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At least 487 records · Page 27
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Evaluation of New Additions to OLI Software in Predicting Mercuric and Mercurous Species in Liquid Waste Operations

Speciation of mercury during the pretreatment steps of tank waste processing is critical to successful mercury removal prior to vitrification during Liquid Waste Operations (LWO) at SRS. OLI software has been used to predict mercury speciation and activity throughout LWO. The OLI software operates based on a thermodynamic framework called the Mixed Solvent Electrolyte (MSE) framework. The MSE framework allows prediction in theoretically infinitely dilute to concentrated mixtures (e.g., purely solute solutions). Before modification to the MSE framework databanks, certain critical mercury species were missing in the MSE databank, and some thermodynamic data needed to be updated for the OLI software to accurately predict mercury chemical species in SRS waste tanks. To better reflect streams across LWO, new mercury species were integrated into the MSE database. To evaluate the changes to the OLI MSE framework per the Technical Task Request (TTR) and the Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan (TTQAP), waste stream compositions from Tanks 38, 43, and Tank 50 decontaminated salt solution (DSS) were used as model inputs. Models were developed and executed using both the old and new databases. Compositional analyses from caustic Tank 50 DSS and caustic Tanks 38 and 43 were used as the input streams. These streams represent the most comprehensive chemical data sets where both mercury and tank constituents were measured together. Results for Tank 50 DSS predict HgO as the predominant species in both databases. Both methyl and dimethyl Hg species are present when the new database is ‘on’ and are not predicted with the new database turned ‘off’. The new database predicts a greater amount of HgO and a greater fraction of it in the solid phase. Pourbaix diagrams (potential vs. pH) generated for each Tank 50 DSS were identical regardless of which database was used. Elemental Hg and HgO were predicted in the water stable region under basic conditions. Tanks 38 and 43 follow similar trends as the Tank 50 DSS models. Unlike Tanks 38 and 50 DSS, the Tank 43 Pourbaix plot shows a region of stability for an aqueous HgOHCO3 - species between approximately pH 7-11. In all streams, when MeHg+ is included in the inputs, the new database predicts aqueous MeHgOH as the dominant species. If elemental or dimethyl mercury is in the waste stream, the new database model predicts they are unchanged and remain in those states and quantities. Additionally, the total mercury values are reported for both the measured input data and the OLI output data for all considered tanks. The summary indicates that the percentage error between the measured and calculated values is less than 1% in all cases The reconciliations and generation of the Pourbaix diagrams for Tank 50 DSS took approximately ten times longer with the new database ‘on’. In addition, over the course of that time, models with the new database ‘on’ were more likely to crash or display an error. Some modest performance improvements were noted when modeling with an i7 processor versus an i5. An example error is found in Appendix A. Furthermore, Appendix B provides V&V for two chemical systems analyzed with the OLI software, results were satisfactory. It is recommended to utilize the new databases (i.e., HCO.ddb and SR-Hg.ddb) in future Savannah River Mission Completion applications of OLI to represent pseudo steady-state. Furthermore, the integration and utilization of the new databases (i.e., HCO.ddb and SR-Hg.ddb) in modeling applications (e.g., Aspen) is also recommended.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Leveraging the Roman Coronagraph Approach for the HWO Error Budget

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is currently being considered as a future, coronagraph-equipped space telescope that would fulfill the top priority of Astro-2020. The top priority stated is the building of a telescope capable of detecting and characterizing exoplanets with sensitivity down to Earth-like planets. In a coronagraph approach, the methodology for setting up the error budget and performance model can benefit directly from the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) experience. RST’s Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) is a direct precursor to the HWO coronagraph, with performance reaching below 10 −7 in contrast demonstrated in very recent thermal-vac testing, and the possibility that it will perform better with more time on orbit. The RST CGI development benefited significantly from an error budget approach and analytical model focused on the noise incurred in measuring a planet’s flux ratio. In this brief paper we outline the current state of the application of the Roman approach to an HWO flux ratio noise error budget, including reasonable allocations informed by the Roman experience, and recent studies of narrow angle scatter done independently.

