Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “services”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Complexity of segregation behavior at localized deformation sites formed while in service in a 316 stainless steel baffle-former bolt

Here, post-irradiation evaluation was performed on a 316 stainless steel baffle former bolt harvested after 40 years of service in a pressurized water reactor. Microstructure analysis revealed the presence of defect-free dislocation channels and strain-induced twins, indicative of loading at a stress level close to yield stress at least once while in service. Primary radiation-induced Ni/Si precipitates were destroyed during channel and twin formation, and secondary, significantly coarser Ni/Si precipitates formed along newly formed Σ3 boundaries during the continued irradiation. Additionally, an elevated phosphorus level was observed inside the strain-induced twin. Complex chemistry inside the strain-induced feature may overlap with dislocation pileups and impact localized corrosion, material long-term performance, and safety.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Insights Into On-Demand Transit: A Case Study of Houston METRO's curb2curb Service

As modern on-demand transit (ODT) deployments increase, the insights gained from studying real-world systems prove more useful. In this study, a shared ODT system called "METRO curb2curb" in the suburbs of Houston, Texas was studied, with a particular focus on the Missouri City zone, which has the highest ridership out of the four total zones. The Missouri City zone is 18 square miles with an average daily ridership of nearly 400 as of November 2024. In order to gain a passenger perspective, data collection was performed through using the ODT system first-hand, completing 50 rides in March and April of 2023. These rides included a mix of three different types of on-demand travel accommodations - 1.) advance bookings (30 min - 2 hours ahead), 2.) as-soon-as-possible / real-time dispatch bookings, and 3.) no-reservation trips at two designated "anchor points." Wait and travel time were collected for each ride. Anecdotal findings related to ease of locating the driver/vehicle, the process of booking a ride, and popular trip purposes were also documented. This study provides an overview of the METRO curb2curb system, including its history, service provider, service area, ridership, booking options, wait time, and travel time. Intricacies related to different definitions of wait time are included. Finally, relevant considerations for automating the on-demand transit system and discussed.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Overview of NLR Automated Mobility District Implementation Research - Phases I, II, and III. The Convergence of Automation, Electrification, and On-Demand Services: Enabling Resilient Automated Mobility Districts

A research program by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has been investigating the implementation prospects for fully automated passenger transport systems that are deployed to operate within dense urban settings, referred to as Automated Mobility Districts (AMDs). An AMD emphasizes the deployment of automated vehicles (AV) passenger transport services within a dense urban setting and other major activity centers with intense passenger origin-destination demand patterns, such as those found in large business districts, airports, and university and medical campuses. Phase I and II surveyed 10 early deployment sites and subsequently collected and evaluated the lessons learned from these early deployment sites, with particular attention to fleet operations, impacts of service reliability, and vehicle technology evolution as the field of companies was being progressively winnowed by the challenges of full automation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Grand challenges of wind energy science – meeting the needs and services of the power system

The share of wind power in power systems is increasing dramatically, and this is happening in parallel with increased penetration of solar photovoltaics, storage, other inverter-based technologies, and electrification of other sectors. Recognising the fundamental objective of power systems, maintaining supply–demand balance reliably at the lowest cost, and integrating all these technologies are significant research challenges that are driving radical changes to planning and operations of power systems globally. In this changing environment, wind power can maximise its long-term value to the power system by balancing the needs it imposes on the power system with its contribution to addressing these needs with services. A needs and services paradigm is adopted here to highlight these research challenges, which should also be guided by a balanced approach, concentrating on its advantages over competitors. The research challenges within the wind technology itself are many and varied, with control and coordination internally being a focal point in parallel with a strong recommendation for a holistic approach targeted at where wind has an advantage over its competitors and in coordination with research into other technologies such as storage, power electronics, and power systems.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Insights Into On-Demand Transit: A Case Study of Houston METRO's curb2curb Transit Services: Preprint

