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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 OSTI2015

Prognostic and health management of active assets in nuclear power plants

This study presents the development of diagnostic and prognostic capabilities for active assets in nuclear power plants (NPPs). The research was performed under the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Technologies Pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program. Idaho National Laboratory researched, developed, implemented, and demonstrated diagnostic and prognostic models for generator step-up transformers (GSUs). The Fleet-Wide Prognostic and Health Management (FW-PHM) Suite software developed by the Electric Power Research Institute was used to perform diagnosis and prognosis. As part of the research activity, Idaho National Laboratory implemented 22 GSU diagnostic models in the Asset Fault Signature Database and two wellestablished GSU prognostic models for the paper winding insulation in the Remaining Useful Life Database of the FW-PHM Suite. The implemented models along with a simulated fault data stream were used to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic capabilities of the FW-PHM Suite. Knowledge of the operating condition of plant asset gained from diagnosis and prognosis is critical for the safe, productive, and economical long-term operation of the current fleet of NPPs. This research addresses some of the gaps in the current state of technology development and enables effective application of diagnostics and prognostics to nuclear plant assets.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

SolarPILOT: A power tower solar field layout and characterization tool

This paper develops and demonstrates a new SolarPower tower Integrated Layout and Optimization Tool (SolarPILOT). The tool uses the analytical flux image Hermite series approximation originally implemented in the DELSOL3 software developed by Sandia National Laboratory in the early 1980s. By applying the analytical model to individual heliostat images rather than large groups or zones of heliostats, SolarPILOT can characterize a wide variety of heliostat field layouts. The individual heliostat modeling approach increases computational expense in comparison with DELSOL3, so SolarPILOT implements a number of improvements to the analytical approximation method to improve model accuracy and computational efficiency. This paper discusses several of these methods, including dynamic heliostat grouping to reduce the expense of intercept factor evaluation, approximation of annual productivity with a subset of time steps throughout the year, polygon clipping to accurately calculate inter-heliostat shadowing and blocking, receiver and tower geometry optimization, and a trigonometric image transformation technique that ensures model accuracy for small heliostats. SolarPILOT also integrates a Monte-Carlo ray tracing engine (SolTrace), providing improved receiver optical modeling capability, a user-friendly front end for geometry definition, and side-by-side validation of the analytical algorithms.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impacts of software and its engineering on the carbon footprint of ICT

The energy consumption of information and communication technology (ICT) is still increasing. Even though several solutions regarding the hardware side of Green IT exist, the software contribution to Green IT is not well investigated. The carbon footprint is one way to rate the environmental impacts of ICT. In order to get an impression of the induced CO{sub 2} emissions of software, we will present a calculation method for the carbon footprint of a software product over its life cycle. We also offer an approach on how to integrate some aspects of carbon footprint calculation into software development processes and discuss impacts and tools regarding this calculation method. We thus show the relevance of energy measurements and the attention to impacts on the carbon footprint by software within Green Software Engineering.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

JANIS 4: An Improved Version of the NEA Java-based Nuclear Data Information System

JANIS is software developed to facilitate the visualization and manipulation of nuclear data, giving access to evaluated data libraries, and to the EXFOR and CINDA databases. It is stand-alone Java software, downloadable from the web and distributed on DVD. Used offline, the system also makes use of an internet connection to access the NEA Data Bank database. It is now also offered as a full web application, only requiring a browser. The features added in the latest version of the software and this new web interface are described.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-G-JeP2-13: Spatial Accuracy Evaluation for Real-Time MR Guided Radiation Therapy Using a Novel Large-Field MRI Distortion Phantom

