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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 703 records · Page 39
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Consequence Based Framework for Deployment of Cloud Solutions in the Digital Energy Transition

This study proposes a framework for evaluating cloud computing deployment in the electric sector, focusing on the digital transition of energy systems. It assesses the implications of cloud technology adoption, particularly in terms of security, operational resilience, and efficiency. The paper introduces a framework for consequence-driven applied risk analysis, enabling utilities to prioritize and mitigate potential threats effectively, and responsibly deploy cloud applications. It also discusses the shared responsibility model in cloud computing, highlighting the need for collaborative security efforts. The research aims to provide utilities with a strategic assessment tool for cloud adoption, emphasizing the importance of security culture in enhancing cloud computing's role in critical infrastructure.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Realizing the scientific program with polarized ion beams at the future BNL Electron Ion Collider

Polarized ion beams at the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) are essential to address some of the most important open questions at the twenty-first century frontiers of understanding of the fundamental structure of matter. Here, in this work, we summarize the science case and identify polarized 2 H, 3 He, 6 Li, and 7 Li ion beams as critical technology that will enable experiments which address the most important science. Furthermore, we discuss the required ion polarimetry and spin manipulation at the EIC. The current EIC accelerator design is presented. We identify a significant research and development effort across national and international laboratories and universities that is required over about a decade to realize the polarized ion beams and estimate (based on previous experience) that it will require about 20 full-time equivalent (FTE) over 10 years (or a total of about 200 FTE-years) of personnel, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, technicians, and engineers. Attracting, educating, and training a new generation of physicists in experimental spin techniques will be essential for the successful realization. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are seen as having significant potential for both acceleration of research and development and amplification of discovery in the optimal realization of this unique quantum technology on a cutting-edge collider. The research and development effort is synergistic with research in atomic physics and fusion energy science.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advancing South American Water and Climate Science Through Multi-Decadal Convection-Permitting Modeling

The South America Affinity Group (SAAG) was established in early 2019 by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Water Systems Program as a community effort focused on improving hydroclimate science over South America. SAAG supports large research efforts such as the ANDEX Regional Hydroclimate Program as well as individual research groups. The group started with a dozen members and quickly grew to over 100 participants from more than ten countries. For the past four years, the SAAG has been meeting online every two weeks and has organized sessions at international conferences such as the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting and the Convection-Permitting Climate Workshop. At the core of the SAAG effort are two multi-decadal convection permitting (CP) model simulations with 4-km grid spacing for historical and future climates over the South American continent. Additionally, a major observational data collection effort has been undertaken, including in-situ station data from South American meteorological and water services, gridded products, satellite-based observations, and field campaign data. In conclusion, this article discusses the research needs and scientific goals that drive this community of scientists with diverse backgrounds and interests.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Mu2e - Extinction Monitor Research & Development

Current efforts are being conducted at Fermi National Laboratory to study potential violations in accepted theory that would otherwise suggest a restructuring of our fundamental understanding of the universe. Mu2e is one of these frontier projects that studies charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) which if observed, would suggest physics beyond the Standard Model. Therefore, this note encompasses several projects that contribute to the fruition of Mu2e investigations. Due to the broad range of disciplinary inconsistencies that each project requires, all the work is being presented as a means of justifying contribution to Mu2e. The projects are comprised of a G4Beamline simulation analyzing 8GeV proton beam interaction with a titanium window of Recycler ring extinction rates using three Cherenkov radiation-based detectors and supplemental work for the implementation of a micro–Telecommunications Computing Architecture (MicroTCA) crate to establish a peak finding algorithm to ensure that the out-of-time beam is less than 10^-10 fractional level along with inefficiency analysis on scintillation counters for the Cosmic-Ray Veto (CRV) analysis. Preliminary results have been achieved for extinction rate simulation by achieving coincidence rates for 2/3-fold and 3/3-fold on the detectors in the order of 10^-9 and 10^-10, respectively. Only preliminary results of a triangular counter and four rectangular di-counters for the CRV have been realized but other non-experimental contributions were made to the development of the MicroTCA crate.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Mu2e - Research & Development

