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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program conducted education and outreach activities and used the competition's technical goals and vehicle demonstrations as a means of attracting students and the public to learn more about advanced vehicle technologies, energy efficiency, climate change, alternative fuels, and the science and math behind efficient vehicle development. The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program comprised three integrated components that were designed to educate the general public and create a multi-tiered initiative to engage students and showcase the 21st century skills students will need to compete in our global economy: teamwork, creativity, strong literacy, math and science skills, and innovative thinking. The elements included an Online Experience, a National Student Contest, and in person education events and activites. The project leveraged online connections, strategic partnerships, in-classroom, and beyond-the-classroom initiatives, as well as mainstream media. This education program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also funded the specification of vehicle telemetry and the full development and operation of an interactive online experience that allowed internet users to follow the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE vehicles as they performed in real-time during the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition events.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2012

An Undergraduate Minor in Wind Energy at Iowa State University (Final Report)

This report describes an undergraduate minor program in wind energy that has been developed at Iowa State University. The minor program targets engineering and meteorology students and was developed to provide interested students with focused technical expertise in wind energy science and engineering, to increase their employability and ultimate effectiveness in this growing industry. The report describes the requirements of the minor program and courses that fulfill those requirements. Five new courses directly addressing wind energy have been developed. Topical descriptions for these five courses are provided in this report. Six industry experts in various aspects of wind energy science and engineering reviewed the wind energy minor program and provided detailed comments on the program structure, the content of the courses, and the employability in the wind energy industry of students who complete the program. The general consensus is that the program is well structured, the course content is highly relevant, and students who complete it will be highly employable in the wind energy industry. The detailed comments of the reviewers are included in the report.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Midwest Consortium for Wind Turbine Reliability and Optimization

This report provides an overview of the efforts aimed to establish a student focused laboratory apparatus that will enhance Purdue's ability to recruit and train students in topics related to the dynamics, operations and economics of wind turbines. The project also aims to facilitate outreach to students at Purdue and in grades K-12 in the State of Indiana by sharing wind turbine operational data. For this project, a portable wind turbine test apparatus was developed and fabricated utilizing an AirX 400W wind energy converter. This turbine and test apparatus was outfitted with an array of sensors used to monitor wind speed, turbine rotor speed, power output and the tower structural dynamics. A major portion of this project included the development of a data logging program used to display real-time sensor data and the recording and creation of output files for data post-processing. The apparatus was tested in an open field to subject the turbine to typical operating conditions and the data acquisition system was adjusted to obtain desired functionality to facilitate use for student projects in existing courses offered at Purdue University and Indiana University. Data collected using the data logging program is analyzed and presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the test apparatus related to wind turbine dynamics and operations.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Molecular Quantum Mechanics 2010: From Methylene to DNA and Beyond Conference Support

This grant was $12500 for partial support of an international conference, Molecular Quantum Mechanics 2010, which was held on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, from 24 to 29 May 2010. The conference involved more than 250 participants. The conference schedule ran from as early as 8:00 AM to as late as 10:30 PM at night, in order to accommodate six historical lectures, 16 plenary lectures, 42 invited talks and two very strong poster sessions containing 143 contributed posters. Since 1989, the Molecular Quantum Mechanics (MQM) series of international conferences has show- cased the frontiers of research in quantum chemistry with a strong focus on basic theory and algorithms, as well as highlights of topical applications. Both were strongly in evidence at MQM 2010. At the same time as embracing the future, the MQM conferences also honour the lifetime contributions of some of the most prominent scientists in the field of theoretical and computational quantum chemistry. MQM 2010 recognised the work of Prof. Henry F. ‘Fritz’ Schaefer of the Center for Computational Chemistry at the University of Georgia, who was previously on the faculty at Berkeley The travel of invited speakers was partially covered by sponsorships from Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, Virginia Tech College of Science, Molecular Physics, Q-Chem Inc and the American Institute of Physics. By contrast, the conference grant from the Department of Energy was used to provide fellowships and scholarships to enable graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to attend the meeting, and thereby broaden the participation of young scientists at a meeting where in the past most of the attendees have been more senior faculty researchers. We believe that we were very successful in this regard: 118 students and postdocs attended out of the total of 256 participants. In detail, the DOE sponsorship money was partially used for dormitory scholarships that covered the cost of shared accommodation for students and postdocs at Berkeley dormitories. This covered the $200-$305 cost of a shared room for the 5-day duration of the conference. The only condition of these scholarships was that the awardee must present a poster at the meeting. Approximately $7565 was spent for these dormitory scholarships. The remaining expenditures of $4800 was used for 12 merit scholarships which were awarded to students whose poster presentations were judged the best at the conference. This amount covered a significant part of their travel and registration fees.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Summer Schools in Nuclear and Radiochemistry

