arXiv subjects

Krishna Kumar

Publications and source records attributed to Krishna Kumar.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Investigating the Thixotropic Behaviour of Tremie Concrete Using the Slump-flow Test and the Material Point Method

A new thixotropic model is developed integrating the Papanastasiou-Bingham model with thixotropy equations to simulate the flow behaviour of Tremie Concrete in the Material Point Method framework. The effect of thixotropy on the rheological behaviour of fresh concrete is investigated by comparing field measurements with numerical simulations. The comparison yields new insights into a critical and often overlooked behaviour of concrete. A parametric study is performed to understand the effect of model parameters and rest-time on the shear stress response of fresh concrete. The Material Point Method with the Papanastasiou-Bingham model reproduces slump-flow measurements observed in the field. The novel model revealed a decline in concrete workability during the Slump-flow test after a period of rest due to thixotropy, which the physical version of the test fails to capture. This reduction in workability significantly affects the flow behaviour and the effective use of fresh concrete in construction operation.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2021

Investigating the effect of porosity on the soil water retention curve using the multiphase Lattice Boltzmann Method

The soil water retention curve (SWRC) is the most commonly used relationship in the study of unsaturated soil. In this paper, the effect of porosity on the SWRC is investigated by numerically modeling unsaturated soil using the Shan-Chen multiphase Lattice Boltzmann Method. The shape of simulated SWRCs are compared against that predicted by the van Genuchten model, demonstrating a good fit except at low degrees of saturation. The simulated SWRCs show an increase in the air-entry value as porosity decreases.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2021

Using Convolutional Neural Networks to Develop Starting Models for 2D Full Waveform Inversion

Non-invasive subsurface imaging using full waveform inversion (FWI) has the potential to fundamentally change engineering site characterization by enabling the recovery of high resolution 2D/3D maps of subsurface stiffness. Yet, the accuracy of FWI remains quite sensitive to the choice of the initial starting model due to the complexity and non-uniqueness of the inverse problem. In response, we present the novel application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to transform an experimental seismic wavefield acquired using a linear array of surface sensors directly into a robust starting model for 2D FWI. We begin by describing three key steps used for developing the CNN, which include: selection of a network architecture, development of a suitable training set, and performance of network training. The ability of the trained CNN to predict a suitable starting model for 2D FWI was compared against other commonly used starting models for a classic near-surface imaging problem; the identification of an undulating, two-layer, soil-bedrock interface. The CNN developed during this study was able to predict complex 2D subsurface images of the testing set directly from their seismic wavefields with an average mean absolute percent error of 6%. When compared to other common approaches, the CNN approach was able to produce starting models with smaller seismic image and waveform misfits, both before and after FWI. The ability of the CNN to generalize to subsurface models which were dissimilar to the ones upon which it was trained was assessed using a more complex, three-layered model. While the predictive ability of the CNN was slightly reduced, it was still able to achieve seismic image and waveform misfits comparable to the other commonly used starting models. This study demonstrates that CNNs have great potential as a tool for developing good starting models for FWI ...

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2021

Microsimulation Analysis for Network Traffic Assignment (MANTA) at Metropolitan-Scale for Agile Transportation Planning

Abrupt changes in the environment, such as unforeseen events due to climate change, have triggered massive and precipitous changes in human mobility. The ability to quickly predict traffic patterns in different scenarios has become more urgent to support short-term operations and long-term transportation planning. This requires modeling entire metropolitan areas to recognize the upstream and downstream effects on the network. However, there is a well-known trade-off between increasing the level of detail of a model and decreasing computational performance. To achieve the level of detail required for traffic microsimulation, current implementations often compromise by simulating small spatial scales, and those that operate at larger scales often require access to expensive high-performance computing systems or have computation times on the order of days or weeks that discourage productive research and real-time planning. This paper addresses the performance shortcomings by introducing a new platform, MANTA (Microsimulation Analysis for Network Traffic Assignment), for traffic microsimulation at the metropolitan-scale. MANTA employs a highly parallelized GPU implementation that is capable of running metropolitan-scale simulations within a few minutes. The runtime to simulate all morning trips, using half-second timesteps, for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area is just over four minutes, not including routing and initialization. This computational performance significantly improves the state of the art in large-scale traffic microsimulation. MANTA expands the capacity to analyze detailed travel patterns and travel choices of individuals for infrastructure planning.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2021

Frequency power spectra of global quantities in magnetoconvection

We present the results of direct numerical simulations of power spectral densities for kinetic energy, convective entropy and heat flux for unsteady Rayleigh-Bénard magnetoconvection in the frequency space. For larger values of frequency, the power spectral densities for all the global quantities vary with frequency $f$ as $f^{-2}$. The scaling exponent is independent of Rayleigh number, Chandrasekhar's number and thermal Prandtl number.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

