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

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Great Plains Network - Kansas State University Agronomy Application Deep Dive

In May 2019, staff members from the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) and members of the Great Plains Network (GPN) attending their Annual Meeting meeting met with researchers at Kansas State University (KSU) for the purpose of an Application Deep Dive training session. The goal of this training session was to help characterize the requirements for an agronomy application, to enable cyberinfrastructure support staff to better understand the needs of the researchers they support, and to offer training to GPN members to be able to conduct these on their own. Material for this event includes both the written documentation from the agronomy application at KSU, details about the infrastructure setup at KSU, and also a writeup of the discussion that took place in person on May 20, 2019. EPOC, GPN, and KSU recorded a set of action items for this use case, continuing the ongoing support and collaboration. These are a reflection of the case study report, and in person discussion.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Report of the Basic Research Needs Workshop on Next Generation Electrical Energy Storage, March 27 – 29, 2017

The last decade has opened rich new horizons in electrical energy storage, with compelling impacts on society. Personal electronics have transformed from a novelty to a necessity. New options for transportation are burgeoning. In energy storage science, emerging new approaches are illuminating the inner workings of energy storage at the atomic and molecular scales with extensions to the meso and macro levels. The stage is set — with ripe new directions for basic energy storage science and promising new opportunities for energy storage for the electricity grid, transportation, the internet of things, and national defense. Next generation electrical energy storage could be as transformational for energy applications as lithium-ion batteries were for personal electronics. This report examines the opportunities in basic energy storage science that will bring this vision for the future to fruition. Sea changes are in the offing, moving from intuitive speculation to confirmed scientific knowledge, from trial-and-error serendipity to science-based design, and from qualitative models to quantitative predictions. To navigate towards these changes, Priority Research Directions (PRDs) were formulated by 175 leading scientists and engineers during a Basic Research Needs Workshop on Next Generation Electrical Energy Storage held in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on March 27-29, 2017. This diverse community included experts in theory, simulation, characterization, electrochemistry, and synthesis of electrochemically active materials and chemistries. They uncovered a rich horizon of compelling directions that promise to link diverse electrochemical phenomena (such as solvation, mobility, reactivity, and degradation) in a single interactive framework.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Notes from the GEM Chair

We certainly live in unusual and quite challenging times, and we hope everyone is healthy and doing well. For the first time in almost 30 years, because of the current COVID-19 crisis, the GEM Steering Committee decided to cancel the in-person GEM Summer Workshop and organize a virtual meeting in its place. The Virtual GEM will occur during the same week as the originally scheduled in-person workshop, July 20-23, with Monday July 20 as the student day. We will try to maintain the original format of GEM as much as possible, with plenary sessions in the morning, Focus Group breakout sessions in the afternoon, and poster sessions in the evening. Please provide your full support to the meeting organizers to help make this first VGEM a great success! As of now, we still plan to hold the GEM 2021 summer workshop in Hawaii from July 26-30, 2021, with a GEM student day on July 25. This workshop will be back-to-back with SHINE (to occur at the same hotel the week after GEM) - please consider attending both!

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Technology Development and Field Monitoring in nZEB - US Country report IEA HPT Annex 49 Task 3