The ACS Summer Schools in Nuclear and Radiochemistry were held at San Jose State University (SJSU) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The Summer Schools offer undergraduate students with U.S. citizenship an opportunity to complete coursework through ACS accredited chemistry degree programs at SJSU or the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SBU). The courses include lecture and laboratory work on the fundamentals and applications of nuclear and radiochemistry. The number of students participating at each site is limited to 12, and the low student-to-instructor ratio is needed due to the intense nature of the six-week program. To broaden the students’ perspectives on nuclear science, prominent research scientists active in nuclear and/or radiochemical research participate in a Guest Lecture Series. Symposia emphasizing environmental chemistry, nuclear medicine, and career opportunities are conducted as a part of the program.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2013

Indiana Advanced Electric Vehicle Training and Education Consortium (I-AEVtec)

The Indiana Advanced Electric Vehicle Training and Education Consortium (I-AEVtec) is an educational partnership between six universities and colleges in Indiana focused on developing the education materials needed to support electric vehicle technology. The I-AEVtec has developed and delivered a number of degree and certificate programs that address various aspects of electric vehicle technology, including over 30 new or significantly modified courses to support these programs. These courses were shared on the SmartEnergyHub. The I-AEVtec program also had a significant outreach to the community with particular focus on K12 students. Finally, the evGrandPrix was established which is a university/college student electric go-kart race, where the students get hands-on experience in designing, building and racing electric vehicles. The evGrandPrix now includes student teams from across the US as well as from Europe and it is currently being held on Opening Day weekend for the Indy500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Summer Schools in Nuclear and Radiochemistry

The ACS Summer Schools in Nuclear and Radiochemistry (herein called “Summer Schools”) were funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and held at San Jose State University (SJSU) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The Summer Schools offer undergraduate students with U.S. citizenship an opportunity to complete coursework through ACS accredited chemistry degree programs at SJSU or the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SBU). The courses include lecture and laboratory work on the fundamentals and applications of nuclear and radiochemistry. The number of students participating at each site is limited to 12, and the low student-to-instructor ratio is needed due to the intense nature of the six-week program. To broaden the students’ perspectives on nuclear science, prominent research scientists active in nuclear and/or radiochemical research participate in a Guest Lecture Series. Symposia emphasizing environmental chemistry, nuclear medicine, and career opportunities are conducted as a part of the program. The Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) renewed the five-year proposal for the Summer Schools starting March 1, 2007, with contributions from Biological and Environmental Remediation (BER) and Nuclear Physics (NP). This Final Technical Report covers the Summer Schools held in the years 2007-2011.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2012

Upgrading the Center for Lightweighting Automotive Materials and Processing - a GATE Center of Excellence at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (Final Technical Report: September 2005-August 2021)