Bijan Nemati↗
NASA NTRS1991

Effects of alcohol on pilot performance in simulated flight

Ethyl alcohol's known ability to produce reliable decrements in pilot performance was used in a study designed to evaluate objective methods for assessing pilot performance. Four air carrier pilot volunteers were studied during eight simulated flights in a B727 simulator. Total errors increased linearly and significantly with increasing blood alcohol. Planning and performance errors, procedural errors and failures of vigilance each increased significantly in one or more pilots and in the group as a whole.

Billings, C. E.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Novel Lightweight, Low-Cost Heliostat for Concentrating Solar Power (SBIR Phase I Final Report)

The overall goal of this Department of Energy (DOE) SBIR Phase I project was to demonstrate the feasibility of the L.Garde, Inc. heliostat mirror facet for use in concentrated solar power applications. Prior to this Phase I project, L.Garde, Inc. developed a design for a lightweight and low cost mirror facet and successfully fabricated small scale (0.667 m 2 ) with a mirror surface flatness of 0.7 mrad. Therefore, the focus of the Phase I effort was to (1) demonstrate scalability by fabricating larger size mirrors while retaining the same mirror surface flatness, (2) demonstrate the design can withstand operating environment conditions through field testing, and (3) perform cost analysis to show the heliostat mirror facet design can meet DoE goals of < 12 kg/m2 and <$30/m 2 . During the Phase I project, L.Garde successfully fabricated large area (1.395 m 2 ) heliostat mirror facets, with a mass per unit area of 8 kg/m 2 and a cost of $29.80/m 2 . Surface flatness measurements (using contact probe technique) were performed on the mirror surface and results showed a flatness of 0.68 mrad, which were in agreement with previously fabricated small scale mirror facets. Slope error measurements was also performed on the mirror surface and results showed a slope error of 0.77 mrad which also was in agreement with previously fabricated small scale mirror facets. One large area mirror facet was subjected to a three (3) month field test. Surface flatness and slope error measurements were performed on the mirror surface after the field test and results were 0.663 mrad and 0.58 mrad respectively. The large scale heliostat mirror facets were also subjected to accelerated aging. However, during this exposure we observed failure due to the breaking of the mirror facets. Further investigation into the source of the failure showed that the mirror component alone showed signs of degradation during the same accelerated aging test. We believe that moisture ingress is occurring when subjected to high humidity, leading to buildup of water with the layers of protective paints and resulting in mirror breakage when water expands in freezing conditions. In order to mitigate or eliminate this issue, a new weatherproofing strategy may be implemented or a new mirror component may be used that is able to survive accelerated aging conditions.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1991

Soft X Ray Telescope (SXT) focus error analysis

The analysis performed on the soft x-ray telescope (SXT) to determine the correct thickness of the spacer to position the CCD camera at the best focus of the telescope and to determine the maximum uncertainty in this focus position due to a number of metrology and experimental errors, and thermal, and humidity effects is presented. This type of analysis has been performed by the SXT prime contractor, Lockheed Palo Alto Research Lab (LPARL). The SXT project office at MSFC formed an independent team of experts to review the LPARL work, and verify the analysis performed by them. Based on the recommendation of this team, the project office will make a decision if an end to end focus test is required for the SXT prior to launch. The metrology and experimental data, and the spreadsheets provided by LPARL are used at the basis of the analysis presented. The data entries in these spreadsheets have been verified as far as feasible, and the format of the spreadsheets has been improved to make these easier to understand. The results obtained from this analysis are very close to the results obtained by LPARL. However, due to the lack of organized documentation the analysis uncovered a few areas of possibly erroneous metrology data, which may affect the results obtained by this analytical approach.

