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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 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Recurrence analysis of friction based dry-couplant ultrasonic Lamb waves in plate-like structures

Here, in this study, the effect of friction on the generation of dry-coupled Lamb waves is experimentally investigated. Recurrence analysis is performed to analyze the complex behavior of friction based dry-coupled Lamb waves. In particular, the effect of the normal force, which is necessary for a stronger dry-coupled Lamb wave generation and the friction, on the transmission of mechanical energy and determinism characteristics of Lamb waves are investigated. The results verify that larger friction coefficient and friction force are crucial for generation and propagation of strong Lamb waves supporting the fact that the main mechanism to transfer mechanical energy using dry-couplant is friction. The sensitivity of Lamb waves to the friction coefficient, highlights the importance of designing specific pads with respect to condition of the surface. Besides, the results show that the normal force and friction coefficient can change the determinism characteristics behavior of multimode Lamb waves. Furthermore, it is shown that the determinism value is sensitive to the friction coefficient and normal force. A similar trend is observed in the determinism values and friction coefficient. In general, a smaller friction coefficient indicates smaller determinism value. Additionally, it is shown that a normal load can change the behavior of a system, as observed from recurrence plots, owing to changes in the Lamb waves trajectories in the phase-space domain. In addition, it is shown that recurrence plots enable the detection of mode transitions in multimode Lamb waves. Recurrence analysis is a complementary tool to frequency domain methods for accurate analysis of multimode Lamb waves behavior.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Co‐Evolution of Specific Stiffness and Permeability of Rock Fractures Offset in Shear

Abstract Fractures and faults represent planes of weakness and compliance in rock masses that serve as focal points for both microearthquakes and fluid transport, with seismicity and permeability evolution closely linked. Contact stiffness is highly stress‐sensitive and directly influences permeability. We explore the co‐evolution of specific stiffness and permeability of rough fractures under normal stress and shear offset using numerical simulations. Individual rough fractures are represented by variable amplitude (Root mean square) and wavelength ( λ ) using a granular mechanics model. Contacting rough surfaces are mated, offset in shear, and then compacted in displacement mode. The compacting fractures generate stress‐dependent changes in contact porosity, which govern both permeability and stiffness evolution. We establish a universal dimensionless relationship linking specific stiffness and permeability that inherently incorporates the effects of surface roughness, shear offset, and microcracking. The observed cracking effect—where local stress redistribution and pressure‐driven microcrack propagation dynamically alter the aperture field—introduces a nonlinear permeability response at high stress. Increased roughness amplitude and larger shear offsets reduce stiffness while dampening permeability sensitivity to stress, demonstrating a strong interplay between surface texture and hydro‐mechanical behavior. While the model captures this behavior effectively, deviations emerge at very low porosities due to extreme aperture sensitivity in this limit.

He, Xinxin [Energy and Mineral Engineering Pennsyl↗
DOE OSTI2022

D-instanton induced superpotential

We use string field theory to fix the normalization of the D-instanton corrections to the superpotential involving the moduli fields of type II string theory compactified on an orientifold of a Calabi-Yau threefold in the absence of fluxes. We focus on O(1) instantons whose only zero modes are the four bosonic modes associated with translation of the instanton in non-compact directions and a pair of fermionic zero modes associated with the two supercharges broken by the instanton. We work with a generic superconformal field theory and express our answer in terms of the spectrum of open strings on the instanton. We analyse the contribution of multi-instantons of this kind to the superpotential and argue that it vanishes when background fluxes are absent.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Degradation Dynamics of Perovskite Solar Cells Under Fixed Reverse-Current Injection

Previous studies of reverse-bias stability in perovskite solar cells have focused primarily on voltage-controlled tests. Here we instead investigate perovskite solar cell degradation under well-defined, constant reverse-current stress. We show that the choice of hole-transport layer dictates the dominant degradation pathway: cells using thick poly(triphenylamine) (PTAA) layers can tolerate high reverse bias but quickly undergo catastrophic breakdown under fixed reverse current near their one-sun maximum power-point. In contrast, cells modified with phosphonic-acid interface layer MeO-2PACz, with poorer indium-doped tin oxide (ITO) coverage compared to PTAA, exhibit gradual and recoverable degradation under certain stress and recovery conditions. For MeO-2PACz devices, degradation increases with both current magnitude and duration. Importantly, when normalized by injected charge (current times duration), lower currents applied over longer times cause more degradation than higher currents over shorter periods. Here, combining electrical measurements with spatially resolved photoluminescence imaging, our observations support an ion- and charge-mediated interfacial electrochemical degradation mode.

