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At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

How turbulence spreading improves power handling in quiescent high confinement fusion plasmas

Viable magnetic fusion devices necessitate combining good confinement with effective power flux handling. A major concern for ITER, and devices beyond, is the divertor heat load width, which sets peak boundary heat loads on the plasma-facing materials. Current estimates of the heat flux width are narrow for future reactors. Here, we demonstrate how pedestal turbulence can expand into, or entrain, the stable scrape-off-layer and so broaden the heat flux width beyond these neoclassical predictions. Employing combined theoretical, computational, and experimental approaches, we focus on quiescent high confinement discharges on the DIII-D tokamak, but the results are of broader significance. Our findings uncover common trends in the edge turbulence intensity flux, the pressure perturbation skewness, and the turbulence mixing length, which together determine the heat flux width. This research demonstrates the physics of scrape-off-layer broadening by turbulence and highlights the promise of a turbulent pedestal for successful core-edge integration in ITER and future fusion devices.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Enhancement of detachment control with simplified real-time modelling on the KSTAR tokamak

Abstract Detachment control based on ion saturation current I sat measurements from Langmuir probes (LPs) is implemented in the KSTAR tokamak and shown to be capable of following dynamic and constant target trajectories with good accuracy, in H-mode, by moderating the flow rate of nitrogen or deuterium. I sat controllers normalize I sat in order to form attachment fraction ( A frac ) as their control parameter. The KSTAR implementation of A frac control differs from previous work in that it continuously calculates a model for attached I sat and uses that as the denominator in A frac , whereas prior implementations either record peak I sat at rollover as they pass it or take estimated I s a t , r o l l o v e r as a manual input prior to the shot. The KSTAR controller therefore does not need to keep track of rollover status and keep separate targets for pre- and post-rollover states, and it can automatically adapt to changes in scenario at any time. It is also less vulnerable to noise as it will not lock in an outlier as a rollover point.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

H 2 O absorption spectroscopy via focused laser differential interferometry

A modification of focused laser differential interferometry (FLDI) is demonstrated with an infrared tunable diode laser (TDL) to achieve simultaneous absorption spectroscopy (AS) measurements. Measurements from this absorbing-FLDI (A-FLDI) are shown for a Hencken burner plume. Initial comparison measurements are recorded using TDLAS and an electrical hygrometer. Raw voltage and estimated absorbance measurements illustrate that the technique detects five distinct absorbance peaks of the methane–air flame while retaining the expected behavior of typical FLDI. This modification furthers efforts to enable FLDI to conduct analysis of the pressures, temperatures, and molecular densities of flows. It also explores the potential for reducing path-integration (PI) effects in absorption spectroscopy and potentially enabling spatially and temporally resolved local flow measurements. Reductions in PI length as high as 82%–84% are observed.

Holladay, Seth (ORCID:0009000650875421)↗
DOE OSTI2021

IDAES Enterprise: Generation Expansion Planning with Enhanced Requirements for Capacity Adequacy Under Renewable Intermittency

Achieving net zero carbon emissions likely requires future power systems to integrate new, flexible energy technologies to accommodate higher levels of capacity from variable renewable energy sources. To determine the optimal deployment of new electricity capacity and to study the likelihood of deployments of new energy technologies, an expansion planning model has been developed as part of the IDAES-Enterprise suite of grid models. The Generation Expansion Planning (GEP) model is a multi-period model in which investment decisions occur yearly, and a Unit Commitment (UC) problem is examined on an hourly timescale. To reduce computational complexity of the GEP model, the UC problem is solved for average “representative days” which leaves out extreme, but relatively common, scenarios in which low renewable generation occurs, leaving the system with inadequacy in capacity. The IDAES-Enterprise GEP model has been modified to include these extreme scenarios while keeping the model reasonably tractable. Specifically, a lazy constraint technique was implemented to check for capacity adequacy on an hourly basis over a large data set of aligned load-wind-solar profiles. As a vast majority of the capacity constraints will not be violated, the technique lowers computational expense by searching for violated capacity constraints over an “iterative manner,” adding those infeasible constraints back into the model. Results on a test case of the Southwest Power Pool shows that the lazy constraint technique significantly reduces retirements and increases installments of natural gas combined cycles and flexible natural gas units. It also reduces some retirements of coal units. These modifications provide a more reasonable estimation of required dispatchable power generation capacity to ensure feasibility during peak net load.

