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At least 1,063 records · Page 59

Integration of Advanced Probabilistic Analysis Techniques with Multi-Physics Models

An integrated simulation platform that couples probabilistic analysis-based tools with model-based simulation tools can provide valuable insights for reactive and proactive responses to plant operating conditions. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the benefits of a partial implementation of the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Detailed Framework Specification through the coupling of advanced PRA capabilities and accurate multi-physics plant models. Coupling a probabilistic model with a multi-physics model will aid in design, operations, and safety by providing a more accurate understanding of plant behavior. This represents the first attempt at actually integrating these two types of analyses for a control system used for operations, on a faster than real-time basis. This report documents the development of the basic communication capability to exchange data with the probabilistic model using Reliability Workbench (RWB) and the multi-physics model using Dymola. The communication pathways from injecting a fault (i.e., failing a component) to the probabilistic and multi-physics models were successfully completed. This first version was tested with prototypic models represented in both RWB and Modelica. First, a simple event tree/fault tree (ET/FT) model was created to develop the software code to implement the communication capabilities between the dynamic-link library (dll) and RWB. A program, written in C#, successfully communicates faults to the probabilistic model through the dll. A systems model of the Advanced Liquid-Metal Reactor–Power Reactor Inherently Safe Module (ALMR-PRISM) design developed under another DOE project was upgraded using Dymola to include proper interfaces to allow data exchange with the control application (ConApp). A program, written in C+, successfully communicates faults to the multi-physics model. The results of the example simulation were successfully plotted.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Differential Privacy in Grid Kitchen: Implementation & Software Documentation

Sharing of power grid feeder models faces significant challenges due to the potential risk of exposing sensitive operational information. Traditional anonymization techniques have shown notable limitations in other sensitive domains, as evidenced by documented re-identification attacks that combine supposedly anonymized datasets with auxiliary information, raising concerns that similar vulnerabilities could affect power grid data. Consequently, there is a pressing need for a more rigorous privacy protection strategy that not only delivers formal mathematical guarantees but also preserves the analytical value of the shared models. To address this challenge, we have enhanced the Grid Kitchen framework by implementing differential privacy mechanisms within the distribution model dehydration pipeline. This implementation carefully calibrates and applies noise to sensitive attributes in feeder models according to configurable privacy levels—low, moderate, and high—each offering different balances between data utility and privacy protection. Our approach uses established noise functions (Gaussian for continuous data and Discrete Laplace for integer values) with parameters carefully calibrated so that the impact of individual data points is effectively masked in the final output. The integration leverages our Noise Catalog, which we developed to categorize feeder model properties by component type, data type, and sensitivity. This catalog guides the application of appropriate noise functions and privacy parameters ($\varepsilon$ and $\delta$) to each attribute, ensuring consistent privacy protection across the model while maintaining its structural integrity and analytical usefulness. This implementation also includes evaluation tools that allow model owners to assess the impact of privacy-preserving transformations before sharing data with external parties. This report provides documentation for the differential privacy capabilities added to the Grid Kitchen project. It includes a primer on differential privacy concepts and their importance in modern data sharing, details the architecture of our implementation, explains the privacy modes and parameter configurations, and offers practical guidance on using the code for applying differential privacy to grid feeder models. Through examples and code snippets, we demonstrate the effective application of these privacy-enhancing technologies, enabling utility operators and researchers to confidently share grid data while protecting sensitive information.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Cost benefit analysis for smart grid projects

The U.S. is unusual in that a definition of the term “smart grid” was written into legislation, appearing in the Energy Independence and Security Act (2007). When the recession called for stimulus spending and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, 2009) was passed, a framework already existed for identification of smart grid projects. About $4.5B of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (U.S. DOE’s) $37B allocation from ARRA was directed to smart grid projects of two types, investment grants and demonstrations. Matching funds from other sources more than doubled the total value of ARRA-funded smart grid projects. The Smart Grid Investment Grant Program (SGIG) consumed all but $620M of the ARRA funds, which was available for the 32 projects in the Smart Grid Demonstration Program (SGDP, or demonstrations). Given the economic potential of these projects and the substantial investments required, there was keen interest in estimating the benefits of the projects (i.e., quantifying and monetizing the performance of smart grid technologies). Common method development and application, data collection, and analysis to calculate and publicize the benefits were central objectives of the program. For this purpose standard methods and a software tool, the Smart Grid Computational Tool (SGCT), were developed by U.S. DOE and a spreadsheet model was made freely available to grantees and other analysts. The methodology was intended to define smart grid technologies or assets, the mechanisms by which they generate functions, their impacts and, ultimately, their benefits. The SGCT and its application to the Demonstration Projects are described, and actual projects in Southern California and in China are selected to test and illustrate the tool. The usefulness of the methodology and tool for international analyses is then assessed.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