Ahmad, Anees↗
NASA NTRS1979

Modeling of terrain gradient for stochastically spaced rows of a measurement matrix

Terrain gradients are employed to evaluate passable regions for unmanned martian roving vehicle. Range data matrix is displaced randomly row wise at the shallow elevation angles near the skyline. The magnitude of the measurement noise in the elevation angles can approach that of the spacing of the same angle. By using a variable incremental data spacing scanning scheme, one can estimate this signal noise ratio. It is found that the error in slope estimate at far distance becomes large for a given elevation angle error. Evaluation of the in-path slopes can be expressed in terms of the inverse of the range slopes. This is because of the fact that the elevation angle is considered as a random variable while the range data are relatively less noisy. An error analysis is performed and it is found that the change of slope is a nonlinear function of the error in elevation angle.

Mediavilla, R.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Vector quantizer designs for joint compression and terrain categorization of multispectral imagery

Two vector quantizer designs for compression of multispectral imagery and their impact on terrain categorization performance are evaluated. The mean-squared error (MSE) and classification performance of the two quantizers are compared, and it is shown that a simple two-stage design minimizing MSE subject to a constraint on classification performance has a significantly better classification performance than a standard MSE-based tree-structured vector quantizer followed by maximum likelihood classification. This improvement in classification performance is obtained with minimal loss in MSE performance. The results show that it is advantageous to tailor compression algorithm designs to the required data exploitation tasks. Applications of joint compression/classification include compression for the archival or transmission of Landsat imagery that is later used for land utility surveys and/or radiometric analysis.

Gorman, John D.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design and Performance of a Multi-mode Photon-counting Receiver for the NASA O2O Mission

The NASA Orion O2O mission was designed and tested to support high-rate bi-directional optical communications between one of multiple ground sites and a crewed capsule during a 10-day mission. This paper focuses on the design and performance of the receiver that will be based at the NASA White Sands Complex, New Mexico, USA. The main receiver components consist of two 40-cm apertures, each coupled to a specialty multi-mode optical fiber; each fiber coupled to a custom array of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors; a high-speed, high-channel-count time-to-digital converter; and custom digitizing electronics to perform deserialization, demodulation, clock recovery, and forward error correction with a powerful serially-concatenated pulse-position-modulation turbo code. We show error-free data communication performance up to the maximum required data rate of 267 Mb/s.

optical↗
NASA NTRS1989

Assessment of numerical techniques for unsteady flow calculations

The characteristics of unsteady flow motions have long been a serious concern in the study of various fluid dynamic and combustion problems. With the advancement of computer resources, numerical approaches to these problems appear to be feasible. The objective of this paper is to assess the accuracy of several numerical schemes for unsteady flow calculations. In the present study, Fourier error analysis is performed for various numerical schemes based on a two-dimensional wave equation. Four methods sieved from the error analysis are then adopted for further assessment. Model problems include unsteady quasi-one-dimensional inviscid flows, two-dimensional wave propagations, and unsteady two-dimensional inviscid flows. According to the comparison between numerical and exact solutions, although second-order upwind scheme captures the unsteady flow and wave motions quite well, it is relatively more dissipative than sixth-order central difference scheme. Among various numerical approaches tested in this paper, the best performed one is Runge-Kutta method for time integration and six-order central difference for spatial discretization.

Hsieh, Kwang-Chung↗
DOE OSTI2025

Round Robin Measurements of Molten Salt Properties for LiF-NaF-KF (FLiNaK) and NaCl-KCl Mixtures

The development, operation, and regulation of nuclear reactors that utilize molten salts as fuel or as heat transfer media require knowledge of the thermal properties of the salt systems and quantification of the corresponding uncertainties. Knowledge of molten salt properties is also necessary for applications in material synthesis, processing, separations, solar thermal power generation, and energy storage. A round robin was conducted with national laboratory and university participants from twenty-one laboratories in five countries to compare property measurements, to better understand uncertainties, and to identify possible best practices. Two salt mixtures, each from a common batch, were distributed to participants for evaluation: equimolar NaCl-KCl and 45.0LiF-13.7NaF-41.3KF mol % (FLiNaK). Measurements were performed to determine the major constituent composition, oxygen content, density, thermal expansivity, melting point, and thermal conductivity. Error analysis was performed on each measurement for uncertainty quantification for each type of property that was explored. Finally, the resulting discussion of the methodologies used in this work is meant to lay the groundwork for the development of standard methods and reference materials for future high-temperature property measurements on halide melts.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2002

