Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “LAB”

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 793 records · Page 44
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Caltech Lab Experiments and the Insights They Provide Into Solar Corona Phenomena

A comprehensive overview of two decades of Caltech experiments relevant to solar corona physics is presented. The extent to which the experiments scale to the solar corona, the basic configurations and operation, and the importance of the magnetic force J × B common to all the experiments is discussed. Summaries are given of the various configurations used, the main observations, and interpretations of these observations, including new models developed to provide these interpretations. Topics include observations and explanations for flux rope self-collimation, axial flows along flux ropes, eruption of arched flux ropes, strapping magnetic fields that inhibit eruption, the torus instability, and effects such as X-ray emission of a kink-driven secondary Rayleigh-Taylor instability.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Monitoring Fracture Hydromechanical Evolution in the Lab and Field Using Unsupervised Metric Learning

Fractures evolve in time through thermal‐hydraulic‐mechanical‐chemical (THMC) processes that alter their long‐range hydraulic transport properties and modify subsurface behavior and activities. The location of subsurface fractures makes it necessary to use remote sensing techniques such as passive or active seismic monitoring for fracture characterization. In this paper, we develop a machine learning approach to monitor the evolution of fracture properties using passive seismic sources in a laboratory setting and using active seismic monitoring from the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, at a depth of 1.25 km in amphibolite rock during stimulation of natural fractures as well as during induced fracturing. The unsupervised metric learning technique applies tandem neural networks (twin (Siamese) or triplet) with contrastive loss and adaptive margins to track slowly varying systems for which class or similarity labels are not available. The approach adopts locality‐sensitive hashing to divide time‐ordered contiguous data into an arbitrary number of pseudo‐classes. Contrastive‐loss training with many hash bins generates an evolving latent‐space trajectory. This approach enables unsupervised metric learning for seismic data stacks under the condition of contiguous state sampling and slowly varying fracture properties. The displacement discontinuity theory provides a mechanistic foundation for the fracture‐dependent trajectories that are related to relaxation of fractures with time‐dependent specific stiffness responding to changes in stress or fluid saturation.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2023

Using a physics-informed neural network and fault zone acoustic monitoring to predict lab earthquakes

Abstract Predicting failure in solids has broad applications including earthquake prediction which remains an unattainable goal. However, recent machine learning work shows that laboratory earthquakes can be predicted using micro-failure events and temporal evolution of fault zone elastic properties. Remarkably, these results come from purely data-driven models trained with large datasets. Such data are equivalent to centuries of fault motion rendering application to tectonic faulting unclear. In addition, the underlying physics of such predictions is poorly understood. Here, we address scalability using a novel Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN). Our model encodes fault physics in the deep learning loss function using time-lapse ultrasonic data. PINN models outperform data-driven models and significantly improve transfer learning for small training datasets and conditions outside those used in training. Our work suggests that PINN offers a promising path for machine learning-based failure prediction and, ultimately for improving our understanding of earthquake physics and prediction.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Science acceleration and accessibility with self-driving labs

In the evolving landscape of scientific research, the complexity of global challenges demands innovative approaches to experimental planning and execution. Self-Driving Laboratories (SDLs) automate experimental tasks in chemical and materials sciences and the design and selection of experiments to optimize research processes and reduce material usage. This perspective explores improving access to SDLs via centralized facilities and distributed networks. We discuss the technical and collaborative challenges in realizing SDLs’ potential to enhance human–machine and human–human collaboration, ultimately fostering a more inclusive research community and facilitating previously untenable research projects.

