Information Presentation Category

Shock Wave/Turbulent Boundary Layer Interactions

M. Matheson, A. Grosvenor, and A. Zheltovodov

The design and analysis of supersonic relative flow turbomachinery needed in Carbon Capture and Storage requires computational and analysis tools that have been validated against experimental results that exhibit the same complex phenomena seen in these devices. This work demonstrates the results of one simulation conducted on a highly refined grid that resolves the 3D separation caused by crossing shocks. The video is an example of visualizations done to support this project.

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Visual Aesthetics Category

Magnetic Field Outflows from Active Galactic Nuclei

D. Pugmire, P.M. Sutter, P.M. Ricker, H.-Y. Yang, and G. Forman

We examine several models of injecting magnetic fields into clusters of galaxies from active galactic nuclei, which are the powerful outflows associated with supermassive black holes in the centers of clusters. Shown are magnetic field lines after six billion years of evolution.

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Blood Flow: Multi-scale Modeling and Visualization

L. Grinberg, G. Karniadakis, D. Fedosov, B. Caswell, J.A. Insley, and M.E. Papka

Multi-scale modeling of arterial blood flow can shed light on the interaction between events happening at micro- and meso-scales (i.e., adhesion of red blood cells to the arterial wall, clot formation) and at macro-scales (i.e., change in flow patterns due to the clot). Coupled numerical simulations of such multi-scale flow require state-of-the-art computers and algorithms, along with techniques for multi-scale visualizations.

This animation presents early results of two studies used in the development of a multi-scale visualization methodology. The first illustrates a flow of healthy (red) and diseased (blue) blood cells with a Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) method. Each blood cell is represented by a mesh made of 500 DPD-particles, small spheres show a sub-set of the DPD particles representing the blood plasma, while instantaneous streamlines and slices represent the ensemble average velocity. In the second we investigate the process of thrombus (blood clot) formation, which may be responsible for the rupture of aneurysms, by concentrating on the platelet blood cells, observing as they aggregate on the wall of an aneurysm. The ability to use a single integrated tool for the visualization of this multi-scale simulation data is important to understanding the effects of the large-scale flow patterns on the detailed particle behavior.

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Colliding Laser Pulses Launch an Electron Beam into a Plasma Accelerator

E. Cormier-Michel, D.L. Bruhwiler, M. Durant, D. Kindig, C.G.R. Geddes, M. Chen, O. Ruebel, V.H. Ranjbar, B. Cowan, and J.R. Cary

Laser-plasma accelerators generate ultra-short GeV-scale electron beams over cm-scale distances, with electric fields a thousand times larger than conventional accelerating structures. An intense laser pulse, interacting with an ionized helium gas jet, generates a density wake propagating at nearly the speed of light. A counter-propagating laser pulse collides with the main pulse, launching electrons out of the background plasma and into the wake. Electrons are then accelerated by the high electric fields associated with the wake. In experiments at LBNL, the main laser pulse enters a pre-ionized plasma density channel that guides it over the full plasma length. Simulations with the parallel VORPAL framework show the full dynamics, including the laser pulse collision near the entrance to the channel. Parallel 3D visualizations using VisIt show the details of laser pulse propagation, plasma response, electron injection and acceleration of a high-quality, ultra-short beam to 300 MeV in 4 mm.

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Computational Modeling of Turbine Wake Effects

K. Gruchalla, M.J. Churchfield, P.J. Moriarty, S. Leed, Ye Li, J.K. Lundquist, J. Michalakes, A. Purkayasthra, and M.A. Sprague

As the United States moves toward utilizing more of its wind and water resources for electrical power generation, computational modeling will play an increasingly important role in improving the performance, decreasing costs, and accelerating deployment of wind and water power technologies. We are developing computational models to better understand the wake effects of wind and marine-hydrokinetic turbines, which operate on the same principles. We show two studies: a wind-turbine array and marine-hydrokinetic turbine array. Large-eddy simulations were used as precursors to generate the atmospheric and tidal channel turbulence, respectively. Turbines were then added to the domain, modeled using actuator lines that impose body forces on the flow field equal and opposite to the lift and drag created by the blades.