As modern on-demand transit (ODT) deployments increase, the insights gained from studying real-world systems prove more useful. In this study, a shared ODT system called "METRO curb2curb" in the suburbs of Houston, Texas was studied, with a particular focus on the Missouri City zone, which has the highest ridership out of the four total zones in which the system operates. The Missouri City zone spans 18 square miles with an average daily ridership of nearly 400 as of November 2024. In order to gain a passenger perspective, data collection was performed through using the ODT system first-hand, completing 50 rides in March and April of 2023. These rides included a mix of three different types of on-demand travel accommodations - 1.) advance bookings (30 min - 2 hours ahead), 2.) as-soon-as-possible / real-time dispatch bookings, and 3.) no-reservation trips at two designated "anchor points." Wait and travel time were collected for each ride. Anecdotal findings related to ease of locating the driver/vehicle, the process of booking a ride, and popular trip purposes were also documented. This study provides an overview of the METRO curb2curb system, including its history, service provider, service area, ridership, booking options, wait time, and travel time. Intricacies related to different definitions of wait time are included. Finally, relevant considerations for automating the on-demand transit system and discussed.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Portable Acceleration of CMS Computing Workflows with Coprocessors as a Service

Computing demands for large scientific experiments, such as the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, will increase dramatically in the next decades. To complement the future performance increases of software running on central processing units (CPUs), explorations of coprocessor usage in data processing hold great potential and interest. Coprocessors are a class of computer processors that supplement CPUs, often improving the execution of certain functions due to architectural design choices. We explore the approach of Services for Optimized Network Inference on Coprocessors (SONIC) and study the deployment of this as-a-service approach in large-scale data processing. In the studies, we take a data processing workflow of the CMS experiment and run the main workflow on CPUs, while offloading several machine learning (ML) inference tasks onto either remote or local coprocessors, specifically graphics processing units (GPUs). With experiments performed at Google Cloud, the Purdue Tier-2 computing center, and combinations of the two, we demonstrate the acceleration of these ML algorithms individually on coprocessors and the corresponding throughput improvement for the entire workflow. This approach can be easily generalized to different types of coprocessors and deployed on local CPUs without decreasing the throughput performance. We emphasize that the SONIC approach enables high coprocessor usage and enables the portability to run workflows on different types of coprocessors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

A review of United States energy-only generator interconnection service policy and considerations for reform

Grid interconnection has emerged as a significant obstacle to the development of new electricity resources. There is growing interest in energy-only interconnection, which is an interconnection service option meant to allow the interconnection of new generators without ensuring their energy deliverability during all hours through the transmission system to customers. This approach potentially avoids upfront congestion-related transmission upgrades but could increase curtailment risk. Interest in energy-only interconnection is shaped by incomplete understanding of how interconnection policy functions in different jurisdictions, a knowledge gap that makes it difficult to determine how energy-only interconnection might be better used or re-designed. In this paper, we provide a regulatory review of energy-only interconnection in U.S. interconnection policy and practice, identifying jurisdictions in which rules are close to -or farther from-the theoretical concept of energy-only interconnection service. We find substantial jurisdictional differences in how energy-only interconnection is implemented, driven by differences in resource adequacy frameworks, real-time transmission operations, and state-level procurement practices. U.S. regulators have preferred local jurisdictional flexibility over federal prescription of interconnection study methods and procedures, which also contributes to differences among regions. Such findings raise fundamental questions about whether competition policies in electricity markets should extend beyond spot energy markets and into more prescriptive guidelines around interconnection rules and market entry. This paper sheds light on tensions that energy-only interconnection raises in allowing generators to access the transmission system on an as available basis and discusses how controlling thresholds for congestion-related network upgrades may be a barrier to electricity market entry.

