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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 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Impedance-Based Complexity Metric for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Scenario Classification

This paper introduces an impedance-based metric to capture the complexity of a given unmanned aircraft system traffic scenario. The metric accounts for both the number of aircraft and the traffic flow pattern. The work presented here extends an earlier approach that introduced another scenario complexity metric based on the number of potential conflicts weighted by the conflict resolution cost associated. Complexity measurements for randomly-generated scenarios were produced through high-fidelity fast-time simulations and treated as baseline. Then the impedance based metric was evaluated, for the same scenarios, without the need for an actual flight simulation and a conflict resolution method. The results show that the impedance-based metric has a strong correlation to the baseline data and performs marginally better than the weighted conflict-based complexity metric introduced in the earlier work. The metric computation generates impedance maps which are useful for identifying high complexity regions in a scenario, where flight plan changes might be necessitated. This metric can therefore be used, in conjunction with other complexity metrics, to inform adequate traffic management strategies and classify a traffic scenario as acceptable, unacceptable or acceptable with changes made to flight plans that pass through the high complexity regions. The metric can also be used as a guidance metric for strategic conflict management methods.

Complexity↗
NASA NTRS2012

Structural Analyses and Margins of Safety

There is an increasing reliance on modeling and simulation to verify, quantify, and certify designs of complex structures. The availability of a range of commercial modeling and simulations tools and packages with a variety of capabilities, in conjunction with increased computational resources, is allowing analysts to rapidly perform detailed analyses. However, care should be taken to understand specific tool limitations, assumptions, and boundary conditions as erroneous results can be generated without being recognized by the analysts. In addition, the reported margins of safety should be carefully interrogated to identify any false positive or negative margins and highlight any areas for structural concern.

Structural Analyses↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dual-map framework for noise characterization of quantum computers

In order to understand the capabilities and limitations of quantum computers, it is necessary to develop methods that efficiently characterize and benchmark error channels present on these devices. In this paper, we present a method that faithfully reconstructs a marginal (local) approximation of the effective noise (MATEN) channel, that acts as a single layer at the end of the circuit. We first introduce a dual-map framework that allows us to analytically derive expectation values of observables with respect to noisy circuits. These findings are supported by numerical simulations of the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) that also justify the MATEN, even in the presence of nonlocal errors that occur during a circuit. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of the method on Rigetti's Aspen-11 quantum computer for QAOA circuits up to six qubits, successfully predicting the observed measurements on a majority of the qubits.

Sud, James↗
DOE OSTI2024

Enhanced read resolution in reconfigurable memristive synapses for Spiking Neural Networks

Abstract The synapse is a key element circuit in any memristor-based neuromorphic computing system. A memristor is a two-terminal analog memory device. Memristive synapses suffer from various challenges including high voltage, SET or RESET failure, and READ margin issues that can degrade the distinguishability of stored weights. Enhancing READ resolution is very important to improving the reliability of memristive synapses. Usually, the READ resolution is very small for a memristive synapse with a 4-bit data precision. This work considers a step-by-step analysis to enhance the READ current resolution or the read current difference between two resistance levels for a current-controlled memristor-based synapse. An empirical model is used to characterize the $${\hbox {HfO}}_{2}$$ HfO 2 based memristive device. $$1\textrm{st}$$ 1 st and $$2\textrm{nd}$$ 2 nd stage device of our proposed synapse design can be scaled to enhance the READ current margin up to $$\sim$$ ∼ 4.3 $$\times$$ × and $$\sim$$ ∼ 21%, respectively. Moreover, READ current resolution can be enhanced with run-time adaptation techniques such as READ voltage scaling and body biasing. The READ voltage scaling and body biasing can improve the READ current resolution by about 46% and 15%, respectively. TENNLab’s neuromorphic computing framework is leveraged to evaluate the effect of READ current resolution on classification, control, and reservoir computing applications. Higher READ current resolution shows better accuracy than lower resolution even when facing different levels of read noise.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Prioritizing the selection of CMIP6 model ensemble members for downscaling projections of CONUS temperature and precipitation

