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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 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Status of the CERBERUS Evaluation for the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Handbook

Modeling & Simulation (M&S) tools are used to analyze advanced reactor designs and the safety of current nuclear operations. As computers continue to improve, we are able to enhance resolution in our calculations. Therefore, the limitations of simulation capability are in the quality of data that is being used, including our ability to quantify the uncertainty and sensitivity of that data. In order to model systems of interest with increasing accuracy, the industry must improve key nuclear data measurements. The International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) compiles and evaluates experiment data in a handbook that can be used by criticality safety engineers and others to validate computer codes and cross section libraries at nuclear facilities. Both critical and subcritical experiments are included in the handbook. These experiments, along with differential measurements, can help improve the quality of nuclear data. Concerns regarding the accuracy of Cu nuclear data have been published. The large values and trend of C-E for the Zeus intermediate energy benchmark, being one of the primary examples. Furthermore, very few experiments have been designed to be sensitive to Cu (as shown in Figure 1), so an integral, critical experiment is needed to help resolve these differences.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Chromium-doped uranium dioxide fuels: A review

UO 2 doped with parts per million CR 2 O 3 powder is considered a potential near term accident tolerant fuel candidate. Here, the results of decades of industry and academic research into Cr-doped UO 2 are analyzed and their shortcomings are critiqued. Focusing on the incorporation mechanisms of Cr into the fuel matrix, we explore a mechanistic understanding of the characteristic properties of Cr-doped UO 2 , notably, enhanced fission gas retention attributed to enlarged grain sizes following sintering, along with marginal improvements in the thermophysical properties. The findings of recent X-ray Adsorption Near Edge Spectroscopy studies were compared and put into conversation with historic data regarding the incorporation of Cr in UO 2 . On the basis of defect mechanisms, the case is made for the substitutional incorporation of Cr governing the lattice solubility but not the enhanced U diffusivity. Instead, Cr/CR 2 O 3 redox chemistry in a well-defined oxygen potential explains the differences in the U diffusivity and O/M ratio. The primary mechanism of doping enhanced grain growth is found to be liquid assisted sintering due to a CRO (1) eutectic phase at the grain boundaries. The role of inhomogeneities in Cr concentration in UO 2 at various length scales across the materials microstructure is highlighted and connected to promising experimental and modeling work to fill in the gaps in the current understanding of Cr-doped UO 2 . The review considers both the open scientific questions and engineering applications to illustrate the deep connections between the practice and theory in the design of accident tolerant nuclear fuels. In conclusion, the review ends with an outline of future works that combine meticulous irradiation studies and high resolution experiments with next generation modeling and simulations techniques empowered by machine learning advances to accelerate the fabrication and adoption of Cr-doped UO 2 light water reactors.

Cleveland, Mack Wesley [Massachusetts Inst. of Tec↗
DOE OSTI2023

Three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic modeling of auto-magnetizing liner implosions on the Z accelerator

Auto-magnetizing (AutoMag) liners are cylindrical tubes that employ helical current flow to produce strong internal axial magnetic fields prior to radial implosion on ~100 ns timescales. AutoMag liners have demonstrated strong uncompressed axial magnetic field production (>100 T) and remarkable implosion uniformity during experiments on the 20 MA Z accelerator. However, both axial field production and implosion morphology require further optimization to support the use of AutoMag targets in magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) experiments. Data from experiments studying the initiation and evolution of dielectric flashover in AutoMag targets on the Mykonos accelerator have enabled the advancement of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling protocols used to simulate AutoMag liner implosions. Implementing these protocols using ALEGRA has improved the comparison of simulations to radiographic data. Specifically, both the liner in-flight aspect ratio and the observed width of the encapsulant-filled helical gaps during implosion in ALEGRA simulations agree more closely with radiography data compared to previous GORGON simulations. Although simulations fail to precisely reproduce the measured internal axial magnetic field production, improved agreement with radiography data inspired the evaluation of potential design improvements with newly developed modeling protocols. Three-dimensional MHD simulation studies focused on improving AutoMag target designs, specifically seeking to optimize the axial magnetic field production and enhance the cylindrical implosion uniformity for MagLIF. Importantly, by eliminating the driver current prepulse and reducing the initial inter-helix gap widths in AutoMag liners, simulations indicate that the optimal 30–50 T range of precompressed axial magnetic field for MagLIF on Z can be accomplished concurrently with improved cylindrical implosion uniformity.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

