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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 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Tank 48 - Chemical Destruction

Small tank copper-catalyzed peroxide oxidation (CCPO) is a potentially viable technology to facilitate the destruction of tetraphenylborate (TPB) organic solids contained within the Tank 48H waste at the Savannah River Site (SRS). A maturation strategy was created that identified a number of near-term development activities required to determine the viability of the CCPO process, and subsequent disposition of the CCPO effluent. Critical activities included laboratory-scale validation of the process and identification of forward transfer paths for the CCPO effluent. The technical documentation and the successful application of the CCPO process on simulated Tank 48 waste confirm that the CCPO process is a viable process for the disposition of the Tank 48 contents.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Snowmass 2021 LoI: Neutrino-induced Shallow- and Deep-Inelastic Scattering

In neutrino interactions with nucleons and nuclei, Shallow Inelastic Scattering (SIS) refers to processes, dominated by non-resonant contributions, in the kinematic region where $Q^2$ is small and the invariant mass of the hadronic system, $W$, is above the pion production threshold. The extremely rich science of this complex region, poorly understood both theoretically and experimentally, encompasses the transition from interactions described in terms of hadronic degrees of freedom to interactions with quarks and gluons described by perturbative QCD. Since a large fraction of events in NOvA and DUNE, and in atmospheric neutrino measurements such as IceCube-Upgrade, KM3NeT, Super- and Hyper-Kamiokande, are from this SIS region, there is a definite need to improve our knowledge of this physics. This LoI summarizes the current understandings of the SIS physics and a series of proposals for the path to forward.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Tank 48 Chemical Destruction - 13237

Small tank copper-catalyzed peroxide oxidation (CCPO) is a potentially viable technology to facilitate the destruction of tetraphenylborate (TPB) organic solids contained within the Tank 48H waste at the Savannah River Site (SRS). A maturation strategy was created that identified a number of near-term development activities required to determine the viability of the CCPO process, and subsequent disposition of the CCPO effluent. Critical activities included laboratory scale validation of the process and identification of forward transfer paths for the CCPO effluent. The technical documentation and the successful application of the CCPO process on simulated Tank 48 waste confirm that the CCPO process is a viable process for the disposition of the Tank 48 contents. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Practical guide to replica exchange transition interface sampling and forward flux sampling

Path sampling approaches have become invaluable tools to explore the mechanisms and dynamics of the so-called rare events that are characterized by transitions between metastable states separated by sizable free energy barriers. Their practical application, in particular to ever more complex molecular systems, is, however, not entirely trivial. Here, focusing on replica exchange transition interface sampling (RETIS) and forward flux sampling (FFS), we discuss a range of analysis tools that can be used to assess the quality and convergence of such simulations, which is crucial to obtain reliable results. The basic ideas of a step-wise evaluation are exemplified for the study of nucleation in several systems with different complexities, providing a general guide for the critical assessment of RETIS and FFS simulations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Forward modeling of an atmospheric scenario: path characterization in terms of scattering intensity

The knowledge of possible impairments due to atmospheric propagation is of importance in the framework of future 5G mobile networks that use spectrum resource up to the W band. Here, the authors propose the scalar Scatter Indicator (SI), defined as the difference between the simulated TB at 72 GHz and the TB value at the same frequency estimated from a combination of TBs values at 23.8 and 31.4 GHz under assumed scatter-free condition. On the basis of radiosonde profiles observed in Milan, Linate (Italy) in 2005, clear-sky scenarios are used as reference to define a scatter-free TB’s database. A second database of simulated TBs including scattering effects is generated with ARTS to build the SI. Numerical results show that the SI assumes significant positive values with increasing drop effective radius and total liquid water LWP and it can be used to identify the scattering due to hydrometeor

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Concepts Relevant for the Kinetic Analysis of Reversible Reaction Systems

The net rate of a reversible chemical reaction is the difference between unidirectional rates of traversal along forward and reverse reaction paths. In a multistep reaction sequence, the forward and reverse trajectories, in general, are not the microscopic reverse of one another; rather, each unidirectional route is comprised of distinct rate-controlling steps, intermediates, and transition states. Consequently, traditional descriptors of rate (e.g., reaction orders) do not reflect intrinsic kinetic information but instead conflate unidirectional contributions determined by (i) the microscopic occurrence of forward/reverse reactions (i.e., unidirectional kinetics) and (ii) the reversibility of reaction (i.e., nonequilibrium thermodynamics). This review aims to provide a comprehensive resource of analytical and conceptual tools which deconvolute the contributions of reaction kinetics and thermodynamics to disambiguate unidirectional reaction trajectories and precisely identify rate- and reversibility-controlling molecular species and steps in reversible reaction systems. The extrication of mechanistic and kinetic information from bidirectional reactions is accomplished through equation-based formalisms (e.g., De Donder relations) grounded in principles of thermodynamics and interpreted in the context of theories of chemical kinetics developed in the past 25 years. Here, the aggregate of mathematical formalisms detailed herein is general to thermochemical and electrochemical reactions and encapsulates a diverse body of scientific literature encompassing chemical physics, thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, catalysis, and kinetic modeling.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Blip decomposition of the path integral: Exponential acceleration of real-time calculations on quantum dissipative systems

