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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 559 records · Page 31

Utilizing AI and Spatial Data to Identify & Rapidly Disseminate Energy Infrastructure Insights

GeoGov Summit Final Presentation entitled "Utilizing AI and Spatial Data to Identify & Rapidly Disseminate Energy Infrastructure Insights". Maintaining the integrity of energy infrastructure plays a critical role in ensuring energy security. Robust foundational AI models using data from federal, state, industry, and other sources can help address integrity risk management & mitigation issues as well as evaluate extended use strategies. Trusted foundational models can help with industry adoption and accelerate innovation by enhancing integrity predictions, reduce costs, and informing infrastructure build-out. Coordination, collaboration & data sharing to develop robust models to aid in: Optimizing operations; Minimizing costs; Ensuring energy security.

Advanced Infrastructure Integrity Model (AIIM)↗

Rapid and Efficient Deposition of Metal Oxide Coatings for Bearings and Gears in Harsh Environments

The objective of this project is to develop Tribocoating; an innovative, rapid, low-cost, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly coating technology designed to enhance the performance and durability of bearings and gears operating under harsh conditions. Tribocoating creates protective metal-oxide tribofilms through in-situ tribosintering of nanocrystals (NCs). Components are simply run in a nano-enabled Tribocoating fluid prior to deployment; no surface pretreatment, coating equipment, or external energy input is required.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DAISY: A Rapid Approach to Evaluating Marine Energy Converter Sound (Final Technical Report)

This project’s objective was to improve the quality of acoustic information about marine energy converters that could be collected from groups of drifting hydrophones, while reducing the costs of deployment and data analysis. This was achieved through technology development addressing four focus areas: (1) minimizing flow-noise and self-noise, (2) integrating metadata streams into a single data acquisition system, (3) developing post-processing routines to facilitate rapid data review, and (4) enabling objective identification of marine energy converter sound against a backdrop of ambient noise using time-delay-of-arrival localization.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Air-sea interactions yielding rapid Beaufort Sea ice losses during the 2021 ONR THINICE Pilot Field Campaign

Seasonal sea ice coverage has declined in the Pacific Arctic region. Losses of the ice cover have modified the region’s surface heat and momentum fluxes providing weather systems more direct interaction with the upper ocean. For example, recent cyclones that have passed over these waters have initiated multiple air-sea interactions and have impacted mixed layer depth, wave properties, and sea ice mass budgets due to diabatic and/or advective processes. As a United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) Departmental Research initiative, one key component of the ONR THINICE program was to advance knowledge on Arctic cyclone coupling with the ocean surface, its ice cover, and understand how such coupling can lead to rapid ice loss. Leading up to the primary field campaign in August 2022, a pilot field campaign from 19 August to 13 September 2021 focused in Utqiagvik, Alaska and Longyearbyen, Svalbard was carried out. This period was marked by frequent Arctic cyclones, periods of strong low-level winds, and stints of extreme short-term Beaufort Sea ice area losses. Cyclones traversed these waters much more frequently than usual during this 26-day period, but did not exhibit extreme central pressures indicative of high intensity and impactful storms. Using ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis fields, CERES and AIRS surface flux retrievals, and in situ sensor data collected from ice-tethered profilers and ice mass balance buoys, we highlight air-sea-ice interactions in the Beaufort Sea during and between these cyclones leading up to extreme ice loss events. Our case study analysis is aimed at understanding how Arctic cyclones, including air-sea interactions prompted by their passage over the marginal ice zone, influence the end-of-summer ice conditions and ice loss events. This study provides an example where frequent, yet weak storms drive rather large marginal sea-scale losses albeit with heterogenous sea ice effects at local scales.

Ballinger, Thomas [International Arctic Research C↗

Uncertainty-Driven Rapid Thermodynamic Assessment of Nb-Ta-Zr System and Effects of C impurities (L25GF9298S): Annual Progress Report

An integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) method is in development for rapid thermodynamic experimental investigation and high-fidelity computational modeling of refractory multi-principal element alloys (RMPEAs). These ultra-high-temperature (UHT) alloys are of interest for structural applications in extreme environments, but deficiency of reliable data, especially melting temperatures, impedes the prediction of alloys with favorable properties. The method leverages UHT capabilities and computational expertise of LLNL’s Materials Science Division and the McCormack Lab’s UHT conical nozzle levitation (CNL) system to iteratively map the Nb-Ta-Zr phase space, with focus on the liquidus surface, through targeted experiments selected by quantifying uncertainty in the thermodynamic model fitting parameters. This method will reduce the time to map uncharted RMPEA phase space and thereby accelerate discovery and development of advanced materials for applications in extreme environments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Single-column cryogenic air separation: enabling efficient oxygen production with rapid startup and low capital costs—application to low-carbon fossil-fuel plants

