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At least 937 records · Page 52

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Quantifying Medical Risk on a Long Duration Lunar Mission: A Demonstration of NASA’s IMPACT Tradespace Analysis Tool

Background NASA’s human exploration spaceflight missions to the Moon and Mars present unprecedented challenges for in-mission medical care. The distance from Earth will mean increased mission durations, communication delays, limited to no resupply opportunities, and constraints on the medical evacuation of astronauts. Mass, volume, power, and data will be limited while higher demands will be placed on the crew to manage medical care. NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration strategy lays out increasingly complex Artemis missions both in terms of duration and operations. In these more challenging deep space missions, it is important to quantitatively estimate the human medical risk to inform a traditional heuristic approach to medical risk. Prior tools have been developed for missions in low Earth orbit, but a new tool is required to plan for future exploration missions. Methods IMPACT (Informing Mission Planning via Analysis of Complex Tradespaces) is a risk assessment tool developed by NASA to advance exploration mission medical system design by quantitatively estimating mission medical risk. IMPACT v1.0 includes a novel evidence library baselined to exploration environments; an expanded list of 119 medical conditions; the addition of medical resources; and the ability for rapid and iterative analysis. Medical system risk estimates include loss of crew life, consideration of the need for return to definitive care (medical evacuation), and an estimate of crew time affected due to medical conditions. A notional long duration lunar orbit and lunar surface design reference mission (DRM) was chosen with a 4-astronaut crew to represent a sustained exploration Artemis mission. Results/Discussion Overall, IMPACT successfully quantified medical risk and derived an optimized medical system to support crew on a long duration lunar mission. In this DRM, the calculated loss of crew life from a medical event was 0.008 events per mission, risk of potential need for evacuation was 0.30 events per mission, and cumulative crew time affected by medical conditions was 103 days. The medical conditions that most contributed to overall medical risk were decompression sickness, trauma conditions, and respiratory failure. The conditions that had the largest effects on crew performance included musculoskeletal injuries and lunar dust exposure. The IMPACT-generated medical system included resources that target the most common and highest risk conditions. This systematic analysis demonstrates the value of the IMPACT tool in medical system design for human exploration spaceflight missions.

Missions to Mars↗

NASA NTRS2024

Quantifying Medical Risk on a Long Duration Lunar Mission: A Demonstration of NASA’s IMPACT Tradespace Analysis Tool

Missions to Mars↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Thermal Radiator Optimization Tool with Alternate Coolants

The development of a modeling tool to optimize the design of a thermal radiator based on capacity, rejection temperature, geometry, type and coolant is presented. The radiator size is determined from the desired capacity, environmental conditions and rejection temperature. Flow through the radiator is derived from the overall heat load and prescribed inlet to outlet delta temperature for a given coolant. The tool considers radiator geometry (i.e., tube spacing and diameter, face-sheet thickness, overall size, etc.) and general type (i.e., parallel/manifold versus serpentine) in the optimization. Selection from a handful of potential coolants is also available in the tool which primarily affects necessary tube diameter to maintain turbulent flow and minimize pressure drop. An Equivalent System Mass (ESM) approach is utilized to include pump power in the optimization. Results from the tool and potential future enhancements are also discussed.

Coolant↗

DOE OSTI2016

Probabilistic Anthrax Risk Assessment Tool v. 1.0

PARAT is a human health risk assessment tool for quantifying the uncertainty associated with inhalational exposures to Bacillus anthracis (Ba), which is the causative agent for contracting anthrax. The tool has a unique set of aerosol transport algorithms to account for indoor-outdoor deposition, re-aerosolization, building infiltration/exfiltration, and ventilation system effects, all of which are coded to preserve mass. PARAT is currently implemented within a Microsoft Excel application along with the Crystal Ball third-party add-on software that provides a Monte Carlo simulation technique for quantifying uncertainty in model predictions. The tool predicts both air and surface concentrations, as well as the fraction of the population that would contract a lethal dose from exposure to Ba. The tool can be used by decision makers to support Preliminary Remediaiton Goals (PRGs) to guide sampling and decontamination decisions after a release of Ba. Currently the de facto standard for recovery from a Ba release is a sampling protocol whereby all of the surface samples sent to a laboratory have to meet the requirement of “no culturable growth” on the media. This could lead to some very costly cleanups, as was evidenced following the 2001 anthrax letter attack responses. So PARAT may provide decision makers and risk assessors the ability to negotiate risk-based endpoints for the recovery process.