SAM Code Validation on Frictional Pressure Drop through Pebble Beds

The System Analysis Module (SAM) is currently under development at Argonne National Laboratory as a modern system-level modeling and simulation tool for safety analyses of advanced non-light water reactors. This report presents a recent effort to validate the capability of SAM to predict the frictional pressure drop through pebble beds. Selected experimental data were used for code validation, including data from test facilities at Texas A&M University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and North-West University of South Africa. SAM implements three empirical correlations to predict frictional pressure drop: the classical Ergun correlation; the KTA correlation, which is widely used in high-temperature gas-cooled reactor applications; and the Eisfeld and Schnitzlein correlation, which explicitly considers wall effect. Code validation was performed using all three correlations. For all selected experimental data, the KTA correlation shows the best performance and agrees very well with experimental measurement; the Eisfeld and Schnitzlein correlation, explicitly considering wall effects, shows acceptable accuracy, while there is no evidence that it is better than the KTA correlation; the Ergun correlation, however, over-predicts frictional pressure drop for most selected data points.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1987

Building intelligent systems - Artificial intelligence research at NASA Ames Research Center

The basic components that make up the goal of building autonomous intelligent systems are discussed, and ongoing work at the NASA Ames Research Center is described. It is noted that a clear progression of systems can be seen through research settings (both within and external to NASA) to Space Station testbeds to systems which actually fly on the Space Station. The starting point for the discussion is a 'truly' autonomous Space Station intelligent system, responsible for a major portion of Space Station control. Attention is given to research in fiscal 1987, including reasoning under uncertainty, machine learning, causal modeling and simulation, knowledge from design through operations, advanced planning work, validation methodologies, and hierarchical control of and distributed cooperation among multiple knowledge-based systems.

Friedland, Peter↗
NASA NTRS1987

Building intelligent systems: Artificial intelligence research at NASA Ames Research Center

The basic components that make up the goal of building autonomous intelligent systems are discussed, and ongoing work at the NASA Ames Research Center is described. It is noted that a clear progression of systems can be seen through research settings (both within and external to NASA) to Space Station testbeds to systems which actually fly on the Space Station. The starting point for the discussion is a truly autonomous Space Station intelligent system, responsible for a major portion of Space Station control. Attention is given to research in fiscal 1987, including reasoning under uncertainty, machine learning, causal modeling and simulation, knowledge from design through operations, advanced planning work, validation methodologies, and hierarchical control of and distributed cooperation among multiple knowledge-based systems.

Friedland, P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Integrated analysis and applications

An overview is presented of current research activities which, in a broad context, are focused on the development and verification of integrated structural analysis and optimal design capabilities for advanced aerospace propulsion and power systems. The overview encompasses a variety of subject areas including: (1) composite materials; (2) advanced structural analysis; (3) constitutive modeling; (4) computational simulation; (5) probabilistic analysis; and (6) multidisciplinary optimization. Typical results are presented which illustrate the benefit and utility of the emerging technologies as applied to propulsion and power system structures.

Hopkins, Dale A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Space - A unique environment for process modeling R&D

Process modeling, the application of advanced computational techniques to simulate real processes as they occur in regular use, e.g., welding, casting and semiconductor crystal growth, is discussed. Using the low-gravity environment of space will accelerate the technical validation of the procedures and enable extremely accurate determinations of the many necessary thermophysical properties. Attention is given to NASA's centers for the commercial development of space; joint ventures of universities, industries, and goverment agencies to study the unique attributes of space that offer potential for applied R&D and eventual commercial exploitation.

Overfelt, Tony↗
NASA NTRS2002

Fractional-order Viscoelasticity (FOV): Constitutive Development Using the Fractional Calculus: First Annual Report

This is the first annual report to the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command for the three year project "Advanced Soft Tissue Modeling for Telemedicine and Surgical Simulation" supported by grant No. DAMD17-01-1-0673 to The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, to which the NASA Glenn Research Center is a subcontractor through Space Act Agreement SAA 3-445. The objective of this report is to extend popular one-dimensional (1D) fractional-order viscoelastic (FOV) materials models into their three-dimensional (3D) equivalents for finitely deforming continua, and to provide numerical algorithms for their solution.

Freed, Alan↗
NASA NTRS2006

Impact of the Columbia Supercomputer on NASA Space and Exploration Mission

NASA's 10,240-processor Columbia supercomputer gained worldwide recognition in 2004 for increasing the space agency's computing capability ten-fold, and enabling U.S. scientists and engineers to perform significant, breakthrough simulations. Columbia has amply demonstrated its capability to accelerate NASA's key missions, including space operations, exploration systems, science, and aeronautics. Columbia is part of an integrated high-end computing (HEC) environment comprised of massive storage and archive systems, high-speed networking, high-fidelity modeling and simulation tools, application performance optimization, and advanced data analysis and visualization. In this paper, we illustrate the impact Columbia is having on NASA's numerous space and exploration applications, such as the development of the Crew Exploration and Launch Vehicles (CEV/CLV), effects of long-duration human presence in space, and damage assessment and repair recommendations for remaining shuttle flights. We conclude by discussing HEC challenges that must be overcome to solve space-related science problems in the future.

