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Separability of Mesh Bias and Parametric Uncertainty for a Full System Thermal Analysis

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1474789· OSTI ID:1474789
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

When making computational simulation predictions of multi-physics engineering systems, sources of uncertainty in the prediction need to be acknowledged and included in the analysis within the current paradigm of striving for simulation credibility. A thermal analysis of an aerospace geometry was performed at Sandia National Laboratories. For this analysis a verification, validation and uncertainty quantification workflow provided structure for the analysis, resulting in the quantification of significant uncertainty sources including spatial numerical error and material property parametric uncertainty. It was hypothesized that the parametric uncertainty and numerical errors were independent and separable for this application. This hypothesis was supported by performing uncertainty quantification simulations at multiple mesh resolutions, while being limited by resources to minimize the number of medium and high resolution simulations. Based on this supported hypothesis, a prediction including parametric uncertainty and a systematic mesh bias are used to make a margin assessment that avoids unnecessary uncertainty obscuring the results and optimizes computing resources.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1474789
Report Number(s):
SAND2018--1007; 668060
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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