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Heat Pumping Technologies (HPT) Annex 49, “Design and Integration of Heat Pumps for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings,” deals with the application of heat pumps (HPs) as a core component of the HVAC system for nearly or net-zero energy buildings. This report covers the Task 3 activities of the US team. Three institutions are involved on the US team and have worked on the following projects. 1) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) summarized development activities since the conclusion of IEA HPT Annex 40 for several integrated HP (IHP) systems - electric ground-source IHP and air-source IHP versions and engine-driven AS-IHP version. 2) The University of Maryland partnered with ORNL and Blue Bear Management to develop a personal cooling device called RoCo that can provide personalized conditioned air to occupants in inadequately or unconditioned environments. With RoCo, building facility management can elevate the HVAC thermostat settings without compromising occupants’ thermal comfort. Researchers have found that a 4°F increase in thermostat settings can save 12–30% energy savings. Therefore, RoCo is a promising technology that can help reduce building energy consumption and facilitate achievement of net-zero energy building performance. 3) The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working on a field study effort on the NIST Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility. Two air-source split-system HPs were installed in a residential, net-zero energy home that was constructed as a laboratory on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The first HP was a two-stage, 7 kW (2 ton), 15.8 seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER), 9.05 heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) conventionally ducted system; the second HP was a variable-speed, 10.6 kW (3 ton), 14 SEER, 8.35 HSPF, high-velocity ducted system. These two systems operated side by side, using separate supply ducts and a common return duct, on a weekly alternating schedule to condition the home that was operated with very consistent simulated thermal loads. The team wanted to determine whether the high-velocity system could provide comparable energy-use efficiency to the conventional system. The results of this study showed that it did meet the required loads and had slightly greater efficiency; the average cooling coefficient of performance (COP) was (0.40 ± 0.11) higher, and the average heating COP was statistically equal. A new firmware was provided at the end of the heating season that greatly improved the performance of the high-velocity system; its average heating COP went from (1.8 ± 0.9) to (2.5 ± 1.1) at a 95% confidence level. The new firmware heating COP averaged (1.05 ± 0.23) higher than the old firmware over the same outdoor temperatures. The defrost performance is very different for these two systems, yet they consumed equivalent energy per HDD. The conventional system uses a timed-initiate, temperature-terminate algorithm with auxiliary electric resistive heating, whereas the high-velocity system uses calculated evaporator parameters with a hot-gas bypass before a full reverse-cycle defrost with no supplementary resistive heat.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Conceptual Design for a Mobile Application to Support Infield Inventory Activities

This paper introduces an inventory assistant being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that we believe will empower users to perform inventory activities at nuclear facilities more accurately, reliably, and quickly. Inventory activities at nuclear facilities are often conducted using pen and paper, which can be time-consuming, tedious, and susceptible to reading or transcription errors. The proposed inventory assistant would replace the paper-based process used by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, nuclear facility operators, or verification monitors to complete an inventory of nuclear and non-nuclear items. In general, the inventory assistant would ingest an inventory list, distribute assigned items from the inventory list to one or more mobile devices, enable inventory teams to record their observations in the field, and then enable an inventory lead to integrate and reconcile the observations to produce a final report. The assistant consists of two software components—one for the inventory teams to record observations in the field (In-Field Observations App [IFOA]) and one for the inventory lead to reconcile the inventory list with observations (Distribution, Integration, and Reconciliation Application [DIRA]). This paper introduces the overall workflow of the inventory assistant and describes the IFOA user experience in more detail. To demonstrate the concept, the authors present a use case of IAEA inspectors conducting item counting and tag checking activities of UF6 cylinders at a gas centrifuge enrichment plant with a large number of UF6 cylinders (e.g., thousands). These activities can currently require 30–40 person-days of inspection to complete. Based on experiences during an exercised performed at the IAEA by the ORNL team in 2016, we believe an inventory assistant could allow the IAEA to complete item counting and tag checking using the global identifier or the operator’s barcode in 8–10 person-days of inspection. We would expect other users (e.g., facility operators or verification monitors) to also benefit from significant time savings.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sandia's Research in Support of COVID-19 Pandemic Response: Materials Science

Sandia Materials Science Investment Area contributed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 disease which represent the most significant pandemic threat in over 100 years. We completed a series of 7, short duration projects to provide innovative materials science research and development in analytical techniques to aid the neutralization of COVID-19 on multiple surfaces, approaches to rapidly decontaminate personal protective equipment, and pareto assessment of construction materials for manufacturing personal protective equipment. The developed capabilities and processes through this research can help US medical personnel, government installations and assets, first responders, state and local governments, and multiple federal agencies address the COVID-19 Pandemic.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Publicly Available, Annotated Dataset for Naturalistic Driving Study and Computer Vision Algorithm Development

Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed and implemented a data collection effort to create a dataset for use in evaluating and testing algorithms for analyzing driver behavior under controlled settings for support of the Federal Highway Administration’s Exploratory Advanced Research Program. This collection is called the ORNL Naturalistic Driving Study Sample (ONDSS). The dataset is designed to emulate aspects of the Second Strategic Highway Research Project (SHRP2), which contained a massive naturalistic driving study (NDS) with over 3000 drivers between 2010 and 2013 using their personal vehicles, with over 4300 person-years of data collected [HANKEY].

