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At least 523 records · Page 29

Molecular structures of residual solvent in polyacrylonitrile based electrolytes: Implications for conductivity and stability

Lithium-ion batteries increasingly play significant roles in modern technologies; however, increased energy density also raises concerns about electrolyte safety. Traditional electrolytes that use volatile organic solvents face risks of thermal runaways and fires from electrode shorting. In response, polymer-based solid electrolytes have been developed for replacement. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is a promising fire-resistant component for electrolyte fabrication, but its limited solubility necessitates using low-volatility solvents, which are notoriously difficult to remove in subsequent drying processes. Here, we use femtosecond two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy to provide an in-depth understanding of how residual solvent from processing affects the molecular structures and dynamics within a polymer electrolyte. To this end, linear and nonlinear infrared spectroscopies are employed to interrogate the molecular interactions in PAN-based electrolytes containing various contents of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). We show that the amount of DMF within the PAN electrolyte affects the Li+ structure. Further, the coordination can proceed through the carbonyl group and/or the amide nitrogen to form antiparallel structures with the nitrile groups of PAN through dipole–dipole interactions. The free motion of DMF is drastically inhibited upon interaction with Li+ and PAN, which decreases the ionic conductivity and potentially affects the stability (resistance toward removal and chemical decomposition). These findings have implications for the design and processing of solid polymer electrolytes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Identification of the connections in biologically inspired neural networks

We developed an identification method to find the strength of the connections between neurons from their behavior in small biologically-inspired artificial neural networks. That is, given the network external inputs and the temporal firing pattern of the neurons, we can calculate a solution for the strengths of the connections between neurons and the initial neuron activations if a solution exists. The method determines directly if there is a solution to a particular neural network problem. No training of the network is required. It should be noted that this is a first pass at the solution of a difficult problem. The neuron and network models chosen are related to biology but do not contain all of its complexities, some of which we hope to add to the model in future work. A variety of new results have been obtained. First, the method has been tailored to produce connection weight matrix solutions for networks with important features of biological neural (bioneural) networks. Second, a computationally efficient method of finding a robust central solution has been developed. This later method also enables us to find the most consistent solution in the presence of noisy data. Prospects of applying our method to identify bioneural network connections are exciting because such connections are almost impossible to measure in the laboratory. Knowledge of such connections would facilitate an understanding of bioneural networks and would allow the construction of the electronic counterparts of bioneural networks on very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits.

Demuth, H.↗

Consequences of impacts of small asteroids and comets with Earth

The fragmentation of a small asteroid in the atmosphere greatly increases its cross sections for aerodynamic braking and energy dissipation. At a typical impact velocity of 22 km/s, the atmosphere absorbs more than half the kinetic energy of stony meteoroids with diameters, D(sub m), less than 220 m and iron meteoroids with D(sub m) less than 80 m. The corresponding diameter for comets with impact velocity 50 km/s is D(sub m) less than 1600 m. Most of the atmospheric energy dissipation occurs in a fraction of a scale height, so large meteors appear to 'explode' or 'flare' at the end of their visible paths. This dissipation of energy in the atmosphere protects the earth from direct impact damage (e.g., craters), but it produces a blast wave that can do considerable damage. The area of destruction around the impact point in which the over-pressure in the blast wave exceeds 4 lb/sq in = 2.8 x 10(exp 5) dynes/cu cm, which is enough to knock over trees and destroy buildings, increases rapidly from zero for chondritic meteoroids less than 56 m in diameter (15 megatons) to about 200 sq km for those 80 m in diameter (48 megatons); the probable diameter of the tunguska impactor of 1908 is about 80 m. Crater formation and earthquakes are not significant in land impacts by stony asteroids less than about 200 m in diameter because of the air protection. A tsunami is probably the most devastating type of damage for asteroids 200 m to 1 km in diameter. An impact by an asteroid this size anywhere in the Atlantic would devastate coastal areas on both sides of the ocean. An asteroid a few kilometers across would produce a tsunami that would reach the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in the upper half of the East Coast of the United States. Most of Florida is protected from a tsunami by the gradual slope of the ocean off its coast, which causes most of the tsunami energy to be reflected back into the Atlantic. The atmosphere plume produced by asteroids with diameters exceeding about 120 m cannot be contained by the atmosphere, so this bubble of high-temperature gas forms a new layer on top of the atmosphere. The dust entrapped in this hot gas is likely to have optical depths exceeding tau = 10 for asteroids with diameters exceeding about 0.5 to 1 km. The optical flux from asteroids 60 m or more in diameter is enough to ignite pine forests. However, the blast wave from an impacting asteroid goes beyond the radius in which the fire starts. The blast wave tends to blow out the fire, so it is likely that the impact will char the forest, as at Tunguska, but the impact will not produce a sustained fire. Because comets dissipate their energy much higher in the atmosphere than asteroids, they illuminate a much larger region and their blast wave is weaker. So they are much more effective in producing large fires. This suggests that the KT impactor was a comet rather than an asteroid.