Knowlton, Robert↗

DOE OSTI2017

RESolution Project Management Tool

The Resolution Project Management Tool is designed to provide a light, yet comprehensive, application to facilitate the management of scientific and research and development projects. The approach to the tool is minimalistic in nature; only require the minimum, essential information needed to facilitate the management of a project and display it in a simple, noncomplex format. The simple platform provides for the collaborative identification, monitoring and status of the essential elements of a project: scope, schedule, cost, risks, changes and reporting. Additionally, the tool provides the ability to create and monitor portfolios of projects without complex or over-burdensome user interfaces or data requirements. The novelty of the tool is the unique selectivity of the data required to manage a project combined with the simple and clear user interface.

Capps, Greg↗

DOE OSTI2019

Molten Salt Reactor Fuel Depletion Tools in SCALE

Molten salt reactor depletion modeling and simulation tools have been implemented into the SCALE suite for reactor analysis and design developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For depletion with material feeds and removals, additional removal and feed rate functionalities are being developed in ORIGEN to account for these flows during depletion. To track separate fuel and waste materials, additional functions and an iterative scheme are being added to the SCALE/TRITON lattice physics tool. The functionality of these tools has been demonstrated in part for previous analyses using external scripts that manage SCALE/TRITON calculations. Direct implementation of these functionalities into SCALE provides for a more ecient, more accurate material accountability methodology that is accessible to external SCALE users with a new input definition. These implementations are being tested for accuracy and to demonstrate their applicability to predefined molten salt reactor use case problems. This work demonstrates the capability of the SCALE modeling and simulation tools for reactor physics and fuel cycle analysis of molten salt reactor concepts.

Betzler, Benjamin↗

DOE OSTI2019

Friction stir welding bobbin tool

A bobbin tool is disclosed that includes a top shoulder, a bottom shoulder, and an axial pin that extends between the top and bottom shoulders. The bottom shoulder has an annular shoulder end surface, a back surface opposite the annular shoulder end surface, and a side surface that joins the annular shoulder end surface and the back surface. One or more and radially-extending blades may be disposed on the side surface of the bottom shoulder and/or one or more axially-extending blades may be disposed on the back surface. The one or more blades provide the bobbin tool with an ability to friction stir weld a variable thickness workpiece assembly, axially plunged through the workpiece assembly along an axis of rotation of the bobbin tool, and/or be extracted through the workpiece assembly along an axis of rotation of the bobbin tool.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2019

An Evaluation of Advanced Tools for Distributed Wind Turbine Performance Estimation: Preprint

We evaluate various classes of distributed wind turbine performance tools across two sites in the USA. The tools class ranges from the simple mass conservation model to coupled Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) model, all initiated by the WIND Toolkit dataset. The resource estimation at the site is evaluated against measured data at the mast location. Taking a sample 100 kW wind turbine and constant losses, we evaluate Openwind, Continuum, and WindNinja tools and document Annual Energy Production (AEP) and time series statistics associated with the performance estimation of the wind turbine. Using a methodology that is consistent and unbiased across the three advance options currently available in the industry, we elaborate results at the two sample locations and discuss the probable sources of discrepancy in the AEP estimates. The discussion includes additional values these tools may bring into the energy assessment process to enhance the owners' confidence over the distributed wind power systems.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Analyzing Next-Generation Supply Chains Using the Materials Flows through Industry Tool