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Conceptual Design for a Desktop Application to Support Inventory Reconciliation Activities

This paper describes desktop software being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to empower users to reconcile observations about items at nuclear facilities more accurately, reliably, and quickly. Inventory activities at nuclear facilities are often conducted using pen and paper, which can be time-consuming, tedious, and susceptible to reading or transcription errors. The proposed inventory assistant would be a replacement for the paper-based process that could be used by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors, nuclear facility operators, or treaty verification monitors to conduct an inventory of nuclear and non-nuclear items in a more timely and accurate manner. Garner, McGirl, and Whitaker previously reported their work about a conceptual design for a mobile app to assist users in the field. In general, the inventory assistant would ingest an inventory list, distribute assigned items from the inventory list to one or more mobile devices, enable inventory teams to record their observations in the field, and then enable an inventory lead to integrate and reconcile the observations to produce a final report. The assistant consists of two software components - one for the inventory teams to record observations in the field (In-Field Observations App [IFOA]) and one for the inventory lead to (1) distribute the inventory list to each team, (2) integrate the observations from each team, and (3) reconcile the inventory list with observations (Distribution, Integration, and Reconciliation Application [DIRA]). This paper reviews the inventory assistant workflow and describes the DIRA user experience in more detail. As an example, the authors have chosen to follow the use case of IAEA inspectors conducting item counting and tag checking activities of UF 6 cylinders at a gas centrifuge enrichment plant with a large number of UF 6 cylinders (e.g., thousands). These activities can currently require 30 - 40 person-days of inspection to complete. The authors believe an inventory assistant could allow the IAEA to complete item counting and tag checking using the global identifier or the operator’s barcode in 8 - 10 person-days of inspection. We would expect other users (e.g., facility operators or treaty verification monitors) to also benefit from significant time savings.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Autonomous Ride-Share Fleet to Reduce Traffic Congestion for Suburban Commuters

As urbanization progresses in areas across the United States, traffic is worsening as more personal vehicles are required to ferry suburban commuters between home and work. Many suburban commuters would prefer public transportation over driving a personal vehicle to use their commute time more efficiently, but existing infrastructure can make conventional public transit inconvenient or impossible. There is a need for a wide-spread system that can safely, conveniently, and cost-effectively transport suburban commuters to and from work. This will decrease congestion on roads, allowing suburban areas to continue growing in population without dramatically increasing commute times. The customer (suburban commuters) needs a system that enables them to commute to and from work more efficiently. This efficiency can be thought of as both the total time spent commuting, as well as the quality of that time spent commuting. The “quality” of the time is subjective, but in general is a metric of the ability of the commuter to focus on things other than traveling during the commute process. The new system should decrease the total time commuting, but increase the quality of the commute time. Collectively Americans spend a total of 55.2 minutes per day commuting, up from 43.4 minutes per day in 1980. Additionally, as of 2013, 76% of Americans get to work by driving alone, up from 64% in 19803. The 40-hour work-week was established in the U.S in 1940 and has not changed since. The result is that Americans spend an increasing amount of time commuting and at a lower quality, but the standard work week has not changed. This decreases the amount of time adults in the U.S have for leisure, friends, and family. A system solution has the potential to improve this, particularly with the advent of new and future technologies. This system is picked specifically for suburban commuters, as they have the highest potential to be helped.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Employee Spotlight: Carlos Archuleta -- Bring on the baritone

