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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Profiles of upcoming HPC Applications and their Impact on Reservation Strategies

With the expected convergence between HPC, BigData and AI, new applications with different profiles are coming to HPC infrastructures. Here, we aim at better understanding the features and needs of these applications in order to be able to run them efficiently on HPC platforms. The approach followed is bottom-up: we study thoroughly an emerging application from the neuroscience community (SLANT) to understand its behavior. Based on these observations, we derive a generic, yet simple, application model (namely, a linear sequence of stochastic jobs). We expect this model to be representative for a large set of upcoming applications that require the computational power of HPC clusters without fitting the typical behavior of large-scale traditional applications. In a second step, we show how one can manipulate this generic model in a scheduling framework. Specifically we consider the problem of making reservations (both time and memory) for an execution on an HPC platform. We derive solutions using the model of the first step of this work. We experimentally show the robustness of the model, even with very few data or with another application, to generate the model, and provide performance gains with regards to standard and more recent approaches used in the neuroscience community.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

IRES Microgrid Energy Integration Report Version 1.0

This report presents technical information and guidance for the planned Integrated Renewable Energy System (IRES) microgrid project. This deployment of the microgrid and its associated assets was initiated in the beginning of 2022 at the Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory (MCRL) facility of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)-Sequim, Washington. The information in the report is organized under two main focus areas: electrical power interface, or interconnection, information of planned IRES assets; and communication and control interface, or interoperability, information of the planned IRES assets. The information will provide technical input for the development of the IRES microgrid controller technical specification, and also provide input for PNNL’s evaluation of adequacy of the electrical service infrastructure at MCRL to support the IRES project and help identify any gaps that will require facility-based upgrades. From an R&D aspect, this study and report will build on PNNL’s research and development work relating to energy storage (ES) codes and standards (C&Ss), including hybrid systems, performed on behalf of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) ES. The current state of C&Ss for advanced technologies and their application, including microgrid-based technology is limited. For cases where formal standards issued by recognized Standards Developing Organizations do not yet exist, guidance is provided based on emerging best practices, including industry-group references that can be leveraged for microgrid technology which is in its early stages of development and use.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Searches for Sub-GeV Dark Matter with NOvA and LDMX and Performance Studies of the Cosmic-Ray Veto for Mu2e

The constituents of dark matter are still unknown, and the viable possibilities span a very large mass range. Specific scenarios for the origin of dark matter sharpen the focus to within about an MeV to 100 TeV. Most of the stable constituents of known matter have masses in the lower range, and a thermal origin for dark matter works in a simple and predictive manner in this mass range as well. Non-gravitational couplings of dark matter to Standard Model particles would make it possible to produce dark matter at accelerators. Through 120 GeV proton-nucleus collisions, NOvA is effectively a beam dump experiment for producing and detecting dark matter. This thesis presents a search for dark matter – electron scattering in the NOvA near detector from sub-GeV dark matter produced at the target. A future search for sub-GeV dark matter with the Light Dark Matter eXperiment (LDMX) is discussed, along with a study of LDMX's expected sensitivity to visibly decaying dark photons. Additionally, performance studies of the Mu2e cosmic ray veto (CRV) are presented. A calibration procedure for the CRV counters is discussed, along with tests of the efficiency, position resolution, and light yield decline of the CRV counters.

Horoho, Tyler Gregory [Virginia U.] (ORCID:0000000↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulation, Challenge Testing and Validation of Solutions for Residential and Commercial Occupancy Sensing/Counting and CO2 Sensing (Final Report)