Hills, J. G.↗

Combustion of Solids in Microgravity: Results from the BASS-II Experiment

The Burning and Suppression of Solids-II (BASS-II) experiment was performed on the International Space Station. Microgravity combustion tests burned thin and thick flat samples, acrylic slabs, spheres, and cylinders. The samples were mounted inside a small wind tunnel which could impose air flow speeds up to 53 cms. The wind tunnel was installed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox which supplied power, imaging, and a level of containment. The effects of air flow speed, fuel thickness, fuel preheating, and oxygen concentration on flame appearance, growth, spread rate, and extinction were examined in both the opposed and concurrent flow configuration. The flames are quite sensitive to air flow speed in the range 0 to 5 cms. They can be sustained at very low flow speeds of less than 1 cms, when they become dim blue and stable. In this state they are not particularly dangerous from a fire safety perspective, but they can flare up quickly with a sudden increase in air flow speed. Including earlier BASS-I results, well over one hundred tests have been conducted of the various samples in the different geometries, flow speeds, and oxygen concentrations. There are several important implications related to fundamental combustion research as well as spacecraft fire safety. This work was supported by the NASA Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications Division (SLPSRA).

Combustion↗

Report on High Energy Arcing Fault Experiments: Experimental Results from Low-Voltage Switchgear Enclosures

This report documents an experimental program designed to investigate High Energy Arcing Fault (HEAF) phenomena for low-voltage metal enclosed switchgear containing aluminum conductors. This report covers full-scale laboratory experiments using representative nuclear power plant (NPP) three-phase electrical equipment. Electrical, thermal, and pressure data were recorded for each experiment and documented in this report. This report covers experiments performed on two low-voltage switchgear units with each unit consisting of two vertical sections. The data collected supports characterization of the low-voltage HEAF hazard and these results will be used to support potential improvements in fire probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methods. The experiments were performed at KEMA Labs located in Chalfont, Pennsylvania. The experimental design, setup, and execution were completed by staff from the NRC, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and KEMA. In addition, representatives from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) observed some of the experimental setup and execution. The HEAF experiments were performed between August 26 and Augsut 29, 2019 on nearidentical Westinghouse Type DS low-voltage metal-enclosed indoor switchgear. The threephase arcing fault was initiated on the aluminum main bus or in select cases on the copper bus stabs near the breaker. These experiments used either nominal 480 volts AC or 600 volts AC. Durations of the experiments ranged from approximately 0.4 s to 8.3 s with fault currents ranging from approximately 9.2 kA to 19.3 kA. Real-time electrical operating conditions, including voltage, current and frequency, were measured during the experiments. Heat fluxes and incident energies were measured with plate thermometers, radiometers, and slug calorimeters at various locations around the electrical enclosures. Environmental measurements of breakdown, conductivity and electromagnetics were also taken. The experiments were documented with normal and high-speed videography, infrared imaging and photography. The results, while limited, indicated the difficulty in maintaining and sustaining low-voltage arcs on aluminum components of sufficient duration and at a single point as observed operating experience.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Experimental study on particle formation in a pressurized oxy-fuel combustor using a novel in-situ optical instrument

Particle formation in pressurized oxy-fuel combustion can be fundamentally different from oxy-fuel combustion at atmospheric pressure. Under high pressures, the rate of char gasification with CO2 and H2O increases significantly and dominates the char reactions particularly at high temperatures. Also, the extent of fragmentation varies. This could result in a very different particle size distribution from that of air-fired combustion. To accurately obtain the particle size distribution in a pressurized oxy-fuel combustor without sampling bias, the particle measurement should be made at the system pressure. Very few published studies have accomplished this, and never under the conditions reported herein. In this work, we fire PRB coal in a 100 kWth staged pressurized oxy-fuel combustor (SPOC) under two pressures, 15 and 2 bara. A sampling probe (oil-cooled) is installed at the combustor outlet and the aerosol flow are sampled isokinetically. We utilize a state-of-the-art optical analyzer (Malvern Insitec) with a novel high-pressure and high-temperature flow cell to measure the particle size distribution and concentration in-situ in a sampled flow, which contains moist/corrosive flue gas under the process pressure and a controlled temperature that is kept above the dew point. The results show that the pressure can significantly influence the particle size distribution and concentration from the oxy-fuel combustor.