Purpose: Evaluate a large-field MRI phantom for assessment of geometric distortion in whole-body MRI for real-time MR guided radiation therapy. Methods: A prototype CIRS large-field MRI distortion phantom consisting of a PMMA cylinder (33 cm diameter, 30 cm length) containing a 3D-printed orthogonal grid (3 mm diameter rods, 20 mm apart), was filled with 6 mM NiCl{sub 2} and 30 mM NaCl solution. The phantom was scanned at 1.5T and 3.0T on a GE HDxt and Discovery MR750, respectively, and at 0.35T on a ViewRay system. Scans were obtained with and without 3D distortion correction to demonstrate the impact of such corrections. CT images were used as a reference standard for analysis of geometric distortion, as determined by a fully automated gradient-search method developed in Matlab. Results: 1,116 grid points distributed throughout a cylindrical volume 28 cm in diameter and 16 cm in length were identified and analyzed. With 3D distortion correction, average/maximum displacements for the 1.5, 3.0, and 0.35T systems were 0.84/2.91, 1.00/2.97, and 0.95/2.37 mm, respectively. The percentage of points with less than (1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mm) total displacement were (73%, 92%, 97%), (54%, 85%, 97%), and (55%, 90%, 99%), respectively. A reduced scan volume of 20 × 20 × 10 cm{sup 3} (representative of a head and neck scan volume) consisting of 420 points was also analyzed. In this volume, the percentage of points with less than (1.0, 1.5, 2.0 mm) total displacement were (90%, 99%, 100%), (63%, 95%, 100%), and (75%, 96%, 100%), respectively. Without 3D distortion correction, average/maximum displacements were 1.35/3.67, 1.67/4.46, and 1.51/3.89 mm, respectively. Conclusion: The prototype large-field MRI distortion phantom and developed software provide a thorough assessment of 3D spatial distortions in MRI. The distortions measured were acceptable for RT applications, both for the high field strengths and the system configuration developed by ViewRay.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

HOSS: Hybrid Optimization Software Suite

HOSS software, developed at LANL, is a powerful, flexible, and parallelized package that enables the user to predict deformation and failure of materials in a variety of situations. LANL’s HOSS software is an R&D 100 finalist that integrates solid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics into a multi-physics platform able to handle millions of interacting and fracturing solids and/or particle systems. This nextgeneration simulation software integrates solid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics into a multi-physics platform able to provide state-of-the-art simulation solutions for a wide field of applications including oil and gas, construction, mining, defense, material sciences, and biomechanics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Reconstruction of interactions in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector with Pandora

The Pandora Software Development Kit and algorithm libraries provide pattern-recognition logic essential to the reconstruction of particle interactions in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. Pandora is the primary event reconstruction software used at ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector. ProtoDUNE-SP, located at CERN, is exposed to a charged-particle test beam. This paper gives an overview of the Pandora reconstruction algorithms and how they have been tailored for use at ProtoDUNE-SP. In complex events with numerous cosmic-ray and beam background particles, the simulated reconstruction and identification efficiency for triggered test-beam particles is above 80% for the majority of particle type and beam momentum combinations. Specifically, simulated 1 GeV/c charged pions and protons are correctly reconstructed and identified with efficiencies of 86.1$\pm 0.6$% and 84.1$\pm 0.6$%, respectively. The efficiencies measured for test-beam data are shown to be within 5% of those predicted by the simulation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

High-Performance Design Patterns for Modern Fortran

This paper presents ideas for using coordinate-free numerics in modern Fortran to achieve code flexibility in the partial differential equation (PDE) domain. We also show how Fortran, over the last few decades, has changed to become a language well-suited for state-of-the-art software development. Fortran’s new coarray distributed data structure, the language’s class mechanism, and its side-effect-free, pure procedure capability provide the scaffolding on which we implement HPC software. These features empower compilers to organize parallel computations with efficient communication. We present some programming patterns that support asynchronous evaluation of expressions comprised of parallel operations on distributed data. We implemented these patterns using coarrays and the message passing interface (MPI). We compared the codes’ complexity and performance. The MPI code is much more complex and depends on external libraries. The MPI code on Cray hardware using the Cray compiler is 1.5–2 times faster than the coarray code on the same hardware. The Intel compiler implements coarrays atop Intel’s MPI library with the result apparently being 2–2.5 times slower than manually coded MPI despite exhibiting nearly linear scaling efficiency. As compilers mature and further improvements to coarrays comes in Fortran 2015, we expect this performance gap to narrow.

