical peak 4 Gflops on a 32-node CM-5. In comparison, a single-grid computation obtained 420 Mflops. The decrease is due to the inefficiency of the smoothing iterations on the coarse grid levels. W cycles cost much more and are much less efficient than V cycles, due to the increased contribution from the coarse grids. The convergence rate characteristics of the pressure-correction multigrid method are investigated in a Re = 5000 lid-driven cavity flow and a Re = 300 symmetric backward-facing step flow, using either a defect-correction scheme or a second-order upwind scheme. A heuristic technique relating the convergence tolerances for the coarse grids to the truncation error of the discretization has been found effective and robust. With second-order upwinding on all grid levels, a 5-level 320× 80 step flow solution was obtained in 20 V cycles, which corresponds to a smoothing rate of 0.7, and required 25 s on a 32-node CM-5. Overall, the convergence rates obtained in the present work are comparable to the most competitive findings reported in the literature.

Grid Generation for Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization of an Aerospace Vehicle: Issues and Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Samareh, Jamshid A.

2000-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to discuss grid generation issues and to challenge the grid generation community to develop tools suitable for automated multidisciplinary analysis and design optimization of aerospace vehicles. Special attention is given to the grid generation issues of computational fluid dynamics and computational structural mechanics disciplines.

PNNL Data-Intensive Computing for a Smarter Energy Grid

ScienceCinema

Carol Imhoff; Zhenyu (Henry) Huang; Daniel Chavarria

2017-12-09

The Middleware for Data-Intensive Computing (MeDICi) Integration Framework, an integrated platform to solve data analysis and processing needs, supports PNNL research on the U.S. electric power grid. MeDICi is enabling development of visualizations of grid operations and vulnerabilities, with goal of near real-time analysis to aid operators in preventing and mitigating grid failures.

Task Scheduling in Desktop Grids: Open Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernov, Ilya; Nikitina, Natalia; Ivashko, Evgeny

2017-12-01

We survey the areas of Desktop Grid task scheduling that seem to be insufficiently studied so far and are promising for efficiency, reliability, and quality of Desktop Grid computing. These topics include optimal task grouping, "needle in a haystack" paradigm, game-theoretical scheduling, domain-imposed approaches, special optimization of the final stage of the batch computation, and Enterprise Desktop Grids.

Applying multi-resolution numerical methods to geodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, David Rhodri

Computational models yield inaccurate results if the underlying numerical grid fails to provide the necessary resolution to capture a simulation's important features. For the large-scale problems regularly encountered in geodynamics, inadequate grid resolution is a major concern. The majority of models involve multi-scale dynamics, being characterized by fine-scale upwelling and downwelling activity in a more passive, large-scale background flow. Such configurations, when coupled to the complex geometries involved, present a serious challenge for computational methods. Current techniques are unable to resolve localized features and, hence, such models cannot be solved efficiently. This thesis demonstrates, through a series of papers and closely-coupled appendices, how multi-resolution finite-element methods from the forefront of computational engineering can provide a means to address these issues. The problems examined achieve multi-resolution through one of two methods. In two-dimensions (2-D), automatic, unstructured mesh refinement procedures are utilized. Such methods improve the solution quality of convection dominated problems by adapting the grid automatically around regions of high solution gradient, yielding enhanced resolution of the associated flow features. Thermal and thermo-chemical validation tests illustrate that the technique is robust and highly successful, improving solution accuracy whilst increasing computational efficiency. These points are reinforced when the technique is applied to geophysical simulations of mid-ocean ridge and subduction zone magmatism. To date, successful goal-orientated/error-guided grid adaptation techniques have not been utilized within the field of geodynamics. The work included herein is therefore the first geodynamical application of such methods. In view of the existing three-dimensional (3-D) spherical mantle dynamics codes, which are built upon a quasi-uniform discretization of the sphere and closely coupled structured grid solution strategies, the unstructured techniques utilized in 2-D would throw away the regular grid and, with it, the major benefits of the current solution algorithms. Alternative avenues towards multi-resolution must therefore be sought. A non-uniform structured method that produces similar advantages to unstructured grids is introduced here, in the context of the pre-existing 3-D spherical mantle dynamics code, TERRA. The method, based upon the multigrid refinement techniques employed in the field of computational engineering, is used to refine and solve on a radially non-uniform grid. It maintains the key benefits of TERRA's current configuration, whilst also overcoming many of its limitations. Highly efficient solutions to non-uniform problems are obtained. The scheme is highly resourceful in terms RAM, meaning that one can attempt calculations that would otherwise be impractical. In addition, the solution algorithm reduces the CPU-time needed to solve a given problem. Validation tests illustrate that the approach is accurate and robust. Furthermore, by being conceptually simple and straightforward to implement, the method negates the need to reformulate large sections of code. The technique is applied to highly advanced 3-D spherical mantle convection models. Due to its resourcefulness in terms of RAM, the modified code allows one to efficiently resolve thermal boundary layers at the dynamical regime of Earth's mantle. The simulations presented are therefore at superior vigor to the highest attained, to date, in 3-D spherical geometry, achieving Rayleigh numbers of order 109. Upwelling structures are examined, focussing upon the nature of deep mantle plumes. Previous studies have shown long-lived, anchored, coherent upwelling plumes to be a feature of low to moderate vigor convection. Since more vigorous convection traditionally shows greater time-dependence, the fixity of upwellings would not logically be expected for non-layered convection at higher vigors. However, such configurations have recently been observed. With hot-spots widely-regarded as the surface expression of deep mantle plumes, it is of great importance to ascertain whether or not these conclusions are valid at the dynamical regime of Earth's mantle. Results demonstrate that at these high vigors, steady plumes do arise. However, they do not dominate the planform as in lower vigor cases: they coexist with mobile and ephemeral plumes and display ranging characteristics, which are consistent with hot-spot observations on Earth. Those plumes that do remain steady alter in intensity throughout the simulation, strengthening and weakening over time. Such behavior is caused by an irregular supply of cold material to the core-mantle boundary region, suggesting that subducting slabs are partially responsible for episodic plume magmatism on Earth. With this in mind, the influence of the upper boundary condition upon the planform of mantle convection is further examined. With the modified code, the CPU-time needed to solve a given problem is reduced and, hence, several simulations can be run efficiently, allowing a relatively rapid parameter space mapping of various upper boundary conditions. Results, in accordance with the investigations on upwelling structures, demonstrate that the surface exerts a profound control upon internal dynamics, manifesting itself not only in convective structures, but also in thermal profiles, Nusselt numbers and velocity patterns. Since the majority of geodynamical simulations incorporate a surface condition that is not at all representative of Earth, this is a worrying, yet important conclusion. By failing to address the surface appropriately, geodynamical models, regardless of their sophistication, cannot be truly applicable to Earth. In summary, the techniques developed herein, in both 2- and 3-D, are extremely practical and highly efficient, yielding significant advantages for geodynamical simulations. Indeed, they allow one to solve problems that would otherwise be unfeasible.

Benchmarking Memory Performance with the Data Cube Operator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frumkin, Michael A.; Shabanov, Leonid V.

2004-01-01

Data movement across a computer memory hierarchy and across computational grids is known to be a limiting factor for applications processing large data sets. We use the Data Cube Operator on an Arithmetic Data Set, called ADC, to benchmark capabilities of computers and of computational grids to handle large distributed data sets. We present a prototype implementation of a parallel algorithm for computation of the operatol: The algorithm follows a known approach for computing views from the smallest parent. The ADC stresses all levels of grid memory and storage by producing some of 2d views of an Arithmetic Data Set of d-tuples described by a small number of integers. We control data intensity of the ADC by selecting the tuple parameters, the sizes of the views, and the number of realized views. Benchmarking results of memory performance of a number of computer architectures and of a small computational grid are presented.

Near-Body Grid Adaption for Overset Grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buning, Pieter G.; Pulliam, Thomas H.

2016-01-01

A solution adaption capability for curvilinear near-body grids has been implemented in the OVERFLOW overset grid computational fluid dynamics code. The approach follows closely that used for the Cartesian off-body grids, but inserts refined grids in the computational space of original near-body grids. Refined curvilinear grids are generated using parametric cubic interpolation, with one-sided biasing based on curvature and stretching ratio of the original grid. Sensor functions, grid marking, and solution interpolation tasks are implemented in the same fashion as for off-body grids. A goal-oriented procedure, based on largest error first, is included for controlling growth rate and maximum size of the adapted grid system. The adaption process is almost entirely parallelized using MPI, resulting in a capability suitable for viscous, moving body simulations. Two- and three-dimensional examples are presented.

FermiGrid - experience and future plans

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chadwick, K.; Berman, E.; Canal, P.

2007-09-01

Fermilab supports a scientific program that includes experiments and scientists located across the globe. In order to better serve this community, Fermilab has placed its production computer resources in a Campus Grid infrastructure called 'FermiGrid'. The FermiGrid infrastructure allows the large experiments at Fermilab to have priority access to their own resources, enables sharing of these resources in an opportunistic fashion, and movement of work (jobs, data) between the Campus Grid and National Grids such as Open Science Grid and the WLCG. FermiGrid resources support multiple Virtual Organizations (VOs), including VOs from the Open Science Grid (OSG), EGEE and themore » Worldwide LHC Computing Grid Collaboration (WLCG). Fermilab also makes leading contributions to the Open Science Grid in the areas of accounting, batch computing, grid security, job management, resource selection, site infrastructure, storage management, and VO services. Through the FermiGrid interfaces, authenticated and authorized VOs and individuals may access our core grid services, the 10,000+ Fermilab resident CPUs, near-petabyte (including CMS) online disk pools and the multi-petabyte Fermilab Mass Storage System. These core grid services include a site wide Globus gatekeeper, VO management services for several VOs, Fermilab site authorization services, grid user mapping services, as well as job accounting and monitoring, resource selection and data movement services. Access to these services is via standard and well-supported grid interfaces. We will report on the user experience of using the FermiGrid campus infrastructure interfaced to a national cyberinfrastructure--the successes and the problems.« less

An infrastructure for the integration of geoscience instruments and sensors on the Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pugliese, R.; Prica, M.; Kourousias, G.; Del Linz, A.; Curri, A.

2009-04-01

The Grid, as a computing paradigm, has long been in the attention of both academia and industry[1]. The distributed and expandable nature of its general architecture result to scalability and more efficient utilisation of the computing infrastructures. The scientific community, including that of geosciences, often handles problems with very high requirements in data processing, transferring, and storing[2,3]. This has raised the interest on Grid technologies but these are often viewed solely as an access gateway to HPC. Suitable Grid infrastructures could provide the geoscience community with additional benefits like those of sharing, remote access and control of scientific systems. These systems can be scientific instruments, sensors, robots, cameras and any other device used in geosciences. The solution for practical, general, and feasible Grid-enabling of such devices requires non-intrusive extensions on core parts of the current Grid architecture. We propose an extended version of an architecture[4] that can serve as the solution to the problem. The solution we propose is called Grid Instrument Element (IE) [5]. It is an addition to the existing core Grid parts; the Computing Element (CE) and the Storage Element (SE) that serve the purposes that their name suggests. The IE that we will be referring to, and the related technologies have been developed in the EU project on the Deployment of Remote Instrumentation Infrastructure (DORII1). In DORII, partners of various scientific communities including those of Earthquake, Environmental science, and Experimental science, have adopted the technology of the Instrument Element in order to integrate to the Grid their devices. The Oceanographic and coastal observation and modelling Mediterranean Ocean Observing Network (OGS2), a DORII partner, is in the process of deploying the above mentioned Grid technologies on two types of observational modules: Argo profiling floats and a novel Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). In this paper i) we define the need for integration of instrumentation in the Grid, ii) we introduce the solution of the Instrument Element, iii) we demonstrate a suitable end-user web portal for accessing Grid resources, iv) we describe from the Grid-technological point of view the process of the integration to the Grid of two advanced environmental monitoring devices. References [1] M. Surridge, S. Taylor, D. De Roure, and E. Zaluska, "Experiences with GRIA—Industrial Applications on a Web Services Grid," e-Science and Grid Computing, First International Conference on e-Science and Grid Computing, 2005, pp. 98-105. [2] A. Chervenak, I. Foster, C. Kesselman, C. Salisbury, and S. Tuecke, "The data grid: Towards an architecture for the distributed management and analysis of large scientific datasets," Journal of Network and Computer Applications, vol. 23, 2000, pp. 187-200. [3] B. Allcock, J. Bester, J. Bresnahan, A.L. Chervenak, I. Foster, C. Kesselman, S. Meder, V. Nefedova, D. Quesnel, and S. Tuecke, "Data management and transfer in high-performance computational grid environments," Parallel Computing, vol. 28, 2002, pp. 749-771. [4] E. Frizziero, M. Gulmini, F. Lelli, G. Maron, A. Oh, S. Orlando, A. Petrucci, S. Squizzato, and S. Traldi, "Instrument Element: A New Grid component that Enables the Control of Remote Instrumentation," Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGRID'06)-Volume 00, IEEE Computer Society Washington, DC, USA, 2006. [5] R. Ranon, L. De Marco, A. Senerchia, S. Gabrielli, L. Chittaro, R. Pugliese, L. Del Cano, F. Asnicar, and M. Prica, "A Web-based Tool for Collaborative Access to Scientific Instruments in Cyberinfrastructures." 1 The DORII project is supported by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. RI-213110. URL: http://www.dorii.eu 2 Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale. URL: http://www.ogs.trieste.it

An object-oriented approach for parallel self adaptive mesh refinement on block structured grids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lemke, Max; Witsch, Kristian; Quinlan, Daniel

1993-01-01

Self-adaptive mesh refinement dynamically matches the computational demands of a solver for partial differential equations to the activity in the application's domain. In this paper we present two C++ class libraries, P++ and AMR++, which significantly simplify the development of sophisticated adaptive mesh refinement codes on (massively) parallel distributed memory architectures. The development is based on our previous research in this area. The C++ class libraries provide abstractions to separate the issues of developing parallel adaptive mesh refinement applications into those of parallelism, abstracted by P++, and adaptive mesh refinement, abstracted by AMR++. P++ is a parallel array class library to permit efficient development of architecture independent codes for structured grid applications, and AMR++ provides support for self-adaptive mesh refinement on block-structured grids of rectangular non-overlapping blocks. Using these libraries, the application programmers' work is greatly simplified to primarily specifying the serial single grid application and obtaining the parallel and self-adaptive mesh refinement code with minimal effort. Initial results for simple singular perturbation problems solved by self-adaptive multilevel techniques (FAC, AFAC), being implemented on the basis of prototypes of the P++/AMR++ environment, are presented. Singular perturbation problems frequently arise in large applications, e.g. in the area of computational fluid dynamics. They usually have solutions with layers which require adaptive mesh refinement and fast basic solvers in order to be resolved efficiently.

A heterogeneous and parallel computing framework for high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Luke; Liang, Qiuhua

2015-04-01

Shock-capturing hydrodynamic models are now widely applied in the context of flood risk assessment and forecasting, accurately capturing the behaviour of surface water over ground and within rivers. Such models are generally explicit in their numerical basis, and can be computationally expensive; this has prohibited full use of high-resolution topographic data for complex urban environments, now easily obtainable through airborne altimetric surveys (LiDAR). As processor clock speed advances have stagnated in recent years, further computational performance gains are largely dependent on the use of parallel processing. Heterogeneous computing architectures (e.g. graphics processing units or compute accelerator cards) provide a cost-effective means of achieving high throughput in cases where the same calculation is performed with a large input dataset. In recent years this technique has been applied successfully for flood risk mapping, such as within the national surface water flood risk assessment for the United Kingdom. We present a flexible software framework for hydrodynamic simulations across multiple processors of different architectures, within multiple computer systems, enabled using OpenCL and Message Passing Interface (MPI) libraries. A finite-volume Godunov-type scheme is implemented using the HLLC approach to solving the Riemann problem, with optional extension to second-order accuracy in space and time using the MUSCL-Hancock approach. The framework is successfully applied on personal computers and a small cluster to provide considerable improvements in performance. The most significant performance gains were achieved across two servers, each containing four NVIDIA GPUs, with a mix of K20, M2075 and C2050 devices. Advantages are found with respect to decreased parametric sensitivity, and thus in reducing uncertainty, for a major fluvial flood within a large catchment during 2005 in Carlisle, England. Simulations for the three-day event could be performed on a 2m grid within a few hours. In the context of a rapid pluvial flood event in Newcastle upon Tyne during 2012, the technique allows simulation of inundation for a 31km2 of the city centre in less than an hour on a 2m grid; however, further grid refinement is required to fully capture important smaller flow pathways. Good agreement between the model and observed inundation is achieved for a variety of dam failure, slow fluvial inundation, rapid pluvial inundation, and defence breach scenarios in the UK.

Sustaining and Extending the Open Science Grid: Science Innovation on a PetaScale Nationwide Facility (DE-FC02-06ER41436) SciDAC-2 Closeout Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Livny, Miron; Shank, James; Ernst, Michael

Under this SciDAC-2 grant the project’s goal w a s t o stimulate new discoveries by providing scientists with effective and dependable access to an unprecedented national distributed computational facility: the Open Science Grid (OSG). We proposed to achieve this through the work of the Open Science Grid Consortium: a unique hands-on multi-disciplinary collaboration of scientists, software developers and providers of computing resources. Together the stakeholders in this consortium sustain and use a shared distributed computing environment that transforms simulation and experimental science in the US. The OSG consortium is an open collaboration that actively engages new research communities. Wemore » operate an open facility that brings together a broad spectrum of compute, storage, and networking resources and interfaces to other cyberinfrastructures, including the US XSEDE (previously TeraGrid), the European Grids for ESciencE (EGEE), as well as campus and regional grids. We leverage middleware provided by computer science groups, facility IT support organizations, and computing programs of application communities for the benefit of consortium members and the US national CI.« less

A Geometry Based Infra-structure for Computational Analysis and Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haimes, Robert

1997-01-01

The computational steps traditionally taken for most engineering analysis (CFD, structural analysis, and etc.) are: Surface Generation - usually by employing a CAD system; Grid Generation - preparing the volume for the simulation; Flow Solver - producing the results at the specified operational point; and Post-processing Visualization - interactively attempting to understand the results For structural analysis, integrated systems can be obtained from a number of commercial vendors. For CFD, these steps have worked well in the past for simple steady-state simulations at the expense of much user interaction. The data was transmitted between phases via files. Specifically the problems with this procedure are: (1) File based. Information flows from one step to the next via data files with formats specified for that procedure. (2) 'Good' Geometry. A bottleneck in getting results from a solver is the construction of proper geometry to be fed to the grid generator. With 'good' geometry a grid can be constructed in tens of minutes (even with a complex configuration) using unstructured techniques. (3) One-Way communication. All information travels on from one phase to the next. Until this process can be automated, more complex problems such as multi-disciplinary analysis or using the above procedure for design becomes prohibitive.

Using Computing and Data Grids for Large-Scale Science and Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnston, William E.

2001-01-01

We use the term "Grid" to refer to a software system that provides uniform and location independent access to geographically and organizationally dispersed, heterogeneous resources that are persistent and supported. These emerging data and computing Grids promise to provide a highly capable and scalable environment for addressing large-scale science problems. We describe the requirements for science Grids, the resulting services and architecture of NASA's Information Power Grid (IPG) and DOE's Science Grid, and some of the scaling issues that have come up in their implementation.

Collar grids for intersecting geometric components within the Chimera overlapped grid scheme

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parks, Steven J.; Buning, Pieter G.; Chan, William M.; Steger, Joseph L.

1991-01-01

A method for overcoming problems with using the Chimera overset grid scheme in the region of intersecting geometry components is presented. A 'collar grid' resolves the intersection region and provides communication between the component grids. This approach is validated by comparing computed and experimental data for a flow about a wing/body configuration. Application of the collar grid scheme to the Orbiter fuselage and vertical tail intersection in a computation of the full Space Shuttle launch vehicle demonstrates its usefulness for simulation of flow about complex aerospace vehicles.