Current efforts are being conducted at Fermi National Laboratory to study potential violations in accepted theory that would otherwise suggest a restructuring of our fundamental understanding of the universe. Mu2e is one of these frontier projects that studies Charged Lepton Flavor Violation (CLFV) which if observed, would suggest physics beyond the Standard Model. Therefore, this note encompasses several projects that contribute to the fruition of Mu2e investigations. Due to the broad range of disciplinary inconsistencies that each project requires, all the work is being presented as a means of justifying contribution to Mu2e. The projects are comprised of a simulation exploring the extinction level of proton pulses after Recycler ring re-bunching by using G4beamline to simulate an 8GeV proton beam interaction with a titanium target, three Cherenkov radiation-based detectors and 2/3-fold and 3/3-fold coincidence rate analysis. Additionally, supplemental work for the implementation of a Micro Telecommunications Computing Architecture (TCA) crate to establish a peak finding algorithm to ensure that the out-of-time beam is less than 10$^{−10}$ fractional level along with single-layer inefficiency analysis on scintillation counters for the Cosmic-Ray Veto (CRV) analysis to ensure the overall inefficiency is 10$^{−4}$. Preliminary results have been achieved for the G4beamline simulation 2/3-fold and 3/3-fold coincidences which are in the order of 10$^{−9}$ and 10$^{−10}$, respectively. Only preliminary results of a triangular counter and four rectangular di-counters for the CRV have been realized. The microTCA crate development is still ongoing.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advancements in Accelerator Physics and System Developments for the EIC

The development and enhancement of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) are founded on extensive research and development efforts aimed at achieving rigorous performance goals. This document outlines the crucial research and development (R&D) efforts that underpin the various systems and components of the EIC, including the polarized electron source and linear accelerator (linac) systems. Achieving the collider’s operational benchmarks relies on meticulously enhancing these components to optimize performance.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Code Validation of SAM Using Forced and Natural Circulation Data from NACIE-UP Benchmark

Heavy liquid metals (HLMs) are promising candidates as coolants of Generation IV fast reactors due to their thermophysical properties. In the last decade, experimental work has been proposed as part of research and development efforts to develop such systems. In this context, researchers from the Brasimone Research Center have conducted many experiments using the Natural Circulation Experiment Upgrade (NACIE-UP) facility to study the thermofluid dynamic behavior of HLMs in rod bundle configurations with or without wire wrappers. This facility consists of a rectangular loop operated with lead-bismuth eutectic. Sensors across the loop monitor relevant parameters, i.e. temperatures, heat transfer, and flow conditions. Here, in the present work, we carefully select published data from NACIE-UP to validate the System Analysis Module (SAM), a modern system analysis code developed at Argonne National Laboratory. We developed one SAM model using specifications of the facility geometry and materials existing in relevant papers and reports. On top of that, these references provided the boundary conditions for simulating natural circulation and forced convection experiments in either steady or transient conditions. The SAM model simulates five test cases with diverse operating conditions. Ultimately, the code is proven to predict temperatures and mass flow rates that closely match the experiments. The discrepancies between numerical predictions and diverse transients are limited to a few degrees Celsius, showcasing that SAM is well suited for analyzing nuclear systems relying on HLM coolants.

advanced reactors↗
DOE OSTI2024

Are We on Track for 2050? A Materials Research & Sustainability Perspective

In commemoration of the Materials Research Society (MRS)'s 50th anniversary, the 2050 panel hosted a discussion to reflect on the past, present, and future of sustainability and the role of materials research and development. Three panelists discussed their views, based on their expertise, about future challenges and lessons from the past. Sustainable development is a broad topic; therefore, the discussion centered on their experience as material researchers and their efforts for a better and greener future. This work is developed in collaboration with the co-authors team, highlighting the need for accelerating research and development efforts, especially in materials science and applications, fostering interdisciplinary partnerships, and mobilizing collective action to address the complex and interconnected sustainability challenges that humanity is currently facing.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,ENVIRONMENTAL↗
DOE OSTI2022

