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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 91 records · Page 5

AmeriFlux US-NYj NYSM - Queens

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-NYj NYSM - Queens. Site Description - Located in an urban setting. It is on a city rooftop. Obstructions within 100m include buildings, pavement. The soil type is N/A - Rooftop. This site is a part of the New York State Mesonet Flux Network, one of multiple subnetworks (e.g. Profiler, Snow) operated by the New York State Mesonet. It also operates as a NYC Profiler and Standard meteorological site.

Miller, Scott [University at Albany]↗

AmeriFlux US-NYn NYSM - Brooklyn

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-NYn NYSM - Brooklyn. Site Description - Located in an urban setting. It is on a city rooftop. Obstructions within 100m include buildings, pavement. The soil type is N/A - Rooftop. This site is a part of the New York State Mesonet Flux Network, one of multiple subnetworks (e.g. Profiler, Snow) operated by the New York State Mesonet. It also operates as a NYC Standard meteorological site.

Miller, Scott [University at Albany]↗

Compact, High-Power Superconducting Electron Linear Accelerators for MW Industrial Applications

Fermilab has developed a novel concept for an industrial electron linac using Nb₃Sn coating technology and conduction cooling. We will show the range of multi-cavity linac designs targeted toward various applications. We will also discuss technology development status with results on conduction cooling of SRF cavities based on cryocoolers, which removes the need for liquid Helium, thus making SRF technology accessible to industrial applications. These conduction-cooled linacs can generate electron beam energies up to 10 MeV in continuous-wave operation and can reach higher power (>=1 MW) by combing several modules. Compact and light enough to mount on mobile platforms, our machine is anticipated to enable new in-situ environmental remediation applications such as waste-water treatment for urban areas, X-ray medical device sterilization, and innovative pavement applications. We also show cost-economics and key R&D areas that much be addressed for a practical machine.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Project 57 Air Monitoring Report: (Jan 1 - Dec 31 2018)

During the late 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) (now the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE]) conducted a series of safety experiments to determine if a nuclear device subjected to a large conventional explosives detonation would result in a nuclear yield. The AEC obtained temporary use of a large portion of western Emigrant Valley from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for one of these experiments: Project 57. Following the Project 57 safety experiment, the AEC fenced the contaminated area and returned control of the surrounding land to the DOD. Emigrant Valley is part of the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). For safety and security reasons, access to the NTTR is controlled using both physical (i.e., fences) and administrative (e.g., signs and postings) controls. Therefore, the public cannot access the Project 57 site and there are no known human receptors that routinely access the site. Project 57 was detonated on April 24, 1957, in Emigrant Valley approximately 13 mi (21 km) northeast of the north end of Yucca Flat. This test was undertaken to develop: (1) a means of estimating immediate distribution and long-term redistribution of plutonium dispersed during a nonnuclear detonation; (2) biomedical evaluation techniques for use in likely plutonium-laden environments; (3) methods of decontaminating ground areas, pavements, and building materials; and (4) alpha survey instruments and field monitoring procedures to promptly estimate contaminant deposition. Although the test did not result in the fission of nuclear materials, it did disseminate plutonium across the ground surface. Various radiological surveys have been performed in the area since Project 57 was conducted. The AEC delineated the area containing radioactive material based on radioactivity surveys performed shortly after the test was conducted. A designated Contamination Area (CA), marked by a fence, was established later. The distribution of americium-241 (Am-241) in the area was determined again in a 1997 flyover, which showed Am-241 ranging from as much as 70,000 counts per second (cps) at ground zero to background (<70 cps). This survey also documented Am-241 radioactivity on the ground surface beyond the east side CA fence at levels of up to 150 cps. In 2007, the DOE expanded the CA by posting “Contamination Area” signs 200 ft to 400 ft (60 m to 120 m) beyond the original fence, which formed a new CA boundary.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Oregon Roadway CSZ Liquefaction and Landslide Impact Screening Analysis

The roadway transportation routes and the surrounding environments in Oregon will be subject to ground acceleration and potential associated deformation due to the propagation of waves of energy during a Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquake. Linear features such as highways may be subject to partial or complete disruption of their function resulting from ground deformations at and along the roadway. A potential source of these disruptions associated with a CSZ event are landslides and liquefaction in the soils along and beneath the highways and local roadways. The construction of the Oregon roadway system and urban development have occurred largely along the banks of the rivers—those along the Pacific coast, and along the valleys throughout the Oregon Coast Range and Cascade Mountains. These locations also represent areas where landslides and liquefaction have occurred historically, or may potentially occur in the future, presenting a significant vulnerability for the roadway system and dependent post-CSZ earthquake emergency response and recovery effort. Many of the Oregon areas with landslide- and liquefaction-prone soils have the potential to impact roadway transportation routes after a major earthquake causing delays in establishing routes to transport emergency response personnel and resources to impacted areas and communities. This report presents methods used to project the impacts that CSZ earthquake-induced landslides and liquefaction may have on roadways across Oregon. First, this report presents an approach for estimating the risk of landslides to Oregon roadways, and determining approximate reopening times. Second, this report presents a similar approach for estimating the risk of liquefaction-induced ground displacements to roadway pavements, also resulting in approximate reopening times for roadway segments. The outcomes of these two ground failure analyses serve as inputs to a broader analysis of CSZ earthquake impacts to Oregon’s surface transportation system and its ability to support post-disaster response and recovery activities, as part of the Oregon Transportation Systems Regional Resiliency Assessment Program project (CISA 2021).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Site 300 Small Firearms Training Facility Project Soil Sampling and Analysis Plan

