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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 865 records · Page 48
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

The engine reformer: Syngas production in an engine for compact gas‐to‐liquids synthesis

Methane (CH 4 ) reforming was carried out in an internal combustion engine (an “engine reformer”). We successfully produced syngas from the partial oxidation of natural gas in the cylinder of a diesel engine that was reconfigured to perform spark ignition. Performing the reaction in an engine cylinder allows some of the exothermicity to be captured as useful work. Intake conditions of 110 kPa and up to 480 °C allowed low cycle‐to‐cycle variability ( COV nimep < 20 %) at methane‐air equivalence ratios ( ϕ M ) of 2.0, producing syngas with an H 2 ‐to‐CO ratio of 1.4. Spark ignition timing was varied between 45–30° before top‐dead‐center (BTDC) piston position, showing significant improvement with delayed timing. Hydrogen (H 2 ) and ethane (C 2 H 6 ) were added to simulate recycle from a downstream synthesis reactor and realistic natural gas compositions, respectively. Adding these gases yielded a stable combustion up to hydrocarbon‐air equivalence ratios ( ϕ HC ) of 2.8 with COV nimep < 5 %. Ethane concentrations (with respect to methane) of up to 0.2 L/L (20 vol%) (with and without H 2 ) produced robust and stable combustions, demonstrating that the engine can be operated across a range of natural gas compositions. Engine exhaust soot concentrations demonstrated elevated values at ϕ HC > 2.4, but < 1 mg/L below these equivalence ratios. These results demonstrate that the engine reformer could be a key component of a compact gas‐to‐liquids synthesis plant by highlighting the operating conditions under which high gas conversion, high H 2‐ to‐CO ratios close to 2.0, and low soot production are possible.

Lim, Emmanuel G.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development of a Printable Prill Formulation Technique and Demonstration of Monomodal Prill Size on Compaction Density and Compressive Strength

Polymer-bonded explosive molding powder, or “prills,” are relied on for the fabrication of pressed high explosives since the 1950's. The wet granulation technique, also known as “slurry coating,” that is used to formulate prills, is a complex process that results in polydisperse and variable yields. This makes it difficult to study the mesoscale effect that prills have on the microstructure of a pressed article. The following study introduces a novel approach to energetic granulation that leverages techniques used in the additive manufacturing of paste-like energetic materials. This extrusion granulation, or prill printing technique, makes it possible to tailor the sizes and shapes of prills, allowing for their morphological influences to be studied in a controlled manner. The following work details the fabrication and characterization of four monomodal size lots of prills using an inert formulation (95 wt.% melamine, 5 wt.% polymer binder). Prills from each size lot were die-pressed using a fixed recipe to investigate how prill size impacts compaction density and therefore compressive strength. It was found that larger prills influence the pressing density by creating larger defects within the microstructure of a pressed article, resulting in a decrease in compressive strength.

direct ink write↗
DOE OSTI2016

Simple and compact expressions for neutrino oscillation probabilities in matter

We reformulate perturbation theory for neutrino oscillations in matter with an expansion parameter related to the ratio of the solar to the atmospheric Δm 2 scales. Unlike previous works, use a renormalized basis in which certain first-order effects are taken into account in the zeroth-order Hamiltonian. Using this perturbation theory we derive extremely compact expressions for the neutrino oscillations probabilities in matter. We find, for example, that the ν e disappearance probability at this order is of a simple two flavor form with an appropriately identified mixing angle and Δm 2 . Furthermore, despite exceptional simplicity in their forms they accommodate all order effects θ 13 and the matter potential.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Enhanced Higgs mass in Compact Supersymmetry

The current LHC results make weak scale supersymmetry difficult due to relatively heavy mass of the discovered Higgs boson and the null results of new particle searches. Geometrical supersymmetry breaking from extra dimensions, Scherk-Schwarz mechanism, is possible to accommodate such situations. A concrete example, the Compact Supersymmetry model, has a compressed spectrum ameliorating the LHC bounds and large mixing in the top and scalar top quark sector with (Formula presented.) which radiatively raises the Higgs mass. And while the zero mode contribution of the model has been considered, in this paper we calculate the Kaluza-Klein tower effect to the Higgs mass. Although such contributions are naively expected to be as small as a percent level for 10 TeV Kaluza-Klein modes, we find the effect significantly enhances the radiative correction to the Higgs quartic coupling by from 10 to 50%. This is mainly because the top quark wave function is pushed out from the brane, which makes the top mass depend on higher powers in the Higgs field. And, as a result the Higgs mass is enhanced up to 15 GeV from the previous calculation. We also show the whole parameter space is testable at the LHC run II.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hidden-charm and bottom tetra- and pentaquarks with strangeness in the hadro-quarkonium and compact tetraquark models

