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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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At least 1,099 records · Page 61
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

The Bikinians

On March 29, 1944, a small contingent of Marines invaded Bikini Atoll. Their mission was to wrest control of the atoll from Japan and, at the same time, prevent the Bikinians from interfering with the ongoing war effort. The Marines found only five Japanese, all dead by suicide, and about 150 starving islanders who also were suffering from such diseases as the Yaws. The Marines fed the Bikinians and secured medical treatment for them. The Bikinians, like all Marshallese, were extremely grateful to be rescued by Americans. Two years later, the Navy landed on Bikini to send the islanders into exile so that their ancestral homeland could be used for Operation Crossroads. On March 7 th , the Bikinians were relocated to uninhabited Rongerik Atoll, where the Navy had built a village complete with twenty-six homes, canvas water tanks, screened toilets, and nine concrete cisterns. Although the accommodations were adequate, the Navy did not understand that uninhabited Marshallese atolls cannot sustain native life. Within two years, the Bikinians would have to be rescued from starvation again.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Advances in Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing

Binder Jetting is a powerful additive manufacturing technology due to its low cost and wide range of types of materials it can shape. The industry partner ExOne has a range of binder jet products for applications such as casting tools, composite layup tools, single-alloy metal components, and more. As such, research and development is of high interest in the area of specialized binders for each type of material, processing technology that improves reliability and quality, and materials to enhance the performance of the final parts. Thus, this work focuses on developing novel binders for sand tools and metal prints, new capabilities in multi-material printing, and build monitoring and correction. The result of this work includes a novel binder system that makes binder jet sand stronger than concrete while still being water soluble, a casting binder that is environmentally friendly and produces better surface finishes on castings, and a binder for metals that reduces the residual carbon.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermal Modelling of Advanced Test Reactor Fuel in a Generalized Dry Storage System

Star-CCM+, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software was used to conduct modeling and simulation of the thermal performance of a dry storage configuration consisting of Department of Energy Standardized Canisters (DOESCs) loaded with aluminum-clad spent nuclear fuel (ASNF.) The configuration includes nine DOESCs loaded with Advanced Test Reactor ASNF contained within a stainless steel overcanister centered in a ventilated, concrete overpack. The simulations were used to estimate the maximum temperatures reached by backfill gases inside the overcanister and DOESCs.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Developing a Facile Technology for Converting Domestic US Coal into High-Value Graphene

Universal Matter Ltd. was formed in July 2019 to scale-up and commercialize a breakthrough process, Flash Joule Heating (FJH), to transform different coal grades, into high-quality graphene. This graphene is made using a high-voltage electric discharge that brings the carbon source to temperatures higher than 3,000 K in less than 10 milliseconds. The short burst of electricity breaks all chemical bonds in the feedstock and reorders the carbon atoms into exceptionally thin layers of a special type of graphene, at an estimated $100 per ton in electricity cost. This process is capable of producing 1-5 layer-thick high-quality graphene (with defects of <0.05% and purity of >99%) in a green, practical, and cost-effective process. The graphene produced in the FJH process is a very special kind of graphene called “turbostratic graphene” (TG). TG offers superior physical properties compared to other graphene structures on a similar weight basis. Unlike graphene made from graphite using traditional techniques, the graphene layers in TG stack in an irregular pattern that allows the graphene powder to be exfoliated more easily and blend more evenly within other materials. The TG produced using our FJH technology is the most economical graphene product that opens up significant large volume markets for end-use applications; it would allow the use of TG made from coal for commercial applications in several market segments including energy storage, sensors, hyper-lubricants, reinforced plastics, and building materials such as concrete.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2023

Radionuclide Interaction with Hydrothermally Altered Repository Materials (M4SF-23LL010302052)

