Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “STAN”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

Local heat-transfer measurements on a large scale-model turbine blade airfoil using a composite of a heater element and liquid crystals

Local heat transfer coefficients were experimentally mapped along the midchord of a five-time-size turbine blade airfoil in a static cascade operated at room temperature over a range of Reynolds numbers. The test surface consisted of a composite of commercially available materials: a mylar sheet with a layer of cholesteric liquid crystals, that change color with temperature, and a heater sheet made of a carbon-impregnated paper, that produces uniform heat flux. After the initial selection and calibration of the composite sheet, accurate, quantitative, and continuous heat transfer coefficients were mapped over the airfoil surface. The local heat transfer coefficients are presented for Reynolds numbers from 2.8 x 10 to the 5th power to 7.6 x 10 to the 5th power. Comparisons are made with analytical values of heat transfer coefficients obtained from the STANS boundary layer code. Also, a leading edge separation bubble was revealed by thermal and flow visualization.

Hippensteele, S. A.↗

Vehicle Systems Panel deliberations

The Vehicle Systems Panel addressed materials and structures technology issues related to launch and space vehicle systems not directly associated with the propulsion or entry systems. The Vehicle Systems Panel was comprised of two subpanels - Expendable Launch Vehicles & Cryotanks (ELVC) and Reusable Vehicles (RV). Tom Bales, LaRC, and Tom Modlin, JSC, chaired the expendable and reusable vehicles subpanels, respectively, and co-chaired the Vehicle Systems Panel. The following four papers are discussed in this section: (1) Net Section components for Weldalite Cryogenic Tanks, by Don Bolstad; (2) Build-up Structures for Cryogenic Tanks and Dry Bay Structural Applications, by Barry Lisagor; (3) Composite Materials Program, by Robert Van Siclen; (4) Shuttle Technology (and M&S Lessons Learned), by Stan Greenberg.

Bales, Tom↗

Retrieval of Atmospheric CO2 Column from Ground-based Near IR Spectra of the Sun

This grant has supported a graduate research assistant stipend for Zhonghua Yang, a geochemistry Ph.D. student at Caltech. In this project, we have significantly improved the retrieval of atmospheric column CO2 (and molecular oxygen) from ground-based, high resolution near-IR solar transmission spectra. This work has greatly benefited from interactions with Dr. Geoffrey Toon and Stan Sander of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and with James T. Randerson, University of California - Irvine. The results from this study are summarized in three publications, reprints of which are enclosed in with this report.

Wennberg, Paul↗

Bayesian Rules of Thumb: Robust Uncertainty Quantification in Early Project Cost Estimation

Systems engineers often make use of cost Rules ofThumb in order to estimate cost during early phases of projectformulation. These Rules of Thumb typically take the form ofa sequence of percentages over which a total cost is allocatedacross NASA WBS elements. Rules of Thumb can then be usedto extrapolate cost from one or more known WBS elements tothe remaining unknown WBS elements, assisting early projectformulation architecture studies (such as those in JPL’s Team Xand A Team).A number of issues can arise when generating and using costRules of Thumb. For example, many records of project costsconsist of incomplete data. Typical methods of dealing withincomplete cost allocation data include (a) ignoring missionswith incomplete data, or (b) taking averages of the non-zero percentagesacross missions, but both of these methods can result inbiased estimates if the existence of incomplete data correlateswith total mission cost or any particular WBS element. Anothercommon example is cost reported in one or more incorrect WBSelements. This is especially prevalent in smaller missions whereit is more common for engineers to perform tasks that fall underthe purview of multiple WBS elements.Furthermore, a Rule of Thumb estimate is typically reported asa point estimate; there is no reported uncertainty around thepercentages used to generate an allocation. Even in the rarecase in which confidence intervals around mean percentages areprovided, there may be positive or negative correlations betweenWBS elements which can skew estimates.Here we attempt to address these problems by formulatingprobabilistic Rules of Thumb in which a distribution of allocationschemes, rather than a single allocation scheme, is generated.We use a bootstrap imputation method to simultaneouslyaccount for uncertainty in the missing data while using allavailable information contained in the dataset. The imputeddatasets are then input into a multivariate Bayesian modelwhich accounts for correlations between WBS elements andproperly accounts for uncertainty in the final Rule of Thumbpercentages and predictions. We describe the mathematicalmodel and provides snippets of R code utilizing the brms(Bayesian Regression Models using Stan) package. To illustratethis model, we generate a Bayesian Level 2 WBS Cost Rule ofThumb for MIDEX (Medium-Class Explorers) missions withdata extracted from NASA’s CADRe. We then compare thismethod’s performance with the classical Rule of Thumb method.