Biswas, Rupak↗
NASA NTRS2010

Mercury's Dynamic Magnetic Tail

The Mariner 10 and MESSENGER flybys of Mercury have revealed a magnetosphere that is likely the most responsive to upstream interplanetary conditions of any in the solar system. The source of the great dynamic variability observed during these brief passages is due to Mercury's proximity to the Sun and the inverse proportionality between reconnection rate and solar wind Alfven Mach number. However, this planet's lack of an ionosphere and its small physical dimensions also contribute to Mercury's very brief Dungey cycle, approx. 2 min, which governs the time scale for internal plasma circulation. Current observations and understanding of the structure and dynamics of Mercury's magnetotail are summarized and discussed. Special emphasis will be placed upon such questions as: 1) How much access does the solar wind have to this small magnetosphere as a function of upstream conditions? 2) What roles do heavy planetary ions play? 3) Do Earth-like substorms take place at Mercury? 4) How does Mercury's tail respond to extreme solar wind events such coronal mass ejections? Prospects for progress due to advances in the global magnetohydrodynamic and hybrid simulation modeling and the measurements to be taken by MESSENGER after it enters Mercury orbit on March 18, 2011 will be discussed.

Slavin, James A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Autonomous Aerobraking Development Software: Phase 2 Summary

NASA has used aerobraking at Mars and Venus to reduce the fuel required to deliver a spacecraft into a desired orbit compared to an all-propulsive solution. Although aerobraking reduces the propellant, it does so at the expense of mission duration, large staff, and DSN coverage. These factors make aerobraking a significant cost element in the mission design. By moving on-board the current ground-based tasks of ephemeris determination, atmospheric density estimation, and maneuver sizing and execution, a flight project would realize significant cost savings. The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) sponsored Phase 1 and 2 of the Autonomous Aerobraking Development Software (AADS) study, which demonstrated the initial feasibility of moving these current ground-based functions to the spacecraft. This paper highlights key state-of-the-art advancements made in the Phase 2 effort to verify that the AADS algorithms are accurate, robust and ready to be considered for application on future missions that utilize aerobraking. The advancements discussed herein include both model updates and simulation and benchmark testing. Rigorous testing using observed flight atmospheres, operational environments and statistical analysis characterized the AADS operability in a perturbed environment.

Cianciolo, Alicia D.↗
DOE OSTI2024

NEA HTTR LOFC Project Test#3 Benchmark Results

In the second half of FY23, the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) Loss Of Forced Cooling (LOFC)#3 data for the 9 MW test case with Vessel Cooling System (VCS) off were made available through the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) LOFC project framework; the neutronic model developed for the initial test (LOFC#1) achieved a satisfactory level of maturity, demonstrating its accuracy in predicting power evolution and core re-criticality, but LOFC#3 should be used primarily to investigate thermal hydraulic phenomena, as the reactor was shut down prematurely due to overheating in the upper reactor components, which prevented re-criticality; this report focuses on advancing the HTTR thermal hydraulic model to accurately simulate the LOFC#3 scenario, including simulating the LOFC#3 benchmark and generating the corresponding benchmark specifications, aiming to ensure consistency across participant models and provide essential data for future participants, including private industry stakeholders seeking to validate their computational tools.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simulating Hurricane Katrina in the Simple Cloud‐Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model v1

Climate models are important tools for advancing understanding and prediction of tropical cyclones (TCs). Traditional global climate models, however, do not have the ability to properly simulate TC intensity due to their coarse horizontal resolution. Regional models can be run at convection‐permitting resolutions, but these models are often strongly influenced by the data used in the lateral boundary forcing, and domain choice can have a large impact on the simulation. Cloud‐resolving global climate models have demonstrated great potential for realism in TC simulations, and in this study we focus specifically on the Simple Cloud‐Resolving Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Atmosphere Model (SCREAM) v1 configuration. We evaluate SCREAMv1 against the observational record and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model run at a convection‐permitting resolution with Hurricane Katrina as our case study. We found that both models produced realistic simulations of Hurricane Katrina. SCREAMv1 demonstrated skill in simulating TC track, size, and intensity, while the model produced an excessive amount of precipitation. In comparison, WRF more accurately simulated TC precipitation and intensity, although the TC wind extent was smaller than the observations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Enhanced physics-constrained deep neural networks for modeling vanadium redox flow battery

