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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 577 records · Page 32

Characterization of DER Momentary Cessation and Rate-of-Change-of-Frequency Response

Momentary cessation (MC) and response to rate-of-change-of-frequency (ROCOF) are inverter responses that can have serious impact on the stability of the grid during abnormal conditions. Though IEEE Std 1547-2018 provides fairly well defined expected responses from inverter-based DERs during abnormal grid conditions, a significant portion of currently installed DERs in the distribution network do not have a well defined response to abnormal grid conditions. Any analysis of the grid involving inverter MC and ROCOF response must consider the specific characteristics of these responses for the installed DERs to have better confidence in the analysis results, especially for grids with high levels of DERs. However, there is lack of information on MC and ROCOF response for the inverters already installed in the field. In this paper, we examine a large data set of installed inverters to map the dominant population of installed inverters. This information is then used to characterize the most dominant MC and ROCOF responses of installed inverters using experimental data.

DER↗

K in an Urban World: New Contexts for Hydraulic Conductivity

Abstract Hydraulic conductivity ( K ) is a key hydrologic parameter widely recognized to be difficult to estimate and constrain, with little consistent assessment in disturbed, urbanized soils. To estimate K , it is either measured, or simulated by pedotransfer functions, which relate K to easily measured soil properties. We measured K in urbanized soils by double‐ring infiltrometer ( K dring ), near‐saturated tension infiltrometry ( K minidisk ), and constant head borehole permeametry ( K borehole ), along with other soil properties across the major soil orders in 12 United States cities. We compared measured K with that predicted from the pedotransfer function, ROSETTA. We found that regardless of soil texture, K dring was consistently larger than K minidisk ; with the latter having slightly less sample variance. K borehole was dependent upon specific subsurface conditions, and contrary to common expectations, did not always decrease with depth. Based on either soil textural class, or percent textural separates (sand, silt clay), ROSETTA did not accurately predict measured K for surface nor subsurface soils. We go on to discuss how K varies in urban landscapes, the role of measurement methods and artifacts in the perception of this metric, and implications for hydrologic modeling. Overall, we aim to inspire consistency and coherence when addressing K ‐related challenges in sustainable urban water management.

Shuster, W. D.↗

A tandem radiative/evaporative cooler for weather-insensitive and high-performance daytime passive cooling

Radiative cooling and evaporative cooling with low carbon footprint are regarded as promising passive cooling strategies. However, the intrinsic limits of continuous water supply with complex systems for evaporative cooling, and restricted cooling power as well as the strict requirement of weather conditions for radiative cooling, hinder the scale of their practical applications. Here, we propose a tandem passive cooler composed of bilayer polymer that enables dual-functional passive cooling of radiation and evaporation. Specifically, the high reflectivity to sunlight and mid-infrared emissivity of this polymer film allows excellent radiative cooling performance, and its good atmospheric water harvesting property of underlayer ensures self-supply of water and high evaporative cooling power. Consequently, this tandem passive cooler overcomes the fundamental difficulties of radiative cooling and evaporative cooling and shows the applicability under various conditions of weather/climate. It is expected that this design can expand the practical application domain of passive cooling.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Effects of salinity and nutrients on metabolism and growth of Ulva lactuca: implications for bioremediation in San Diego Bay and Coastal Watershed

Our project sought to explore the ability of seaweed (Ulva lactuca) farms to clean polluted waterways of excess nitrogen and phosphorus through bioremediation. We addressed this goal in three primary ways. First, we worked with an undergraduate student from the Environmental Sciences Department at SDSU (Emily Bews) to examine how Ulva would perform under elevated nutrients and decreased salinity conditions, such as would be expected on the seaweed farms during periods of high rainwater runoff. This would show whether Ulva could indeed be grown on farms during these periods. We conducted laboratory experiments at SDSU’s CMIL (marine laboratory) using orthogonal combinations of two salinities and three nutrient loadings, and measured several aspects of Ulva physiology, namely growth, photosynthetic rates, chlorophyll fluorescence, and stable isotope analyses of Ulva’s tissues, and tissue uptake of phosphorus and nitrogen. Our results clearly show Ulva is an ideal candidate for using on farms during periods of heavy rains and takes up excess nutrients. The results of this were published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, with undergraduate Bews as lead author (Bews, E., L. Booher, T. Polizzi, C. Long, J-H Kim, MS Edwards. 2021. Effects of salinity and nutrients on metabolism and growth of Ulva lactuca: implications for bioremediation of coastal watersheds. Marine Pollution Bulletin 166: 121299.).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Report on DIC Cyclic Dryout Testing of ATF Cladding Materials