The Center for Lightweighting Materials and Processing (CLAMP) was established in September 1998 with a grant from the Department of Energy’s Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) program. The center received the second round of GATE grant in 2005 under the title “Upgrading the Center for Lightweighting Automotive Materials and Processing”. Using the two grants, the Center has successfully created 10 graduate level courses on lightweight automotive materials, integrated them into master’s and PhD programs in Automotive Systems Engineering, and offered them regularly to the graduate students in the program. In addition, the Center has created a web-based lightweight automotive materials database, conducted research on lightweight automotive materials and organized seminars/symposia on lightweight automotive materials for both academia and industry. The faculty involved with the Center has conducted research on a variety of topics related to design, testing, characterization and processing of lightweight materials for automotive applications and have received numerous research grants from automotive companies and government agencies to support their research. The materials considered included advanced steels, light alloys (aluminum, magnesium and titanium) and fiber reinforced polymer composites. In some of these research projects, CLAMP faculty have collaborated with industry partners and students have used the research facilities at industry locations. The specific objectives of the project during the current funding period (2005 – 2012) were as follows: (1) develop new graduate courses and incorporate them in the automotive systems engineering curriculum (2) improve and update two existing courses on automotive materials and processing (3) upgrade the laboratory facilities used by graduate students to conduct research (4) expand the Lightweight Automotive Materials Database to include additional materials, design case studies and make it more accessible to outside users (5) provide support to graduate students for conducting research on lightweight automotive materials and structures (6) provide industry/university interaction through a graduate certificate program on automotive materials and technology idea exchange through focused seminars and symposia on automotive materials.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2013

New Synthetic Methods and Structure-Property Relationships in Neptunium, Plutonium, and Americium Borates. Final report

The past three years of support by the Heavy Elements Chemistry Program have been highly productive in terms of advanced degrees awarded, currently supported graduate students, peer-reviewed publications, and presentations made at universities, national laboratories, and at international conferences. Ph.D. degrees were granted to Shuao Wang and Juan Diwu, who both went on to post-doctoral appointments at the Glenn T. Seaborg Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with Jeff Long and Ken Raymond, respectively. Pius Adelani completed his Ph.D. with me and is now a post-doc with Peter C. Burns. Andrea Alsobrook finished her Ph.D. and is now a post-doc at Savannah River with Dave Hobbs. Anna Nelson completed her Ph.D. and is now a post-doc with Rod Ewing at the University of Michigan. As can be gleaned from this list, students supported by the Heavy Elements Chemistry grant have remained interested in actinide science after leaving my program. This follows in line with previous graduates in this program such as Richard E. Sykora, who did his post-doctoral work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with R. G. Haire, and Amanda C. Bean, who is a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Philip M. Almond and Thomas C. Shehee, who are both staff scientists at Savannah River National Laboratory, Gengbang Jin who is a staff scientist at Argonne National Lab, and Travis Bray who has been a post-doc at both LBNL and ANL. Clearly this program is serving as a pipe-line for students to enter into careers in the national laboratories. About half of my students depart the DOE complex for academia or industry. My undergraduate researchers also remain active in actinide chemistry after leaving my group. Dan Wells was a productive undergraduate of mine, and went on to pursue a Ph.D. on uranium and neptunium chalcogenides with Jim Ibers at Northwestern. After earning his Ph.D., he went directly into the nuclear industry.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2015

Neutron and X-ray Studies of Advanced Materials VII Symposium at the 143rd TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition

The Neutron and X-Ray Studies of Advanced Materials VII Symposium, held at the 2014, 143rd Annual Meeting of The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), brought together experts, young investigators, and students from this sub-discipline of materials science in order for them to share their latest discoveries and develop collaborations. This annual symposium, which is organized by The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society, is an important event for this community of scientists. This year, over 100 high-level technical talks were delivered over the course of the four day event. In addition, the large number of students and young investigators in attendance ensured the maximum benefit to the next generation’s work force in this area of study. The science surrounding the utilization of neutrons and x-rays to study advanced materials is becoming increasingly important in increasing the understanding of how the exceptional materials properties of such materials arise. In particular, x-rays and neutrons can be used to visualize material structures at an extremely high resolution and in some cases, three dimensions—allowing unprecedented insights into the mechanisms governing certain materials properties such as strength and toughness. Moreover, some of these techniques allow materials to be visualized without damaging the material, approaches known as non-destructive evaluation or “NDE”. This allows materials to be studied in 3 dimensions while undergoing change in real time which represents an important (and long sought-after) advancement in materials science. The types of interactions afforded by this event are beneficial to society at large primarily because they provide opportunities for the leaders within this field to learn from one another and thus improve the quality and productivity of their investigations. Additionally, the presence of young investigators and students with technical interests in this field provides promise that the United States will continue to be a leader in this area. The support provided by the Department of Energy for this event directly enhanced its impact on the field by helping a number of students, young investigators, and technical experts attend and participate in this event.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measurements of 222 Rn, 220 Rn, and CO 2 Emissions in Natural CO 2 Fields in Wyoming: MVA Techniques for Determining Gas Transport and Caprock Integrity