Hooke, Melissa A↗

Earth System Digital Twins (ESDT)

"First Webinar for a digital twin webinar series titled ""Digital Twin Webinar Series 1: Concept, Practices, and Vision"". This kick-off webinar will focus on concepts, architecture and high level discussion on digital twins for Earth science and other domain sciences. The agenda will be the following: - Dr. Jacqueline Le Moigne is NASA AIST program manager, and the first federal program manager to programmatically fund 14 digital twin research projects. - Mr. Stan Posey is the HPC Program Manager, ESM and CFD Domains at NVIDIA. - Dr. Goodchild is a emeritus professor at UCSB, member of the national academy, and a founder of digital earth international society."

Information Systems↗

Panel Session 116: Waste Management from Remediation of Legacy Sites or Unplanned Releases

Past experiences have shown that there is often a disconnect between Indigenous societies and Western society. This disconnect can be attributed to different value systems between these two group and is not limited to the USA and Canada but also extends into Australia, New Zealand, and the Central Asia Republics (the 'five Stans'). The intent of this Panel Session to give voice to representatives from Indigenous communities, the challenges presented in remediation processes, and potential solutions. Standard risk assessment assumptions developed for Western societies often do not adequately address the cultural and spiritual values that may be unique to indigenous societies. This panel focused on the perspectives of Indigenous societies (e.g., Indian Tribes (US), First Nations (Canada)) related to risk assessment of environmental remediation challenges, including deep geological disposal of HLW and ILW, near-surface disposal of LLW and in-situ entombment of nuclear reactor components, and environmental remediation of abandoned uranium mines and historic wastes. Standard risk assessment assumptions often do not adequately address the cultural and spiritual values that may be unique to indigenous societies. Factoring those into a risk assessment that still meets regulatory requirements and policies such as reasonably anticipated land use at US EPA CERCLA sites can be challenging but has the potential to lead to a site or facility approach that is more accepted. Panelists with presentations: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Process - A Path for Indigenous Knowledge? (Francis Cameron); Local Community Perceptions and Remediation Projects (Michelle Roberts); Indigenous Perspectives on Risk Assessment (Bob Watts); Navajo Superfund Program: Fundamental Law and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (Dariel Yazzie); Risk Assessment: Two Indigenous Approaches (Whitney Fraser)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Shallow Geothermal Resources for Cooling Applications at the University of Hawai‘i

Scientists at Berkeley Lab have teamed up with The University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UH Manoa) through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) to evaluate the technological and market feasibility of shallow geothermal heat exchanger (GHE) technology for building cooling, energy efficiency, and emissions reduction applications in Hawai’i. The team is assessing the data necessary to model the feasibility of deploying this technology, the actual models that will be used, and what hurdles need to be overcome to install a demonstration case. UH has an abundance of geologic and geothermal data and is looking to the national labs’ expertise to execute this analysis. UH is also interested in investigating policy, regulatory, and business conditions advantageous for implementation of a pilot project, and more broad deployment of this technology in Hawai‘i. In many locations around the world, the demands for heating and cooling are roughly balanced over the course of the year, so GHEs do not cause significant long-term changes in subsurface temperature. This is not the case in Hawai’i, where the demand for heating is very small, meaning that over time, GHEs will add heat to the subsurface. If temperatures increase significantly, GHE systems will not work as designed. Regional groundwater flow has the potential to sweep heated water away from boreholes, thereby maintaining the functionality of the GHE system. Significant regional groundwater flow requires two things: a sufficiently large driving hydraulic head gradient (usually closely related to surface topography), and sufficient porosity and permeability to enable groundwater to flow in large enough quantities to enable near-borehole temperatures to be maintained at ambient values. Hawai‘i’s volcanic terrain offers ample surface topographic variation. The lava itself shows an extremely large range of porosity and permeability, making it crucial to select sites with large enough values of these properties. Numerical modeling of coupled groundwater and heat flow can be used to determine how large is large enough. Both closed-loop and open-loop systems are being investigated. Another option being considered is using cool seawater as the source of chill. Currently work is progressing on two fronts. A hydrogeologic model for a closed-loop system is being developed for the Stan Sheriff Center at the UH Manoa campus, where a subsurface karst system immediately downgradient of the borefield may provide efficient removal of heated groundwater. The team will also develop a technoeconomic model for this site to compare the cost of cooling using a GHE system with the costs of operating the current air conditioning system. At the state scale, geographic information system (GIS) layers of various attributes relevant for GHE are being combined to develop an overall favorability map for employing GHE in Hawai‘i.