Application of Dynamical System Scaling for Accelerated Fuel Qualification Efforts

There are considerable ongoing research and testing campaigns to qualify new fuel designs such as metallic fuels for advanced reactor designs and the Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) campaign for light water reactors (LWR). The typical research and development lifecycle needed to qualify a nuclear fuel design, under ideal conditions, can take up to 20-25 years which limits the ability for new fuels to make fast deployments into commercial, test, and research reactors. While there are several efforts to accelerate nuclear fuel qualification through advanced modeling coupled with state-of-the-art experiments, there is not yet a framework to methodically quantify and rank distortions occurring in experimental test specimens needed to validate nuclear fuel performance codes. This study uses the Dynamical System Scaling (DSS) methodology to quantify transient scaling distortions that occur over experiment and simulated transients. DSS analysis metrics provide a researcher with several tools and information embedded within test data to identify dominant phenomena, associated timescales, and quantify a transient?s overall dynamic distortion. This is demonstrated with separate analyses of the SETH-C and CHF-SERTTA thermal-hydraulic experiments in the TREAT facility at Idaho National Laboratory. The outcome of this work is a scaling and data analysis approach to account for the influence a scaled fuel test specimen?s geometric and temporal distortions have on its ability to be representative of the full-scale design.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Chelation Modeling: The Use of Ad Hoc Models and Approaches to Overcome a Dose Assessment Challenge

Here, chelating agents are administered to treat significant intakes of radioactive elements such as plutonium, americium, and curium. These drugs may be used as a medical countermeasure after radiological accidents and terrorist acts. The administration of a chelating agent, such as Ca-DTPA or Zn-DTPA, affects the actinide's normal biokinetics. It enhances the actinide's rate of excretion, posing a dose assessment challenge. Thus, the standard biokinetic models cannot be directly applied to the chelation-affected bioassay data in order to assess the radiation dose. The present study reviews the scientific literature, from the early 1970s until the present, on the different studies that focused on developing new chelation models and/or modeling of bioassay data affected by chelation treatment. Although scientific progress has been achieved, there is currently no consensus chelation model available, even after almost 50 y of research. This review acknowledges the efforts made by different research groups, highlighting the different methodology used in some of these studies. Finally, this study puts into perspective where we were, where we are, and where we are heading in regards to chelation modeling.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Refrigerants: Market Trends and Supply Chain Assessment

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with ORNL, under the Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC www.manufacturingcleanenergy.org) umbrella, assessed the current state of existing and low-GWP refrigerants for major end-use applications, including HVAC and those outside of the HVAC industry. The project incorporated a market overview, and supply chain assessment to determine the production, distribution, consumption, costs, and potential operating efficiency impacts of new and alternative refrigerants entering the market. Market trends and ongoing research are also documented. This work supplements other DOE efforts to support research activities on refrigerants and their applications including a refrigerant R&D roadmap and outlook into global air conditioning markets (Goetzler et al. 2014, 2016).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

RAG for FLAG: AI Assistance for a Physics Code

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become an important tool in scientific research, where significant efforts are underway to develop tools that will expedite the research process. One area of particular impact is scientific software, which can be particularly complex, and therefore time consuming to learn and use effectively. AI assistants are increasingly helping to streamline the process by performing tasks such as interactively answering user questions or suggesting solutions. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) develops several advanced scientific codes, such as FLAG, which can be used to run multiphysics simulations. With this study, our goal was to develop an AI assistant for FLAG that could help make the process of understanding the software and running physics simulations more efficient. To develop an AI assistant for FLAG, we used a method called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which is a technique that uses information from relevant data sources to enhance the accuracy of large language models (LLMs). We used the FLAG user manual and other FLAG documentation as the knowledge base for the RAG system. When a user provides a query, RAG retrieves relevant sections from the knowledge base in response, then uses those excerpts to generate grounded and contextually rich answers. We found that our AI assistant was able to provide context aware answers and source references to user queries. To evaluate performance, we developed a set of 40 benchmark questions and compared the accuracy of the responses to those of two standard LLMs without retrieval. Our AI assistant significantly outperformed the standard LLMs at answering FLAG-related questions, with an 82.5% accuracy rate, compared to 47.5% for both of the standard LLMs. This has the potential to make the process of learning and using FLAG much easier, especially for new users. Ultimately, it supports LANL’s broader mission by empowering scientists and engineers to focus more on discovery and analysis rather than on navigating complex software systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Efforts and Innovations to Promote Data Sharing and Data Accessibility in the EGS Collab Experiments

