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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 487 records · Page 27

Development of Design Tools for Flow-Control Actuators

This report discusses the: 1. Development coupled electro/fluid/structural lumped-element model (LEM) of a prototypical flow-control actuator. 2. Validation the coupled electro/fluid/structural dynamics lumped-element models. 3. Development simple, yet effective, design tools for actuators. 4. Development structural dynamic models that accurately characterize the dynamic response of piezoelectric flap actuators using the Finite Element Method (FEW as well as analytical methods. 5. Perform a parametric study of a piezo-composite flap actuator. 6.Develop an optimization scheme for maximizing the actuator performance.

Mathew, Jose↗

Verification and Validation of NASA-Supported Enhancements to Decision Support Tools of PECAD

This section of the evaluation report summarizes the verification and validation (V&V) of recently implemented, NASA-supported enhancements to the decision support tools of the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division (PECAD). The implemented enhancements include operationally tailored Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products and products of the Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor (GRLM). The MODIS products are currently made available through two separate decision support tools: the MODIS Image Gallery and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Database. Both the Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor and MODIS Image Gallery provide near-real-time products through PECAD's CropExplorer. This discussion addresses two areas: 1. Assessments of the standard NASA products on which these enhancements are based. 2. Characterizations of the performance of the new operational products.

Ross, Kenton W.↗

Hazards and Probabilistic Risk Assessments of Advanced Nuclear Reactors Coupled with Industrial Facilities

This report provides a roadmap and tool kit for site specific risk assessments across a broad range of industrial customers co-located with advanced nuclear power plants (ANPP) that are not currently built and operating in the U.S. This report builds upon the body of work sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) Integrated Energy Systems Pathway that has produced industrial requirements studies and techno-economic assessments on the topics of feasibility of ANPP supported industrial processes. This report also leverages the DOE Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program that has presented hazards assessment and generic probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) for the addition of a heat extraction system (HES) to light-water reactors (LWRs) co-located with hydrogen production facilities. Many of the hazard assessments and risk assessments performed for the LWRS report are agnostic to whether the nuclear reactor is an ANPP or were adapted to the ANPP focus. The report performs hazards assessments to include industrial facilities: an oil refinery, a methanol plant, a synthetic fuel (synfuel) plant, the production of synthetic gas (syngas) as part of the methanol and synfuel plants, wood pulp and paper mills, and hydrogen production. Hydrogen production facilities are assessed in depth through prior reports in the LWRS program and the results are leveraged in this report. All these facilities are specified through industrial process and requirements research performed by national laboratories, universities, and interaction with industry. Many of the processes used in this report are pre-conceptual designs to use for decarbonization of the current technology facilities. A process of failure modes and effects analysis (what can go wrong) and accidentology (what has historically gone wrong) was used to determine the hazards presented to the nuclear power plant by the addition of the HES and the industrial customer. Chemical properties of feedstocks and products are summarized as part of the hazards assessment. Example analysis procedures are provided for each of the hazard types identified. These deterministic analyses can be used to assess adherence to licensing criteria. They can also be used to meet other safety goals like protection of the public, workers, or industrial facility equipment. A modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR) PRA only existing on paper was modeled and verified in modern PRA software. This will provide a tool for representative ANPP probabilistic analyses for future research.

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗

TBell: A mathematical tool for analyzing decision tables

This paper describes the development of mathematical theory and software to analyze specifications that are developed using decision tables. A decision table is a tabular format for specifying a complex set of rules that chooses one of a number of alternative actions. The report also describes a prototype tool, called TBell, that automates certain types of analysis.