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Ground Motion Visualization of M8 Earthquake Simulation Using Height Field

A. Chourasia, K. Olsen, Y. Cui, K. Lee, J. Zhou, G. Ely, P. Small, D. Roten, S. Day, P. Maechling, T. Jordan, D.K. Panda, and J. Levesque

This visualization shows instantaneous ground motions calculated by the SCEC M8 earthquake simulation. The animation shows ground motion magnitude as a height field, where strongest motion correspond to white color and weakest by red color. The image shows a cone-like distribution of strong ground motions, called a mach cone, at the leading edge of the rupture. Supershear earthquake ruptures can produce mach cones in areas where the forward velocity of the earthquake rupture exceeds the wave propagation speed of seismic waves in the earth. Earthquake produced mach cones are difficult to observe, because they are rare, but important, because they are associated with large ground motions making them an important area of study for large-scale numerical simulations like M8.

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Magnetic Field Outflows from Active Galactic Nuclei

D. Pugmire, P.M. Sutter, P.M. Ricker, H.-Y. Yang, and G. Foreman

We examine several models of injecting magnetic fields into clusters of galaxies from active galactic nuclei, which are the powerful outflows associated with supermassive black holes in the centers of clusters. Shown are magnetic field lines after six billion years of evolution.

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Magnetic Fields in Core-Collapse Supernovae

D. Pugmire, E. Endeve, C. Cardall, R. Budiardja, and A. Mezzacappa

The collapse of a massive star’s core results in the formation of an outgoing spherical shock wave that eventually disrupts the entire star, giving rise to a supernova. Along the way, the shock temporarily stalls and experiences the “stationary accretion shock instability” (SASI), which causes turbulence and large deviations from spherical symmetry in the flows below the shock wave. The SASI may be important to the supernova explosion mechanism, and the birth properties of collapsed supernova remnants known as pulsars (e.g., spin period, kick velocity, and magnetic field). In this visualization, streamlines are randomly seeded on the shock surface, and traced along magnetic fields permeating the flows below the shock.

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Modeling Early Galaxies Using Radiation Hydrodynamics

R. Harkness, D.R. Reynolds, M. L. Norman, R. Wagner, M. Hereld, J.A. Insley, E.C. Olson, M.E. Papka, and V. Vishwanath

This simulation uses a flux-limited diffusion solver to explore the radiation hydrodynamics of early galaxies, in particular, the ionizing radiation created by Population III stars. At the time of this rendering, the simulation has evolved to a redshift of 3.5. The simulation volume is 11.2 comoving megaparsecs, and has a uniform grid of 1024^3 cells, with over 1 billion dark matter and star particles. This animation shows a combined view of the baryon density, dark matter density, radiation energy and emissivity from this simulation. The multi-variate rendering is particularly useful because is shows both the baryonic matter (“normal”) and dark matter, and the pressure and temperature variables are properties of only the baryonic matter. Visible in the gas density are “bubbles”, or shells, created by the radiation feedback from young stars. Seeing the bubbles from feedback provides confirmation of the physics model implemented. Features such as these are difficult to identify algorithmically, but easily found when viewing the visualization.

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Overhead Coverage System Emerging Threat Protection

C. Price, J.A. Sherburn, D. Nelson, J. McCleave, M. Stephens, K. George, M. Valenciano, and R. Hand

This project is computational simulation to aid development of a new Overhead Coverage System for frontline assets and personnel capable of withstanding impact from a variety of ordinance, while being easy to deploy and maintain.

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Shock Wave / Turbulent Boundary Layer Interactions

M. Matheson, A. Grosvenor, and A. Zheltovodov

The design and analysis of supersonic relative flow turbomachinery needed in Carbon Capture and Storage requires computational and analysis tools that have been validated against experimental results that exhibit the same complex phenomena seen in these devices. This work demonstrates the results of one simulation conducted on a highly refined grid that resolves the 3D separation caused by crossing shocks. The video is an example of visualizations done to support this project.

[view movie]

Stellar Magnetism

C. Brownlee, B. Brown, J. Clyne, and C. Touati

A Sun-like star undergoes magnetic cyclic reversal shown by field lines colored by the longitudinal magnetic field. Shifts in positive and negative polarity demonstrate large-scale polarity changes in the star. One such cycle is shown, and at the end of the visualization, the magnetic poles are reversed. Wreath-like areas in the magnetic field could be the source of Sun spots which are an important area of study. Rendering was performed through the visualization tool VAPOR using the OpenGL hijacker GLuRay which renders with the interactive ray tracer Manta.

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