Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “emergency generator”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 991 records · Page 55

How New Mexico Leveraged a COVID-19 Case Forecasting Model to Preemptively Address the Healthcare Needs of the State: Quantitative Analysis

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, US hospitals relied on static projections of future trends for long-term planning and were only beginning to consider forecasting methods for short-term planning of staffing and other resources. With the overwhelming burden imposed by COVID-19 on the health care system, an emergent need exists to accurately forecast hospitalization needs within an actionable timeframe. Our goal was to leverage an existing COVID-19 case and death forecasting tool to generate the expected number of concurrent hospitalizations, occupied intensive care unit (ICU) beds, and in-use ventilators 1 day to 4 weeks in the future for New Mexico and each of its five health regions. We developed a probabilistic model that took as input the number of new COVID-19 cases for New Mexico from Los Alamos National Laboratory’s COVID-19 Forecasts Using Fast Evaluations and Estimation tool, and we used the model to estimate the number of new daily hospital admissions 4 weeks into the future based on current statewide hospitalization rates. The model estimated the number of new admissions that would require an ICU bed or use of a ventilator and then projected the individual lengths of hospital stays based on the resource need. By tracking the lengths of stay through time, we captured the projected simultaneous need for inpatient beds, ICU beds, and ventilators. We used a postprocessing method to adjust the forecasts based on the differences between prior forecasts and the subsequent observed data. Thus, we ensured that our forecasts could reflect a dynamically changing situation on the ground. Forecasts made between September 1 and December 9, 2020, showed variable accuracy across time, health care resource needs, and forecast horizon. Forecasts made in October, when new COVID-19 cases were steadily increasing, had an average accuracy error of 20.0%, while the error in forecasts made in September, a month with low COVID-19 activity, was 39.7%. Across health care use categories, state-level forecasts were more accurate than those at the regional level. Although the accuracy declined as the forecast was projected further into the future, the stated uncertainty of the prediction improved. Forecasts were within 5% of their stated uncertainty at the 50% and 90% prediction intervals at the 3- to 4-week forecast horizon for state-level inpatient and ICU needs. However, uncertainty intervals were too narrow for forecasts of state-level ventilator need and all regional health care resource needs. Real-time forecasting of the burden imposed by a spreading infectious disease is a crucial component of decision support during a public health emergency. Our proposed methodology demonstrated utility in providing near-term forecasts, particularly at the state level. This tool can aid other stakeholders as they face COVID-19 population impacts now and in the future.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Adsorption and exchange reactions of iodine molecules at the alumina surface: modelling alumina-iodine reaction mechanisms

Harnessing aluminum oxidation energy requires navigating the particle's passivation shell composed of alumina. The shell is a barrier to aluminum oxidation but can also exothermically react with halogenated species and therefore contribute to the overall energy generated during aluminum particle combustion. Fluorination reactions with alumina have been studied because fluorine is abundant in binder formulations that commonly surround aluminum particles in an energetic mixture. However, iodine has emerged as an alternative halogenated-based binder or oxidizer because iodine gas provides ancillary benefits such as chemical neutralization of biological agents or sterilization of contaminated environments. Furthermore, this study used density functional theory (DFT) calculations to evaluate potential reaction pathways for aluminum–iodine combustion. Relative to fluorinated fragments such as HF and F – , the adsorption energies associated with HI and I– are nearly triple the exchange reaction energy available from fluorination reactions with alumina (–189 and –278 kJ mol –1 for HI and I – , respectively). However, exchange reactions between iodinated species and the alumina surface are energetically unfavorable. These results explain that through adsorption, alumina surface exothermic reactions with iodine are more energetic than with fluorine fragments. Experiments performed with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirm the higher magnitude of energy generated for iodination compared with fluorination reactions with alumina. Additionally, strong adsorption energies can promote synthesis of new shell chemistries. Adsorption in solution will promote alumina dissolution and iodine precipitation reactions to produce hydroxyl complexes and iodinated species synthesized on the surface of the particle, thereby replacing alumina with alternative passivation shell chemistry.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

