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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 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

Laminarization of Turbulent Boundary Layer on Flexible and Rigid Surfaces

An investigation of the control of turbulent boundary layer flow over flexible and rigid surfaces downstream of a concave-convex geometry has been made. The concave-convex curvature induces centrifugal forces and a pressure gradient on the growth of the turbulent boundary layer. The favorable gradient is not sufficient to overcome the unfavorable; thus, the net effect is a destabilizing, of the flow into Gortler instabilities. This study shows that control of the turbulent boundary layer and structural loading can be successfully achieved by using localized surface heating because the subsequent cooling and geometrical shaping downstream over a favorable pressure gradient is effective in laminarization of the turbulence. Wires embedded in a thermally insulated substrate provide surface heating. The laminarized velocity profile adjusts to a lower Reynolds number, and the structure responds to a lower loading. In the laminarization, the turbulent energy is dissipated by molecular transport by both viscous and conductivity mechanisms. Laminarization reduces spanwise vorticity because of the longitudinal cooling gradient of the sublayer profile. The results demonstrate that the curvature-induced mean pressure gradient enhances the receptivity of the flow to localized surface heating, a potentially viable mechanism to laminarize turbulent boundary layer flow; thus, the flow reduces the response of the flexible structure and the resultant sound radiation.

Maestrello, Lucio↗
DOE OSTI2021

Characterizing the plasma-induced thermal loads on a 200 kW light-ion helicon plasma source via infra-red thermography

The light-ion helicon plasma source of the Proto-MPEX linear plasma device has been recently upgraded to enable pulsed (0.5–1 s) operation up to 200 kW. The main objective of this work is to report on the plasma-induced surface heat fluxes incident on the helicon window during high power operation (60–150 kW net power) for the purpose of the design of the upcoming material plasma exposure eXperiment (MPEX). The IR imaging system and associated physics models for the extraction of surface heat fluxes are presented. Furthermore, experimental results demonstrate that the control of the plasma strike point via magnetic flux mapping and the use of dedicated limiters is effective at reducing the heat loads on the dielectric window. Moreover, it is found that the flux mapping must create a gap between the plasma and the dielectric window of at least the plasma radial decay length. Extrapolated to 200 kW net RF power, this mode of operation can reduce the power lost to the dielectric window by 33%. The results presented have direct application to the design of high-powered helicon plasma sources that operate in a steady state. Examples include linear divertor simulators such as MPEX, electric thrusters, negative ion sources for NBI and linear plasma–material interaction test stands.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1977

Technical and economic assessment of swept-wing span-distributed load concepts for civil and military air cargo transports

The feasibility of large freighter aircraft was assessed, including the impact of military requirements on the performance, economics, and fuel consumption characteristics. Only configurations having net payloads of 272,155 to 544,311 kilograms contained within swept wings of constant chord were studied. These configurations were of advanced composite construction with controllable winglets and full-span digitally-controlled trailing-edge surfaces. Civil, military, and joint civil/military production programs were considered.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2022

Will scavenging liquid oxygen from the propellant of lunar landers reduce net delivered mass?

Baseline oxygen (O2) needs for astronauts on lunar surface missions are satisfied through delivery in logistics landers. Supplying O2 through resources already present on the lunar surface could reduce the logistics load mass as well as the cost. The propellant tanks on the landers are the most abundantly accessible source for supplying the needed O2 to the crew. Calculations and analysis were performed on both 28-day missions and year-long missions to determine the amount of O2 able to be scavenged from propellant.

Angelina Rossini↗
DOE OSTI2025

Project Planning for Community Resilience: Aquinnah and Chilmark, Massachusetts

This report presents the findings of an energy system planning study for the towns of Aquinnah and Chilmark, MA, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, conducted under the U.S. Department of Energy ETIPP program. The study used the DER-CAM model to optimize the deployment of PV and battery microgrids to enhance energy resilience against power outages, particularly winter storms. Key findings show that PV is highly cost-effective and delivers net annual savings. However, due to limited rooftop space and low winter solar output, PV and battery storage alone cannot support the full critical load during outages. Solutions incorporating conventional backup generators were found to be more economically viable for achieving 100% critical load support.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Floating Solar at Lima's Twin Lakes Reservoir