An ERCOT test system for market design studies

An open source test system is developed that permits the dynamic modeling of centrally-managed wholesale power markets operating over highvoltage transmission grids. In default mode, the test system models basic operations in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT): namely, centrally-managed day-ahead and real-time markets operating over successive days, with congestion handled by locational marginal pricing. These basic operational features characterize all seven U.S. energy regions organized as centrally-managed wholesale power markets. Modeled participants include dispatchable generators, load-serving entities, and non-dispatchable generation such as unrmed wind and solar power. Users can congure a broad variety of parameters to study basic market and grid features under alternative system conditions. Users can also easily extend the test system's Java/Python software classes to study modied or newly envisioned market and grid features. Finally, the test system is integrated with a high-level simulation framework that permits it to function as a software component within larger systems, such as multi-country systems or integrated transmission and distribution systems. Finally, detailed test cases with 8-bus and 200-bus transmission grids are reported to illustrate these test system capabilities.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

The Application of Coordination to Magnetic Measurement Automation: An SSW System Example

Magnetic measurements are an integral part of the development cycle of accelerator magnets, a part which provides necessary feedback to drive design and manufacturing improvements and corrections. Automation of these measurements allows for reduction of human errors and reproducibility of measurements. Realization of automation via coordination that is separated at the architectural level from the functional code provides flexibility in defining measurement procedures and substantial extensibility. The described Single Stretched Wire (SSW) system herein is an implementation of such a solution with the use of a component-based framework designed to build a family of measurement systems.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Final Report for Project DE-FC02-06ER25755 [Pmodels2]

In this report, we describe the research accomplished by the OSU team under the Pmodels2 project. The team has worked on various angles: designing high performance MPI implementations on modern networking technologies (Mellanox InfiniBand (including the new ConnectX2 architecture and Quad Data Rate), QLogic InfiniPath, the emerging 10GigE/iWARP and RDMA over Converged Enhanced Ethernet (RoCE) and Obsidian IB-WAN), studying MPI scalability issues for multi-thousand node clusters using XRC transport, scalable job start-up, dynamic process management support, efficient one-sided communication, protocol offloading and designing scalable collective communication libraries for emerging multi-core architectures. New designs conforming to the Argonne’s Nemesis interface have also been carried out. All of these above solutions have been integrated into the open-source MVAPICH/MVAPICH2 software. This software is currently being used by more than 2,100 organizations worldwide (in 71 countries). As of January ’14, more than 200,000 downloads have taken place from the OSU Web site. In addition, many InfiniBand vendors, server vendors, system integrators and Linux distributors have been incorporating MVAPICH/MVAPICH2 into their software stacks and distributing it. Several InfiniBand systems using MVAPICH/MVAPICH2 have obtained positions in the TOP500 ranking of supercomputers in the world. The latest November ’13 ranking include the following systems: 7th ranked Stampede system at TACC with 462,462 cores; 11th ranked Tsubame 2.5 system at Tokyo Institute of Technology with 74,358 cores; 16th ranked Pleiades system at NASA with 81,920 cores; Work on PGAS models has proceeded on multiple directions. The Scioto framework, which supports task-parallelism in one-sided and global-view parallel programming, has been extended to allow multi-processor tasks that are executed by processor groups. A quantum Monte Carlo application is being ported onto the extended Scioto framework. A public release of Global Trees (GT) has been made, along with the Global Chunks (GC) framework on which GT is built. The Global Chunks (GC) layer is also being used as the basis for the development of a higher level Global Graphs (GG) layer. The Global Graphs (GG) system will provide a global address space view of distributed graph data structures on distributed memory systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A statistical approach for detection of anatomical change - Paper 115