This progress report (Level 4 Milestone Number M4SF-23LL010302052) summarizes research conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) within the Crystalline Activity Number SF-23LL01030205. The research is focused on actinide and radionuclide sequestration in hydrothermally altered repository materials. In FY23, a manuscript was in preparation for publication summarizing our analysis of radionuclide sorption and coprecipitation into Fe oxide phases and evaluation of radionuclide partitioning values across a range of radionuclides relevant to performance assessment. We demonstrated our approach in detail using Se sorption and coprecipitation with iron oxide minerals. These data were presented in our FY22 annual report and will not be repeated here. We also initiated experiments to identify radionuclide interaction with hydrothermally altered crystalline repository and backfill materials. Recent research performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) has provided key insights regarding the hydrothermal alteration behavior of bentonite backfill in the presence of repository materials (steel, concrete, etc.). We are now examining how mineral alteration affects retardation behavior of plutonium and a suite of other radionuclides. These experiments also allow us to test the predictive ability of our component additivity approach to surface complexation and ion exchange. Our guiding hypothesis is that a robust surface complexation/ion exchange model and associated database, developed using our L-SCIE approach, can effectively predict changes in radionuclide sorption behavior resulting from the hydrothermal alteration of mineralogy in a repository near field. A short update of results to date is presented below. A manuscript was also in preparation describing a self-consistent model and approach to simulating Se(IV) and Se(VI) sorption to 5 iron oxide phases based on our L-SCIE community database. This will be the first implementation of a multi-mineral and multi-oxidation state sorption model using our new L-SCIE database and workflow. A short summary of these results is presented below.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗
DOE OSTI2023

Preliminary Shielding Analysis for the 1012 400 MeV Linac Building

EIC is planning to purchase a 400 MeV turnkey pre-injector linear accelerator (Linac) which will be in a new building at the end of an existing RHIC tunnel at 12 o’clock. The building will contain the Linac Tunnel and associated accelerating structures, Klystron Gallery and waveguides, laser, utility, and control rooms. This report only examines the radiation source term produced by operating the Linac and not supplemental shielding that may be required to shield the Klystrons or solid state amplifiers in the Klystron Gallery from the x rays they emit. Normal Portland concrete blocks are planned to provide shielding between the Linac vault and the occupiable portions of the building per the attached drawing. It is expected that this facility will not be routinely occupied during operations (post commissioning). The shielding design considers EIC’s draft Shielding Policy that states shielding and other controls for areas where access is controlled for radiological purposes will be designed so that an ambient dose of 100 mrem per year to a worker is not likely.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Reverse Engineering Richmond Eyebolts [Slides]

The Richmond Eyebolt Lift Fixture system is used to move older styles of concrete shield blocks here at LANSCE. Blocks can weigh anywhere from 1.8 to 18 tons. It consists of the eyebolt itself and a steel insert that is cast into the block. Eyebolts come in 2-inch or 1&1/2-inch sizes. The lifting capacity of the 1-1/2-inch is 23,000 lbs and the 2-inch is 30,000 lbs.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Synergistic Heat Pumped Thermal Storage and Flexibly Carbon Capture System

As the U.S. grid evolves toward a lower-carbon system, fossil generation assets need to operate in energy markets with high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration while also decreasing carbon emissions. Current carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies suffer from high capital cost and an inability to operate flexibly during periods of oscillating demand. The ARPA-E FLECCS Program Phase 1 was created to fund designing and optimizing innovative CCS processes that enable flexibility on a high-VRE grid. To address this need, the Colorado State University (CSU) Team won funding to design a synergized system of thermal energy storage, power generation, and flexible carbon capture to enable breakthrough system performance that achieves an LCOE <$75/MWh with >99% capture rate. This approach will target new or existing natural gas combined cycle power plants. The proposed design utilizes novel hot and cold thermal energy storage (TES) technologies that store low-cost, off-peak electricity as thermal energy to power CCS solvent regeneration and boost plant output during periods of peak demand. The design provides an overall optimized net present value (NPV) by maximizing low carbon power to grid while prices are highest using Storworks Power’s concrete TES technology. The team also capitalizes on decades of ION Clean Energy’s (ION) development in low cost and flexible pioneering solvent technology, which has proven reductions in energy consumption and overall cost of 28% and 38%, respectively, compared with state-of-the-art CCS.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Digitalization in Electric Power Systems and Regulation: A Primer

This report defines grid digitalization, provides concrete examples, and assesses five elements of digital systems that have evolved over the past three decades relevant to the electric distribution system: (1) network interconnection, (2) interoperability, (3) modularity, (4) open source, and (5) automation. This report also discusses the benefits and challenges of digitalization and provides a set of actions regulators can take to support the transition and realize the benefits of the transition.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