Carbon dioxide sensors used for monitoring and control applications in buildings are known to be sensitive to long term drift and can be affected by variations in temperature, humidity, other gas interferents, pressure and other factors that cannot be corrected through the typical auto-calibration methods often embedded in the sensor electronics. This investigation was part of the Category D defined in the ARPA-E Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures With Occupancy Recognition (SENSOR) Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity Announcement No. DE-FOA-0001737, FFDA No. 81.135, January 18, 2017. The FOA defined target criteria for the evaluation of the Category C commercial CO2 sensors selected for review and development through the ARPA-E SENSOR program and charged the Iowa State Category D team with developing an evaluation methodology for Category C sensors in accordance with these criteria. As part of the work, the Iowa State team chose to engage the standards community in the development of the evaluation methodology. Standard development work in the D22.05 Indoor Air and D22.03 Ambient Atmospheres and Source Emissions subcommittees of ASTM International Committee D22 on Air Quality on the evaluation of low cost sensors and provision of guidance for using indoor carbon dioxide concentrations to evaluate indoor air quality and ventilation is of particular relevance to the Category D efforts. To date, three draft standards with specific input by the Iowa State Category D team have passed the subcommittee balloting stage and are being balloted in December 2022 and January 2023 in the main D22 committee. In addition to the aforementioned standards to which the PI was a contributing author, intellectual property developed in this project pertaining to “An Automated System for Evaluation of the Long Term Performance of Carbon Dioxide Sensors” and “An Automated Ground Truth System for Real-Time Reliability Assessment, Capture of Control Decisions and Energy Savings Measurements for Occupancy Recognition Systems and Other Applications” are the other major deliverables of the project. These standards and the developed intellectual property are expected to benefit the public in a number of ways stemming from their provision of means to benchmark the performance of carbon dioxide and other sensor systems. In particular, there is high interest in techniques to demonstrate the performance of low-cost carbon dioxide sensors which can be used for typical HVAC applications (e.g., demand controlled ventilation, outdoor and indoor air monitoring, estimation of occupancy, etc.).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reinforcement learning pulses for transmon qubit entangling gates

The utility of a quantum computer is highly dependent on the ability to reliably perform accurate quantum logic operations. For finding optimal control solutions, it is of particular interest to explore model-free approaches, since their quality is not constrained by the limited accuracy of theoretical models for the quantum processor—in contrast to many established gate implementation strategies. In this work, we utilize a continuous control reinforcement learning algorithm to design entangling two-qubit gates for superconducting qubits; specifically, our agent constructs cross-resonance and CNOT gates without any prior information about the physical system. Using a simulated environment of fixed-frequency fixed-coupling transmon qubits, we demonstrate the capability to generate novel pulse sequences that outperform the standard cross-resonance gates in both fidelity and gate duration, while maintaining a comparable susceptibility to stochastic unitary noise. We further showcase an augmentation in training and input information that allows our agent to adapt its pulse design abilities to drifting hardware characteristics, importantly, with little to no additional optimization. Our results exhibit clearly the advantages of unbiased adaptive-feedback learning-based optimization methods for transmon gate design.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Experiment design for the neutron irradiation of $\mathrm{PM-HIP}$ alloys for nuclear reactors

Here, this article describes the design of an Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) drop-in neutron irradiation experiment aiming to directly compare the performance of nuclear structural alloys fabricated by powder metallurgy with hot isostatic pressing (PM-HIP) against conventional casting or forging. There is growing interest in PM-HIP alloys for nuclear applications because of their microstructural uniformity, superior mechanical properties, and reduced dependence on welding and machining, compared to cast/forged alloys. Nuclear code-qualification of PM-HIP alloys requires neutron irradiation testing to demonstrate performance under relevant conditions. In this experiment, six nuclear structural alloys were irradiated: Ni-based alloys 625 and 690, Grade 91 ferritic steel, SA508 pressure vessel steel, and 304L and 316L austenitic stainless steels. The experiment is assembled into seven capsules in four test trains and irradiated in three ATR inboard A positions. Both the PM-HIP and cast/forged versions of each alloy were irradiated under nearly identical conditions for comparative purposes, to target doses of 1 ± 0.2 and 3 ± 0.2 dpa at temperatures of 300 ± 50 °C and 400 ± 50 °C. A thorough description of the experiment design and thermal, structural and neutronic analyses performed to ensure the targeted irradiation conditions are met is provided. Specimens were configured as small disks, compact tension specimens and tensile bars to facilitate post-irradiation examination (PIE) that will include mechanical testing, microstructure characterization, and fracture toughness testing. Given the considerations for ASTM standardized mechanical testing, comparative fluence and temperature across specimen pairs, and comprehensive PIE planning herein, this work serves as a template for future nuclear materials qualification experiment designs.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Preliminary investigation of an uncertainty budget for uranium isotope ratio analysis using a liquid sampling—atmospheric pressure glow discharge—orbitrap mass spectrometer system

The liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) ionization source has proven to be an effective analysis tool for making uranium isotope ratio measurements when coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometers, such as the Orbitrap. While previous studies have shown the capabilities of the LS-APGD for isotope ratio determination, a systematic evaluation of the measurement uncertainty of the technique has not been conducted. To this end, the International Standards Organizations (ISO) guidelines to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM analysis) have been applied to generate an uncertainty budget. For this work, a preliminary assessment derived from the GUM analysis was performed. The uncertainty in the instrument blank determination has been identified as a primary factor contributing to measurement uncertainty for the LS-APGD-Orbitrap method. These findings for the specific test case of uranium isotopic analysis will be invaluable in applications across the breadth of isotope ratio mass spectrometry performed on this unique instrumental platform.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2021

A FETI approach to domain decomposition for meshfree discretizations of nonlocal problems

We propose a domain decomposition method for the efficient simulation of nonlocal problems. Our approach is based on a multi-domain formulation of a nonlocal diffusion problem where the subdomains share “nonlocal” interfaces of the size of the nonlocal horizon. This system of nonlocal equations is first rewritten in terms of minimization of a nonlocal energy, then discretized with a meshfree approximation and finally solved via a Lagrange multiplier approach in a way that resembles the finite element tearing and interconnect method. Specifically, we propose a distributed projected gradient algorithm for the solution of the Lagrange multiplier system, whose unknowns determine the nonlocal interface conditions between subdomains. Several two-dimensional numerical tests on problems as large as 191 million unknowns illustrate the strong and the weak scalability of our algorithm, which outperforms the standard approach to the distributed numerical solution of the problem. Finally, this work is the first rigorous numerical study in a two-dimensional multi-domain setting for nonlocal operators with finite horizon and, as such, it is a fundamental step towards increasing the use of nonlocal models in large scale simulations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Backaction-evading impulse measurement with mechanical quantum sensors

The quantum measurement of any observable naturally leads to noise added by the act of measurement. Approaches to evade or reduce this noise can lead to substantial improvements in a wide variety of sensors, from laser interferometers to precision magnetometers and more. In this paper, we develop a measurement protocol based upon pioneering work by the gravitational wave community which allows for reduction of added noise from measurement by coupling an optical field to the momentum of a small mirror. As a specific implementation, we present a continuous measurement protocol using a double-ring optomechanical cavity. We demonstrate that, with experimentally relevant parameters, this protocol can lead to significant backaction noise evasion, yielding measurement noise below the standard quantum limit over many decades of frequency.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Risk Assessment Considerations for Underground Hydrogen Storage in Depleted Gas Reservoirs

Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in depleted reservoirs presents a promising solution for large-scale energy storage as hydrogen demand grows. As the UHS industry emerges, robust risk assessments are critical to ensuring safe operation of the storage facilities and minimizing the risk of accidents. This work explores risk assessment protocols for underground natural gas storage (UGS) in depleted reservoirs and identifies key considerations for repurposing these facilities for UHS. By examining the differences in physical and chemical properties between hydrogen and natural gas, this work highlights new and modified hazards that merits a reevaluation of traditional natural gas risk assessment practices. This investigation synthesizes insights from previous literature reviews and interviews with UGS industry experts and operators to identify key areas for adapting risk assessment methodologies for hydrogen. The insights gleaned from expert interviews indicate that existing risk assessment standards are non-prescriptive, leading to diverse company-specific risk assessment methodologies requiring substantial additions to become practical. Due to a lack of concrete risk assessment requirements, experience, and relevant data, this uncertainty is expected to be magnified considerably when considering hydrogen. This study identifies several areas for potential modification of existing risk assessment practices that could be considered by those developing standards or performing risk assessments for UHS. Specifically, risk assessments may be improved by including risks unique to hydrogen in existing standards, changing the magnitude of different risk factors in existing risk assessment protocols, and improving methods of data collection and communication across the industry to address large areas of uncertainty.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Inpainting Galactic Foreground Intensity and Polarization Maps Using Convolutional Neural Networks

The Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNNs) have been a popular tool for image generation and restoration. In this work, we applied DCNNs to the problem of inpainting non-Gaussian astrophysical signal, in the context of Galactic diffuse emissions at the millimetric and submillimetric regimes, specifically Synchrotron and Thermal Dust emissions. Both signals are affected by contamination at small angular scales due to extragalactic radio sources (the former) and dusty star-forming galaxies (the latter). Furthermore, we compare the performance of the standard diffusive inpainting with that of two novel methodologies relying on DCNNs, namely Generative Adversarial Networks and Deep-Prior. We show that the methods based on the DCNNs are able to reproduce the statistical properties of the ground-truth signal more consistently with a higher confidence level.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dark Photon Search at the Short-Baseline Near Detector

Neutrino physics has long been a key field in elementary particle physics, both enhancing our understanding of the Standard Model (SM) and raising new questions. Among these are the so-called "Short-Baseline Anomalies" observed by neutrino experiments, particularly the MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab, which detected an excess of low-energy electron-like events. In recent years, beyond Standard Model (BSM) explanations have been proposed to address this anomaly, with a focus on neutrino beam-related processes. A novel interpretation involving a dark-sector explanation was recently suggested, introducing a vector portal that connects the SM and dark sectors through a new interaction mediated by a bosonic particle, the Dark Photon. This work investigates the production of dark-sector particles, specifically Dark Photons, in the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab and their potential detection at the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). The BNB produces mesons which decay into Dark Photons, detectable via their decay into electron-positron pairs at SBND. By exploiting the temporal structure of the neutrino beam, we propose a method to isolate Dark Photon signals from neutrino backgrounds using time-delayed event detection. In this thesis, the sensitivity of SBND to Dark Photons is assessed using a three-year exposure, demonstrating that SBND has the potential to significantly improve current experimental constraints on Dark Photons. This analysis provides a promising avenue for future dark sector searches in neutrino experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

ENERGY STAR Residential Water Heater Specification and Test Method for Connected Residential Water Heaters

Electric water heaters have long been used as a tool for demand response due to their inherent thermal storage and large electric load. Traditionally, electric water heaters have been controlled by external load control switches, but that type of control does not work well with more efficient heat pump water heaters and cannot ensure that consumers have adequate hot water. Water heater manufacturers are adding more sophisticated controls that allow utilities or consumers to control their water heaters in new ways that can provide demand response without impacting consumer comfort. Further, the electric utility grid has seen a rapid increase the availability of renewable energy, which, depending on the type of renewable energy, can provide large amounts of energy for a portion of the day, but reduced or no energy at other times. In response to these advances in controls, availability of periodic renewable energy, and in an effort to have a standard which can be applied at a national level, ENERGY STAR and the Department of Energy have developed a Product Specification and Test Method for Connected Residential Water Heaters. In this session, we will discuss the new specification and test method, as well as show some initial results from running the new test method with two different HPWHs at NREL.

connected water heater↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cladding Profilometry Analysis of Experimental Breeder Reactor-II Metallic Fuel Pins with HT9, D9, and SS316 Cladding

BISON finite element method fuel performance simulations were conducted using an existing automated process that couples the Fuels Irradiation & Physics Database (FIPD) and the Integral Fast Reactor Materials Information System database by writing input files and comparing the BISON output to post-irradiation fuel pin profilometry measurements contained within the databases. The importance of this work is to demonstrate the ability to benchmark fuel performance metallic fuel models within BISON using Experimental Breeder Reactor-II fuel pin data for a number of similar pins, while building off previous modeling efforts. Changes to the generic BISON input file include implementing pin specific axial power and flux profiles, pin specific fluences, frictional contact, and irradiation-induced volumetric swelling models for cladding. A statistical analysis of irradiation-induced volumetric swelling models for HT9, D9, and SS316 was performed for experiments X421/X421A, X441/X441A, and X486. Between these three experiments, there were 174 post-irradiation examination (PIE) profilometries used for validating the swelling models presented using a standard error of the estimate (SEE) method. Implementation of the volumetric swelling models for D9 and SS316 claddings was found to have a significant impact on the BISON profilometry simulated, where HT9 clad pins had an insignificant change due to low fluence values. BISON profilometry simulated for HT9, D9, and SS316 fuel pins agreed with PIE profilometry measurements, with assembly SEE values being 4.4 × 10−3 for X421A, 2.0 × 10−3 for X441A, and 2.8 × 10−3 for X486. D9 clad pins in X421/X421A had the highest SEE values, which is due to the BISON simulated profilometry being shifted axially. While this work accomplished its purpose to demonstrate the modeling of multiple fuel pins from the databases to help validate models, the results suggest that the continued development of metallic fuel models is necessary for qualifying new metallic fuel systems to better capture some physical performance phenomena, such as the hot pressing of U-Pu-Zr and the fuel cladding chemical interaction.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Valuing wind as a distributed energy resource: A literature review