An HPC-Based Hydrothermal Finite Element Simulator for Modeling Underground Response to Community-Scale Geothermal Energy Production

Geothermal heat, as renewable energy, shows great advantage with respect to its environmental impact due to its significantly lower CO2 emissions than conventional fossil fuel. Open and closed-loop geothermal heat pumps, which utilize shallow geothermal systems, are an efficient technology for cooling and heating buildings, especially in urban areas. Integrated use of geothermal energy technologies for district heating, cooling, and thermal energy storage can be applied to optimize the subsurface for communities to provide them with multiple sustainable energy and community resilience benefits. The utilization of the subsurface resources may lead to a variation in the underground environment, which might further impact local environmental conditions. However, very few simulators can handle such a highly complex set of coupled computations on a regional or city scale. We have developed high-performance computing (HPC) based hydrothermal finite element (FE) simulator that can simulate the subsurface and its hydrothermal conditions at a scale of tens of km. The HPC simulator enables us to investigate the subsurface thermal and hydrologic response to the built underground environment (such as basements and subways) at the community scale. In this study, a coupled hydrothermal simulator is developed based on the open-source finite element library deal.II. The HPC simulator was validated by comparing the results of a benchmark case study against COMSOL Multiphysics, in which Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) is modeled and a process of heat injection into ATES is simulated. The use of an energy pile system at the Treasure Island redevelopment site (San Francisco, CA, USA) was selected as a case study to demonstrate the HPC capability of the developed simulator. The simulator is capable of modeling multiple city-scale geothermal scenarios in a reasonable amount of time.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2020

Simple method for mid-infrared optical frequency comb generation with dynamic offset frequency tuning

We present a simple method for fully-stabilized mid-infrared optical frequency comb generation based on single-pass femtosecond optical parametric generation that is seeded by a continuous-wave laser. We have implemented the method in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal that produces a frequency comb tunable across 3325 - 4000 nm (2380 - 3030 cm-1). The method generates the mid-infrared (idler) comb with known and stabilized Carrier-Envelope Offset (CEO) frequency without the need to directly detect it. The idler CEO is continuously tunable for almost half of the repetition rate and can be modulated, while maintaining its central frequency. Together with the high output power (up to 700 mW) and low intensity noise (0.018% integrated in 10 Hz - 2 MHz bandwidth) this makes the demonstrated mid-infrared frequency comb promising for many applications such as high-precision molecular spectroscopy, frequency metrology and high harmonic generation.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Effect of Initial Volume on the Run-Out Behavior of Submerged Granular Columns

Submarine landslides transport thousands of cubic meters of sediment across continental shelves even at slopes as low as 1° and can cause significant casualty and damage to infrastructure. The run-out mechanism in a submarine landslide is affected by factors such as the initial packing density, permeability, slope angle, and initial volume. While past studies have focused on the influence of density, permeability, and slope angle on the granular column collapse, the impact of volume on the run-out characteristics has not been investigated. This study aims to understand how the initial volume affects the run-out using a two-dimensional coupled lattice Boltzman and discrete element (LBM-DEM) method. The coupled LBM-DEM approach allows simulating fluid flow at the pore-scale resolution to understand the grain-scale mechanisms driving the complex continuum-scale response in the granular column collapse. For submerged granular column collapse, the run-out mechanism is heavily influenced by the interaction between the grains and the surrounding fluid. The development of negative pore pressures during shearing and hydrodynamic drag forces inhibit the flow. On the other hand, entrainment of water resulting in hydroplaning enhances the flow. With an increase in volume, the interaction between the grains and the surrounding fluid varies, causing changes in the run-out behavior. For smaller volumes, the forces inhibiting the underwater flow predominates, resulting in shorter run-outs than their dry counterparts. At large volumes, hydroplaning results in larger run-out than the dry cases, despite the inhibiting effects of drag forces and negative pore pressures.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2020

Context-specific volume-delay curves by combining crowd-sourced traffic data with Automated Traffic Counters (ATC): a case study for London

