Results for “WPC” — Page 2

DOE OSTI2019

Coal-Filler-Based Thermoplastic Composites as Construction Materials: A New Sustainable End-Use Application

This paper investigates coal’s viability as an alternative filler to wood flour in Wood Plastic Composites (WPCs) – a class of materials used in building applications in lieu of pressure-treated wood. Coal Plastic Composites (CPCs) were fabricat-ed with 15 – 60 wt.% coal combined with high density polyethylene and their physical (mechanical, water absorption and metal leaching) and chemical (oxidative degradation and flammability) properties were compared with commercial WPCs. In addition, mass and energy balances (10 tonne/hr basis) and life cycle analyses (60 wt.% filler and 1 tonne ba-sis) were conducted on CPCs and WPCs to assess environmental impact during manufacturing. At 60 wt.%, CPCs had a higher flexural strength, slower oxidative degradation and burn rate, and lower water absorption in comparison to com-mercial WPCs, suggesting better performance and stability in building applications. Furthermore, CPC manufacturing showed 44% lower greenhouse gas emissions and 62% less energy usage in comparison with WPC. These results indi-cate that direct utilization of coal as a filler in construction composite applications may yield lower cost products with lower associated emissions and energy demand compared to existing WPC materials, potentially yielding a more sustain-able end-use for coal than current uses such as power production.

Coal Plastic Composites, Wood Plastic Composites, ↗

DOE OSTI2014

Performance Analysis: Issues Tracking System Data through June 2013

This report presents the results from an analysis of issues and assessments in LLNL’s Issues Tracking System (ITS). The analysis is conducted to identify issues that may require additional management attention and noncompliances that may not have been previously identified that meet the threshold for reporting to the DOE Noncompliance Tracking System (NTS) or to the DOE Safeguards and Security Information Management System (SSIMS). This report includes ITS data within the DOE Office of Enforcement regulated subjects through June 2013. The analysis in this report primarily focuses on deficiencies identified in the last twelve months. The analysis of issues concluded that data for 17 of the 25 Office of Enforcement regulated safety/security subjects were within expected variation. The data for eight met a common test and were discussed further. Three of the eight safety subjects met an action limit and were analyzed to resolution. Analysis of data from one of the safety subjects where a common test was met identified a potential safety related significant or programmatic (systemic) noncompliance with the LLNL work planning and control process. Additional analysis is needed to make a final determination. Note: Since the analysis of WPC deficiencies (through June 2013) was completed, a noncompliance evaluation was also completed in November 2013 and included more recent WPC deficiencies. The analysis of ITS data through June 2013, and the results of the noncompliance evaluation completed in November 2013 led to LLNL filing a programmatic noncompliance report to the NTS in January 2014 titled, Programmatic noncompliance with topical areas within LLNL’s Work Planning and Control process.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Recent activities of the UK working party on criticality - 14334

The Working Party on Criticality (WPC) in the United Kingdom (UK) is the non-executive national committee that focuses on criticality safety issues up to, but not including, experimental and in-core power reactor operations. The current membership includes representatives from all relevant UK Site Licensee Companies and Regulators together with a small number of other key companies with interests in this area. In recent times, the primary focus of the committee has been to provide a forum for the discussion and distribution of information of relevance to criticality safety in the UK, particularly the sharing and development of good practice. However, it also serves as a useful forum to (i) disseminate regulatory issues of relevance to criticality safety and facilitate the development of a UK criticality community view on such matters, (ii) guide, promote, coordinate and encourage cooperation on high priority activities of common interest to the UK criticality community, (iii) promote international collaboration in the field of criticality safety, and (iv) provide opportunities for the professional development of criticality safety personnel. This paper gives a detailed overview of the activities of the WPC in the years since the last International Conference on Nuclear Criticality (ICNC), held at Edinburgh in 2011. It undoubtedly continued to be a challenging time for the UK criticality community, not least because of difficulties with the central coordination (and hence funding) of strategic issues in the UK as the nuclear industry has become increasingly fragmented. However, despite these issues, the committee has still been able to fulfil its objectives during that time and successfully supported the UK criticality community. A particular focus of the paper will be the success of the Continued Professional Development workshops and the potential benefits of other countries adopting a similar initiative. (author)