An integrated field-laboratory program evaluated the use of radon and CO 2 flux measurements to constrain source and timescale of CO 2 fluxes in environments proximate to CO 2 storage reservoirs. By understanding the type and depth of the gas source, the integrity of a CO 2 storage reservoir can be assessed and monitored. The concept is based on correlations of radon and CO 2 fluxes observed in volcanic systems. This fundamental research is designed to advance the science of Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting (MVA) and to address the Carbon Storage Program goal of developing and validating technologies to ensure 99 percent storage performance. Graduate and undergraduate students conducted the research under the guidance of the Principal Investigators; in doing so they were provided with training opportunities in skills required for implementing and deploying CCS technologies. Although a final method or “tool” was not developed, significant progress was made. The field program identified issues with measuring radon in environments rich in CO 2 . Laboratory experiments determined a correction factor to apply to radon measurements made in CO 2 -bearing environments. The field program also identified issues with radon and CO 2 -flux measurements in soil gases at a natural CO 2 analog. A systematic survey of radon and CO 2 flux in soil gases at the LaBarge CO 2 Field in Southwest Wyoming indicates that measurements of 222 Rn (radon), 220 Rn (thoron), and CO 2 flux may not be a robust method for monitoring the integrity of a CO 2 storage reservoir. The field program was also not able to correlate radon and CO 2 flux in the CO 2 -charged springs of the Thermopolis hydrothermal system. However, this part of the program helped to motivate the aforementioned laboratory experiments that determined correction factors for measuring radon in CO 2 -rich environments. A graduate student earned a Master of Science degree for this part of the field program; she is currently employed with a geologic consulting company. Measurement of radon in springs has improved significantly since the field program first began; however, in situ measurement of 222 Rn and particularly 220 Rn in springs is problematic. Future refinements include simultaneous salinity measurements and systematic corrections, or adjustments to the partition coefficient as needed for more accurate radon concentration determination. A graduate student earned a Master of Science degree for this part of the field program; he is currently employed with a geologic consulting company. Both graduate students are poised to begin work in a CCS technology area. Laboratory experiments evaluated important process-level fundamentals that effect measurements of radon and CO 2 . Laboratory tests established that fine-grained source minerals yield higher radon emissivity compared to coarser-sized source minerals; subtleties in the dataset suggest that grain size alone is not fully representative of all the processes controlling the ability of radon to escape its mineral host. Emissivity for both 222 Rn and 220Rn increases linearly with temperature due to reaction of rocks with water, consistent with faster diffusion and enhanced mineral dissolution at higher temperatures. The presence of CO 2 changes the relative importance of the factors that control release of radon. Emissivity for both 222 Rn and 220 Rn in CO 2 -bearing experiments is greater at all temperatures compared to the experiments without CO 2 , but emissivity does not increase as a simple function of temperature. Governing processes may include a balance between enhanced dissolution versus carbonate mineral formation in CO 2 -rich waters.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Predictive Maturity of Multi-Scale Simulation Models for Fuel Performance