Traffic congestion across the world has reached chronic levels. Despite many technological disruptions, one of the most fundamental and widely used functions within traffic modelling, the volume delay function, has seen little in the way of change since it was developed in the 1960's. Traditionally macroscopic methods have been employed to relate traffic volume to vehicular journey time. The general nature of these functions enables their ease of use and gives widespread applicability. However, they lack the ability to consider individual road characteristics (i.e. geometry, presence of traffic furniture, road quality and surrounding environment). This research investigates the feasibility to reconstruct the model using two different data sources, namely the traffic speed from Google Maps' Directions Application Programming Interface (API) and traffic volume data from automated traffic counters (ATC). Google's traffic speed data are crowd-sourced from the smartphone Global Positioning System (GPS) of road users, able to reflect real-time, context-specific traffic condition of a road. On the other hand, the ATCs enable the harvesting of the vehicle volume data over equally fine temporal resolutions (hourly or less). By combining them for different road types in London, new context-specific volume-delay functions can be generated. This method shows promise in selected locations with the generation of robust functions. In other locations it highlights the need to better understand other influencing factors, such as the presence of on road parking or weather events.

stat.AP↗

arXiv2020

Rayleigh-Bénard magnetoconvection with temperature modulation

Floquet analysis of modulated magnetoconvection in Rayleigh-Bénard\ geometry is performed. The temperature of the lower plate is varied sinusoidally in time about a finite mean. As the Rayleigh number $\mathrm{Ra}$ is made to cross a critical value $\mathrm{Ra}_o$, the oscillatory magnetoconvection begins. The flow at the onset of magnetoconvection may oscillate either subharmonically or harmonically with the external modulation. The critical Rayleigh number $\mathrm{Ra}_o$ varies non-monotonically with $ω$ for appreciable value of $a$. The temperature modulation may either postpone or prepone the appearance of magnetoconvection. The magnetoconvective flow always oscillates harmonically at larger values of $ω$. The threshold $\mathrm{Ra}_o$ and the corresponding wave number $k_o$ approach to their values for the stationary magnetoconvection in the absence of modulation ($a = 0$), as $ω\rightarrow \infty$. Two different zones of harmonic instability merge to form a single instability zone with two local minima for higher values of Chandrasekhar's number $\mathrm{Q}$, which is qualitatively new. We have also observed a new type of bicritical point, which involves two different sets of harmonic oscillations. The effects of variation of $\mathrm{Q}$ and $\mathrm{Pr}$ on the threshold $\mathrm{Ra}_o$ and critical wave number $k_o$ are also investigated.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

Thermal flux in unsteady Rayleigh-Bénard magnetoconvection

We present results of numerical investigation on thermal flux in Rayleigh-Bénard magnetoconvection in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field. We have studied thermal flux in different viscous fluids with a range of Prandtl number ($0.1 \le \mathrm{Pr} < 6.5$) and a range of Chandrasekhar number ($50 \le \mathrm{Q} \le 2.5 \times 10^4$). The power spectral density of the Nusselt number varies with frequency $f$ approximately as $f^{-2}$. The probability distribution function of the fluctuating part of the Nusselt number is nearly normal distribution with slight asymmetric tails. For a fixed value the Rayleigh number $\mathrm{Ra}$, the time averaged Nusselt number $\langle \mathrm{Nu} (\mathrm{Q})\rangle$ decreases logarithmically with Chandrasekhar number for $\mathrm{Q} > \mathrm{Q}_c$, which depends on $\mathrm{Ra}$ and $\mathrm{Pr}$. The reduced Nusselt number $\mathrm{Nu_r}$ $=$ $\langle \mathrm{Nu}(\mathrm{Q})\rangle/{\langle \mathrm{Nu}(0)\rangle}$ rises sharply, reaches a maximum slightly above unity and then start decreasing very slowly to unity as the value of a dimensionless parameter $\sqrt{\mathrm{Ra/(Q~Pr)}}$ is raised. The probability distribution function of the local thermal flux in the vertical direction is found to be asymmetric and non-Gaussian with a cusp at its maximum.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

Rhombic Patterns Near a Bicritical Point in Periodically Forced Surface Waves

We present here a study of selection of rhombic patterns close to a bicritical point at the onset of primary surface instability in viscous fluids under two-frequency vertical vibration. Rhombic patterns appear to be natural at the primary instability in the form of a bicritical point if the ratio of driving frequencies is selected properly. We present two different patterns which may be accessible in a Faraday experiment.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2019

Instability of a horizontal water half-cylinder under vertical vibration

We present the results of an experimental investigation on parametrically driven waves in a water half-cylinder on a rigid horizontal plate, which is sinusoidally vibrated in the vertical direction. As the forcing amplitude is raised above a critical value, stationary waves are excited in the water half-cylinder. Parametrically excited subharmonic waves are non-axisymmetricand qualitatively different from the axisymmetric Savart-Plateau-Rayleigh waves in a vertical liquid cylinder or jet. Depending on the driving frequency, stationary waves of different azimuthal wave numbers are excited. A linear theory is also supplemented, which captures the observed dispersion relations quantitatively.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2019