Boiling water reactors can experience anticipated operational occurrences, where an expected deviation from normal operating conditions is witnessed for short time scales. One example of such transients arises from cladding dryout, where stable boiling becomes unstable, resulting in cladding heat up before re-wetting occurs. To understand the impact of such transients on fuel cladding lifetime and performance, cyclic dryout conditions were imposed upon fresh fuel cladding in the absence of irradiation. Pressurized cladding tube segments were exposed to rapid temperature increases to intermediate temperatures below a cladding rupture threshold and deformation was monitored in situ via 3-D digital image correlation. The impact of cycle frequency on cladding deformation was assessed. A clear understanding of elastic and plastic strain responses were developed for Zr alloy deformation under temperature transients, and these results can be used to support material model development and validate fuel performance codes.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Post-DTL Beam Delivery

Ensuring that the beam delivered from the upgraded Front-End (FE) meets the Key Performance Parameters (KPPs) at each user facility is critical to the success of the LANSCE Accelerator Modernization Project (LAMP). For a high-intensity, multi-user facility like LANSCE, compliance with beam loss and radiation thresholds is as important as the charge delivered to each target. While early LAMPF/LANSCE operations relied on iterative tuning to minimize losses from beam halo and tail particles, the new FE may introduce different beam distributions and loss modes—making predictive modeling essential. To manage this, the F2E (Front-End to End) effort is developing detailed particle-tracking models that reflect realistic beamline conditions, including halo formation and expected diagnostic readings. These "snapshot" simulations aim to benchmark live machine performance at a given moment. This will help quantify how beam quality from the new FE will propagate downstream through the facility. Only by validating these models can we confidently assess and mitigate the potential impacts of the LAMP FE on beam delivery. Post-DTL, the beam splits to serve five major user facilities. Historically, low-energy beam transport has been modeled using TRACE, and higher-energy sections with TRANSPORT. These have now been unified into MAD-X format and validated with codes such as Elegant, pyOrbit, XSuite, Impact-Z, and HPSim. The primary focus now is on accurate modeling of full particle distributions (including beam halo) as they traverse the accelerator and beamlines to each experimental station. All models are at various stages of validation with empirical data.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Extreme Wind and Waves in U.S. East Coast Offshore Wind Energy Lease Areas

The Outer Continental Shelf along the U.S. east coast exhibits abundant wind resources and is now a geographic focus for offshore wind deployments. This analysis derives and presents expected extreme wind and wave conditions for the sixteen lease areas that are currently being developed. Using the homogeneous ERA5 reanalysis dataset it is shown that the fifty-year return period wind speed (U50) at 100 m a.s.l. in the lease areas ranges from 29.2 to 39.7 ms -1 . After applying corrections to account for spectral smoothing and averaging period, the associated pseudo-point U50 estimates are 34 to 46 ms -1 . The derived uncertainty in U50 estimates due to different distributional fitting is smaller than the uncertainty associated with under-sampling of the interannual variability in annual maximum wind speeds. It is shown that, in the northern lease areas, annual maximum wind speeds are generally associated with intense extratropical cyclones rather than cyclones of tropical origin. Extreme wave statistics are also presented and indicate that the 50-year return period maximum wave height may substantially exceed 15 m. From this analysis, there is evidence that annual maximum wind speeds and waves frequently derive from the same cyclone source and often occur within a 6 h time interval.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

Spatial-detection effects in laser radar.