Canty, Richard B. [North Carolina State University↗
DOE OSTI2023

Towards linking lab and field lifetimes of perovskite solar cells

Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represent a promising low-cost, thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technology, with unprecedented power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) obtained for both single-junction and tandem applications. To push PSCs toward commercialization, it is critical, albeit challenging, to understand device reliability under real-world outdoor conditions where multiple stress factors (e.g., light, heat, humidity) coexist, generating complicated degradation behaviors. It is necessary to identify accelerated indoor testing protocols - which can correlate specific stressors with observed degradation modes in fielded devices - to quickly guide PSC development. Here, we use a state-of-the-art p-i-n PSC stack (with PCE up to ~25.5%) to show that indoor accelerated stability tests can predict our 6-month outdoor aging tests. Device degradation rates under illumination and at elevated temperatures are most instructive for understanding outdoor device reliability. Further, we also find that the indium tin oxide (ITO)/self-assembled monolayer (SAM)-based hole transport layer (HTL)/perovskite interface most strongly affects our device operation stability. Improving the ion-blocking properties of the SAM HTL increases averaged device operational stability at 50 degree C-85 °C by a factor of ~2.8, reaching over 1000 h at 85 °C and to near 8200 h at 50 °C with a projected 20% degradation, which is among the best to date for high-efficiency p-i-n PSCs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Toward Active-Matrix Lab-On-A-Chip: Programmable Electrofluidic control Enaled by Arrayed Oxide Thin Film Transistors

Agile micro- and nano-fluidic control is critical to numerous life science and chemical science synthesis as well as kinetic and thermodynamic studies. To this end, we have demonstrated the use of thin film transistor arrays as an active matrix addressing method to control an electrofluidic array. Because the active matrix method minimizes the number of control lines necessary (m + n lines for the m x n element array), the active matrix addressing method integrated with an electrofluidic platform can be a significant breakthrough for complex electrofluidic arrays (increased size or resolution) with enhanced function, agility and programmability. An amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) semiconductor active layer is used because of its high mobility of 1-15 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1}, low-temperature processing and transparency for potential spectroscopy and imaging. Several electrofluidic functionalities are demonstrated using a simple 2 x 5 electrode array connected to a 2 x 5 IGZO thin film transistor array with the semiconductor channel width of 50 {mu}m and mobility of 6.3 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1}. Additionally, using the TFT device characteristics, active matrix addressing schemes are discussed as the geometry of the electrode array can be tailored to act as a storage capacitor element. Finally, requisite material and device parameters are discussed in context with a VGA scale active matrix addressed electrofluidic platform.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Space and time-resolved probing of heterogeneous catalysis reactions using lab-on-a-chip

Probing catalytic reactions on a catalyst surface in real time is a major challenge. In this paper, we demonstrate the utility of a continuous flow millifluidic chip reactor coated with a nanostructured gold catalyst as an effective platform for in situ investigation of the kinetics of catalytic reactions by taking 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) conversion as a model reaction. The idea conceptualized in this paper can not only dramatically change the ability to probe the time-resolved kinetics of heterogeneous catalysis reactions but also used for investigating other chemical and biological catalytic processes, thereby making this a broad platform for probing reactions as they occur within continuous flow reactors.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Colloidal quantum dot based infrared detectors: extending to the mid-infrared and moving from the lab to the field

Quantum dots (QDs) that absorb in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) regime (3–5 μm) have recently generated significant interest as possible detector materials for MWIR cameras, with promises to reduce materials and device fabrication costs and potentially increase device operating temperatures. However, these materials have been primarily explored in single pixel devices – not multi-pixel cameras – and their current performance lags behind that of commercially available MWIR cameras based on single crystalline materials. To realize the potential of QD MWIR photodetectors with imaging capabilities, improvements are needed in the quality of the MWIR-absorbing QD materials, ligands dictating inter-QD charge transport, ordering of QD films, device architectures, and scalability of these methods to larger areas. With three families of QDs being researched – lead-, silver-, and mercury-based chalcogenides – as well as a multitude of possible capping ligands and film deposition techniques, the experimental phase space for MWIR QDs is vast. Here, we provide a roadmap, considering the pros and cons of various film deposition and ligand exchange techniques, as well as reintroduce lessons learned over years of research on QD film formation. We also extracted and created a database of reported quantum dot photodetectors’ performance and fabrication methods and have developed an interactive data visualization dashboard for this database, which provides researchers in the field a quick snapshot of the existing state of the art. Finally, we outline figures of merit and information that should be presented in papers moving forward which would help to clarify the reported results, as well as offer ideas for future steps. We provide a database visualization of the QD photodetector literature at https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/tom.nakotte/viz/IRQDphotodetectors_16384709473480/Dashboard1#1.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

