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Results for “optimality”

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
DOE OSTI2016

AP-Cloud: Adaptive Particle-in-Cloud method for optimal solutions to Vlasov–Poisson equation

We propose a new adaptive Particle-in-Cloud (AP-Cloud) method for obtaining optimal numerical solutions to the Vlasov–Poisson equation. Unlike the traditional particle-in-cell (PIC) method, which is commonly used for solving this problem, the AP-Cloud adaptively selects computational nodes or particles to deliver higher accuracy and efficiency when the particle distribution is highly non-uniform. Unlike other adaptive techniques for PIC, our method balances the errors in PDE discretization and Monte Carlo integration, and discretizes the differential operators using a generalized finite difference (GFD) method based on a weighted least square formulation. As a result, AP-Cloud is independent of the geometric shapes of computational domains and is free of artificial parameters. Efficient and robust implementation is achieved through an octree data structure with 2:1 balance. We analyze the accuracy and convergence order of AP-Cloud theoretically, and verify the method using an electrostatic problem of a particle beam with halo. Simulation results show that the AP-Cloud method is substantially more accurate and faster than the traditional PIC, and it is free of artificial forces that are typical for some adaptive PIC techniques.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optimizing checkpoint data placement with guaranteed burst buffer endurance in large-scale hierarchical storage systems

Non-volatile devices, such as SSDs, will be an integral part of the deepening storage hierarchy on large-scale HPC systems. These devices can be on the compute nodes as part of a distributed burst buffer service or they can be external. Wherever they are located in the hierarchy, one critical design issue is the SSD endurance under the write-heavy workloads, such as the checkpoint I/O for scientific applications. For these environments, it is widely assumed that checkpoint operations can occur once every 60 min and for each checkpoint step as much as half of the system memory can be written out. Unfortunately, for large-scale HPC applications, the burst buffer SSDs can be worn out much more quickly given the extensive amount of data written at every checkpoint step. One possible solution is to control the amount of data written by reducing the checkpoint frequency. However, a direct effect caused by reduced checkpoint frequency is the increased vulnerability window of system failures and therefore potentially wasted computation time, especially for large-scale compute jobs.

Computer Science↗
DOE OSTI2011

Seeking the optimal LaTaO{sub 4}:Eu phosphor

Lanthanum orthotantalate, LaTaO{sub 4}, is an excellent host lattice for rare-earth luminescent ions such as Eu{sup 3+} for red emission. However, there are multiple RETaO{sub 4} (RE=rare earth) polymorphs, and the stability of these is controlled predominantly by the RE-radius. Thus it is difficult to obtain a pure phase of LaTaO{sub 4}:Eu as Eu concentration and consequently the RE radius is varied. We recently reported a 'soft-chemical' route that allows crystallization of pure-phase LaTaO{sub 4}:Eu at temperatures as low as 800 Degree-Sign C. In the current report, we investigate polymorph evolution and Eu emission as a function of Eu concentration and annealing temperature. We obtain a maximum quantum yield (QY) of 83% at the highest Eu substitution (25%) for which the low temperature orthorhombic (Pbca) polymorph is stable. Therefore, QY is not limited necessarily by concentration quenching; rather it is limited by polymorph stability as the RE-radius decreases with increasing Eu substitution. - Graphical Abstract: Eu-substituted lanthanum orthotantalates, LaTaO{sub 4}:Eu, are excellent red phosphors. They exhibit up to 83% quantum-yield emission under blue light excitation, optimized through both 'soft chemical processing' and polymorph purity. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer LaTaO{sub 4}:Eu phosphors were synthesized via 'soft-chemical' and solid-state routes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Quantum-yield of Eu emission depends on host polymorph, which changes with La:Eu ratio. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Polymorph with optimal Eu-emission is only obtained by 'soft-chemistry'.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

From TPL assessment to design optimization: Wave energy converter control co-design applied to the RM3