Given the mismatch between the large volume of data archived for the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and limited personnel and computational resources for downscaling, only a small fraction of the CMIP6 archive can be downscaled. In this work, we develop an approach to robustly sample projected hydroclimate states in CMIP6 for downscaling to test whether the selection of a single initial condition (IC) ensemble member from each CMIP6 model is sufficient to span the range of modeled hydroclimate over the conterminous United States (CONUS) and CONUS sub-regions. We calculate the pattern-centered root mean square difference of IC ensemble member anomalies relative to each model’s historical climatology for shared socioeconomic pathway (SSP) projections over 30-year time periods and compare the ratio of inter-model to intra-model variability for this metric. Regardless of SSP, inter-model variability is generally much greater than intra-model variability at the scales of the CONUS as a whole, as well as for most CONUS sub-regions. However, for some variables and scenarios, inter- and intra-model variability are similar at sub-CONUS scales, indicating that selecting a single IC ensemble member per model may be sufficient to sample the range of projected hydroclimate states in the 21st Century across CONUS, but for specific regions and variables, more careful selection of ensemble members may be necessary. Regionally resolved Taylor diagrams identify where more IC ensemble member downscaling efforts should be focused if resources are available to do so. Our results suggest that, with parsimonious sampling, the requisite computational expense of downscaling temperature and precipitation fields over the CONUS for subsequent CMIP activities may increase only marginally despite the great increase in data volumes with each successive CMIP phase.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1976

Trends in modern system theory

The topics considered are related to linear control system design, adaptive control, failure detection, control under failure, system reliability, and large-scale systems and decentralized control. It is pointed out that the design of a linear feedback control system which regulates a process about a desirable set point or steady-state condition in the presence of disturbances is a very important problem. The linearized dynamics of the process are used for design purposes. The typical linear-quadratic design involving the solution of the optimal control problem of a linear time-invariant system with respect to a quadratic performance criterion is considered along with gain reduction theorems and the multivariable phase margin theorem. The stumbling block in many adaptive design methodologies is associated with the amount of real time computation which is necessary. Attention is also given to the desperate need to develop good theories for large-scale systems, the beginning of a microprocessor revolution, the translation of the Wiener-Hopf theory into the time domain, and advances made in dynamic team theory, dynamic stochastic games, and finite memory stochastic control.

Athans, M.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Thruster Limitation Consideration for Formation Flight Control

Physical constraints of any real system can have a drastic effect on its performance. Some of the more recognized constraints are actuator and sensor saturation and bandwidth, power consumption, sampling rate (sensor and control-loop) and computation limits. These constraints can degrade system s performance, such as settling time, overshoot, rising time, and stability margins. In order to address these issues, researchers have investigated the use of robust and nonlinear controllers that can incorporate uncertainty and constraints into a controller design. For instance, uncertainties can be addressed in the synthesis model used in such algorithms as H(sub infinity), or mu. There is a significant amount of literature addressing this type of problem. However, there is one constraint that has not often been considered; that is, actuator authority resolution. In this work, thruster resolution and controller schemes to compensate for this effect are investigated for position and attitude control of a Low Earth Orbit formation flight system. In many academic problems, actuators are assumed to have infinite resolution. In real system applications, such as formation flight systems, the system actuators will not have infinite resolution. High-precision formation flying requires the relative position and the relative attitude to be controlled on the order of millimeters and arc-seconds, respectively. Therefore, the minimum force resolution is a significant concern in this application. Without the sufficient actuator resolution, the system may be unable to attain the required pointing and position precision control. Furthermore, fuel may be wasted due to high-frequency chattering phenomena when attempting to provide a fine control with inadequate actuators. To address this issue, a Sliding Mode Controller is developed along with the boundary Layer Control to provide the best control resolution constraints. A Genetic algorithm is used to optimize the controller parameters according to the states error and fuel consumption criterion. The tradeoffs and effects of the minimum force limitation on performance are studied and compared to the case without the limitation. Furthermore, two methods are proposed to reduce chattering and improve precision.