Unstructured Mesh Methods for the Simulation of Hypersonic Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peraire, Jaime; Bibb, K. L. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This report describes the research work undertaken at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The aim of this research is to identify effective algorithms and methodologies for the efficient and routine solution of hypersonic viscous flows about re-entry vehicles. For over ten years we have received support from NASA to develop unstructured mesh methods for Computational Fluid Dynamics. As a result of this effort a methodology based on the use, of unstructured adapted meshes of tetrahedra and finite volume flow solvers has been developed. A number of gridding algorithms flow solvers, and adaptive strategies have been proposed. The most successful algorithms developed from the basis of the unstructured mesh system FELISA. The FELISA system has been extensively for the analysis of transonic and hypersonic flows about complete vehicle configurations. The system is highly automatic and allows for the routine aerodynamic analysis of complex configurations starting from CAD data. The code has been parallelized and utilizes efficient solution algorithms. For hypersonic flows, a version of the, code which incorporates real gas effects, has been produced. One of the latest developments before the start of this grant was to extend the system to include viscous effects. This required the development of viscous generators, capable of generating the anisotropic grids required to represent boundary layers, and viscous flow solvers. In figures I and 2, we show some sample hypersonic viscous computations using the developed viscous generators and solvers. Although these initial results were encouraging, it became apparent that in order to develop a fully functional capability for viscous flows, several advances in gridding, solution accuracy, robustness and efficiency were required. As part of this research we have developed: 1) automatic meshing techniques and the corresponding computer codes have been delivered to NASA and implemented into the GridEx system, 2) a finite element algorithm for the solution of the viscous compressible flow equations which can solve flows all the way down to the incompressible limit and that can use higher order (quadratic) approximations leading to highly accurate answers, and 3) and iterative algebraic multigrid solution techniques.

Integrating Grid Services into the Cray XT4 Environment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NERSC; Cholia, Shreyas; Lin, Hwa-Chun Wendy

2009-05-01

The 38640 core Cray XT4"Franklin" system at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) is a massively parallel resource available to Department of Energy researchers that also provides on-demand grid computing to the Open Science Grid. The integration of grid services on Franklin presented various challenges, including fundamental differences between the interactive and compute nodes, a stripped down compute-node operating system without dynamic library support, a shared-root environment and idiosyncratic application launching. Inour work, we describe how we resolved these challenges on a running, general-purpose production system to provide on-demand compute, storage, accounting and monitoring services through generic gridmore » interfaces that mask the underlying system-specific details for the end user.« less

Computation of Flow Over a Drag Prediction Workshop Wing/Body Transport Configuration Using CFL3D

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rumsey, Christopher L.; Biedron, Robert T.

2001-01-01

A Drag Prediction Workshop was held in conjunction with the 19th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference in June 2001. The purpose of the workshop was to assess the prediction of drag by computational methods for a wing/body configuration (DLR-F4) representative of subsonic transport aircraft. This report details computed results submitted to this workshop using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes code CFL3D. Two supplied grids were used: a point-matched 1-to-1 multi-block grid, and an overset multi-block grid. The 1-to-1 grid, generally of much poorer quality and with less streamwise resolution than the overset grid, is found to be too coarse to adequately resolve the surface pressures. However, the global forces and moments are nonetheless similar to those computed using the overset grid. The effect of three different turbulence models is assessed using the 1-to-1 grid. Surface pressures are very similar overall, and the drag variation due to turbulence model is 18 drag counts. Most of this drag variation is in the friction component, and is attributed in part to insufficient grid resolution of the 1-to-1 grid. The misnomer of 'fully turbulent' computations is discussed; comparisons are made using different transition locations and their effects on the global forces and moments are quantified. Finally, the effect of two different versions of a widely used one-equation turbulence model is explored.

How to deal with petabytes of data: the LHC Grid project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Britton, D.; Lloyd, S. L.

2014-06-01

We review the Grid computing system developed by the international community to deal with the petabytes of data coming from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva with particular emphasis on the ATLAS experiment and the UK Grid project, GridPP. Although these developments were started over a decade ago, this article explains their continued relevance as part of the ‘Big Data’ problem and how the Grid has been forerunner of today's cloud computing.

Preprocessor that Enables the Use of GridProTM Grids for Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Code TURBO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shyam, Vikram

2010-01-01

A preprocessor for the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code TURBO has been developed and tested. The preprocessor converts grids produced by GridPro (Program Development Company (PDC)) into a format readable by TURBO and generates the necessary input files associated with the grid. The preprocessor also generates information that enables the user to decide how to allocate the computational load in a multiple block per processor scenario.

Current Grid operation and future role of the Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smirnova, O.

2012-12-01

Grid-like technologies and approaches became an integral part of HEP experiments. Some other scientific communities also use similar technologies for data-intensive computations. The distinct feature of Grid computing is the ability to federate heterogeneous resources of different ownership into a seamless infrastructure, accessible via a single log-on. Like other infrastructures of similar nature, Grid functioning requires not only technologically sound basis, but also reliable operation procedures, monitoring and accounting. The two aspects, technological and operational, are closely related: weaker is the technology, more burden is on operations, and other way around. As of today, Grid technologies are still evolving: at CERN alone, every LHC experiment uses an own Grid-like system. This inevitably creates a heavy load on operations. Infrastructure maintenance, monitoring and incident response are done on several levels, from local system administrators to large international organisations, involving massive human effort worldwide. The necessity to commit substantial resources is one of the obstacles faced by smaller research communities when moving computing to the Grid. Moreover, most current Grid solutions were developed under significant influence of HEP use cases, and thus need additional effort to adapt them to other applications. Reluctance of many non-HEP researchers to use Grid negatively affects the outlook for national Grid organisations, which strive to provide multi-science services. We started from the situation where Grid organisations were fused with HEP laboratories and national HEP research programmes; we hope to move towards the world where Grid will ultimately reach the status of generic public computing and storage service provider and permanent national and international Grid infrastructures will be established. How far will we be able to advance along this path, depends on us. If no standardisation and convergence efforts will take place, Grid will become limited to HEP; if however the current multitude of Grid-like systems will converge to a generic, modular and extensible solution, Grid will become true to its name.

Design and implementation of spatial knowledge grid for integrated spatial analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiangnan; Guan, Li; Wang, Ping

2006-10-01

Supported by spatial information grid(SIG), the spatial knowledge grid (SKG) for integrated spatial analysis utilizes the middleware technology in constructing the spatial information grid computation environment and spatial information service system, develops spatial entity oriented spatial data organization technology, carries out the profound computation of the spatial structure and spatial process pattern on the basis of Grid GIS infrastructure, spatial data grid and spatial information grid (specialized definition). At the same time, it realizes the complex spatial pattern expression and the spatial function process simulation by taking the spatial intelligent agent as the core to establish space initiative computation. Moreover through the establishment of virtual geographical environment with man-machine interactivity and blending, complex spatial modeling, network cooperation work and spatial community decision knowledge driven are achieved. The framework of SKG is discussed systematically in this paper. Its implement flow and the key technology with examples of overlay analysis are proposed as well.

Numerical simulation of liquid jet impact on a rigid wall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aganin, A. A.; Guseva, T. S.

2016-11-01

Basic points of a numerical technique for computing high-speed liquid jet impact on a rigid wall are presented. In the technique the flows of the liquid and the surrounding gas are governed by the equations of gas dynamics in the density, velocity, and pressure, which are integrated by the CIP-CUP method on dynamically adaptive grids without explicitly tracking the gas-liquid interface. The efficiency of the technique is demonstrated by the results of computing the problems of impact of the liquid cone and the liquid wedge on a wall in the mode with the shockwave touching the wall by its edge. Numerical solutions of these problems are compared with the analytical solution of the problem of impact of the plane liquid flow on a wall. Applicability of the technique to the problems of the high-speed liquid jet impact on a wall is illustrated by the results of computing a problem of impact of a cylindrical liquid jet with the hemispherical end on a wall covered by a layer of the same liquid.

Overset grid applications on distributed memory MIMD computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chawla, Kalpana; Weeratunga, Sisira

1994-01-01

Analysis of modern aerospace vehicles requires the computation of flowfields about complex three dimensional geometries composed of regions with varying spatial resolution requirements. Overset grid methods allow the use of proven structured grid flow solvers to address the twin issues of geometrical complexity and the resolution variation by decomposing the complex physical domain into a collection of overlapping subdomains. This flexibility is accompanied by the need for irregular intergrid boundary communication among the overlapping component grids. This study investigates a strategy for implementing such a static overset grid implicit flow solver on distributed memory, MIMD computers; i.e., the 128 node Intel iPSC/860 and the 208 node Intel Paragon. Performance data for two composite grid configurations characteristic of those encountered in present day aerodynamic analysis are also presented.

AGIS: The ATLAS Grid Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anisenkov, Alexey; Belov, Sergey; Di Girolamo, Alessandro; Gayazov, Stavro; Klimentov, Alexei; Oleynik, Danila; Senchenko, Alexander

2012-12-01

ATLAS is a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The experiment produces petabytes of data annually through simulation production and tens petabytes of data per year from the detector itself. The ATLAS Computing model embraces the Grid paradigm and a high degree of decentralization and computing resources able to meet ATLAS requirements of petabytes scale data operations. In this paper we present ATLAS Grid Information System (AGIS) designed to integrate configuration and status information about resources, services and topology of whole ATLAS Grid needed by ATLAS Distributed Computing applications and services.

Investigation of Navier-Stokes Code Verification and Design Optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaidyanathan, Rajkumar

2004-01-01

With rapid progress made in employing computational techniques for various complex Navier-Stokes fluid flow problems, design optimization problems traditionally based on empirical formulations and experiments are now being addressed with the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To be able to carry out an effective CFD-based optimization study, it is essential that the uncertainty and appropriate confidence limits of the CFD solutions be quantified over the chosen design space. The present dissertation investigates the issues related to code verification, surrogate model-based optimization and sensitivity evaluation. For Navier-Stokes (NS) CFD code verification a least square extrapolation (LSE) method is assessed. This method projects numerically computed NS solutions from multiple, coarser base grids onto a freer grid and improves solution accuracy by minimizing the residual of the discretized NS equations over the projected grid. In this dissertation, the finite volume (FV) formulation is focused on. The interplay between the xi concepts and the outcome of LSE, and the effects of solution gradients and singularities, nonlinear physics, and coupling of flow variables on the effectiveness of LSE are investigated. A CFD-based design optimization of a single element liquid rocket injector is conducted with surrogate models developed using response surface methodology (RSM) based on CFD solutions. The computational model consists of the NS equations, finite rate chemistry, and the k-6 turbulence closure. With the aid of these surrogate models, sensitivity and trade-off analyses are carried out for the injector design whose geometry (hydrogen flow angle, hydrogen and oxygen flow areas and oxygen post tip thickness) is optimized to attain desirable goals in performance (combustion length) and life/survivability (the maximum temperatures on the oxidizer post tip and injector face and a combustion chamber wall temperature). A preliminary multi-objective optimization study is carried out using a geometric mean approach. Following this, sensitivity analyses with the aid of variance-based non-parametric approach and partial correlation coefficients are conducted using data available from surrogate models of the objectives and the multi-objective optima to identify the contribution of the design variables to the objective variability and to analyze the variability of the design variables and the objectives. In summary the present dissertation offers insight into an improved coarse to fine grid extrapolation technique for Navier-Stokes computations and also suggests tools for a designer to conduct design optimization study and related sensitivity analyses for a given design problem.

An efficient HZETRN (a galactic cosmic ray transport code)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shinn, Judy L.; Wilson, John W.

1992-01-01

An accurate and efficient engineering code for analyzing the shielding requirements against the high-energy galactic heavy ions is needed. The HZETRN is a deterministic code developed at Langley Research Center that is constantly under improvement both in physics and numerical computation and is targeted for such use. One problem area connected with the space-marching technique used in this code is the propagation of the local truncation error. By improving the numerical algorithms for interpolation, integration, and grid distribution formula, the efficiency of the code is increased by a factor of eight as the number of energy grid points is reduced. The numerical accuracy of better than 2 percent for a shield thickness of 150 g/cm(exp 2) is found when a 45 point energy grid is used. The propagating step size, which is related to the perturbation theory, is also reevaluated.

Solving Graph Laplacian Systems Through Recursive Bisections and Two-Grid Preconditioning

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ponce, Colin; Vassilevski, Panayot S.

2016-02-18

We present a parallelizable direct method for computing the solution to graph Laplacian-based linear systems derived from graphs that can be hierarchically bipartitioned with small edge cuts. For a graph of size n with constant-size edge cuts, our method decomposes a graph Laplacian in time O(n log n), and then uses that decomposition to perform a linear solve in time O(n log n). We then use the developed technique to design a preconditioner for graph Laplacians that do not have this property. Finally, we augment this preconditioner with a two-grid method that accounts for much of the preconditioner's weaknesses. Wemore » present an analysis of this method, as well as a general theorem for the condition number of a general class of two-grid support graph-based preconditioners. Numerical experiments illustrate the performance of the studied methods.« less

Unweighted least squares phase unwrapping by means of multigrid techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pritt, Mark D.

1995-11-01

We present a multigrid algorithm for unweighted least squares phase unwrapping. This algorithm applies Gauss-Seidel relaxation schemes to solve the Poisson equation on smaller, coarser grids and transfers the intermediate results to the finer grids. This approach forms the basis of our multigrid algorithm for weighted least squares phase unwrapping, which is described in a separate paper. The key idea of our multigrid approach is to maintain the partial derivatives of the phase data in separate arrays and to correct these derivatives at the boundaries of the coarser grids. This maintains the boundary conditions necessary for rapid convergence to the correct solution. Although the multigrid algorithm is an iterative algorithm, we demonstrate that it is nearly as fast as the direct Fourier-based method. We also describe how to parallelize the algorithm for execution on a distributed-memory parallel processor computer or a network-cluster of workstations.

On solving three-dimensional open-dimension rectangular packing problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Junqueira, Leonardo; Morabito, Reinaldo

2017-05-01

In this article, a recently proposed three-dimensional open-dimension rectangular packing problem is considered, in which the objective is to find a minimal volume rectangular container that packs a set of rectangular boxes. The literature has tackled small-sized instances of this problem by means of optimization solvers, position-free mixed-integer programming (MIP) formulations and piecewise linearization approaches. In this study, the problem is alternatively addressed by means of grid-based position MIP formulations, whereas still considering optimization solvers and the same piecewise linearization techniques. A comparison of the computational performance of both models is then presented, when tested with benchmark problem instances and with new instances, and it is shown that the grid-based position MIP formulation can be competitive, depending on the characteristics of the instances. The grid-based position MIP formulation is also embedded with real-world practical constraints, such as cargo stability, and results are additionally presented.

Grid today, clouds on the horizon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiers, Jamie

2009-04-01

By the time of CCP 2008, the largest scientific machine in the world - the Large Hadron Collider - had been cooled down as scheduled to its operational temperature of below 2 degrees Kelvin and injection tests were starting. Collisions of proton beams at 5+5 TeV were expected within one to two months of the initial tests, with data taking at design energy ( 7+7 TeV) foreseen for 2009. In order to process the data from this world machine, we have put our "Higgs in one basket" - that of Grid computing [The Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), in: Proceedings of the Conference on Computational Physics 2006 (CCP 2006), vol. 177, 2007, pp. 219-223]. After many years of preparation, 2008 saw a final "Common Computing Readiness Challenge" (CCRC'08) - aimed at demonstrating full readiness for 2008 data taking, processing and analysis. By definition, this relied on a world-wide production Grid infrastructure. But change - as always - is on the horizon. The current funding model for Grids - which in Europe has been through 3 generations of EGEE projects, together with related projects in other parts of the world, including South America - is evolving towards a long-term, sustainable e-infrastructure, like the European Grid Initiative (EGI) [The European Grid Initiative Design Study, website at http://web.eu-egi.eu/]. At the same time, potentially new paradigms, such as that of "Cloud Computing" are emerging. This paper summarizes the results of CCRC'08 and discusses the potential impact of future Grid funding on both regional and international application communities. It contrasts Grid and Cloud computing models from both technical and sociological points of view. Finally, it discusses the requirements from production application communities, in terms of stability and continuity in the medium to long term.

A Comparison of FPGA and GPGPU Designs for Bayesian Occupancy Filters.

PubMed

Medina, Luis; Diez-Ochoa, Miguel; Correal, Raul; Cuenca-Asensi, Sergio; Serrano, Alejandro; Godoy, Jorge; Martínez-Álvarez, Antonio; Villagra, Jorge

2017-11-11

Grid-based perception techniques in the automotive sector based on fusing information from different sensors and their robust perceptions of the environment are proliferating in the industry. However, one of the main drawbacks of these techniques is the traditionally prohibitive, high computing performance that is required for embedded automotive systems. In this work, the capabilities of new computing architectures that embed these algorithms are assessed in a real car. The paper compares two ad hoc optimized designs of the Bayesian Occupancy Filter; one for General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU) and the other for Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The resulting implementations are compared in terms of development effort, accuracy and performance, using datasets from a realistic simulator and from a real automated vehicle.

[Parallel virtual reality visualization of extreme large medical datasets].

PubMed

Tang, Min

2010-04-01

On the basis of a brief description of grid computing, the essence and critical techniques of parallel visualization of extreme large medical datasets are discussed in connection with Intranet and common-configuration computers of hospitals. In this paper are introduced several kernel techniques, including the hardware structure, software framework, load balance and virtual reality visualization. The Maximum Intensity Projection algorithm is realized in parallel using common PC cluster. In virtual reality world, three-dimensional models can be rotated, zoomed, translated and cut interactively and conveniently through the control panel built on virtual reality modeling language (VRML). Experimental results demonstrate that this method provides promising and real-time results for playing the role in of a good assistant in making clinical diagnosis.

Design & implementation of distributed spatial computing node based on WPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Liping; Li, Guoqing; Xie, Jibo

2014-03-01

Currently, the research work of SIG (Spatial Information Grid) technology mostly emphasizes on the spatial data sharing in grid environment, while the importance of spatial computing resources is ignored. In order to implement the sharing and cooperation of spatial computing resources in grid environment, this paper does a systematical research of the key technologies to construct Spatial Computing Node based on the WPS (Web Processing Service) specification by OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium). And a framework of Spatial Computing Node is designed according to the features of spatial computing resources. Finally, a prototype of Spatial Computing Node is implemented and the relevant verification work under the environment is completed.

FermiGrid—experience and future plans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chadwick, K.; Berman, E.; Canal, P.; Hesselroth, T.; Garzoglio, G.; Levshina, T.; Sergeev, V.; Sfiligoi, I.; Sharma, N.; Timm, S.; Yocum, D. R.

2008-07-01

Fermilab supports a scientific program that includes experiments and scientists located across the globe. In order to better serve this community, Fermilab has placed its production computer resources in a Campus Grid infrastructure called 'FermiGrid'. The FermiGrid infrastructure allows the large experiments at Fermilab to have priority access to their own resources, enables sharing of these resources in an opportunistic fashion, and movement of work (jobs, data) between the Campus Grid and National Grids such as Open Science Grid (OSG) and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid Collaboration (WLCG). FermiGrid resources support multiple Virtual Organizations (VOs), including VOs from the OSG, EGEE, and the WLCG. Fermilab also makes leading contributions to the Open Science Grid in the areas of accounting, batch computing, grid security, job management, resource selection, site infrastructure, storage management, and VO services. Through the FermiGrid interfaces, authenticated and authorized VOs and individuals may access our core grid services, the 10,000+ Fermilab resident CPUs, near-petabyte (including CMS) online disk pools and the multi-petabyte Fermilab Mass Storage System. These core grid services include a site wide Globus gatekeeper, VO management services for several VOs, Fermilab site authorization services, grid user mapping services, as well as job accounting and monitoring, resource selection and data movement services. Access to these services is via standard and well-supported grid interfaces. We will report on the user experience of using the FermiGrid campus infrastructure interfaced to a national cyberinfrastructure - the successes and the problems.

Integrating Flexible Sensor and Virtual Self-Organizing DC Grid Model With Cloud Computing for Blood Leakage Detection During Hemodialysis.

PubMed

Huang, Ping-Tzan; Jong, Tai-Lang; Li, Chien-Ming; Chen, Wei-Ling; Lin, Chia-Hung

2017-08-01

Blood leakage and blood loss are serious complications during hemodialysis. From the hemodialysis survey reports, these life-threatening events occur to attract nephrology nurses and patients themselves. When the venous needle and blood line are disconnected, it takes only a few minutes for an adult patient to lose over 40% of his / her blood, which is a sufficient amount of blood loss to cause the patient to die. Therefore, we propose integrating a flexible sensor and self-organizing algorithm to design a cloud computing-based warning device for blood leakage detection. The flexible sensor is fabricated via a screen-printing technique using metallic materials on a soft substrate in an array configuration. The self-organizing algorithm constructs a virtual direct current grid-based alarm unit in an embedded system. This warning device is employed to identify blood leakage levels via a wireless network and cloud computing. It has been validated experimentally, and the experimental results suggest specifications for its commercial designs. The proposed model can also be implemented in an embedded system.

Research in Parallel Algorithms and Software for Computational Aerosciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Domel, Neal D.