Finite Element A Posteriori Error Estimation for Heat Conduction

This research investigates residual-based a posteriori error estimates for finite element approximations of heat conduction in single-layer and multi-layered materials. The finite element approximation, based upon hierarchical modelling combined with p-version finite elements, is described with specific application to a two-dimensional, steady state, heat-conduction problem. Element error indicators are determined by solving an element equation for the error with the element residual as a source, and a global error estimate in the energy norm is computed by collecting the element contributions. Numerical results of the performance of the error estimate are presented by comparisons to the actual error. Two methods are discussed and compared for approximating the element boundary flux. The equilibrated flux method provides more accurate results for estimating the error than the average flux method. The error estimation is applied to multi-layered materials with a modification to the equilibrated flux method to approximate the discontinuous flux along a boundary at the material interfaces. A directional error indicator is developed which distinguishes between the hierarchical modeling error and the finite element error. Numerical results are presented for single-layered materials which show that the directional indicators accurately determine which contribution to the total error dominates.

Lang, Christapher G.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Error control techniques for satellite and space communications

This report focuses on the results obtained during the PI's recent sabbatical leave at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, from January 1, 1995 through June 30, 1995. Two projects investigated various properties of TURBO codes, a new form of concatenated coding that achieves near channel capacity performance at moderate bit error rates. The performance of TURBO codes is explained in terms of the code's distance spectrum. These results explain both the near capacity performance of the TURBO codes and the observed 'error floor' for moderate and high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR's). A semester project, entitled 'The Realization of the Turbo-Coding System,' involved a thorough simulation study of the performance of TURBO codes and verified the results claimed by previous authors. A copy of the final report for this project is included as Appendix A. A diploma project, entitled 'On the Free Distance of Turbo Codes and Related Product Codes,' includes an analysis of TURBO codes and an explanation for their remarkable performance. A copy of the final report for this project is included as Appendix B.

Costello, Daniel J., Jr.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Implementation and (Inverse Modified) Error Analysis for Implicitly Templated ODE-Nets

We focus on learning unknown dynamics from data using ODE-nets templated on implicit numerical initial value problem solvers. First, we perform inverse modified error analysis of the ODE-nets using unrolled implicit schemes for ease of interpretation. It is shown that training an ODE-net using an unrolled implicit scheme returns a close approximation of an inverse modified differential equation (IMDE). In addition, we establish a theoretical basis for hyperparameter selection when training such ODE-nets, whereas current strategies usually treat numerical integration of ODE-nets as a black box. We thus formulate an adaptive algorithm which monitors the level of error and adapts the number of (unrolled) implicit solution iterations during the training process, so that the error of the unrolled approximation is less than the current learning loss. This helps accelerate training while maintaining accuracy. Several numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed algorithm compared to nonadaptive unrollings and validate the theoretical analysis. Here, we also note that this approach naturally allows for incorporating partially known physical terms in the equations, giving rise to what is termed “gray box” identification.

ODE-nets↗
NASA NTRS1990

A high temperature thermal diffusivity determination procedure for solids and liquids

A new method for measuring the thermal diffusivity of materials at high temperatures is presented. The method is applicable to solids on Earth, and to liquids in the reduced gravity environment of space. It is especially suited to levitated liquid metals at elevated temperatures where thermal diffusivity data is not available. The method is applied in two parts, such that lumped analysis is valid in the first part, and Fourier's law of conduction is valid in the second. In both parts, the spherical specimen is assumed to have been heated to a desired temperature and cooled. An inverse conduction problem is then formulated and solved using Laplace transformation techniques. Using this solution, sample sizes, and experimentally obtained surface temperature history, the thermal diffusivity is determined by minimizing a function that satisifies the heat balance at the surface. Minimization is performed using a modified quasilinearization algorithm. Accuracy is very sensitive to error in the temperature data and increases with better curve fits to the temperature data. An error analysis is also performed, and the effect of errors in the various parameters on the evaluated thermal diffusivity is determined. An experimental study for solids on Earth is suggested, before development for implementation in space.