Degradation↗
DOE OSTI2024

A high-density and high-confinement tokamak plasma regime for fusion energy

The tokamak approach, utilizing a toroidal magnetic field configuration to confine a hot plasma, is one of the most promising designs for developing reactors that can exploit nuclear fusion to generate electrical energy. To reach the goal of an economical reactor, most tokamak reactor designs simultaneously require reaching a plasma line-averaged density above an empirical limit—the so-called Greenwald density and attaining an energy confinement quality better than the standard high-confinement mode. However, such an operating regime has never been verified in experiments. In addition, a long-standing challenge in the high-confinement mode has been the compatibility between a high-performance core and avoiding large, transient edge perturbations that can cause very high heat loads on the plasma-facing-components in tokamaks. Here we report the demonstration of stable tokamak plasmas with a line-averaged density approximately 20% above the Greenwald density and an energy confinement quality of approximately 50% better than the standard high-confinement mode, which was realized by taking advantage of the enhanced suppression of turbulent transport granted by high density-gradients in the high-poloidal-beta scenario. Furthermore, our experimental results show an integration of very low edge transient perturbations with the high normalized density and confinement core. The operating regime we report supports some critical requirements in many fusion reactor designs all over the world and opens a potential avenue to an operating point for producing economically attractive fusion energy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ubiquitous coexisting electron-mode couplings in high-temperature cuprate superconductors

In conventional superconductors, electron-phonon coupling plays a dominant role in generating superconductivity. In high-temperature cuprate superconductors, the existence of electron coupling with phonons and other boson modes and its role in producing high-temperature superconductivity remain unclear. The evidence of electron-boson coupling mainly comes from angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) observations of ~70-meV nodal dispersion kink and ~40-meV antinodal kink. However, the reported results are sporadic and the nature of the involved bosons is still under debate. Here we report findings of ubiquitous two coexisting electron-mode couplings in cuprate superconductors. By taking ultrahigh-resolution laser-based ARPES measurements, we found that the electrons are coupled simultaneously with two sharp modes at ~70meV and ~40meV in different superconductors with different dopings, over the entire momentum space and at different temperatures above and below the superconducting transition temperature. These observations favor phonons as the origin of the modes coupled with electrons and the observed electron-mode couplings are unusual because the associated energy scales do not exhibit an obvious energy shift across the superconducting transition. We further find that the well-known “peak-dip-hump” structure, which has long been considered a hallmark of superconductivity, is also omnipresent and consists of “peak-double dip-double hump” finer structures that originate from electron coupling with two sharp modes. These results provide a unified picture for the ~70-meV and ~40-meV energy scales and their evolutions with momentum, doping and temperature. In conclusion, they provide key information to understand the origin of these energy scales and their role in generating anomalous normal state and high-temperature superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Soft-mode enhanced type-I superconductivity in LiPd 2 Ge

The synthesis, crystal structure, and physical properties (magnetization, resistivity, heat capacity) in combination with theoretical calculations of the electronic structure and phonon properties are reported for intermetallic compounds LiPd 2 X ( X = Si, Ge, and Sn). LeBail refinement of powder x-ray diffraction data confirms that all compounds belong to the Heusler family (space group $\textit{F m-3m}$, No. 225). The lattice parameter increases with atomic size of X , and its value varies from $\textit{a}$ = 5.9059(4) Å for LiPd 2 Si and $\textit{a}$ = 6.0082(3)Å for LiPd 2 Ge, to $\textit{a}$ = 6.2644(1) Å for LiPd 2 Sn. The first compound, LiPd 2 Si, has apparently not been previously reported. All measured quantities demonstrate that LiPd 2 Ge exhibits superconductivity below $T_c$ = 1.96 K and the normal- and superconducting-state data indicate that it is a weak-strength type-I superconductor ($C/γT_c$ = 1.38) with electron-phonon coupling constant $λ_{e–p}$ = (0.53–0.56). LiPd 2 Si and LiPd 2 Sn are not superconducting above 1.68 K. The experimental observations are supported by theoretical calculations which show that LiPd 2 Ge has the highest computed $λ_{e–p}$ and $T_c$ of the group. A strong softening of the acoustic phonon mode is calculated, and in the case of X = Ge and Sn, imaginary phonon frequencies were computed. In this work, the soft mode is most pronounced in the case of LiPd 2 Ge, which suggests its correlation with superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Plasma performance and operational space without ELMs in DIII-D