The real-time path integral representation of the reduced density matrix for a discrete system in contact with a dissipative medium is rewritten in terms of the number of blips, i.e., elementary time intervals over which the forward and backward paths are not identical. For a given set of blips, it is shown that the path sum with respect to the coordinates of all remaining time points is isomorphic to that for the wavefunction of a system subject to an external driving term and thus can be summed by an inexpensive iterative procedure. This exact decomposition reduces the number of terms by a factor that increases exponentially with propagation time. Further, under conditions (moderately high temperature and/or dissipation strength) that lead primarily to incoherent dynamics, the “fully incoherent limit” zero-blip term of the series provides a reasonable approximation to the dynamics, and the blip series converges rapidly to the exact result. Retention of only the blips required for satisfactory convergence leads to speedup of full-memory path integral calculations by many orders of magnitude.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Application of unsupervised deep learning to image segmentation and in-situ contact angle measurements in a CO 2 -water-rock system

Rock surface wettability is a critical property that regulates multiphase flows in porous media, which can be quantified using the surface contact angle (CA). X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) provides an effective approach to in-situ measurements of surface CAs. However, the CA measurement accuracy depends significantly on the quality of CT image segmentation, which is the clustering of CT pixels into separate phases. Inspired by this, we developed a deep learning (DL)-based CA measurement workflow. Motivated by the recent tremendous progress in unsupervised learning techniques and aiming to avoid expensive manual data annotations, an unsupervised DL pipeline for CT image segmentation was proposed and implemented, which includes unsupervised model training and post-processing. The unsupervised model training was driven by a novel loss function constrained with feature similarity and spatial continuity and implemented by iterative forward and backward paths; the former clustered the pixel-wise feature vectors extracted by convolution neural networks, whereas the latter updated the parameters using gradient descent. An over-segmentation strategy was adopted for model training. The post-processing steps based on agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) were implemented to further merge the over-segmented model output to the desired cluster number, which is intended to improve the efficiency of image segmentation. The developed unsupervised DL pipeline was compared with other commonly-used image segmentation methods using pixel-wise and physics-based evaluation metrics on a synthetic raw-image dataset, which had a known ground truth. The unsupervised DL pipeline showed the best performance. Next, the segmented images were input to an automatic CA measurement tool, and the results were validated by comparisons with manual measurements. The CA values from the manual and automatic measurements showed similar distributions and statistical properties. The automatic measurement demonstrated a wider spectrum because of the much larger number of measurement data points. The primary novelty of the unsupervised DL pipeline developed in this study lies in the novel loss function and the over-segmentation strategy associated with AHC post-processing. Finally, the workflow has been proven an efficient tool for pore-scale wettability characterization, which has a wide range of applications in fundamental studies of multiphase flows in natural porous media, which have critical implications to geological carbon sequestration, hydrocarbon energy recovery, and contaminant transport in groundwater.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Reconstruction of sediment supply and transport behind the Elwha River dams