High Strength, Encapsulated, Commercially Useful Components and Particles Made from Coal Combustion Residuals

This project has developed and demonstrated two high-volume applications for Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) with annual usage on the order of billions of pounds. The CCR is encapsulated in a recently developed water-impervious inorganic resin coating to reduce leaching of toxic elements from CCR by more than 80% as a first step. Target commercial applications demonstrated for the encapsulated CCR were as reinforcement for high-strength structural columns composed of CCR embedded in a ceramic matrix and as filler in high-volume plastics such as polypropylene. The encapsulated particles produced columns with properties superior to concrete, and a 30% to 50% improvement in stiffness over current fillers in plastics. CCR from bituminous and lignite coal was evaluated and shown to provide high performance, with the bituminous CCR producing the strongest columns and the lignite-based CCR provided the best performance as coated filler in polypropylene. The two-year project advanced both material systems from a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 2 to TRL 4.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2023

Fundamental aspects of Spacetime and Quantum Fields

The proposal contained two goals: firstly, placing fundamental bound on thermalization in Quantum Field Theories (QFTs) and, secondly, developing our understanding of emergent spacetime from matrices through concrete models. Since the previous reporting period, in collaboration with Sean Hartnoll we have continued our study of entanglement edge modes in matrix quantum mechanics (MQM). This has resulted in two papers. The first applies our construction for the Matrix Quantum Hall system first to fuzzy sphere states known to correspond to stringy M2-branes in MQM. Entanglement in these states using machine learning methods have also been studied by Sean Hartnoll and Xizhi Han in previous work done under this grant. Our construction builds on this work, and further demonstrates how area laws on fuzzy geometries emerge from strongly coupled systems. The second paper generalizes this construction to all noncommutative geometries with curvature much larger than the noncommutativity parameter. We demonstrate that despite UV/IR mixing effects, the structure of entanglement edge mode irreducible representations is determined by the boundary area of subsystems. On manifolds without global symmetries, we have demonstrated that nonlocal effects inherent to noncommutative geometries resum into a change of frame of the metric structure, similar to the change from string frame to Einstein frame for entanglement entropies calculated in string theory. These advancements lay the groundwork for future progress in the understanding of emergent geometry from large-N theories. Using these techniques, we are currently working on applying our methods to noncom mutative geometries whose construction is not so well understood, such as the fuzzy 5-sphere. Despite their opacity these objects are quite important, as string physics in the bulk of holographic systems bears many features of noncommutative geometry. We have also laid the groundwork of applying our methods to tensor networks, one of the most powerful models for understanding how geometry emerges from entanglement.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Los Alamos National Laboratory Floodplain Assessment for the TA-72 Guard Post 10 Expedited Vehicle Lane Project

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is proposing new construction in lower Sandia Canyon at Technical Area (TA) 72 at the Guard Post 10 vehicle inspection station at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The proposed project is intended to provide expedited inspection times for vehicles transporting time sensitive loads, such as concrete and asphalt. The project activities within the 100-year floodplain include installation of 1) installation of an expedited vehicle inspection lane, 2) relocation of a 4-strand wire fence, 3) possible relocation of at least one power pole, and 4) a laydown area (Figures 1 and 2).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Reinventing CEMENT: Carbonation-Enabled Mineralization to Engender Novel Technology

Cement is the most important building material used in civil infrastructure but it is extremely energy intensive to produce. We developed novel ways to make cements at low temperatures by mimicking the chemistry of the calcium silicate mineral pseudowollastonite. Pseudowollastonite is interesting because when it is exposed to hot (90-150oC), alkaline conditions with CO2 and water it reacts to form mineral phases that are much stronger than commercial cements. The resulting phases are also much more resistant to acid attack and have lower permeability, which will make them last longer. Many of the mineral phases in our cements are similar to those that exist in ancient Roman cements that have lasted thousands of years. Our objective was to understand how waste materials from industrial processes (such as power production, municipal solid waste treatment, or power plants) can be used to replicate the conditions that give pseudowollastonite cement its remarkable properties. We worked to optimize our formulations and incorporate the cements into concrete blends that the industry can test and consider using in different applications. Our cements could be used in pre-cast cement structural elements, which makes up nearly 20% of the total cement market and is growing rapidly. This work supports ARPA-E program objectives to significantly improve the industrial efficiency of materials production.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan for Corrective Action Unit 578: Miscellaneous Inactive Sites Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, (Rev. 0)

