Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “grid application”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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

At least 739 records · Page 41
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Grid Resilience to Extreme Events (ResiliEX 2.0)

The Grid Resilience to Extreme Events (ResiliEX) 2.0 workshop, co-hosted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Seattle City Light, was held at the Seattle City Hall April 23–25, 2024. This is the second workshop of its kind, with the first one having occurred in Seattle in November 2022. Participants from the second workshop hailed from research organizations, utilities, professional associations, consultants, government organizations, and communities. The purpose of the workshop was to Connect scientists, energy professionals, and policy experts to build knowledge and partnerships Advance the understanding of the science of extreme events and application to the energy system Promote grid planning and engineering that addresses the increasingly complex interdependencies as society combats the climate crisis Understand the role of different decision-makers and policymakers in increasing and accelerating grid resilience Identify new approaches, processes, and structures that should be pursued to increase grid resilience to extreme events.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Software-Defined Virtual Synchronous Condenser

Synchronous condensers (SCs) play important roles in integrating wind energy into relatively weak power grids. However, the design of SCs usually depends on specific application requirements and may not be adaptive enough to the frequently-changing grid conditions caused by the transition from conventional to renewable power generation. This paper devises a software-defined virtual synchronous condenser (SDViSC) method to address the challenges. Our contributions are fourfold: 1) design of a virtual synchronous condenser (ViSC) to enable full converter wind turbines to provide built-in SC functionalities; 2) engineering SDViSCs to transfer hardware-based ViSC controllers into software services, where a Tustin transformation-based software-defined control algorithm guarantees accurate tracking of fast dynamics under limited communication bandwidth; 3) a software-defined networking-enhanced SDViSC communication scheme to allow enhanced communication reliability and reduced communication bandwidth occupation; and 4) Prototype of SDViSC on our real-time, cyber-in-the-loop digital twin of large-wind-farm in an RTDS environment. Furthermore, extensive test results validate the excellent performance of SDViSC to support reliable and resilient operations of wind farms under various physical and cyber conditions.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Powered By ReEDS™ [Slides]

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's flagship Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) electric grid planning model is informing the answers to some of the biggest questions surrounding electricity sector research. Powered By ReEDS is the third webinar in the Powered By series. Each webinar highlights an innovative NREL grid planning and analysis tool and its real-world applications. The series is an exciting opportunity to learn directly from NREL's grid experts, so make sure to bring your questions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

End-to-end Analytics for Grid Arch Design & All-hazard Assessment

Resiliency, reliability, and security of the next-generation smart grid depend upon leveraging advanced communication and computing technologies, integrating them with physical power systems, and developing real-time, fast, data-based applications to help in wide-area monitoring and control of the grid. Using a high sampling data rate from phasor measurement units (PMUs) to develop applications has opened the door to achieving the next-generation grid requirements. The North American Synchrophasor Initiative Network (NASPlnet) was developed in 2007-09 to create a standard and guide for PMU data exchanges. With the advancement in both networking and grid requirements, it is necessary to evaluate the performance of different NASPInet versions and their impact on applications. Therefore, we need a cyber-power cosimulation framework that supports very large-scale co-simulation capable of running in parallel, high-performance computing platforms and capturing real-life network behavior. This work presents a cyber-physical co-simulation testbed using NS3 to model the communication network, GridPACK to model the power grid, and HELICS as a co-simulation engine. Comparative analysis of latency in synchrophasor networks and a performance evaluation of a power system stabilizer application based on PMU data in an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 39-bus test system is presented using this co-simulation testbed.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Securing the Modern Grid: Federal Investments, Digitization, and Supply Chain Strategy