The rapid integration of intermittent renewable sources into the electricity grid is driving the need for more flexible, low-carbon fossil-fuel plants with lower capital costs. This then drives the need to improve the cryogenic air separation unit (ASU). To address this changing landscape, we explore a Praxair single-column ASU (PSC-ASU) design with the goal of reducing costs and improving flexibility, compared to a conventional double-column ASU. The PSC-ASU incorporates partial air condensation and air pre-separation in the bottom reboiler with a phase separator as well as N2-enriched vapor condensation in the upper reboiler to decrease energy consumption, as compared to Linde's single-column ASU. All three of the above-mentioned ASU designs are simulated in Aspen Plus and analyzed. An economic analysis is applied to evaluate the relative cost savings of the PSC-ASU compared to the double-column ASU. Results suggest that the specific energy consumption of the PSC-ASU is significantly lower than that of Linde's single-column ASU due to a drastically improved oxygen recovery rate. Although this improved oxygen recovery rate is still lower than that of the double-column ASU, the required pressure ratio of the main air compressor is 21% lower than that of the double-column ASU. As a result, the specific energy consumption of the PSC-ASU is only 1.9% greater than that of the double-column ASU for producing 95.1 mol% O2. However, the PSC-ASU reduces the hourly capital cost by 19% due to the elimination of a high-pressure column. This would effectively decrease the total hourly cost of the ASU, and thus the total hourly cost of low-carbon, fossil-fuel power plants that require oxygen.

Cheng, Mao↗

Effect of magnetic hysteresis on the dipole field in the EIC Rapid Cycling Synchrotron

The soft iron material, of which the yoke of a normal conducting magnet is made of, is subject to magnetic hysteresis under a time varying excitation. The hysteresis loop is influenced by the flow of induced eddy currents, which further affects the magnet field. The Rapid Cycling Synchrotron (RCS) at the planned Electron Ion Collider (EIC) facility will accelerate polarized electrons up to 18 GeV at 1 Hz. The impact of hysteresis in the magnet yoke on the magnet field during the ramp, including potential effects on cycle-to-cycle reproducibility, need to be evaluated. This will be the subject of discussion of this tech note in the context of the RCS dipoles.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Compositional Homogeneity in Rapidly Solidified 316L stainless steel produced by laser powder-bed fusion processing

The segregation of alloying elements in rapidly solidified 316L stainless steel produced using additive manufacturing technologies is widely reported throughout literature. The microstructure of thin walls manufactured from 316L stainless steel using laser powder bed fusion are examined for the presence of alloy segregation, i.e. the rejection of solutes to grain boundaries. Metallographic methods including mechanical polishing and chemical etching are used to prepare samples for microanalysis m

Jankowski, Alan F. [Sandia National Laboratories (↗

New PHENIX Results on Mid-Rapidity Bottom and Charm Production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$= 200 GeV

Energy loss of quarks in the hot and dense medium has been studied for decades. Both the experimental and theoretical efforts have hinted that the energy loss is quark mass dependent. Although experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have found that the electrons from heavy quarks are less or similarly suppressed compared to the light hadrons, the mass ordering of the suppression between charm and bottom quarks is not yet clear due to large experimental uncertainties. We have fully exploited the events recorded at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC to study the invariant yield of electrons from open heavy flavors. Latest results on the nuclear modification factors for charm and bottom separated heavy flavor electrons are reviewed in this proceeding. The implications of these results on the understanding of the quark mass and medium size dependence of the energy loss are also discussed.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Rapid growth of anthropogenic organic nanoparticles greatly alters cloud lifecycle in the Amazon rainforest

Atmospheric nanoparticles can significantly influence Earth’s climate if they grow to sizes large enough to nucleate cloud droplets. While the contribution of extremely low volatility vapors to nanoparticle growth has been discussed extensively, the role of semivolatile organics has been largely overlooked. Here we examine the growth and impacts of air pollution nanoparticles from an isolated metropolis amidst the Amazon rainforest. Although extremely low volatility organics are necessary for the initial growth of nanoparticles, model analysis suggests that dynamic gas-particle partitioning of semivolatile oxidation products of anthropogenic and natural hydrocarbons is predominantly responsible for the observed rapid growth to 50 nm. Furthermore, cloud-resolving simulations demonstrate that the grown particles appreciably modify shallow cloud droplet size distribution, suppress precipitation, and enhance the transition to deep clouds. With condensable semivolatile organics typically formed in greater proportion, similar nanoparticle growth and impacts on clouds could likely occur in heavily urbanized forested regions globally.