In two recent papers, we used the hadro-quarkonium model to study the properties of hiddencharm and bottom tetraquarks and pentaquarks. Here, we extend the previous results and calculate the masses of heavy-quarkonium-kaon/hyperon systems. We also compute the spectrum of hiddencharm and bottom tetraquarks with strangeness in the compact tetraquark (diquark-antidiquark) model. If heavy-light exotic systems with non-null strangeness content were to be observed experimentally, it might be possible to distinguish among the large variety of available theoretical pictures for tetra- and pentaquark states and, possibly, rule out those which are not compatible with the data.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Compact perturbative expressions for neutrino oscillations in matter

We further develop and extend a recent perturbative framework for neutrino oscillations in uniform matter density so that the resulting oscillation probabilities are accurate for the complete matter potential versus baseline divided by neutrino energy plane. This extension also gives the exact oscillation probabilities in vacuum for all values of baseline divided by neutrino energy. The expansion parameter used is related to the ratio of the solar to the atmospheric $\Delta m^2$ scales but with a unique choice of the atmospheric $\Delta m^2$ such that certain first-order effects are taken into account in the zeroth-order Hamiltonian. Using a mixing matrix formulation, this framework has the exceptional feature that the neutrino oscillation probability in matter has the same structure as in vacuum, to all orders in the expansion parameter. It also contains all orders in the matter potential and $\sin\theta_{13}$. It facilitates immediate physical interpretation of the analytic results, and makes the expressions for the neutrino oscillation probabilities extremely compact and very accurate even at zeroth order in our perturbative expansion. Furthermore, the first and second order results are also given which improve the precision by approximately two or more orders of magnitude per perturbative order.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Characteristic Functions and Compactness of Distributions of Sums of Independent Random Variables

The sequences of distributions of centered sums of independent random variables are considered within the framework of the series scheme, without assuming the classical conditions for uniform asymptotic smallness and uniform limit constancy. Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for relative and stochastic compactness of such sequences in terms of the characteristic functions of summable random variables and with using their τ-centers.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Algebraically Compact Abelian Groups with UA-Rings of Endomorphisms

A ring K is said to be a unique addition ring (UA-ring) if on its multiplicative semigroup (K, ·) it is possible to set only one binary operation of + turning (K, ·, +) into a ring. We call an Abelian group an End-UA-group if its endomorphism ring is a UA-ring. In this paper, End-UA-groups are found in a class of algebraically compact Abelian groups.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Tribological Characterization of SiC and B{sub 4}C Manufactured by Plasma Pressure Compaction

The objective of the present study was to assess the tribological properties and the wear behavior of silicon carbide and boron carbide ceramics, produced by the plasma pressure compaction sintering process. Reciprocating sliding tests were executed to evaluate the tribological behavior of silicon carbide and boron carbide. Samples of each material with distinct values of surface roughness Ra were tested. Wear mass loss, coefficients of friction and wear mechanism of the boron carbide and silicon carbide were evaluated by means of microscopes and an energy-dispersive spectroscopy probe. The coefficient of friction of the evaluated boron carbide was found to be 0.8, and the surface roughness affects only the starting transient, while for silicon carbide the steady-state value ranges from 0.5 to 0.8 depending on the roughness value Ra.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Compact space and infrared behavior of the effective QCD

Highlights: • Infrared regime of the effective theory in the new quadratic gauge on 4-sphere is investigated. • Abelian dominance is observed in the ghost condensed vacuum of this theory on 4-sphere. • Curvature of 4-sphere does not change the infrared behavior of present theory on 4-sphere from that of the quadratic gauge fixed theory in Euclidean spacetime. • Mass of an off-diagonal gluon on 4-sphere becomes position dependent as a consequence of curvature of 4-sphere. We aim to investigate the infrared regime in the effective theory of the new quadratic gauge in the physical compact space by defining it on 4-sphere. Abelian dominance is characterized by off-diagonal gluons acquiring dynamical masses and it hints at existence of confinement. We do observe Abelian dominance in the ghost condensed vacuum of this theory on 4-sphere. Along with this observation, we find an unusual result that mass of an off-diagonal gluon on 4-sphere is position dependent in this theory as a consequence of the curved geometry. This suggests that the curvature of 4-sphere does not change the infrared behavior of present theory on 4-sphere from that of the theory with the same quadratic gauge in Euclidean spacetime as Abelian dominance is observed in Euclidean spacetime too while it has caused mass of an off-diagonal gluon on 4-sphere to be position dependent. The effective action in the confined phase on 4-sphere and that in the 4-dim Euclidean space are found to be identical in a profound outcome.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