This Streamlined Approach for Environmental Restoration (SAFER) Plan addresses the actions needed to achieve closure for Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 578, Miscellaneous Inactive Sites, identified in the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO). CAU 578 comprises the following 11 corrective action sites (CASs) located in Areas 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, and 23 of the Nevada National Security Site: • 02-26-01, Lead (Concrete Box w/Lining) • 02-26-07, Gun Turret w/Lead in Barrel • 03-16-01, U-3auS Disposal Site • 04-26-02, Lead on Instrument Bunker • 06-99-07, Sump • 07-99-01, Miscellaneous Debris • 12-02-11, UST-P-2 • 12-06-01, Muckpile • 12-06-04, Muckpile • 23-12-01, Boiler (2) • 23-99-04, Salvage Yard This plan provides the methodology for field activities needed to gather the necessary information for closing each CAS. There is sufficient information and process knowledge from historical documentation and investigations of similar sites regarding the expected nature and extent of potential contaminants to recommend closure of CAU 578 using the SAFER process. Additional information will be obtained by conducting a field investigation before selecting the appropriate corrective action for each CAS. The results of the field investigation will support a defensible recommendation that no further corrective action is necessary. This will be presented in a closure report that will be prepared and submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) for review and approval.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bespoke Liquid/Liquid Interfaces (Final Technical Report)

The goal of DE-SC0001815 was to advance the basic science of liquid:liquid interface formation, to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of phase separation and the essential relationships between solution composition, organization and dynamics that underlie the kinetic regime of solvent extraction. This included learning how interfacial organization and dynamics alters the properties of the primary coordination sphere of ions and the free energy of transport of ions complexes across a phase boundary. We relied primarily upon classical molecular dynamics studies to determine the equilibrium ensembles of these complex systems, but also utilized ab-initio MD and cluster-based density functional theory (DFT) calculations when more detailed investigation of the electronic structure was needed. We continued development of graph-theory based analyses to elucidate hierarchical correlations and expanded into geometric topology methods to quantify the collectively organized structures that can organize at a liquid/liquid interface during solute transport. One of the main conclusions was from the observation of two distinct mechanisms for solute transport - those that derive from amplifications of interfacial heterogeneity and surface roughness, and those wherein surface roughness has been dampened and instead collectively organized macrostructures work to bring solutes into the organic phase. It was our aim to create a concrete chemical model of the underlying driving forces behind interfacial primary and secondary structure formation and to map out the energetic features of solute transport so that tailored liquid/liquid can be developed that have characteristic kinetic features associated with mass transport.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Preliminary Transverse Shielding Analysis for the 1010-C RF Building

EIC is planning to construct a new building on the outer ring berm at 10 o’clock which will provide RF power to cryogenically-cooled beam line components in the electron and hadron storage rings. The distance of the building from the RHIC Tunnel and the amount of soil shielding required are the focus of this report. Siting the building closer to the RHIC Tunnel is desirable from an RF operations viewpoint since the waveguide runs and RF power losses will be minimized, but this may require the use of higher density shield materials, e.g., concrete, in addition to soil shielding. The radiological source terms are the prompt radiation hazards from the Hadron Storage Ring (HSR) and Electron Storage Ring (ESR) beam losses in the 10 o’clock sector and the lateral dose rates propagated through the shields. See Figure 1 below.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Improvement of Coal Power Plant Dry Cooling Technology through Application of Cold Thermal Energy Storage