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2024

Material property characterization of 3D printed polypropylene wood plastic composites

Abstract Wood flour (WF) at 10 wt.% and 20 wt.% loadings was used as a reinforcing filler to enhance the applicability of polypropylene (PP) for 3D printing. After performing printability tests of PP wood plastic composites (WPCs), the mechanical properties of both injection‐molded and 3D‐printed PP WPC specimens were explored. Test specimens were prepared from 3D printed hexagons for analyzing the mechanical properties. Adding WF to neat PP increased the storage modulus and the glass transition temperature while decreasing the degree of crystallinity and the coefficient of thermal expansion, while enhancing the printability of neat PP. The tensile strength, tensile modulus of elasticity, flexural strength, and flexural modulus of elasticity of injection‐molded neat PP improved by up to 21%, 59%, 30%, and 56%, respectively, with 20 wt.% WF. However, the impact strength of injection‐molded neat PP decreased by 85%, with 20 wt.% WF. After 3D printing, the tensile strength and tensile modulus of elasticity of printed neat PP increased by up to 84% and 60%, respectively, with 20 wt.% WF. The flexural strength and flexural modulus of elasticity of neat printed PP remained unchanged compared to those of PP filled with 20 wt.% WF, while the impact strength decreased by 87%. Highlights WF was used as a reinforcement in polypropylene designed for 3D printing A pilot‐scale, pellet‐fed 3D printer was used to print hollow hexagons, and then test specimens were fabricated from these hexagons for mechanical properties The tensile and flexural properties of 3D printed neat polypropylene improved, while the impact strength decreased after adding 20 wt.% WF to the neat PP.

Hwang, Sungjun↗

DOE OSTI2023

Unraveling the 2021 Central Tennessee flood event using a hierarchical multi-model inundation modeling framework

Flood prediction systems need hierarchical atmospheric, hydrologic, and hydraulic models to predict rainfall, runoff, streamflow, and floodplain inundation. The accuracy of such systems depends on the error propagation through the modeling chain, sensitivity to input data, and choice of models. In this study, we used multiple precipitation forcings (hindcast and forecast) to drive hydrologic and hydrodynamic models to analyze the impacts of various drivers on the estimates of flood inundation depth and extent. We implement this framework to unravel the August 2021 extreme flooding event that occurred in Central Tennessee, USA. We used two radar-based quantitative precipitation estimates (STAGE4 and MRMS) as well as quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF) from the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center (WPC) to drive a series of models in the hierarchical framework, including the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) land surface model, the Routing Application for Parallel Computation of Discharge (RAPID) river routing model, and the AutoRoute and TRITON inundation models. An evaluation with observed high-water marks demonstrates that the framework can reasonably simulate flood inundation. Despite the complex error propagation mechanism of the modeling chain, we show that inundation estimates are most sensitive to rainfall estimates. Most notably, QPF significantly underestimates flood magnitudes and inundations leading to unanticipated severe flooding for all stakeholders involved in the event. Finally, we discuss the implications of the hydrodynamic modeling framework for real-time flood forecasting.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Wood-reinforced composites by stereolithography with the stress whitening behavior

In this study, poplar wood flour at various concentrations (1–10 wt%) is incorporated into a methacrylate-based resin via solution blending to fabricate wood-reinforced composites using stereolithography apparatus (SLA) 3D printing. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) along with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis shows the presence of a small amount of residual monomer in the printed samples. For the printed composites, the glass transition temperature (T g ) from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) decreases as more wood flour is incorporated, which indicates an increase in free volume occupied by polymer chains. The tensile strength is improved up to 17.3% from 21.1 MPa (no wood flour) to 24.7 MPa (1.0 wt% wood flour). The highest Young’s modulus reaches 323.8 MPa (2.0 wt% wood flour), which is 1.9-fold of that of the sample without wood flour. Moreover, the composites show “stress whitening” with the addition of wood flour during the uniaxial drawing. Morphology analysis of the tested samples show that the formation of microcraze and microvoids likely causing the stress whitening. This is the first study that demonstrates wood flour can be utilized in SLA 3D printed wood plastic composites (WPC) which can reinforce the printed products with a modest loading amount.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