Hoover, D. N.↗

Simulation Tool for Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuators at Atmospheric and Sub-Atmospheric Pressures: SBIR Phase I Final Report

This report is the final report of a SBIR Phase I project. It is identical to the final report submitted, after some proprietary information of administrative nature has been removed. The development of a numerical simulation tool for dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator is reported. The objectives of the project were to analyze and predict DBD operation at wide range of ambient gas pressures. It overcomes the limitations of traditional DBD codes which are limited to low-speed applications and have weak prediction capabilities. The software tool allows DBD actuator analysis and prediction for subsonic to hypersonic flow regime. The simulation tool is based on the VORPAL code developed by Tech-X Corporation. VORPAL's capability of modeling DBD plasma actuator at low pressures (0.1 to 10 torr) using kinetic plasma modeling approach, and at moderate to atmospheric pressures (1 to 10 atm) using hydrodynamic plasma modeling approach, were demonstrated. In addition, results of experiments with pulsed+bias DBD configuration that were performed for validation purposes are reported.

Likhanskii, Alexandre↗

Early Phase Molten Salt Reactor Safety Evaluation Considerations

This report documents rationale to develop analytical tools and data applicable to the safety and design of advanced molten salt power reactors. This report represents early steps in the implementation of the tasks defined by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 2018 in the following sections of A Safety and Licensing Roadmap to identify the Research and Development Gaps of Commercial Molten Salt Reactors

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Digital Transformation for the Existing Fleet: Where to Start?

To remain economically viable in today’s electricity marketplace, nuclear power plants are replacing old analog equipment with modern digital tools. Having information available in an electronic format allows most work processes to become more efficient by automating simple, time-consuming tasks. However, with thousands of routine work processes performed every day, it can be difficult for the plants to know where to begin. We partnered with a nuclear utility to develop a novel assessment tool that measures seven health indicators for each work process performed, providing a rapid digital status report of the plant. The assessment tool is inexpensive and user-friendly, administered remotely, and automatically customized to each employee. Data from 167 employees representing different perspectives were analyzed to identify optimal candidates for digital initiatives that yield the highest payback for increased process efficiencies. We ranked by a priority index to ensure that processes with a good combination of time savings and digital opportunity were at the top. The focus was on determining a maximum investment to ensure that the cost savings from these initiatives are positive over a specified period. We identified potential cost savings of $2.6m, $1.3m and $1.2m for our top priority processes. By using our novel assessment tool to determine the digital status of the plant’s work processes, they were provided with a starting point for target candidates that would most benefit from a digital initiative. Our analysis helps stakeholders understand the financial impact of digital initiatives and identify maximum investment amounts when seeking technical solutions.

assessment↗

Energize: An Interactive Evaluation Tool for Engaging the General Public with Energy Decision Making - Final Report

The public has an ever-increasing interest in the economic, environmental, and social impacts of global energy production. To support informed decision making, the scientific community has a responsibility to communicate reliable and straight-forward information to the general public, in an engaging way, regarding energy systems and how choices made at different stages of an energy technology life cycle can impact the cost, amount of materials used, and waste produced. Our objective is to enhance public engagement via an interactive electrical energy game (Energ!ze) through which players interact with one another in their quest to develop an electrical energy portfolio that optimizes economic (e.g., company profit), environmental (e.g., reduced CO 2 emissions), and social (e.g., public opinion) impacts. The design and development of Energ!ze was an iterative process involving an interdisciplinary team of engineers, discipline-based scientists, computer scientists, and education experts. The development objectives were two-fold: (1) Accurate and quantifiable modeling of electrical energy systems and (2) Engaging and interactive user interface within the construct of the game narrative. The major game mechanics in the current playable Energ!ze version focus on economic metrics, and the database is scaffolded to add environmental and social metrics for future versions. This report details the outcome of the funding period (Section 2 and 3) and describes the development process, along with recommendations for future development (Section 4).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Enabling FAIR data in Earth and environmental science with community-centric (meta)data reporting formats

Abstract Research can be more transparent and collaborative by using Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles to publish Earth and environmental science data. Reporting formats—instructions, templates, and tools for consistently formatting data within a discipline—can help make data more accessible and reusable. However, the immense diversity of data types across Earth science disciplines makes development and adoption challenging. Here, we describe 11 community reporting formats for a diverse set of Earth science (meta)data including cross-domain metadata (dataset metadata, location metadata, sample metadata), file-formatting guidelines (file-level metadata, CSV files, terrestrial model data archiving), and domain-specific reporting formats for some biological, geochemical, and hydrological data (amplicon abundance tables, leaf-level gas exchange, soil respiration, water and sediment chemistry, sensor-based hydrologic measurements). More broadly, we provide guidelines that communities can use to create new (meta)data formats that integrate with their scientific workflows. Such reporting formats have the potential to accelerate scientific discovery and predictions by making it easier for data contributors to provide (meta)data that are more interoperable and reusable.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Advanced Transportation System Studies Technical Area 2 (TA-2) Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle Development Contract: Technical Results - Volume 2