Across the United States (U.S.) grid expansion and modernization is underway, paving the way for accelerated load growth and intelligent resource management. Digitization of the grid is supported by several state and federal programs, providing support for utilities installing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), AI-powered analytics systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) to transform the grid from a one-way power delivery system into an intelligent, responsive network that will enable faster load growth and power expansion of data centers for advanced artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The digital transformation of America's grid presents opportunity for increased efficiency and resiliency but also introduces new digital risks that require careful management. Digital equipment often contains several vulnerabilities such as unencrypted communication protocols, and persistent remote access capabilities that could be exploited to manipulate device settings, coordinate service disruptions, or inject false data into grid operations. These digital risks become particularly important as the grid must rapidly scale to support AI-driven data centers, which the administration has identified as essential for maintaining U.S. technological leadership and economic competitiveness. These vulnerabilities are compounded by supply chain realities: Chinese manufacturers currently produce 70-90% of essential grid components including inverters, batteries, and control systems, with the U.S. lacking domestic manufacturing capacity for critical assets like extra-high voltage transformers. Recent federal legislation has established Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) restrictions to address these risks, requiring projects to achieve escalating thresholds of non-FEOC content to receive tax credits while utilities work to expand sourcing channels for their supply chains and strengthen security measures. These restrictions arrive precisely when utilities face unprecedented electricity demand growth driven by the rapid growth in data centers, creating a considerable challenge: rapidly expanding infrastructure while navigating complex compliance requirements while lacking viable alternatives for many critical components. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and its partners have developed practical approaches to help utilities navigate these intersecting challenges as they leverage federal investment to strengthen and grow the grid. These solutions include Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) principles that build resilience directly into systems, the Cirrus tool for secure cloud migration, and enhanced procurement guidance that embeds security requirements throughout equipment lifecycles. Federal initiatives, such as the Technical Assistance for Digital Assurance (TADA) project, provide direct support to utilities implementing these approaches while facilitating knowledge sharing across the industry. While these tools and frameworks cannot eliminate all risks inherent in foreign supply chain dependencies, they offer pragmatic pathways for strengthening security posture without sacrificing the deployment momentum essential to meeting surging electricity demand. Ultimately, securing America's digital energy infrastructure demands dedicated coordination across multiple fronts: building domestic supply chains, implementing robust digital assurance practices, and maintaining the aggressive modernization timeline necessary for reliability, resilience, and energy independence.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1990

On the effects of grid ill-conditioning in three dimensional finite element vector potential magnetostatic field computations

The effects of finite element grid geometries and associated ill-conditioning were studied in single medium and multi-media (air-iron) three dimensional magnetostatic field computation problems. The sensitivities of these 3D field computations to finite element grid geometries were investigated. It was found that in single medium applications the unconstrained magnetic vector potential curl-curl formulation in conjunction with first order finite elements produce global results which are almost totally insensitive to grid geometries. However, it was found that in multi-media (air-iron) applications first order finite element results are sensitive to grid geometries and consequent elemental shape ill-conditioning. These sensitivities were almost totally eliminated by means of the use of second order finite elements in the field computation algorithms. Practical examples are given in this paper to demonstrate these aspects mentioned above.

Wang, R.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Master Software Requirements Specification

A basic function of a computational grid such as the NASA Information Power Grid (IPG) is to allow users to execute applications on remote computer systems. The Globus Resource Allocation Manager (GRAM) provides this functionality in the IPG and many other grids at this time. While the functionality provided by GRAM clients is adequate, GRAM does not support useful features such as staging several sets of files, running more than one executable in a single job submission, and maintaining historical information about execution operations. This specification is intended to provide the environmental and software functional requirements for the IPG Job Manager V2.0 being developed by AMTI for NASA.