As more distributed energy resources are deployed on electric grid systems across the world, it is important to identify, characterize, and quantify the value elements of different types of distributed energy resources so that policymakers, developers, and utilities can make informed energy deployment decisions. This paper focuses on the value of wind energy as a distributed energy resource (i.e., “distributed wind”). Because of a lack of distributed wind-specific valuation studies, in this review we document the current state of distributed energy resource valuation, analyze a wide array of distributed energy resource valuation metastudies, and identify several value elements for which we recommend developing more robust and standardized calculation methodologies for their potential inclusion in distributed wind valuation. These value elements are ancillary services and locational, resilience, reliability, and resource diversity benefits. Furthermore, this work lays the foundation for a future comprehensive framework for distributed wind valuation studies.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Diagnostic, Prognostic, and Therapeutic Use of Radiopharmaceuticals in the Context of SARS-CoV-2

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has devastated the healthcare systems and economies of over 200 countries in just a few months. The etiological agent of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, is a highly contagious virus that can be transmitted by asymptomatic and symptomatic carriers alike. While in vitro testing techniques have allowed for population-wide screening, prognostic tools are required to assess the disease severity and therapeutic response, contributing to improve the patient clinical outcomes. Moreover, no specific antiviral against COVID-19 exists at the time of publication, severely limiting treatment against the infection. Hence, there is an urgent clinical need for innovative therapeutic strategies that may contribute to manage the COVID-19 outbreak and prevent future pandemics. In this work, we critically examine recent diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic advancements for COVID-19 in the field of radiopharmaceuticals. First, we summarize the gold standard techniques used to diagnose COVID-19, including in vitro assays and imaging techniques, and then discuss how radionuclide-based nuclear imaging provides complementary information for prognosis and treatment management of infected patients. Second, we introduce new emerging types of radiotherapies that employ radioimmunoconjugates, which have shown selective cytotoxic response in oncological studies, and critically analyze how these compounds could be used as therapeutic agents against SARS-CoV-2. Finally, this Perspective further discusses the emerging applications of radionuclides to study the behavior of pulmonary SARS-CoV-2 aerosol particles.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Target development using the method of High-Intensity Vibrational Powder Plating (HIVIPP) at the Center for Accelerator Target Science (CATS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)

One of the primary goals of the Center for Accelerator Target Science (CATS) is to provide targets and foils in support of the ATLAS User Facility and the Low-Energy community at large. While a wide array of target production techniques are available at CATS, new methods that must be explored invariably arise. One such technique, the High-Intensity Vibrational Powder Plating (HIVIPP), was first reported in 1997 by Isao Sugai. It was developed to produce targets and stripper foils that were difficult to make by standard methods. At Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), we have successfully constructed and tested a simple system for this purpose. We have produced targets of carbon and titanium on various metal backings using the HIVIPP method. We are currently in the exciting phase of exploring the production of other elements, including isotopically enriched and radioactive material. This work is in progress and will be further detailed with specific examples.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Summer 2021 Internship Report

The Library Research and Prototyping team (Proto Team) under the research library explores aspects of scholarly communication, covering aspects of infrastructure, interoperability, and persistence. One of the key contributions of the team is the contribution in standardizing and forming the infrastructure for Mementos in web archiving. The Memento framework in web archiving enables access to digital resources in prior versions serving both persistence and the interoperability of the information. During the internship program, I worked on improving the Memento infrastructure by updating the memento validator. The Memento validator provides the functionality of testing the compliance of the web resources to the Memento specification. The application is intended to be used by the community at large such as web archives, researchers, librarians, and general users, with different levels of technical expertise.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