Gorman, Will↗
DOE OSTI2025

The git based ATLAS data acquisition configuration service in LHC Run 3

The ATLAS experiment at the LHC at CERN uses a large, distributed trigger and data acquisition system composed of many computing nodes, networks, and hardware modules. Its configuration service is used to provide descriptions of control, monitoring, diagnostic, recovery, dataflow and data quality configurations, interconnections, and parameters for modules, chips, and channels of various online systems, detectors, and the whole ATLAS experiment. Those descriptions have historically been stored in more than one thousand interconnected XML files, which are updated by various experts many times per day. Maintaining error-free and consistent sets of such files and providing reliable and fast access to current and historical configurations is a major challenge. This paper gives details of the configuration service upgrade on the modern Git version control system backend for LHC Run 3 and its exploitation experience. It may be interesting for developers using human-readable file formats, where consistency of the files, performance, access control, traceability of modifications, and effective archiving are key requirements.

Soloviev, Igor [Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (U↗
DOE OSTI2025

Track reconstruction as a service for collider physics

Optimizing charged-particle track reconstruction algorithms is crucial for efficient event reconstruction in Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments due to their significant computational demands. Existing track reconstruction algorithms have been adapted to run on massively parallel coprocessors, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), to reduce processing time. Nevertheless, challenges remain in fully harnessing the computational capacity of coprocessors in a scalable and non-disruptive manner. This paper proposes an inference-as-a-service approach for particle tracking in high energy physics experiments. To evaluate the efficacy of this approach, two distinct tracking algorithms are tested: Patatrack, a rule-based algorithm, and Exa.TrkX, a machine learning-based algorithm. The as-a-service implementations show enhanced GPU utilization and can process requests from multiple CPU cores concurrently without increasing per-request latency. The impact of data transfer is minimal and insignificant compared to running on local coprocessors. This approach greatly improves the computational efficiency of charged particle tracking, providing a solution to the computing challenges anticipated in the High-Luminosity LHC era.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Real-Time Implementation and Validation of Federated Learning for Grid Services

Grid-edge devices are becoming increasingly important in the energy transition. Preserving privacy was not previously considered an important aspect for power grid operations, but with the increased proliferation of customer-owned assets, it is now an essential consideration. Several mechanisms have been proposed to provide privacy for non-utility owned assets in the power grid. Federated learning (FL) is one method gaining prominence in this area. Although FL has been used for other applications, such as auto-complete in phones, there has not been much investigation into whether these approaches are feasible for grid applications. In this work, we use a research platform with real-time simulators and hardware-in-the-loop capabilities to investigate how FL can be applied to grid-edge devices, and we present the potential grid services that can be derived for these devices. We discuss the computational challenges with deploying complex FL approaches, and we explore several grid services, including participation in retail electricity markets, voltage control, and resilience-driven reconfiguration.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Diaspora: Resilience-Enabling Services for Real-Time Distributed Workflows

The need for real-time processing to enable automated decision making and experimental steering has driven a shift from high-performance computing workflows on a centralized system to a distributed approach that integrates remote data sources, edge devices, and diverse compute facilities. Under this paradigm, data can be processed close to the source where it is generated, thus reducing latency and bandwidth usage. System resilience is thus a key challenge, requiring distributed workflows to survive component failures and to meet stringent quality-of-service requirements, which results in the need to mitigate anomalies such as congestion and low availability of resources. To address these challenges, we propose Diaspora, a unified resilience framework that is inspired by event-driven communication patterns used in public clouds. Specifically, we propose an event fabric that extends across sites, facilities, and computations to provide timely, reliable, and accurate information about data, application, and resource status. On top of the event fabric, we build resilience-enabling services that combine QoS-aware data streaming, resilient data views, resilient compute and data resources, and anomaly detection and prediction, all of which collectively enhance workflow resilience for these scientific cases.