Liu, Peng↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modal Field Reconstruction in Resonant Cavities in the Fundamental and Undermoded Frequency Regimes

Theory, simulations, and experiments are presented that demonstrate reconstruction of electromagnetic fields in a cavity from sparse probe measurements. Such techniques are often referred to as virtual sensing, allowing fields at unobserved locations to be predicted. These methods are appropriate for the fundamental and undermoded regimes, providing the ability to estimate fields (and shielding effectiveness) throughout an arbitrarily shaped cavity from a few judiciously spaced probes. A modal simulation method is implemented that allows the response of arbitrarily shaped cavities to be rapidly computed with respect to varying probe locations and slot parameters, enabling statistical analysis of probe placement on reconstruction performance. A cylindrical vessel with numerous probe holes is developed for experiments, referred to as Perforated Vessel 2 (PV2). Experiments are performed on the vessel with and without a steel box inside, where transmit power is delivered into the vessel either through probes (probe injection) or through slots using an external antenna (slot excitation). Simulations and experiments illustrate that when the number of probes is minimal (equal to the number of mode coefficients to be estimated at each frequency), probe placement is critical to avoid missed peaks and to have acceptable reconstruction error. Probe placement becomes less important as the number of probes is increased, but care is still required to avoid probe locations giving poor performance.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Gaussian Process Classification for Galaxy Blend Identification in LSST

Abstract A significant fraction of observed galaxies in the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will overlap at least one other galaxy along the same line of sight, in a so-called “blend.” The current standard method of assessing blend likelihood in LSST images relies on counting up the number of intensity peaks in the smoothed image of a blend candidate, but the reliability of this procedure has not yet been comprehensively studied. Here we construct a realistic distribution of blended and unblended galaxies through high-fidelity simulations of LSST-like images, and from this we examine the blend classification accuracy of the standard peak-finding method. Furthermore, we develop a novel Gaussian process blend classifier model, and show that this classifier is competitive with both the peak finding method as well as with a convolutional neural network model. Finally, whereas the peak-finding method does not naturally assign probabilities to its classification estimates, the Gaussian process model does, and we show that the Gaussian process classification probabilities are generally reliable.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1993

CCD mosaic images of the supernova remnant 3C 400.2

We have constructed CCD mosaic images of the old Galactic supernova remnant 3C 400.2 in lines of H-alpha + forbidden N II, forbidden S II, and forbidden O III, plus a continuum band. These are the first CCD images covering the full extent of this remnant, and they reveal significantly more nebulosity than the deepest photographic plates. Comparison with radio and X-ray images indicates dramatically different morphology in the three regimes. The optical images both in H-alpha + forbidden N II and in forbidden S II show an almost complete, irregular shell of emission, with a diameter of about 16 arcmin, little over half that of the radio shell, while the X-ray structure is a centrally peaked ellipsoid. Approximate values for optical line fluxes are obtained; we estimate L(H-alpha) about 3 x 10 exp 35 ergs/s, roughly three times the X-ray luminosity. We also report a previously uncataloged planetary nebula southwest of 3C 400.2.

Winkler, P. F.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The peak brightness of SN 1937C in IC 4182 and the Hubble constant

The light curve of the Type Ia supernova SN 1937C (in IC 4182) is important because Sandage et al. have measured a distance to the host galaxy by means of Cepheid variables and thus have derived the Hubble constant. However, the peak brightness of SN 1937C has only been derived with the relatively poor original comparison star brightnesses and without regard to a large body of data in the literature. In this paper, I will correct these and other procedural difficulties. I find that the late time photographic light curve appears to have a broken exponential decay with equivalent half-lives of 46 and 58 days with the break near 300 days after maximum. I also find that the peak B-magnitude was 8.71 +/- 0.14 on JD 2428770.0 +/- 1.0 at which time the B-V was -0.03 +/- 0.13. With these improved peak brightnesses, the distance modulus of Sandage et al., and peak absolute magnitudes in the center of the range of modern estimates, I derive the Hubble constant to be 50 km/s Mpc.