Determination of a relation for the detector-aperture size for spatially coherent detection when dependent scattering is present. This relation is applied to several realistic laser-radar situations. It is concluded that no distortion of laser-radar signal signatures due to spatial-detection effects should be expected for present typical operating conditions (i.e., mean wavelength of the source = 0.6943 micrometer, and the diameter of the receiving aperture is about 10 cm). With development of longer-wavelength laser radars, in order to monitor signal returns at pollutant-gas absorption lines concomitantly larger receiver apertures must be used or else widely varying signal signatures will result even though similar conditions prevail.

Sievering, H.↗

Mass loss of a TEOS-coated, reinforced carbon-carbon composite subjected to a simulted shuttle entry environment

Coated, reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) is used for the leading edges of the space shuttle. The mass loss characteristics of RCC specimens coated with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) were determine for conditions which simulated the environment expected at the lug attachment area of the leading edge. Mission simulation included simultaneous application of load, temperature, and oxygen partial pressure. Maximum specimen temperature was 900 K (1160 F). Specimens were exposed for up to 80 simulated missions. Stress levels up to 6.8 MPa (980 psi) did not significantly affect the mass loss characteristics of the TEOS-coated RCC material. Mass loss was correlated with the bulk density of the specimens.

Stroud, C. W.↗

Crater densities on the satellites of Mars

The density of craters larger than 1 km in diameter has been determined for the entire surface of Phobos, and half that of Deimos. Densities of craters as small as 10 m on Phobos and 5 m on Deimos have been measured for small areas of the satellites. On both objects, crater densities are similar and yield plots which have slopes close to -1.9 on both incremental and cumulative log-log graphs. These densities are close to those expected to obtain under equilibrium conditions. They are also near the maximum predicted, based on the fragmentation lifetimes of the two objects: that is, the densities are near to the maximum possible before such objects are likely to suffer an impact severe enough to disrupt them. While the observed crater densities cannot be converted to absolute ages in any rigorous fashion, they can be understood if the flux at Mars has been similar to that at the Moon and if the surfaces that we see today generally date back to the end of the period of heavy bombardment some 4 billion years ago. It is extremely unlikely that the surfaces are younger than 1 billion years. There are no large areas on Phobos for which crater densities differ by more than a factor of 3 from the average.

Thomas, P.↗

Heavy nucleus collisions between 20 and 60 GeV/nucleon

Interest in studying relativistic nucleus-nucleus interations arises from the fact that they offer an opportunity to probe nuclear matter at high density and temperature. It is expected that under such extreme conditions a transition from hadronic matter into quark-gluon plasma occurs and that in the interactions of highly relativistic nuclei such conditions are created. Cosmic rays remain a unique source of high energy heavy nuclei. The Japanese-American Cooperative Emulsion Experiment (JACEE-3) was designed to study the collisions of heavy cosmic ray nuclei with different nuclear targets at energies beyond 20 GeV/nucleon. JACEE-3 experiment was carried out using a combined electronic counters and an emulsion chamber detector, which was exposed to the cosmic rays on a balloon at an altitude of 5 g/sq cm.

Burnett, T. H.↗

Modelling of wind tunnel wall effects on the radiation characteristics of acoustic sources

It is pointed out that the relatively high fuel economy available from propeller-driven aircraft has renewed interest in high speed, highly loaded multiple blade turboprop propulsion systems. Undesirable features related to community noise and the high intensity cabin noise have stimulated new research on the acoustic characteristics of turboprops. The present investigation has the objective to develop a mathematical model of the essential features of the radiation of acoustic disturbances from propellers in a duct and in free space in order to quantify the success with which duct testing can be expected to approximate free field conditions. In connection with the importance of source directionality, a detailed model is considered which consists of a finite element representation of the Gutin propeller theory valid in both the near and far field.

Eversman, W.↗

Development of design criteria and qualification tests for bypass diodes in photovoltaic applications

Design criteria have been developed for bypass diodes in p-n and Schottky barrier in photovoltaic applications. A test method for assessing conformity to the design criteria is described. Junction temperatures are defined in terms of expected worst-case field conditions, including ambient temperature and solar irradiance on the photovoltaic module. The rating criteria address the maximum allowable current and heat-sink characteristics of diodes mounted inside or outside the photovoltaic module. The method establishes worst-case module-to-diode thermal interfaces and may be adapted for laboratory or field-site experiments. A list of the design criteria is given.