Yunjun Xu↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System Woven Roughness Mach 6 Aeroheating Test

The Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System is the first entry vehicle designed for a NASA flagship mission to utilize a woven thermal protection system as well as a 52.5 degree sphere cone forebody geometry. As a result, no heritage aeroheating experimental data set exists to compare with computational predictions. In order to obtain a set of validation data for computational models, an extensive wind tunnel test campaign was funded by the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System project. The first entry in the test campaign was completed in April of 2023, which was an investigation of turbulent heating augmentation due to woven thermal protection system roughness on the 52.5 degree Mars Sample Return - Earth Entry System vehicle forebody geometry. This test entry produced the first ever experimental aeroheating data on a 52.5 degree sphere-cone geometry as well as the first NASA experimental aeroheating data on a woven surface roughness pattern. Data obtained from this test campaign is being directly leveraged to support the NASA flight program, as experimental results are being utilized to validate the computational models which characterize the aeroheating environment that the vehicle experiences and predict turbulent surface heating levels and margins across the woven surface.

Jonathan S Cheatwood↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System Woven Roughness Mach 6 Aeroheating Test

The Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System is the first entry vehicle designed for a NASA flagship mission to utilize a woven thermal protection system as well as a 52.5 degree sphere cone forebody geometry. As a result, no heritage aeroheating experimental data set exists to compare with computational predictions. In order to obtain a set of validation data for computational models, an extensive wind tunnel test campaign was funded by the Mars Sample Return Earth Entry System project. The first entry in the test campaign was completed in April of 2023, which was an investigation of turbulent heating augmentation due to woven thermal protection system roughness on the 52.5 degree Mars Sample Return - Earth Entry System vehicle forebody geometry. This test entry produced the first ever experimental aeroheating data on a 52.5 deg sphere-cone geometry as well as the first NASA experimental aeroheating data on a woven surface roughness pattern. Data obtained from this test campaign is being directly leveraged to support the NASA flight program, as experimental results are being utilized to validate the computational models which characterize the aeroheating environment that the vehicle experiences and predict turbulent surface heating levels and margins across the woven surface.

Jonathan Cheatwood↗
DOE OSTI2021

Creation of the VADER Code in SCALE [Abstract]

The VADER (Validation Analysis Data Evaluation Resource) is a new module in SCALE 6.3 that has been derived from the legacy USLSTATS program. VADER is a tool that allows the determination of bias and bias uncertainty for criticality safety computational methods. The older USLSTATS program, written in Java, existed outside of SCALE and provided tools to calculate only the confidence band with administrative margin (sometimes called USL-1) and the single-sided uniform width closed interval (USL-2). For normality testing it only offered a crude chi- squared normality test that had no user-configurable options and presented a simple pass/no-pass functionality.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reimagining Earth in the Earth System

Abstract Terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems regulate climate at local to global scales through exchanges of energy and matter with the atmosphere and assist with climate change mitigation through nature‐based climate solutions. Climate science is no longer a study of the physics of the atmosphere and oceans, but also the ecology of the biosphere. This is the promise of Earth system science: to transcend academic disciplines to enable study of the interacting physics, chemistry, and biology of the planet. However, long‐standing tension in protecting, restoring, and managing forest ecosystems to purposely improve climate evidences the difficulties of interdisciplinary science. For four centuries, forest management for climate betterment was argued, legislated, and ultimately dismissed, when nineteenth century atmospheric scientists narrowly defined climate science to the exclusion of ecology. Today's Earth system science, with its roots in global models of climate, unfolds in similar ways to the past. With Earth system models, geoscientists are again defining the ecology of the Earth system. Here we reframe Earth system science so that the biosphere and its ecology are equally integrated with the fluid Earth to enable Earth system prediction for planetary stewardship. Central to this is the need to overcome an intellectual heritage to the models that elevates geoscience and marginalizes ecology and local land knowledge. The call for kilometer‐scale atmospheric and ocean models, without concomitant scientific and computational investment in the land and biosphere, perpetuates the geophysical view of Earth and will not fully provide the comprehensive actionable information needed for a changing climate.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Computationally Efficient Algorithm for Computing Convex Hull Prices