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Project Management Office (PMO) is planning to execute a construction project at the Small Firearms Training Facility within LLNL's Experimental Test Site, Site 300 (S300). The proposed project will include extensive dirt work from a removal of a berm, the installation of a cinder block wall, and the replacement of a canopy and a fence with an access gate. This Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) outlines the procedures to collect environmental samples for the management and/or disposition of excess soil generated from the project site and geotechnical samples for building pad and pavement designs. This SAP has been prepared and is organized to be consistent with LLNL's Soil Screening and Management Plan (SSMP) (LLNL, 2021), as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Data Quality Objectives (DQO) programs (EPA, 2006).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

U328 Electrical Reliability Project Soil Sampling and Analysis Plan

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL’s) Project Management Office (PMO) is planning to install an underground electrical duct bank at the 3200 block of the Livermore Site (project). The proposed project will include a new electrical substation and feeders, demolition and replacement of the U328C utility building with a new structure to the west, re-routing of utilities, and update of the parking lot. This Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) outlines the procedures to collect and evaluate environmental samples for disposition of the excavated soil during the project and geotechnical samples for pavement design. This SAP has been prepared and is organized to be consistent with LLNL's Soils Screening and Management Plan (SSMP) (LLNL, 2022), as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Data Quality Objectives (DQO) process (EPA, 2006). In addition to the environmental samples, geotechnical samples will be collected by Consolidated Engineering Laboratories (CEL) on behalf of PMO. Geotechnical samples will be collected from a dedicated geotechnical boring location or co-located with environmental samples. Collection and evaluation of the geotechnical samples is determined by CEL and is therefore not discussed in this SAP.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Mechanisms for the Generation of Complex Fracture Networks: Observations From Slant Core, Analog Models, and Outcrop

We use observations of hydraulic fractures in core, outcrop attributes of natural hydraulic fractures, and analogue models, to address how hydraulic fracture networks evolve. A slant core from the Wolfcamp Formation—an unconventional shale hydrocarbon reservoir in the Permian Basin of West Texas—collected within 18 m and 30 m of two hydraulically stimulated horizontal wells, provided an opportunity to examine hydraulic fractures directly. In approximately 183 m of core, 309 calcite-sealed natural opening-mode fractures and 375 hydraulic fractures were identified. Many hydraulic fractures in the core show complex morphology, including twist-hackle segmentation, diversion, and bifurcation; these structures most commonly develop at lithological bed boundaries and mechanical heterogeneities such as natural fractures and concretions. An outcrop of bed-parallel pavements in the Cretaceous Boquillas Formation in West Texas contains opening-mode fractures that likely formed by natural hydraulic fracturing. Fracture traces provide evidence of twist-hackle segmentation, and are typically associated with bed boundaries and preexisting bed-parallel stylolites. A laboratory study of hydraulic fracturing of 33 synthetic blocks of gypsum and hydrostone revealed fracture steps, diversions, twist hackles, and multiple overlapping fractures together with information on fracture growth directions. These complexities in the fracture network were dominantly nucleated at inclusions used to simulate pre-existing fractures, and as a result of mechanical heterogeneity introduced by the wellbore and perforations. Collectively, our results show that complex fracture networks are produced in hydraulic fracturing of self-sourced reservoir strata. Mechanical stratigraphic boundaries and other heterogeneities are likely to enhance fracture network complexity through the processes of segmentation, diversion, and bifurcation. These processes create multiple fracture strands, resulting in an increased number of hydraulic fractures over those initiated, thereby increasing total fracture surface area. Our study provides insight into hydraulic fracture network propagation, and has applications for evaluation, completion, production, and fracture modeling of unconventional reservoirs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Vehicle Lateral Offset Estimation Using Infrastructure Information for Reduced Compute Load

Accurate perception of the driving environment and a highly accurate position of the vehicle are paramount to safe Autonomous Vehicle (AV) operation. AVs gather data about the environment using various sensors. For a robust perception and localization system, incoming data from multiple sensors is usually fused together using advanced computational algorithms, which historically requires a high-compute load. To reduce AV compute load and its negative effects on vehicle energy efficiency, we propose a new infrastructure information source (IIS) to provide environmental data to the AV. The new energy–efficient IIS, chip–enabled raised pavement markers are mounted along road lane lines and are able to communicate a unique identifier and their global navigation satellite system position to the AV. This new IIS is incorporated into an energy efficient sensor fusion strategy that combines its information with that from traditional sensor. IIS reduce the need for camera imaging, image processing, and LIDAR use and point cloud processing. We show that IIS, when combined with traditional sensors, results in more accurate perception and localization outcomes and a reduced AV compute load.