DPC Cement Filler Development (Progress Report)

The fillers research and development (R&D) program, mostly experimental, is part of a broader R&D program that includes new process modeling and performance assessment of criticality effects and the overall importance of criticality to repository performance (consequence screening). A literature research and consultation effort with experts by Hardin and Brady (2018) identified several potentially effective and workable filler materials including cements (primarily phosphate based), moltenmetal alloys, and low-temperature glasses. Filler attributes were defined, and the preliminary lists were compared qualitatively. Further comparative analysis will be done (e.g., cost estimates) after experimental screening has narrowed the list of alternatives. The following cement filler compositions were selected for experimental development work and accelerated testing in FY20: Aluminum phosphate cements (APCs); more specifically aluminum oxide / aluminum phosphate (Al 2 O 3 / AlPO 4 ) cements in which Al 2 O 3 serves as the filler material bound by an AlPO 4 binder formed by the reaction of Al 2 O 3 with H 3 PO 4 ; Calcium phosphate cements (CPCs); more specifically composed of pure or nearly pure hydroxyapatite or HAP (Ca 5 (PO 4 ) 3 (OH)); Wollastonite phosphate cements (WPC), specifically wollastonite and aluminum or calcium aluminum phosphates in which CaSiO 3 serves as the filler material and the phosphate serves as the binder. The FY20 effort focused on the optimization of compositions and subsequent processing of these three materials to achieve dense and well-consolidated monolithic samples with 30 to 40% porosity and permeabilities of 1 millidarcy. At the close of this progress report the aluminum phosphate cements (APCs) and the wollastonite phosphate cements (WPCs) appear to show the most promise for continued development. Less progress has been made with the calcium phosphate cements (CPCs); their slurry viscosities are high (and difficult to measure) and they exhibit relatively short cure times of 2 to 3 hours with concomitant and excessive volatile (e.g. CO 2 ) generation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2023

Naval Ship Counter Measure Capability (Final Report) [Slides]

Task 1: RUNQUIC.py was modified to add options 4 and 5, which run only the QUIC-PLUME and QUICPRESSURE codes without rerunning QUIC-URB. Task 2: We have verified that the RUNQUIC.py produces a WPC file to facilitate the interface with the CONTAM model. Task 3: RUNQUIC.py is now compatible with Python 3.8 and above. Task 4: The CMWD capability has been added QUIC-PLUME, which uses two new input files: QP_countermeasures.inp and QP_grounddep.inp. This first controls the efficiency of the CMWD system and when it is turned on and off and the second makes it possible to turn of tracking of surface deposition on the ocean surface. Task 5: This report was written for this task. Additionally, we are updating the QUIC Start Guide and RUNQUIC.py Guide, which will be made available once they have gone through the publication review process. Task 6: We performed a literature review on models for inertial deposition on the upwind faces of obstacles. We identified a model that was compatible with QUIC’s existing deposition model and implemented a first draft of this model in QUIC-PLUME. We have performed some preliminary qualitative testing, which shows the expected behavior. Further quantitative testing to fully validate the inertial deposition model.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS2014

Demonstration of AIRS Total Ozone Products to Operations to Enhance User Readiness