Cheng, Mao↗

Tethered Pyrotechnic Apparatus for Acquiring a Ground Sample

A proposed alternative design for the balloon-borne ground-sampling system described in the immediately preceding article would not rely on free fall to drive a harpoonlike sample-collecting device into the ground. Instead, the harpoon-like sample-collecting device would be a pyrotechnically driven, tethered projectile. The apparatus would include a tripod that would be tethered to the gondola. A gun for shooting the projectile into the ground would be mounted at the apex of the tripod. The gun would include an electronic trigger circuit, a chamber at the breech end containing a pyrotechnic charge, and a barrel. A sabot would be placed in the barrel just below the pyrotechnic charge, and the tethered projectile would be placed in the barrel just below the sabot. The tripod feet would be equipped with contact sensors connected to the trigger circuit. In operation, the tripod would be lowered to the ground on its tether. Once contact with the ground was detected by the sensors on all three tripod feet, the trigger circuit would fire the pyrotechnic charge to drive the projectile into the ground. (Requiring contact among all three tripod feet and the ground would ensure that the projectile would be fired into the ground, rather than up toward the gondola or the balloon.) The tethered projectile would then be reeled back up to the gondola for analysis of the sample.

Jones, Jack↗

Hydrocarbon Cold-Flow Simulation of LOX/LH2 Rocket Aerodynamics

In FY19, this project developed a test method which employed heated ethane in the physical simulation of rocket plume aerodynamics. Based on this work, EUS partnered with significant leveraged funding. A portable, self-contained test bed was also fabricated to support validation of the new method. In FY20, this project focused on the formal validation of ethane’s performance as an aerodynamic simulant as well as the development of the analytical and hardware infrastructure required to carry out that task. The test bed was activated, a series of heated-ethane tests on one or more rocket/diffuser configurations were conducted, and characterizations of the performance of the ethane simulation compared to hot-fire were performed. A series of 127 tests were conducted on 13 aerodynamic configurations to evaluate ethane’s performance as a simulant. It was found that the new methodology can reproduce rocket plume flow fields with +/- 0.5% pressure error at ~3% physical scale. The result is a cost-per-test reduction of ~99% compared to the hot-fire subscale testing typically used to obtain equivalent data. Some initial efforts have taken place, and future efforts are being planned with LaRC supersonic retro propulsion and MSFC SLS aerodynamics teams, which are interested in using the ethane system to wind-tunnel test human-rated Mars lander retrorockets and SLS Booster. Details of the prototypical experiments were published as NASA TM 2020-5009122,and have been presented in JANNAF Virtual Conference paper, "New Developments in Retro propulsion Testing for Mars Entry, Descent and Landing".

Daniel Jones↗

Analysis of film cooling in rocket nozzles

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) programs are customarily used to compute details of a flow field, such as velocity fields or species concentrations. Generally they are not used to determine the resulting conditions at a solid boundary such as wall shear stress or heat flux. However, determination of this information should be within the capability of a CFD code, as the code supposedly contains appropriate models for these wall conditions. Before such predictions from CFD analyses can be accepted, the credibility of the CFD codes upon which they are based must be established. This report details the progress made in constructing a CFD model to predict the heat transfer to the wall in a film cooled rocket nozzle. Specifically, the objective of this work is to use the NASA code FDNS to predict the heat transfer which will occur during the upcoming hot-firing of the Pratt & Whitney 40K subscale nozzle (1Q93). Toward this end, an M = 3 wall jet is considered, and the resulting heat transfer to the wall is computed. The values are compared against experimental data available in Reference 1. Also, FDNS's ability to compute heat flux in a reacting flow will be determined by comparing the code's predictions against calorimeter data from the hot firing of a 40K combustor. The process of modeling the flow of combusting gases through the Pratt & Whitney 40K subscale combustor and nozzle is outlined. What follows in this report is a brief description of the FDNS code, with special emphasis on how it handles solid wall boundary conditions. The test cases and some FDNS solution are presented next, along with comparison to experimental data. The process of modeling the flow through a chamber and a nozzle using the FDNS code will also be outlined.