The purpose of this study was to develop a novel statistics-based method for automated detection of anatomical changes using cone-beam CT (CBCT) images of head and neck (H and N) patients. Vendor supplied CBCT software provides the user with the basic tools that allow for the visual assessment of the co-registration of the reference CT data and daily CBCT images. Currently there is no commercially available CBCT software that is capable of detecting anatomical changes and giving the clinician an early alert for the treatment plan adaptation. An algorithm was developed that can detect statistically significant changes at a given confidence level for H and N patients. This tool provides a reliable and automated early warning system that enables a 'just-in-time' adaptation of the treatment plan. A method was developed for automated detection of anatomical changes in H and N patients under radiation therapy treatment. The method utilized imaging CT data along with daily CBCT images to quantitatively compare the patient anatomy against the reference CT imaging data. The comparison algorithm was developed using a statistics-based approach as opposed to threshold-based methods. The algorithm allows for reliable detection of statistically significant changes in the observed patient anatomy at a given level of confidence. The method can be employed as an integral part of the adaptive radiotherapy framework. (authors)

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

The International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) System: Design, Theory, and Implementation

Abstract The increasing complexity of Earth system models has inspired efforts to quantitatively assess model fidelity through rigorous comparison with best available measurements and observational data products. Earth system models exhibit a high degree of spread in predictions of land biogeochemistry, biogeophysics, and hydrology, which are sensitive to forcing from other model components. Based on insights from prior land model evaluation studies and community workshops, the authors developed an open source model benchmarking software package that generates graphical diagnostics and scores model performance in support of the International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) project. Employing a suite of in situ, remote sensing, and reanalysis data sets, the ILAMB package performs comprehensive model assessment across a wide range of land variables and generates a hierarchical set of web pages containing statistical analyses and figures designed to provide the user insights into strengths and weaknesses of multiple models or model versions. Described here is the benchmarking philosophy and mathematical methodology embodied in the most recent implementation of the ILAMB package. Comparison methods unique to a few specific data sets are presented, and guidelines for configuring an ILAMB analysis and interpreting resulting model performance scores are discussed. ILAMB is being adopted by modeling teams and centers during model development and for model intercomparison projects, and community engagement is sought for extending evaluation metrics and adding new observational data sets to the benchmarking framework.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Sequencing of 15 622 gene-bearing BACs clarifies the gene-dense regions of the barley genome

Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) possesses a large and highly repetitive genome of 5.1 Gb that has hindered the development of a complete sequence. In 2012, the International Barley Sequencing Consortium released a resource integrating whole-genome shotgun sequences with a physical and genetic framework. However, because only 6278 bacterial artificial chromosome (BACs) in the physical map were sequenced, fine structure was limited. To gain access to the gene-containing portion of the barley genome at high resolution, we identified and sequenced 15 622 BACs representing the minimal tiling path of 72 052 physical-mapped gene-bearing BACs. This generated ~1.7 Gb of genomic sequence containing an estimated 2/3 of all Morex barley genes. Exploration of these sequenced BACs revealed that although distal ends of chromosomes contain most of the gene-enriched BACs and are characterized by high recombination rates, there are also gene-dense regions with suppressed recombination. We made use of published map-anchored sequence data from Aegilops tauschii to develop a synteny viewer between barley and the ancestor of the wheat D-genome. Except for some notable inversions, there is a high level of collinearity between the two species. The software HarvEST:Barley provides facile access to BAC sequences and their annotations, along with the barley– Ae. tauschii synteny viewer. These BAC sequences constitute a resource to improve the efficiency of marker development, map-based cloning, and comparative genomics in barley and related crops. Additional knowledge about regions of the barley genome that are gene-dense but low recombination is particularly relevant.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