Schaefer, Bradley E.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Degree-scale anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background: SP94 results

We present results from two observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) performed from the South Pole during the 1993-1994 austral summer. Each observation employed a 3 deg peak-to-peak sinusoidal, single-difference chop and consisted of a 20 deg x 1 deg strip on the sky. The first observation used a receiver which operates in three channels between 38 and 45 GHz (Q-band) with a full width half maximum (FWHM) beam which varies from 1 deg to 1.15 deg. The second observation overlapped the first observation and used a receiver which operates in four channels between 26 and 36 GHz (Ka-band) with a FWHM beam which varies from 1.5 deg to 1.7 deg. Significant correlated structure is observed in all channels for each observation. The spectrum of the structure is consistent with a CMB spectrum and is formally inconsistent with diffuse synchrotron and free-free emission at the 5 sigma level. The amplitude of the structure is inconsistent with 20 K interstellar dust; however, the data do not discriminate against flat or inverted spectrum point sources. The root mean square amplitude (+/- 1 sigma) of the combined (Ka + Q) data is Delta T(sub rms) = 41.2(sup +15.5, sub -6.7) micro-K for an average window function which has a peak value of 0.97 at l = 68 and drops to e(exp -0.5) of the peak value at l = 36 and l = 106. A band power estimate of the CMB power spectrum, C(sub l), gives average value of (C(sub l)l(l + 1)/(2 pi))(sub B) = 1.77(sup +1.58, sub -0.54) x 10(exp -10).

Gundersen, J. O.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The occultation of SAO 78505 by Jupiter

On 13 December 1989, Jupiter occulted a star with visual magnitude 8.7 and an estimated K magnitude of 7. We observed the event from Kitt Peak, Arizona, using a 64 x 64 infrared camera at a wavelength of 2.16 microns. The resulting data on refractive defocusing of the stellar signal give information on the temperature of the jovian atmosphere at pressures approximately 2 to 10 microbar, at near-equatorial latitudes. These are the first new stellar-occulation data for the high jovian atmosphere since the widely observed occulation of beta Sco A and C in 1971. Because of improvements in instrumental capability, our data are comparable to the best beta Sco A data though the star is six magnitudes fainter. We derive a mean atmospheric temperature of 176 +/- 12 K on a level surface corresponding to an equatorial radius of 71,880 km and a pressure of 1.8 microbar at a jovi- centric latitude of 8 deg. This result complements the beta Sco results by providing improved precision at low jovicentric latitudes where the fainter star beta Sco C was used in 1971.

Hubbard, W. B.↗
NASA NTRS2016

The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey. I. Sample Selection and Redshift Distribution

We introduce the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey (SHOALS), a multi-observatory high redshift galaxy survey targeting the largest unbiased sample of long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) hosts yet assembled (119 in total). We describe the motivations of the survey and the development of our selection criteria, including an assessment of the impact of various observability metrics on the success rate of afterglow-based redshift measurement. We briefly outline our host galaxy observational program, consisting of deep Spitzer/IRAC imaging of every field supplemented by similarly deep, multicolor optical/near-IR photometry, plus spectroscopy of events without preexisting redshifts. Our optimized selection cuts combined with host galaxy follow-up have so far enabled redshift measurements for 110 targets (92%) and placed upper limits on all but one of the remainder. About 20% of GRBs in the sample are heavily dust obscured, and at most 2% originate from z > 5.5. Using this sample, we estimate the redshift-dependent GRB rate density, showing it to peak at z approx. 2.5 and fall by at least an order of magnitude toward low (z = 0) redshift, while declining more gradually toward high (z approx. 7) redshift. This behavior is consistent with a progenitor whose formation efficiency varies modestly over cosmic history. Our survey will permit the most detailed examination to date of the connection between the GRB host population and general star-forming galaxies, directly measure evolution in the host population over cosmic time and discern its causes, and provide new constraints on the fraction of cosmic star formation occurring in undetectable galaxies at all redshifts.

galaxies: evolution – galaxies: high-redshift â€↗
NASA NTRS2015

Cloud-Radiative Driving of the Madden-Julian Oscillation as Seen by the A-Train

Cloud and water vapor radiative heating anomalies associated with convection may be an effective source of moist static energy driving the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). In this paper five years of radiative heating profiles derived from CloudSat radar and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation data are analyzed to document radiative heating anomalies during the MJO. Atmospheric shortwave absorption and surface longwave radiation anomalies are of opposite sign and 10-20% as large as top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) anomalies, confirming that OLR provides a useful estimate of the total column radiative heating anomaly. Positive anomalies generally peak about one week before the MJO peak and are smallest over the Indian Ocean. Anomalies over the Maritime Continent are strongest, and coincident with the MJO peak. Shortwave heating profile anomalies are about half as large as longwave anomalies in the active region of the MJO but generally of opposite sign; thus shortwave heating damps the longwave destabilization of the lower troposphere. The exception is the onset phase of the MJO, where shortwave and longwave heating anomalies due to thin cirrus are both positive in the upper troposphere and exert a stabilizing influence. Specific humidity anomalies in the middle troposphere reach 0.5 g kg(exp. -1), but the associated clear sky heating anomaly is very small. Radiative enhancement of column moist static energy becomes significant about 10 days before the MJO peak, when precipitation anomalies are still increasing, and then remains high after the MJO peak after precipitation has begun to decline.