The Materials Flows through Industry (MFI) tool is a supply chain modeling tool developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with funding from the Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office. MFI was created to identify and analyze opportunities to reduce the energy and carbon intensities of the U.S. industrial sector (Hanes and Carpenter 2017). In this work, we present an overview of the MFI tool's structure and capabilities, as well as the results of using MFI to analyze a novel NREL-developed process to 'upcycle' PET plastic into higher-value composite materials (Rorrer et al. 2019). This process combines recycled PET (rPET) plastic with inputs that can be derived from biomass, including muconic acid, acrylic acid, and ethylene glycol, to chemically break down the plastic back to its monomers in a process called glycolization. Then, repolymerization and the application of fiberglass yields the valuable glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composite, a performance material used in the manufacture of wind turbine blades, boat hulls, and other applications. This rPET-derived GFRP was found to have superior strength and fiberglass adhesion compared to conventional GFRP formulations. Our findings indicate that this GFRP production process, were it to be widely commercialized beyond its current lab-scale, could potentially reduce the fossil energy intensity of the GFRP supply chain by between 37% and 58% compared to the conventional method of GFRP manufacture from fossil-derived inputs. We also estimate potential supply chain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions between 30% and 40% from this process. Scaling these GHG offset estimates up to annual GFRP production in the U.S. would be roughly equivalent to removing between 150,000 and 200,000 vehicles from U.S. roads. These ranges of impact estimates represent the range of differences associated with the various economic allocation methods we have assumed for the intensity contributions from the first life of the PET plastic. Following Shen et al. (2010), we derive economic allocation factors from the current price ratios of clear- and green-colored recycled PET plastic to virgin PET resin ('waste-valuation' approach) or assume them to be zero in a more simplistic allocation ('cutoff' approach). Future work involving the MFI modeling tool will also be discussed, including preliminary results comparing the energy intensity of conventional and bio-based nylons manufacturing. Attendees will also be encouraged to conduct MFI supply chain modeling of their own by requesting a user account on the MFI web application, which is freely available to the public at the following address: https://mfitool.nrel.gov.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2019

Feasibility Analysis of Utilizing Maraging Steel in a Wire Arc Additive Process for High-Strength Tooling Applications

Traditional tool and die development require skilled labor, long lead time, and is highly expensive to produce. Metal Big Area Additive Manufacturing (mBAAM) is a wire-arc additive process that utilizes a metal inert gas (MIG) welding robot to print large-scale parts layer-by-layer. By using mBAAM, tooling can be manufactured rapidly with low costs. For cold work tooling applications, a high hardness level is desired to increase the life-time of the tool. A promising material that can achieve this is maraging steel. Maraging steel is known to have good weldability; however, further testing must be conducted to ensure it is feasible for printing using mBAAM. In this paper, initial process parameters were obtained by printing single bead welds. Multi-bead walls were then printed with some refinement of process parameters to construct homogenous outer features of the walls. Lastly, the walls were heat-treated, and hardness data was gathered through Rockwell Hardness tests.

Masuo, Chris↗

DOE OSTI2018

TOKIO on ClusterStor: Connecting Standard Tools to Enable Holistic I/O Performance Analysis

At present, I/O performance analysis requires different tools to characterize individual components of the I/O subsystem, and institutional I/O expertise is relied upon to translate these disparate data into an integrated view of application performance. This process is labor-intensive and not sustainable as the storage hierarchy deepens and system complexity increases. To address this growing disparity, we have developed the Total Knowledge of I/O (TOKIO) framework to combine the insights from existing component-level monitoring tools and provide a holistic view of performance across the entire I/O stack. A reference implementation of TOKIO, pytokio, is presented here. Using monitoring tools included with Cray XC and ClusterStor systems alongside commonly deployed community-supported tools, we demonstrate how pytokio provides a lightweight foundation for holistic I/O performance analyses on two Cray XC systems deployed at different HPC centers. We present results from integrated analyses that allow users to quantify the degree of I/O contention that affected their jobs and probabilistically identify unhealthy storage devices that impacted their performance.We also apply pytokio to inspect the utilization of NERSC’s DataWarp burst buffer and demonstrate how pytokio can be used to identify users and applications who may stand to benefit most from migrating their workloads from Lustre to the burst buffer.

Lockwood, Glenn K.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Shaped cutting tool

A cutting tool for forming a finished part from a rotating workpiece includes a first cutting edge extending from a first end of the cutting tool, a second cutting edge extending from a second end of the cutting tool, and a shaping edge disposed between the first cutting edge and the second cutting edge. The first cutting edge is operable to remove a trailing end of the rotating workpiece and the second cutting edge is operable to remove a working portion of the rotating workpiece disposed between the trailing end and a leading end. The shaping edge is operable to shape the working portion of the rotating workpiece by advancing the cutting tool into the rotating workpiece until the first cutting edge removes the trailing end of the rotating workpiece and the second cutting edge removes the working portion of the rotating workpiece to form the finished part.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2020

A Generic Advanced Computing Framework for Executing Windows-based Dynamic Contingency Analysis Tool in Parallel on Cluster Machines

Dynamic contingency analysis tool (DCAT) has been developed to assess the impact and likelihood of extreme contingencies and potential cascading events across their systems and interconnections. By including more customized protection models and corrective actions into the Windows-based commercial tools, DCAT can help operators understand the cascading behavior and find mitigation approaches to reduce the risk of cascading outages in a more realistic manner. In order to further enhance the capability of DCAT, this paper presents a design of an advanced computing framework that enables DCAT to run on a cluster machine to improve its computational performance. This framework is generic and can be applied to other Windows-based simulation tools to fill the technical gap of applying advanced computing technology to vendors' Windows-based tools. The preliminary tests using medium to large power systems have shown the effectiveness of this framework and its potential for accelerating the adoption of advanced computing in utilities.