Haveraaen, Magne↗
DOE OSTI2021

Displacement driven balancing of a diamond turning machine flycutter

The spindle balancing operation is critical to the performance of precision lathes and should be conducted anytime the configuration of the spindle or its tooling is modified such that an unbalanced condition may occur. Within the machine tool community, accelerometers are typically used as the feedback device during the balancing operation. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), we have nearly 40 years of history using displacement sensors, such as capacitance gauges, in place of accelerometers when balancing precision spindles. The process of balancing a precision machine spindle using displacement sensors is presented in the context of two work examples. In this case, the details of the one-dimensional balancing operation performed after replacing a flycutter on the spindles of two unique large optic diamond turning machines is discussed. The pros and cons of accelerometer driven balancing and displacement driven balancing are also presented. In the accelerometer context, the level of balance achieved for our work example is less than 100 micro-g or a total indicator reading (TIR) of 1.6 µm. The process of balancing has been enhanced over the years as advances have been made in software, data acquisition systems, and instrumentation. The balancing system is described including details about instrumentation, set-up, how phase and spindle structure stiffness is calculated, and how the LLNL developed software that guides the user through the process by suggesting corrective action.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mechanistic source terms for the XE-100 reactor XSTERM Code Development Approach - 18587

X-Energy is developing the Xe-100 pebble bed modular High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) as an advanced nuclear power source. To achieve its safety objectives, the Xe-100 reactor relies on materials inherent characteristics and passive safety features. Key features include the inherent high temperature characteristics of TRISO-coated fuel particles, graphite moderator, and helium coolant, along with passive heat removal capability of a low-power-density core. This paper will describe the approach adopted by X-Energy to develop and validate mechanistic source terms for the Xe-100. The Mechanistic Source Term (MST) approach for the Xe-100 reactor will build upon that of the prior DOE Next Generation Nuclear Program (NGNP) (Refs. 1, 2, 3 and 4). MST development is closely related to Fuel Qualification (FQ), Licensing Basis Event (LBE) selection and Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA). This paper provides a brief overview of the MST road map process. Software plays a crucial role in establishing and quantifying MSTs required for licensing the Xe-100. An insight into X-Energy s comprehensive, integrated software development program for calculating time-dependent radionuclide releases from the Xe-100 over a wide range of events is provided. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Python Library for Radiance Matrix-based Simulation Control and EnergyPlus Integration

Radiance matrix-based methods enable efficient parametric simulations, allowing users to vary sky conditions, fenestration systems, and other model parameters at a minimal cost to computation. However, the steep learning curve and complex workflow hinder the widespread adoption of matrix-based methods. The frads Python library with a series of command-line tools was developed to automate the entire matrix-based simulation process, lowering entry barriers and reducing human error. Co-simulation between EnergyPlus and Radiance was also enabled using the Python library from EnergyPlus. Key Innovations • Command-line based automation of Radiance matrix-based simulation methods • Python library facilitates broader adoption of Radiance matrix-based simulation methods • Radiance EnergyPlus run-time integration enabling the modeling of advanced control systems Practical Implications The frads library, with associated command-line tools, provides practitioners with the capability to easily adopt and use Radiance matrix-based simulation methods for various daylighting, solar control, and energy-related evaluations. Frads' current form is designed for 1) users familiar with a command-line interface and 2) software developers to integrate the matrix-based methods into existing software packages.

Wang, Taoning↗
DOE OSTI2014

WE-G-9A-01: Radiation Oncology Outcomes Informatics

The construction of databases and support software to enable routine and systematic aggregation, analysis and reporting of patient outcomes data is emerging as an important area. “How have results for our patients been affected by the improvements we have made in our practice and in the technologies we use?” To answer this type of fundamental question about the overall pattern of efficacy observed, it is necessary to systematically gather and analyze data on all patients treated within a clinic. Clinical trials answer, in great depth and detail, questions about outcomes for the subsets of patients enrolled in a given trial. However, routine aggregation and analysis of key treatment parameter data and outcomes information for all patients is necessary to recognize emergent patterns that would be of interest from a public health or practice perspective and could better inform design of clinical trials or the evolution of best practice principals. To address these questions, Radiation Oncology outcomes databases need to be constructed to enable combination essential data from a broad group of data types including: diagnosis and staging, dose volume histogram metrics, patient reported outcomes, toxicity metrics, performance status, treatment plan parameters, demographics, DICOM data and demographics. Developing viable solutions to automate aggregation and analysis of this data requires multidisciplinary efforts to define nomenclatures, modify clinical processes and develop software and database tools requires detailed understanding of both clinical and technical issues. This session will cover the developing area of Radiation Oncology Outcomes Informatics. Learning Objectives: Audience will be able to speak to the technical requirements (software, database, web services) which must be considered in designing an outcomes database. Audience will be able to understand the content and the role of patient reported outcomes as compared to traditional toxicity measures. Audience will be understand approaches, clinical process changes, consensus building efforts and standardizations which must be addressed to succeed in a multi-disciplinary effort to aggregate data for all patients. Audience will be able to discuss technical and process issues related to pooling data among institutions in the context of collaborative studies among the presenting institutions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Quality control for community-based sea-ice model development