A crowded theater grows silent as two performers engage in a moment filled with tension. Carlos Archuleta of Nuclear Materials Science (MST-16) portrays Tenorio in Hector Armienta’s $\textit{Bless Me, Ultima}$, an opera based upon the novel by Rudolfo Anaya. Tapping into his acting acumen, Carlos channels the malicious personality of a saloon-keeper and likely warlock named Tenorio. Tenorio is an embodiment of evil, and throughout the opera he serves as the antagonist against Ultima, the story’s main character. When Carlos begins to sing, his thundering voice reverberates across the crowd, delivering the menace of such a malevolent personality. A talented and versatile baritone, as a youngster Carlos had a strong interest in music, but in a genre decidedly different than opera.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Developing and Integrating the Plant Phenomics Community: Support for the 2022 Conference of the North American Plant Phenotyping Network (Final Report)

The North American Plant Phenotyping Network (NAPPN) hosted our NAPPN2022 Annual Conference as a hybrid event from February 22-25, 2022, at the Classic Center in Athens, GA in cooperation with the University of Georgia. We had over 300 attendees with approximately half attending in person and half attending through our online platform. During the 4 day event, there were 92 scientific talks (33 of which were fast-forward presentations by early career researchers), eleven hands-on workshops, two in-person facility tours, a career and mentoring fair and a panel on international partnerships and perspectives.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Doing Pandemic R&D as if There’s No Mañana: Charting a course to zig and zag our way out of the pandemonium we’re in

Since the beginnings of Sandia National Laboratories, Sandians have made the unthinkable not only thinkable, but also plannable and doable. Over time, we’ve tempered ourselves, studying and devising ways to deter, defend against, and blunt threats of mass death, destruction, and disruption. Now we, and all within our social circles, are living one of the nightmares that only a small fraction of our fellow Sandians have pondered, tackled, and anticipated––a virus that bypasses militaries, zips through borders, hitches to domestic travelers and commuters, makes its hosts unknowing dangers to others, overwhelms hospitals and clinics, hobbles governments, and takes away the lives and livelihoods of compromised and marginalized people everywhere. Taken by surprise, Sandians have dispersed and re-congregated into three interconnected camps. Those who determinedly and defiantly carry on with the work they’ve been doing since before the pandemic hit. Those who are doggedly mustering and redirecting their abilities, experience, education, and energies to get us to the other side of this crisis (without ending up on the Other Side in the process). And those who are in fight-or-flight mode because this virus is pushing them to their personal limits, directly threatening them and/or the lives, jobs, and businesses that matter to them. From these three camps (which some of us migrate between on a daily, hourly, or even minute-by-minute basis), we make our individual and collective attempts to hold it together, do our work, and live another day. While there is much about this that is beyond our control, we are anything but helpless. Each of us has specialized powers and influence that can be brought to bear on the big and small parts of this gnarly problem. It all starts with a personal and collective understanding of the situation we’re in.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Fiscal Year 2020 Report for the Radiation Detection for Nuclear Security Summer School

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) planned to hold its 6th Radiation Detection for Nuclear Security Summer School 15-26 June 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic prevented an in-person school from happening, and PNNL staff did not have adequate time to prepare a virtual format school. So fiscal year 2020 was taken as an off year with the intention of hosting an in-person or online summer school in 2021. As with typical off years, some course materials and activities were refined to better achieve the key objectives of 1) exposing students to the range of nuclear security applications for which radiation detection is necessary, 2) articulating the relevance of student research into the broader context, and 3) growing student interest in careers in nuclear security.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2023