The Multiphysics on Advanced Platforms Project

In 2015, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory started development of next-generation multiphysics simulation capabilities for the National Nuclear Security Administration under the Advanced Technologies Development and Mitigation (ATDM) element of the Advanced Simulation and Computing program in collaboration with the Exascale Computing Project (ECP). A key driver for this effort across the NNSA tri-lab was the emergence of advanced high performance computing (HPC) architectures based on heterogeneous compute capabilities, including GPU based systems, as part of the national drive toward exascale computing platforms at multiple Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. Developing a multiphysics code capable of meeting the various simulation needs of the NNSA as defined by the current generation of integrated codes (or ICs), initially developed as part of the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) program beginning in 1996, and able to scale to the current 100 petaflop class pre-exascale systems, as well the forthcoming exaflop class computers, is a daunting challenge. To accomplish this ambitious goal, LLNL has embraced two key themes: use of high-order numerical methods and a modular approach to code development. The LLNL next generation effort is organized under the Multi-Physics on Advanced Platforms Project (MAPP). A foundational component of MAPP is the Axom computer science (CS) toolkit which provides infrastructure for the development of modular, performance portable, multi-physics application codes. MARBL is a next-generation application code built on the Axom base to address the modeling needs of the high energy density physics (HEDP) community for simulating high-explosive, magnetic or laser driven experiments such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF), pulsed-power magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD), equation of state (EOS) and material strength studies as part of the NNSA’s stockpile stewardship program (SSP).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Design of an intelligent information system for in-flight emergency assistance

The present research has as its goal the development of AI tools to help flight crews cope with in-flight malfunctions. The relevant tasks in such situations include diagnosis, prognosis, and recovery plan generation. Investigation of the information requirements of these tasks has shown that the determination of paths figures largely: what components or systems are connected to what others, how are they connected, whether connections satisfying certain criteria exist, and a number of related queries. The formulation of such queries frequently requires capabilities of the second-order predicate calculus. An information system is described that features second-order logic capabilities, and is oriented toward efficient formulation and execution of such queries.

Feyock, Stefan↗

Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) Flight Test - Hazard Perception & Avoidance (HPA) Results

The Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) flight test series concluded in October 2023 in support of NASA's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project. These flights include crewed, test (i.e., ownship) and traffic (i.e., intruder) aircraft that flew with unique technologies onboard. The presentation includes overviews of the flight tet itself and the specific results that pertain to the Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) technical areas. HPA tested the FAA's Airborne Collision Avoidance System X (ACAS X), a next-generation collision avoidance tool developed to support different aircraft types and operations. The rotorcraft variant, ACAS Xr, is designed to accommodate existing helicopter platforms and in-development, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) concepts, which are critical to the emerging AAM concept of operations. Two configurations of ACAS Xr were examined: Collision Avoidance System (CAS, similar to the Traffic Collision Avoidance System [TCAS] II) and Detect and Avoid (DAA, previously developed to provide added situational awareness for remote pilots). Additionally, this system was flown in cruise and low-speed flight regimes as well as within en-route and (emulated), structured (i.e., dense/urban), and terminal airspaces. Results include the types of alerts generated by ACAS Xr across the different configurations, the distances at which the alerts were generated, response times, manuever sizes, miss distances, and general comments from pilots. Key takeaways and next steps are also provided.

detect and avoid↗

Identifying a next-generation antimalarial trioxolane in a landscape of artemisinin partial resistance

For over two decades, artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) has been the standard of care for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria. However, artemisinin partial resistance (ART-R) is now prevalent in Southeast Asia and has emerged in eastern Africa, threatening ACT efficacy. Artefenomel, a synthetic 1,2,4-trioxolane, exhibits an extended pharmacokinetic exposure profile that predicts for efficacy against ART-R parasites. Unfortunately, the development of artefenomel was halted recently after almost a decade in the clinic. Here, we describe studies of an artefenomel-adjacent chemotype that combines potent in vitro activity against clinical ART-R parasites, an extended pharmacokinetic profile with single-exposure efficacy in a murine malaria model, and enhanced stability in human microsomes and hepatocytes. Overall, our studies reveal a heretofore underexplored trioxolane chemotype with the potential to address ART-R in a next-generation trioxolane development candidate.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