The project proposed to provide a Predictive Maturity Framework with its companion metrics that (1) introduce a formalized, quantitative means to communicate information between interested parties, (2) provide scientifically dependable means to claim completion of Validation and Uncertainty Quantification (VU) activities, and (3) guide the decision makers in the allocation of Nuclear Energy’s resources for code development and physical experiments. The project team proposed to develop this framework based on two complimentary criteria: (1) the extent of experimental evidence available for the calibration of simulation models and (2) the sophistication of the physics incorporated in simulation models. The proposed framework is capable of quantifying the interaction between the required number of physical experiments and degree of physics sophistication. The project team has developed this framework and implemented it with a multi-scale model for simulating creep of a core reactor cladding. The multi-scale model is composed of the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) code at the meso-scale, which represents the visco-plastic behavior and changing properties of a highly anisotropic material and a Finite Element (FE) code at the macro-scale to represent the elastic behavior and apply the loading. The framework developed takes advantage of the transparency provided by partitioned analysis, where independent constituent codes are coupled in an iterative manner. This transparency allows model developers to better understand and remedy the source of biases and uncertainties, whether they stem from the constituents or the coupling interface by exploiting separate-effect experiments conducted within the constituent domain and integral-effect experiments conducted within the full-system domain. The project team has implemented this procedure with the multi- scale VPSC-FE model and demonstrated its ability to improve the predictive capability of the model. Within this framework, the project team has focused on optimizing resource allocation for improving numerical models through further code development and experimentation. Related to further code development, we have developed a code prioritization index (CPI) for coupled numerical models. CPI is implemented to effectively improve the predictive capability of the coupled model by increasing the sophistication of constituent codes. In relation to designing new experiments, we investigated the information gained by the addition of each new experiment used for calibration and bias correction of a simulation model. Additionally, the variability of ‘information gain’ through the design domain has been investigated in order to identify the experiment settings where maximum information gain occurs and thus guide the experimenters in the selection of the experiment settings. This idea was extended to evaluate the information gain from each experiment can be improved by intelligently selecting the experiments, leading to the development of the Batch Sequential Design (BSD) technique. Additionally, we evaluated the importance of sufficiently exploring the domain of applicability in experiment-based validation of high-consequence modeling and simulation by developing a new metric to quantify coverage. This metric has also been incorporated into the design of new experiments. Finally, we have proposed a data-aware calibration approach for the calibration of numerical models. This new method considers the complexity of a numerical model (the number of parameters to be calibrated, parameter uncertainty, and form of the model) and seeks to identify the number of experiments necessary to calibrate the model based on the level of sophistication of the physics. The final component in the project team’s work to improve model calibration and validation methods is the incorporation of robustness to non-probabilistic uncertainty in the input parameters. This is an improvement to model validation and uncertainty quantification stemming beyond the originally proposed scope of the project. We have introduced a new metric for incorporating the concept of robustness into experiment-based validation of numerical models. This project has accounted for the graduation of two Ph.D. students (Kendra Van Buren and Josh Hegenderfer) and two M.S. students (Matthew Egeberg and Parker Shields). One of the doctoral students is now working in the nuclear engineering field and the other one is a post-doctoral fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Additionally, two more Ph.D. students (Garrison Stevens and Tunc Kulaksiz) who are working towards graduation have been supported by this project.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Particle Theory & Cosmology

1. Executive Summary (April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2015) Title: Particle Theory, Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Qaisar Shafi University of Delaware (Principal Investigator) Stephen M. Barr, University of Delaware (Co-Principal Investigator) Thomas K. Gaisser, University of Delaware (Co-Principal Investigator) Todor Stanev, University of Delaware (Co-Principal Investigator) The proposed research was carried out at the Bartol Research included Professors Qaisar Shafi Stephen Barr, Thomas K. Gaisser, and Todor Stanev, two postdoctoral fellows (Ilia Gogoladze and Liucheng Wang), and several graduate students. Five students of Qaisar Shafi completed their PhD during the period August 2011 - August 2014. Measures of the group’s high caliber performance during the 2012-2015 funding cycle included pub- lications in excellent refereed journals, contributions to working groups as well as white papers, and conference activities, which together provide an exceptional record of both individual performance as well as overall strength. Another important indicator of success is the outstanding quality of the past and current cohort of graduate students. The PhD students under our supervision regularly win the top departmental and university awards, and their publications records show excellence both in terms of quality and quantity. The topics covered under this grant cover the frontline research areas in today’s High Energy Theory & Phenomenology. For Professors Shafi and Barr they include LHC related topics including supersymmetry, collider physics, fl vor physics, dark matter physics, Higgs boson and seesaw physics, grand unifi and neutrino physics. The LHC two years ago discovered the Standard Model Higgs boson, thereby at least partially unlocking the secrets behind electroweak symmetry breaking. We remain optimistic that new and exciting physics will be found at LHC 14, which explain our focus on physics beyond the Standard Model. Professors Shafi continued his investigations in cosmology, specifically on supergravity and GUT infl models, primordial gravity waves, dark matter models. The origin of baryon and dark matter in the universe has been explored by Professors Barr and Shafi The research program of Professors Gaisser and Stanev address current research topics in Particle Astrophysics, in particular atmospheric and cosmogenic neutrinos and ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Work also included use of LHC data to improve tools for interpreting cascades generated in the atmosphere by high-energy particles from the cosmos. Cosmogenic neutrinos produced by interactions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays as they propagate through the cosmic microwave background radiation provides insight into the origin of the highest energy particles in nature. Overall, the research covered topics in the energy, cosmic and intensity frontiers.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