A new collaborative organization for sea-ice model development, the CICE Consortium, has devised quality control procedures to maintain the integrity of its numerical codes' physical representations, enabling broad participation from the scientific community in the Consortium's open software development environment. Using output from five coupled and uncoupled configurations of the Los Alamos Sea Ice Model, CICE, we formulate quality control methods that exploit common statistical properties of sea-ice thickness, and test for significant changes in model results in a computationally efficient manner. New additions and changes to CICE are graded into four categories, ranging from bit-for-bit amendments to significant, answer-changing upgrades. These modifications are assessed using criteria that account for the high level of autocorrelation in sea-ice time series, along with a quadratic skill metric that searches for hemispheric changes in model answers across an array of different CICE configurations. These metrics also provide objective guidance for assessing new physical representations and code functionality.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Engineering Computational Practices (Rev. 1)

This manual will attempt to motivate the use of an automated build system for the purposes of computational science and engineering. As part of this motivation, the surrounding computational practices of version control, documen tation, compute environment management, and regression testing will also be addressed as applied to the practice of computational engineering. Specifically, this manual intends to motivate the adoption of these traditional software engineering practices for use in research and production engineering simulation projects. This manual is not the first such effort in the greater scientific computing community. In fact, the authors relied heavily on the lesson plans of the Software Carpentry, established to teach computing skills to researchers in 1998. As the intention for this manual is to lay out fundamental practices of engineering computing, it will not attempt to fully teach the underlying concepts and will instead reference the well designed lesson plans of the Software Carpentry. Where possible, this manual will explain to general computing practices and concepts and limit discussion of specific software implementations to examples or vehicles for practice in concrete application. The specific software taught by the Software Carpentry curriculum is an excellent starting point to learn the core concepts of computational engi neering. However, the authors have found that applications to engineering simulation and analysis require translation of these software development concepts into the language and workflows of computational engineers. Adopting these computational tools may require engineers to re-imagine their workflows in some combination of traditional engineer ing and software concepts. It has also been necessary to extend existing software build systems for engineering practices beyond the simple wrap ping of engineering software execution. Where necessary, examples of specific software and their method of extension to engineering simulations will be given, with reference to the User Manual for recommended practical use. Where this manual relies on specific implementation examples, it should be understood that the practicing engineer may find that different software is more amenable to their specific work. It is always the overall collection of computational practices is more important than any specific software implementation. The ability to recognize which concepts are implemented by a software package will make a practicing engineer agile to changing project needs, computing resources, numeric solvers, programming languages, and even available funding.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-J-100: Standardized Biodistribution Template for Nuclear Medicine Dosimetry Collection and Reporting