Scalable and modular material point method for large-scale simulations

In this paper, we describe a new scalable and modular material point method (MPM) code developed for solving large-scale problems in continuum mechanics. The MPM is a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, which uses both moving material points and computational nodes on a background mesh. The MPM has been successfully applied to solve large-deformation problems such as landslides, failure of slopes, concrete flows, etc. Solving these large-deformation problems result in the material points actively moving through the mesh. Developing an efficient parallelisation scheme for the MPM code requires dynamic load-balancing techniques for both the material points and the background mesh. This paper describes the data structures and algorithms employed to improve the performance and portability of the MPM code. An object-oriented programming paradigm is adopted to modularise the MPM code. The Unified Modelling Language (UML) diagram of the MPM code structure is shown in Figure 1.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2019

Modeling irregular boundaries using isoparametric elements in the Material Point Method

The Material Point Method (MPM) is a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian approach capable of simulating large deformation problems of history-dependent materials. While the MPM can represent complex and evolving material domains by using Lagrangian points, boundary conditions are often applied to the Eulerian nodes of the background mesh nodes. Hence, the use of a structured mesh may become prohibitively restrictive for modeling complex boundaries such as a landslide topography. We study the suitability of unstructured background mesh with isoparametric elements to model irregular boundaries in the MPM. An inverse mapping algorithm is used to transform the material points from the global coordinates to the local natural coordinates. Dirichlet velocity and frictional boundary conditions are applied in the local coordinate system at each boundary node. This approach of modeling complex boundary conditions is validated by modeling the dynamics of a gravity-driven rigid block sliding on an inclined plane. This method is later applied to a flume test of controlled debris flow on an inclined plane conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2018

The mother of all states of the kagome quantum antiferromagnet

Frustrated quantum magnets are a central theme in condensed matter physics due to the richness of their phase diagrams. They support a panoply of phases including various ordered states and topological phases. Yet, this problem has defied a solution for a long time due to the lack of controlled approximations which make it difficult to distinguish between competing phases. Here we report the discovery of a special quantum macroscopically degenerate point in the XXZ model on the spin-1/2 kagome quantum antiferromagnet for the ratio of Ising to antiferromagnetic transverse coupling Jz/J=-1/2. This point is proximate to many competing phases explaining the source of the complexity of the phase diagram. We identify five phases near this point including both spin-liquid and broken-symmetry phases and give evidence that the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet is close to a transition between two phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2017

Mechanics of granular column collapse in fluid at varying slope angles

This paper investigates the effect of initial volume fraction on the runout characteristics of collapse of granular columns on slopes in fluid. Two-dimensional sub-grain scale numerical simulations are performed to understand the flow dynamics of granular collapse in fluid. The Discrete Element (DEM) technique is coupled with the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), for fluid-grain interactions, to understand the evolution of submerged granular flows. The fluid phase is simulated using Multiple- Relaxation-Time LBM (LBM-MRT) for numerical stability. In order to simulate interconnected pore space in 2D, a reduction in the radius of the grains (hydrodynamic radius) is assumed during LBM computations. The collapse of granular column in fluid is compared with the dry cases to understand the effect of fluid on the runout behaviour. A parametric analysis is performed to assess the influence of the granular characteristics (initial packing) on the evolution of flow and run-out distances for slope angles of 0°, 2.5°, 5° and 7.5°. The granular flow dynamics is investigated by analysing the effect of hydroplaning, water entrainment and viscous drag on the granular mass. The mechanism of energy dissipation, shape of the flow front, water entrainment and evolution of packing density is used to explain the difference in the flow characteristics of loose and dense granular column collapse in fluid.

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2016

Effects of a small magnetic field on homoclinic bifurcations in a low-Prandtl-number fluid

Effects of a uniform magnetic field on homoclinic bifurcations in Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a fluid of Prandtl number $Pr = 0.01$ are investigated using direct numerical simulations (DNS). A uniform magnetic field is applied either in the vertical or in the horizontal direction. For a weak vertical magnetic field, the possibilities of both forward and backward homoclinic bifurcations are observed leading to a spontaneous merging of two limit cycles into one as well as a spontaneous breaking of a limit cycle into two for lower values of the Chandrasekhar's number ($Q\leq 5$). A slightly stronger magnetic field makes the convective flow time independent giving the possibility of stationary patterns at the secondary instability. For horizontal magnetic field, the $x\leftrightharpoons y$ symmetry is destroyed and neither a homoclinic gluing nor a homoclinic breaking is observed. Two low-dimensional models are also constructed: one for a weak vertical magnetic field and another for a weak horizontal magnetic field. The models qualitatively capture the features observed in DNS and help understanding the unfolding of bifurcations close to the onset of magnetoconvection.

physics.flu-dyn↗