symbols↗
NASA NTRS2020

Streak Instabilities on HIFiRE-5 Elliptic Cone

The Hypersonic International Flight Research and Experimentation (HIFiRE) 5 flight experiment by the Air Force Research Laboratories and Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization yielded inflight, hypersonic transition data for a canonical, 3D configuration in the form of an elliptic cone at various combinations of angle-of-attack and yaw. Previous analysis has shown that boundary-layer stability calculations for the as-flown, zero-yaw flight conditions are able to capture the second mode dominated transition along the attachment line as well as the crossflow induced transition in between the attachment line and the minor axis symmetry plane. However, there is still a need to understand the transition in the vicinity of the minor axis plane of symmetry, where the boundary layer thickness exhibits an azimuthally compact bulge due to the collision of the secondary flow approaching from the attachment lines on both sides. This paper reports a computational analysis of the stability of the boundary layer flow along the bulge regions on both the leeward and windward sides of the vehicle surface. At a representative flight condition corresponding to a time instant of t = 514.813 seconds, computations are performed to identify several different unstable modes within the bulge regions, with the eventual goal of developing a linear stability correlation for the transition onset near the minor axis symmetry plane. The most amplified flow instabilities in the pretransitional region correspond to a “stem” mode that is concentrated within a pair of nearly vertical shear layers below the cap of the mushroom shaped bulge in the mean velocity contours. An excellent agreement is found between the predictions of instability amplification based on the plane marching parabolized stability equations (PSE) and the direct numerical solutions (DNS). Given the large number of unstable modes within the bulge region, the observed agreement demonstrates, for first time, that the PSE can provide accurate predictions for the development of flow instabilities in streak-like flow features over three-dimensional bodies. The peak N-factor of approximately 15 at the transition location estimated from the thermocouple measurements along the leeward centerline is close to the transition N-factor for Mack mode transition during the HIFiRE-1 circular cone flight experiment with nearly zero degrees angle of attack.

Meelan Choudhari↗
DOE OSTI2022

2.1.2.403 - Fatigue and Structural Load Analysis and Control for Variable-Geometry Wave Energy Converters (VGWECs)

The VGWEC project will generate and disseminate the foundational knowledge enabling a paradigm shift in the design of wave energy converters (WECs) by adding a geometry control option on top of power-take-off load control. The variable-geometry modules (VGMs) provide control over a WEC's hydrodynamics that can emphasize power absorption or load shedding. Additional load shedding provided by the VGMs is expected to reduce the device structural mass and extend the sea state operating envelope, by limiting peak loading, both contributing towards reducing levelized cost of energy (LCOE) estimates.

hydrodynamic↗
NASA NTRS2008

Reviewing E(sub peak) Relations with Swift and Suzaku Data

In recent years several authors have derived correlations between gamma-ray burst (GRB) spectral peak energy (E(sub peak)) and either isotropic-equivalent radiated energy (E(sub iso)) or peak luminosity (L(sub iso)). Since these relationships are controversial, but could provide redshift estimators, it is important to determine whether bursts detected by Swift exhibit the same correlations. Swift has greatly added to the number of GRBs for which redshifts are known and hence E(sub iso) and L(sub iso) could be calculated. However, for most bursts it is not possible to adequately constrain E(sub peak) with Swift data alone since most GRBs have E(sub peak) above the energy range (15-50 keV) of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). Therefore we have analyzed the spectra of 78 bursts (31 with redshift) which were detected by both Swift/BAT and the Suzaku Wide-band All-sky Monitor (WAM), which covers the energy range 50-5000 keV. For most bursts in this sample we can precisely determine E(sub peak) and for bursts with known redshift we can compare how the E(sub peak) relations for the Swift/Suzaku sample compare to earlier published results. Keywords: gamma rays: bursts