Purpose: As the field of Nuclear Medicine moves forward with efforts to integrate radiation dosimetry into clinical practice we can identify the challenge posed by the lack of standardized dose calculation methods and protocols. All personalized internal dosimetry is derived by projecting biodistribution measurements into dosimetry calculations. In an effort to standardize organization of data and its reporting, we have developed, as a sequel to the EANM recommendation of “Good Dosimetry Reporting”, a freely available biodistribution template, which can be used to create a common point of reference for dosimetry data. It can be disseminated, interpreted, and used for method development widely across the field. Methods: A generalized biodistribution template was built in a comma delineated format (.csv) to be completed by users performing biodistribution measurements. The template is available for free download. The download site includes instructions and other usage details on the template. Results: This is a new resource developed for the community. It is our hope that users will consider integrating it into their dosimetry operations. Having biodistribution data available and easily accessible for all patients processed is a strategy for organizing large amounts of information. It may enable users to create their own databases that can be analyzed for multiple aspects of dosimetry operations. Furthermore, it enables population data to easily be reprocessed using different dosimetry methodologies. With respect to dosimetry-related research and publications, the biodistribution template can be included as supplementary material, and will allow others in the community to better compare calculations and results achieved. Conclusion: As dosimetry in nuclear medicine become more routinely applied in clinical applications, we, as a field, need to develop the infrastructure for handling large amounts of data. Our organ level biodistribution template can be used as a standard format for data collection, organization, as well as for dosimetry research and software development.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Study of a Docker Use-Case for HEP

Over the past few years, container technology has become increasingly promising as a means to seamlessly make our software available across a wider range of platforms. In December 2015, we decided to put together a set of docker images that serve as a demonstration of this container technology for managing a run-time environment for art-related software projects, and also serve as a set of test cases for evaluation of performance. Docker[1] containers provide a way to “wrap up a piece of software in a complete filesystem that contains everything it needs to run”. In combination with Shifter[2], such containers provide a way to run software developed and deployed on “typical” HEP platforms (such as SLF 6, in common use at Fermilab and on OSG platforms) on HPC facilities at NERSC. Docker containers provide a means of delivering software that can be run on a variety of hosts without needing to be compiled specially for each OS to be supported. This could substantially reduce the effort required to create and validate a new release, since one build could be suitable for use on both grid machines (both FermiGrid and OSG) as well as any machine capable of running the Docker container. In addition, docker containers may provide for a quick and easy way for users to install and use a software release in a standardized environment. This report contains the results and status of this demonstration and evaluation.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Enhancements supporting IC usage of PEM libraries on next-gen platforms

This milestone reports on the culmination of several years of effort by multiple PEM support software development teams to provide capabilities for use in LLNL-developed integrated codes on next-gen ASC platforms, including GPU support. We will provide a survey of relevant Application Program Interfaces (API) that are required to support LLNL IC code capability on relevant architectures, with a focus on Sierra and El Capitan. We will identify and summarize all dependencies between PEM supported libraries and IC supported physics codes. We will provide an assessment of algorithmic improvements that have been deployed, as well as future developments that are required to complete the GPU porting efforts. This assessment will include a description of programming models adopted by each of the PEM projects, distinct algorithmic challenges for each of the capabilities, and information about sharing GPU memory between the APIs and host codes. We will develop targeted test problems to assess computational performance. Finally, this milestone will result in identification of gaps in our effort to assist the LLNL ASC program in prioritization of effort for porting software to El Capitan.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Methods and Experiences for Developing Abstractions for Data-intensive, Scientific Applications

Developing software for scientific applications that require the integration of diverse types of computing, instruments, and data present challenges that are distinct from commercial software. These applications require scale, and the need to integrate various programming and computational models with evolving and heterogeneous infrastructure. Pervasive and effective abstractions for distributed infrastructures are thus critical; however, the process of developing abstractions for scientific applications and infrastructures is not well understood. While theory-based approaches for system development are suited for well-defined, closed environments, they have severe limitations for designing abstractions for scientific systems and applications. The design science research (DSR) method provides the basis for designing practical systems that can handle real-world complexities at all levels. In contrast to theory-centric approaches, DSR emphasizes both practical relevance and knowledge creation by building and rigorously evaluating all artifacts. In this work, we show how DSR provides a well-defined framework for developing abstractions and middleware systems for distributed systems. Specifically, we address the critical problem of distributed resource management on heterogeneous infrastructure over a dynamic range of scales, a challenge that currently limits many scientific applications. We use the pilot-abstraction, a widely used resource management abstraction for high-performance, high throughput, big data, and streaming applications, as a case study for evaluating the DSR activities. For this purpose, we analyze the research process and artifacts produced during the design and evaluation of the pilot-abstraction. We find DSR provides a concise framework for iteratively designing and evaluating systems. Finally, we capture our experiences and formulate different lessons learned.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