The Reference Model (RM) project developed six marine energy converter concepts using a sequential design methodology, which, while widely adopted in the industry, often overlooks interactions between system components, resulting in suboptimal designs. One such example is the Reference Model 3 (RM3), a two-body point absorber wave energy converter (WEC). An assessment using the Technology Performance Level (TPL) revealed that RM3’s low power-to-cost ratio, partly due to expensive steel construction, limits its techno-economic performance. Here, this study aims to redesign RM3 by reducing its scale and employing control co-design to integrate WEC and Power Take-Off (PTO) dynamics, constraints, and cost considerations within an optimization framework. We demonstrate the limitations of RM3’s current PTO design and explore the benefits of scaling down to enhance techno-economic viability by lowering material costs. Using WecOptTool, we conduct a parameter sweep over gear ratios and spring stiffnesses for various Commercial Off-The-Shelf generators in irregular wave conditions. Our findings emphasize the importance of aligning PTO components with WEC dynamics, showing that control co-design and strategic scaling can improve RM3’s power-to-cost ratio. This study presents a transferable example of applied control co-design for other WECs, supporting early-stage developers in their design decisions.

Off the shelf components↗
DOE OSTI2014

Experimental Evaluation and Optimization of Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations for Ion Mobility Spectrometry with Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

We report on the performance of Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulation (SLIM) devices as a means for transmitting ions and performing ion mobility separations (IMS). Ions were successfully transferred from an electrospray ionization (ESI) source to the TOF MS analyzer by means of a linear SLIM device and an alternative arrangement including a 90° turn. First, the linear geometry was optimized for radial confinement by tuning RF on the central ‘rung’ electrodes and potentials on the DC-only guard electrodes. Selecting an appropriate DC guard bias (2-6 V) and RF amplitude (≥160 Vp-p at 750 kHz) resulted in the greatest ion intensities. Close to ideal IMS resolving power was maintained over a range of applied voltages. Second, the 90° turn was optimized for radial confinement by tuning the RF on the rung electrodes and DC on the guard electrodes; however, both resolving power and ion transmission showed a dependence on these voltages and the best conditions for both were > 300 Vp-p RF (685 kHz) and 7-11 V guard DC bias. Both geometries provide IMS resolving powers at the theoretical limit (R~58), showing that the negative “racetrack” effect from turning around a corner can be successfully avoided, as well as the capability for essentially lossless ion transmission.

conveyor↗
DOE OSTI2022

Optimizing Catalysis by Combining Molecular Scaling Relationships: Iron Porphyrin-Catalyzed Electrochemical Oxygen Reduction as a Case Study

Here, the present work demonstrates the generality of molecular scaling relationships toward achieving faster catalysis at lower overpotentials. In iron porphyrin-catalyzed oxygen reduction, independent tuning of the catalyst E 1/2 and buffer pK a resulted in improvement of both the maximum turnover frequency (TOF max ) and the effective overpotential (η eff ). Interestingly, the most optimal system is achieved with the most reducing catalyst and a weak buffered acid—a perhaps counterintuitive conclusion. More generally, this study illustrates a path to optimization of catalytic systems through their differing responses to changes in the intrinsic features of the system.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

An energy-optimization method to study gel-swelling in confinement

Using our open-source programming environment Morpho, an energy-optimization method is developed to compute equilibrium shapes of an arbitrarily confined swollen hydrogel. The internal strains and contact forces are measured, probing its mechanics.

Joshi, Chaitanya↗
DOE OSTI2015

Surface stability and the selection rules of substrate orientation for optimal growth of epitaxial II-VI semiconductors

The surface structures of ionic zinc-blende CdTe (001), (110), (111), and (211) surfaces are systematically studied by first-principles density functional calculations. Based on the surface structures and surface energies, we identify the detrimental twinning appearing in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of II-VI compounds as the (111) lamellar twin boundaries. To avoid the appearance of twinning in MBE growth, we propose the following selection rules for choosing optimal substrate orientations: (1) the surface should be nonpolar so that there is no large surface reconstructions that could act as a nucleation center and promote the formation of twins; (2) the surface structure should have low symmetry so that there are no multiple equivalent directions for growth. These straightforward rules, in consistent with experimental observations, provide guidelines for selecting proper substrates for high-quality MBE growth of II-VI compounds.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