A compact mechanical power take-off for wave energy converters: Design, analysis, and test verification

Power Take-off (PTO) is one of the most critical components in the ocean wave conversion. This paper introduces an innovative compact mechanical PTO using a ball screw mechanism and a Mechanical Motion Rectifier (MMR) to improve the energy conversion performance. The proposed MMR PTO converts bidirectional oscillatory motion of the ocean waves into unidirectional rotation. The detailed design and working principle of the MMR PTO are explicitly explained. Dynamic analysis is presented for the three most important factors that influence the performance, including the equivalent mass, the equivalent damping, and the excitation frequency. The analytical relationship between these factors and the disengaged freewheeling motion caused by the MMR mechanism is derived, and the analytical solution is verified through dry lab testing. Experimental results in bench tests show that compared with the traditional linear PTO which use the ball screw to drive the generator directly, the MMR PTO is more efficient because of the unique freewheeling motion, achieving a maximum 81.2% energy transfer efficiency. After integrating the prototype PTO with a single-body point absorber type of wave energy converter, testing in a water tank yields total PTO efficiency up to 62.4%, showing a very promising potential for real applications.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2021

Economic solution for low carbon process heat: A horizontal, compact high temperature gas reactor

In 2018, nuclear energy generated 55% of United States’ and one third of the world’s carbon free electricity, making nuclear energy a key tool in efforts to mitigate climate change before 2050. However, the current nuclear technology, light water reactors (LWRs), is limited to 300°C, so it cannot be used to decarbonize industrial process heat which accounts for 12% of US greenhouse gas emissions. High temperature gas reactors (HTGRs) can meet the high temperature demand with carbon free nuclear heat. The estimated cost of HTGRs, such as the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), are even higher than state-of-the-art LWRs. In this paper, we expanded our nuclear cost estimating tool to include HTGRs and find that the NGNP overnight capital costs were 32% higher than an advanced LWR per unit capacity. The higher cost will naturally result in larger risk to cost overrun as recently experienced by larger LWRs in western nations. With a design-to-build mindset to minimize cost and construction risk, we introduce the horizontal, compact HTGR (HC-HTGR). The reactor core and steam generator are mounted horizontally on rails and in-line with one another, decreasing the size of the reactor building relative to the power capacity four times when compared to traditional HTGRs. The HC-HTGR reduced overnight civil structure costs by 42%, indirect costs by 38%, and total capital costs by 20% from NGNP. We discussed the required engineering of new systems for the HC-HTGR including vessel supports, the reactor cavity cooling system, and steam generator design. Finally, we estimated the fuel and operations costs of the HC-HTGR, and a survey of low-carbon industrial process heat technology showed the HC-HTGR can deliver a highly competitive levelized cost of heat in the range of $6.13–12.48/GJ.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2016

eBits: Compact stream of mesh refinements for remote visualization

Here, we focus on applications where a remote client needs to visualize or process a complex, manifold triangle mesh, M , but only in a relatively small, user controlled, Region of Interest (RoI) at a time. The client first downloads a coarse base mesh , pre-computed on the server via a series of simplification passes on M , one per Level of Detail (LoD), each pass identifying an independent set of triangles, collapsing them, and, for each collapse, storing, in a Vertex Expansion Record (VER), the information needed to reverse the collapse. On each client initiated RoI modification request, the server pushes to the client a selected subset of these VERs, which, when decoded and applied to refine the mesh locally, ensure that the portion in the RoI is always at full resolution. The eBits approach proposed here offers state of the art compression ratios (using less than 2.5 bits per new full resolution RoI triangle when the RoI has more than 2000 vertices to transmit the connectivity for the selective refinements) and fine-grain control (allowing the user to adjust the RoI by small increments). The effectiveness of eBits results from several novel ideas and novel variations of previous solutions. We represent the VERs using persistent labels so that they can be applied in different orders within a given LoD. The server maintains a shadow copy of the client’s mesh. To avoid sending IDs identifying which vertices should be expanded, we either transmit, for each new vertex, a compact encoding of its death tag –the LoD at which it will be expanded if it lies in the Rol–or transmit vertex masks for the RoI and its neighboring vertices. We also propose a three-step simplification that reduces the overall transmission cost by increasing both the simplification effectiveness and the regularity of the valences in the resulting meshes.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Stellar decomposition: A compact representation for simplicial complexes and beyond