The City of Lima, Ohio is developing a floating photovoltaic (FPV) facility on the surface of Twin Lake Reservoir, adjacent to the City’s water treatment plant. The FPV array is designed with a capacity of 2 megawatts (MW) and will consist of approximately 3,500 solar panels spanning more than four acres of water surface. Based on regional solar conditions, the system will generate 2,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity annually. While the FPV system will interconnect to the electrical infrastructure serving the water treatment plant, power produced by the system will be net-metered through the utility grid, with energy credits applied to offset the plant’s overall electrical demand rather than directly supplying all plant loads in real time.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development of Multiresolution Capabilities for the Holistic Energy Resource Optimization Network (HERON) tool A progress update

INL researchers work on technoeconomic analyses for integrated energy systems (IES) using the Framework for Optimization of ResourCes and Economics (FORCE). Within FORCE, researchers use the Holistic Energy Resource Optimization Network (HERON) tool to conduct optimization of grid portfolios under uncertain market conditions. These optimizations determine optimal capacities for all IES components and strategies for resource dispatch which maximize some economic metric (e.g., net present value). Resource dispatch occurs on finer timescales (typically hours) and thus are asked to respond to a given time series (e.g. hourly load demand profiles for a grid, or pre-determined electricity prices). Volatile and complex bidding dynamics as well as poorly forecasted weather events within deregulated markets add uncertainty to the time series; FORCE can address this uncertainty by training a reduced order model on historical time series and generate unique synthetic time series which represent individual scenarios or realizations of the market. The IES configuration can be simulated under these different sampled realizations and a stochastic optimization is conducted which optimizes the expected value of the desired economic metric. The training of a synthetic time series generator is limited by the chosen time resolution; dynamics can occur on different time scales. Seasonal demand trends can dominate faster dynamical events (such as power outages from certain sectors or severe weather events) which might not get captured correctly by the trained model. In this report, we investigate different ways of addressing the training and generation of time series on multiple time scales using three main algorithms: wavelet decomposition, dynamic mode decomposition, and generative adversarial networks for time series. We demonstrate a time series analysis that yields information on not just the frequency space but also temporal space: where a fast Fourier transform can provide what frequencies dominate, the new algorithms can provide when the frequencies dominate as well. These analyses can help improve IES optimization by allowing researchers to couple simulations at different timescales when it is most needed - seasonal, day-ahead, and real time optimization - with greater computational efficiency. Future work will include implementation of a subset of the proposed algorithms into the FORCE toolset and application of these analyses into multiple timescale optimization.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

U-net architected deep material network training with microstructure local field information

The Deep Material Network (DMN) has recently emerged as a powerful reduced-order modeling framework for simulating the mechanical response of heterogeneous materials such as composites. Unlike most data-driven approaches that directly learn a material’s response under prescribed loading, the DMN acts as a homogenization operator, learning the kinematic constraints and mechanical interactions of the underlying microstructure. However, traditional DMN training relies exclusively on homogenized effective properties derived from Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS), discarding the rich local field data that govern microstructural interactions. In this work, we extend the DMN framework to incorporate such local field information into the offline training process. Utilizing a U-Net architecture, we augment the DMN training objective to include the first and second statistical moments of the local stress fields obtained from linear DNS. This ensures that the learned network topology not only fits the effective stiffness but also accurately reflects the internal local stress and strain partitioning of the microstructure. The results confirm that supervising the localization process during training yields a superior surrogate model, reducing local prediction errors by an order of magnitude and significantly improving generalization to unseen nonlinear constitutive behaviors compared to traditional DMNs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1980

Failure analyses of composite bolted joints

The complex failure behavior exhibited by bolted joints of graphite epoxy (Hercules AS/3501) was investigated for the net tension, bearing and shearout failure modes using combined analytical and experimental techniques. Plane stress, linear elastic, finite element methods were employed to determine the two dimensional state of stress resulting from a loaded hole in a finite width, semiinfinite strip. The stresses predicted by the finite element method were verified by experiment to lend credence to the analysis. The influence of joint geometric parameters on the state of stress and resultant strength of the joint was also studied. The resulting functional relationships found to exist between bolted joint strength and the geometric parameters, were applied in the formulation of semiempirical strength models for the basic failure modes. A point stress failure criterion was successfully applied as the failure criterion for the net tension and shearout failure modes.