Hu, Chaumin↗
NASA NTRS1995

Preliminary large-eddy simulations of flow around a NACA 4412 airfoil using unstructured grids

Large-eddy simulation (LES) has matured to the point where application to complex flows is desirable. The extension to higher Reynolds numbers leads to an impractical number of grid points with existing structured-grid methods. Furthermore, most real world flows are rather difficult to represent geometrically with structured grids. Unstructured-grid methods offer a release from both of these constraints. However, just as it took many years for structured-grid methods to be well understood and reliable tools for LES, unstructured-grid methods must be carefully studied before we can expect them to attain their full potential. In the past two years, important building blocks have been put into place making possible a careful study of LES on unstructured grids. The first building block was an efficient mesh generator which allowed the placement of points according to smooth variation of physical length scales. This variation of length scales is in all three directions independently, which allows a large reduction in points when compared to structured-grid methods, which can only vary length scales in one direction at a time. The second building block was the development of a dynamic model appropriate for unstructured grids. The principle obstacle was the development of an unstructured-grid filtering operator. In the past year, some of the new filters developed by Jansen have been implemented into a highly parallelized finite element code based on the Galerkin/least-squares finite element method. We have chosen the NACA 4412 airfoil at maximum lift as the first simulation for a variety of reasons. First, it is a problem of significant interest since it would be the first LES of an aircraft component. Second, this flow has been the subject of three experimental studies. The third reason for considering this flow is the variety of flow features which provide an important test of the dynamic model. Only the dynamic model can be expected to perform satisfactorily in this variety of situations: from the laminar regions where it must not modify the flow at all to the turbulent boundary layers and wake where it must represent a wide variety of subgrid-scale structures. The flow configuration we have chosen is that of Wadcock (1987) at Reynolds number based on chord Re(sub c) = u(sub infinity)c/v = 1.64 x 10(exp 6), Mach number M = 0.2, and 12 deg angle of attack.

Jansen, Kenneth↗
NASA NTRS1996

Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow Around a NACA 4412 Airfoil Using Unstructured Grids

Large-eddy simulation (LES) has matured to the point where application to complex flows is described. The extension to higher Reynolds numbers leads to an impractical number of grid points with existing structured-grid methods. Furthermore, most real world flows are rather difficult to represent geometrically with structured grids. Unstructured-grid methods offer a release from both of these constraints. However, just as it took many years for structured-grid methods to be well understood and reliable tools for LES, unstructured-grid methods must be carefully studied before we can expect them to attain their full potential.

Jansen, Kenneth↗
DOE OSTI2024

Investigation of Fe-Ni Battery/Module for Grid Service Duty Cycles

Iron–nickel (Fe-Ni) batteries are renowned for their durability and resilience against overcharging and operating temperatures. However, they encounter challenges in achieving widespread adoption for energy storage applications due to their low efficiency and the need for regular maintenance and electrolyte replacement, which adds to maintenance costs. This study evaluates and demonstrates the capabilities of Fe-Ni batteries for participating in grid energy storage applications. Stable performance was observed frequency regulation (FR) testing at 100% and 50% state of charge (SOC)s, while at 50% SOC, there was a 14% increase in efficiency compared to 100% SOC. Although 25% SOC achieved higher efficiency, limited cyclability was observed due to reaching the discharge cutoff voltage. Optimal SOC selection, battery monitoring, maintenance, and appropriate charging strategies of Fe-Ni batteries seem to be crucial for their FR applications. Fe-Ni batteries exhibit stable peak shaving (PS) results, indicating their suitability and reliability under various load conditions for PS testing. Extended cycling tests confirm their potential for long-term grid-scale energy storage, enhancing their appeal for PS and FR applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1999

A Three-Dimensional Total Odd Nitrogen (NO(y)) Simulation During SONEX using a Stretched-Grid Chemical Transport Model