SIRIUS: Science-Driven Data Management for Multi-Tiered Storage

The data sets being generated by large applications on very large-scale systems are increasing in both size and complexity. At the same time, there are new ways available to store and access these data sets. The goal in this project is to develop software that applications can use to make use of new and existing storage technologies in more sophisticated ways. One challenge in scientific data management is handling ‘hot’ vs ‘cold’ data. Data that is hot is data that is needed (or will be needed soon) in order for the program to continue progressing, while cold data is either output (and so will not be need further during the life of the program) or will not be needed until significantly later in the program’s run. Hot data should be stored in a way that allows fast access. On most systems, economic factors lead to an inverse relationship between storage performance and storage capacity and so fast access storage is limited. This makes it important to correctly place hot and cold data and avoid cold data unnecessarily consuming precious resources. In this reporting period, we addressed this challenge in various ways and at various levels. Data management frameworks offer only limited control to applications in how data is stored. We have added software capabilities for seamlessly moving data between layers of the storage technology using promote and demote functions to existing software frameworks. This gives direct control to applications in deciding what priority data receives. Additionally, we integrated different storage layer management frameworks in order to allow data to be exchanged and moved between storage layers in a consistent way across the application. Further, applications are not always able to directly decide what storage level makes sense for a given piece of data without an understanding of the underlying storage technologies. Data storage frameworks are often positioned to make these sorts of decisions in service of the application. We have added machine-learning based capabilities to data staging frameworks in order to make intelligent decisions about where data should be stored given learning about patterns in previous usage of similar data.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Employing MACS/ViBRANT as a Surrogate MARVEL Reactor for Startup Reactivity Tuning and Supervisory Control Processes

Advanced nuclear reactors are a key part of the future of nuclear energy both in the United States and globally. They offer unique benefits for various energy-demanding applications, including use in remote locations, compact size, modular manufacturing, remote monitoring, low and/or variable power rating operation, and reliance on novel technologies to enhance operational safety. To achieve economic feasibility, advanced reactors must significantly reduce their workforces in comparison with the current fleet. Achieving this reduction will occur through reducing staff workloads using technology to achieve autonomous or semi-autonomous operations, demonstrated by comprehensive testing and validation activities. These operations will require both software and hardware platforms during the design and testing phases. While simulations are useful during the design phase, their performance can significantly deviate during actual deployment on hardware. This report presents the outcomes of a collaborative technical initiative between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Microreactor Program (MRP) and Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) Program. The collaboration utilized the Microreactor Automated Control System (MACS) hardware platform to bridge the gap between theoretical reactor design and actual startup and control operations. Two key use cases were investigated: facilitating the startup testing period and demonstrating supervisory control. The first use case details the key Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) reactor startup physics testing activities conducted using the MACS platform. These activities included drum worth measurements, shutdown margin assessment, temperature feedback analysis, and scram time evaluation, as well as unique testing that would apply to the MARVEL reactor to demonstrate the testing methodologies in a low-risk environment. The MACS platform, serving as a surrogate representation of the MARVEL reactor, proved instrumental in performing these tests. The exercise revealed aspects that led to optimized processes, refined hardware design, and enhanced base software capabilities. By maturing methods and technologies in this manner, the initiative promises to reduce wasted time in the actual on-site reactor deployment effort, thereby saving significant time and resources. The second use case focuses on the development and implementation of supervisory control methods aimed at managing core tilt, which can result from asymmetrical operations or manufacturing imperfections in fuel rods or reactivity control devices. A key objective was to assess and compare the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for supervisory control. The effort aimed to define the role of supervisory control to enhance performance without risking control instability. This effort explored three distinct approaches: rules-based (RB) methods, optimization techniques, and reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. Each approach was evaluated for its ease of implementation, its usability, and its effectiveness in responding to asymmetries in neutron flux. Comparative analysis of these approaches provided valuable insights into their applicability and effectiveness, offering a robust framework for advanced reactor operations. Together, these two use cases highlight the potential of hardware test beds to help streamline the design, operation, and control of advanced nuclear reactors. This collaborative effort underscores the importance of continued innovation and experimentation in achieving the next generation of safe, reliable, and economically viable nuclear energy solutions.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Benchmarking of software and methods for use in transient multidimensional fuel performance with spatial reactor kinetics