The Elwha River watershed in Washington State’s Olympic National Park is predominantly a steep mountainous landscape where dominant geomorphic processes include landslides, debris flows, and gullying. The removal of the two massive hydropower dams along the Elwha River in 2013 marked the largest global dam removal in history. Over the century-long lifespan of the dams, approximately 21 million cubic meters of sediment was impounded behind them. In this study, we test different approaches to reconstructing sediment supply and delivery to the Elwha dams throughout their lifespan. Available observational data that aid in this approach include DEM, channel morphology, meteorology, and streamflow and sediment discharge. We analyze the performance of three numerical modeling constructs — Cases I, II, and III — in predicting historic reservoir sediment yields in the Elwha River watershed. In Case I, we use a sediment rating curve approach and improve upon a published sediment rating curve (Curran et al., 2009) for the Elwha River using a modified, calibrated version of the Wilcock & Crowe (2003) sediment transport equation. In Cases II and III we use a network model that we have developed which connects processes of sediment supply from hillslopes with sediment detachment and transport at stream links of a channel network. The model is driven by streamflow and sediment forcings which can be of varying complexity. In Case II, the network model is driven by stochastic streamflow forcings that require simple input data and parameterization. In Case III, the network model is driven by physically-based model outputs of streamflow from a physically-based distributed model, DHSVM. Using these three cases, we strive to answer the questions: Is using a watershed network model warranted in predicting dam sedimentation? If so, what level of complexity is needed in the driving streamflow and sediment forcings? Is a rating curve approach adequate and robust enough for predicting dam sedimentation, particularly with expected changes in environmental conditions? Cases I, II, and III in this report require further calibration before these questions can fully be answered, however are valuable “proof-of-concept” models. We show that our uncalibrated modeling results along with the insights we have developed provide a promising path in moving forward to answer these questions.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Forward flux sampling calculation of homogeneous nucleation rates from aqueous NaCl solutions

We used molecular dynamics simulations and the path sampling technique known as forward flux sampling to study homogeneous nucleation of NaCl crystals from supersaturated aqueous solutions at 298 K and 1 bar. Nucleation rates were obtained for a range of salt concentrations for the Joung-Cheatham NaCl force field combined with the Extended Simple Point Charge (SPC/E) water model. The calculated nucleation rates are significantly lower than the available experimental measurements. The estimates for the nucleation rates in this work do not rely on classical nucleation theory, but the pathways observed in the simulations suggest that the nucleation process is better described by classical nucleation theory than an alternative interpretation based on Ostwald’s step rule, in contrast to some prior simulations of related models. In addition to the size of NaCl nucleus, we find that the crystallinity of a nascent cluster plays an important role in the nucleation process. Nuclei with high crystallinity were found to have higher growth probability and longer lifetimes, possibly because they are less exposed to hydration water.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Constraining the Twomey effect from satellite observations: issues and perspectives

Abstract. The Twomey effect describes the radiative forcing associated with a change in cloud albedo due to an increase in anthropogenic aerosol emissions. It is driven by the perturbation in cloud droplet number concentration (ΔNd, ant) in liquid-water clouds and is currently understood to exert a cooling effect on climate. The Twomey effect is the key driver in the effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions, but rapid adjustments also contribute. These adjustments are essentially the responses of cloud fraction and liquid water path to ΔNd, ant and thus scale approximately with it. While the fundamental physics of the influence of added aerosol particles on the droplet concentration (Nd) is well described by established theory at the particle scale (micrometres), how this relationship is expressed at the large-scale (hundreds of kilometres) perturbation, ΔNd, ant, remains uncertain. The discrepancy between process understanding at particle scale and insufficient quantification at the climate-relevant large scale is caused by co-variability of aerosol particles and updraught velocity and by droplet sink processes. These operate at scales on the order of tens of metres at which only localised observations are available and at which no approach yet exists to quantify the anthropogenic perturbation. Different atmospheric models suggest diverse magnitudes of the Twomey effect even when applying the same anthropogenic aerosol emission perturbation. Thus, observational data are needed to quantify and constrain the Twomey effect. At the global scale, this means satellite data. There are four key uncertainties in determining ΔNd, ant, namely the quantification of (i) the cloud-active aerosol – the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations at or above cloud base, (ii) Nd, (iii) the statistical approach for inferring the sensitivity of Nd to aerosol particles from the satellite data and (iv) uncertainty in the anthropogenic perturbation to CCN concentrations, which is not easily accessible from observational data. This review discusses deficiencies of current approaches for the different aspects of the problem and proposes several ways forward: in terms of CCN, retrievals of optical quantities such as aerosol optical depth suffer from a lack of vertical resolution, size and hygroscopicity information, non-direct relation to the concentration of aerosols, difficulty to quantify it within or below clouds, and the problem of insufficient sensitivity at low concentrations, in addition to retrieval errors. A future path forward can include utilising co-located polarimeter and lidar instruments, ideally including high-spectral-resolution lidar capability at two wavelengths to maximise vertically resolved size distribution information content. In terms of Nd, a key problem is the lack of operational retrievals of this quantity and the inaccuracy of the retrieval especially in broken-cloud regimes. As for the Nd-to-CCN sensitivity, key issues are the updraught distributions and the role of Nd sink processes, for which empirical assessments for specific cloud regimes are currently the best solutions. These considerations point to the conclusion that past studies using existing approaches have likely underestimated the true sensitivity and, thus, the radiative forcing due to the Twomey effect.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Arrangement for a gas turbine combustion engine