1996-01-01

Phase I is complete for the development of a Computational Fluid Dynamics parallel code with automatic grid generation and adaptation for the Euler analysis of flow over complex geometries. SPLITFLOW, an unstructured Cartesian grid code developed at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, has been modified for a distributed memory/massively parallel computing environment. The parallel code is operational on an SGI network, Cray J90 and C90 vector machines, SGI Power Challenge, and Cray T3D and IBM SP2 massively parallel machines. Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) is the message passing protocol for portability to various architectures. A domain decomposition technique was developed which enforces dynamic load balancing to improve solution speed and memory requirements. A host/node algorithm distributes the tasks. The solver parallelizes very well, and scales with the number of processors. Partially parallelized and non-parallelized tasks consume most of the wall clock time in a very fine grain environment. Timing comparisons on a Cray C90 demonstrate that Parallel SPLITFLOW runs 2.4 times faster on 8 processors than its non-parallel counterpart autotasked over 8 processors.

Research in Parallel Algorithms and Software for Computational Aerosciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Domel, Neal D.

1996-01-01

Phase 1 is complete for the development of a computational fluid dynamics CFD) parallel code with automatic grid generation and adaptation for the Euler analysis of flow over complex geometries. SPLITFLOW, an unstructured Cartesian grid code developed at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, has been modified for a distributed memory/massively parallel computing environment. The parallel code is operational on an SGI network, Cray J90 and C90 vector machines, SGI Power Challenge, and Cray T3D and IBM SP2 massively parallel machines. Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) is the message passing protocol for portability to various architectures. A domain decomposition technique was developed which enforces dynamic load balancing to improve solution speed and memory requirements. A host/node algorithm distributes the tasks. The solver parallelizes very well, and scales with the number of processors. Partially parallelized and non-parallelized tasks consume most of the wall clock time in a very fine grain environment. Timing comparisons on a Cray C90 demonstrate that Parallel SPLITFLOW runs 2.4 times faster on 8 processors than its non-parallel counterpart autotasked over 8 processors.

A chimera grid scheme. [multiple overset body-conforming mesh system for finite difference adaptation to complex aircraft configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steger, J. L.; Dougherty, F. C.; Benek, J. A.

1983-01-01

A mesh system composed of multiple overset body-conforming grids is described for adapting finite-difference procedures to complex aircraft configurations. In this so-called 'chimera mesh,' a major grid is generated about a main component of the configuration and overset minor grids are used to resolve all other features. Methods for connecting overset multiple grids and modifications of flow-simulation algorithms are discussed. Computational tests in two dimensions indicate that the use of multiple overset grids can simplify the task of grid generation without an adverse effect on flow-field algorithms and computer code complexity.

Adaptivity and smart algorithms for fluid-structure interaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oden, J. Tinsley

1990-01-01

This paper reviews new approaches in CFD which have the potential for significantly increasing current capabilities of modeling complex flow phenomena and of treating difficult problems in fluid-structure interaction. These approaches are based on the notions of adaptive methods and smart algorithms, which use instantaneous measures of the quality and other features of the numerical flowfields as a basis for making changes in the structure of the computational grid and of algorithms designed to function on the grid. The application of these new techniques to several problem classes are addressed, including problems with moving boundaries, fluid-structure interaction in high-speed turbine flows, flow in domains with receding boundaries, and related problems.

An interactive grid generation procedure for axial and radial flow turbomachinery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beach, Timothy A.

1989-01-01

A combination algebraic/elliptic technique is presented for the generation of three dimensional grids about turbo-machinery blade rows for both axial and radial flow machinery. The technique is built around use of an advanced engineering workstation to construct several two dimensional grids interactively on predetermined blade-to-blade surfaces. A three dimensional grid is generated by interpolating these surface grids onto an axisymmetric grid. On each blade-to-blade surface, a grid is created using algebraic techniques near the blade to control orthogonality within the boundary layer region and elliptic techniques in the mid-passage to achieve smoothness. The interactive definition of bezier curves as internal boundaries is the key to simple construction. This procedure lends itself well to zonal grid construction, an important example being the tip clearance region. Calculations done to date include a space shuttle main engine turbopump blade, a radial inflow turbine blade, and the first stator of the United Technologies Research Center large scale rotating rig. A finite Navier-Stokes solver was used in each case.

Dose calculation algorithm of fast fine-heterogeneity correction for heavy charged particle radiotherapy.

PubMed

Kanematsu, Nobuyuki

2011-04-01

This work addresses computing techniques for dose calculations in treatment planning with proton and ion beams, based on an efficient kernel-convolution method referred to as grid-dose spreading (GDS) and accurate heterogeneity-correction method referred to as Gaussian beam splitting. The original GDS algorithm suffered from distortion of dose distribution for beams tilted with respect to the dose-grid axes. Use of intermediate grids normal to the beam field has solved the beam-tilting distortion. Interplay of arrangement between beams and grids was found as another intrinsic source of artifact. Inclusion of rectangular-kernel convolution in beam transport, to share the beam contribution among the nearest grids in a regulatory manner, has solved the interplay problem. This algorithmic framework was applied to a tilted proton pencil beam and a broad carbon-ion beam. In these cases, while the elementary pencil beams individually split into several tens, the calculation time increased only by several times with the GDS algorithm. The GDS and beam-splitting methods will complementarily enable accurate and efficient dose calculations for radiotherapy with protons and ions. Copyright © 2010 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grid generation and adaptation via Monge-Kantorovich optimization in 2D and 3D

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delzanno, Gian Luca; Chacon, Luis; Finn, John M.

2008-11-01

In a recent paper [1], Monge-Kantorovich (MK) optimization was proposed as a method of grid generation/adaptation in two dimensions (2D). The method is based on the minimization of the L2 norm of grid point displacement, constrained to producing a given positive-definite cell volume distribution (equidistribution constraint). The procedure gives rise to the Monge-Amp'ere (MA) equation: a single, non-linear scalar equation with no free-parameters. The MA equation was solved in Ref. [1] with the Jacobian Free Newton-Krylov technique and several challenging test cases were presented in squared domains in 2D. Here, we extend the work of Ref. [1]. We first formulate the MK approach in physical domains with curved boundary elements and in 3D. We then show the results of applying it to these more general cases. We show that MK optimization produces optimal grids in which the constraint is satisfied numerically to truncation error. [1] G.L. Delzanno, L. Chac'on, J.M. Finn, Y. Chung, G. Lapenta, A new, robust equidistribution method for two-dimensional grid generation, submitted to Journal of Computational Physics (2008).

Uncertainty Analysis Based on Sparse Grid Collocation and Quasi-Monte Carlo Sampling with Application in Groundwater Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, G.; Lu, D.; Ye, M.; Gunzburger, M.

2011-12-01

Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods have been widely used in many fields of uncertainty analysis to estimate the posterior distributions of parameters and credible intervals of predictions in the Bayesian framework. However, in practice, MCMC may be computationally unaffordable due to slow convergence and the excessive number of forward model executions required, especially when the forward model is expensive to compute. Both disadvantages arise from the curse of dimensionality, i.e., the posterior distribution is usually a multivariate function of parameters. Recently, sparse grid method has been demonstrated to be an effective technique for coping with high-dimensional interpolation or integration problems. Thus, in order to accelerate the forward model and avoid the slow convergence of MCMC, we propose a new method for uncertainty analysis based on sparse grid interpolation and quasi-Monte Carlo sampling. First, we construct a polynomial approximation of the forward model in the parameter space by using the sparse grid interpolation. This approximation then defines an accurate surrogate posterior distribution that can be evaluated repeatedly at minimal computational cost. Second, instead of using MCMC, a quasi-Monte Carlo method is applied to draw samples in the parameter space. Then, the desired probability density function of each prediction is approximated by accumulating the posterior density values of all the samples according to the prediction values. Our method has the following advantages: (1) the polynomial approximation of the forward model on the sparse grid provides a very efficient evaluation of the surrogate posterior distribution; (2) the quasi-Monte Carlo method retains the same accuracy in approximating the PDF of predictions but avoids all disadvantages of MCMC. The proposed method is applied to a controlled numerical experiment of groundwater flow modeling. The results show that our method attains the same accuracy much more efficiently than traditional MCMC.

20 plus Years of Computational Fluid Dynamics for the Space Shuttle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gomez, Reynaldo J., III

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the use of computational fluid dynamics in performing analysis of the space shuttle with particular reference to the return to flight analysis and other shuttle problems. Slides show a comparison of pressure coefficient with the shuttle ascent configuration between the wind tunnel test and the computed values. the evolution of the grid system for the space shuttle launch vehicle (SSLv) from the early 80's to one in 2004, the grid configuration of the bipod ramp redesign from the original design to the current configuration, charts with the computations showing solid rocket booster surface pressures from wind tunnel data, calculated over two grid systems (i.e., the original 14 grid system, and the enhanced 113 grid system), and the computed flight orbiter wing loads are compared with strain gage data on STS-50 during flight. The loss of STS-107 initiated an unprecedented review of all external environments. The current SSLV grid system of 600+ grids, 1.8 Million surface points and 95+ million volume points is shown. The inflight entry analyses is shown, and the use of Overset CFD as a key part to many external tank redesign and debris assessments is discussed. The work that still remains to be accomplished for future shuttle flights is discussed.

Business aspects and sustainability for healthgrids - an expert survey.

PubMed

Scholz, Stefan; Semler, Sebastian C; Breitner, Michael H

2009-01-01

Grid computing initiatives in medicine and life sciences are under pressure to prove their sustainability. While some first business model frameworks were outlined, few practical experiences were considered. This gap has been narrowed by an international survey of 33 grid computing experts with biomedical and non-biomedical background on business aspects. The experts surveyed were cautiously optimistic about a sustainable implementation of grid computing within a mid term timeline. They identified marketable application areas, stated the underlying value proposition, outlined trends and specify critical success factors. From a general perspective of their answers, they provided a stable basis for a road map of sustainable grid computing solutions for medicine and life sciences.

Information Power Grid Posters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaziri, Arsi

2003-01-01

This document is a summary of the accomplishments of the Information Power Grid (IPG). Grids are an emerging technology that provide seamless and uniform access to the geographically dispersed, computational, data storage, networking, instruments, and software resources needed for solving large-scale scientific and engineering problems. The goal of the NASA IPG is to use NASA's remotely located computing and data system resources to build distributed systems that can address problems that are too large or complex for a single site. The accomplishments outlined in this poster presentation are: access to distributed data, IPG heterogeneous computing, integration of large-scale computing node into distributed environment, remote access to high data rate instruments,and exploratory grid environment.

Solution of Poisson equations for 3-dimensional grid generations. [computations of a flow field over a thin delta wing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fujii, K.

1983-01-01

A method for generating three dimensional, finite difference grids about complicated geometries by using Poisson equations is developed. The inhomogenous terms are automatically chosen such that orthogonality and spacing restrictions at the body surface are satisfied. Spherical variables are used to avoid the axis singularity, and an alternating-direction-implicit (ADI) solution scheme is used to accelerate the computations. Computed results are presented that show the capability of the method. Since most of the results presented have been used as grids for flow-field computations, this is indicative that the method is a useful tool for generating three-dimensional grids about complicated geometries.

CFD and PTV steady flow investigation in an anatomically accurate abdominal aortic aneurysm.

PubMed

Boutsianis, Evangelos; Guala, Michele; Olgac, Ufuk; Wildermuth, Simon; Hoyer, Klaus; Ventikos, Yiannis; Poulikakos, Dimos

2009-01-01

There is considerable interest in computational and experimental flow investigations within abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). This task stipulates advanced grid generation techniques and cross-validation because of the anatomical complexity. The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility of velocity measurements by particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) in realistic AAA models. Computed tomography and rapid prototyping were combined to digitize and construct a silicone replica of a patient-specific AAA. Three-dimensional velocity measurements were acquired using PTV under steady averaged resting boundary conditions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were subsequently carried out with identical boundary conditions. The computational grid was created by splitting the luminal volume into manifold and nonmanifold subsections. They were filled with tetrahedral and hexahedral elements, respectively. Grid independency was tested on three successively refined meshes. Velocity differences of about 1% in all three directions existed mainly within the AAA sack. Pressure revealed similar variations, with the sparser mesh predicting larger values. PTV velocity measurements were taken along the abdominal aorta and showed good agreement with the numerical data. The results within the aneurysm neck and sack showed average velocity variations of about 5% of the mean inlet velocity. The corresponding average differences increased for all velocity components downstream the iliac bifurcation to as much as 15%. The two domains differed slightly due to flow-induced forces acting on the silicone model. Velocity quantification through narrow branches was problematic due to decreased signal to noise ratio at the larger local velocities. Computational wall pressure and shear fields are also presented. The agreement between CFD simulations and the PTV experimental data was confirmed by three-dimensional velocity comparisons at several locations within the investigated AAA anatomy indicating the feasibility of this approach.

Evaluation of the UnTRIM model for 3-D tidal circulation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cheng, R.T.; Casulli, V.; ,

2001-01-01

A family of numerical models, known as the TRIM models, shares the same modeling philosophy for solving the shallow water equations. A characteristic analysis of the shallow water equations points out that the numerical instability is controlled by the gravity wave terms in the momentum equations and by the transport terms in the continuity equation. A semi-implicit finite-difference scheme has been formulated so that these terms and the vertical diffusion terms are treated implicitly and the remaining terms explicitly to control the numerical stability and the computations are carried out over a uniform finite-difference computational mesh without invoking horizontal or vertical coordinate transformations. An unstructured grid version of TRIM model is introduced, or UnTRIM (pronounces as "you trim"), which preserves these basic numerical properties and modeling philosophy, only the computations are carried out over an unstructured orthogonal grid. The unstructured grid offers the flexibilities in representing complex study areas so that fine grid resolution can be placed in regions of interest, and coarse grids are used to cover the remaining domain. Thus, the computational efforts are concentrated in areas of importance, and an overall computational saving can be achieved because the total number of grid-points is dramatically reduced. To use this modeling approach, an unstructured grid mesh must be generated to properly reflect the properties of the domain of the investigation. The new modeling flexibility in grid structure is accompanied by new challenges associated with issues of grid generation. To take full advantage of this new model flexibility, the model grid generation should be guided by insights into the physics of the problems; and the insights needed may require a higher degree of modeling skill.

Optical Forces Near Microfabricated Devices

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

one beam for two power levels , 50mW and 100mW. 50 µm corresponds to the center of the channel...available MIT MEEP package (32). The computational resolution is 32 grid points per lattice constant. Fig 2.2(a) shows the normalized transmission through...a silicon-on-insulator wafer using standard techniques (33). The lattice constant of the photonic crystal can be scaled to place a given guided

Algorithms for parallel flow solvers on message passing architectures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderwijngaart, Rob F.

1995-01-01

The purpose of this project has been to identify and test suitable technologies for implementation of fluid flow solvers -- possibly coupled with structures and heat equation solvers -- on MIMD parallel computers. In the course of this investigation much attention has been paid to efficient domain decomposition strategies for ADI-type algorithms. Multi-partitioning derives its efficiency from the assignment of several blocks of grid points to each processor in the parallel computer. A coarse-grain parallelism is obtained, and a near-perfect load balance results. In uni-partitioning every processor receives responsibility for exactly one block of grid points instead of several. This necessitates fine-grain pipelined program execution in order to obtain a reasonable load balance. Although fine-grain parallelism is less desirable on many systems, especially high-latency networks of workstations, uni-partition methods are still in wide use in production codes for flow problems. Consequently, it remains important to achieve good efficiency with this technique that has essentially been superseded by multi-partitioning for parallel ADI-type algorithms. Another reason for the concentration on improving the performance of pipeline methods is their applicability in other types of flow solver kernels with stronger implied data dependence. Analytical expressions can be derived for the size of the dynamic load imbalance incurred in traditional pipelines. From these it can be determined what is the optimal first-processor retardation that leads to the shortest total completion time for the pipeline process. Theoretical predictions of pipeline performance with and without optimization match experimental observations on the iPSC/860 very well. Analysis of pipeline performance also highlights the effect of uncareful grid partitioning in flow solvers that employ pipeline algorithms. If grid blocks at boundaries are not at least as large in the wall-normal direction as those immediately adjacent to them, then the first processor in the pipeline will receive a computational load that is less than that of subsequent processors, magnifying the pipeline slowdown effect. Extra compensation is needed for grid boundary effects, even if all grid blocks are equally sized.

A Three Dimensional Parallel Time Accurate Turbopump Simulation Procedure Using Overset Grid Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin; Chan, William; Kwak, Dochan

2001-01-01

The objective of the current effort is to provide a computational framework for design and analysis of the entire fuel supply system of a liquid rocket engine, including high-fidelity unsteady turbopump flow analysis. This capability is needed to support the design of pump sub-systems for advanced space transportation vehicles that are likely to involve liquid propulsion systems. To date, computational tools for design/analysis of turbopump flows are based on relatively lower fidelity methods. An unsteady, three-dimensional viscous flow analysis tool involving stationary and rotational components for the entire turbopump assembly has not been available for real-world engineering applications. The present effort provides developers with information such as transient flow phenomena at start up, and non-uniform inflows, and will eventually impact on system vibration and structures. In the proposed paper, the progress toward the capability of complete simulation of the turbo-pump for a liquid rocket engine is reported. The Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) turbo-pump is used as a test case for evaluation of the hybrid MPI/Open-MP and MLP versions of the INS3D code. CAD to solution auto-scripting capability is being developed for turbopump applications. The relative motion of the grid systems for the rotor-stator interaction was obtained using overset grid techniques. Unsteady computations for the SSME turbo-pump, which contains 114 zones with 34.5 million grid points, are carried out on Origin 3000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. Results from these time-accurate simulations with moving boundary capability will be presented along with the performance of parallel versions of the code.

An algorithm for fast elastic wave simulation using a vectorized finite difference operator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malkoti, Ajay; Vedanti, Nimisha; Tiwari, Ram Krishna

2018-07-01

Modern geophysical imaging techniques exploit the full wavefield information which can be simulated numerically. These numerical simulations are computationally expensive due to several factors, such as a large number of time steps and nodes, big size of the derivative stencil and huge model size. Besides these constraints, it is also important to reformulate the numerical derivative operator for improved efficiency. In this paper, we have introduced a vectorized derivative operator over the staggered grid with shifted coordinate systems. The operator increases the efficiency of simulation by exploiting the fact that each variable can be represented in the form of a matrix. This operator allows updating all nodes of a variable defined on the staggered grid, in a manner similar to the collocated grid scheme and thereby reducing the computational run-time considerably. Here we demonstrate an application of this operator to simulate the seismic wave propagation in elastic media (Marmousi model), by discretizing the equations on a staggered grid. We have compared the performance of this operator on three programming languages, which reveals that it can increase the execution speed by a factor of at least 2-3 times for FORTRAN and MATLAB; and nearly 100 times for Python. We have further carried out various tests in MATLAB to analyze the effect of model size and the number of time steps on total simulation run-time. We find that there is an additional, though small, computational overhead for each step and it depends on total number of time steps used in the simulation. A MATLAB code package, 'FDwave', for the proposed simulation scheme is available upon request.

The National Grid Project: A system overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaither, Adam; Gaither, Kelly; Jean, Brian; Remotigue, Michael; Whitmire, John; Soni, Bharat; Thompson, Joe; Dannenhoffer,, John; Weatherill, Nigel

1995-01-01

The National Grid Project (NGP) is a comprehensive numerical grid generation software system that is being developed at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Computational Field Simulation (CFS) at Mississippi State University (MSU). NGP is supported by a coalition of U.S. industries and federal laboratories. The objective of the NGP is to significantly decrease the amount of time it takes to generate a numerical grid for complex geometries and to increase the quality of these grids to enable computational field simulations for applications in industry. A geometric configuration can be discretized into grids (or meshes) that have two fundamental forms: structured and unstructured. Structured grids are formed by intersecting curvilinear coordinate lines and are composed of quadrilateral (2D) and hexahedral (3D) logically rectangular cells. The connectivity of a structured grid provides for trivial identification of neighboring points by incrementing coordinate indices. Unstructured grids are composed of cells of any shape (commonly triangles, quadrilaterals, tetrahedra and hexahedra), but do not have trivial identification of neighbors by incrementing an index. For unstructured grids, a set of points and an associated connectivity table is generated to define unstructured cell shapes and neighboring points. Hybrid grids are a combination of structured grids and unstructured grids. Chimera (overset) grids are intersecting or overlapping structured grids. The NGP system currently provides a user interface that integrates both 2D and 3D structured and unstructured grid generation, a solid modeling topology data management system, an internal Computer Aided Design (CAD) system based on Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS), a journaling language, and a grid/solution visualization system.

Guest editorial. Integrated healthcare information systems.

PubMed

Li, Ling; Ge, Ri-Li; Zhou, Shang-Ming; Valerdi, Ricardo

2012-07-01

The use of integrated information systems for healthcare has been started more than a decade ago. In recent years, rapid advances in information integration methods have spurred tremendous growth in the use of integrated information systems in healthcare delivery. Various techniques have been used for probing such integrated systems. These techniques include service-oriented architecture (SOA), EAI, workflow management, grid computing, and others. Many applications require a combination of these techniques, which gives rise to the emergence of enterprise systems in healthcare. Development of the techniques originated from different disciplines has the potential to significantly improve the performance of enterprise systems in healthcare. This editorial paper briefly introduces the enterprise systems in the perspective of healthcare informatics.

