A diffuse interface method for solid-phase modeling of regression behavior in solid composite propellants

Solid composite propellants (SCPs) are ubiquitous in the field of propulsion. In order to design and control solid SCP rocket motors, it is critical to understand and accurately predict SCP regression. Regression of the burn surface is a complex process resulting from thermo-chemical-mechanical interactions, often exhibitingextreme morphological changes and topological transitions. Diffuse interface methods, such as phase field (PF), are well-suited for modeling processes of this type, and offer some distinct numerical advantages over their sharp-interface counterparts. In this work, we present a phase-field framework for modelingthe regression of SCPs with varying species and geometry. We construct the model from a thermodynamic perspective, leaving the base formulation general. A diffuse-species-interface field is employed as a mechanism for capturing complex burn chemistry in a reduced-order fashion, making it possible to model regressionfrom the solid phase only. The computational implementation, which uses block-structured adaptive mesh refinement and temporal substepping for increased performance, is briefly discussed. The model is then applied to four test cases: (i) pure AP monopropellant, (ii) AP/PBAN sandwich, (iii) AP/HTPB sandwich,and (iv) spherical AP particles packed in HTPB matrix. In all cases, reasonable quantitative agreement is observed, even when the model is applied predictively (i.e., no parameter adjustment), as in the case of (iv). The validation of the proposed PF model demonstrates its efficacy as a numerical design tool for future SCP investigation.

AMReX: Block-structured adaptive mesh refinement for multiphysics applications

Block-structured adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) provides the basis for the temporal and spatial discretization strategy for a number of Exascale Computing Project applications in the areas of accelerator design, additive manufacturing, astrophysics, combustion, cosmology, multiphase flow, and wind plant modeling. AMReX is a software framework that provides a unified infrastructure with the functionality needed for these and other AMR applications to be able to effectively and efficiently utilize machines from laptops to exascale architectures. AMR reduces the computational cost and memory footprint compared to a uniform mesh while preserving accurate descriptions of different physical processes in complex multiphysics algorithms. AMReX supports algorithms that solve systems of partial differential equations in simple or complex geometries and those that use particles and/or particle–mesh operations to represent component physical processes. In this article, we will discuss the core elements of the AMReX framework such as data containers and iterators as well as several specialized operations to meet the needs of the application projects. In addition, we will highlight the strategy that the AMReX team is pursuing to achieve highly performant code across a range of accelerator-based architectures for a variety of different applications.

Tsunami Generation, Consequences on Coastlines, and Potential Global Climate Effects due to Asteroids Impacting Earth’s Oceans

<p>Despite that the annual probability of an asteroid impact on earth is low, but over time, such catastrophic events are inevitable and can have negative global consequences. Several institutions around the world have come together to address global consequences of asteroids impacting earth. For example, interest in assessing the tsunami generation and impact consequences has led us to develop a physics-based framework to seamlessly simulate the event from source (asteroid entry) to ocean impact (splash) to long wave generation, propagation, and their catastrophic risk to people and infrastructure in coastal regions such inundation of the shoreline. The non-linear effects of the asteroid impact on the ocean surface are simulated using the hydrocode GEODYN to create the impact source for the shallow water wave propagation code, SWWP. The GEODYN-SWWP coupling is based on the structured adaptive mesh refinement infrastructure; SAMRAI developed at LLNL. Another consequence of ocean impact is the potentially global effects of an event that would otherwise be of only regional or local importance, should it occur on land. Only a fraction of the total impact energy is converted into water waves that have the ability to globally propagate in the oceans. The remaining energy is consumed by the “evaporation” of the asteroid, the ocean water being transformed into vapor and mist and the fractionization of ocean water and vapor into chlorine and bromine which alter the atmospheric chemistry, therefore impacting globally the Ozone layer and earth temperature. In this paper, we present our scheme of creating the source -- including nonlinear transient cratering and nearfield waves, generating the vapor cloud and the chemical speciation source load of chlorine and bromine to assess the global circulation of those plumes and their effects on the climate. We also present our coupling scheme of the hydrodynamic source using GEODYN with the global atmospheric circulation code GEOSCCM and illustrate the scheme on the PDC 2017 and PDC 2019 asteroid impact scenarios. We illustrate the coupling scheme for asteroids impact along the US, Europe and Asia shorelines. We illustrate, by examples, how the predictions of these numerical tools can help international, state and local government agencies reduce the risks and prepare and implement a  response and recovery plan.  This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.</p>

An Integrated Approach for Statistical Microscale Homogenization to Macroscopic Dynamic Fracture Analysis

Maintaining material inhomogeneity and sample-to-sample variations is crucial in fracture analysis, particularly for quasibrittle materials. We use statistical volume elements (SVEs) to homogenize elastic and fracture properties of ZrB2-SiC, a two-phase composite often used for thermal coating. At the mesoscale, a 2D finite element mesh is generated from the microstructure using the Conforming to Interface Structured Adaptive Mesh Refinement (CISAMR), which is a non-iterative algorithm that tracks material interfaces and yields high-quality conforming meshes with adaptive operations. Analyzing the finite element results of the SVEs under three traction loadings, elastic and angle-dependent fracture strengths of SVEs are derived. The results demonstrate the statistical variation and the size effect behavior for elastic bulk modulus and fracture strengths. The homogenized fields are mapped to macroscopic material property fields that are used for fracture simulation of the reconstructed domain under a uniaxial tensile loading by the asynchronous Spacetime Discontinuous Galerkin (aSDG) method.