The purpose of the Advanced Transportation System Studies (ATSS) Technical Area 2 (TA-2) Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle Development contract was to provide advanced launch vehicle concept definition and analysis to assist NASA in the identification of future launch vehicle requirements. Contracted analysis activities included vehicle sizing and performance analysis, subsystem concept definition, propulsion subsystem definition (foreign and domestic), ground operations and facilities analysis, and life cycle cost estimation. This document is Volume 2 of the final report for the contract. It provides documentation of selected technical results from various TA-2 analysis activities, including a detailed narrative description of the SSTO concept assessment results, a user's guide for the associated SSTO sizing tools, an SSTO turnaround assessment report, an executive summary of the ground operations assessments performed during the first year of the contract, a configuration-independent vehicle health management system requirements report, a copy of all major TA-2 contract presentations, a copy of the FLO launch vehicle final report, and references to Pratt & Whitney's TA-2 sponsored final reports regarding the identification of Russian main propulsion technologies.

Source record↗

A browser-based tool for visualization and analysis of diffusion MRI data

Human neuroscience research faces several challenges with regards to reproducibility. While scientists are generally aware that data sharing is important, it is not always clear how to share data in a manner that allows other labs to understand and reproduce published findings. Here we report a new open source tool, AFQ-Browser, that builds an interactive website as a companion to a diffusion MRI study. Because AFQ-Browser is portable—it runs in any web-browser—it can facilitate transparency and data sharing. Moreover, by leveraging new web-visualization technologies to create linked views between different dimensions of the dataset (anatomy, diffusion metrics, subject metadata), AFQ-Browser facilitates exploratory data analysis, fueling new discoveries based on previously published datasets. In an era where Big Data is playing an increasingly prominent role in scientific discovery, so will browser-based tools for exploring high-dimensional datasets, communicating scientific discoveries, aggregating data across labs, and publishing data alongside manuscripts.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Cost Risk Analysis Framework (CRAFT): An Integrated Risk Analysis Tool and its Application in an Industry Use Case

This report presents the initial application design of the Cost Risk Analysis Framework Tool (CRAFT). The initial concept was formulated from a need to perform financial risk analysis that can be quickly deployable through the nuclear industry to evaluate the risk associated to capital projects and asset management. The design evolved into a framework that can integrate several forms of risk (e.g., not just financial, but also safety related) into a single analysis. In order to reduce the research and development and deployment time, we have decided to use the Risk Analysis Virtual environment (RAVEN) statistical framework as a basis for the CRAFT architecture.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Prediction and characterization of promoters and ribosomal binding sites of Zymomonas mobilis in system biology era