Convective Weather Forecast Quality Metrics for Air Traffic Management Decision-Making

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chatterji, Gano B.; Gyarfas, Brett; Chan, William N.; Meyn, Larry A.

2006-01-01

Since numerical weather prediction models are unable to accurately forecast the severity and the location of the storm cells several hours into the future when compared with observation data, there has been a growing interest in probabilistic description of convective weather. The classical approach for generating uncertainty bounds consists of integrating the state equations and covariance propagation equations forward in time. This step is readily recognized as the process update step of the Kalman Filter algorithm. The second well known method, known as the Monte Carlo method, consists of generating output samples by driving the forecast algorithm with input samples selected from distributions. The statistical properties of the distributions of the output samples are then used for defining the uncertainty bounds of the output variables. This method is computationally expensive for a complex model compared to the covariance propagation method. The main advantage of the Monte Carlo method is that a complex non-linear model can be easily handled. Recently, a few different methods for probabilistic forecasting have appeared in the literature. A method for computing probability of convection in a region using forecast data is described in Ref. 5. Probability at a grid location is computed as the fraction of grid points, within a box of specified dimensions around the grid location, with forecast convection precipitation exceeding a specified threshold. The main limitation of this method is that the results are dependent on the chosen dimensions of the box. The examples presented Ref. 5 show that this process is equivalent to low-pass filtering of the forecast data with a finite support spatial filter. References 6 and 7 describe the technique for computing percentage coverage within a 92 x 92 square-kilometer box and assigning the value to the center 4 x 4 square-kilometer box. This technique is same as that described in Ref. 5. Characterizing the forecast, following the process described in Refs. 5 through 7, in terms of percentage coverage or confidence level is notionally sound compared to characterizing in terms of probabilities because the probability of the forecast being correct can only be determined using actual observations. References 5 through 7 only use the forecast data and not the observations. The method for computing the probability of detection, false alarm ratio and several forecast quality metrics (Skill Scores) using both the forecast and observation data are given in Ref. 2. This paper extends the statistical verification method in Ref. 2 to determine co-occurrence probabilities. The method consists of computing the probability that a severe weather cell (grid location) is detected in the observation data in the neighborhood of the severe weather cell in the forecast data. Probabilities of occurrence at the grid location and in its neighborhood with higher severity, and with lower severity in the observation data compared to that in the forecast data are examined. The method proposed in Refs. 5 through 7 is used for computing the probability that a certain number of cells in the neighborhood of severe weather cells in the forecast data are seen as severe weather cells in the observation data. Finally, the probability of existence of gaps in the observation data in the neighborhood of severe weather cells in forecast data is computed. Gaps are defined as openings between severe weather cells through which an aircraft can safely fly to its intended destination. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II summarizes the statistical verification method described in Ref. 2. The extension of this method for computing the co-occurrence probabilities in discussed in Section HI. Numerical examples using NCWF forecast data and NCWD observation data are presented in Section III to elucidate the characteristics of the co-occurrence probabilities. This section also discusses the procedure for computing throbabilities that the severity of convection in the observation data will be higher or lower in the neighborhood of grid locations compared to that indicated at the grid locations in the forecast data. The probability of coverage of neighborhood grid cells is also described via examples in this section. Section IV discusses the gap detection algorithm and presents a numerical example to illustrate the method. The locations of the detected gaps in the observation data are used along with the locations of convective weather cells in the forecast data to determine the probability of existence of gaps in the neighborhood of these cells. Finally, the paper is concluded in Section V.

Polynomial-time quantum algorithm for the simulation of chemical dynamics

PubMed Central

Kassal, Ivan; Jordan, Stephen P.; Love, Peter J.; Mohseni, Masoud; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

2008-01-01

The computational cost of exact methods for quantum simulation using classical computers grows exponentially with system size. As a consequence, these techniques can be applied only to small systems. By contrast, we demonstrate that quantum computers could exactly simulate chemical reactions in polynomial time. Our algorithm uses the split-operator approach and explicitly simulates all electron-nuclear and interelectronic interactions in quadratic time. Surprisingly, this treatment is not only more accurate than the Born–Oppenheimer approximation but faster and more efficient as well, for all reactions with more than about four atoms. This is the case even though the entire electronic wave function is propagated on a grid with appropriately short time steps. Although the preparation and measurement of arbitrary states on a quantum computer is inefficient, here we demonstrate how to prepare states of chemical interest efficiently. We also show how to efficiently obtain chemically relevant observables, such as state-to-state transition probabilities and thermal reaction rates. Quantum computers using these techniques could outperform current classical computers with 100 qubits. PMID:19033207

AstroGrid-D: Grid technology for astronomical science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Enke, Harry; Steinmetz, Matthias; Adorf, Hans-Martin; Beck-Ratzka, Alexander; Breitling, Frank; Brüsemeister, Thomas; Carlson, Arthur; Ensslin, Torsten; Högqvist, Mikael; Nickelt, Iliya; Radke, Thomas; Reinefeld, Alexander; Reiser, Angelika; Scholl, Tobias; Spurzem, Rainer; Steinacker, Jürgen; Voges, Wolfgang; Wambsganß, Joachim; White, Steve

2011-02-01

We present status and results of AstroGrid-D, a joint effort of astrophysicists and computer scientists to employ grid technology for scientific applications. AstroGrid-D provides access to a network of distributed machines with a set of commands as well as software interfaces. It allows simple use of computer and storage facilities and to schedule or monitor compute tasks and data management. It is based on the Globus Toolkit middleware (GT4). Chapter 1 describes the context which led to the demand for advanced software solutions in Astrophysics, and we state the goals of the project. We then present characteristic astrophysical applications that have been implemented on AstroGrid-D in chapter 2. We describe simulations of different complexity, compute-intensive calculations running on multiple sites (Section 2.1), and advanced applications for specific scientific purposes (Section 2.2), such as a connection to robotic telescopes (Section 2.2.3). We can show from these examples how grid execution improves e.g. the scientific workflow. Chapter 3 explains the software tools and services that we adapted or newly developed. Section 3.1 is focused on the administrative aspects of the infrastructure, to manage users and monitor activity. Section 3.2 characterises the central components of our architecture: The AstroGrid-D information service to collect and store metadata, a file management system, the data management system, and a job manager for automatic submission of compute tasks. We summarise the successfully established infrastructure in chapter 4, concluding with our future plans to establish AstroGrid-D as a platform of modern e-Astronomy.

A Fast Full Tensor Gravity computation algorithm for High Resolution 3D Geologic Interpretations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayaram, V.; Crain, K.; Keller, G. R.

2011-12-01

We present an algorithm to rapidly calculate the vertical gravity and full tensor gravity (FTG) values due to a 3-D geologic model. This algorithm can be implemented on single, multi-core CPU and graphical processing units (GPU) architectures. Our technique is based on the line element approximation with a constant density within each grid cell. This type of parameterization is well suited for high-resolution elevation datasets with grid size typically in the range of 1m to 30m. The large high-resolution data grids in our studies employ a pre-filtered mipmap pyramid type representation for the grid data known as the Geometry clipmap. The clipmap was first introduced by Microsoft Research in 2004 to do fly-through terrain visualization. This method caches nested rectangular extents of down-sampled data layers in the pyramid to create view-dependent calculation scheme. Together with the simple grid structure, this allows the gravity to be computed conveniently on-the-fly, or stored in a highly compressed format. Neither of these capabilities has previously been available. Our approach can perform rapid calculations on large topographies including crustal-scale models derived from complex geologic interpretations. For example, we used a 1KM Sphere model consisting of 105000 cells at 10m resolution with 100000 gravity stations. The line element approach took less than 90 seconds to compute the FTG and vertical gravity on an Intel Core i7 CPU at 3.07 GHz utilizing just its single core. Also, unlike traditional gravity computational algorithms, the line-element approach can calculate gravity effects at locations interior or exterior to the model. The only condition that must be met is the observation point cannot be located directly above the line element. Therefore, we perform a location test and then apply appropriate formulation to those data points. We will present and compare the computational performance of the traditional prism method versus the line element approach on different CPU-GPU system configurations. The algorithm calculates the expected gravity at station locations where the observed gravity and FTG data were acquired. This algorithm can be used for all fast forward model calculations of 3D geologic interpretations for data from airborne, space and submarine gravity, and FTG instrumentation.

ICASE Workshop on Programming Computational Grids

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-09-01

ICASE Workshop on Programming Computational Grids Thomas M. Eidson and Merrell L. Patrick ICASE, Hampton, Virginia ICASE NASA Langley Research Center...Computational Grids Contract Number Grant Number Program Element Number Author(s) Thomas M. Eidson and Merrell L. Patrick Project Number Task Number...clear that neither group fully understood the ideas and problems of the other. It was also clear that neither group is given the time and support to

Assessment of Slat Noise Predictions for 30P30N High-Lift Configuration From BANC-III Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choudhari, Meelan; Lockard, David P.

2015-01-01

This paper presents a summary of the computational predictions and measurement data contributed to Category 7 of the 3rd AIAA Workshop on Benchmark Problems for Airframe Noise Computations (BANC-III), which was held in Atlanta, GA, on June 14-15, 2014. Category 7 represents the first slat-noise configuration to be investigated under the BANC series of workshops, namely, the 30P30N two-dimensional high-lift model (with a slat contour that was slightly modified to enable unsteady pressure measurements) at an angle of attack that is relevant to approach conditions. Originally developed for a CFD challenge workshop to assess computational fluid dynamics techniques for steady high-lift predictions, the 30P30N configurations has provided a valuable opportunity for the airframe noise community to collectively assess and advance the computational and experimental techniques for slat noise. The contributed solutions are compared with each other as well as with the initial measurements that became available just prior to the BANC-III Workshop. Specific features of a number of computational solutions on the finer grids compare reasonably well with the initial measurements from FSU and JAXA facilities and/or with each other. However, no single solution (or a subset of solutions) could be identified as clearly superior to the remaining solutions. Grid sensitivity studies presented by multiple BANC-III participants demonstrated a relatively consistent trend of reduced surface pressure fluctuations, higher levels of turbulent kinetic energy in the flow, and lower levels of both narrow band peaks and the broadband component of unsteady pressure spectra in the nearfield and farfield. The lessons learned from the BANC-III contributions have been used to identify improvements to the problem statement for future Category-7 investigations.

Differences in Visual-Spatial Input May Underlie Different Compression Properties of Firing Fields for Grid Cell Modules in Medial Entorhinal Cortex

PubMed Central

Raudies, Florian; Hasselmo, Michael E.

2015-01-01

Firing fields of grid cells in medial entorhinal cortex show compression or expansion after manipulations of the location of environmental barriers. This compression or expansion could be selective for individual grid cell modules with particular properties of spatial scaling. We present a model for differences in the response of modules to barrier location that arise from different mechanisms for the influence of visual features on the computation of location that drives grid cell firing patterns. These differences could arise from differences in the position of visual features within the visual field. When location was computed from the movement of visual features on the ground plane (optic flow) in the ventral visual field, this resulted in grid cell spatial firing that was not sensitive to barrier location in modules modeled with small spacing between grid cell firing fields. In contrast, when location was computed from static visual features on walls of barriers, i.e. in the more dorsal visual field, this resulted in grid cell spatial firing that compressed or expanded based on the barrier locations in modules modeled with large spacing between grid cell firing fields. This indicates that different grid cell modules might have differential properties for computing location based on visual cues, or the spatial radius of sensitivity to visual cues might differ between modules. PMID:26584432

Accelerating the two-point and three-point galaxy correlation functions using Fourier transforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slepian, Zachary; Eisenstein, Daniel J.

2016-01-01

Though Fourier transforms (FTs) are a common technique for finding correlation functions, they are not typically used in computations of the anisotropy of the two-point correlation function (2PCF) about the line of sight in wide-angle surveys because the line-of-sight direction is not constant on the Cartesian grid. Here we show how FTs can be used to compute the multipole moments of the anisotropic 2PCF. We also show how FTs can be used to accelerate the 3PCF algorithm of Slepian & Eisenstein. In both cases, these FT methods allow one to avoid the computational cost of pair counting, which scales as the square of the number density of objects in the survey. With the upcoming large data sets of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, Euclid, and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, FT techniques will therefore offer an important complement to simple pair or triplet counts.

Aeroacoustic Simulations of a Nose Landing Gear with FUN3D: A Grid Refinement Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vatsa, Veer N.; Khorrami, Mehdi R.; Lockard, David P.

2017-01-01

A systematic grid refinement study is presented for numerical simulations of a partially-dressed, cavity-closed (PDCC) nose landing gear configuration that was tested in the University of Florida's open-jet acoustic facility known as the UFAFF. The unstructured-grid flow solver FUN3D is used to compute the unsteady flow field for this configuration. Mixed-element grids generated using the Pointwise (Registered Trademark) grid generation software are used for numerical simulations. Particular care is taken to ensure quality cells and proper resolution in critical areas of interest in an effort to minimize errors introduced by numerical artifacts. A set of grids was generated in this manner to create a family of uniformly refined grids. The finest grid was then modified to coarsen the wall-normal spacing to create a grid suitable for the wall-function implementation in FUN3D code. A hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes/large eddy simulation (RANS/LES) turbulence modeling approach is used for these simulations. Time-averaged and instantaneous solutions obtained on these grids are compared with the measured data. These CFD solutions are used as input to a FfowcsWilliams-Hawkings (FW-H) noise propagation code to compute the farfield noise levels. The agreement of the computed results with the experimental data improves as the grid is refined.

Stability and error estimation for Component Adaptive Grid methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliger, Joseph; Zhu, Xiaolei

1994-01-01

Component adaptive grid (CAG) methods for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDE's) are discussed in this paper. Applying recent stability results for a class of numerical methods on uniform grids. The convergence of these methods for linear problems on component adaptive grids is established here. Furthermore, the computational error can be estimated on CAG's using the stability results. Using these estimates, the error can be controlled on CAG's. Thus, the solution can be computed efficiently on CAG's within a given error tolerance. Computational results for time dependent linear problems in one and two space dimensions are presented.

A Simple XML Producer-Consumer Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Warren; Gunter, Dan; Quesnel, Darcy; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

There are many different projects from government, academia, and industry that provide services for delivering events in distributed environments. The problem with these event services is that they are not general enough to support all uses and they speak different protocols so that they cannot interoperate. We require such interoperability when we, for example, wish to analyze the performance of an application in a distributed environment. Such an analysis might require performance information from the application, computer systems, networks, and scientific instruments. In this work we propose and evaluate a standard XML-based protocol for the transmission of events in distributed systems. One recent trend in government and academic research is the development and deployment of computational grids. Computational grids are large-scale distributed systems that typically consist of high-performance compute, storage, and networking resources. Examples of such computational grids are the DOE Science Grid, the NASA Information Power Grid (IPG), and the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computing Infrastructure (PACIs). The major effort to deploy these grids is in the area of developing the software services to allow users to execute applications on these large and diverse sets of resources. These services include security, execution of remote applications, managing remote data, access to information about resources and services, and so on. There are several toolkits for providing these services such as Globus, Legion, and Condor. As part of these efforts to develop computational grids, the Global Grid Forum is working to standardize the protocols and APIs used by various grid services. This standardization will allow interoperability between the client and server software of the toolkits that are providing the grid services. The goal of the Performance Working Group of the Grid Forum is to standardize protocols and representations related to the storage and distribution of performance data. These standard protocols and representations must support tasks such as profiling parallel applications, monitoring the status of computers and networks, and monitoring the performance of services provided by a computational grid. This paper describes a proposed protocol and data representation for the exchange of events in a distributed system. The protocol exchanges messages formatted in XML and it can be layered atop any low-level communication protocol such as TCP or UDP Further, we describe Java and C++ implementations of this protocol and discuss their performance. The next section will provide some further background information. Section 3 describes the main communication patterns of our protocol. Section 4 describes how we represent events and related information using XML. Section 5 describes our protocol and Section 6 discusses the performance of two implementations of the protocol. Finally, an appendix provides the XML Schema definition of our protocol and event information.

A Survey of Shape Parameterization Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Samareh, Jamshid A.

1999-01-01

This paper provides a survey of shape parameterization techniques for multidisciplinary optimization and highlights some emerging ideas. The survey focuses on the suitability of available techniques for complex configurations, with suitability criteria based on the efficiency, effectiveness, ease of implementation, and availability of analytical sensitivities for geometry and grids. The paper also contains a section on field grid regeneration, grid deformation, and sensitivity analysis techniques.

On the effects of grid ill-conditioning in three dimensional finite element vector potential magnetostatic field computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, R.; Demerdash, N. A.

1990-01-01

The effects of finite element grid geometries and associated ill-conditioning were studied in single medium and multi-media (air-iron) three dimensional magnetostatic field computation problems. The sensitivities of these 3D field computations to finite element grid geometries were investigated. It was found that in single medium applications the unconstrained magnetic vector potential curl-curl formulation in conjunction with first order finite elements produce global results which are almost totally insensitive to grid geometries. However, it was found that in multi-media (air-iron) applications first order finite element results are sensitive to grid geometries and consequent elemental shape ill-conditioning. These sensitivities were almost totally eliminated by means of the use of second order finite elements in the field computation algorithms. Practical examples are given in this paper to demonstrate these aspects mentioned above.

Description of the F-16XL Geometry and Computational Grids Used in CAWAPI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boelens, O. J.; Badcock, K. J.; Gortz, S.; Morton, S.; Fritz, W.; Karman, S. L., Jr.; Michal, T.; Lamar, J. E.

2009-01-01

The objective of the Cranked-Arrow Wing Aerodynamics Project International (CAWAPI) was to allow a comprehensive validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics methods against the CAWAP flight database. A major part of this work involved the generation of high-quality computational grids. Prior to the grid generation an IGES file containing the air-tight geometry of the F-16XL aircraft was generated by a cooperation of the CAWAPI partners. Based on this geometry description both structured and unstructured grids have been generated. The baseline structured (multi-block) grid (and a family of derived grids) has been generated by the National Aerospace Laboratory NLR. Although the algorithms used by NLR had become available just before CAWAPI and thus only a limited experience with their application to such a complex configuration had been gained, a grid of good quality was generated well within four weeks. This time compared favourably with that required to produce the unstructured grids in CAWAPI. The baseline all-tetrahedral and hybrid unstructured grids has been generated at NASA Langley Research Center and the USAFA, respectively. To provide more geometrical resolution, trimmed unstructured grids have been generated at EADS-MAS, the UTSimCenter, Boeing Phantom Works and KTH/FOI. All grids generated within the framework of CAWAPI will be discussed in the article. Both results obtained on the structured grids and the unstructured grids showed a significant improvement in agreement with flight test data in comparison with those obtained on the structured multi-block grid used during CAWAP.

Hyperspherical Sparse Approximation Techniques for High-Dimensional Discontinuity Detection

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Guannan; Webster, Clayton G.; Gunzburger, Max; ...

2016-08-04

This work proposes a hyperspherical sparse approximation framework for detecting jump discontinuities in functions in high-dimensional spaces. The need for a novel approach results from the theoretical and computational inefficiencies of well-known approaches, such as adaptive sparse grids, for discontinuity detection. Our approach constructs the hyperspherical coordinate representation of the discontinuity surface of a function. Then sparse approximations of the transformed function are built in the hyperspherical coordinate system, with values at each point estimated by solving a one-dimensional discontinuity detection problem. Due to the smoothness of the hypersurface, the new technique can identify jump discontinuities with significantly reduced computationalmore » cost, compared to existing methods. Several approaches are used to approximate the transformed discontinuity surface in the hyperspherical system, including adaptive sparse grid and radial basis function interpolation, discrete least squares projection, and compressed sensing approximation. Moreover, hierarchical acceleration techniques are also incorporated to further reduce the overall complexity. In conclusion, rigorous complexity analyses of the new methods are provided, as are several numerical examples that illustrate the effectiveness of our approach.« less

An open source software for fast grid-based data-mining in spatial epidemiology (FGBASE).