Doughty, C↗

Microstructural characterization of dendritic evolution using two-point statistics

Characterizing large four-dimensional materials datasets is difficult due to the presence of complex mi- crostructures and time-varying length scales. We showcase the use of two-point statistics as an efficient and un-biased way of extracting materials parameters from an Al-Cu alloy during solidification. The evo- lution of dendrite primary arm thickness, average secondary arm spacing, and average tip-to-tip spacing were tracked using two-point Pearson auto-correlations of scaled mean curvatures. Insights into compet- itive side-branching are also reported. We show both visually and quantitatively that most length scales change rapidly during early stages of dendritic growth, but slow as diffusion fields of dendrites overlap.

Aluminum alloys↗

Local structure elucidation of tungsten-substituted vanadium dioxide (V$$_{1-x}$$W$$_x$$O$$_2$$)

Abstract Initially, vanadium dioxide seems to be an ideal first-order phase transition case study due to its deceptively simple structure and composition, but upon closer inspection there are nuances to the driving mechanism of the metal-insulator transition (MIT) that are still unexplained. In this study, a local structure analysis across a bulk powder tungsten-substitution series is utilized to tease out the nuances of this first-order phase transition. A comparison of the average structure to the local structure using synchrotron x-ray diffraction and total scattering pair-distribution function methods, respectively, is discussed as well as comparison to bright field transmission electron microscopy imaging through a similar temperature-series as the local structure characterization. Extended x-ray absorption fine structure fitting of thin film data across the substitution-series is also presented and compared to bulk. Machine learning technique, non-negative matrix factorization, is applied to analyze the total scattering data. The bulk MIT is probed through magnetic susceptibility as well as differential scanning calorimetry. The findings indicate the local transition temperature ( $$T_c$$ T c ) is less than the average $$T_c$$ T c supporting the Peierls-Mott MIT mechanism, and demonstrate that in bulk powder and thin-films, increasing tungsten-substitution instigates local V-oxidation through the phase pathway VO $$_2\, \rightarrow$$ 2 → V $$_6$$ 6 O $$_{13} \, \rightarrow$$ 13 → V $$_2$$ 2 O $$_5$$ 5 .

Wilson, Catrina E. (ORCID:0000000173397318)↗

Core-excited states in 105 Cd

105 Cd was produced in the 96 Mo+ 12 C fusion/evaporation reaction, performed at NIPNE, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania. Various excited states of positive- and negative-parities were populated. Picosecond half-lives were measured by using the Differential Decay Curve Method (DDCM) method, allowing to control the side feeding of the states of interest. Further, new data were obtained for the half-lives of the 11/2 + , 15/2 - and 19/2 -105 Cd states. Reduced electric quadrupole transition strengths were calculated and compared to the neighboring odd-A and even-A cadmium nuclei. The particle-core weak coupling approach was used to interpret excited states of 105 Cd in the light of the new data.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Kokkos v.4.0

SAND2023-07883O Kokkos software implements C++ performance portability programming models, tools and math libraries, which enables science and engineering software developers to use single-source codes for a wide range of computer architectures. Kokkos also provides implementations of existing and proposed C++ standard features that support programming model and math libraries that are used for implementing performance-portable scientific and engineering applications. The Kokkos libraries provide algorithms, data structures, and tools to enable high-performance computing developers to write performance-portable code. Capabilities fall into three broad categories: Kokkos Core, Kokkos Kernels, and Kokkos Tools. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

SciDAC↗

First Lunar Outpost crew module thermal protection design sensitivity

A thermal protection study was conducted on the first lunar outpost (FLO) crew module. The study objectives are as follows: (1) assess effects of vehicle size on aerothermodynamic environment and thermal protection system (TPS) weight; (2) assess effects of lunar-return strategies on aerothermodynamic environment and TPS weight; and (3) assess weight penalty for common TPS design for all lunar-return strategies. All material is covered in viewgraph format.

Bouslog, Stan↗

Controlled Formation of Conduction Channels in Memristive Devices Observed by X–ray Multimodal Imaging

Neuromorphic computing provides a means for achieving faster and more energy efficient computations than conventional digital computers for artificial intelligence (AI). However, its current accuracy is generally less than the dominant software-based AI. The key to improving accuracy is to reduce the intrinsic randomness of memristive devices, emulating synapses in the brain for neuromorphic computing. Here using a planar device as a model system, the controlled formation of conduction channels is achieved with high oxygen vacancy concentrations through the design of sharp protrusions in the electrode gap, as observed by X-ray multimodal imaging of both oxygen stoichiometry and crystallinity. Classical molecular dynamics simulations confirm that the controlled formation of conduction channels arises from confinement of the electric field, yielding a reproducible spatial distribution of oxygen vacancies across switching cycles. Furthermore, this work demonstrates an effective route to control the otherwise random electroforming process by electrode design, facilitating the development of more accurate memristive devices for neuromorphic computing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Redox Gating for Colossal Carrier Modulation and Unique Phase Control