8th Annual Glycoscience Symposium: Integrating Models of Plant Cell Wall Structure, Biosynthesis and Assembly

The Complex Carbohydrate Research Center (CCRC) of the University of Georgia holds a symposium yearly that highlights a broad range of carbohydrate research topics. The 8th Annual Georgia Glycoscience Symposium entitled “Integrating Models of Plant Cell Wall Structure, Biosynthesis and Assembly” was held on April 7, 2014 at the CCRC. The focus of symposium was on the role of glycans in plant cell wall structure and synthesis. The goal was to have world leaders in conjunction with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research scientists to propose the newest plant cell wall models. The symposium program closely followed the DOE’s mission and was specifically designed to highlight chemical and biochemical structures and processes important for the formation and modification of renewable plant cell walls which serve as the basis for biomaterial and biofuels. The symposium was attended by both senior investigators in the field as well as students including a total attendance of 103, which included 80 faculty/research scientists, 11 graduate students and 12 Postdoctoral students.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Research and Development of Multiphysics Models in Support of the Conversion of the High Flux Isotope Reactor to Low Enriched Uranium Fuel

The findings presented in this report are results of a five year effort led by the RRD Division of the ORNL, which is focused on research and development toward the conversion of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) fuel from high-enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium (LEU). This report focuses on the tasks accomplished by the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) team from the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering (MABE) that provided expert support in multiphysics modeling of complex problems associated with the LEU conversion of the HFIR reactor. The COMSOL software was used as the main computational modeling tool, whereas Solidworks was also used in support of computer-aided-design (CAD) modeling of the proposed LEU fuel design. The UTK research has been governed by a statement of work (SOW), which was updated annually to clearly define the specific tasks reported herein. Ph.D. student Isaac T. Bodey has focused on heat transfer and fluid flow modeling issues and has been aided by his major professor Dr. Rao V. Arimilli. Ph.D. student Franklin G. Curtis has been focusing on modeling the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) phenomena caused by the mechanical forces acting on the fuel plates, which in turn affect the fluid flow in between the fuel plates, and ultimately the heat transfer, is also affected by the FSI changes. Franklin Curtis has been aided by his major professor Dr. Kivanc Ekici. M.Sc. student Adam R. Travis has focused two major areas of research: (1) on accurate CAD modeling of the proposed LEU plate design, and (2) reduction of the model complexity and dimensionality through interdimensional coupling of the fluid flow and heat transfer for the HFIR plate geometry. Adam Travis is also aided by his major professor, Dr. Kivanc Ekici. We must note that the UTK team, and particularly the graduate students, have been in very close collaboration with Dr. James D. Freels (ORNL technical monitor and mentor) and have benefited greatly from his leadership and expertise in COMSOL modeling of complex physical phenomena. Both UTK and ORNL teams have used COMSOL releases 3.4 through 5.0 inclusive (with particular emphasis on 3.5a, 4.3a, 4.3b, and 4.4) for most of the work described in this report, except where stated otherwise. Just as in the performance of the research, each of the respective sections has been originally authored by respective authors. Therefore, the reader will observe a contrast in writing style throughout this document.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