Bayazitoglu, Yildiz↗
NASA NTRS1988

Performance of Galileo's concatenated codes with nonideal interleaving

The Galileo spacecraft employs concatenated coding schemes with Reed-Solomon interleaving depth 2. The bit error rate (BER) performance of Galileo's concatenated codes, assuming different interleaving depths (including infinite interleaving depth) are compared. It is observed that Galileo's depth 2 interleaving, when used with the experimental (15, 1/4) code, requires about 0.4 to 0.5 dB additional signal-to-noise ratio to achieve the same BER performance as the concatenated code with ideal interleaving. When used with the standard (7, 1/2) code, depth 2 interleaving requires about 0.2 dB more signal-to-noise ratio than ideal interleaving.

Cheung, K.-M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Wave resource characterization at regional and nearshore scales for the U.S. Alaska coast based on a 32-year high-resolution hindcast

A wave resource characterization was performed for the southern coast of Alaska based on a 32-year hindcast covering the period from 1979 to 2010. The characterization closely followed International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Specifications. An unstructured-grid Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) model, which had an approximate spatial resolution of 300 m within 30 km from the nearest shoreline, was developed. Additionally, extensive model validation and error characterization was performed. The model was found to perform well with an average absolute percent error of 8.6% in significant wave height, averaged over 18 buoys. Statistics for the six IEC wave resource parameters were calculated and aggregated at 20 km from shore to quantify the incident wave power and its variability at a regional scale. The southern coast of the Aleutian Archipelago was found to have the most available wave energy in the region. A nearshore resource assessment was performed by evaluating resource hotspots located 1 km from shore. More than 900 nearshore stations had an Optimum Hotspot Identifier value of 5 (kW/m) at diverse water depths, thereby positioning Alaska as a promising location for wave energy development.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1989

Experiments on structural control of sound transmitted through an elastic plate

Active control of sound transmission through an elastic plate has been experimentally studied. The control was applied directly to the plate by point force vibration inputs, and the error information and performance was measured in the radiated acoustic field by discrete microphones. Test cases were studied in which the error sensors were accelerometers mounted on the plate. A time-domain least-mean-squares adaptive algorithm was used as the basis of the control system design. The results showed an impressive increase in plate transmission loss over a wide range of frequencies with a maximum of two control shakers. The advantages of using error information derived from the radiated acoustic field rather than structural response is demonstrated. The mechanisms behind the efficiency of this control approach are discussed.

Fuller, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Analysis of navigation performance for the Earth Observing System (EOS) using the TDRSS Onboard Navigation System (TONS)

Use of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Onboard Navigation System (TONS) was proposed as an alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS) for supporting the Earth Observing System (EOS) mission. The results are presented of EOS navigation performance evaluation with respect to TONS based orbit, time, and frequency determination (OD/TD/FD). Two TONS modes are considered: one uses scheduled TDRSS forward link service to derive one way Doppler tracking data for OD/FD support (TONS-I); the other uses an unscheduled navigation beacon service (proposed for Advanced TDRSS) to obtain pseudorange and Doppler data for OD/TD/FD support (TONS-II). Key objectives of the analysis were to evaluate nominal performance and potential sensitivities, such as suboptimal tracking geometry, tracking contact scheduling, and modeling parameter selection. OD/TD/FD performance predictions are presented based on covariance and simulation analyses. EOS navigation scenarios and the contributions of principal error sources impacting performance are also described. The results indicate that a TONS mode can be configured to meet current and proposed EOS position accuracy requirements of 100 and 50 m, respectively.

Elrod, B.↗