Redox gating, a novel approach distinct from conventional electrolyte gating, combines reversible redox functionalities with common ionic electrolyte moieties to engineer charge transport, enabling power-efficient electronic phase control. This study achieves a colossal sheet carrier density modulation beyond 10 16 cm -2 , sustainable over thousands of cycles, all within the sub-volt regime for functional oxide thin films. The key advantage of this method lies in the controlled injection of a large quantity of carriers from the electrolyte into the channel material without the deleterious effects associated with traditional electrolyte gating processes such as the production of ionic defects or intercalated species. The redox gating approach offers a simple and practical means of decoupling electrical and structural phase transitions, enabling the isostructural metal-insulator transition and improved device endurance. The versatility of redox gating extends across multiple materials, irrespective of their crystallinity, crystallographic orientation, or carrier type (n- or p-type). This inclusivity encompasses functional heterostructures and low-dimensional quantum materials composed of sustainable elements, highlighting the broad applicability and potential of the technique in electronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Intrinsic and environmental drivers of pairwise cohesion in wild Canis social groups

Animals within social groups respond to costs and benefits of sociality by adjusting the proportion of time they spend in close proximity to other individuals in the group (cohesion). Variation in cohesion between individuals, in turn, shapes important group-level processes such as subgroup formation and fission–fusion dynamics. Although critical to animal sociality, a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing cohesion remains a gap in our knowledge of cooperative behavior in animals. We tracked 574 individuals from six species within the genus Canis in 15 countries on four continents with GPS telemetry to estimate the time that pairs of individuals within social groups spent in close proximity and test hypotheses regarding drivers of cohesion. Pairs of social canids (Canis spp.) varied widely in the proportion of time they spent together (5%–100%) during seasonal monitoring periods relative to both intrinsic characteristics and environmental conditions. The majority of our data came from three species of wolves (gray wolves, eastern wolves, and red wolves) and coyotes. For these species, cohesion within social groups was greatest between breeding pairs and varied seasonally as the nature of cooperative activities changed relative to annual life history patterns. Across species, wolves were more cohesive than coyotes. For wolves, pairs were less cohesive in larger groups, and when suitable, small prey was present reflecting the constraints of food resources and intragroup competition on social associations. Pair cohesion in wolves declined with increased anthropogenic modification of the landscape and greater climatic variability, underscoring challenges for conserving social top predators in a changing world. We show that pairwise cohesion in social groups varies strongly both within and across Canis species, as individuals respond to changing ecological context defined by resources, competition, and anthropogenic disturbance. Our work highlights that cohesion is a highly plastic component of animal sociality that holds significant promise for elucidating ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying cooperative behavior.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Chemostatic concentration–discharge behaviour observed in a headwater catchment underlain with discontinuous permafrost

Concentration–discharge dynamics were evaluated in a small (~ 2.25 km2) headwater catchment underlain with discontinuous permafrost on the Seward Peninsula of western Alaska. A large storm, during which 48 mm of rain fell over a 24-h period, enabled the evaluation of solute concentration–discharge response to a sizeable hydrological event, while water stable isotopes enabled an appraisal of the contributions of event water. Under normal catchment conditions, chemostatic behaviour was observed for solutes typically derived from mineral weathering (e.g. calcium, magnesium, sodium and silica). The chemostatic behaviour observed for most solutes under normal catchment conditions indicated that catchment storage and residence times are sufficiently long for many solute generating reactions to approach equilibrium. Following the storm however, most solutes exhibited dilutive and highly variable behaviour. This likely indicated the exceedance of a discharge threshold where chemostatic behaviour could no longer be maintained for most solutes. Dissolved organic carbon and silica were the only solutes monitored to exhibit chemostatic behaviour during all time periods.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Modeling Protein–Protein and Protein–Ligand Interactions by the ClusPro Team in CASP16

ABSTRACT In the CASP16 experiment, our team employed hybrid computational strategies to predict both protein–protein and protein–ligand complex structures. For protein–protein docking, we combined physics‐based sampling—using ClusPro FFT docking and molecular dynamics—with AlphaFold (AF)‐based sampling, followed by AF‐based refinement. Our method produced numerous high‐accuracy complex models, including cases where AF alone failed, underscoring the critical role of physics‐based sampling alongside deep learning‐based refinement. For protein–ligand docking, we integrated the ClusPro LigTBM template‐based approach with a machine learning‐based confidence model for rescoring. The method preserves conserved interaction fragments derived from homologous complexes, followed by local resampling using physics‐based sampling and a diffusion model. Our template‐based strategy achieved a mean lDDT‐PLI of 0.69 across 233 targets, which was highly competitive. These results demonstrate that combining physics‐based modeling with AI‐driven refinement can significantly enhance the accuracy of both protein–protein and protein–ligand structure predictions.

Ashizawa, Ryota [Department of Applied Mathematics↗