Rao, Nageswara↗
DOE OSTI2026

Agent-Based Simulation of Price-Demand Dynamics in Multi-Service Charging Station

As the adoption of electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles grows, understanding how dynamic pricing strategies influence charging and refueling behaviors becomes crucial for optimizing local energy markets. This paper proposes a simulation-based analysis of a hydrogen-electricity integrated charging station that serves both types of vehicles. A multi-agent simulation framework is developed to model the interactions between vehicles and the station, incorporating price- and delay-sensitive behaviors in decision-making. The station can dynamically adjust energy prices, while vehicles optimize their charging or refueling choices based on their utility values. A series of sensitivity analyses are conducted to evaluate how electricity pricing, infrastructure capacity, and waiting behavior impact station performance. Results highlight that moderate electricity prices maximize user participation without sacrificing profit, infrastructure should be right-sized to demand to avoid over- or underutilization, and delay-toleration also affects service outcomes, which may reach the maximum service coverage at the threshold of 45 minutes.

Wang, Xudong [University of Tennessee, Knoxville (↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Million Person Study Innovation: Evaluating Cognitive Impairment and other Morbidity Outcomes from Chronic Radiation Exposure Through Linkages with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Assessment and Claims Data

Here, the study of One Million U.S. Radiation Workers and Veterans, the Million Person Study (MPS), examines the health consequences, both cancer and non-cancer, of exposure to ionizing radiation received gradually over time. Recently the MPS has focused on mortality patterns from neurological and behavioral conditions, e.g., Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and motor neuron disease such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A fuller picture of radiation-related late effects comes from studying both mortality and the occurrence (incidence) of conditions not leading to death. Accordingly, the MPS is identifying neurocognitive diagnoses from fee-for-service insurance claims from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), among Medicare beneficiaries beginning in 1999 (the earliest date claims data are available). Linkages to date have identified ∼540,000 workers with available health information. Such linkages provide individual information on important co-factor and confounding variables such as smoking, alcohol consumption, blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and many other health and demographic characteristics. The total person-level set of time-dependent variables, outcomes, organ-specific dose measures, co-factors, and demographics will be massive and much too large to be evaluated with standard software. Thus, development of specialized open-source software designed for large datasets (Colossus) is nearly complete. The wealth of information available from CMS claims data, coupled with individual dose reconstructions, will thus greatly enhance the quality and precision of health evaluations for this new field of low-dose radiation and neurocognitive effects.

Dauer, Lawrence T.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Design and Materials of Reference Electrodes for Radioactive Waste Tank Service – A Literature Review

The Hanford site stores approximately 55 million gallons of radioactive and chemically hazardous wastes from the production of weapons materials. The wastes are stored in 177 underground, carbon steel storage tanks, 149 of these are single shell tanks (SSTs) and 28 of these are double shell tanks (DSTs). The DSTs provide critical retrieval and interim storage before the waste is vitrified in the Waste Treatment and Isolation Plant (WTP). The DSTs have been in service for 38 to 56 years and current plans indicate that WTP operations will be completed in 2075. Thus, the tanks will need to remain in service far beyond the initial 40-year life expectancy. For life extension of the tanks, effective corrosion control practices must remain in force. This effort includes direct measurements of the extent of corrosion (e.g., ultrasonic measurements and corrosion coupons) and electrochemical processes (e.g., linear polarization measurements).

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

EV Charging Infrastructure Energization: An Overview of Approaches for Simplifying Processes and Accelerating Timelines to Processing EV Charging Load Service Requests