Zaveri, Rahul A↗

DATASET: Rapid growth of anthropogenic organic nanoparticles greatly alters cloud lifecycle in the Amazon rainforest

Atmospheric nanoparticles can significantly influence Earth’s climate if they grow to sizes large enough to nucleate cloud droplets. While the contribution of extremely low volatility vapors to nanoparticle growth has been discussed extensively, the role of semivolatile organics has been largely overlooked. Here we examine the growth and impacts of air pollution nanoparticles from an isolated metropolis amidst the Amazon rainforest. Although extremely low volatility organics are necessary for the initial growth of nanoparticles, model analysis suggests that dynamic gas-particle partitioning of semivolatile oxidation products of anthropogenic and natural hydrocarbons is predominantly responsible for the observed rapid growth to 50 nm. Furthermore, cloud-resolving simulations demonstrate that the grown particles appreciably modify shallow cloud droplet size distribution, suppress precipitation, and enhance the transition to deep clouds. With condensable semivolatile organics typically formed in greater proportion, similar nanoparticle growth and impacts on clouds could likely occur in heavily urbanized forested regions globally.

Zaveri, Rahul A↗

Ecogenomics reveals community interactions in a long-term methanogenic bioreactor and a rapid switch to sulfate-reducing conditions

This Narrative is part of a collection used in a single publication. The paper took a metagnomic and metatranscriptomic approach to examine a bioreactor's response to the presence of sulfate, which reduces the production of methane, a valuable product, while producing hydrogen sulfide, a corrosive contaminant. This Narrative collection has been created to highlight the types of analyses done for this publication. They are as follows (in order): SJ1 Metagenomes: a metagenomic analysis of sample SJ1, the initial bioreactor. SJ1 Metatranscriptomes: QC-filtered raw RNA reads were aligned to individual MAGs and assembled into transcripts. Metagenome-discovered food webs in a long-term methanogenic bioreactor and rapid switch to sulfate reducing conditions (this Narrative): the public Narrative referenced in the paper, which contains several key MAGs.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Alkali Metal Cation Effects for Rapid C–H Activation by Iron(0) Complexes

C–H oxidative addition is a key reaction in organometallic catalysis, motivating efforts to accelerate it. Here, we examine an anionic beta-diketiminate-supported iron(0) species that was previously observed to activate C-H bonds with Na(15-crown-5), but not with K(18-crown-6) or Rb(18-crown-6). Though crown ethers are usually seen as beneficial due to their ability to solubilize alkali metal cations, we observe that removing the crown ether leads to rapid and complete oxidative addition of the C-H bond even by K, Rb, and Cs. The products are iron(II) phenyl hydride complexes that exist as dimers bridged by the alkali metals. Neutron crystallography of the cesium complex verifies the presence and location of the bridging hydrides. It is likely that the crown-free alkali metal cations have greater Lewis acidity that enables them to facilitate oxidative addition of the C-H bond. This system gives insight on how to control the rate and favorability of C-H activation through manipulation of the countercation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Developing rapid electrochemical relithiation protocols for scalable relithiation of lithium-ion battery cathode materials

The recent and ongoing boom in electric vehicle sales has caused the circularity of the supply chain for electric vehicle battery materials to come under a great deal of scrutiny. Innovative recycling processes, or direct recycling, that offer the possibility of reducing the cost of recycling are one possible solution to regaining resources from end-of-life (EoL) electric vehicle batteries. Electrochemically shuttling lithium back into the cathode, or electrochemical relithiation, is a possible technique for restoring lithium content to NMC materials (EoL) in a direct recycling process. This study provides essential understanding towards developing an electrochemical relithiation protocol that will restore lithium loss in intercalation cathode materials that reach EoL by loss of lithium inventory (LLI) as opposed to other degradation mechanisms like loss of active material (LAM), cation mixing or phase transition. Electrochemically aged NMC cathode materials have been prepared and characterized to establish the extent of EoL material structural degradation and lithium loss. A model-informed experimental process is used to identify the optimal electrochemical relithiation protocol to minimize the time taken to relithiate EoL materials and maximize the amount of lithium restored. Protocols were evaluated based on their ability to enable rapid lithium intercalation, maintain structural uniformity in the EoL material and fully restore lithium content. An optimal protocol was identified at elevated temperatures utilizing a novel scanning voltage step.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Simulation of a rapid compression machine for evaluation of ignition chemistry and soot formation using gasoline/ethanol blends