A database of DIII-D plasmas without ELMs compares the operating space and plasma performance of stationary no-ELM regimes: RMP-ELM suppression, QH-mode, I-mode, EDA H-mode, L-mode, and negative triangularity L-mode (Neg-D). Here, operational space is documented in terms of engineering and physics parameters, revealing divergent constraints. Some operational space discriminants (like pedestal collisionality) are well known, while others, such as low torque & safety factor, or high power & density, are less commonly emphasized. Normalized performance (H-factor and betan) also discriminate the no-ELM regimes and favor regimes tolerant to power in DIII-D: RMP, QH, and Neg-D.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Isotope effects on energy transport in the core of ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak plasmas: Turbulence measurements and model validation

Design and operation of future tokamak fusion reactors using a deuterium–tritium 50:50 mix requires a solid understanding of how energy confinement properties change with ion mass. This study looks at how turbulence and energy transport change in L-mode plasmas in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak when changing ion species between hydrogen and deuterium. For this purpose, both experimental turbulence measurements and modeling are employed. Local measurements of ion-scale (with wavevector of fluctuations perpendicular to the B-field k⊥< 2 cm−1, k⊥ρs< 0.2, where ρs is the ion sound Larmor radius using the deuterium ion mass) electron temperature fluctuations have been performed in the outer core (normalized toroidal flux ρTor=0.65−0.8) using a multi-channel correlation electron cyclotron emission diagnostic. Lower root mean square perpendicular fluctuation amplitudes and radial correlation lengths have been measured in hydrogen vs deuterium. Measurements of the cross-phase angle between a normal-incidence reflectometer and an ECE signal were made to infer the cross-phase angle between density and temperature fluctuations. The magnitude of the cross-phase angle was found larger (more out-of-phase) in hydrogen than in deuterium. TRANSP power balance simulations show a larger ion heat flux in hydrogen where the electron-ion heat exchange term is found to play an important role. These experimental observations were used as the basis of a validation study of both quasilinear gyrofluid trapped gyro-Landau fluid-SAT2 and nonlinear gyrokinetic GENE codes. Linear solvers indicate that, at long wavelengths (k⊥ρs<1), energy transport in the deuterium discharge is dominated by a mixed ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) and trapped-electron mode turbulence while in hydrogen transport is exclusively and more strongly driven by ITG turbulence. The Ricci validation metric has been used to quantify the agreement between experiments and simulations taking into account both experimental and simulation uncertainties as well as four different observables across different levels of the primacy hierarchy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

An experimental characterization of core turbulence regimes in Wendelstein 7-X

First results from the optimized helias Wendelstein 7-X stellarator (W7-X) have shown that core transport is no longer mostly neoclassical, as is the case in previous kinds of stellarators. Instead, power balance analysis has shown that turbulent transport poses a serious limitation to the global performance of the machine. Furthermore, several studies have found this particularly relevant for ion transport, with core ion temperatures becoming clamped at relatively low values of T i ≃ 1.7 keV, except in the few scenarios in which turbulence can be suppressed. In order to understand the precise turbulent mechanisms at play and thus design improved performance scenarios, it is important to have a clear understanding of the parametric dependencies of turbulent fluctuations, and the relation between them and turbulent transport. As a first step in this direction, in this work we use Doppler reflectometry measurements carried out during a number of relevant operational scenarios to provide a systematic characterization of ion-scale ( k ⊥ ρ i ≃ 1) density fluctuations in the core of W7-X. Then, we study the relation between fluctuation amplitude and plasma profiles and show how distinct regimes can be defined for the former, depending on normalized gradients and . Furthermore, we discuss the importance of other potentially relevant parameters such as T e / T i , E r or collisionality. Comparing the different regimes, we find that turbulence amplitude depends generally on the gradient ratio η i = , as would be expected for ITG modes, with the exception of a range of discharges, for which turbulence suppression may be better explained by an ITG to TEM transition triggered by a drop in collisionality. Finally, we show a number of scenarios under which T i,core > 1.7 keV is achieved and how core fluctuations are suppressed in all of them, thus providing experimental evidence of microturbulence being the main responsible for the limited ion confinement in W7-X.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ganged-PV System Evaluation

The following report contains data and data summaries collected for the SkySun LLC elevated Ganged PV arrays. These arrays were fabricated as a series of PV panels in various orientations, suspended by cables, at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Starting in February of 2021, Sandia personnel have collected power and accelerometer data for these arrays to assess design and operational efficacy of varying ganged- PV configurations. The purpose of this power data collection was to see how the various array orientations compare in power collection capability depending on the time of day, year, and the specific daily solar direct normal irradiance (DNI). The power data was collected as a measurement of the power output from the various series strings. The project team measured direct current (DC) voltage and current from the respective arrays. The accelerometer data was collected with the purpose of demonstrating potential destructive mode shapes that could take place with each of the arrays when exposed to high winds. This allowed the team to evaluate whether impacts with respect to specific array orientations using suspended cables is a safe design. All data collection was performed during calendar year 2021.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Models of resistive wall tearing mode disruptions