The key physics involved in accurate prediction of reactor-fuel-element behavior includes neutron transport and thermal hydraulics. The thermal hydraulic feedback mechanism is primarily provided through cross sections to the neutron transport that are temperature and density dependent. Historically, this coupling was primarily seen only in reactor simulators, which are well suited to model the reactor core, giving only a coarse treatment to individual fuel pins as well as simple models for thermal distribution calculations. This poor resolution on the primary coupling mechanisms can lead to conservatisms that should be removed to improve fuel design and performance. This work seeks to address the resolution of space-time-dependent neutron kinetics with thermal feedback within the fuel pin scale in the multi-physics framework. The specific application of this new capability is transient performance analysis of space-time-dependent temperature distribution of fuel elements. The coupling between the neutron transport and the thermal feedback is extremely important in this highly coupled problem, primarily applicable to reactivity-initiated- accidents (RIAs) and loss-of-coolant-accidents (LOCAs). The capability developed will include the coupling of the time-dependent neutron transport with the time-dependent thermal diffusion capability. An improvement in resolution and coupling is proposed by developing neutron transport models that are internally coupled with high fidelity within fuel pin thermal calculations in a multi-physics framework. Good agreement is shown with benchmarks and problems from the literature of RIAs and LOCAs for the tools used. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Evaporation Sub-model Development for Volume of Fluid (eVOF) Method Applicable to Spray-Wall Interaction Including Film Characteristics with Validation at High Pressure and Temperature Conditions (Final Report)

Internal combustion engines have seen a great evolution over the last several decades through application of high pressure direct injection, multiple injections, and other technologies to reduced fuel consumption, NOx, and PM. Although combustion systems with advanced injection strategies have been studied extensively, there exists a significant fundamental knowledge gap on the fuel-spray interactions with the piston surface and chamber walls. Advanced computational codes validated with experimental techniques have to be developed for accurate representation of the drop impingement, fuel film formation, and vaporization. Current engine CFD spray models utilize a Lagrangian framework for modeling which lacks critical considerations of the physics pertaining to these interactions and thus requiring extensive parameterization, tuning and validation. The team from Michigan Technological University, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Argonne National Laboratory is composed of experts in sprays, combustion, engines and CFD with a wide spectrum of knowledge including specific expertise in the area under consideration. In the proposed work, a VOF modeling approach has been adopted for the spray-wall interaction, film formation and spreading, and vaporization. With the inclusion of a vaporization submodel, a more predictive and accurate simulation of the spray-film was performed without extensive need of parameterization and tuning. Extensive experimentation of the spray-wall interaction under the range of conditions matching the thermodynamic and surface temperatures that occur in diesel and gasoline engines were conducted to validate the SWI submodels and for development of the evaporation sub-model, which has been implemented in the Converge software.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Electric train energy consumption modeling

For this paper we develop an electric train energy consumption modeling framework considering instantaneous regenerative braking efficiency in support of a rail simulation system. The model is calibrated with data from Portland, Oregon using an unconstrained non-linear optimization procedure, and validated using data from Chicago, Illinois by comparing model predictions against the National Transit Database (NTD) estimates. The results demonstrate that regenerative braking efficiency varies as an exponential function of the deceleration level, rather than an average constant as assumed in previous studies. The model predictions are demonstrated to be consistent with the NTD estimates, producing a predicted error of 1.87% and -2.31%. The paper demonstrates that energy recovery reduces the overall power consumption by 20% for the tested Chicago route. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that the proposed modeling approach is able to capture energy consumption differences associated with train, route and operational parameters, and thus is applicable for project-level analysis. The model can be easily implemented in traffic simulation software, used in smartphone applications and eco-transit programs given its fast execution time and easy integration in complex frameworks.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

From 2D to 4D: a containerized workflow and browser to explore dynamic chromatin architecture