2023 SAGE-Camp Report

The 7 th Summer Physics Camp for Young Women was successfully held in person in 2023 from June 5 th to 16 th at the New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe, NM at Hilo Intermediate School in Hawaii. This year’s camp was dedicated to the topic of Energy Security and was made possible thanks to the strong collaboration of Los Alamos, Sandia and Hawaii teams and the logistical and financial support of Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico Consortium, SAGE- Moore Foundation, LANL Foundation, ACS, IEE, APS four corners, N3B, Hawaii Museum of Science and Technology, New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA) and Tech Source. The camp mobilized more than 120 volunteers who made the camp a success. The camp is free of charge to the students and included free lunch and snacks for the busy brains to have plenty of energy, also included all materials needed for the hands-on activities (like drone building, crystal structure, solar panels, wind turbine fabrication, soldering, coding etc) and also a stipend for students who attended for the full two weeks and for two educators and two student mentors in NM. The camp offered 32 high school students from New Mexico and 8 from Hawaii a unique opportunity to explore science topics and meet a broad range of role model professionals across STEM fields including astrophysics, cybersecurity, Energy fields, space science, engineering, biophysics, environmental science, robotics, computer science, nuclear engineering, radiological science, physics and chemistry. With nearly 120 volunteers who came mainly from Los Alamos National Laboratory (66%) and Sandia national laboratories (18%), two funded educators from NM, Dr. Weldon Beauchamp and Dr. Ellee Cook, and two educators from Hilo, Dr. Pascale Creek Pinner and LeAnn Ragasa, the camp was educationally sound and extremely varied. The collaboration with school educators is critical for the goal of this camp to not only impact students' lives but also improve STEM education in NM and Hawaii. The ultimate goal of the camp is to increase higher education aspirations of students, empower them to consider careers in STEM and learn more about the opportunities available to them in our local colleges and DOE National Laboratories. In addition, the camp also hired 2 past students as student mentors, Megan Odom and Elisea Jackson, who currently attend NMSA and were students at the camp in 2022 when it was virtual. The in-person camp which aims at empowering under-represented minorities in STEM in our community received more than 52 applications this year from all over NM and 8 applications from Hawaii. Our selection criteria are based on diversity, equity and inclusion, and students for whom the camp can be a life-changing opportunity are given a chance to attend the camp. During COVID, the camp was held virtually and gave the opportunity to students from remote areas in NM and Hawaii to attend from their homes. This year, fantastic families supported students everyday even when home was in remote areas in NM like Lea county, Sandoval county, Bernalillo or Mora county. The organizers hope next year they can offer a residential option for students from remote areas.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Fielding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests at the National Security Research Center

For staff at the Lab’s National Security Research Center, fulfilling requests for information can sometimes be a bit otherworldly. Some of these requests are made under the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, which are submitted to NNSA by the public and directed to LANL for records search and review. The topics of these requests range from technical reports to records on unidentified flying objects. “Fulfilling FOIA requests is an important part of what we do here,” said NSRC senior archivist Daniel Alcazar (WRS-NSRCMS). “It’s critical to our mission to ensure the public has access to information it has the right to see.” Congress passed the FOIA in 1967, giving any person the right to request access to federal agency records so they can better understand the U.S. Government’s operations and activities. Federal agencies are required to disclose information requested under the FOIA, unless it falls under one or more of nine exemptions protecting interests such as personal privacy, national security, and law enforcement. Often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about the government, the FOIA is a vital part of U.S. democracy. The Laboratory’s FOIA program works with over a hundred requests for records each year. As the Lab’s classified research and technical library dedicated to information stewardship and education, the National Security Research Center (NSRC) regularly assists with these requests– as many as 45 per year. Public queries cover a spectrum of topics, but most common include requests for Manhattan Project era documents and memoranda, Los Alamos technical reports, Los Alamos-produced historical and scientific motion picture film and videos, as well as those seeking any documents or files pertaining to a former scientist, engineer or employee. While less common, Alcazar estimates that he receives a few FOIA requests a year related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and unexplained aerial phenomena (UAP).