Disruptions are a serious issue in tokamaks. In a disruption, the thermal energy is lost by means of an instability which could be a resistive wall tearing mode (RWTM). During precursors to a disruption, the plasma edge region cools, causing the current to contract. Model sequences of contracted current equilibria are given, and their stability is calculated. A linear stability study shows that there is a maximum value of edge q a ≈ 3 for RWTMs to occur. Further, this also implies a minimum rational surface radius normalized to plasma radius from RWTMs to be unstable. Nonlinear simulations are performed using a similar model sequence derived from an equilibrium reconstruction. There is a striking difference in the results, depending on whether the wall is ideal or resistive. With an ideal wall, the perturbations saturate at moderate amplitude, causing a minor disruption without a thermal quench. With a resistive wall, there is a major disruption with a thermal quench, if the edge q a ≤ 3. There is a sharp transition in nonlinear behavior at q a = 3. This is consistent with the linear model and with experiments. If disruptions are caused by RWTMs, then devices with highly conducting walls, such as the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor will experience much milder, tolerable, disruptions than presently predicted.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Electro-mechanical Modeling of Wind Turbine and Energy Storage Systems with Enhanced Inertial Response

In this paper, a coordinated control scheme for wind turbine generator (WTG) and supercapacitor energy storage system (ESS) is proposed for temporary frequency supports. Inertial control is designed by using generator torque limit considering the security of WTG system, while ESS releases its energy to compensate the sudden active power deficit during the recovery process of turbine rotor. WTG is modeled using the fatigue, aerodynamic, structure, turbulence (FAST) code, which identifies the mechanical loadings of the turbine and addresses electro-mechanical interactions in the wind energy system. A damping controller is augmented to the inertial control to suppress severe mechanical oscillations in the shaft and tower of the turbine during frequency supports. Furthermore, the result of small-signal stability analysis shows that the WTG-ESS tends to improve the stability of the whole multi-energy power grid. The major contributions of this paper will be validated by utilizing the proposed control method that combines the grid support capability and maintaining the integrity of structural design of the turbine for normal operations.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Stability and transport of gyrokinetic critical pedestals

Abstract A gyrokinetic threshold model for pedestal width–height scaling prediction is applied to multiple devices. A shaping and aspect ratio scan is performed on National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) equilibria, finding Δ ped = 0.92 A 1.04 κ − 1.24 0.38 δ β θ , ped 1.05 for the wide-pedestal branch with pedestal width Δ ped , aspect ratio A , elongation κ , triangularity δ , and normalized pedestal height β θ , ped . The width–transport scaling is found to vary significantly if the pedestal height is varied either with a fixed density or fixed temperature, showing how fueling and heating sources affect the pedestal density and temperature profiles for the kinetic-ballooning-mode (KBM) limited profiles. For an NSTX equilibrium, at fixed density, the wide branch is Δ ped = 0.028 ( q e / Γ e − 1.7 ) 1.5 ∼ η e 1.5 and at fixed temperature Δ ped = 0.31 ( q e / Γ e − 4.7 ) 0.85 ∼ η e 0.85 , where q e and Γ e are turbulent electron heat and particle fluxes and η e = ∇ ln ⁡ T e / ∇ ln ⁡ n e for an electron temperature T e and density n e . Pedestals close to the KBM limit are shown to have modified turbulent transport coefficients compared to the strongly driven KBMs. The role of flow shear is studied as a width–height scaling constraint and pedestal saturation mechanism for a standard and lithiated wide pedestal discharge. Finally, the stability, transport, and flow shear constraints are combined and examined for an NSTX experiment.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

G2Aero (Separable shape tensors for aerodynamic design) [SWR-22-44]

G2Aero is a flexible and practical tool for design and deformation of 2D airfoils and 3D blades using data-driven approaches. G2Aero utilizes the geometry of matrix manifolds—specifically the Grassmannian—to build a novel framework for representing physics-based separable deformations of shapes. G2Aero offers the flexibility to generate perturbations in a customizable way over any portion of the blade. The G2Aero framework utilizes data-driven methods based on a curated database of physically relevant airfoils. Specific tools include: - principal geodesic analysis over normal coordinate neighborhoods of matrix manifolds; - a variety of data-regularized deformations to nominal 2D airfoil shapes; - Riemannian interpolation connecting a sequence of airfoil cross-sections to build 3D blades from 2D data; - consistent perturbations over the span of interpolated 3D blades based on dominant modes from the data-driven analysis.