The relative importance of various odd nitrogen (NOy) sources including lightning, aircraft, and surface emissions on upper tropospheric total odd nitrogen is illustrated as a first application of the three-dimensional Stretched-Grid University of Maryland/Goddard Chemical-Transport Model (SG-GCTM). The SG-GCTM has been developed to look at the effect of localized sources and/or small scale mixing processes on the large-scale or global chemical balance. For this simulation, the stretched-arid was chosen so that its maximum resolution is located over eastern North America and the North Atlantic; a region that includes most of the SONEX (the SASS (Subsonic Assessment) Ozone and Nitrogen Oxides Experiment) flight paths. The SONEX period (October-November 1997) is simulated by driving the SG-GCTM with assimilated data from the GEOS-STRAT DAS (Goddard Earth Observing System-STRAT Data Assimilation System). A new algorithm is used to parameterize the lightning, flash rates that are needed to calculate emissions of NOy by lightning. Model-calculated upper tropospheric NOy and NOy measurements from the NASA DC-8 aircraft are compared. Spatial variations in NOy were well captured especially with the stretched-grid run; however, model-calculated concentrations were often too high in the upper troposphere, particularly during the first several flights. The lightning algorithm does a reasonably good job; however, the use of emissions from observed lightning, flashes significantly improves the simulation on a few occasions, especially November 3, 1997, indicating that significant uncertainty remains in parameterizing lightning in CTMS. Aircraft emissions play a relatively minor role (about 12%) in the upper tropospheric NOY budget averaged along SONEX flight paths; however, the contribution of such emmissions is as large as about 30% during portions of some flights.

Allen, Dale↗
DOE OSTI2025

Pulsar’s Application in Energy Systems: Review of Current Status, Challenges, and Opportunities

To accelerate progress toward the realization of advanced energy systems, this review explores the potential of pulsar technology to create a more stable, economical, and environmentally friendly energy infrastructure. Pulsars, with their precise and reliable timing characteristics, have emerged as a promising tool for enhancing energy systems. This review begins by examining the development history of pulsar technology, shedding light on its evolution and the milestones achieved. It then provides a comprehensive summary of the current state of research, highlighting recent advancements and breakthroughs in this field. It also explores transformative pulsar applications in energy systems, including improved grid stability, advanced energy synchronization, and efficient energy storage management. However, implementing pulsar-related technologies presents significant technical, economic, and operational challenges. This review examines these hurdles and proposes strategies to overcome them, emphasizing the need for innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and supportive policies to fully integrate pulsar technologies into sustainable energy systems.

application↗
DOE OSTI2021

Grid Value Investigation of Medium-Voltage Back-to-Back Converters

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the value that medium voltage back-to-back (MVB2B) converters can be realized through two potential applications: voltage regulation via the provision of reactive power supply or absorption, and distributed energy resource (DER) hosting capacity improvement via the controlled transfer of real power within the distribution system. Two groups of distribution systems have been prepared for the value investigation: the IEEE 123-bus system for the voltage regulation study and two utility-provided, realistic distribution systems for the DER hosting capacity improvement study. The results demonstrate that the MVB2B converter can realize significant value for the grid through these two applications. In particular, with the MVB2B converter transferring power between two feeders, DER-based power can be routed to nearby loads instead of feed through the distribution substation. Additionally, the size of energy storage elements used to enable higher levels of DERs can be significantly reduced.

28 EE - Advanced Manufacturing Office (EE-5A)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Modeling Framework for Data Center

This chapter highlights the critical need for advanced modeling of data centers due to their rapidly increasing energy consumption and impact on grid reliability. Driven by the demand for AI applications, data centers are projected to consume a significant portion of US energy by 2028, putting stress on an already challenged power grid. The chapter emphasizes the importance of "fast" time-scale models to understand the dynamic interactions between data centers and the grid, especially given the rapid power fluctuations of AI workloads. It outlines a modeling framework that includes both offline and real-time EMT domain simulations, detailing the necessary representations for various components like utility interfaces, transformers, IT loads, UPS, cooling loads, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), generators, protection systems, and higher-level control systems. While standard simulation tools like PSCAD offer basic models, custom development is often required to accurately capture the unique and fast-changing behaviors of modern data centers. The chapter also discusses key metrics and test cases for validating these models, focusing on transient load responses, protection relay coordination, and demand flexibility. Finally, it addresses the challenges of modeling large-scale data centers, such as computational complexity and the trade-off between model fidelity and practicality, suggesting hybrid modeling approaches as a solution. The overarching goal is to create a robust framework that helps assess data center impacts on grid stability, identify vulnerabilities, and inform the development of standards for reliable integration of these large loads into the bulk power system.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS2003