Advanced computing, dynamic contingency analysis, ↗

DOE OSTI2021

Detecting and Analyzing Power System Disturbances in PMU Data with the Open-Source Archive Walker Tool

As the number of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) deployed in power systems increases, so do the archives of synchrophasor measurements stored by utilities. Significant value can be extracted from these archives by using them to support studies such as frequency response analysis, small-signal stability analysis, and power plant model validation. To better enable utilities to perform these studies, the open-source Archive Walker tool was developed. This tool examines PMU data for grid disturbances and periods of interest. Once identified, the data can be further analyzed inside Archive Walker or exported to specialty tools. In this paper, the various disturbance detectors available in Archive Walker are described, and its interactions with other openly-available tools are highlighted.

Follum, James D.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Introducing the GeoRePORT Resource Size Tool: Reporting on Geothermal Resource Size Estimations Using the Geothermal Resource Portfolio Optimization and Reporting Technique (GeoRePORT): Preprint

The Geothermal Resource Portfolio Optimization and Reporting Technique (GeoRePORT) was developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office to assist in identifying and pursuing long-term investment strategies through the development of a resource reporting protocol. The assessment protocols used in GeoRePORT allow for comparison of project attributes across locations and geological settings to understand the feasibility of geothermal development. This work introduces the Resource Size Tool, a new feature within the GeoRePORT package that compiles two independent methods for estimating geothermal resource size in terms of energy capacity in MW. Energy production potential for twenty-three case studies was estimated with the Resource Size Tool in order to 1) generate a reasonable range of resource size estimates for a particular geothermal field; 2) illustrate the advantages and limitations of each methodology (such as data input requirements, estimate accuracy and precision, and the appropriate circumstances of use); and 3) test the ability of the resource size tool to provide useful and accurate information for geothermal stakeholders. The tool employs two methods widely used in the geothermal industry: (1) USGS Volumetric and (2) Power Density. Results from our case studies show general overlap between these two methods in terms of resource size estimates; however, they also reveal key differences between the two approaches that should be considered when using such estimates to drive development. First, the two methods rely on different input parameters and therefore one method may be more appropriate and/or accurate for a given project than the other. Second, the Power Density method was found to generate wider ranges of resource size predictions, more consistently aligning with actual power production of the field but with larger scales of error; whereas the USGS Volumetric method predicts narrower ranges but tends to overestimate when compared to current MW production. Future work will refine variables used in the methods with input data from other sections of GeoRePORT and modify uncertainty levels based on the particular datasets used for a given project.

geological↗

DOE OSTI2021

Design Readiness And Maturity Assessment (DRAMA) Tool for Advanced Reactors

Abstract – This research is developing a formal, repeatable method to assess the readiness and maturity of an advanced nuclear reactor design for licensing and deployment. This design readiness and maturity assessment (DRAMA) tool will be capable of determining the readiness of the design and of all parties needed to bring a particular advanced reactor design to fruition. Beneficiaries and stakeholders include the design team, research organizations (required to collect needed data and develop design tools), standards organizations, research facilities to support gathering of needed data, supply chain and construction organizations, and everyone responsible for legal and regulatory infrastructure (including defining import-export requirements). Recent experience has shown that even the most experienced engineering and construction organizations, with decades of experience in the nuclear power business, have had significant challenges in bringing designs to completion, licensing the designs, and constructing new plants. For new entries into the field, simply understanding the unique environmental and regulatory requirements have been daunting. A significant part of the challenge is that new entries into the market do not know what they don't know. This tool will provide design teams a better understanding of their readiness to proceed to licensing (and other steps in the process), while at the same time providing a valuable metric for other interested organizations, such as funding agencies, national regulators, and international markets. The DRAMA tool will provide an assessment of the likelihood of successfully completing licensing and deployment and will also create the capability to assess the ability of regulatory infrastructure and the supply chain to support the deployment of any design or class of designs. It will also help prioritize research and policy efforts to improve the likelihood of deployment of the next generation of advanced reactors.