Background Characterizing the physical organization of the genome is essential for understanding long-range gene regulation, chromatin compartmentalization, and epigenetic accessibility. Hi-C experiments generate two-dimensional (2D) genome-wide contact maps of chromatin interactions by capturing the spatial proximity between genomic loci, which reveal interaction frequencies but lack the spatial resolution needed to interpret the three-dimensional (3D) genome structure(s). Emerging evidence suggests that epigenetic regulation is closely linked to 3D genome architecture, and that structural changes over time (4D) drive key biological processes in development, disease, and environmental response. Thus, integrating 3D structure with functional data is critical for a more complete understanding of genome regulation. Previous work, most notably the 4DHiC chromosome modeling framework, has shown that physical multi-dimensional modeling approaches rooted in polymer physics and molecular dynamics can resolve these structures at biologically meaningful resolutions by integrating temporal Hi-C data with physical constraints to uncover dynamic chromosome reorganization. Thus, molecular dynamics simulations, constrained by Hi-C contact matrices, can resolve fine-scale structural changes and reveal functionally significant transitions in chromatin conformation. Results Herein, we present the 4D Genome Browser Workflow (4DGBWorkflow) and the 4D Genome Browser (4DGB). The algorithm is based on the 4DHiC method, and the containerized tool is an end-to-end workflow that can transform, filter, and view 4D epigenomics and chromatin datasets, allowing non-specialists to apply three-dimensional modeling principles to diverse datasets and experimental conditions. The software executes on a laptop running macOS, Linux or Windows. From input Hi-C files (.hic), the 4DGBWorkflow produces 3D reconstructions of chromosomes, integrates the reconstruction with track data (e.g., epigenetic marks, transcriptome profiles), and provides comparative visualization of the results in a single workflow. Conclusions The 4DGBWorkflow and 4D Genome Browser are open-source tools for comparative analysis and visualization of 4D chromosome datasets, including chromatin architecture and epigenomic signals. Automatic integration of Hi-C data with molecular dynamics democratizes the construction of time resolved 3D genome structures, simplifying complex simulations and data integration schemes.

3D Genome Browser↗

Building a Community Infrastructure for Scalable On-Line Performance Analysis Tools around Open|SpeedShop

In this project we created a community tool infrastructure for program development tools targeting Petascale class machines and beyond. This includes tools for performance analysis, debugging, and correctness tools, as well as tuning and optimization frameworks. The developed infrastructure provides a comprehensive and extensible set of individual tool building components. We started with the basic elements necessary across all tools in such an infrastructure followed by a set of generic core modules that allow a comprehensive performance analysis at scale. Further, we developed a methodology and workflow that allows others to add or replace modules, to integrate parts into their own tools, or to customize existing solutions. In order to form the core modules, we built on the existing Open|SpeedShop infrastructure and decomposed it into individual modules that match the necessary tool components. At the same time, we addressed the challenges found in performance tools for petascale systems in each module. When assembled, this instantiation of community tool infrastructure provides an enhanced version of Open|SpeedShop, which, while completely different in its architecture, provides scalable performance analysis for petascale applications through a familiar interface. This project also built upon and enhances capabilities and reusability of project partner components as specified in the original project proposal. The overall project team’s work over the project funding cycle was focused on several areas of research, which are described in the following sections. The reminder of this report also highlights related work as well as preliminary work that supported the project. In addition to the project partners funded by the Office of Science under this grant, the project team included several collaborators who contribute to the overall design of the envisioned tool infrastructure. In particular, the project team worked closely with the other two DOE NNSA laboratories Los Alamos and Sandia leveraging co-funding for Krell by ASC’s Common Computing Environment (CCE) program as laid out in the original proposal. The ASC CCE co-funding, coordinated through LLNL, was for 50% of the total project funding, with the ASC CCE portion of the funding going entirely to Krell, while the ASCR funding itself was split between Krell and the funded partners. This report covers the entire project from both funding sources. Additionally, the team leveraged the expertise of software engineering researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, who specialize in software framework design, in order to achieve a broadly acceptable component framework. The Component Based Tool Framework (CBTF) software has been released to the community. Information related to the project and the released software can be found on the CBTF wiki page at: http://sourceforge.net/p/cbtf/wiki/Home.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