The Proton Form Factor Ratio Measurements at Jefferson Lab

The ratio of the proton form factors, G{sub Ep}/G{sub Mp}, has been measured from Q{sup 2} of 0.5 GeV{sup 2} to 8.5 GeV{sup 2}, at the Jefferson Laboratory, using the polarization transfer method. This ratio is extracted directly from the measured ratio of the transverse and longitudinal polarization components of the recoiling proton in elastic electron-proton scattering. The discovery that the proton form factor ratio measured in these experiments decreases approximately linearly with four-momentum transfer, Q{sup 2}, for values above ~1 GeV{sup 2}, is one of the most significant results to come out of JLab. These results have had a large impact on progress in hadronic physics; and have required a significant rethinking of nucleon structure. The increasingly common use of the double-polarization technique to measure the nucleon form factors, in the last 15 years, has resulted in a dramatic improvement of the quality of all four nucleon electromagnetic form factors, G{sub Ep}, G{sub Mp}, G{sub En} and G{sub Mn}. There is an approved experiment at JLab, GEP(V), to continue the ratio measurements to 12 GeV{sup 2}. A dedicated experimental setup, the Super Bigbite Spectrometer (SBS), will be built for this purpose. It will be equipped with a focal plane polarimeter to measure the polarization of the recoil protons. The scattered electrons will be detected in an electromagnetic calorimeter. In this presentation, I will review the status of the proton elastic electromagnetic form factors and discuss a number of theoretical approaches to describe nucleon form factors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Test of the GEM Front Tracker for the SBS Spectrometer at Jefferson Lab

A new Large-Acceptance Forward Angle Spectrometer (Super BigBite) is under development at JLab/Hall A to optimally exploit the exciting opportunities o?ered by the 12 GeV upgrade of the electron beam. The tracker of this new apparatus is based on the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) technology, which has been chosen to optimize cost/performance, position resolution and to meet the high hit rate (>1 MHz/cm2). The first GEM detector modules, designed and built by the INFN Collaboration JLAB12, were tested at the DESY test beam facility in Hamburg, by using an electron beam with energy ranging from 2.0 to 6.0 GeV. In particular, two 40x50 cm2 and one 10x10 cm2 GEM chambers were equipped with a new implementation of the APV25 readout chip. Measurements were performed at di?erent impact points and angles between the electron beam and the plane of the GEM chambers, with one large chamber in a solenoid magnetic field up to 500 Gauss. In this report we present the technical characteristics of the detector and comment on the presently achieved performance.

Mammoliti, F.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Overview of Nucleon Form Factor Experiments with 12 GeV at Jefferson Lab

Since the R. Hofstadter pioneering experiments in the '50s, the measurements of the electromagnetic space-like nucleon form factors (FF's) have been a precious source of information for the understanding of the internal structure of the nucleons. In the last 15 years, the polarization transfer experiments at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) have undermined our view of the mechanism of the electron scattering and renewed critical interest in the FF measurements. In the coming years, JLab, with its upgraded 12 GeV polarized, high intensity, electron beam combined to new targets and readout equipments, will offer unprecedented opportunities to extend the current proton and neutron FF's measurements to higher momentum transfer Q{sup 2} and to improve statistical and uncertainties at lower Q{sup 2}, where the nucleon size can be accurately investigated. The measurements at high Q{sup 2} will provide also new insights on the elusive quark orbital angular momenta, will contribute to constraint two of the nucleon Generalized Parton Distributions that are expected to describe more consistently the nucleon structure, and in general will test the validity of quite a few fundamental nucleon models in a region of transition between perturbative and non perturbative regimes. A selection of the relevant properties of the FF's, and the main results of JLab are shortly reviewed; the new proposed and approved experiments on FF's at JLab are presented addressing some key details, the expected experimental achievements and the new equipment designed for them.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

APEX: A Prime EXperiment at Jefferson Lab

APEX is an experiment at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in Virginia, USA, that searches for a new gauge boson (A') with sub-GeV mass and coupling to ordinary matter of g' ~ (10 -6 - 10 -2 )e. Electrons impinge upon a fixed target of high-Z material. An A' is produced via a process analogous to photon bremsstrahlung, decaying to an e + e - pair. A test run was held in July of 2010, covering m A' = 175 to 250 MeV and couplings g'/e > 10{sup -3}. A full run is approved and will cover m A ' ~65 to 525 MeV and g'/e > 2.3 × 10 -4 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