The U.S. power infrastructure is currently heavily reliant on water cooling. The power plants in the U.S. account for approximately 40% of freshwater withdrawals, with 90% of it used in condenser cooling. The most used cooling technology in coal-fired power plants is a once-through condenser; however, this cooling method requires high water withdrawal rates and results in thermal pollution of the water source. Wet WCTs offer an alternative to once-through condensers due to much lower water withdrawals. However, these systems suffer from water consumption through evaporation making them undesirable options in areas subject to droughts and in arid areas. The direct dry cooled condensers (ACCs) and dry cooling towers (DCT) account for 1.8%, hybrid cooling (ACC + WCT) accounts for 0.5%, while other cooling technologies represent the rest (0.7%). The ACC/DCTs represent an attractive alternative for power plants; however, this technology has not been widely adopted in the US (less than 2% of power plants) due to its negative impact on plant performance. As a rule of thumb, dry cooling results in performance penalty equivalent to approximately 2%-point efficiency loss compared to wet cooling, although the actual magnitude varies with ambient dry bulb temperature, DBT which may vary considerably during the day. As DBT increases, the plant power output decreases, reaching a minimum at the hottest period of the day, which usually coincides with the highest electricity demand for air condition load. Therefore, performance of power plants using DCT/ACC cooling technology is the lowest during the summer mid-day when ambient temperature is the highest. For example, the decrease of the inlet air temperature to the DCT/ACC by 2 Deg C could generate up to 5% additional power at peak demand. It is, therefore, important to improve dry cooling technology to maintain the viability of coal-fired power plants in a carbon constrained future. The method for reducing the cooling air temperature and keeping it constant would mitigate this problem significantly. Objectives of this project were to develop, design, evaluate, and demonstrate a cost-effective system for improving performance of a DCT or ACC for thermal (coal-fired) power plant applications using a low-cost heat storage materials, such as pervious concrete (PC) and phase change material (PCM). Thus, the study focused on development of the system(s) that could be used to alleviate the difficulties in operating DCT/ACC during the summer months by storing cold energy during the nighttime in inexpensive materials PC and PCM and using it during the hottest period(s) of the day. Since very large quantities of cold energy need to be stored to make an impact on performance of a large power plant, it is essential that the storage materials and associated cold energy storage design(s) are inexpensive and the system is simple to build, maintain and operate. To achieve the project objectives, a comprehensive approach, including material development and characterization, component and system modeling, and laboratory- and prototype-scale experiments, was employed including modeling of the system components and of the entire system, development (engineering) of the materials for the heat storage modules of the Cold Thermal Energy Storage System (CTESS) and determination of their properties, design, manufacturing and setup of the laboratory- and prototype-scale test facility and testing, design, manufacturing and setup of the prototype-scale test facility. A modular design of CTESS was employed, where representative modules were designed as the integrated direct contact heat exchanger and thermal energy storage (TES) system. CTESS modules were manufactured and tested. Two prototype-scale designs of the CTESS modules were developed and tested. The use of CTESS increases plant generation increases since it lowers air temperature entering ACC/DCT and keeps it constant during the hottest time of the day. For a PCM-based CTESS, the ambient air temperature is lowered close to the PCM phase change temperature. The duration of the cooling effect depends on the latent heat and mass of PCM in the CTESS. For this project, commercial grade CaCl2 hexahydrate (CaCl2·6H2O or CC6) PCM with phase change temperature of 25 Deg. C was used due to its low cost. For practical reasons, the CTESS was designed to maintain the cooling effect for four hours. The low phase change temperature associated with the commercial grade PCM used in CTESS results in considerably higher improvement in net generation compared to the laboratory (pure) grade. The resistance to heat transfer results in lower net generation compared to the ideal case where resistance to heat transfer is zero. The results demonstrate that CTESS is effective in improving the performance of a dry cooling system. However, its effectiveness depends on the relationship between the ambient air conditions and PCM phase change temperature. As is the case with the heat rejection system, for the best performance, the PCM used in CTESS would need to be matched to the ambient air conditions. The results obtained in this report for selected geographical locations are valid for CC6 and demonstrate that the level of performance to be achieved by the technology will be location-dependent, as is the case with the air cooled condensers. The methodology for engineering of PC-PCM-based heat storage medium is applicable to other PCMs that may need to be used for other ambient air conditions and geographical locations.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2024

Going under the hood of MontePy: A python API for MCNP input files [Slides]

MontePy is an open-source python software library for reading, editing, and writing MCNP input files. This presentation was given to a university research group interested in it. MontePy provides an object-oriented interface for working with these MCNP input files. It uses a lexer and parser system in order to create a concrete syntax tree representing the input from the input file.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