SHARP pre-release v1.0 - Current Status and Documentation

The NEAMS Reactor Product Line effort aims to develop an integrated multiphysics simulation capability for the design and analysis of future generations of nuclear power plants. The Reactor Product Line code suite’s multi-resolution hierarchy is being designed to ultimately span the full range of length and time scales present in relevant reactor design and safety analyses, as well as scale from desktop to petaflop computing platforms. In this report, building on a several previous report issued in September 2014, we describe our continued efforts to integrate thermal/hydraulics, neutronics, and structural mechanics modeling codes to perform coupled analysis of a representative fast sodium-cooled reactor core in preparation for a unified release of the toolkit. The work reported in the current document covers the software engineering aspects of managing the entire stack of components in the SHARP toolkit and the continuous integration efforts ongoing to prepare a release candidate for interested reactor analysis users. Here we report on the continued integration effort of PROTEUS/Nek5000 and Diablo into the NEAMS framework and the software processes that enable users to utilize the capabilities without losing scientific productivity. Due to the complexity of the individual modules and their necessary/optional dependency library chain, we focus on the configuration and build aspects for the SHARP toolkit, which includes capability to autodownload dependencies and configure/install with optimal flags in an architecture-aware fashion. Such complexity is untenable without strong software engineering processes such as source management, source control, change reviews, unit tests, integration tests and continuous test suites. Details on these processes are provided in the report as a building step for a SHARP user guide that will accompany the first release, expected by Mar 2016.

Mahadevan, Vijay S.↗

Sorption Modeling and Verification for Off-Gas Treatment

This project was successfully executed to provide valuable adsorption data and improve a comprehensive model developed in previous work by the authors. Data obtained were used in an integrated computer program to predict the behavior of adsorption columns. The model is supported by experimental data and has been shown to predict capture of off gas similar to that evolving during the reprocessing of nuclear waste. The computer program structure contains (a) equilibrium models of off-gases with the adsorbate; (b) mass-transfer models to describe off-gas mass transfer to a particle, diffusion through the pores of the particle, and adsorption on the active sites of the particle; and (c) incorporation of these models into fixed bed adsorption modeling, which includes advection through the bed. These models are being connected with the MOOSE (Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment) software developed at the Idaho National Laboratory through DGOSPREY (Discontinuous Galerkin Off-gas SeParation and REcoverY) computer codes developed in this project. Experiments for iodine and water adsorption have been conducted on reduced silver mordenite (Ag0Z) for single layered particles. Adsorption apparatuses have been constructed to execute these experiments over a useful range of conditions for temperatures ranging from ambient to 250°C and water dew points ranging from -69 to 19°C. Experimental results were analyzed to determine mass transfer and diffusion of these gases into the particles and to determine which models best describe the single and binary component mass transfer and diffusion processes. The experimental results were also used to demonstrate the capabilities of the comprehensive models developed to predict single-particle adsorption and transients of the adsorption-desorption processes in fixed beds. Models for adsorption and mass transfer have been developed to mathematically describe adsorption kinetics and transport via diffusion and advection processes. These models were built on a numerical framework for solving conservation law problems in one-dimensional geometries such as spheres, cylinders, and lines. Coupled with the framework are specific models for adsorption in commercial adsorbents, such as zeolites and mordenites. Utilizing this modeling approach, the authors were able to accurately describe and predict adsorption kinetic data obtained from experiments at a variety of different temperatures and gas phase concentrations. A demonstration of how these models, and framework, can be used to simulate adsorption in fixed- bed columns is provided. The CO 2 absorption work involved modeling with supportive experimental information. A dynamic model was developed to simulate CO 2 absorption using high alkaline content water solutions. The model is based upon transient mass and energy balances for chemical species commonly present in CO 2 absorption. A computer code was developed to implement CO 2 absorption with a chemical reaction model. Experiments were conducted in a laboratory scale column to determine the model parameters. The influence of geometric parameters and operating variables on CO 2 absorption was studied over a wide range of conditions. Continuing work could employ the model to control column operation and predict the absorption behavior under various input conditions and other prescribed experimental perturbations. The value of the validated models and numerical frameworks developed in this project is that they can be used to predict the sorption behavior of off-gas evolved during the reprocessing of nuclear waste and thus reduce the cost of the experiments. They can also be used to design sorption processes based on concentration limits and flow-rates determined at the plant level.

42 ENGINEERING↗