The United States has seen significant growth in electric vehicle (EV) adoption, leading to increased demand for EV charging infrastructure and electricity. Growth in electricity demand from EV charging, coupled with growth in other sectors like data centers and electrification of other sectors, is impacting electricity infrastructure and load service request processes after two decades of relatively flat electricity demand. While most electric vehicle charging occurs at home, enroute and depot charging for medium and heavy-duty vehicles, both using high-powered EV charging, are critical to meet electric vehicle operational needs. Over the past decade, EV charging infrastructure site developers, site hosts, and electric distribution utilities have navigated the process to integrate chargers onto the electric grid. Site developers and site hosts have expressed distress that the integration process for high-powered EV charging projects does not meet the needs of the EV market for timeliness or cost. High-powered charging stations typically require a load service request or an agreement with the local utility to connect to the grid. The process of energizing a new high-powered charging site can be complex and time consuming, often taking up to 2 years. This timeline is the result of current utility energization processes having been designed for construction projects that take longer to build (i.e., buildings). The specific challenges stem from various factors, including compartmentalization in application processes, the integration of EV charging process approvals with other distributed energy resources (DERs), and the need to ensure grid reliability. The energization process needs to evolve to meet the growing demand for high-powered EV charging. This white paper compiles information gathered through various conversations with key stakeholders, including utilities, utility regulators, EV charging operators, site developers, and authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ) as well as through an extensive literature review. This document identifies the challenges and provides potential solutions to streamline the process of connecting EV charging infrastructure to the power grid in the United States, serving as a starting point for future conversations around these solutions.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2025

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF IN-SERVICE ULTRASONIC INSPECTION DATA OF WASTE TANKS AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER Site-25021

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS •“There is no evidence of pit depth growth over the last 15-years demonstrating the effectiveness of the corrosion control program. •“Incipient pits” are not growing and are likely pre-service pits. • No need to continue measuring these tiny pits. However, due to the random nature of pit initiation and the potentially accelerated growth of a pit, periodic monitoring for pit growth is prudent. 1. No reportable pits were identified. All identified pits are far less than the reportable depth of 25% of the nominal wall thickness. 2. No cracking was identified. 3. There is no evidence that active, systemic corrosion has occurred in Tank 29 during its 38-year service history as of 2009.

Harris, Stephen P. [Savannah River National Labora↗
DOE OSTI2026

Gaseous Hydrogen Embrittlement of L-PBF Ni-Based Superalloys for Service in Natural Gas Turbines

Efforts to improve efficiency of industrial gas turbine engines have focused on increasing operating temperatures by use of fuel-flexible gas blends. Ni-based superalloys are susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement (HE), leading to potential risk of premature component failure. Certain turbine components exposed to hydrogen-rich environments are manufactured from additive processes like laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF). The HE susceptibility was evaluated for three Ni-based superalloys: solid solution strengthened Alloy 625, γ’/γ’’-precipitation strengthened Alloy 718, and γ’-precipitation strengthened Haynes® 282®. L-PBF samples were pre-charged under medium and high pressure gaseous hydrogen before tensile testing at temperatures up to 260 °C using a fast strain rate. Selected samples were subjected to a service conditioning heat treatment prior to hydrogen charging to evaluate the change in susceptibility after prolonged service. The susceptibility to HE and HE mechanisms of these three alloys is compared.

additive manufacturing↗
DOE OSTI2026

Pitch Bearing Rating and Service Life Analysis

Pitch bearings are an essential component in wind turbines used to connect the blade root to the hub. They support the resulting simultaneous radial, axial, and overturning moment loads while allowing relative rotation of the blade to the hub. The most recent evidence indicates the replacement rate for pitch bearings on 3+ MW turbines can be several percent per year, reaching 10% by year 5. This is a far higher replacement rate than both older 1.5 to 2 MW turbines and 2 to 3 MW turbines, which only reach a 10% replacement rate by 14 to 24 years compared to the expected design life of at least 20 years. Typical pitch bearing replacements require the use of a large, expensive crane and removal of the blade(s) or rotor, with a significant amount of downtime. Given the most recent developments in pitch bearing reliability and the publication of the updated NREL and Fraunhofer IWES pitch bearing design guide, the purpose of this report is to update the performance and rating analysis of the example 1.9-meter diameter pitch bearing representative of that installed on a 1.5 MW wind turbine, compare the rating life to the observed service life of similar pitch bearings, and validate the service life modification factor with this large population of bearings. The report will also summarize the pitch bearing contact conditions, thereby serving as a guide for planned bench-level fretting wear tests at Argonne National Laboratory.

17 WIND ENERGY↗