Electricity markets worldwide allow participants to bid non-convex production offers. While non-convex offers can more accurately reflect a resource's capabilities, they create challenges for market clearing processes. For example, system operators may execute side payments when a participant’s cost is not covered through energy sale settlements from locational marginal pricing schemes, or when a participant incurs lost opportunity costs to follow the dispatch signal. Convex hull pricing minimizes these and other types of side payments while providing uniform (i.e., locationally and temporally consistent) prices. However, computing convex hull prices involves solving either a large-scale linear program - which in turn requires explicit descriptions of market participants’ convex hulls -or the Lagrangian dual of the corresponding non-convex scheduling problem. Here, we propose a computationally feasible and industrially scalable Benders decomposition approach to computing convex hull prices at least an order of magnitude faster than the current state-of-the-art while leveraging recent advances in convex hull formulations for thermal generating units.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Experiences Detecting Defective Hardware in Exascale Supercomputers

In May 2022, the newest supercomputer to top the TOP 500 list was Frontier at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, demonstrating the capability of computing more than 1.1 quintillion (1018) floating-point calculations every second. Driving this ground-breaking rate of computing is Frontier’s more than 37,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) and 9,408 central processing units (CPUs). In total, Frontier contains more than 60 million parts. At this scale, the smallest margin of error may generate hundreds of hardware errors across the system. These errors are capable of directly hindering world-class science performed on Frontier if not found. In this work, we describe and evaluate two strategies for finding hardware-level faults in Frontier’s 9,408 compute nodes. There are two strategies developed: the first uses the Slurm scheduler to scavenge available compute time to run the node screen, the second builds upon the lessons learned in the first strategy and enforces a weekly screen of each node. Using June 2023 as a case study, we find that the first scheduling strategy consumed more than ten times the resources as the second scheduling strategy, but successfully detected five hardware defects in Frontier. We summarize the lessons learned while developing and running a node screen on the world’s first exascale supercomputer.

Hagerty, Nick↗
NASA NTRS2007

Turbulent Aeroheating Testing of Mars Science Laboratory Entry Vehicle in Perfect-Gas Nitrogen

An experimental investigation of turbulent aeroheating on the Mars Science Laboratory entry vehicle heat shield has been conducted in the Arnold Engineering Development Center Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel No. 9. Testing was performed on a 6-in. (0.1524 m) diameter MSL model in pure N2 gas in the tunnel s Mach 8 and Mach 10 nozzles at free stream Reynolds numbers of 4.1x10(exp 6)/ft to 49x10(exp 6)/ft (1.3x10(exp 7)/m to 16x10(exp 7)/m) and 1.2x10(exp 6)/ft to 19x10(exp 6)/ft (0.39x10(exp 7)/m to 62x10(exp 7)/m), respectively. These conditions were sufficient to span the regime of boundary-layer flow from completely laminar to fully-developed turbulent flow over the entire forebody. A supporting aeroheating test was also conducted in the Langley Research Center 20-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel at free stream Reynolds number of 1x10(exp 6)/ft to 7x10(exp 6)/ft (0.36x10(exp 7)/m to 2.2x10(exp 7)/m) in order to help corroborate the Tunnel 9 results. A complementary computational fluid dynamics study was conducted in parallel to the wind tunnel testing. Laminar and turbulent predictions were generated for all wind tunnel test conditions and comparisons were performed with the data for the purpose of helping to define uncertainty margins on predictions for aeroheating environments during entry into the Martian atmosphere. Data from both wind tunnel tests and comparisons with the predictions are presented herein. It was concluded from these comparisons that for perfect-gas conditions, the computational tools could predict fully-laminar or fully-turbulent heating conditions to within 10% of the experimental data