Additional Security Considerations for Grid Management

The use of Grid computing environments is growing in popularity. A Grid computing environment is primarily a wide area network that encompasses multiple local area networks, where some of the local area networks are managed by different organizations. A Grid computing environment also includes common interfaces for distributed computing software so that the heterogeneous set of machines that make up the Grid can be used more easily. The other key feature of a Grid is that the distributed computing software includes appropriate security technology. The focus of most Grid software is on the security involved with application execution, file transfers, and other remote computing procedures. However, there are other important security issues related to the management of a Grid and the users who use that Grid. This note discusses these additional security issues and makes several suggestions as how they can be managed.

Eidson, Thomas M.↗
NASA NTRS2020

High-Resolution Gridded Level 3 Aerosol Optical Depth Data from MODIS

The state-of-art satellite observations of atmospheric aerosols over the last two decades from NASA's MODIS instruments have been extensively utilized in climate change and air quality research and applications. The operational algorithms now produce level 2 aerosol data at varying spatial resolutions (1, 3, and 10 km) and level 3 data at 1 degree. The local and global applications have been benefited from the coarse resolution gridded data sets (i.e., level 3, 1 degree), as it is easier to use since data volume is low and, several online and offline tools are readily available to access and analyze the data with minimal computing resources. At the same time, researchers who require data at much finer spatial scales have to go through a challenging process of obtaining, processing, and analyzing larger volumes of data sets that require high-end computing resources and coding skills. Therefore, we have created a high spatial resolution (HRG, 0.1x0.1 degree) daily and monthly aerosol optical depth (AOD) product by combining two MODIS operational algorithms, namely Deep Blue (DB) and Dark Target (DT). The new HRG AODs meets the accuracy requirements of level 2 AOD data and provide either the same or more spatial coverage on daily and monthly scales. The data sets are provided in daily and monthly files through open Ftp server with python scripts to read and map the data. The reduced data volume with an easy to use format and tools to access the data will encourage more users to utilize the data for research and applications.

aerosol↗
NASA NTRS1988

Overlapping grids for flow field calculations

Many problems in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) involve the calculation of flow fields within or around complex geometric configurations. The flow solution is computed on a computational grid. The construction of the grid is one of the major difficulties in the application of CFD to the analysis of flow about actual aircraft configurations. Due to geometric complexity, the grid has to be constructed in simple subregions and then all of these subgrids have to be pieced together to form a complete grid for the entire flow field. The entire grid, which is called a composite grid because it is formed from many parts, may have common regions. In either case, the computation of the flow field, using any numerical algorithm, will require the transfer of information between individual subgrids. The transfer of information is more difficult with overlapping grids. Algorithms have been developed and tested for automating the transfer of information between two overlapping grids.

Mastin, Charles Wayne↗
NASA NTRS2018

Symmetric Equations on the Surface of a Sphere as Used by Model GISS:IB

Standard vector calculus formulas of Cartesian three space are projected onto the surface of a sphere. This produces symmetric equations with three nonindependent horizontal velocity components. Each orthogonal axis has a velocity component that rotates around its axis (eastward velocity rotates around the north–south axis) and a specific angular momentum component that is the product of the velocity component multiplied by the cosine of axis’ latitude. Angular momentum components align with the fixed axes and simplify several formulas, whereas the rotating velocity components are not orthogonal and vary with location. Three symmetric coordinates allow vector resolution and calculus operations continuously over the whole spherical surface, which is not possible with only two coordinates. The symmetric equations are applied to one-layer shallow water models on cubed-sphere and icosahedral grids, the latter being computationally simple and applicable to an ocean domain. Model results are presented for three different initial conditions and five different resolutions.

Icosahedral grid↗