Wilson, D. W.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Models implemented in the methodological approach to design the initial STEP first wall contour

The official Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production mission aims to demonstrate the ability to generate net electricity from fusion with the STEP Prototype Power plant. One of the key technological and engineering challenges in fusion power plants is managing the loads on the first wall within acceptable limits. Therefore, the conceptual design development of the STEP Prototype Power plant needs to be based on load estimates derived using legitimate plasma physics assumptions through dynamic and flexible tools. The current design foresees the STEP main chamber first wall to withstand steady-state heat loads of up to ~1 MW/m 2 , excluding critical regions expected to receive higher heat loads such as the baffle regions approaching the divertors. These critical areas will require ad hoc assessments and will be designed with the presence of limiters. This article focuses on the models and methodology adopted for designing the 2-D poloidal contour of the STEP first wall, based on the anticipated charged particle and radiation heat loads during normal operation. Firstly, the models adopted for calculating the charged particle and radiation heat loads are introduced. The first model is validated through benchmarking against the particle tracing code SMARDDA, while the second model is verified by comparing it with data from the MAST-U experiment. Secondly, the model used to design the 2-D first wall contour according to the heat loads is explained. We acknowledge that this preliminary design stage assumes certain simplifications, notably an axisymmetric geometry, for computational efficiency and clarity in presentation. It is understood that subsequent design phases will address the complexities of real-world engineering, including non-axisymmetric effects, transient plasma scenarios, and the impact of disruptions on the first wall design. Finally, an automatic procedure based on these models is presented for defining the 2-D poloidal contour of the STEP first wall to minimize heat loads, taking into account the need to radiate most of the alpha-particle and auxiliary heating power. Here, by providing an overview of the models, methodology, and an automatic procedure, this paper contributes to the design process of the STEP first wall, addressing the engineering challenges associated with fusion power plant development.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Technical and Economic Assessment of LWR Flexible Operation for Generation and Demand Balancing to Optimize Plant Revenue

With increased penetration of subsidized variable renewable energy (VRE) resources and competition from low natural gas prices, existing light water reactor (LWR) nuclear power plants (NPPs) are struggling to remain economically competitive. This work examines the potential economic competitiveness of various thermal energy storage (TES) technologies when coupled directly or indirectly with a NPP. To highlight their relative economic competitiveness, we contrast several energy storage solutions in stochastic dispatch optimization. We leverage data from recent work analyzing a range of TES technologies with varying capital costs, performance, and technology readiness level (TRL) to establish our case. We explore inserting these technologies into an electricity market with existing nuclear generation and large projected variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration. Although these technologies' projected capital costs may make them unlikely candidates in their current state, this analysis demonstrates a high-fidelity techno-economic analysis of energy storage. Furthermore, as the projected cost of energy storage technologies evolves, this analysis sets a precedent for similar future investigations. One region with projected trends that may be unfavorable for existing nuclear capacity is the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) market. New York state’s baseload generation has been historically provided by fossil-fired and nuclear assets. However, amid economic pressures from subsidized VREs and low natural gas prices, the state has recently deactivated Indian Point nuclear power plant units 2 and 3. Furthermore, the state plans to meet its zero-emission generation target by 2040 by replacing fossil-fired capacity with significant investments in VRE resources like wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage. Increased intermittent resource penetration lowers the baseload power requirement, adding further economic pressure to the state’s three remaining NPPs still in operation. With three NPPs still in operation in New York, this work analyzes potential economic benefits to NPPs on the New York grid when directly or indirectly coupled with various TES technologies. This work requires two modeling steps to analyze the potential economic benefits of various system configurations of the TES directly or indirectly coupled with nuclear. First, this analysis leverages capacity expansion modeling by experts at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Using their deterministic capacity expansion model, U.S. Regional Economy, Greenhouse Gas, and Energy (US-REGEN), EPRI analysts evaluated the capacity and generation evolution of the New York state energy market under four projection scenarios. These four projection scenarios were developed to represent the potential evolution of the capacity and generation in NYISO from 2015 to 2050 under various economic, technology, and policy constraints. The results from these capacity expansion models are then used as boundary conditions in the second modeling step. The second modeling step uses the Holistic Energy Resource Optimization Network (HERON) for a set of stochastic techno-economic analyses (STEAs) to investigate the potential increase in the economic viability of various configurations of the TES. With no current capacity expansion capabilities, HERON takes the data generated from US-REGEN for 2050 to generate synthetic load, solar, and wind data. Then HERON economically optimizes the capacity and dispatch of the various TES configurations. The potential economic benefit is the differential net present value (NPV) of the TES configurations from the no-TES baseline. As a stochastic techno-economic analysis package, HERON introduces uncertainty into the economic metrics, while US-REGEN trades resolution for reduced computational complexity. Using HERON also allows the modeling of direct thermal coupling, a feature not common in capacity and dispatch models. As expected, with high capital costs, the costs of introducing energy storage for all the technologies considered outweighed the potential economic benefit of this strategy for flexible plant operation. The benefit of this analysis is primarily in demonstrating a workflow that examines innovative solutions to increase NPP revenue via TES coupling. HERON’s stochastic capacity and dispatch optimization process used in this work has proven an effective tool in observing and evaluating the impact of introducing storage technologies in a grid energy system.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1973