Sharma, Sachin↗

Assessing Resilience in Lane Detection Methods: Infrastructure-Based Sensors and Traditional Approaches for Autonomous Vehicles

Traditional autonomous vehicle perception subsystems that use onboard sensors have the drawbacks of high computational load and data duplication. Infrastructure-based sensors, which can provide high quality information without the computational burden and data duplication, are an alternative to traditional autonomous vehicle perception subsystems. However, these technologies are still in the early stages of development and have not been extensively evaluated for lane detection system performance. Therefore, there is a lack of quantitative data on their performance relative to traditional perception methods, especially during hazardous scenarios, such as lane line occlusion, sensor failure, and environmental obstructions. We address this need by evaluating the influence of hazards on the resilience of three different lane detection methods in simulation: (1) traditional camera detection using a U-Net algorithm, (2) radar detections using infrastructure-based radar retro-reflectors (RRs), and (3) direct communication of lane line information using chip-enabled raised pavement markers (CERPMs). The performance of each of these methods is assessed using resilience engineering metrics by simulating the individual methods for each sensor technology’s response to related hazards in the CARLA simulator. Using simulation techniques to replicate these methods and hazards acquires extensive datasets without lengthy time investments. Specifically, the resilience triangle was used to quantitatively measure the resilience of the lane detection system to obtain unique insights into each of the three lane detection methods; notably the infrastructure-based CERPMs and RRs had high resistance to hazards and were not as easily affected as the vision-based U-Net. However, while U-Net was able to recover the fastest from the disruption as compared to the other two methods, it also had the most performance loss. Overall, this study demonstrates that while infrastructure-based lane keeping technologies are still in early development, they have great potential as alternatives to traditional ones.

Patil, Pritesh↗

Phenomena of Pneumatic Tire Hydroplaning

Recent research on pneumatic tire hydroplaning has been collected and summarized with the aim of describing what is presently known about the phenomena of tire hydroplaning. A physical description of tire hydroplaning is given along with formulae for estimating the ground speed at which it occurs. Eight manifestations of tire hydroplaning which have been experimentally observed are presented and discussed. These manifestations are: detachment of tire footprint, hydrodynamic ground pressure, spin-down of wheel, suppression of tire bow wave, scouring action of escaping fluid in tire-ground footprint region, peaking of fluid displacement drag, loss in braking traction, and loss of tire directional stability. The vehicle, pavement, tire, and fluid parameters of importance to tire hydroplaning are listed and described. Finally, the hazards of tire hydroplaning to ground and air-vehicle-ground performance are listed, and procedures are given to minimize these effects.

HYDROPLANE↗

Runway slipperiness

Effects of runway contaminants and pavement surface properties on runway slipperiness

Horne, W. B.↗

Performance of an aircraft tire under cyclic braking and of a currently operational antiskid braking system

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the performance of an aircraft tire under cyclic braking conditions and to study the performance of a currently operational aircraft antiskid braking system. Dry, damp, and flooded runway surface conditions were used in the investigation. The results indicated that under cyclic braking conditions the braking and cornering-force friction coefficients may be influenced by fluctuations in the vertical load, flexibility in the wheel support, and the spring coupling between the wheel and the tire-pavement interface. The cornering capability was shown to be negligible at wheel slip ratios well below a locked-wheel skid under all test surface conditions. The maximum available brake-force friction coefficient was shown to be dependent upon the runway surface condition, upon velocity, and, for wet runways, upon tire differences. Moderate reductions in vertical load and brake system pressure did not significantly affect the overall wet-runway performance of the tire.

Tanner, J. A.↗

Technology for the cities

The activities of an organization for making the technology derived from NASA programs available for use by urban communities are discussed. Examples of technology utilization accomplished by the organization are: (1) self-contained breathing apparatus for firemen, (2) short range communication systems, (3) pavement marking, (4) protective clothing for firemen, (5) underground pipe and conduit locator, and (6) automatic fire hose flow regulator. The manner in which urban problems are identified and the designation of applicable technical developments are described.

Source record↗

Optimal braking studies

To brake in minimum distance, the tire slip must be controlled to ride the peak of the mu-slip curve so that maximum ground force is developed between tire and pavement. The resulting control system differs from antiskid systems which react to impending wheel lockup. A simplified model is presented to permit development of a sound control strategy. Liapunov techniques are used to derive a peak riding adaptive controller applicable to each wheel of a breaking vehicle. The controller is applied to a more sophisticated model of a braking airplane with strut bending dynamics included. Simulation results verify the peak riding property of the controller and the rapid adaption of the controller to extreme runway conditions. The effect of actuator dynamics, perturbation frequency, type and location of sensors, absence of a free wheel, and a method in which the pilot's braking commands can be interfaced with the peak riding system are also considered.

Pazdera, J. S.↗