Zymomonas mobilis is a model bacterial ethanologen with many systems biology studies reported. Besides lignocellulosic ethanol production, Z. mobilis has been developed as a platform for biochemical production through metabolic engineering. However, identification and rigorous understanding of the genetic origins of cellular function, especially those based in non-coding region of DNA, such as promoters and ribosomal binding sites (RBSs), are still in its infancy. This knowledge is crucial for the effective application of Z. mobilis to new industrial applications of biotechnology for fuels and chemicals production. In this study, we explored the possibility to systematically predict the strength of promoters based on systems biology datasets. The promoter strength was clustered based on the expression values of downstream genes (or proteins) from systems biology studies including microarray, RNA-Seq and proteomics. Candidate promoters with different strengths were selected for further characterization, which include 19 strong, nine medium, and ten weak ones. A dual reporter-gene system was developed which included appropriate reporter genes. These are the opmCherry reporter gene driven by the constitutive PlacUV5 promoter for calibration, and EGFP reporter gene driven by candidate promoters for quantification. This dual reporter-gene system was confirmed using the inducible promoter, Ptet, which was used to determine the strength of these predicted promoters with different strengths. In addition, the dual reporter-gene system was applied to determine four synthetic RBSs with different translation initiation rates based on the prediction from bioinformatics server RBS calculator. Our results showed that the correlations between the prediction and experimental results for the promoter and RBS strength are relatively high, with R2 values more than 0.7 and 0.9, respectively. This study not only identified and characterized 38 promoters and four RBSs with different strengths for future metabolic engineering in Z. mobilis, but also established a flow cytometry-based dual reporter-gene system to characterize genetic elements including, but not limited to the promoters and RBSs studied in this work. This study also suggested the feasibility of predicting and selecting candidate genetic elements based on omics datasets and bioinformatics tools. Moreover, the dual reporter-gene system developed in this study can be utilized to characterize other genetic elements of Z. mobilis, which can also be applied to other microorganisms.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Online Interactive Reporting of Groundwater Monitoring and Remediation Progress at the Hanford Site, Washington - 16485

DOE annually publishes a groundwater monitoring report and separate groundwater remediation summary reports to comply with reporting and regulatory requirements for the Hanford Site, located in southeastern Washington State. The reports describe year-over-year groundwater monitoring and remediation progress. The annual groundwater monitoring report provides a summary of groundwater monitoring for chemical and radioactive liquid waste releases to the soil that contaminated groundwater from past operations at the site. Content initially consisted of paper reports with static electronic copies available online. Based on an initiative from DOE to provide additional transparency of data and data interpretations presented in the reports, companion interactive versions of the reports were deployed online starting in 2012. The online version provides readers with map-based tools and links to supporting documents and reference materials; individual users can read the reports at their own personal level of expertise and interactively explore groundwater contaminant plume evolution, analytical data, site geology, and remediation system performance. An online user's guide and tutorials for each tool are also provided to assist the user with the overall application and individual tools. The online reports are available at: http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/SoilGroundwaterAnnualReports. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Assessment of Microstructure Prediction Capabilities for Powder Bed Fusion Stainless Steel 316

The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies program aims to accelerate the development, qualification, demonstration, and deployment of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies to enable reliable and economical nuclear energy. However, the characteristic process-structure-property relationships of additive manufacturing (AM) materials pose challenges for the qualification and certification of AM nuclear components. In particular, component-scale variations in microstructure and properties can be driven by localized changes in melt pool dynamics due to how process parameters interact with different part geometries. Computational modeling tools can play a crucial role in predicting and controlling this variability. This report presents final results on process modeling tools designed to predict microstructure variability in additively manufactured stainless steel 316 parts. It details the software packages and physical modeling approaches employed to simulate an AM component within an automated process modeling workflow. Results are demonstrated through comparisons between predicted microstructures and experimental measurements across various representative processing conditions. The report concludes by discussing identified challenges and future opportunities for connecting the developed simulation workflow with mechanics simulations for prediction of part performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Preliminary Results on Process Modeling Tools for Determining Variability in Additively Manufactured Stainless Steel 316 Parts

The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies program aims to accelerate the development, qualification, demonstration, and deployment of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies to enable reliable and economical nuclear energy. However, the distinct characteristics of additive manufacturing (AM) materials, stemming from their unique processing history, microstructure, and properties, pose significant challenges for the qualification and certification of nuclear components. These challenges primarily arise from component-scale variations in microstructure and properties influenced by local process conditions and geometry, which affect thermal history, melt pool dynamics, and microstructure evolution. Computational modeling tools can play a crucial role in predicting and controlling this variability. This report presents preliminary results on process modeling tools designed to predict microstructure variability in additively manufactured stainless steel 316 parts. It details the software packages and physical modeling approaches employed to simulate an AM component within an automated process modeling workflow. Initial results are demonstrated through comparisons between predicted microstructures and experimental measurements across various representative processing conditions. The report concludes by discussing the challenges inherent in process modeling of AM components and outlines a plan for future development needs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