PubMed

Baker, David M; Valleron, Alain-Jacques

2014-10-30

Examining whether disease cases are clustered in space is an important part of epidemiological research. Another important part of spatial epidemiology is testing whether patients suffering from a disease are more, or less, exposed to environmental factors of interest than adequately defined controls. Both approaches involve determining the number of cases and controls (or population at risk) in specific zones. For cluster searches, this often must be done for millions of different zones. Doing this by calculating distances can lead to very lengthy computations. In this work we discuss the computational advantages of geographical grid-based methods, and introduce an open source software (FGBASE) which we have created for this purpose. Geographical grids based on the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection are well suited for spatial epidemiology because they preserve area: each cell of the grid has the same area. We describe how data is projected onto such a grid, as well as grid-based algorithms for spatial epidemiological data-mining. The software program (FGBASE), that we have developed, implements these grid-based methods. The grid based algorithms perform extremely fast. This is particularly the case for cluster searches. When applied to a cohort of French Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) patients, as an example, the grid based algorithms detected potential clusters in a few seconds on a modern laptop. This compares very favorably to an equivalent cluster search using distance calculations instead of a grid, which took over 4 hours on the same computer. In the case study we discovered 4 potential clusters of T1D cases near the cities of Le Havre, Dunkerque, Toulouse and Nantes. One example of environmental analysis with our software was to study whether a significant association could be found between distance to vineyards with heavy pesticide. None was found. In both examples, the software facilitates the rapid testing of hypotheses. Grid-based algorithms for mining spatial epidemiological data provide advantages in terms of computational complexity thus improving the speed of computations. We believe that these methods and this software tool (FGBASE) will lower the computational barriers to entry for those performing epidemiological research.

The Space-Wise Global Gravity Model from GOCE Nominal Mission Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatti, A.; Migliaccio, F.; Reguzzoni, M.; Sampietro, D.; Sanso, F.

2011-12-01

In the framework of the GOCE data analysis, the space-wise approach implements a multi-step collocation solution for the estimation of a global geopotential model in terms of spherical harmonic coefficients and their error covariance matrix. The main idea is to use the collocation technique to exploit the spatial correlation of the gravity field in the GOCE data reduction. In particular the method consists of an along-track Wiener filter, a collocation gridding at satellite altitude and a spherical harmonic analysis by integration. All these steps are iterated, also to account for the rotation between local orbital and gradiometer reference frame. Error covariances are computed by Montecarlo simulations. The first release of the space-wise approach was presented at the ESA Living Planet Symposium in July 2010. This model was based on only two months of GOCE data and partially contained a priori information coming from other existing gravity models, especially at low degrees and low orders. A second release was distributed after the 4th International GOCE User Workshop in May 2011. In this solution, based on eight months of GOCE data, all the dependencies from external gravity information were removed thus giving rise to a GOCE-only space-wise model. However this model showed an over-regularization at the highest degrees of the spherical harmonic expansion due to the combination technique of intermediate solutions (based on about two months of data). In this work a new space-wise solution is presented. It is based on all nominal mission data from November 2009 to mid April 2011, and its main novelty is that the intermediate solutions are now computed in such a way to avoid over-regularization in the final solution. Beyond the spherical harmonic coefficients of the global model and their error covariance matrix, the space-wise approach is able to deliver as by-products a set of spherical grids of potential and of its second derivatives at mean satellite altitude. These grids have an information content that is very similar to the original along-orbit data, but they are much easier to handle. In addition they are estimated by local least-squares collocation and therefore, although computed by a unique global covariance function, they could yield more information at local level than the spherical harmonic coefficients of the global model. For this reason these grids seem to be useful for local geophysical investigations. The estimated grids with their estimated errors are presented in this work together with proposals on possible future improvements. A test to compare the different information contents of the along-orbit data, the gridded data and the spherical harmonic coefficients is also shown.

Partitioning medical image databases for content-based queries on a Grid.

PubMed

Montagnat, J; Breton, V; E Magnin, I

2005-01-01

In this paper we study the impact of executing a medical image database query application on the grid. For lowering the total computation time, the image database is partitioned into subsets to be processed on different grid nodes. A theoretical model of the application complexity and estimates of the grid execution overhead are used to efficiently partition the database. We show results demonstrating that smart partitioning of the database can lead to significant improvements in terms of total computation time. Grids are promising for content-based image retrieval in medical databases.

Summary of the Tandem Cylinder Solutions from the Benchmark Problems for Airframe Noise Computations-I Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lockard, David P.

2011-01-01

Fifteen submissions in the tandem cylinders category of the First Workshop on Benchmark problems for Airframe Noise Computations are summarized. Although the geometry is relatively simple, the problem involves complex physics. Researchers employed various block-structured, overset, unstructured and embedded Cartesian grid techniques and considerable computational resources to simulate the flow. The solutions are compared against each other and experimental data from 2 facilities. Overall, the simulations captured the gross features of the flow, but resolving all the details which would be necessary to compute the noise remains challenging. In particular, how to best simulate the effects of the experimental transition strip, and the associated high Reynolds number effects, was unclear. Furthermore, capturing the spanwise variation proved difficult.

Lambda Data Grid: Communications Architecture in Support of Grid Computing

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-21

number of paradigm shifts in the 20th century, including the growth of large geographically dispersed teams and the use of simulations and computational...get results. The work in this thesis automates the orchestration of networks with other resources, better utilizing all resources in a time efficient...domains, over transatlantic links in around minute. The main goal of this thesis is to build a new grid-computing paradigm that fully harnesses the

Grids: The Top Ten Questions

DOE PAGES

Schopf, Jennifer M.; Nitzberg, Bill

2002-01-01

The design and implementation of a national computing system and data grid has become a reachable goal from both the computer science and computational science point of view. A distributed infrastructure capable of sophisticated computational functions can bring many benefits to scientific work, but poses many challenges, both technical and socio-political. Technical challenges include having basic software tools, higher-level services, functioning and pervasive security, and standards, while socio-political issues include building a user community, adding incentives for sites to be part of a user-centric environment, and educating funding sources about the needs of this community. This paper details the areasmore » relating to Grid research that we feel still need to be addressed to fully leverage the advantages of the Grid.« less

Job Superscheduler Architecture and Performance in Computational Grid Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shan, Hongzhang; Oliker, Leonid; Biswas, Rupak

2003-01-01

Computational grids hold great promise in utilizing geographically separated heterogeneous resources to solve large-scale complex scientific problems. However, a number of major technical hurdles, including distributed resource management and effective job scheduling, stand in the way of realizing these gains. In this paper, we propose a novel grid superscheduler architecture and three distributed job migration algorithms. We also model the critical interaction between the superscheduler and autonomous local schedulers. Extensive performance comparisons with ideal, central, and local schemes using real workloads from leading computational centers are conducted in a simulation environment. Additionally, synthetic workloads are used to perform a detailed sensitivity analysis of our superscheduler. Several key metrics demonstrate that substantial performance gains can be achieved via smart superscheduling in distributed computational grids.

A computing method for spatial accessibility based on grid partition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Linbing; Zhang, Xinchang

2007-06-01

An accessibility computing method and process based on grid partition was put forward in the paper. As two important factors impacting on traffic, density of road network and relative spatial resistance for difference land use was integrated into computing traffic cost in each grid. A* algorithms was inducted to searching optimum traffic cost of grids path, a detailed searching process and definition of heuristic evaluation function was described in the paper. Therefore, the method can be implemented more simply and its data source is obtained more easily. Moreover, by changing heuristic searching information, more reasonable computing result can be obtained. For confirming our research, a software package was developed with C# language under ArcEngine9 environment. Applying the computing method, a case study on accessibility of business districts in Guangzhou city was carried out.

Geometrically Flexible and Efficient Flow Analysis of High Speed Vehicles Via Domain Decomposition, Part 1: Unstructured-Grid Solver for High Speed Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, Jeffery A.; Baurle, Robert A.; Passe, Bradley J.; Spiegel, Seth C.; Nishikawa, Hiroaki

2017-01-01

The ability to solve the equations governing the hypersonic turbulent flow of a real gas on unstructured grids using a spatially-elliptic, 2nd-order accurate, cell-centered, finite-volume method has been recently implemented in the VULCAN-CFD code. This paper describes the key numerical methods and techniques that were found to be required to robustly obtain accurate solutions to hypersonic flows on non-hex-dominant unstructured grids. The methods and techniques described include: an augmented stencil, weighted linear least squares, cell-average gradient method, a robust multidimensional cell-average gradient-limiter process that is consistent with the augmented stencil of the cell-average gradient method and a cell-face gradient method that contains a cell skewness sensitive damping term derived using hyperbolic diffusion based concepts. A data-parallel matrix-based symmetric Gauss-Seidel point-implicit scheme, used to solve the governing equations, is described and shown to be more robust and efficient than a matrix-free alternative. In addition, a y+ adaptive turbulent wall boundary condition methodology is presented. This boundary condition methodology is deigned to automatically switch between a solve-to-the-wall and a wall-matching-function boundary condition based on the local y+ of the 1st cell center off the wall. The aforementioned methods and techniques are then applied to a series of hypersonic and supersonic turbulent flat plate unit tests to examine the efficiency, robustness and convergence behavior of the implicit scheme and to determine the ability of the solve-to-the-wall and y+ adaptive turbulent wall boundary conditions to reproduce the turbulent law-of-the-wall. Finally, the thermally perfect, chemically frozen, Mach 7.8 turbulent flow of air through a scramjet flow-path is computed and compared with experimental data to demonstrate the robustness, accuracy and convergence behavior of the unstructured-grid solver for a realistic 3-D geometry on a non-hex-dominant grid.

Pervasive access to images and data--the use of computing grids and mobile/wireless devices across healthcare enterprises.

PubMed

Pohjonen, Hanna; Ross, Peeter; Blickman, Johan G; Kamman, Richard

2007-01-01

Emerging technologies are transforming the workflows in healthcare enterprises. Computing grids and handheld mobile/wireless devices are providing clinicians with enterprise-wide access to all patient data and analysis tools on a pervasive basis. In this paper, emerging technologies are presented that provide computing grids and streaming-based access to image and data management functions, and system architectures that enable pervasive computing on a cost-effective basis. Finally, the implications of such technologies are investigated regarding the positive impacts on clinical workflows.

AGIS: The ATLAS Grid Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anisenkov, A.; Di Girolamo, A.; Klimentov, A.; Oleynik, D.; Petrosyan, A.; Atlas Collaboration

2014-06-01

ATLAS, a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, produced petabytes of data annually through simulation production and tens of petabytes of data per year from the detector itself. The ATLAS computing model embraces the Grid paradigm and a high degree of decentralization and computing resources able to meet ATLAS requirements of petabytes scale data operations. In this paper we describe the ATLAS Grid Information System (AGIS), designed to integrate configuration and status information about resources, services and topology of the computing infrastructure used by the ATLAS Distributed Computing applications and services.

Multidisciplinary design optimization using multiobjective formulation techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chattopadhyay, Aditi; Pagaldipti, Narayanan S.

1995-01-01

This report addresses the development of a multidisciplinary optimization procedure using an efficient semi-analytical sensitivity analysis technique and multilevel decomposition for the design of aerospace vehicles. A semi-analytical sensitivity analysis procedure is developed for calculating computational grid sensitivities and aerodynamic design sensitivities. Accuracy and efficiency of the sensitivity analysis procedure is established through comparison of the results with those obtained using a finite difference technique. The developed sensitivity analysis technique are then used within a multidisciplinary optimization procedure for designing aerospace vehicles. The optimization problem, with the integration of aerodynamics and structures, is decomposed into two levels. Optimization is performed for improved aerodynamic performance at the first level and improved structural performance at the second level. Aerodynamic analysis is performed by solving the three-dimensional parabolized Navier Stokes equations. A nonlinear programming technique and an approximate analysis procedure are used for optimization. The proceduredeveloped is applied to design the wing of a high speed aircraft. Results obtained show significant improvements in the aircraft aerodynamic and structural performance when compared to a reference or baseline configuration. The use of the semi-analytical sensitivity technique provides significant computational savings.

Grid generation for the solution of partial differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eiseman, Peter R.; Erlebacher, Gordon

1989-01-01

A general survey of grid generators is presented with a concern for understanding why grids are necessary, how they are applied, and how they are generated. After an examination of the need for meshes, the overall applications setting is established with a categorization of the various connectivity patterns. This is split between structured grids and unstructured meshes. Altogether, the categorization establishes the foundation upon which grid generation techniques are developed. The two primary categories are algebraic techniques and partial differential equation techniques. These are each split into basic parts, and accordingly are individually examined in some detail. In the process, the interrelations between the various parts are accented. From the established background in the primary techniques, consideration is shifted to the topic of interactive grid generation and then to adaptive meshes. The setting for adaptivity is established with a suitable means to monitor severe solution behavior. Adaptive grids are considered first and are followed by adaptive triangular meshes. Then the consideration shifts to the temporal coupling between grid generators and PDE-solvers. To conclude, a reflection upon the discussion, herein, is given.

Grid generation for the solution of partial differential equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eiseman, Peter R.; Erlebacher, Gordon

1987-01-01

A general survey of grid generators is presented with a concern for understanding why grids are necessary, how they are applied, and how they are generated. After an examination of the need for meshes, the overall applications setting is established with a categorization of the various connectivity patterns. This is split between structured grids and unstructured meshes. Altogether, the categorization establishes the foundation upon which grid generation techniques are developed. The two primary categories are algebraic techniques and partial differential equation techniques. These are each split into basic parts, and accordingly are individually examined in some detail. In the process, the interrelations between the various parts are accented. From the established background in the primary techniques, consideration is shifted to the topic of interactive grid generation and then to adaptive meshes. The setting for adaptivity is established with a suitable means to monitor severe solution behavior. Adaptive grids are considered first and are followed by adaptive triangular meshes. Then the consideration shifts to the temporal coupling between grid generators and PDE-solvers. To conclude, a reflection upon the discussion, herein, is given.

Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics modeling of particle uptake by an occupational air sampler using manually-scaled and adaptive grids

PubMed Central

Landázuri, Andrea C.; Sáez, A. Eduardo; Anthony, T. Renée

2016-01-01

This work presents fluid flow and particle trajectory simulation studies to determine the aspiration efficiency of a horizontally oriented occupational air sampler using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Grid adaption and manual scaling of the grids were applied to two sampler prototypes based on a 37-mm cassette. The standard k–ε model was used to simulate the turbulent air flow and a second order streamline-upwind discretization scheme was used to stabilize convective terms of the Navier–Stokes equations. Successively scaled grids for each configuration were created manually and by means of grid adaption using the velocity gradient in the main flow direction. Solutions were verified to assess iterative convergence, grid independence and monotonic convergence. Particle aspiration efficiencies determined for both prototype samplers were undistinguishable, indicating that the porous filter does not play a noticeable role in particle aspiration. Results conclude that grid adaption is a powerful tool that allows to refine specific regions that require lots of detail and therefore better resolve flow detail. It was verified that adaptive grids provided a higher number of locations with monotonic convergence than the manual grids and required the least computational effort. PMID:26949268

The Impact of Varying the Physics Grid Resolution Relative to the Dynamical Core Resolution in CAM-SE-CSLAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herrington, A. R.; Lauritzen, P. H.; Reed, K. A.

2017-12-01

The spectral element dynamical core of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) has recently been coupled to an approximately isotropic, finite-volume grid per implementation of the conservative semi-Lagrangian multi-tracer transport scheme (CAM-SE-CSLAM; Lauritzen et al. 2017). In this framework, the semi-Lagrangian transport of tracers are computed on the finite-volume grid, while the adiabatic dynamics are solved using the spectral element grid. The physical parameterizations are evaluated on the finite-volume grid, as opposed to the unevenly spaced Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre nodes of the spectral element grid. Computing the physics on the finite-volume grid reduces numerical artifacts such as grid imprinting, possibly because the forcing terms are no longer computed at element boundaries where the resolved dynamics are least smooth. The separation of the physics grid and the dynamics grid allows for a unique opportunity to understand the resolution sensitivity in CAM-SE-CSLAM. The observed large sensitivity of CAM to horizontal resolution is a poorly understood impediment to improved simulations of regional climate using global, variable resolution grids. Here, a series of idealized moist simulations are presented in which the finite-volume grid resolution is varied relative to the spectral element grid resolution in CAM-SE-CSLAM. The simulations are carried out at multiple spectral element grid resolutions, in part to provide a companion set of simulations, in which the spectral element grid resolution is varied relative to the finite-volume grid resolution, but more generally to understand if the sensitivity to the finite-volume grid resolution is consistent across a wider spectrum of resolved scales. Results are interpreted in the context of prior ideas regarding resolution sensitivity of global atmospheric models.

Gridless, pattern-driven point cloud completion and extension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gravey, Mathieu; Mariethoz, Gregoire

2016-04-01

While satellites offer Earth observation with a wide coverage, other remote sensing techniques such as terrestrial LiDAR can acquire very high-resolution data on an area that is limited in extension and often discontinuous due to shadow effects. Here we propose a numerical approach to merge these two types of information, thereby reconstructing high-resolution data on a continuous large area. It is based on a pattern matching process that completes the areas where only low-resolution data is available, using bootstrapped high-resolution patterns. Currently, the most common approach to pattern matching is to interpolate the point data on a grid. While this approach is computationally efficient, it presents major drawbacks for point clouds processing because a significant part of the information is lost in the point-to-grid resampling, and that a prohibitive amount of memory is needed to store large grids. To address these issues, we propose a gridless method that compares point clouds subsets without the need to use a grid. On-the-fly interpolation involves a heavy computational load, which is met by using a GPU high-optimized implementation and a hierarchical pattern searching strategy. The method is illustrated using data from the Val d'Arolla, Swiss Alps, where high-resolution terrestrial LiDAR data are fused with lower-resolution Landsat and WorldView-3 acquisitions, such that the density of points is homogeneized (data completion) and that it is extend to a larger area (data extension).

High-Performance Compute Infrastructure in Astronomy: 2020 Is Only Months Away

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berriman, B.; Deelman, E.; Juve, G.; Rynge, M.; Vöckler, J. S.

2012-09-01

By 2020, astronomy will be awash with as much as 60 PB of public data. Full scientific exploitation of such massive volumes of data will require high-performance computing on server farms co-located with the data. Development of this computing model will be a community-wide enterprise that has profound cultural and technical implications. Astronomers must be prepared to develop environment-agnostic applications that support parallel processing. The community must investigate the applicability and cost-benefit of emerging technologies such as cloud computing to astronomy, and must engage the Computer Science community to develop science-driven cyberinfrastructure such as workflow schedulers and optimizers. We report here the results of collaborations between a science center, IPAC, and a Computer Science research institute, ISI. These collaborations may be considered pathfinders in developing a high-performance compute infrastructure in astronomy. These collaborations investigated two exemplar large-scale science-driver workflow applications: 1) Calculation of an infrared atlas of the Galactic Plane at 18 different wavelengths by placing data from multiple surveys on a common plate scale and co-registering all the pixels; 2) Calculation of an atlas of periodicities present in the public Kepler data sets, which currently contain 380,000 light curves. These products have been generated with two workflow applications, written in C for performance and designed to support parallel processing on multiple environments and platforms, but with different compute resource needs: the Montage image mosaic engine is I/O-bound, and the NASA Star and Exoplanet Database periodogram code is CPU-bound. Our presentation will report cost and performance metrics and lessons-learned for continuing development. Applicability of Cloud Computing: Commercial Cloud providers generally charge for all operations, including processing, transfer of input and output data, and for storage of data, and so the costs of running applications vary widely according to how they use resources. The cloud is well suited to processing CPU-bound (and memory bound) workflows such as the periodogram code, given the relatively low cost of processing in comparison with I/O operations. I/O-bound applications such as Montage perform best on high-performance clusters with fast networks and parallel file-systems. Science-driven Cyberinfrastructure: Montage has been widely used as a driver application to develop workflow management services, such as task scheduling in distributed environments, designing fault tolerance techniques for job schedulers, and developing workflow orchestration techniques. Running Parallel Applications Across Distributed Cloud Environments: Data processing will eventually take place in parallel distributed across cyber infrastructure environments having different architectures. We have used the Pegasus Work Management System (WMS) to successfully run applications across three very different environments: TeraGrid, OSG (Open Science Grid), and FutureGrid. Provisioning resources across different grids and clouds (also referred to as Sky Computing), involves establishing a distributed environment, where issues of, e.g, remote job submission, data management, and security need to be addressed. This environment also requires building virtual machine images that can run in different environments. Usually, each cloud provides basic images that can be customized with additional software and services. In most of our work, we provisioned compute resources using a custom application, called Wrangler. Pegasus WMS abstracts the architectures of the compute environments away from the end-user, and can be considered a first-generation tool suitable for scientists to run their applications on disparate environments.