Otth, D. H.↗

In situ cosmogenic H-3, C-14, and Be-10 for determining the net accumulation and ablation rates of ice sheets

The usefulness of the in situ cosmogenic H-3, C-14, and Be-10 produced by spallation of oxygen nuclei in ice, as tracers to determine net accumulation/ablation rates of ice sheets is explored. The application of the in situ H-3 and Be-10 is severely constrained because at deposition, ice contains appreciable amounts of these isotopes from the atmosphere. The case is much more favorable for C-14, which is not carried with wet precipitations; atmospheric C-14 gets mechanically trapped in the ice during deposition. It is pointed out that cosmogenic C-14 would probably exist as (C-14)O in ice. This seems to be supported by the published results of Fireman and Norris (1981). Considering their inherent amounts in the ice and the expected in situ production rates, conditions under which these isotopes can be used to study net accumulation and ablation rates are discussed. Available data on C-14 and Be-10 on polar ice from accumulation and ablation zones is also discussed. It is concluded that H-3 and C-14 should find wide applications in studying ice dynamics and Be-10 in very special circumstances.

Lal, D.↗

Superfluid Helium On-Orbit Transfer Flight Experiment - Performance estimates

Several components on the Superfluid Helium On-Orbit Transfer Flight Experiment are analyzed with respect to expected performance. The interaction of the components is then used to calculate an expected transfer efficiency. Steady state conditions are assumed. Transfer efficiencies based on the thermomechanical pump range from 96 to 99 percent plus. Transfer line parasitics lead to lower efficiencies at low flow rates.

Dipirro, M. J.↗

LifeSat - Radiation research

Spaceflight crews will be exposed to levels of radiation which exceed those experienced on the ground. In order to reduce the uncertainty in the evaluation of risks it is necessary to validate the responses of biological systems in space under conditions which simulate exposure levels expected during exploration class missions. The LifeSat system provides the experimental capabilities to satisfy these goals. Specifically, LifeSat is capable of long duration flights of up to 60 days, is able to fly directly into trapped radiation belts and in circular or eccentric polar orbits, has the ability to provide artificial gravity and imposes fewer restrictions than the STS on the use of hazardous materials such as chemical fixatives. These features along with reference missions and experiments are discussed with respect to radiation research goals.

Nelson, Gregory A.↗

Model atmospheres and radiation of magnetic neutron stars. I - The fully ionized case

Model neutron star atmospheres are calculated for typical cooling stars with a strong magnetic field and effective temperatures of 10 exp 5 to 10 exp 6 K. The effect of anisotropic photon diffusion in two normal modes are examined under the assumption that the opacity is due solely to the bremsstrahlung and Thomson scattering processes under conditions of LTE that are expected to prevail at the temperatures and densities obtained. The main aspects of anisotropic photon diffusion, and an original procedure for calculating model atmospheres and emitted spectra are discussed. Representative calculated spectra are given, and it is found that the hard spectral excess characterizing the nonmagnetic case, while still present, becomes less prominent in the presence of magnetic fields in the range of 10 exp 11 to 10 exp 13 G.

Shibanov, Iu. A.↗

Endocrine and metabolic changes in payload specialist (L-1)

The endocrine system plays an important role in the adaptation to unusual environments by secreting hormones to control metabolism. Since human beings have long evolved on the surface of the Earth under a gravity environment, the weightless environment must be quite unusual for them. The purpose of this experiment is to study the mechanisms of human adaptation to a weightless environment from endocrine and metabolic changes. Our study plan is focused on four major physiological changes which were reported during past space flights or which may be expected to occur under that condition: (1) hormone and metabolic changes associated with fluid shift; (2) bone demineralization and muscle atrophy; (3) altered circadian rhythm; and (4) stress reaction during space flight.

Matsui, Nobuo↗