Correlation of ERTS multispectral imagery with suspended matter and chlorophyll in lower Chesapeake Bay

The feasibility of using multispectral satellite imagery to monitor the characteristics of estuarine waters is being investigated. Preliminary comparisons of MSS imagery with suspended matter concentrations, particle counts, chlorophyll, transmittance and bathymetry have been made. Some visual correlation of radiance with particulates and chlorophyll has been established. Effects of bathymetry are present, and their relation to transmittance and radiance is being investigated. Greatest detail in suspended matter is revealed by MSS band 5. Near-surface suspended sediment load and chlorophyll can be observed in bands 6 and 7. Images received to date have partially defined extent and location of high suspensate concentrations. Net quantity of suspended matter in the lower Bay has been decreasing since the inception of the study, and represents the diminution of turbid flood waters carried into the Bay in late September, 1972. The results so far point to the utility of MSS imagery in monitoring estuarine water character for the assessment of siltation, productivity, and water types.

Bowker, D. E.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Surface Deformation and Gravity Changes from Surface and Internal Loads

Air and space borne remote sensing have made it possible to monitor the mass and energy transport at various scales within the cryosphere-hydrosphere-atmosphere system. The recent surface mass balance (the rate of net gain of snow and ice at a geographic point) map for the Antarctic ice sheet is constructed by interpolating sparse in situ observations (about 1,800 points) with empirically calibrated satellite data of passive back emission of microwaves. The digital elevation model obtained from satellite radar altimetry is used to improve the delineation of the ice flow drainage basins. As important as these results are, the uncertainty remains up to about 2 mm/yr of eustatic sea level change with the net imbalance. In other words, we are still unable to determine even the sign of the contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to contemporary sea level change. The problem is more likely with the discharge rather than accumulation.

Hager, Bradford H.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Heterogeneous climate change impacts on electricity demand in world cities circa mid-century

Rising ambient temperatures due to climate change will increase urban populations’ exposures to extreme heat. During hot hours, a key protective adaptation is increased air conditioning and associated consumption of electricity for cooling. But during cold hours, milder temperatures have the offsetting effect of reducing consumption of electricity and other fuels for heating. We elucidate the net consequences of these opposing effects in 36 cities in different world regions. We couple reduced-form statistical models of cities’ hourly responses of electric load to temperature with temporally downscaled projections of temperatures simulated by 21 global climate models (GCMs), projecting the effects of warming on the demand for electricity circa 2050. Cities' responses, temperature exposures and impacts are heterogeneous, with changes in total annual consumption ranging from –2.7 to 5.7%, and peak power demand increasing by as much as 9.5% at the multi-GCM median. The largest increases are concentrated in more economically developed mid-latitude cities, with less developed urban areas in the tropics exhibiting relatively small changes. The results highlight the important role of the structure of electricity demand: large temperature increases in tropical cities are offset by their inelastic responses, which can be attributed to lower air-conditioning penetration.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Injection Molded and Big Area Additive Manufactured NdFeB Bonded Permanent Magnets