Challenges in Modeling of the Global Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janjic, Zavisa; Djurdjevic, Vladimir; Vasic, Ratko; Black, Tom

2015-04-01

The massively parallel computer architectures require that some widely adopted modeling paradigms be reconsidered in order to utilize more productively the power of parallel processing. For high computational efficiency with distributed memory, each core should work on a small subdomain of the full integration domain, and exchange only few rows of halo data with the neighbouring cores. However, the described scenario implies that the discretization used in the model is horizontally local. The spherical geometry further complicates the problem. Various grid topologies will be discussed and examples will be shown. The latitude-longitude grid with local in space and explicit in time differencing has been an early choice and remained in use ever since. The problem with this method is that the grid size in the longitudinal direction tends to zero as the poles are approached. So, in addition to having unnecessarily high resolution near the poles, polar filtering has to be applied in order to use a time step of decent size. However, the polar filtering requires transpositions involving extra communications. The spectral transform method and the semi-implicit semi-Lagrangian schemes opened the way for a wide application of the spectral representation. With some variations, these techniques are used in most major centers. However, the horizontal non-locality is inherent to the spectral representation and implicit time differencing, which inhibits scaling on a large number of cores. In this respect the lat-lon grid with a fast Fourier transform represents a significant step in the right direction, particularly at high resolutions where the Legendre transforms become increasingly expensive. Other grids with reduced variability of grid distances such as various versions of the cubed sphere and the hexagonal/pentagonal ("soccer ball") grids were proposed almost fifty years ago. However, on these grids, large-scale (wavenumber 4 and 5) fictitious solutions ("grid imprinting") with significant amplitudes can develop. Due to their large scales, that are comparable to the scales of the dominant Rossby waves, such fictitious solutions are hard to identify and remove. Another new challenge on the global scale is that the limit of validity of the hydrostatic approximation is rapidly being approached. Having in mind the sensitivity of extended deterministic forecasts to small disturbances, we may need global non-hydrostatic models sooner than we think. The unified Non-hydrostatic Multi-scale Model (NMMB) that is being developed at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) as a part of the new NOAA Environmental Modeling System (NEMS) will be discussed as an example. The non-hydrostatic dynamics were designed in such a way as to avoid over-specification. The global version is run on the latitude-longitude grid, and the polar filter selectively slows down the waves that would otherwise be unstable. The model formulation has been successfully tested on various scales. A global forecasting system based on the NMMB has been run in order to test and tune the model. The skill of the medium range forecasts produced by the NMMB is comparable to that of other major medium range models. The computational efficiency of the global NMMB on parallel computers is good.

Apparatus for and method of simulating turbulence

DOEpatents

Dimas, Athanassios; Lottati, Isaac; Bernard, Peter; Collins, James; Geiger, James C.

2003-01-01

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a novel apparatus for and method of simulating physical processes such as fluid flow is provided. Fluid flow near a boundary or wall of an object is represented by a collection of vortex sheet layers. The layers are composed of a grid or mesh of one or more geometrically shaped space filling elements. In the preferred embodiment, the space filling elements take on a triangular shape. An Eulerian approach is employed for the vortex sheets, where a finite-volume scheme is used on the prismatic grid formed by the vortex sheet layers. A Lagrangian approach is employed for the vortical elements (e.g., vortex tubes or filaments) found in the remainder of the flow domain. To reduce the computational time, a hairpin removal scheme is employed to reduce the number of vortex filaments, and a Fast Multipole Method (FMM), preferably implemented using parallel processing techniques, reduces the computation of the velocity field.

The Grid[Way] Job Template Manager, a tool for parameter sweeping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorca, Alejandro; Huedo, Eduardo; Llorente, Ignacio M.

2011-04-01

Parameter sweeping is a widely used algorithmic technique in computational science. It is specially suited for high-throughput computing since the jobs evaluating the parameter space are loosely coupled or independent. A tool that integrates the modeling of a parameter study with the control of jobs in a distributed architecture is presented. The main task is to facilitate the creation and deletion of job templates, which are the elements describing the jobs to be run. Extra functionality relies upon the GridWay Metascheduler, acting as the middleware layer for job submission and control. It supports interesting features like multi-dimensional sweeping space, wildcarding of parameters, functional evaluation of ranges, value-skipping and job template automatic indexation. The use of this tool increases the reliability of the parameter sweep study thanks to the systematic bookkeeping of job templates and respective job statuses. Furthermore, it simplifies the porting of the target application to the grid reducing the required amount of time and effort. Program summaryProgram title: Grid[Way] Job Template Manager (version 1.0) Catalogue identifier: AEIE_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEIE_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: Apache license 2.0 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 3545 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 126 879 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Perl 5.8.5 and above Computer: Any (tested on PC x86 and x86_64) Operating system: Unix, GNU/Linux (tested on Ubuntu 9.04, Scientific Linux 4.7, centOS 5.4), Mac OS X (tested on Snow Leopard 10.6) RAM: 10 MB Classification: 6.5 External routines: The GridWay Metascheduler [1]. Nature of problem: To parameterize and manage an application running on a grid or cluster. Solution method: Generation of job templates as a cross product of the input parameter sets. Also management of the job template files including the job submission to the grid, control and information retrieval. Restrictions: The parameter sweep is limited by disk space during generation of the job templates. The wild-carding of parameters cannot be done in decreasing order. Job submission, control and information is delegated to the GridWay Metascheduler. Running time: From half a second in the simplest operation to a few minutes for thousands of exponential sampling parameters.

A Comparison of FPGA and GPGPU Designs for Bayesian Occupancy Filters

PubMed Central

Medina, Luis; Diez-Ochoa, Miguel; Correal, Raul; Cuenca-Asensi, Sergio; Godoy, Jorge; Martínez-Álvarez, Antonio

2017-01-01

Grid-based perception techniques in the automotive sector based on fusing information from different sensors and their robust perceptions of the environment are proliferating in the industry. However, one of the main drawbacks of these techniques is the traditionally prohibitive, high computing performance that is required for embedded automotive systems. In this work, the capabilities of new computing architectures that embed these algorithms are assessed in a real car. The paper compares two ad hoc optimized designs of the Bayesian Occupancy Filter; one for General Purpose Graphics Processing Unit (GPGPU) and the other for Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The resulting implementations are compared in terms of development effort, accuracy and performance, using datasets from a realistic simulator and from a real automated vehicle. PMID:29137137

Development of a Distributed Parallel Computing Framework to Facilitate Regional/Global Gridded Crop Modeling with Various Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, W.; Engda, T. A.; Neff, J. C.; Herrick, J.

2017-12-01

Many crop models are increasingly used to evaluate crop yields at regional and global scales. However, implementation of these models across large areas using fine-scale grids is limited by computational time requirements. In order to facilitate global gridded crop modeling with various scenarios (i.e., different crop, management schedule, fertilizer, and irrigation) using the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model, we developed a distributed parallel computing framework in Python. Our local desktop with 14 cores (28 threads) was used to test the distributed parallel computing framework in Iringa, Tanzania which has 406,839 grid cells. High-resolution soil data, SoilGrids (250 x 250 m), and climate data, AgMERRA (0.25 x 0.25 deg) were also used as input data for the gridded EPIC model. The framework includes a master file for parallel computing, input database, input data formatters, EPIC model execution, and output analyzers. Through the master file for parallel computing, the user-defined number of threads of CPU divides the EPIC simulation into jobs. Then, Using EPIC input data formatters, the raw database is formatted for EPIC input data and the formatted data moves into EPIC simulation jobs. Then, 28 EPIC jobs run simultaneously and only interesting results files are parsed and moved into output analyzers. We applied various scenarios with seven different slopes and twenty-four fertilizer ranges. Parallelized input generators create different scenarios as a list for distributed parallel computing. After all simulations are completed, parallelized output analyzers are used to analyze all outputs according to the different scenarios. This saves significant computing time and resources, making it possible to conduct gridded modeling at regional to global scales with high-resolution data. For example, serial processing for the Iringa test case would require 113 hours, while using the framework developed in this study requires only approximately 6 hours, a nearly 95% reduction in computing time.

Grid Computing at GSI for ALICE and FAIR - present and future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwarz, Kilian; Uhlig, Florian; Karabowicz, Radoslaw; Montiel-Gonzalez, Almudena; Zynovyev, Mykhaylo; Preuss, Carsten

2012-12-01

The future FAIR experiments CBM and PANDA have computing requirements that fall in a category that could currently not be satisfied by one single computing centre. One needs a larger, distributed computing infrastructure to cope with the amount of data to be simulated and analysed. Since 2002, GSI operates a tier2 center for ALICE@CERN. The central component of the GSI computing facility and hence the core of the ALICE tier2 centre is a LSF/SGE batch farm, currently split into three subclusters with a total of 15000 CPU cores shared by the participating experiments, and accessible both locally and soon also completely via Grid. In terms of data storage, a 5.5 PB Lustre file system, directly accessible from all worker nodes is maintained, as well as a 300 TB xrootd-based Grid storage element. Based on this existing expertise, and utilising ALICE's middleware ‘AliEn’, the Grid infrastructure for PANDA and CBM is being built. Besides a tier0 centre at GSI, the computing Grids of the two FAIR collaborations encompass now more than 17 sites in 11 countries and are constantly expanding. The operation of the distributed FAIR computing infrastructure benefits significantly from the experience gained with the ALICE tier2 centre. A close collaboration between ALICE Offline and FAIR provides mutual advantages. The employment of a common Grid middleware as well as compatible simulation and analysis software frameworks ensure significant synergy effects.

Integrating Xgrid into the HENP distributed computing model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hajdu, L.; Kocoloski, A.; Lauret, J.; Miller, M.

2008-07-01

Modern Macintosh computers feature Xgrid, a distributed computing architecture built directly into Apple's OS X operating system. While the approach is radically different from those generally expected by the Unix based Grid infrastructures (Open Science Grid, TeraGrid, EGEE), opportunistic computing on Xgrid is nonetheless a tempting and novel way to assemble a computing cluster with a minimum of additional configuration. In fact, it requires only the default operating system and authentication to a central controller from each node. OS X also implements arbitrarily extensible metadata, allowing an instantly updated file catalog to be stored as part of the filesystem itself. The low barrier to entry allows an Xgrid cluster to grow quickly and organically. This paper and presentation will detail the steps that can be taken to make such a cluster a viable resource for HENP research computing. We will further show how to provide to users a unified job submission framework by integrating Xgrid through the STAR Unified Meta-Scheduler (SUMS), making tasks and jobs submission effortlessly at reach for those users already using the tool for traditional Grid or local cluster job submission. We will discuss additional steps that can be taken to make an Xgrid cluster a full partner in grid computing initiatives, focusing on Open Science Grid integration. MIT's Xgrid system currently supports the work of multiple research groups in the Laboratory for Nuclear Science, and has become an important tool for generating simulations and conducting data analyses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2014

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

The International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2014 will be held at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan from 23-28 March 2014, with co-located events and workshops. The conference is hosted by the Academia Sinica Grid Computing Centre (ASGC).“Bringing the data scientist to global e-Infrastructures” is the theme of ISGC 2014. The last decade has seen the phenomenal growth in the production of data in all forms by all research communities to produce a deluge of data from which information and knowledge need to be extracted. Key to this success will be the data scientist - educated to use advanced algorithms, applications and infrastructures - collaborating internationally to tackle society’s challenges. ISGC 2014 will bring together researchers working in all aspects of data science from different disciplines around the world to collaborate and educate themselves in the latest achievements and techniques being used to tackle the data deluge. In addition to the regular workshops, technical presentations and plenary keynotes, ISGC this year will focus on how to grow the data science community by considering the educational foundation needed for tomorrow’s data scientist. Topics of discussion include Physics (including HEP) and Engineering Applications, Biomedicine & Life Sciences Applications, Earth & Environmental Sciences & Biodiversity Applications, Humanities & Social Sciences Application, Virtual Research Environment (including Middleware, tools, services, workflow, ... etc.), Data Management, Big Data, Infrastructure & Operations Management, Infrastructure Clouds and Virtualisation, Interoperability, Business Models & Sustainability, Highly Distributed Computing Systems, and High Performance & Technical Computing (HPTC).

Parallel computing techniques for rotorcraft aerodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekici, Kivanc

The modification of unsteady three-dimensional Navier-Stokes codes for application on massively parallel and distributed computing environments is investigated. The Euler/Navier-Stokes code TURNS (Transonic Unsteady Rotor Navier-Stokes) was chosen as a test bed because of its wide use by universities and industry. For the efficient implementation of TURNS on parallel computing systems, two algorithmic changes are developed. First, main modifications to the implicit operator, Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss Seidel (LU-SGS) originally used in TURNS, is performed. Second, application of an inexact Newton method, coupled with a Krylov subspace iterative method (Newton-Krylov method) is carried out. Both techniques have been tried previously for the Euler equations mode of the code. In this work, we have extended the methods to the Navier-Stokes mode. Several new implicit operators were tried because of convergence problems of traditional operators with the high cell aspect ratio (CAR) grids needed for viscous calculations on structured grids. Promising results for both Euler and Navier-Stokes cases are presented for these operators. For the efficient implementation of Newton-Krylov methods to the Navier-Stokes mode of TURNS, efficient preconditioners must be used. The parallel implicit operators used in the previous step are employed as preconditioners and the results are compared. The Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol has been used because of its portability to various parallel architectures. It should be noted that the proposed methodology is general and can be applied to several other CFD codes (e.g. OVERFLOW).

Soil Sampling Techniques For Alabama Grain Fields

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, A. N.; Shaw, J. N.; Mask, P. L.; Touchton, J. T.; Rickman, D.

2003-01-01

Characterizing the spatial variability of nutrients facilitates precision soil sampling. Questions exist regarding the best technique for directed soil sampling based on a priori knowledge of soil and crop patterns. The objective of this study was to evaluate zone delineation techniques for Alabama grain fields to determine which method best minimized the soil test variability. Site one (25.8 ha) and site three (20.0 ha) were located in the Tennessee Valley region, and site two (24.2 ha) was located in the Coastal Plain region of Alabama. Tennessee Valley soils ranged from well drained Rhodic and Typic Paleudults to somewhat poorly drained Aquic Paleudults and Fluventic Dystrudepts. Coastal Plain s o i l s ranged from coarse-loamy Rhodic Kandiudults to loamy Arenic Kandiudults. Soils were sampled by grid soil sampling methods (grid sizes of 0.40 ha and 1 ha) consisting of: 1) twenty composited cores collected randomly throughout each grid (grid-cell sampling) and, 2) six composited cores collected randomly from a -3x3 m area at the center of each grid (grid-point sampling). Zones were established from 1) an Order 1 Soil Survey, 2) corn (Zea mays L.) yield maps, and 3) airborne remote sensing images. All soil properties were moderately to strongly spatially dependent as per semivariogram analyses. Differences in grid-point and grid-cell soil test values suggested grid-point sampling does not accurately represent grid values. Zones created by soil survey, yield data, and remote sensing images displayed lower coefficient of variations (8CV) for soil test values than overall field values, suggesting these techniques group soil test variability. However, few differences were observed between the three zone delineation techniques. Results suggest directed sampling using zone delineation techniques outlined in this paper would result in more efficient soil sampling for these Alabama grain fields.

Block-structured grids for complex aerodynamic configurations: Current status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vatsa, Veer N.; Sanetrik, Mark D.; Parlette, Edward B.

1995-01-01

The status of CFD methods based on the use of block-structured grids for analyzing viscous flows over complex configurations is examined. The objective of the present study is to make a realistic assessment of the usability of such grids for routine computations typically encountered in the aerospace industry. It is recognized at the very outset that the total turnaround time, from the moment the configuration is identified until the computational results have been obtained and postprocessed, is more important than just the computational time. Pertinent examples will be cited to demonstrate the feasibility of solving flow over practical configurations of current interest on block-structured grids.

Towards optimization in digital chest radiography using Monte Carlo modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ullman, Gustaf; Sandborg, Michael; Dance, David R.; Hunt, Roger A.; Alm Carlsson, Gudrun

2006-06-01

A Monte Carlo based computer model of the x-ray imaging system was used to investigate how various image quality parameters of interest in chest PA radiography and the effective dose E vary with tube voltage (90-150 kV), additional copper filtration (0-0.5 mm), anti-scatter method (grid ratios 8-16 and air gap lengths 20-40 cm) and patient thickness (20-28 cm) in a computed radiography (CR) system. Calculated quantities were normalized to a fixed value of air kerma (5.0 µGy) at the automatic exposure control chambers. Soft-tissue nodules were positioned at different locations in the anatomy and calcifications in the apical region. The signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, of the nodules and the nodule contrast relative to the contrast of bone (C/CB) as well as relative to the dynamic range in the image (Crel) were used as image quality measures. In all anatomical regions, except in the densest regions in the thickest patients, the air gap technique provides higher SNR and contrast ratios than the grid technique and at a lower effective dose E. Choice of tube voltage depends on whether quantum noise (SNR) or the contrast ratios are most relevant for the diagnostic task. SNR increases with decreasing tube voltage while C/CB increases with increasing tube voltage.

Fully implicit adaptive mesh refinement MHD algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philip, Bobby

2005-10-01

In the macroscopic simulation of plasmas, the numerical modeler is faced with the challenge of dealing with multiple time and length scales. The former results in stiffness due to the presence of very fast waves. The latter requires one to resolve the localized features that the system develops. Traditional approaches based on explicit time integration techniques and fixed meshes are not suitable for this challenge, as such approaches prevent the modeler from using realistic plasma parameters to keep the computation feasible. We propose here a novel approach, based on implicit methods and structured adaptive mesh refinement (SAMR). Our emphasis is on both accuracy and scalability with the number of degrees of freedom. To our knowledge, a scalable, fully implicit AMR algorithm has not been accomplished before for MHD. As a proof-of-principle, we focus on the reduced resistive MHD model as a basic MHD model paradigm, which is truly multiscale. The approach taken here is to adapt mature physics-based technologyootnotetextL. Chac'on et al., J. Comput. Phys. 178 (1), 15- 36 (2002) to AMR grids, and employ AMR-aware multilevel techniques (such as fast adaptive composite --FAC-- algorithms) for scalability. We will demonstrate that the concept is indeed feasible, featuring optimal scalability under grid refinement. Results of fully-implicit, dynamically-adaptive AMR simulations will be presented on a variety of problems.

SAGE: The Self-Adaptive Grid Code. 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davies, Carol B.; Venkatapathy, Ethiraj

1999-01-01

The multi-dimensional self-adaptive grid code, SAGE, is an important tool in the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). It provides an efficient method to improve the accuracy of flow solutions while simultaneously reducing computer processing time. Briefly, SAGE enhances an initial computational grid by redistributing the mesh points into more appropriate locations. The movement of these points is driven by an equal-error-distribution algorithm that utilizes the relationship between high flow gradients and excessive solution errors. The method also provides a balance between clustering points in the high gradient regions and maintaining the smoothness and continuity of the adapted grid, The latest version, Version 3, includes the ability to change the boundaries of a given grid to more efficiently enclose flow structures and provides alternative redistribution algorithms.

Custom Sky-Image Mosaics from NASA's Information Power Grid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jacob, Joseph; Collier, James; Craymer, Loring; Curkendall, David

2005-01-01

yourSkyG is the second generation of the software described in yourSky: Custom Sky-Image Mosaics via the Internet (NPO-30556), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 27, No. 6 (June 2003), page 45. Like its predecessor, yourSkyG supplies custom astronomical image mosaics of sky regions specified by requesters using client computers connected to the Internet. Whereas yourSky constructs mosaics on a local multiprocessor system, yourSkyG performs the computations on NASA s Information Power Grid (IPG), which is capable of performing much larger mosaicking tasks. (The IPG is high-performance computation and data grid that integrates geographically distributed 18 NASA Tech Briefs, September 2005 computers, databases, and instruments.) A user of yourSkyG can specify parameters describing a mosaic to be constructed. yourSkyG then constructs the mosaic on the IPG and makes it available for downloading by the user. The complexities of determining which input images are required to construct a mosaic, retrieving the required input images from remote sky-survey archives, uploading the images to the computers on the IPG, performing the computations remotely on the Grid, and downloading the resulting mosaic from the Grid are all transparent to the user

Broad Search for Unstable Resonant Orbits in the Planar Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Rodney L.; Campagnola, Stefano; Lantoine, Gregory

2013-01-01

Unstable resonant orbits in the circular restricted three-body problem have increasingly been used for trajectory design using optimization and invariant manifold techniques.In this study, several methods for computing these unstable resonant orbits are explored including flyby maps, continuation from two-body models, and grid searches. Families of orbits are computed focusing on the Jupiter-Europa system, and their characteristics are explored. Different parameters such as period and stability are examined for each set of resonantor bits, and the continuation of several specific orbits is explored in more detail.

The data storage grid: the next generation of fault-tolerant storage for backup and disaster recovery of clinical images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Nelson E.; Liu, Brent; Zhou, Zheng; Documet, Jorge; Huang, H. K.