Doronina, Olga↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Gridded Solar Irradiance Ensemble Prediction System Based on WRF-Solar EPS and the Analog Ensemble

The WRF-Solar Ensemble Prediction System (WRF-Solar EPS) and a calibration method, the analog ensemble (AnEn), are used to generate calibrated gridded ensemble forecasts of solar irradiance over the contiguous United States (CONUS). Global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI) retrievals, based on geostationary satellites from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) are used for both calibrating and verifying the day-ahead GHI and DNI predictions (GDIP). A 10-member ensemble of WRF-Solar EPS is run in a re-forecast mode to generate day-ahead GDIP for three years. The AnEn is used to calibrate GDIP at each grid point independently using the NSRDB as the “ground truth”. Performance evaluations of deterministic and probabilistic attributes are carried out over the whole CONUS. The results demonstrate that using the AnEn calibrated ensemble forecast from WRF-Solar EPS contributes to improving the overall quality of the GHI predictions with respect to an AnEn calibrated system based only on the deterministic run of WRF-Solar. In fact, the calibrated WRF-Solar EPS’s mean exhibits a lower bias and RMSE than the calibrated deterministic WRF-Solar. Moreover, using the ensemble mean and spread as predictors for the AnEn allows a more effective calibration than using variables only from the deterministic runs. Finally, it has been shown that the recently introduced algorithm of correction for rare events is of paramount importance to obtain the lowest values of GHI from the calibrated ensemble (WRF-Solar EPS AnEn), qualitatively consistent with those observed from the NSRDB.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Local measurements of the pedestal magnetic field profile throughout the ELM cycle on DIII-D

We report new high speed localized measurements of the pedestal magnetic field during the edge localized mode (ELM) cycle of a DIII-D High confinement mode (H-mode) discharge indicate a temporally and spatial complex redistribution of the edge current density profile, $j_{edge}$. The measurement technique extracts the magnetic field magnitude, $\textit{B}$, via the spectral separation of Stark-split neutral beam radiation in the pedestal. Single spatial channel measurements from a novel spatial heterodyne spectrometer are validated in discharges with core current profile changes. The technique measures Stark-splitting changes that imply $\textit{B}$ changes as small as 1 mT with high time resolution (50 μs). At normalized poloidal flux $ψ_n$ = 1.0, $\textit{B}$ appears saturated in the inter-ELM period and then rapidly decreases in <200 μs by ~1%, before edge recycling emission begins to increase. Radially inboard of $j_{edge}$, $\textit{B}$ increases at the ELM crash. The behavior is consistent with a rapid collapse of $j_{edge}$ at the ELM crash and subsequent pedestal recovery. In some discharges, at $ψ_n$ < 0.96, changes in $\textit{B}$ are observed throughout the ELM cycle. In others, $\textit{B}$ recovers and is relatively stable until a few ms leading up to the next crash. Measurements of $\textit{B}$ during the H-mode transition show a large increase at $ψ_n$ = 1 with little change at $ψ_n$ = 0.9, consistent with the formation of the edge bootstrap current density peak. The $ψ_n$ = 0.9 spectrum is complicated by predicted changes to the Stark component intensities with density at the L–H transition.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mixed gauge-global symmetries, elliptic modes, and black hole thermodynamics in Hořava-Lifshitz gravity

In Hořava-Lifshitz gravity, a putative consistent theory of quantum gravity for which there is evidence for both black hole thermodynamics and a holographic construction, spacetime is endowed with a preferred dynamical spacelike foliation. The theory has a leaf reparameterization symmetry that is neither global nor local gauge, hyperbolic and elliptic equations of motion, a lack of splittability, and universal horizon black hole solutions. The reparameterization symmetry is “mixed”: it is a local symmetry in one coordinate yet global on each leaf. More broadly it is an example of both unfree and projectable gauge symmetries. The mixed symmetry and associated charge has not yet been accounted for in calculations of universal horizon thermodynamics in Hořava-Lifshitz gravity. This has led to problems, in particular the failure of the first law in a class of asymptotically AdS solutions where the normal to the leaves of the foliation is not aligned with the time translation Killing vector at infinity. We show how the dynamics of the charge corresponding to this symmetry coupled with the other features above resolves this issue. We then briefly comment how this mixed symmetry, the corresponding charge, and the elliptic equations of motion also conspire to evade recent holographic arguments for only local gauge fields in consistent theories of quantum gravity due to the lack of splittability of the elliptic equation and associated mode.

Global Symmetries↗