The emergent field of high entropy oxides: Design, prospects, challenges, and opportunities for tailoring material properties

A new class of ceramics, called entropy stabilized oxides, High Entropy Oxides (HEOs), multicomponent oxides, compositionally complex oxides, or polycation oxides, has generated considerable research interest since the first report in 2015. This multicomponent approach has created new opportunities for materials design and discovery. This Perspective will highlight some current research developments and possible applications while also providing an overview of the many successfully synthesized HEO systems to date. The polycation approach to composition development will be discussed along with a few case studies, challenges, and future possibilities afforded by this novel class of materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A Tool Kit for Generating Simulated Radiation Measurements for Advanced Reactor Safeguards and Security

A tool kit was developed to simulate and analyze passive radiation measurements of molten salt reactor (MSR) operations to support development of nuclear safeguards approaches for this emerging reactor technology. A Transient Simulation Framework of Reconfigurable Modules (TRANSFORM) multiphysics simulation of an MSR produces time-dependent isotopic inventories at user-selected locations within the model. The tool kit implements the Gamma Detector Response and Analysis Software (GADRAS) application programming interface to inject the TRANSFORM isotopic inventories extracted/processed by a Python pipeline into GADRAS models of user-defined geometries. The TRANSFORM inventories are the source terms used to obtain synthetic measurements from GADRAS-defined detectors. The speed of TRANSFORM and GADRAS simulations enables surveying the large design space of MSRs (e.g., fuel type, fuel salt composition, number of loops) and the plethora of measurements (e.g., location, detector type, and collimation) within the reactor. This has enabled timely assessment of the various measurement locations and detectors to identify the most effective and efficient safeguards approach for a specific MSR design. Lastly, the tool kit also simulates extracted samples that can be aged to a desired dose, enabling stakeholders to optimize a measurement plan to use sample analysis as an element within a broader material accountancy plan.

Westphal, Greg↗

Excited Rydberg states in MoSe 2 /WSe 2 heterostructures

The functional form of Coulomb interactions in the transition metal dichalcogenides (TDMs) and other van der Waals solids is critical to many of their unique properties, e.g. strongly-correlated electron states, superconductivity and emergent ferromagnetism. This paper presents measurements of key excitonic energy levels in MoSe 2 /WSe 2 heterostructures. These measurements are obtained from resonance Raman experiments on specific Raman peaks only observed at excited states of the excitons. This data is used to validate a model of the Coulomb potential in these structures which predicts the exciton energies to within ~5 meV. This model is used to determine the effect of heterostructure formation on the single-particle band gaps of the layers and will have a wide applicability in designing the next generation of more complex TDM structures.

Materials Science↗

Optimal Sizing of Resilience Solutions for the U.S. Army Reserve

Power or water outages in buildings threaten the ability of the military to support surrounding communities during natural disasters. Outages can last for days, weeks or months. Typical solutions include very expensive batteries and onsite generation that are sized based on historical power needs. The U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) has teamed up with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to develop a simulation framework that optimizes future power needs to reduce the cost of resilience solutions. The approach starts with the building. Power needs during an emergency event are simulated at the building end-use level, then loads are reduced through the selection of life cycle cost-effective building-level technology improvements. These new optimized loads are then fed into a microgrid sizing tool that dynamically constructs many different combinations of solar photovoltaic, battery storage, and generator resources to meet the load for hundreds of statistically generated outage scenarios. Six site assessments completed by USAR and PNNL in 2019 have resulted in a 1-14% reduction in overall investment when optimizing the buildings first before determining the generation requirements. This approach helps the Army secure critical missions and provide a 14 day-minimum supply of necessary energy and water in the most efficient manner.