2005-04-01

Grid Computing represents the latest and most exciting technology to evolve from the familiar realm of parallel, peer-to-peer and client-server models that can address the problem of fault-tolerant storage for backup and recovery of clinical images. We have researched and developed a novel Data Grid testbed involving several federated PAC systems based on grid architecture. By integrating a grid computing architecture to the DICOM environment, a failed PACS archive can recover its image data from others in the federation in a timely and seamless fashion. The design reflects the five-layer architecture of grid computing: Fabric, Resource, Connectivity, Collective, and Application Layers. The testbed Data Grid architecture representing three federated PAC systems, the Fault-Tolerant PACS archive server at the Image Processing and Informatics Laboratory, Marina del Rey, the clinical PACS at Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, and the clinical PACS at the Healthcare Consultation Center II, USC Health Science Campus, will be presented. The successful demonstration of the Data Grid in the testbed will provide an understanding of the Data Grid concept in clinical image data backup as well as establishment of benchmarks for performance from future grid technology improvements and serve as a road map for expanded research into large enterprise and federation level data grids to guarantee 99.999 % up time.

Computation of Asteroid Proper Elements on the Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novakovic, B.; Balaz, A.; Knezevic, Z.; Potocnik, M.

2009-12-01

A procedure of gridification of the computation of asteroid proper orbital elements is described. The need to speed up the time consuming computations and make them more efficient is justified by the large increase of observational data expected from the next generation all sky surveys. We give the basic notion of proper elements and of the contemporary theories and methods used to compute them for different populations of objects. Proper elements for nearly 70,000 asteroids are derived since the beginning of use of the Grid infrastructure for the purpose. The average time for the catalogs update is significantly shortened with respect to the time needed with stand-alone workstations. We also present basics of the Grid computing, the concepts of Grid middleware and its Workload management system. The practical steps we undertook to efficiently gridify our application are described in full detail. We present the results of a comprehensive testing of the performance of different Grid sites, and offer some practical conclusions based on the benchmark results and on our experience. Finally, we propose some possibilities for the future work.

GLIDE: a grid-based light-weight infrastructure for data-intensive environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mattmann, Chris A.; Malek, Sam; Beckman, Nels; Mikic-Rakic, Marija; Medvidovic, Nenad; Chrichton, Daniel J.

2005-01-01

The promise of the grid is that it will enable public access and sharing of immense amounts of computational and data resources among dynamic coalitions of individuals and institutions. However, the current grid solutions make several limiting assumptions that curtail their widespread adoption. To address these limitations, we present GLIDE, a prototype light-weight, data-intensive middleware infrastructure that enables access to the robust data and computational power of the grid on DREAM platforms.

Tight Bounds for Minimax Grid Matching, with Applications to the Average Case Analysis of Algorithms.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-05-01

AD-ft?l 552 TIGHT BOUNDS FOR NININAX GRID MATCHING WITH i APPLICATIONS TO THE AVERAGE C.. (U) MASSACHUSETTS INST OF TECH CAMBRIDGE LAS FOR COMPUTER...MASSACHUSETTS LABORATORYFORNSTITUTE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY MIT/LCS/TM-298 TIGHT BOUNDS FOR MINIMAX GRID MATCHING, WITH APPLICATIONS TO THE AVERAGE...PERIOD COVERED Tight bounds for minimax grid matching, Interim research with applications to the average case May 1986 analysis of algorithms. 6

Distributed data mining on grids: services, tools, and applications.

PubMed

Cannataro, Mario; Congiusta, Antonio; Pugliese, Andrea; Talia, Domenico; Trunfio, Paolo

2004-12-01

Data mining algorithms are widely used today for the analysis of large corporate and scientific datasets stored in databases and data archives. Industry, science, and commerce fields often need to analyze very large datasets maintained over geographically distributed sites by using the computational power of distributed and parallel systems. The grid can play a significant role in providing an effective computational support for distributed knowledge discovery applications. For the development of data mining applications on grids we designed a system called Knowledge Grid. This paper describes the Knowledge Grid framework and presents the toolset provided by the Knowledge Grid for implementing distributed knowledge discovery. The paper discusses how to design and implement data mining applications by using the Knowledge Grid tools starting from searching grid resources, composing software and data components, and executing the resulting data mining process on a grid. Some performance results are also discussed.

Schwarz-Christoffel Conformal Mapping based Grid Generation for Global Oceanic Circulation Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Shiming

2015-04-01

We propose new grid generation algorithms for global ocean general circulation models (OGCMs). Contrary to conventional, analytical forms based dipolar or tripolar grids, the new algorithm are based on Schwarz-Christoffel (SC) conformal mapping with prescribed boundary information. While dealing with the conventional grid design problem of pole relocation, it also addresses more advanced issues of computational efficiency and the new requirements on OGCM grids arisen from the recent trend of high-resolution and multi-scale modeling. The proposed grid generation algorithm could potentially achieve the alignment of grid lines to coastlines, enhanced spatial resolution in coastal regions, and easier computational load balance. Since the generated grids are still orthogonal curvilinear, they can be readily 10 utilized in existing Bryan-Cox-Semtner type ocean models. The proposed methodology can also be applied to the grid generation task for regional ocean modeling when complex land-ocean distribution is present.

Fast Learning for Immersive Engagement in Energy Simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bush, Brian W; Bugbee, Bruce; Gruchalla, Kenny M

The fast computation which is critical for immersive engagement with and learning from energy simulations would be furthered by developing a general method for creating rapidly computed simplified versions of NREL's computation-intensive energy simulations. Created using machine learning techniques, these 'reduced form' simulations can provide statistically sound estimates of the results of the full simulations at a fraction of the computational cost with response times - typically less than one minute of wall-clock time - suitable for real-time human-in-the-loop design and analysis. Additionally, uncertainty quantification techniques can document the accuracy of the approximate models and their domain of validity. Approximationmore » methods are applicable to a wide range of computational models, including supply-chain models, electric power grid simulations, and building models. These reduced-form representations cannot replace or re-implement existing simulations, but instead supplement them by enabling rapid scenario design and quality assurance for large sets of simulations. We present an overview of the framework and methods we have implemented for developing these reduced-form representations.« less

Modelling noise propagation using Grid Resources. Progress within GDI-Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiehle, Christian; Mayer, Christian; Padberg, Alexander; Stapelfeld, Hartmut

2010-05-01

Modelling noise propagation using Grid Resources. Progress within GDI-Grid. GDI-Grid (english: SDI-Grid) is a research project funded by the German Ministry for Science and Education (BMBF). It aims at bridging the gaps between OGC Web Services (OWS) and Grid infrastructures and identifying the potential of utilizing the superior storage capacities and computational power of grid infrastructures for geospatial applications while keeping the well-known service interfaces specified by the OGC. The project considers all major OGC webservice interfaces for Web Mapping (WMS), Feature access (Web Feature Service), Coverage access (Web Coverage Service) and processing (Web Processing Service). The major challenge within GDI-Grid is the harmonization of diverging standards as defined by standardization bodies for Grid computing and spatial information exchange. The project started in 2007 and will continue until June 2010. The concept for the gridification of OWS developed by lat/lon GmbH and the Department of Geography of the University of Bonn is applied to three real-world scenarios in order to check its practicability: a flood simulation, a scenario for emergency routing and a noise propagation simulation. The latter scenario is addressed by the Stapelfeldt Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH located in Dortmund adapting their LimA software to utilize grid resources. Noise mapping of e.g. traffic noise in urban agglomerates and along major trunk roads is a reoccurring demand of the EU Noise Directive. Input data requires road net and traffic, terrain, buildings and noise protection screens as well as population distribution. Noise impact levels are generally calculated in 10 m grid and along relevant building facades. For each receiver position sources within a typical range of 2000 m are split down into small segments, depending on local geometry. For each of the segments propagation analysis includes diffraction effects caused by all obstacles on the path of sound propagation. This immense intensive calculation needs to be performed for a major part of European landscape. A LINUX version of the commercial LimA software for noise mapping analysis has been implemented on a test cluster within the German D-GRID computer network. Results and performance indicators will be presented. The presentation is an extension to last-years presentation "Spatial Data Infrastructures and Grid Computing: the GDI-Grid project" that described the gridification concept developed in the GDI-Grid project and provided an overview of the conceptual gaps between Grid Computing and Spatial Data Infrastructures. Results from the GDI-Grid project are incorporated in the OGC-OGF (Open Grid Forum) collaboration efforts as well as the OGC WPS 2.0 standards working group developing the next major version of the WPS specification.

omniClassifier: a Desktop Grid Computing System for Big Data Prediction Modeling

PubMed Central

Phan, John H.; Kothari, Sonal; Wang, May D.

2016-01-01

Robust prediction models are important for numerous science, engineering, and biomedical applications. However, best-practice procedures for optimizing prediction models can be computationally complex, especially when choosing models from among hundreds or thousands of parameter choices. Computational complexity has further increased with the growth of data in these fields, concurrent with the era of “Big Data”. Grid computing is a potential solution to the computational challenges of Big Data. Desktop grid computing, which uses idle CPU cycles of commodity desktop machines, coupled with commercial cloud computing resources can enable research labs to gain easier and more cost effective access to vast computing resources. We have developed omniClassifier, a multi-purpose prediction modeling application that provides researchers with a tool for conducting machine learning research within the guidelines of recommended best-practices. omniClassifier is implemented as a desktop grid computing system using the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) middleware. In addition to describing implementation details, we use various gene expression datasets to demonstrate the potential scalability of omniClassifier for efficient and robust Big Data prediction modeling. A prototype of omniClassifier can be accessed at http://omniclassifier.bme.gatech.edu/. PMID:27532062

Generic Dynamic Environment Perception Using Smart Mobile Devices.

PubMed

Danescu, Radu; Itu, Razvan; Petrovai, Andra

2016-10-17

The driving environment is complex and dynamic, and the attention of the driver is continuously challenged, therefore computer based assistance achieved by processing image and sensor data may increase traffic safety. While active sensors and stereovision have the advantage of obtaining 3D data directly, monocular vision is easy to set up, and can benefit from the increasing computational power of smart mobile devices, and from the fact that almost all of them come with an embedded camera. Several driving assistance application are available for mobile devices, but they are mostly targeted for simple scenarios and a limited range of obstacle shapes and poses. This paper presents a technique for generic, shape independent real-time obstacle detection for mobile devices, based on a dynamic, free form 3D representation of the environment: the particle based occupancy grid. Images acquired in real time from the smart mobile device's camera are processed by removing the perspective effect and segmenting the resulted bird-eye view image to identify candidate obstacle areas, which are then used to update the occupancy grid. The occupancy grid tracked cells are grouped into obstacles depicted as cuboids having position, size, orientation and speed. The easy to set up system is able to reliably detect most obstacles in urban traffic, and its measurement accuracy is comparable to a stereovision system.

Evaluation of Generation Alternation Models in Evolutionary Robotics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oiso, Masashi; Matsumura, Yoshiyuki; Yasuda, Toshiyuki; Ohkura, Kazuhiro

For efficient implementation of Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) to a desktop grid computing environment, we propose a new generation alternation model called Grid-Oriented-Deletion (GOD) based on comparison with the conventional techniques. In previous research, generation alternation models are generally evaluated by using test functions. However, their exploration performance on the real problems such as Evolutionary Robotics (ER) has not been made very clear yet. Therefore we investigate the relationship between the exploration performance of EA on an ER problem and its generation alternation model. We applied four generation alternation models to the Evolutionary Multi-Robotics (EMR), which is the package-pushing problem to investigate their exploration performance. The results show that GOD is more effective than the other conventional models.

Cloud Bursting with GlideinWMS: Means to satisfy ever increasing computing needs for Scientific Workflows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mhashilkar, Parag; Tiradani, Anthony; Holzman, Burt; Larson, Krista; Sfiligoi, Igor; Rynge, Mats

2014-06-01

Scientific communities have been in the forefront of adopting new technologies and methodologies in the computing. Scientific computing has influenced how science is done today, achieving breakthroughs that were impossible to achieve several decades ago. For the past decade several such communities in the Open Science Grid (OSG) and the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) have been using GlideinWMS to run complex application workflows to effectively share computational resources over the grid. GlideinWMS is a pilot-based workload management system (WMS) that creates on demand, a dynamically sized overlay HTCondor batch system on grid resources. At present, the computational resources shared over the grid are just adequate to sustain the computing needs. We envision that the complexity of the science driven by "Big Data" will further push the need for computational resources. To fulfill their increasing demands and/or to run specialized workflows, some of the big communities like CMS are investigating the use of cloud computing as Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IAAS) with GlideinWMS as a potential alternative to fill the void. Similarly, communities with no previous access to computing resources can use GlideinWMS to setup up a batch system on the cloud infrastructure. To enable this, the architecture of GlideinWMS has been extended to enable support for interfacing GlideinWMS with different Scientific and commercial cloud providers like HLT, FutureGrid, FermiCloud and Amazon EC2. In this paper, we describe a solution for cloud bursting with GlideinWMS. The paper describes the approach, architectural changes and lessons learned while enabling support for cloud infrastructures in GlideinWMS.

Cloud Bursting with GlideinWMS: Means to satisfy ever increasing computing needs for Scientific Workflows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mhashilkar, Parag; Tiradani, Anthony; Holzman, Burt

Scientific communities have been in the forefront of adopting new technologies and methodologies in the computing. Scientific computing has influenced how science is done today, achieving breakthroughs that were impossible to achieve several decades ago. For the past decade several such communities in the Open Science Grid (OSG) and the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) have been using GlideinWMS to run complex application workflows to effectively share computational resources over the grid. GlideinWMS is a pilot-based workload management system (WMS) that creates on demand, a dynamically sized overlay HTCondor batch system on grid resources. At present, the computational resources shared overmore » the grid are just adequate to sustain the computing needs. We envision that the complexity of the science driven by 'Big Data' will further push the need for computational resources. To fulfill their increasing demands and/or to run specialized workflows, some of the big communities like CMS are investigating the use of cloud computing as Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IAAS) with GlideinWMS as a potential alternative to fill the void. Similarly, communities with no previous access to computing resources can use GlideinWMS to setup up a batch system on the cloud infrastructure. To enable this, the architecture of GlideinWMS has been extended to enable support for interfacing GlideinWMS with different Scientific and commercial cloud providers like HLT, FutureGrid, FermiCloud and Amazon EC2. In this paper, we describe a solution for cloud bursting with GlideinWMS. The paper describes the approach, architectural changes and lessons learned while enabling support for cloud infrastructures in GlideinWMS.« less

Aspects of Unstructured Grids and Finite-Volume Solvers for the Euler and Navier-Stokes Equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barth, Timothy J.

1992-01-01

One of the major achievements in engineering science has been the development of computer algorithms for solving nonlinear differential equations such as the Navier-Stokes equations. In the past, limited computer resources have motivated the development of efficient numerical schemes in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) utilizing structured meshes. The use of structured meshes greatly simplifies the implementation of CFD algorithms on conventional computers. Unstructured grids on the other hand offer an alternative to modeling complex geometries. Unstructured meshes have irregular connectivity and usually contain combinations of triangles, quadrilaterals, tetrahedra, and hexahedra. The generation and use of unstructured grids poses new challenges in CFD. The purpose of this note is to present recent developments in the unstructured grid generation and flow solution technology.

Long Range Debye-Hückel Correction for Computation of Grid-based Electrostatic Forces Between Biomacromolecules

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mereghetti, Paolo; Martinez, M.; Wade, Rebecca C.

Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations can be used to study very large molecular systems, such as models of the intracellular environment, using atomic-detail structures. Such simulations require strategies to contain the computational costs, especially for the computation of interaction forces and energies. A common approach is to compute interaction forces between macromolecules by precomputing their interaction potentials on three-dimensional discretized grids. For long-range interactions, such as electrostatics, grid-based methods are subject to finite size errors. We describe here the implementation of a Debye-Hückel correction to the grid-based electrostatic potential used in the SDA BD simulation software that was applied to simulatemore » solutions of bovine serum albumin and of hen egg white lysozyme.« less

Parallel grid generation algorithm for distributed memory computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moitra, Stuti; Moitra, Anutosh

1994-01-01

A parallel grid-generation algorithm and its implementation on the Intel iPSC/860 computer are described. The grid-generation scheme is based on an algebraic formulation of homotopic relations. Methods for utilizing the inherent parallelism of the grid-generation scheme are described, and implementation of multiple levELs of parallelism on multiple instruction multiple data machines are indicated. The algorithm is capable of providing near orthogonality and spacing control at solid boundaries while requiring minimal interprocessor communications. Results obtained on the Intel hypercube for a blended wing-body configuration are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm. Fortran implementations bAsed on the native programming model of the iPSC/860 computer and the Express system of software tools are reported. Computational gains in execution time speed-up ratios are given.

Grid artifact reduction for direct digital radiography detectors based on rotated stationary grids with homomorphic filtering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Dong Sik; Lee, Sanggyun

2013-06-15

Purpose: Grid artifacts are caused when using the antiscatter grid in obtaining digital x-ray images. In this paper, research on grid artifact reduction techniques is conducted especially for the direct detectors, which are based on amorphous selenium. Methods: In order to analyze and reduce the grid artifacts, the authors consider a multiplicative grid image model and propose a homomorphic filtering technique. For minimal damage due to filters, which are used to suppress the grid artifacts, rotated grids with respect to the sampling direction are employed, and min-max optimization problems for searching optimal grid frequencies and angles for given sampling frequenciesmore » are established. The authors then propose algorithms for the grid artifact reduction based on the band-stop filters as well as low-pass filters. Results: The proposed algorithms are experimentally tested for digital x-ray images, which are obtained from direct detectors with the rotated grids, and are compared with other algorithms. It is shown that the proposed algorithms can successfully reduce the grid artifacts for direct detectors. Conclusions: By employing the homomorphic filtering technique, the authors can considerably suppress the strong grid artifacts with relatively narrow-bandwidth filters compared to the normal filtering case. Using rotated grids also significantly reduces the ringing artifact. Furthermore, for specific grid frequencies and angles, the authors can use simple homomorphic low-pass filters in the spatial domain, and thus alleviate the grid artifacts with very low implementation complexity.« less

Two-Dimensional Grids About Airfoils and Other Shapes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sorenson, R.

1982-01-01

GRAPE computer program generates two-dimensional finite-difference grids about airfoils and other shapes by use of Poisson differential equation. GRAPE can be used with any boundary shape, even one specified by tabulated points and including limited number of sharp corners. Numerically stable and computationally fast, GRAPE provides aerodynamic analyst with efficient and consistant means of grid generation.

Numerical simulation of three dimensional transonic flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sahu, Jubaraj; Steger, Joseph L.

1987-01-01

The three-dimensional flow over a projectile has been computed using an implicit, approximately factored, partially flux-split algorithm. A simple composite grid scheme has been developed in which a single grid is partitioned into a series of smaller grids for applications which require an external large memory device such as the SSD of the CRAY X-MP/48, or multitasking. The accuracy and stability of the composite grid scheme has been tested by numerically simulating the flow over an ellipsoid at angle of attack and comparing the solution with a single grid solution. The flowfield over a projectile at M = 0.96 and 4 deg angle-of-attack has been computed using a fine grid, and compared with experiment.

Modeling nonlinear ultrasound propagation in heterogeneous media with power law absorption using a k-space pseudospectral method.

PubMed

Treeby, Bradley E; Jaros, Jiri; Rendell, Alistair P; Cox, B T

2012-06-01

The simulation of nonlinear ultrasound propagation through tissue realistic media has a wide range of practical applications. However, this is a computationally difficult problem due to the large size of the computational domain compared to the acoustic wavelength. Here, the k-space pseudospectral method is used to reduce the number of grid points required per wavelength for accurate simulations. The model is based on coupled first-order acoustic equations valid for nonlinear wave propagation in heterogeneous media with power law absorption. These are derived from the equations of fluid mechanics and include a pressure-density relation that incorporates the effects of nonlinearity, power law absorption, and medium heterogeneities. The additional terms accounting for convective nonlinearity and power law absorption are expressed as spatial gradients making them efficient to numerically encode. The governing equations are then discretized using a k-space pseudospectral technique in which the spatial gradients are computed using the Fourier-collocation method. This increases the accuracy of the gradient calculation and thus relaxes the requirement for dense computational grids compared to conventional finite difference methods. The accuracy and utility of the developed model is demonstrated via several numerical experiments, including the 3D simulation of the beam pattern from a clinical ultrasound probe.