Numerical simulation has become indispensable in advancing cost-effective process optimization and control of flow batteries. We propose an enhanced version of the physics-constrained deep neural network (PCDNN) approach to provide high-accuracy voltage predictions in the vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). The purpose of the PCDNN approach is to enforce the physics-based zero-dimensional (0D) VRFB model in a neural network to assure model generalization for various battery operation conditions. However, limited by the simplifications of the 0D model, the PCDNN cannot capture sharp voltage changes in the extreme SOC regions. To improve the accuracy of voltage prediction at extreme ranges, we introduce a second (enhanced) DNN to mitigate the prediction errors carried from the 0D model itself and call the resulting approach enhanced PCDNN (ePCDNN). By comparing with experimental data, we demonstrate that the ePCDNN approach can accurately capture the voltage response throughout the charge–discharge cycle, including the tail region of the voltage discharge curve. The loss function for training the ePCDNN is designed to be flexible by adjusting the weights of the physics-constrained DNN and the enhanced DNN. In conclusion, this allows the ePCDNN framework to be transferable to battery systems with variable physical model fidelity.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Annual Scientific Focus Area Report for the Energy Exascale Earth System Model Project: Phase II

The project's long-term goal is to assert and maintain an international scientific leadership position in the development of Earth system models that address the grand challenge of actionable predictions of Earth system variability and change, with an emphasis on the most critical scientific questions facing the nation and DOE. The grand challenge will be addressed by overcoming three major limitations: Pushing the high-resolution frontier of Earth system modeling through a combination of strategic model development and computational advances targeting exascale computers and beyond. Bridging the gap in scales and processes by developing a new class of models that couple the natural, managed, and man-made systems across scales to address energy sector vulnerability to variability and change. The project will achieve its goal through four intersecting project elements: A series of prediction and simulation experiments addressing scientific questions and mission needs; A well-documented and tested, continuously advancing, evolving, and improving system of model codes that comprise the E3SM Earth system model; The ability to use effectively leading (and “bleeding”) edge computational facilities soon after their deployment at DOE national laboratories; and An infrastructure to support code development, hypothesis testing, simulation execution, and analysis of results. To achieve the Grand Challenge of actionable Earth system predictions to address the most critical scientific questions facing our nation and DOE, the E3SM project defined its strategy in a fifteen-year roadmap with four intersecting project elements: A series of prediction and simulation experiments addressing scientific questions and mission needs; A well-documented and tested, continuously advancing, evolving, and improving system of model codes that comprise the E3SM Earth system model ; The ability to use effectively leading (and “bleeding”) edge computational facilities soon after their deployment at DOE national laboratories; and An infrastructure to support code development, hypothesis testing, simulation execution, and analysis of results. Figure 1 depicts the E3SM Project Roadmap, showing the relationships among the first three major project elements: the simulations, the modeling system to perform those simulations, and the machines on which they will be executed. Unlike the other three elements that have distinct but overlapping phases, the fourth element, the infrastructure, will evolve continuously based on the requirements imposed by project needs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Recent highlights from GENIE v3

Abstract The release of GENIE v3.0.0 was a major milestone in the long history of the GENIE project, delivering several alternative comprehensive neutrino interaction models, improved charged-lepton scattering simulations, a range of beyond the Standard Model simulation capabilities, improved experimental interfaces, expanded core framework capabilities, and advanced new frameworks for the global analysis of neutrino scattering data and tuning of neutrino interaction models. Steady progress continued following the release of GENIE v3.0.0. New tools and a large number of new physics models, comprehensive model configurations, and tunes have been made publicly available and planned for release in v3.2.0. This article highlights some of the most recent technical and physics developments in the GENIE v3 series.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Simulating Real Atmospheric Boundary Layers at Gray-Zone Resolutions: How Do Currently Available Turbulence Parameterizations Perform?

Recent computational and modeling advances have led a diverse modeling community to experiment with atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) simulations at subkilometer horizontal scales. Accurately parameterizing turbulence at these scales is a complex problem. The modeling solutions proposed to date are still in the development phase and remain largely unvalidated. This work assesses the performance of methods currently available in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to represent ABL turbulence at a gray-zone grid spacing of 333 m. We consider three one-dimensional boundary layer parameterizations (MYNN, YSU and Shin-Hong) and coarse large-eddy simulations (LES). The reference dataset consists of five real-case simulations performed with WRF-LES nested down to 25 m. Results reveal that users should refrain from coarse LES and favor the scale-aware, Shin-Hong parameterization over traditional one-dimensional schemes. Overall, the spread in model performance is large for the cellular convection regime corresponding to the majority of our cases, with coarse LES overestimating turbulent energy across scales and YSU underestimating it and failing to reproduce its horizontal structure. Despite yielding the best results, the Shin-Hong scheme overestimates the effect of grid dependence on turbulent transport, highlighting the outstanding need for improved solutions to seamlessly parameterize turbulence across scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