buidlings, efficiency, resilience, FEDS, MCOR↗

Proton conductors for heavy-duty vehicle fuel cells

Fuel cells utilize the chemical energy of liquid or gaseous fuels to generate electricity. As fuel cells extend their territory to include heavy-duty vehicles, new demands for proton conductors, a critical component of fuel cells, have emerged. A near-term need is ensuring the chemical and mechanical stability of proton exchange membranes to enable long lifetime vehicles. Therefore, in the mid-term, achieving stable conductivity of proton conductors under hot (>100°C) and dynamic fuel cell operating conditions is desirable. In the long term, targeting high thermal stability and tolerance to water enables the utilization of high energy density liquid fuels that will increase pay-load space for heavy-duty vehicles. This article presents our perspective on these near-, mid-, and long-term targets for proton conductors of heavy-duty fuel cells.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Higher-Order VLP-Based Protein Macromolecular Framework Structures Assembled via Coiled-Coil Interactions

Hierarchical organization is one of the fundamental features observed in biological systems that allows for efficient and effective functioning. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are elegant examples of a hierarchically organized supramolecular structure, where many subunits are self-assembled to generate the functional cage-like architecture. Utilizing VLPs as building blocks to construct two- and three-dimensional (3D) higher-order structures is an emerging research area in developing functional biomimetic materials. VLPs derived from P22 bacteriophages can be repurposed as nanoreactors by encapsulating enzymes and modular units to build higher-order catalytic materials via several techniques. In this study, we have used coiled-coil peptide interactions to mediate the P22 interparticle assembly into a highly stable, amorphous protein macromolecular framework (PMF) material, where the assembly does not depend on the VLP morphology, a limitation observed in previously reported P22 PMF assemblies. Many encapsulated enzymes lose their optimum functionalities under the harsh conditions that are required for the P22 VLP morphology transitions. Therefore, the coiled-coil-based PMF provides a fitting and versatile platform for constructing functional higher-order catalytic materials compatible with sensitive enzymes. Finally, we have characterized the material properties of the PMF and utilized the disordered PMF to construct a biocatalytic 3D material performing single- and multistep catalysis.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Ultrafast high-harmonic spectroscopy of solids

High-harmonic spectroscopy, an ultrafast all-optical technique initially conceptualized in atomic and molecular systems, has now emerged as a powerful platform for studying the structure and dynamics of condensed matter. Unlike that in the gas phase, solid-state high-harmonic generation relies on the fundamental response from high atomic density and periodicity, leading to interband transitions and coherent driving of electrons and holes in their respective bands. These mechanisms make high-harmonic spectroscopy particularly sensitive to the electronic band structure, topological properties and many-body correlations in condensed media. An advantage of high-harmonic spectroscopy over other spectroscopic methods is its ability to probe ultrafast phenomena, capturing femto- to attosecond dynamics of multi-band and strongly correlated electron interactions in solids. Furthermore, in this Review, we discuss the latest experimental and theoretical advances in ultrafast high-harmonic spectroscopy of solids and provide perspectives for future research in this field.

High-harmonic generation↗

Light-driven nanoscale vectorial currents

Controlled charge flows are fundamental to many areas of science and technology, serving as carriers of energy and information, as probes of material properties and dynamics and as a means of revealing or even inducing broken symmetries. Emerging methods for light-based current control offer particularly promising routes beyond the speed and adaptability limitations of conventional voltage-driven systems. However, optical generation and manipulation of currents at nanometre spatial scales remains a basic challenge and a crucial step towards scalable optoelectronic systems for microelectronics and information science. Here we introduce vectorial optoelectronic metasurfaces in which ultrafast light pulses induce local directional charge flows around symmetry-broken plasmonic nanostructures, with tunable responses and arbitrary patterning down to subdiffractive nanometre scales. Local symmetries and vectorial currents are revealed by polarization-dependent and wavelength-sensitive electrical readout and terahertz (THz) emission, whereas spatially tailored global currents are demonstrated in the direct generation of elusive broadband THz vector beams 17 . We show that, in graphene, a detailed interplay between electrodynamic, thermodynamic and hydrodynamic degrees of freedom gives rise to rapidly evolving nanoscale driving forces and charge flows under the extremely spatially and temporally localized excitation. These results set the stage for versatile patterning and optical control over nanoscale currents in materials diagnostics, THz spectroscopies, nanomagnetism and ultrafast information processing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Embracing disorder in quantum materials design