Woodbury, Keith A.↗

Portable light source unit for simulating fires having an adjustable aperture

A portable, hand held light source unit is employed to check operation of fire detectors, such as hydrogen fire detectors. The unit emits radiation in a narrow band of wavelengths which are generated by the type of fire to be tested, but not by other light sources such as the sun or incandescent lamps. The unit can test fire detectors at different distances, and of different sensitivities. The intensity of the radiation emitted by the unit is adjustable for this purpose by means of a rotatable disk having a plurality of different sized apertures for selective placement between the light source and an output lens. The disk can also be rotated to a calibration position which causes a microprocessor circuit in the unit to initiate a calibration procedure. During this procedure, the lamp intensity is measured by a photodetector contained within the unit, and the microprocessor adjusts the lamp current to insure that its intensity remains within a preset range of values. A green and a red LED are mounted on the unit which indicate to an operator whether the calibration is successful, as well as the condition of the unit's battery power supply.

Youngquist, Robert C.↗

Prediction of Acoustic Environments from Horizontal Rocket Firings

In recent years, advances in research and engineering have led to more powerful launch vehicles which can reach areas of space not yet explored. These more powerful vehicles yield acoustic environments potentially destructive to the vehicle or surrounding structures. Therefore, it has become increasingly important to be able to predict the acoustic environments created by these vehicles in order to avoid structural and/or competent failure. The current industry standard technique for predicting launch-induced acoustic environments was developed by Eldred in the early 1970's and is published in NASA SP-80721. Recent work2 has shown Eldred's technique to be inaccurate for current state-of-the-art launch vehicles. Due to the high cost of full-scale and even sub-scale rocket experiments, very little rocket noise data is available. Furthermore, much of the work thought to be applicable to rocket noise has been done with heated jets. Tam3,4 has done an extensive amount of research on jets of different nozzle exit shape, diameter, velocity, and temperature. Though the values of these parameters, especially exit velocity and temperature, are often very low compared to these values in rockets, a lot can be learned about rocket noise from jet noise literature. The turbulent nature of jet and rocket exhausts is quite similar. Both exhausts contain turbulent structures of varying scale-termed the fine and large scale turbulence by Tam. The finescale turbulence is due to small eddies from the jet plume interacting with the ambient atmosphere. According to Tam et al., the noise radiated by this envelope of small-scale turbulence is statistically isotropic. Hence, one would expect the noise from the small scale turbulence of the jet to be nearly omni-directional. The coherent nature of the large-scale turbulence results in interference of the noise radiated from different spatial locations within the jet. This interference-whether it is constructive or destructive-results in highly directional noise radiation. Tam3 has proposed a model to predict the acoustic environment due to jets and while it works extremely well for jets, it was found to be inappropriate for rockets8. A model to predict the acoustic environment due to a launch vehicle in the far-field which incorporates concepts from both Eldred and Tam was created. This was done using five sets of horizontally fired rocket data, obtained between 2008 and 2012. Three of these rockets use solid propellant and two use liquid propellant. Through scaling analysis, it is shown that liquid and solid rocket motors exhibit similar spectra at similar amplitudes. This model is accurate for these five data sets within 5 dB of the measured data for receiver angles of 30deg to 160deg (with respect to the downstream exhaust centerline). The model uses the following vehicle parameters: nozzle exit diameter and velocity, radial distance from source to receiver, receiver angle, mass flow rate, and acoustic efficiency.

Giacomoni, Clothilde↗

Dynamic Open-Rotor Composite Shield Impact Test Report

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working with the European Aviation Safety Agency to determine the certification base for proposed new engines that would not have a containment structure on large commercial aircraft. Equivalent safety to the current fleet is desired by the regulators, which means that loss of a single fan blade will not cause hazard to the aircraft. NASA Glenn and Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) China Lake collaborated with the FAA Aircraft Catastrophic Failure Prevention Program to design and test a shield that would protect the aircraft passengers and critical systems from a released blade that could impact the fuselage. This report documents the live-fire test from a full-scale rig at NAWC China Lake. NASA provided manpower and photogrammetry expertise to document the impact and damage to the shields. The test was successful: the blade was stopped from penetrating the shield, which validates the design analysis method and the parameters used in the analysis. Additional work is required to implement the shielding into the aircraft.