An arrangement (10) for delivering gases from combustors (15) to a first row of blades. The arrangement (10) includes at least an upstream flow path (60) including an aft first side wall (64) and a downstream flow path (62) including a forward second side wall (66). A convergence junction trailing edge (40) is defined at a downstream terminal edge (41) of the first side wall (64), and the second side wall (66) converges toward the first side wall (64) in the direction of the convergence junction trailing edge (40). An impingement sheet structure (78) is located between and provides impingement cooling air to the first and second side walls (64, 66). Openings (88) provide a cooling air passage between the first and second side walls (64, 66) and provide a flow of post impingement air into the gas path at the convergence junction trailing edge (40).

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Heterogeneous current collector in lithium-ion battery for thermal-runaway mitigation

Current collector accounts for more than 90% of the electric conductivity and ∼90% of the mechanical strength of the electrode in lithium-ion battery (LIB). Usually, current collectors are smooth metallic thin films. In the current study, we show that if the current collector is heterogeneous, the heat generation becomes negligible when the LIB cell is subjected to mechanical abuse. The phenomenon is attributed to the guided strain concentration, which promotes the separation of the forward and the return paths of internal short circuit. As the internal impedance drastically increases, the stored electric energy cannot be dissipated as thermal energy. The modification of current collector does not affect the cycling performance of the LIB cell. This finding enables advanced thermal-runaway mitigation techniques for high-energy, large-scale energy storage systems.

Wang, Meng↗
DOE OSTI2015

Nuclear reactions from lattice QCD

In this study, one of the overarching goals of nuclear physics is to rigorously compute properties of hadronic systems directly from the fundamental theory of strong interactions, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). In particular, the hope is to perform reliable calculations of nuclear reactions which will impact our understanding of environments that occur during big bang nucleosynthesis, the evolution of stars and supernovae, and within nuclear reactors and high energy/density facilities. Such calculations, being truly ab initio, would include all two-nucleon and three- nucleon (and higher) interactions in a consistent manner. Currently, lattice QCD provides the only reliable option for performing calculations of some of the low-energy hadronic observables. With the aim of bridging the gap between lattice QCD and nuclear many-body physics, the Institute for Nuclear Theory held a workshop on Nuclear Reactions from Lattice QCD on March 2013. In this review article, we report on the topics discussed in this workshop and the path planned to move forward in the upcoming years.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Finite-size effects on the radiative energy loss of a fast parton in hot and dense strongly interacting matter

We consider finite-size effects on the radiative energy loss of a fast parton moving in a finite-temperature, strongly interacting medium, using the light-cone path integral formalism put forward by B. G. Zakharov [JETP Lett. 63, 952 (1996); 65, 615 (1997)]. We present a convenient reformulation of the problem that makes possible its exact numerical analysis. This is done by introducing the concept of a radiation rate in the presence of finite-size effects. This effectively extends the finite-temperature approach of Arnold, Moore, and Yaffe [J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2001) 057; 12 (2001) 009; 06 (2001) 030] (AMY) to include interference between vacuum and medium radiation. We compare results with those obtained in the regime considered by AMY, with those obtained at leading order in an opacity expansion, and with those obtained deep in the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal regime.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Feed-forward spectral calibration methodology for line-scanned tunable laser absorption spectroscopy

A generalized feed-forward method for accurate tunable laser absorption spectroscopy includes generating a laser beam. The generated laser beam is directed down a reference path and a test/sample path. One or more parameters are extracted from the reference path. The one or more parameters, extracted from the reference path, are used as feed-forward, to adjust spectral analysis of the test/sample path to detect a composition and/or concentration of an analyte gas within the test/sample path. The extraction of the one or more parameters from the reference path and the spectral analysis of the test/sample path are performed substantially concurrently.

Green, William↗
DOE OSTI2020

Flow through suppressor with enhanced flow dynamics

An improved firearm suppressor is provided. The firearm suppressor generally includes a primary flow path and a secondary flow path. The primary flow path is centrally disposed within the suppressor and includes multiple internal chambers that are separated by conical baffles. The secondary flow path is helically disposed within the firearm suppressor. A diverter directs a portion of the propellant gas rearward, over a firearm barrel, before entering spiral lanes in the forward direction. The primary flow path slows the movement of propellant gas escaping through a projectile exit port, while the secondary flow path slows the movement of propellant gas escaping through a plurality of propellant gas exit ports.

42 ENGINEERING↗