Due to the projected decline of demand for gasoline in light duty engines and the advent of ethanol as a green fuel, the use of gasoline/ethanol blend fuels in heavy duty applications are being investigated as they are projected to have lower cost and lower lifecycle green house gas (GHG) emissions. In heavy duty engines, the primary mode of combustion is mixing controlled combustion where wide range of mixture conditions (equivalence ratio) exist. Soot emissions of these fuels in richer conditions are not well understood. The goal of this research is to evaluate some commercially available soot modeling codes for the particulate matter emissions from gasoline/ethanol fuel blends, especially at fuel rich conditions. A Rapid Compression Machine (RCM) is modeled in a three-dimensional numerical simulation using CONVERGE computational software using a reduced chemical kinetic mechanism with SAGE chemistry solver and a RANS k-ϵturbulence model with a sector model including the creviced piston. The creviced piston is used in the experimental setup to reduce boundary layer effects and to maintain a homogeneous core in the reaction cylinder. Computational fluid dynamics simulations are conducted for different gasoline-ethanol fuel blends from E10 (10% ethanol v/v) to E100. The fuel blend is modeled as a surrogate mixture of toluene, iso-octane, n-heptane for gasoline content, and ethanol. The computational results were validated against experimental results using pressure measurements and laser extinction diagnostics. Different soot models are investigated to evaluate their capability of predicting the sooting tendencies of fuel blends, especially in richer conditions experienced during mixing-controlled combustion. The experimental combustion characteristics such as the ignition delay of different blends of fuel are reasonably well predicted. The Particulate Size Mimic (PSM) model accurately predicts the soot generation characteristics of the different fuels, but the Hiroyasu-NSC model falls short in this regard. For accurate prediction of soot with the PSM model, the thermodynamic conditions during combustion must be accurately modeled. While the current computational modeling tools can produce accurate results for the prediction of particulate matter emissions, there is much work to be done in improving our understanding of the underlying fundamental processes.

Energy & Fuels↗

A triton X-100 assisted PMAxx-qPCR assay for rapid assessment of infectious African swine fever virus

Introduction African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly infectious disease of pigs, caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV). The lack of vaccines and drugs makes strict disinfection practices to be one of the main measurements to curb the transmission of ASF. Therefore, it is important to assess if all viruses are inactivated after disinfection or after long time exposure in their natural conditions. Currently, the infectivity of ASFV is determined by virus isolation and culture in a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory. However, BSL-3 laboratories are not readily available, need skilled expertise and may be time consuming. Methods In this study, a Triton X-100 assisted PMAxx-qPCR method was developed for rapid assessment of infectious ASFV in samples. PMAxx, an improved version of propidium monoazide (PMA), can covalently cross-link with naked ASFV-DNA or DNA inside inactivated ASFV virions under assistance of 0.1% (v/v) TritonX-100, but not with ASFV-DNA inside live virions. Formation of PMAxx-DNA conjugates prevents PCR amplification, leaving only infectious virions to be detected. Under optimum conditions, the limit of detection of the PMAxx-qPCR assay was 2.32log 10 HAD 50 /mL of infectious ASFV. Testing different samples showed that the PMAxx-qPCR assay was effective to evaluate intact ASFV virions after treatment by heat or chemical disinfectants and in simulated samples such as swine tissue homogenate, swine saliva swabs, and environmental swabs. However, whole-blood and saliva need to be diluted before testing because they may inhibit the PCR reaction or the cross-linking of PMAxx with DNA. Conclusion The Triton X-100 assisted PMAxx-qPCR assay took less than 3 h from sample to result, offering an easier and faster way for assessing infectious ASFV in samples from places like pig farms and pork markets.

Liu, Huan↗

Rapid identification of enteric bacteria from whole genome sequences using average nucleotide identity metrics

Identification of enteric bacteria species by whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis requires a rapid and an easily standardized approach. We leveraged the principles of average nucleotide identity using MUMmer (ANIm) software, which calculates the percent bases aligned between two bacterial genomes and their corresponding ANI values, to set threshold values for determining species consistent with the conventional identification methods of known species. The performance of species identification was evaluated using two datasets: the Reference Genome Dataset v2 (RGDv2), consisting of 43 enteric genome assemblies representing 32 species, and the Test Genome Dataset (TGDv1), comprising 454 genome assemblies which is designed to represent all species needed to query for identification, as well as rare and closely related species. The RGDv2 contains six Campylobacter spp., three Escherichia/Shigella spp., one Grimontia hollisae, six Listeria spp., one Photobacterium damselae, two Salmonella spp., and thirteen Vibrio spp., while the TGDv1 contains 454 enteric bacterial genomes representing 42 different species. The analysis showed that, when a standard minimum of 70% genome bases alignment existed, the ANI threshold values determined for these species were ≥95 for Escherichia/Shigella and Vibrio species, ≥93% for Salmonella species, and ≥92% for Campylobacter and Listeria species. Using these metrics, the RGDv2 accurately classified all validation strains in TGDv1 at the species level, which is consistent with the classification based on previous gold standard methods.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