Shielding↗

Transient Efficiency, Flexibility, and Reliability Optimization of Coal-Fired Power Plants - Final Report

This program developed an advanced model-based monitoring and model-predictive control algorithms for a coal fired power plant (CFPP), and deployed these algorithms in a real-time platform to demonstrate performance benefits for transient flexibility and plant operation efficiency. More specifically, the objectives were successfully achieved through a combination of (i) developing a high-fidelity transient plant model in Apros, which was used as a high-fidelity plant simulation between $100-50\% TMCR$ where TMCR denotes the turbine maximum continuous rating, i.e., baseload, (ii) developing a very fast physics-based reduced-order model (ROM) of the plant, which ran more than $100\times$ faster than real-time, enabling its use as real-time embedded model for model-based estimation (MBE) and model predictive control (MPC) (iii) implementing a real-time MBE based on ROM using a robust unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to continuously tune the ROM to match the measurements from high-fidelity Apros plant model despite significant plant-model mismatch, and thus, obtain a Digital Twin of the plant (iv) designing and implementing a real-time MPC with dual objectives of transient plant load tracking with high ramp rates and minimizing coal consumption, i.e., improving plant efficiency in the baseload-partload operation range of $100-50\% TMCR$. Each key element above was developed and tested individually, and has been reported in corresponding Topical Reports. Finally, all the individual elements were integrated in an overall closed-loop system, that was successfully tested in desktop Simulink test harness simulations with ROM or high-fidelity model as the plant. Thereafter, the Simulink implementation was used to auto-generate C-code and deploy as real-time Docker microservice containers in Linux, and validate that they can run in real-time in the hardware-in-the loop (HIL) setup and produce the same results as in Simulink. The results of the integrated simulation tests in Simulink as well as the real-time HIL deployment are documented in this final report, showing good load tracking for load ramps at $3-4\%/min$ ramp rates, and achieving up to $5.5\%$ reduction in coal relative to baseline operation at $50\% TMCR$ load. The desktop and HIL simulations show successful performance of the overall model based estimation and control solution and achieve the key objectives of the program for flexible, efficient and reliable operation of subcritical coal fired power plants.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

Challenges in Observing, Modeling, and Forecasting the June 2023 Smoke Event Over the Northeast United States

In the first week of May 2023, boreal Canada began an early start to the biomass burning season when fires erupted across Alberta and western Saskatchewan. Smoke entered the troposphere and spread across the United States as biomass burning emissions in Canada quadrupled the prior maximum since the onset of the MODIS satellite record. Adding to the already existing smoke, wildfires ignited in Quebec on June 2, 2023, producing a heavy plume of aerosol over the northeastern part of the continent. Meteorological factors, including an area of low pressure situated, nearly stationary, over Maine, transported the smoke into a densely populated corridor containing the cities of Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Air quality alerts became widespread as near-surface levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceeded harmful levels due the low altitude of the smoke plume. Forecasting the smoke transport and impacts of such events requires a complex combination of observed initial conditions for meteorology and aerosols, knowledge of the emissions from wildfires, and a state-of-the-art Earth System model that couples these components together. Using a case-study perspective with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), challenges associated with near real time forecasting of the smoke plume are presented. Analyzed and forecasted aerosol optical depth will be evaluated using available satellite and AERONET observations, while surface aerosol will be assessed relative to observations of PM2.5. Lacking real time estimates of biomass burning emissions for inputs to our forecast model, particular attention is given to the use of day-old biomass burning emissions throughout the forecast period covering the first ten days in June 2023, and the resulting reduction in forecast skill will be quantified.

Allison Collow↗

Challenges in Observing, Modeling, and Forecasting the June 2023 Smoke Event over the Northeast United States

In the first week of May 2023, boreal Canada began an early start to the biomass burning season when fires erupted across Alberta and western Saskatchewan. Smoke entered the troposphere and spread across the United States as biomass burning emissions in Canada quadrupled the prior maximum since the onset of the MODIS satellite record. Adding to the already existing smoke, wildfires ignited in Quebec on June 2, 2023, producing a heavy plume of aerosol over the northeastern part of the continent. Meteorological factors, including an area of low pressure situated, nearly stationary, over Maine, transported the smoke into a densely populated corridor containing the cities of Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Air quality alerts became widespread as near-surface levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceeded harmful levels due the low altitude of the smoke plume. Forecasting the smoke transport and impacts of such events requires a complex combination of observed initial conditions for meteorology and aerosols, knowledge of the emissions from wildfires, and a state-of-the-art Earth System model that couples these components together. Using a case-study perspective with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS ), challenges associated with near real time forecasting of the smoke plume are presented. Analyzed and forecasted aerosol optical depth will be evaluated using available satellite and AERONET observations, while surface aerosol will be assessed relative to observations of PM2.5. Lacking real time estimates of biomass burning emissions for inputs to our forecast model, particular attention is given to the use of day-old biomass burning emissions throughout the forecast period covering the first ten days in June 2023, and the resulting reduction in forecast skill will be quantified.