Large-scale scientific research programs such as the EGS Collab experiments and the FORGE program play extremely important roles in advancing geothermal technologies. Such efforts involve a large number of researchers from multiple institutions, last multiple years, and generate large, complex datasets. The value of the research efforts is only realized when the datasets are used by a large community of researchers in the decades to come. A challenge is that due to the complexity of the data, it could require a user to devote a serious effort into understanding the data before the data can be effectively utilized. In the EGS Collab experiments, the team has devoted remarkable efforts and developed many innovative solutions to make the data more accessible to broader team members and future users. This paper documents the experience gained and lessons learned by the EGS Collab team in disseminating the data in the most informative and inspiring forms to maximize the value of this precious dataset. "Accessibility"in the title does not only mean making the raw data available for download. Particularly, we want to emphasize the importance of organizing, annotating, and presenting the data in ways to make it easy to digest by prospective consumers of the data.

circulation↗
DOE OSTI2020

Highly Enhanced Curie Temperature in Ga-Implanted Fe3GeTe2 van der Waals Material

Among many efforts in the research of van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials, increasing the Curie temperature above room temperature has been at the center of research in developing spintronics technology using vdW materials. Here an effective and reliable method of increasing the Curie temperature of ferromagnetic Fe3GeTe2 vdW materials by Ga implantation is reported. It is found that implanting Ga into Fe3GeTe2 by the amount of 10-3 Ga Å-3 could greatly enhance the Fe3GeTe2 Curie temperature by almost 100%. Spatially resolved microdiffraction and element-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy show little changes in the Fe3GeTe2 crystal structure and Fe valence state. In addition, the Ga implantation changes the Fe3GeTe2 magnetization from out-of-plane direction at low temperature to in-plane direction at high temperature. The result opens a new opportunity for tailoring the magnetic properties of vdW materials beyond room temperature.

Yang, M↗
DOE OSTI2021

Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL): Use Cases and Definitions

This resource document is designed to establish common use cases and definitions for U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and partners participating in the Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) effort. Use case definitions can be used to classify and connect research-and-development efforts and ultimately to organize project goals. Establishing use cases will also allow for the definition of operational benchmarks for various elements of the MIRACL project and broader distributed wind program as well as enable future alignment with other distributed energy resource research projects.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Computational Tools and Workflows for Quantitative Risk Assessment and Decision Support for Geologic Carbon Storage Sites: Progress and Insights from the U.S. DOE’s National Risk Assessment Partnership