Arndt, Steven↗

DOE OSTI2022

Development Of Thermodynamic and Kinetic Simulation Tools and Testing Procedures for Enhanced Durability of Concrete Containing Industrial By-Products

This project developed screening tools that enable evaluation of alternative cementitious binders that create concretes to significantly reduce energy and emissions while remaining cost competitive on both initial and long-term costs. The team began with the viewpoint that acceptance of new cementitious binder products has a substantially greater chance of successful implementation when capital investment is not excessive and the end product has customers that have experience and resources to use this. As such, a binder system that is based on portland cement with blended using industrial by-products (alternative cementitious materials) has the potential for dramatic and meaningful impact. The team has focused on developing implementable solutions in specifications and current practice. This however requires three main factors: 1) ability to screen byproducts and alternative materials for success, 2) ability to ‘treat’ materials chemically to enhance kinetics, and 3) ability to provide predictions of performance of both binders and concrete from first principles. The project developed/refined a state of the art and scientifically based screening test for SCM called the pozzolanic reactivity test. The team developed kinetic models to simulate these materials as well as experimental approaches to alter selected reactions. Simulation tools were developed that enable the performance of concrete to be predicted based on the chemistry and reactivity of the cement and alternative SCM. Specifically, this project: • enhanced the kinetic reactivity models for use in multi-scale computational programs that use thermodynamics to predict reaction products. 2 • developed scaling models to extend thermodynamic modeling to link these models with pore structure. This enables strength, transport property, and coupled transport prediction. • developed tools to predict performance of cementitious materials using the pozzolanic reactivity test and chemical composition. The predicted properties are consistent with AASHTO R101 and the CEB-FIP model code and can be measured using associated test procedures. • demonstrated mechanical and fracture based modeling tools that thermodynamic predictions and inputs to predict concrete service life. These results have been used to demonstrate the value of enabling specifications to include ASTM C 595 cement as well ASTM C150 cement. In addition, these products are being used to expedite the evaluation of alternative SCM to aide in determining which materials have potential value and what ‘compositions’ of blended cements merit further investment.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2022

Verification and Validation of the Stakeholder Tool for Assessing Radioactive Transportation (START) – 22323

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Integrated Waste Management is planning for the eventual transportation, storage, and disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from nuclear power plant and DOE sites. The Stakeholder Tool for Assessing Radioactive Transportation (START) is a web-based, geospatial decision-support tool developed for evaluating routing options and other aspects of transporting SNF and HLW, covering rail, truck, barge, and intermodal infrastructure and operations in the continental United States. The verification and validation (V&V) process is intended to independently assess START to provide confidence in the ability of START to accurately provide intended results. The V&V process checks the START tool using a variety of methods, ranging from independent hand calculations to comparison of START performance and results to those of other codes. The V&V activity was conducted independently from the START development team with opportunities to provide feedback and collaborate throughout the process. The V&V analyzed attributes of transportation routes produced by START, including route distance and both population and population density captured within buffer zones around routes. Population in the buffer zone, population density in the buffer zone, and route distance were all identified as crucial outputs of the START code and were subject to V&V tasks. Some of the improvements identified through the V&V process were standardizing the underlying population data in START, changing the projection of the population raster data, and changes to the methodology used for population density to improve its applicability for expected users. This collaboration also led to suggested improvements to some of the underlying shape file segments within START. A formal series of test routes went through the V&V process from START version 3.2.1 following the implementation of the recommended improvements to START. The V&V of the buffer zone population and distance reported in START were achieved by utilizing a custom workflow developed in QGIS. This platform was chosen because it is fully independent of START. The buffer zone population and route distances in START showed excellent agreement to independent V&V test results. Over 200 route test cases were run; in all cases, the percent difference in the population within the buffer zone was less than +/- 5%, and the majority of cases were below +/- 1%. These cases were also duplicated in ArcMap, which is Environmental Systems Research Institute’s (ESRI) GIS desktop application. The ArcMap results also show good agreement; however, they cannot be considered independent of START because START also uses ESRI software. The V&V tasks are currently addressing population density and estimated radiation dose in START as well as implementing further automation of the V&V process to allow larger suites of test routes to be run more easily and quickly by less experienced GIS users. These improvements to the V&V process will make it a valuable tool for the development team and the stakeholders so that each new iteration of START can easily be checked for quality and consistency. This paper and presentation will describe the V&V process, findings and implications, and ongoing V&V activities.

START, DOE, Transporation, dose, GIS↗