Many of the most exciting materials discoveries in fundamental condensed matter physics are made in systems hosting some degree of intrinsic disorder. While disorder has historically been regarded as something to be avoided in materials design, it is often of central importance to correlated and quantum materials. This is largely driven by the conceptual and theoretical ease to handle, predict, and understand highly uniform systems that exhibit complex interactions, symmetries, and band structures. In this Perspective, we highlight how flipping this paradigm has enabled exciting possibilities in the emerging field of high entropy materials, focusing primarily on high entropy oxide and chalcogenide quantum materials. These materials host high levels of cation or anion compositional disorder while maintaining unexpectedly uniform single crystal lattices. The diversity of atomic scale interactions of spin, charge, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom are found to emerge into coherent properties on much larger length scales. Thus, altering the variance and magnitudes of the atomic scale properties through elemental selection can open new routes to tune global correlated phases, such as magnetism, metal–insulator transitions, ferroelectricity, and even emergent topological responses. The strategy of embracing disorder in this way provides a much broader pallet from which functional states can be designed for next-generation microelectronic and quantum information systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Insights on the peak in the speed of sound of ultradense matter

In this work we investigate the minimal physical requirements needed for generating a speed of sound that surpasses its asymptotic conformal limit. It is shown that a peak in the speed of sound of homogeneous matter naturally emerges in the transition from a phase with broken chiral symmetry to one with a gapped Fermi surface. We argue that this could be relevant for understanding the peak in the speed of sound displayed by some of the current models for cold ultradense matter. A minimal model implementation of this mechanism is presented, based on the spontaneous breakdown of an approximate particle-antiparticle symmetry, and its thermodynamic properties are determined.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading under Network Constraints Based on Generalized Fast Dual Ascent

We report the wide deployment of renewable energy resources, combined with a more proactive demand-side management, is inducing a new paradigm in both power system operation and electricity market trading, which especially boosts the emergence of the peer-to-peer (P2P) market. A more flexible local market mechanism is highly desirable in response to fast changes in renewable power generation at the distribution network level. Moreover, large-scale implementation of P2P energy trading inevitably affects the secure and economic operation of the distribution network. This paper presents a new P2P electricity trading framework with distribution network security constraints considered using the generalized fast dual ascent method. First, an event-driven local P2P market framework is presented to facilitate short-term or immediate local energy transactions. Then, the sensitivity analysis of nodal voltage and network loss with respect to nodal power injections is used to evaluate the impacts of P2P transactions on the distribution network, which ensures the secure operation of the distribution system. Thereby, the external operational constraints are internalized, and the cost of P2P energy trading can be appropriately allocated in an endogenous way. Moreover, a generalized fast dual ascent method is employed to implement distributed market-clearing efficiently. Finally, numerical results indicate that the proposed model could guarantee secure operation of the distribution system with P2P energy trading, and the solution method enjoys good convergence performance.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

AmpSuite

Seismic amplitudes offer vital information about explosion source characteristics, including discrimination and yield estimation. To take advantage of this, we developed an interactive Python package to measure, control data quality, generate broad area propagation models and perform discrimination and estimate yield. Propagation models are essential in support of transportable yield and broad area discrimination. The key benefit of this package will be its ability to continuously integrate data and new techniques. The AmpSuite framework will provide standardized, repeatable, and accurate model generation and characterization routines. The capability is crucial for monitoring agencies tasked with rapid and high-quality seismic event characterization. The AmpSuite software includes a series of independent modules to perform: • Direct Phase Amplitude Measurement and Storage • Coda Envelope Measurement and Storage • Data Quality Control • New Propagation Model Developments • Seismic Discrimination and Analysis • Yield Estimation and supporting utility software. The AmpSuite software provides comprehensive solutions for monitoring agencies seeking to optimize model generation and event analysis within a contemporary Python framework. Stakeholders (AFTAC) have begun to move towards the Python language for scientific analysis as a new workforce emerges.

Alfaro, Richard↗