The 2005 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on CCS raised the profile of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) as an important technology for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CCS is now recognized as a key component of most climate change mitigation scenarios. Since publication of that report the international research, development, and deployment (RD&D) community has advanced key technical aspects, clarified regulatory requirements, explored value chain and infrastructure solutions, and developed incentive paradigms to enable and promote large-scale deployment of CCS. These efforts have included research to better characterize geologic storage resources, to improve injection performance and storage efficiency, to assess and manage subsurface environmental risks, and to advance monitoring technologies to assure system conformance. These efforts have helped to build confidence in the viability of geologic carbon storage (GCS), but stakeholder concerns about long-term risks and liability associated with GCS remain a hurdle to broad acceptance and large-scale deployment of CCS. Since 2010, the U.S. DOE’s National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) – a research collaboration between five contributing national laboratories – has worked to establish and demonstrate methods and tools to quantify and manage the subsurface environmental risks associated with GCS, amidst uncertainty. This work supports the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Carbon Transport and Storage Program’s goal of advancing safe and secure commercial-scale GCS deployment. To address the technical challenge of simulating the physical response of the GCS site to large-scale CO2 injection, NRAP has adopted an approach that relies on coupling computationally efficient reduced-order and/or data-driven proxy models of important system components (i.e., storage reservoir, sealing caprock, leakage pathways, intermediate formations, overlying groundwater aquifers, and the atmosphere) in integrated assessment framework. That integrated model of the physical system is complemented with fit-for purpose functionality to support site characterization and risk-related decisions. The recently released NRAP Phase II toolset includes the Open-Source Integrated Assessment Model (NRAP-Open-IAM) for evaluation of trends in leakage risk and potential impact, tools to support monitoring design optimization (Designs for Risk Evaluation and Management – DREAM v3.0 and Passive Seismic Monitoring Tool - PSMT), and tools for state of stress evaluation (State-of-Stress Analysis Tool - SOSAT) and forecasting induced seismicity risk. The NRAP team has also released a pair of reports describing conceptual workflows to incorporate physics-based, quantitative risk assessment into many of the design, planning, operation, and closure decisions for GCS projects. An online catalogue highlights published studies where these tools and methods are demonstrated. In this presentation, the utility of these products to assess risks and address key stakeholder questions will be highlighted through examples, and related insights about the safety and security of geologic carbon storage in qualified storage sites will be discussed. The prospect of rapid, large-scale deployment of GCS technology to aggressively reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions requires careful consideration of interference between multiple commercial-scale storage projects within a basin. Going forward, NRAP is expanding and adapting site-scale risk quantification tools and methods to enable assessment of risks and inform management decisions for basin-scale deployment. Increasingly, this work will leverage next-generation approaches for surrogate modelling, fast prediction, and advanced visualization enabled by machine learning and artificial intelligence to promote virtual learning, scenario evaluation, and augment risk-based decision making.

quantitative risk assessment, geologic carbon stor↗
DOE OSTI2021

Reproducibility Practice in High-Performance Computing: Community Survey Results

The integrity of science and engineering research is grounded in assumptions of rigor and transparency on the part of those engaging in such research. HPC community effort to strengthen rigor and transparency take the form of reproducibility efforts. In a recent survey of the SC conference community, we collected information about the SC Reproducibility Initiative activities. Here, we present the survey results in this paper. Results show that the reproducibility initiative activities have contributed to higher levels of awareness on the part of SC conference technical program participants, and hint at contributing to greater scientific impact for the published papers of the SC conference series. Stringent point-of-manuscript-submission verification is problematic for reasons we point out, as are inherent difficulties of computational reproducibility in HPC. Future efforts should better decouple the community educational goals from goals that specifically strengthen a research work's potential for long-term impact through reuse 5-10 years down the road.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Efforts to enhance reproducibility in a human performance research project

Background: Ensuring the validity of results from funded programs is a critical concern for agencies that sponsor biological research. In recent years, the open science movement has sought to promote reproducibility by encouraging sharing not only of finished manuscripts but also of data and code supporting their findings. While these innovations have lent support to third-party efforts to replicate calculations underlying key results in the scientific literature, fields of inquiry where privacy considerations or other sensitivities preclude the broad distribution of raw data or analysis may require a more targeted approach to promote the quality of research output. Methods: We describe efforts oriented toward this goal that were implemented in one human performance research program, Measuring Biological Aptitude, organized by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's Biological Technologies Office. Our team implemented a four-pronged independent verification and validation (IV&V) strategy including 1) a centralized data storage and exchange platform, 2) quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) of data collection, 3) test and evaluation of performer models, and 4) an archival software and data repository. Results: Our IV&V plan was carried out with assistance from both the funding agency and participating teams of researchers. QA/QC of data acquisition aided in process improvement and the flagging of experimental errors. Holdout validation set tests provided an independent gauge of model performance. Conclusions: In circumstances that do not support a fully open approach to scientific criticism, standing up independent teams to cross-check and validate the results generated by primary investigators can be an important tool to promote reproducibility of results.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