Hollis, Brian R.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Turbulent Aeroheating Testing of Mars Science Laboratory Entry Vehicle

An experimental investigation of turbulent aeroheating on the Mars Science Laboratory entry vehicle heat shield has been conducted in the Arnold Engineering Development Center Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel No. 9. Testing was performed on a 6-in. (0.1524 m) diameter MSL model in pure N2 gas in the tunnel's Mach 8 and Mach 10 nozzles at free stream Reynolds numbers of 4.1 x 10(exp 6)/ft to 49 x 10(exp 6)/ft (1.3 x 10(exp 7)/m to 19 x 10(exp 6/ft) and 1.2 x 10(exp 6)/ft to 19 x 10(exp 6)/ft (0.39 x 10(exp 7)/m to 62 x 10(exp 7)/m), respectively. These conditions were sufficient to span the regime of boundary-layer flow from completely laminar to fully-developed turbulent flow over the entire forebody. A supporting aeroheating test was also conducted in the Langley Research Center 20-Inch Mach 6 Air Tunnel at free stream Reynolds number of 1 x 10(exp 6)/ft to 7 x 10(exp 6)/ft (0.36 x 10(exp 7)/m to 2.2 x 10(exp 7)/m) in order to help corroborate the Tunnel 9 results. A complementary computational fluid dynamics study was conducted in parallel to the wind tunnel testing. Laminar and turbulent predictions were generated for the wind tunnel test conditions and comparisons were performed with the data for the purpose of helping to define uncertainty margins on predictions for aeroheating environments during entry into the Martian atmosphere. Data from both wind tunnel tests and comparisons with the predictions are presented herein. It was concluded from these comparisons that for perfect-gas conditions, the computational tools could predict fully-laminar or fully-turbulent heating conditions to within 12% or better of the experimental data.

Hollis, Brian R.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Advanced Simulation and Computing: ASC FY24 Implementation Plan

The DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) is an integrated technical program for maintaining the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The SSP incorporates nuclear test data, computational modeling and simulation, and experimental facilities to advance understanding of nuclear weapons. The suite of data analyzed comes from activities including previous nuclear tests, stockpile surveillance, experimental research, and development and engineering programs. This integrated national program requires the continued use of experimental facilities and the computational capabilities to support the SSP missions. These component parts, in addition to an appropriately scaled production capability, enable NNSA to support stockpile requirements. The ultimate goal of the SSP, and thus of the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program, is to ensure that the U.S. maintains a safe, secure, and effective strategic deterrent. The ASC program is a cornerstone of the SSP, providing simulation capabilities and computational resources to support the annual stockpile assessment and certification process, study advanced nuclear weapons design and manufacturing processes, analyze accident scenarios and weapons aging, and provide the tools to enable stockpile Life Extension Programs (LEPs) and the resolution of Significant Finding Investigations (SFIs). This work requires a balance of resources, including technical staff, hardware, simulation software, and computer science solutions. The ASC program focuses on increasing the predictive capabilities in a three-dimensional (3D) simulation environment while maintaining support to the SSP. The Program continues to improve its unique tools for understanding and solving progressively more difficult stockpile problems (sufficient resolution, dimensionality, and scientific details), and quantifying critical margins and uncertainties. Resolving each issue requires increasingly difficult analyses because the aging process has progressively moved the stockpile further from the original test base. While the focus remains on the U.S. nuclear weapons program, where possible, the Program also enables the use of high-performance computing (HPC) and simulation tools to address broader national security needs, such as foreign nuclear weapon assessments and nuclear counterterrorism. The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) calls for NNSA to “deliver a modern, adaptive nuclear security enterprise based on an integrated strategy for risk management, production-based resilience, science and technology innovation, and workforce initiatives.” Furthermore, “NNSA will establish a Science and Technology Innovation Initiative to accelerate the integration of science and technology (S&T) throughout its activities.” Executing this strategy necessitates the continued emphasis on developing and sustaining high-quality scientific and engineering staff, as well as supporting computational and experimental capabilities. These components constitute the foundation of the nuclear weapons program. The continued success of the SSP and LEPs is predicated upon the ability to credibly certify the stockpile, without a return to underground nuclear tests (UGTs). Shortly after the nuclear test moratorium entered into force in 1992, the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) was established to provide an extensive simulation capability to underpin stockpile certification. While computing and simulation have always been essential to the success of the nuclear weapons program, the program goal of ASCI was to execute NNSA’s vision of using these tools in support of the stockpile stewardship mission. The ASCI program was essential to the successful demonstration of the SSP, providing critical nuclear weapons simulation and modeling capabilities. ASCI officially evolved into the ASC program in fiscal year (FY) 2005, but the mission remains essentially the same: provide the simulation and computational capabilities that underpin the ability to maintain a safe, secure, effective nuclear weapon stockpile, without returning to underground nuclear testing. The capabilities that the ASC program provides at the national laboratories play a vital role in the nuclear security enterprise and are necessary for fulfilling the stockpile stewardship and life extension requirements outlined for NNSA. The Program develops modern simulation tools that provide insights into stockpile aging issues, provide the computational and simulation tools that enable designers and analysts to certify the current stockpile and life-extended nuclear weapons, and inform the decision-making process when any modifications in nuclear warheads or the associated manufacturing processes are deemed necessary. Furthermore, ASC is enhancing the predictive simulation capabilities that are essential to evaluate weapons effects, design experiments, and ensure test readiness. The ASC program continues to improve its unique tools to solve stockpile problems— with a focus on sufficient resolution, dimensionality, and scientific detail—to enable Quantification of Margins and Uncertainties (QMU) and to resolve the increasingly difficult analyses needed for stockpile stewardship. The needs of the Stockpile Management and Production Modernization programs (formerly Directed Stockpile Work) also drive the requirements for simulation and computational resources. These requirements include planned LEPs, stockpile support activities, and mitigation efforts against the potential for technical surprise. All of the weapons within the current stockpile are in some stage of the life extension process. The simulation and computational capabilities are crucial for successful execution of these life extensions and for ensuring NNSA can certify these life-extended weapons without conducting a UGT.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Understanding Reliability Trade-Offs in 1T-nC and 2T-nC FeRAM Designs

Ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) is a promising candidate for energy-efficient nonvolatile memory, particularly for logic-in-memory and compute-in-memory (CIM) applications. Among the available cell architectures, One-Transistor–n-Capacitor (1T-nC) and two-transistor–n-capacitor (2T-nC) FeRAMs each offer distinct trade-offs in density, scalability, and reliability. In this work, we present a comparative study of these two architectures under both dimensional scaling ( XY/Z shrinkage) and vertical integration (increasing stacked capacitors per cell). Using technology computer-aided design (TCAD) and circuit-level simulations, we analyze how scaling impacts ferroelectric capacitance, parasitic coupling, and floating-node (FN) dynamics, which together dictate sense margin (SM) and read stability. A key mitigation strategy—floating unselected capacitors—is applied to both architectures, effectively decoupling the SM from the number of stacked capacitors and enabling tractable analysis across scaling regimes. Results show that 1T-nC suffers more from charge sharing with the bitline (BL), while 2T-nC benefits from transistor isolation and stronger low-voltage sensing at the cost of increased area. By systematically evaluating these behaviors across scaling directions, this work establishes the reliability trade-offs of 1T-nC and 2T-nC cells and provides design guidelines for high-density, vertically integrated FeRAM systems.

1T-nC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Supporting Resource Adequacy via the ReEDS-India Model [Slides]

ReEDS-India is an open-access tool for mid- and long-term capacity expansion modeling that finds the mix of generation, transmission, and storage technologies that meet the anticipated requirements of the electric sector at least cost.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