Cyclogenesis is a key forecast challenge at operational forecasting centers such as WPC and OPC, so these centers have a particular interest in unique products that can identify key storm features. In some cases, explosively developing extratropical cyclones can produce hurricane force, non-convective winds along the East Coast and north Atlantic as well as the Pacific Ocean, with the potential to cause significant damage to life and property. Therefore, anticipating cyclogenesis for these types of storms is crucial for furthering the NOAA goal of a "Weather Ready Nation". Over the last few years, multispectral imagery (i.e. RGB) products have gained popularity among forecasters. The GOES-R satellite champion at WPC/OPC has regularly evaluated the Air Mass RGB products from GOES Sounder, MODIS, and SEVIRI to aid in forecasting cyclogenesis as part of ongoing collaborations with SPoRT within the framework of the GOES-R Proving Ground. WPC/OPC has used these products to identify regions of stratospheric air associated with tropopause folds that can lead to cyclogenesis and hurricane force winds. RGB products combine multiple channels or channel differences into multi-color imagery in which different colors represent a particular cloud or air mass type. Initial interaction and feedback from forecasters evaluating the legacy Air Mass RGBs revealed some uncertainty regarding what physical processes the qualitative RGB products represent and color interpretation. To enhance forecaster confidence and interpretation of the Air Mass RGB, NASA SPoRT has transitioned a total column ozone product from AIRS retrievals to the WPC/OPC. The use of legacy AIRS demonstrates future JPSS capabilities possible with CrIS or OMPS. Since stratospheric air can be identified by anomalous potential vorticity and warm, dry, ozone-rich air, hyperspectral infrared sounder ozone products can be used in conjunction with the Air Mass RGB for identifying the role of stratospheric air in explosive cyclogenesis and hurricane force wind events. Currently, forecasters at WPC/OPC are evaluating the Air Mass RGB imagery in conjunction with the AIRS total column ozone to aid forecasting cyclogenesis and high wind forecasts. One of the limitations of the total ozone product is that it is difficult for forecasters to determine whether elevated ozone concentrations are related to stratospheric air or climatologically high values of ozone in certain regions. To address this limitation, SPoRT created an AIRS ozone anomaly product which calculates the percent of normal ozone based on a global stratospheric ozone mean climatology. With the knowledge that ozone values 125 percent of normal and greater typically represent stratospheric air; the anomaly product can be used with the total column ozone product to confirm regions of stratospheric air on the Air Mass RGB. This presentation describes the generation of these products along with forecaster feedback concerning the use of the AIRS ozone products in conjunction with the Air Mass RGB product for the unique forecast challenges WPC/OPC face. Additionally examples of CrIS ozone and anomaly products will be shown to further demonstrate the utility and capability of JPSS in forecasting unique events.

Berndt, Emily↗

NASA NTRS2015

Development and Application of Hyperspectral Infrared Ozone Retrieval Products for Operational Meteorology

Cyclogenesis is a key forecast challenge at operational forecasting centers such as WPC and OPC, so these centers have a particular interest in unique products that can identify key storm features. In some cases, explosively developing extratropical cyclones can produce hurricane force, non-convective winds along the East Coast and north Atlantic as well as the Pacific Ocean, with the potential to cause significant damage to life and property. Therefore, anticipating cyclogenesis for these types of storms is crucial for furthering the NOAA goal of a "Weather Ready Nation". Over the last few years, multispectral imagery (i.e. RGB) products have gained popularity among forecasters. The GOES-R satellite champion at WPC/OPC has regularly evaluated the Air Mass RGB products from GOES Sounder, MODIS, and SEVIRI to aid in forecasting cyclogenesis as part of ongoing collaborations with SPoRT within the framework of the GOES-R Proving Ground. WPC/OPC has used these products to identify regions of stratospheric air associated with tropopause folds that can lead to cyclogenesis and hurricane force winds. RGB products combine multiple channels or channel differences into multi-color imagery in which different colors represent a particular cloud or air mass type. Initial interaction and feedback from forecasters evaluating the legacy Air Mass RGBs revealed some uncertainty regarding what physical processes the qualitative RGB products represent and color interpretation. To enhance forecaster confidence and interpretation of the Air Mass RGB, NASA SPoRT has transitioned a total column ozone product from AIRS retrievals to the WPC/OPC. The use of legacy AIRS demonstrates future JPSS capabilities possible with CrIS or OMPS. Since stratospheric air can be identified by anomalous potential vorticity and warm, dry, ozone-rich air, hyperspectral infrared sounder ozone products can be used in conjunction with the Air Mass RGB for identifying the role of stratospheric air in explosive cyclogenesis and hurricane force wind events. Currently, forecasters at WPC/OPC are evaluating the Air Mass RGB imagery in conjunction with the AIRS total column ozone to aid forecasting cyclogenesis and high wind forecasts. One of the limitations of the total ozone product is that it is difficult for forecasters to determine whether elevated ozone concentrations are related to stratospheric air or climatologically high values of ozone in certain regions. To address this limitation, SPoRT created an AIRS ozone anomaly product which calculates the percent of normal ozone based on a global stratospheric ozone mean climatology. With the knowledge that ozone values 125 percent of normal and greater typically represent stratospheric air; the anomaly product can be used with the total column ozone product to confirm regions of stratospheric air on the Air Mass RGB. This presentation describes the generation of these products along with forecaster feedback concerning the use of the AIRS ozone products in conjunction with the Air Mass RGB product for the unique forecast challenges WPC/OPC face. Additionally examples of CrIS ozone and anomaly products will be shown to further demonstrate the utility and capability of JPSS in forecasting unique events.