2016 LLNL Nuclear Forensics Summer Program

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Nuclear Forensics Summer Program is designed to give graduate students an opportunity to come to LLNL for 8–10 weeks for a hands-on research experience. Students conduct research under the supervision of a staff scientist, attend a weekly lecture series, interact with other students, and present their work in poster format at the end of the program. Students also have the opportunity to meet staff scientists one-on-one, participate in LLNL facility tours (e.g., the National Ignition Facility and Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry), and gain a better understanding of the various science programs at LLNL.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Solar CalPoly

The target budget of INhouse was about $650,000 for all materials and student expenses of the Solar Decathlon competition. In order to reach our goal, Cal Poly students and faculty worked with the College of Architecture and Environmental Design’s External Relations office to actively fundraise for INhouse. Students connected with Cal Poly alumni through phone calls, postal mail, email, and live presentations to reach as many alumni in the state of California as possible. Before construction begun, students and faculty met on a weekly basis to determine what brands of materials for the home to use and who would be responsible for reaching out to the company to seek a donation. Our College of Architecture and Environmental Design’s administration was essential in helping us fundraise. For some time, the college was hoping to depend on about half of our fundraising expenses to be covered through the sale of INhouse. However, plans to sell the home fell through during the design development phase; the college turned to the sale of a different asset in to help us meet our goal. If we were to do this project again, completing the design concept and securing a future location of our home sooner would have enhanced our fundraising activities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

USU Alternative and Unconventional Energy Research and Development

The purpose and rationale of this project has been to develop enduring research capabilities at Utah State University (USU) and the Utah State University Research Foundation (USURF) in a number of energy efficient and renewable energy areas including primarily a) algae energy systems, b) solar lighting, c) intuitive buildings, d) electric transportation, 3) unconventional energy environmental monitoring and beneficial reuse technologies (water and CO 2 ), f) wind energy profiling, and g) land use impacts. The long-term goal of this initiative has been to create high-wage jobs in Utah and a platform for sustained faculty and student engagement in energy research. The program’s objective has been to provide a balanced portfolio of R&D conducted by faculty, students, and permanent staff. This objective has been met. While some of the project’s tasks met with more success than others, as with any research project of this scope, overall the research has contributed valuable technical insight and broader understanding in key energy related areas. The algae energy systems research resulted in a highly productive workforce development enterprise as it graduated a large number of well prepared students entering alternative energy development fields and scholarship. Moreover, research in this area has demonstrated both the technological and economic limitations and tremendous potential of algae feedstock-based energy and co-products. Research conducted in electric transportation, specifically in both stationary and dynamic wireless inductive coupling charging technologies, has resulted in impactful advances. The project initiated the annual Conference on Electric Roads and Vehicles (http://www.cervconference.org/), which is growing and attracts more than 100 industry experts and scholars. As a direct result of the research, the USU/USURF spin-out startup, WAVE (Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification), continues work in wirelessly charged bus transit systems and is poised to quickly become a multi-million dollar company with clients around the globe. Moreover, USU students and researchers alike are now on the leading edge of the electrified transportation workforce. Finally, the legacy of this DOE investment in electric transportation is continuing at USU with the formation in progress of an industry sponsored research center built around the Electric Roadway and Vehicle (EVR) research facility and test track (http://evr.usu.edu). The research conducted in unconventional energy environmental monitoring and beneficial reuse technologies experienced broad success developing experimental and modeling tools and implementing those tools to better understand environmental impacts of industrial processes used in unconventional energy development in the Utah’s Uintah Basin. Before this project began the USU Uintah Basin branch campus had minimal capability to perform this regionally critical environmental research. This research investment enabled monitoring and modeling equipment and expertise to assess impacts of energy development to all aspects of environmental quality. Laboratory capability for environmental analysis has been developed and engaged along with field testing at multiple locations. Successful campaigns to measure greenhouse gas and hydrocarbon emissions from produced water surface impoundments and leakage from subsurface oil and gas infrastructure were executed. A computer model of meteorological conditions during winter inversion episodes was created, and commercialization efforts are underway for those models. Finally, in the past 24 months, nearly $2 million in non- DOE external funding from state, local, federal and private entities has been awarded to USU Uintah Basin to continue and add to work and capability established by this task. The preceding examples represent a few highlights resulting from the USU Alternative and Unconventional Energy Research and Development project. The following report provides further detail.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