Here, we introduce the Stellar decomposition, a model for efficient topological data structures over a broad range of simplicial and cell complexes. A Stellar decomposition of a complex is a collection of regions indexing the complex’s vertices and cells such that each region has sufficient information to locally reconstruct the star of its vertices, i.e., the cells incident in the region’s vertices. Stellar decompositions are general in that they can compactly represent and efficiently traverse arbitrary complexes with a manifold or non-manifold domain. They are scalable to complexes in high dimension and of large size, and they enable users to easily construct tailored application-dependent data structures using a fraction of the memory required by a corresponding global topological data structure on the complex. As a concrete realization of this model for spatially embedded complexes, we introduce the Stellar tree, which combines a nested spatial tree with a simple tuning parameter to control the number of vertices in a region. Stellar trees exploit the complex’s spatial locality by reordering vertex and cell indices according to the spatial decomposition and by compressing sequential ranges of indices. Stellar trees are competitive with state-of-the-art topological data structures for manifold simplicial complexes and offer significant improvements for cell complexes and non-manifold simplicial complexes. We conclude with a high-level description of several mesh processing and analysis applications that utilize Stellar trees to process large datasets.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

The influence of coarse aggregate size and volume on the fracture behavior and brittleness of self-compacting concrete

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on fracture characteristics and brittleness of self-compacting concrete (SCC), involving the tests of 185 three point bending beams with different coarse aggregate size and content. Generally, the parameters were analyzed by the work of fracture method (WFM) and the size effect method (SEM). The results showed that with increase of size and content of coarse aggregate, (a) the fracture energy increases which is due to the change in fractal dimensions, (b) behavior of SCC beams approaches strength criterion, (c) characteristic length, which is deemed as an index of brittleness, increases linearly. It was found with decrease of w/c ratio that fracture energy increases which may be explained by the improvement in structure of aggregate-paste transition zone. Also, the results showed that there is a correlation between the fracture energy measured by WFM (G{sub F}) and the value measured through SEM (G{sub f}) (G{sub F} = 3.11G{sub f})

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Monitoring steel fibre orientation in self-compacting cementitious composite slabs during pouring with dynamic X-ray radiography

This paper presents a new technique based on dynamic X-ray radiography that can be used to assess fibre orientation during pouring of steel fibre reinforced cementitious composites. Synthetic examples were used to assess the suitability and robustness of the technique, which was shown to provide reliable measurements of fibre orientation even when the signal-to-noise ratio is relatively high. A study was then carried out on the effect of formwork aspect ratio, time/duration of pouring, and rebar placement on the fibre orientation while pouring self-compacting cementitious composite slabs. Results demonstrated the ability of the technique in monitoring the movements of fibres while pouring, and the strong effect of the flow in inducing preferential fibre alignment within the slabs. Fibre orientation was found to vary progressively over time and could take about half of the duration of pouring to fully stabilise.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

High-order, stable, and conservative boundary schemes for central and compact finite differences

Stable and conservative numerical boundary schemes are constructed such that they do not diminish the overall accuracy of the method for interior schemes of orders 4, 6, and 8 using both explicit (central) and compact finite differences. Previous attempts to develop stable numerical boundary schemes for non-linear problems have resulted in schemes which significantly reduced the global accuracy and/or required some form of artificial dissipation. Thus, the schemes developed in this paper are the first to not require this tradeoff, while also ensuring discrete conservation and allowing for direct boundary condition enforcement. After outlining a general procedure for the construction of conservative boundary schemes of any order, a simple, yet novel, optimization strategy which focuses directly on the compressible Euler equations is presented. Furthermore, the result of this non-linear optimization process is a set of high-order, stable, and conservative numerical boundary schemes which demonstrate excellent stability and convergence properties on an array of linear and non-linear hyperbolic problems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