Permanent magnets are expected to play a crucial role in the realization of the clean economy. In particular, the neodymium-iron-boron (Nd2Fe14B or NdFeB) magnets, which have the highest energy density among rare earth permanent magnets, are needed for building more efficient windmill generators, electric vehicle motors, etc. Currently, near-net shape magnets can be either made through sintering and compression molding with extensive post machining or directly through injection molding. However, injection molding has a loading volume fraction limitation of 0.65 for nylon binders. A novel method of manufacturing bonded permanent magnets with loading fraction greater than 0.65 has been demonstrated using Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) printers. As energy density is directly proportional to the square of the magnet loading fraction, magnets produced using BAAM printers require less volume and magnetic material compared to that of injection molded magnets on average. A comparative LCA shows that this difference in magnetic powder consumption nearly constitutes the difference in the environmental impact categories. Even after assuming recycled magnetic input, the BAAM magnets perform better environmentally than injection molded magnets, especially in the ozone depletion category. Since BAAM printers can accommodate even higher loading fractions, at scale, BAAM printers possibly can bring about a significant decrease in rare earth mineral consumption and environmental emissions. So furthermore, single screw extrusion enables BAAM printers to have high print speeds and allow them to be economically competitive against injection molding. Therefore, BAAM printed magnets show promise in transitioning towards the clean economy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1989

PMR Graphite Engine Duct Development

The objective was to demonstrate the cost and weight advantages that could be obtained by utilizing the graphite/PMR15 material system to replace titanium in selected turbofan engine applications. The first component to be selected as a basis for evaluation was the outer bypass duct of the General Electric F404 engine. The operating environment of this duct was defined and then an extensive mechanical and physical property test program was conducted using material made by processing techniques which were also established by this program. Based on these properties, design concepts to fabricate a composite version of the duct were established and two complete ducts fabricated. One of these ducts was proof pressure tested and then run successfully on a factory test engine for over 1900 hours. The second duct was static tested to 210 percent design limit load without failure. An improved design was then developed which utilized integral composite end flanges. A complete duct was fabricated and successfully proof pressure tested. The net results of this effort showed that a composite version of the outer duct would be 14 percent lighter and 30 percent less expensive that the titanium duct. The other type of structure chosen for investigation was the F404 fan stator assembly, including the fan stator vanes. It was concluded that it was feasible to utilize composite materials for this type structure but that the requirements imposed by replacing an existing metal design resulted in an inefficient composite design. It was concluded that if composites were to be effectively used in this type structure, the design must be tailored for composite application from the outset.

Stotler, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Shield Design For Protection Against Hypervelocity Particles

Installing multilayer insulation against primary Whipple bumper reduces pressure-wall damage. Protection to Space Station based on Whipple bumper concept, "Multishock Shields Containing Aluminum Mesh" (MSC-21792). In addition to Whipple bumper, thermal insulation required and provided by multilayered insulation (MLI) consisting of 20 layers (alternating) of double-aluminized Mylar(R) and Dacron(R) netting. When MLI located against bumper, material still disintegrates, but extra space between MLI and pressure wall allows debris pressure cloud to expand so pressure cloud loading reduced. In addition, total amount of MLI material damaged considerably less when placed against Whipple bumper, which contributes to decrease in excess pressure and contents of expanding debris cloud.

Schwinghamer, R. J.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Retrofittable Thermal Switches for Dynamic Building Envelopes Integrated with Thermal Energy Storage: Preprint

Buildings in the United States consume about 40 quadrillion BTU of primary energy annually, which accounts for the nation's 40% of total energy use, 75% of all electricity use, and 35% of the net carbon emissions. Deploying thermal energy storage in the form of phase change material (PCM) in building envelopes is an effective method to reduce space heating/cooling loads, provide load shedding, and shift demand to periods of lower energy cost. However, the full potential of PCM-integrated envelopes can only be realized if the PCM undergoes complete phase change using free ambient heating/cooling, and the stored energy is effectively transferred between the exterior and the interior environments. Conventional thermal insulation (with a fixed thermal resistance) limits PCM utilization, particularly with the increasing emphasis on higher R-value in building envelopes, which negatively affects the energy-saving potential of a PCM-integrated envelope. In contrast, dynamic building envelopes integrated with PCMs provide the option of varying the thermal resistance based on the indoor and outdoor conditions, thereby enhancing utilization of free ambient cooling and heating to charge/discharge the PCM thermal storage, reducing the buildings' heating and cooling load, and shifting the peak energy demand. In this study, we demonstrate innovative retrofittable thermal switches in the form of the insertable plugs inside an insulation to provide variable thermal resistance depending on the operating temperature and direction of temperature gradient, thus allowing preferential directional heat flow. Notably, they are passive in nature, requiring no external power, and work solely based on the ambient temperature.

buildings↗