Network Reduction Algorithm for Developing Distribution Feeders for Real-Time Simulators

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nagarajan, Adarsh; Nelson, Austin A; Prabakar, Kumaraguru

As advanced grid-support functions (AGF) become more widely used in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverters, utilities are increasingly interested in their impacts when implemented in the field. These effects can be understood by modeling feeders in real-time simulators and test PV inverters using power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) techniques. This paper presents a novel feeder model reduction algorithm using a ruin & reconstruct methodology that enables large feeders to be solved and operated on real-time computing platforms. Two Hawaiian Electric feeder models in Synergi Electric's load flow software were converted to reduced order models in OpenDSS, and subsequently implemented in the OPAL-RT real-timemore » digital testing platform. Smart PV inverters were added to the realtime model with AGF responses modeled after characterizing commercially available hardware inverters. Finally, hardware inverters were tested in conjunction with the real-time model using PHIL techniques so that the effects of AGFs on the feeders could be analyzed.« less

Network Reduction Algorithm for Developing Distribution Feeders for Real-Time Simulators: Preprint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nagarajan, Adarsh; Nelson, Austin; Prabakar, Kumaraguru

As advanced grid-support functions (AGF) become more widely used in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverters, utilities are increasingly interested in their impacts when implemented in the field. These effects can be understood by modeling feeders in real-time systems and testing PV inverters using power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) techniques. This paper presents a novel feeder model reduction algorithm using a Monte Carlo method that enables large feeders to be solved and operated on real-time computing platforms. Two Hawaiian Electric feeder models in Synergi Electric's load flow software were converted to reduced order models in OpenDSS, and subsequently implemented in the OPAL-RT real-time digitalmore » testing platform. Smart PV inverters were added to the real-time model with AGF responses modeled after characterizing commercially available hardware inverters. Finally, hardware inverters were tested in conjunction with the real-time model using PHIL techniques so that the effects of AGFs on the choice feeders could be analyzed.« less

Textbook Multigrid Efficiency for Leading Edge Stagnation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.; Mineck, Raymond E.

2004-01-01

A multigrid solver is defined as having textbook multigrid efficiency (TME) if the solutions to the governing system of equations are attained in a computational work which is a small (less than 10) multiple of the operation count in evaluating the discrete residuals. TME in solving the incompressible inviscid fluid equations is demonstrated for leading-edge stagnation flows. The contributions of this paper include (1) a special formulation of the boundary conditions near stagnation allowing convergence of the Newton iterations on coarse grids, (2) the boundary relaxation technique to facilitate relaxation and residual restriction near the boundaries, (3) a modified relaxation scheme to prevent initial error amplification, and (4) new general analysis techniques for multigrid solvers. Convergence of algebraic errors below the level of discretization errors is attained by a full multigrid (FMG) solver with one full approximation scheme (FAS) cycle per grid. Asymptotic convergence rates of the FAS cycles for the full system of flow equations are very fast, approaching those for scalar elliptic equations.

Textbook Multigrid Efficiency for Leading Edge Stagnation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.; Mineck, Raymond E.

2004-01-01

A multigrid solver is defined as having textbook multigrid efficiency (TME) if the solutions to the governing system of equations are attained in a computational work which is a small (less than 10) multiple of the operation count in evaluating the discrete residuals. TME in solving the incompressible inviscid fluid equations is demonstrated for leading- edge stagnation flows. The contributions of this paper include (1) a special formulation of the boundary conditions near stagnation allowing convergence of the Newton iterations on coarse grids, (2) the boundary relaxation technique to facilitate relaxation and residual restriction near the boundaries, (3) a modified relaxation scheme to prevent initial error amplification, and (4) new general analysis techniques for multigrid solvers. Convergence of algebraic errors below the level of discretization errors is attained by a full multigrid (FMG) solver with one full approximation scheme (F.4S) cycle per grid. Asymptotic convergence rates of the F.4S cycles for the full system of flow equations are very fast, approaching those for scalar elliptic equations.

Study of signal-to-noise ratio in digital mammography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kato, Yuri; Fujita, Naotoshi; Kodera, Yoshie

2009-02-01

Mammography techniques have recently advanced from those using analog systems (the screen-film system) to those using digital systems; for example, computed radiography (CR) and flat-panel detectors (FPDs) are nowadays used in mammography. Further, phase contrast mammography (PCM)-a digital technique by which images with a magnification of 1.75× can be obtained-is now available in the market. We studied the effect of the air gap in PCM and evaluated the effectiveness of an antiscatter x-ray grid in conventional mammography (CM) by measuring the scatter fraction ratio (SFR) and relative signal-to-noise ratio (rSNR) and comparing them between PCM and the digital CM. The results indicated that the SFRs for the CM images obtained with a grid were the lowest and that these ratios were almost the same as those for the PCM images. In contrast, the rSNRs for the PCM images were the highest, which means that the scattering of x-rays was sufficiently reduced by the air gap without the loss of primary x-rays.

Modeling target normal sheath acceleration using handoffs between multiple simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMahon, Matthew; Willis, Christopher; Mitchell, Robert; King, Frank; Schumacher, Douglass; Akli, Kramer; Freeman, Richard

2013-10-01

We present a technique to model the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) process using full-scale LSP PIC simulations. The technique allows for a realistic laser, full size target and pre-plasma, and sufficient propagation length for the accelerated ions and electrons. A first simulation using a 2D Cartesian grid models the laser-plasma interaction (LPI) self-consistently and includes field ionization. Electrons accelerated by the laser are imported into a second simulation using a 2D cylindrical grid optimized for the initial TNSA process and incorporating an equation of state. Finally, all of the particles are imported to a third simulation optimized for the propagation of the accelerated ions and utilizing a static field solver for initialization. We also show use of 3D LPI simulations. Simulation results are compared to recent ion acceleration experiments using SCARLET laser at The Ohio State University. This work was performed with support from ASOFR under contract # FA9550-12-1-0341, DARPA, and allocations of computing time from the Ohio Supercomputing Center.

Fast Dynamic Simulation-Based Small Signal Stability Assessment and Control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Acharya, Naresh; Baone, Chaitanya; Veda, Santosh

2014-12-31

Power grid planning and operation decisions are made based on simulation of the dynamic behavior of the system. Enabling substantial energy savings while increasing the reliability of the aging North American power grid through improved utilization of existing transmission assets hinges on the adoption of wide-area measurement systems (WAMS) for power system stabilization. However, adoption of WAMS alone will not suffice if the power system is to reach its full entitlement in stability and reliability. It is necessary to enhance predictability with "faster than real-time" dynamic simulations that will enable the dynamic stability margins, proactive real-time control, and improve gridmore » resiliency to fast time-scale phenomena such as cascading network failures. Present-day dynamic simulations are performed only during offline planning studies, considering only worst case conditions such as summer peak, winter peak days, etc. With widespread deployment of renewable generation, controllable loads, energy storage devices and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles expected in the near future and greater integration of cyber infrastructure (communications, computation and control), monitoring and controlling the dynamic performance of the grid in real-time would become increasingly important. The state-of-the-art dynamic simulation tools have limited computational speed and are not suitable for real-time applications, given the large set of contingency conditions to be evaluated. These tools are optimized for best performance of single-processor computers, but the simulation is still several times slower than real-time due to its computational complexity. With recent significant advances in numerical methods and computational hardware, the expectations have been rising towards more efficient and faster techniques to be implemented in power system simulators. This is a natural expectation, given that the core solution algorithms of most commercial simulators were developed decades ago, when High Performance Computing (HPC) resources were not commonly available.« less

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpar, D. M. (Principal Investigator)

1982-01-01

Progress made in reducing MAGSAT data and displaying magnetic field perturbations caused primarily by external currents is reported. A periodic and repeatable perturbation pattern is described that arises from external current effects but appears as unique signatures associated with upper middle latitudes on the Earth's surface. Initial testing of the modeling procedure that was developed to compute the magnetic fields at satellite orbit due to current distributions in the ionosphere and magnetosphere is also discussed. The modeling technique utilizes a linear current element representation of the large scale space current system.

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpar, D. M. (Principal Investigator)

1982-01-01

Efforts in support of the development of a model of the magnetic fields due to ionospheric and magnetospheric electrical currents are discussed. Specifically, progress made in reading MAGSAT tapes and plotting the deviation of the measured magnetic field components with respect to a spherical harmonic model of the main geomagnetic field is reported. Initial tests of the modeling procedure developed to compute the ionosphere/magnetosphere-induced fields at satellite orbit are also described. The modeling technique utilizes a liner current element representation of the large scale current system.

Digital overlaying of the universal transverse Mercator grid with LANDSAT data derived products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graham, M. H.

1977-01-01

Picture elements of data from the LANDSAT multispectral scanner are correlated with the universal tranverse Mercator grid. In the procedure, a series of computer modules was used to make approximations of universal transverse Mercator grid locations for all picture elements from the grid locations of a limited number of known control points and to provide display and digital storage of the data. The software has been written in FORTRAN 4 language for a Varian 70-series computer.

FitEM2EM—Tools for Low Resolution Study of Macromolecular Assembly and Dynamics

PubMed Central

Frankenstein, Ziv; Sperling, Joseph; Sperling, Ruth; Eisenstein, Miriam

2008-01-01

Studies of the structure and dynamics of macromolecular assemblies often involve comparison of low resolution models obtained using different techniques such as electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy. We present new computational tools for comparing (matching) and docking of low resolution structures, based on shape complementarity. The matched or docked objects are represented by three dimensional grids where the value of each grid point depends on its position with regard to the interior, surface or exterior of the object. The grids are correlated using fast Fourier transformations producing either matches of related objects or docking models depending on the details of the grid representations. The procedures incorporate thickening and smoothing of the surfaces of the objects which effectively compensates for differences in the resolution of the matched/docked objects, circumventing the need for resolution modification. The presented matching tool FitEM2EMin successfully fitted electron microscopy structures obtained at different resolutions, different conformers of the same structure and partial structures, ranking correct matches at the top in every case. The differences between the grid representations of the matched objects can be used to study conformation differences or to characterize the size and shape of substructures. The presented low-to-low docking tool FitEM2EMout ranked the expected models at the top. PMID:18974836

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McKinnon, Archibald D.; Thompson, Seth R.; Doroshchuk, Ruslan A.

mart grid technologies are transforming the electric power grid into a grid with bi-directional flows of both power and information. Operating millions of new smart meters and smart appliances will significantly impact electric distribution systems resulting in greater efficiency. However, the scale of the grid and the new types of information transmitted will potentially introduce several security risks that cannot be addressed by traditional, centralized security techniques. We propose a new bio-inspired cyber security approach. Social insects, such as ants and bees, have developed complex-adaptive systems that emerge from the collective application of simple, light-weight behaviors. The Digital Ants frameworkmore » is a bio-inspired framework that uses mobile light-weight agents. Sensors within the framework use digital pheromones to communicate with each other and to alert each other of possible cyber security issues. All communication and coordination is both localized and decentralized thereby allowing the framework to scale across the large numbers of devices that will exist in the smart grid. Furthermore, the sensors are light-weight and therefore suitable for implementation on devices with limited computational resources. This paper will provide a brief overview of the Digital Ants framework and then present results from test bed-based demonstrations that show that Digital Ants can identify a cyber attack scenario against smart meter deployments.« less

On unstructured grids and solvers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barth, T. J.

1990-01-01

The fundamentals and the state-of-the-art technology for unstructured grids and solvers are highlighted. Algorithms and techniques pertinent to mesh generation are discussed. It is shown that grid generation and grid manipulation schemes rely on fast multidimensional searching. Flow solution techniques for the Euler equations, which can be derived from the integral form of the equations are discussed. Sample calculations are also provided.

Automatic blocking for complex three-dimensional configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dannenhoffer, John F., III

1995-01-01

A new blocking technique for complex three-dimensional configurations is described. This new technique is based upon the concept of an abstraction, or squared-up representation, of the configuration and the associated grid. By allowing the user to describe blocking requirements in natural terms (such as 'wrap a grid around this leading edge' or 'make all grid lines emanating from this wall orthogonal to it'), users can quickly generate complex grids around complex configurations, while still maintaining a high level of control where desired. An added advantage of the abstraction concept is that once a blocking is defined for a class of configurations, it can be automatically applied to other configurations of the same class, making the new technique particularly well suited for the parametric variations which typically occur during design processes. Grids have been generated for a variety of real-world, two- and three-dimensional configurations. In all cases, the time required to generate the grid, given just an electronic form of the configuration, was at most a few days. Hence with this new technique, the generation of a block-structured grid is only slightly more expensive than the generation of an unstructured grid for the same configuration.

Direct numerical simulation of particulate flows with an overset grid method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koblitz, A. R.; Lovett, S.; Nikiforakis, N.; Henshaw, W. D.

2017-08-01

We evaluate an efficient overset grid method for two-dimensional and three-dimensional particulate flows for small numbers of particles at finite Reynolds number. The rigid particles are discretised using moving overset grids overlaid on a Cartesian background grid. This allows for strongly-enforced boundary conditions and local grid refinement at particle surfaces, thereby accurately capturing the viscous boundary layer at modest computational cost. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a fractional-step scheme which is second-order-accurate in space and time, while the fluid-solid coupling is achieved with a partitioned approach including multiple sub-iterations to increase stability for light, rigid bodies. Through a series of benchmark studies we demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of this approach compared to other boundary conformal and static grid methods in the literature. In particular, we find that fully resolving boundary layers at particle surfaces is crucial to obtain accurate solutions to many common test cases. With our approach we are able to compute accurate solutions using as little as one third the number of grid points as uniform grid computations in the literature. A detailed convergence study shows a 13-fold decrease in CPU time over a uniform grid test case whilst maintaining comparable solution accuracy.

Virtualizing access to scientific applications with the Application Hosting Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zasada, S. J.; Coveney, P. V.

2009-12-01

The growing power and number of high performance computing resources made available through computational grids present major opportunities as well as a number of challenges to the user. At issue is how these resources can be accessed and how their power can be effectively exploited. In this paper we first present our views on the usability of contemporary high-performance computational resources. We introduce the concept of grid application virtualization as a solution to some of the problems with grid-based HPC usability. We then describe a middleware tool that we have developed to realize the virtualization of grid applications, the Application Hosting Environment (AHE), and describe the features of the new release, AHE 2.0, which provides access to a common platform of federated computational grid resources in standard and non-standard ways. Finally, we describe a case study showing how AHE supports clinical use of whole brain blood flow modelling in a routine and automated fashion. Program summaryProgram title: Application Hosting Environment 2.0 Catalogue identifier: AEEJ_v1_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEEJ_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU Public Licence, Version 2 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: not applicable No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 685 603 766 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: Perl (server), Java (Client) Computer: x86 Operating system: Linux (Server), Linux/Windows/MacOS (Client) RAM: 134 217 728 (server), 67 108 864 (client) bytes Classification: 6.5 External routines: VirtualBox (server), Java (client) Nature of problem: The middleware that makes grid computing possible has been found by many users to be too unwieldy, and presents an obstacle to use rather than providing assistance [1,2]. Such problems are compounded when one attempts to harness the power of a grid, or a federation of different grids, rather than just a single resource on the grid. Solution method: To address the above problem, we have developed AHE, a lightweight interface, designed to simplify the process of running scientific codes on a grid of HPC and local resources. AHE does this by introducing a layer of middleware between the user and the grid, which encapsulates much of the complexity associated with launching grid applications. Unusual features: The server is distributed as a VirtualBox virtual machine. VirtualBox ( http://www.virtualbox.org) must be downloaded and installed in order to run the AHE server virtual machine. Details of how to do this are given in the AHE 2.0 Quick Start Guide. Running time: Not applicable References:J. Chin, P.V. Coveney, Towards tractable toolkits for the grid: A plea for lightweight, useable middleware, NeSC Technical Report, 2004, http://nesc.ac.uk/technical_papers/UKeS-2004-01.pdf. P.V. Coveney, R.S. Saksena, S.J. Zasada, M. McKeown, S. Pickles, The Application Hosting Environment: Lightweight middleware for grid-based computational science, Computer Physics Communications 176 (2007) 406-418.

Acceleration of incremental-pressure-correction incompressible flow computations using a coarse-grid projection method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kashefi, Ali; Staples, Anne

2016-11-01

Coarse grid projection (CGP) methodology is a novel multigrid method for systems involving decoupled nonlinear evolution equations and linear elliptic equations. The nonlinear equations are solved on a fine grid and the linear equations are solved on a corresponding coarsened grid. Mapping functions transfer data between the two grids. Here we propose a version of CGP for incompressible flow computations using incremental pressure correction methods, called IFEi-CGP (implicit-time-integration, finite-element, incremental coarse grid projection). Incremental pressure correction schemes solve Poisson's equation for an intermediate variable and not the pressure itself. This fact contributes to IFEi-CGP's efficiency in two ways. First, IFEi-CGP preserves the velocity field accuracy even for a high level of pressure field grid coarsening and thus significant speedup is achieved. Second, because incremental schemes reduce the errors that arise from boundaries with artificial homogenous Neumann conditions, CGP generates undamped flows for simulations with velocity Dirichlet boundary conditions. Comparisons of the data accuracy and CPU times for the incremental-CGP versus non-incremental-CGP computations are presented.

HappyFace as a generic monitoring tool for HEP experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawamura, Gen; Magradze, Erekle; Musheghyan, Haykuhi; Quadt, Arnulf; Rzehorz, Gerhard

2015-12-01

The importance of monitoring on HEP grid computing systems is growing due to a significant increase in their complexity. Computer scientists and administrators have been studying and building effective ways to gather information on and clarify a status of each local grid infrastructure. The HappyFace project aims at making the above-mentioned workflow possible. It aggregates, processes and stores the information and the status of different HEP monitoring resources into the common database of HappyFace. The system displays the information and the status through a single interface. However, this model of HappyFace relied on the monitoring resources which are always under development in the HEP experiments. Consequently, HappyFace needed to have direct access methods to the grid application and grid service layers in the different HEP grid systems. To cope with this issue, we use a reliable HEP software repository, the CernVM File System. We propose a new implementation and an architecture of HappyFace, the so-called grid-enabled HappyFace. It allows its basic framework to connect directly to the grid user applications and the grid collective services, without involving the monitoring resources in the HEP grid systems. This approach gives HappyFace several advantages: Portability, to provide an independent and generic monitoring system among the HEP grid systems. Eunctionality, to allow users to perform various diagnostic tools in the individual HEP grid systems and grid sites. Elexibility, to make HappyFace beneficial and open for the various distributed grid computing environments. Different grid-enabled modules, to connect to the Ganga job monitoring system and to check the performance of grid transfers among the grid sites, have been implemented. The new HappyFace system has been successfully integrated and now it displays the information and the status of both the monitoring resources and the direct access to the grid user applications and the grid collective services.

Wavelet-based Adaptive Mesh Refinement Method for Global Atmospheric Chemical Transport Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rastigejev, Y.

2011-12-01

Numerical modeling of global atmospheric chemical transport presents enormous computational difficulties, associated with simulating a wide range of time and spatial scales. The described difficulties are exacerbated by the fact that hundreds of chemical species and thousands of chemical reactions typically are used for chemical kinetic mechanism description. These computational requirements very often forces researches to use relatively crude quasi-uniform numerical grids with inadequate spatial resolution that introduces significant numerical diffusion into the system. It was shown that this spurious diffusion significantly distorts the pollutant mixing and transport dynamics for typically used grid resolution. The described numerical difficulties have to be systematically addressed considering that the demand for fast, high-resolution chemical transport models will be exacerbated over the next decade by the need to interpret satellite observations of tropospheric ozone and related species. In this study we offer dynamically adaptive multilevel Wavelet-based Adaptive Mesh Refinement (WAMR) method for numerical modeling of atmospheric chemical evolution equations. The adaptive mesh refinement is performed by adding and removing finer levels of resolution in the locations of fine scale development and in the locations of smooth solution behavior accordingly. The algorithm is based on the mathematically well established wavelet theory. This allows us to provide error estimates of the solution that are used in conjunction with an appropriate threshold criteria to adapt the non-uniform grid. Other essential features of the numerical algorithm include: an efficient wavelet spatial discretization that allows to minimize the number of degrees of freedom for a prescribed accuracy, a fast algorithm for computing wavelet amplitudes, and efficient and accurate derivative approximations on an irregular grid. The method has been tested for a variety of benchmark problems including numerical simulation of transpacific traveling pollution plumes. The generated pollution plumes are diluted due to turbulent mixing as they are advected downwind. Despite this dilution, it was recently discovered that pollution plumes in the remote troposphere can preserve their identity as well-defined structures for two weeks or more as they circle the globe. Present Global Chemical Transport Models (CTMs) implemented for quasi-uniform grids are completely incapable of reproducing these layered structures due to high numerical plume dilution caused by numerical diffusion combined with non-uniformity of atmospheric flow. It is shown that WAMR algorithm solutions of comparable accuracy as conventional numerical techniques are obtained with more than an order of magnitude reduction in number of grid points, therefore the adaptive algorithm is capable to produce accurate results at a relatively low computational cost. The numerical simulations demonstrate that WAMR algorithm applied the traveling plume problem accurately reproduces the plume dynamics unlike conventional numerical methods that utilizes quasi-uniform numerical grids.