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Plug-Loads Game Changer: Computer Gaming Energy Efficiency without Performance Compromise

Two-thirds of Americans play computer games. Although among the most complex and energy intensive plug loads, gaming has been largely overlooked in energy research and development and policy. Systems used for computer gaming in California consumed 4.1 terawatt-hours/year in 2016 or $700 million in energy bills, with emissions of 1.5 million tons carbon dioxide equivalent allocated 66 percent to consoles, 31 percent to desktop personal computers, 3 percent to laptops, and less than 1 percent to emerging media streaming devices. Key findings include: • Aggregate energy demand places gaming among the top plug loads in California, with gaming representing one-fifth of the state’s total miscellaneous residential energy use. • Market structure changes could substantially affect statewide energy use; energy demand could rise by 114 percent by 2021 under intensified desktop gaming, or fall by 24 percent given a major shift towards consoles coupled with energy efficiency gains. • Unit energy consumption is remarkably varied across gaming platform types: across 26 systems tested, client-side electricity use ranged from 5 to more than 1,200 kWh per year, reflecting equipment choice and usage patterns. • Some emerging technologies and activities are driving energy demand higher, including processor overclocking, cloud-based gaming, higher-resolution connected displays, and virtual reality gaming. • User behavior influences gaming energy use more than technology choice; duty cycle and game choice are particularly strong drivers of demand. • Energy efficiency opportunities are substantial, about 50 percent on a per-system basis for personal computers and 40 percent for consoles if past rates of improvement continue. While simultaneously quantifying efficiency and gaming performance is problematic, evidence suggests that efficiency can be improved while maintaining or improving user experience. Familiar energy policy strategies can help manage gaming energy demand, although mandatory system-level standards are not promising (component-level measures may be).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fall Protection Introduction: Instructor Guide

The proper use of fall prevention and fall protection controls can reduce the risk of deaths and injuries caused by falls. This course, Fall Protection Introduction (#33462), is designed as an introduction to various types of recognized fall prevention and fall protection systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), including guardrail systems, safety net systems, fall restraint systems, and fall arrest systems. Special emphasis is given to the components, inspection, care, and storage of personal fall arrest systems (PFAS). This course also presents controls for falling object hazards and emergency planning considerations for persons who have fallen.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Characterizing the Subsurface Using Deformation from Pumping and Surface Loading Tests

Changes in pore pressure or applied load cause deformation that can be used to characterize the subsurface. A series of field tests were conducted by measuring the deformation and pressure response from a variety of stresses at our test site in South Carolina. The site is underlain by saprolite to a depth of 30 m, and the water table in the unconfined aquifer occurs at a depth of 9 m. The types of tests performed included constant-rate pumping tests and surface point loading tests using the weight of a person or vehicle. Vertical displacement of the saprolite in response to these stresses was measured at depths of 3, 6, 9 and 11 meters in both saturated and unsaturated conditions using an extensometer with a resolution of +/- 10 nm. Results from 2.5-hr-long constant-rate pumping tests indicate a repeatable, compressive vertical strain of roughly 0.1 microstrain in the vadose zone and 1-10 microstrain in the saturated zone. Drawdown was 5 m in the pumping well and 0.1 m in a nearby (r = 9m) observation well. Under saturated conditions, the strain rate gradually decreased throughout the test in a pattern that resembles the drawdown curve in the monitoring well. In contrast, the strain in the vadose zone increased quickly early in the test, but the strain rate diminished and was negligible after approximately 30 minutes of pumping. Interestingly, drawdown in the pumping well also increased quickly over 30 minutes and remained roughly constant after that. Additional tests were conducted by applying a load (weight of a person or vehicle) at the ground surface above the extensometer and allowing the signal to stabilize before removing the load. In the vadose zone, the soil compressed rapidly and then stabilized. In the saturated zone, sudden compression was followed by additional compression at a much slower rate. A similar response was observed upon removal of the load. This transient signal in the saturated zone is interpreted to be a poroelastic effect. When a load is applied, the solid skeleton compresses and pressurizes the pore fluid, causing flow. The strain rate is then a function of pressure diffusion. Simulation of the deformation from both pumping and loading tests using an unsaturated, poroelastic finite-element model indicates that strains are sensitive to the Young’s modulus and hydraulic conductivity as functions of saturation.

well tests, strain, surface loading, hydromechanic↗