Allison Collow↗

Transient Efficiency, Flexibility, and Reliability Optimization of Coal-Fired Power Plants - Final Program Review

This program developed an advanced model-based monitoring and model-predictive control algorithms for a coal fired power plant (CFPP), and deployed these algorithms in a real-time platform to demonstrate performance benefits for transient flexibility and plant operation efficiency. More specifically, the objectives were successfully achieved through a combination of (i) developing a high-fidelity transient plant model in Apros, which was used as a high-fidelity plant simulation between $100-50\% TMCR$ where TMCR denotes the turbine maximum continuous rating, i.e., baseload, (ii) developing a very fast physics-based reduced-order model (ROM) of the plant, which ran more than $100\times$ faster than real-time, enabling its use as real-time embedded model for model-based estimation (MBE) and model predictive control (MPC) (iii) implementing a real-time MBE based on ROM using a robust unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to continuously tune the ROM to match the measurements from high-fidelity Apros plant model despite significant plant-model mismatch, and thus, obtain a Digital Twin of the plant (iv) designing and implementing a real-time MPC with dual objectives of transient plant load tracking with high ramp rates and minimizing coal consumption, i.e., improving plant efficiency in the baseload-partload operation range of $100-50\% TMCR$. Each key element above was developed and tested individually, and has been reported in corresponding Topical Reports. Finally, all the individual elements were integrated in an overall closed-loop system, that was successfully tested in desktop Simulink test harness simulations with ROM or high-fidelity model as the plant. Thereafter, the Simulink implementation was used to auto-generate C-code and deploy as real-time Docker microservice containers in Linux, and validate that they can run in real-time in the hardware-in-the loop (HIL) setup and produce the same results as in Simulink. The results of the integrated simulation tests in Simulink as well as the real-time HIL deployment are documented in this final report, showing good load tracking for load ramps at $3-4\%/min$ ramp rates, and achieving up to $5.5\%$ reduction in coal relative to baseline operation at $50\% TMCR$ load. The desktop and HIL simulations show successful performance of the overall model based estimation and control solution and achieve the key objectives of the program for flexible, efficient and reliable operation of sub-critical coal fired power plants.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

Yakima River Basin Temporal Study: Sensor and Sample Data from Wenas Creek following the Evans Canyon Fire in Washington, USA

The Evans Canyon Fire occurred in Washington in August 2020 and burned 76,000 acres of the semi-arid shrub-steppe landscape at low to moderate severities. This fire burned across the Wenas Creek watershed, allowing for a sampling design that included a portion of the stream within the burned area and a reference site upstream of the burn. Monthly data was collected at an unburned (W10) and burned (W20) site from November 2020 to August 2022 for in situ hydrological and water chemistry sensor data, handheld sensor water chemistry data, general environmental context photos, and field metadata. This dataset is comprised of one folder with field photos and one main data folder containing (1) sensor and sample field protocols; (2) file-level metadata (flmd); (3) data dictionary (dd); (4) international geo-sample number (IGSN) mapping file; (5) field metadata; (6) readme; (7) methods codes; (8) dissolved organic carbon (DOC; measured as non-purgeable organic carbon; NPOC); (9) total nitrogen (TN); (10) total suspended solids (TSS); (11) sensor data (specific conductance, pH, total dissolved solids, temperature, pressure, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity) averages; and (12) sensor installation methods. All files are .csv, .jpg, .jpeg, or .pdf.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

SAVY O-ring characterization for lifetime extension

Los Alamos National Laboratory and Nuclear Filter Technology, Inc. developed the SAVY-4000 nuclear material storage container, named after the designers Stone, Anderson, Viers, and Yarbro. The SAVY 4000 meets the requirements of Department of Energy (DOE) M 441.1-1,2 Nuclear Material Packaging Manual, to protect workers who handle nuclear materials against radiation exposures resulting from the leakage of stored materials. The SAVY-4000 is an innovative and creative design: it can be opened and closed in a few seconds without using torque wrenches and instead only a tire iron or equivalent prying tool; has a built-in, fire-rated filter that prevents the build-up of hydrogen gas yet retains 99.97% of plutonium particulates at 200 ACCM rated flow; and prevents the release of stored materials upon a 12- foot drop.

42 ENGINEERING↗