Krimm, Hans A.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Colorado Front Range Disasters: Understanding the Impact of Forest Management on the Cameron Peak and CalWood Fire

Along the Colorado Front Range, forest management has gained significant attention due to uncharacteristically large fires that burned late in 2020. The Cameron Peak Fire (largest in Colorado recorded history) and the CalWood Fire collectively burned an estimated 219,019 acres from August through December of 2020. Project partners at the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed, Colorado State Forest Service, Ben Delatour Scout Ranch, The Nature Conservancy, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, and Colorado State University were interested in understanding the effectiveness of previous forest treatments in reducing burn severity within the Cameron Peak Fire and the CalWood Fire. We first collated a forest treatment dataset from pre-existing datasets by reclassifying over 29,000 treatments, which occurred across the Northern Colorado Front Range between 1970-2020. Secondly, we mapped three burn severity indices using Landsat 8 OLI and Sentinel-2 MSI Earth observations and compared them to soil burn severity field data. Thirdly, a total of 35 topographic, disturbance, forest structure, and treatment predictor variables were generated across the fires. Finally, we assessed relationships between these predictor variables and burn severity using the random forest algorithm. Model results indicate that the primary drivers of burn severity were elevation and distance to treatment edge for the Cameron Peak Fire and fire area and forest canopy cover for the CalWood Fire. Further analysis of these variables paired with field data is necessary to understand the relationship between burn severity and treatments to guide future restoration efforts, improve forest resiliency, and mitigate fire risks.

Neal Swayze↗
NASA NTRS2023

Fine particulate concentrations over East Asia derived from aerosols measured by the Advanced Himawari Imager using machine learning

Fine particulate matter with a diameter below 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) is deleterious to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. It is often difficult to assess the effects of PM 2.5 on human health over regions with limited ground monitoring sites, especially in East Asia. As an alternative, we estimated near-surface PM 2.5 concentrations by analyzing Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) Yonsei Aerosol Retrieval (YAER) products. This study incorporates daytime data for East Asia covering the Korean Peninsula, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and southern Mongolia. We collocated AHI YAER product pixels with meteorological, land-cover, and other ancillary data for the period from March 2018 to February 2019. To estimate PM 2.5 concentrations over wide areas spanning many countries displaying various relationships between aerosol optical depth and PM 2.5 , monthly models were developed by considering both the spatial and temporal characteristics of ground-based PM 2.5 measurements. Random forest machine learning model estimated ground-level mass concentrations of PM 2.5 ; subsequent 10-fold cross validation (CV) yielded a CV R 2 value of 0.81 and a CV root mean squared error (RMSE) of 12.3 μg m -3 . We investigated the spatial pattern of PM 2.5 concentrations over multiple countries and seasonal variation in PM 2.5 concentrations. Diurnal variation of a severe PM 2.5 event in the Korean Peninsula was investigated as a case study. The model captured the extremely heterogeneous spatial distribution of PM 2.5 concentrations peaked around local noon. To measure the capability of the developed model to estimate PM 2.5 concentrations in areas with few in-situ data, its predictive performance was evaluated using a dataset independent of the training process with an R 2 of 0.60 and RMSE of 8.18 μg m −3 . This study demonstrates the potential for satellite-based PM 2.5 estimation for areas with insufficient measuring stations.

Pm2.5↗
NASA NTRS1999

Atmospheric Multiple Scattering Effects on GLAS Altimetry: Calculations of Single Pulse Bias - Part 1

Estimates of the effect of pulse stretching on satellite laser altimetry in particular the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), by cloud multiple scattering were made from an analytical method and from Monte Carlo calculations. The path delay of the return pulse was found to be largest for low-level clouds with particle radii (3-20 microns). The magnitude of the path delay was affected by several factors including cloud height, cloud optical depth, cloud particle size, particle shape, and receiver field of view. Polar aerosol and Rayleigh scattering usually added less than 1 cm to the overall path delay. Path delay estimates for all cloud conditions would be less if a simple Gaussian fit of the return pulse peak were used to measure the pulse's centroid. However, care must be taken in determining the centroid as factors such as pulse width, surface slope and the fitting method used will affect the estimate. A planned application for laser altimetry is high precision monitoring of the height change of polar ice sheets. In the absence of a correction algorithm, the required GLAS altimetry accuracies will not be achieved unless atmospheric channel information is used to remove profiles that are likely to be heavily contaminated by multiple scattering.

Duda, David P.↗