Berndt, Emily↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Medium-Range River Flood Forecasts Using a Long Short-Term Memory Network

River flooding and the impacts are a concern for decision makers throughout the United States. Accurate medium-range forecasts (~3-7 days) are critical for providing advanced outlooks to emergency management officials. Unfortunately, accurately forecasting rainfall-runoff and the subsequent rise and fall within rivers remain a challenge in hydrological modeling. While complex physical modeling systems are the standard for representing the hydrological processes, they are computationally demanding and can require extensive calibration. Further, uncertainties remain in the model parameters and input data. The use of machine learning can reduce some of the computational demand while maintaining high accuracy. Therefore, this project makes use of a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network which explicitly accounts for the time-dependent nature of rainfall-runoff modeling. The developed LSTM was trained to predict river gauge height, or stage height, based on time-lagged input features which include: gauge height to initialize the model, the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center’s instance of the Land Information System (SPoRT-LIS) relative soil moisture to describe the rainfall infiltration rate, and 6-hr Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor quantitative precipitation estimate (MRMS QPE). The developed LSTM based system is then used to produce 7-day forecasts with a 6-hr temporal resolution using three different quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF) from the NWS’s Weather Prediction Center (WPC), the NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) model and the National Blend of Models (NBM). This trained modeling system has been implemented as an experimental product at over 100 different rivers in collaboration with at multiple National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Offices and River Forecast Centers (RFC) across the eastern half of the United States. The developed LSTM model achieved average Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) 0.89 higher than the equivalent medium-range National Water Model ensemble member forecast over a 7-day forecast. In addition to the initial development and evaluation, this project has continued to expand. While the initial model was developed for precipitation dominated basins, expansion of the project has taken it to basins effected by snow melt. This presentation will provide an overview of the project with focus on recent developments on incorporating snow melt processes into the model.

Andrew T. White↗

DOE OSTI2011

Whitestone Poncelet RISEC Project Final Technical Report

This report covers the development of the Poncelet Kinetics RHK100 Prototype. The work was completed by Hasz Consulting, LLC; CE2 Engineers, LLC; Energetic Drives, LLC; and Applied Power and Control all operating as subcontractors to Whitestone Power and Communications during the year from October 1, 2010 to September 23, 2011. As designed, the prototype is run-of-river instream energy conversion (RISEC) system. The design is principally a three-stage undershot water wheel arranged according to the method of General Poncelet. The power train consists of an epicyclic transmission coupled to a permanent magnet generator. The electronic controls system governs the speed of the wheel and rectifies the power signal to enable the system to be integrated with infinite grid infrastructures, to operate in parallel in finite grid applications with other small power productions sources or to operate in stand-alone mode on demand.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