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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 1,243 records · Page 69

High-throughput Li plating quantification for fast-charging battery design

Fast charging of most commercial lithium-ion batteries is limited due to fear of lithium plating on the graphite anode, which is difficult to detect and poses considerable safety risk. In this report we demonstrate the power of simple, accessible and high-throughput cycling techniques to quantify irreversible Li plating spanning data from over 200 cells. We first observe the effects of energy density, charge rate, temperature and state of charge on lithium plating, use the results to refine a mature physics-based electrochemical model and provide an interpretable empirical equation for predicting the plating onset state of charge. We then explore the reversibility of lithium plating and its connection to electrolyte design for preventing irreversible Li accumulation. Finally, we design a method to quantify in situ Li plating for commercially relevant graphite|LiNi 0.5 Mn 0.3 Co 0.2 O 2 (NMC) cells and compare with results from the experimentally convenient Li|graphite configuration. The hypotheses and abundant data herein were generated primarily with equipment universal to the battery researcher, encouraging further development of innovative testing methods and data processing that enable rapid battery engineering.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Tiltrotor Test Rig Wind-Tunnel Test Data Catalog

The Tiltrotor Test Rig (TTR) is a large-scale proprotor test system for the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC). The first wind-tunnel entry was completed in November 2018 with a modern, 26-ft diameter proprotor. The rotor tested was the Bell Model 699, an AW609 rotor modified specifically for wind-tunnel testing. The primary purpose was to complete the development of the TTR, including systems integration with the NFAC. Testing included axial flow up to 273 knots, conversion mode from 30 to 100 deg nacelle angle, and hover/vertical climb conditions. Additional testing included aerodynamic tares, motor tests, thermal tests, modal vibration tests, and other checkout activities. This report lists the test conditions achieved and the types of data acquired and saved in the database.

NFAC↗

A Project to Map and Monitor Baldcypress Forests in Coastal Louisiana, Using Landsat, MODIS, and ASTER Satellite Data

Cypress swamp forests of Louisiana offer many important ecological and economic benefits: wildlife habitat, forest products, storm buffers, water quality, and recreation. Such forests are also threatened by multiple factors: subsidence, salt water intrusion, sea level rise, persistent flooding, hydrologic modification, hurricanes, insect and nutria damage, timber harvesting, and land use conversion. Unfortunately, there are many information gaps regarding the type, location, extent, and condition of these forests. Better more up to date swamp forest mapping products are needed to aid coastal forest conservation and restoration work (e.g., through the Coastal Forest Conservation Initiative or CFCI). In response, a collaborative project was initiated to develop, test and demonstrate cypress swamp forest mapping products, using NASA supported Landsat, ASTER, and MODIS satellite data. Research Objectives are: Develop, test, and demonstrate use of Landsat and ASTER data for computing new cypress forest classification products and Landsat, ASTER, and MODIS satellite data for detecting and monitoring swamp forest change

Spruce, Joseph↗

Assessing Marginal Land Availability Based on Land Use Change Information in the Contiguous United States

Utilization of marginal land for growing dedicated bioenergy crops for second-generation biofuels is appealing to avoid conflicts with food production. This study develops a novel framework to quantify marginal land for the Contiguous United States (CONUS) based on a history of satellite-observed land use change (LUC) over the 2008–2015 period. Frequent LUC between crop and noncrop is assumed to be an indicator of economically marginal land; this land is also likely to have a lower opportunity cost of conversion from food crop to bioenergy crop production. We first present an approach to identify cropland in transition using the time series of Cropland Data Layer (CDL) land cover product and determine the amount of land that can be considered marginal with a high degree of confidence vs with uncertainty across the CONUS. We find that the biophysical characteristics of this land and its productivity and environmental vulnerability vary across the land and lie in between that of permanent cropland and permanent natural vegetation/bare areas; this land also has relatively low intrinsic value and agricultural profit but a high financial burden and economic risk. We find that the total area of marginal land with confidence vs with uncertainty is 10.2 and 58.4 million hectares, respectively, and mainly located along the 100th meridian. Only a portion of this marginal land (1.4–2.2 million hectares with confidence and 14.8–19.4 million hectares with uncertainty) is in the rainfed region and not in crop production and, thus, suitable for producing energy crops without diverting land from food crops in 2016. These estimates are much smaller than the estimates obtained by previous studies, which consider all biophysically low-quality land to be marginal without considering economical marginality. The estimate of marginal land for bioenergy crops obtained in this study is an indicator of the availability of economically marginal land that is suitable for bioenergy crop production; whether this land is actually converted to bioenergy crops will depend on the market conditions. Here, we note the inability to conduct field-level validation of cropland in transition and leave it to future advances in technology to ground-truth land use change and its relationship to economically marginal land.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Circuit-Based Leakage-to-Erasure Conversion in a Neutral-Atom Quantum Processor

Atom-loss errors are a major limitation of current state-of-the-art neutral-atom quantum computers and pose a significant challenge for scalable systems. In a quantum processor with cesium atoms, we demonstrate proof-of-principle circuit-based conversion of this form of leakage error to erasure errors via leakage-detection units (LDUs), which nondestructively map information about the presence or absence of the qubit onto the state of an ancilla. We benchmark the performance of the LDU using a three-outcome low-loss state-detection method and find that the LDU detects atom-loss errors with approximately 93.4% accuracy, limited by technical imperfections of our apparatus. We further compile and execute a SWAP LDU, wherein the roles of the original data atom and ancilla atom are exchanged under the action of the LDU, providing “free refilling” of atoms in the case of atom loss. This circuit-based leakage-to-erasure error conversion is a critical component of a neutral-atom quantum processor where the quantum information may significantly outlive the lifetime of any individual atom in the quantum register. Finally, we demonstrate that LDUs may also be used to handle other forms of leakage errors where population moves to states outside of the computational subspace.

Chow, Matthew N. H. [Sandia National Laboratories ↗

On the prescription of boundary conditions for nonlocal Poisson's and peridynamics models

We introduce a technique to automatically convert local boundary conditions into nonlocal volume constraints for nonlocal Poisson’s and peridynamic models. The proposed strategy is based on the approximation of nonlocal Dirichlet or Neumann data with a local solution obtained by using available boundary, local data. The corresponding nonlocal solution converges quadratically to the local solution as the nonlocal horizon vanishes, making the proposed technique asymptotically compatible. The proposed conversion method does not have any geometry or dimensionality constraints and its computational cost is negligible, compared to the numerical solution of the nonlocal equation. The consistency of the method and its quadratic convergence with respect to the horizon is illustrated by several two-dimensional numerical experiments conducted by meshfree discretization for both the Poisson’s problem and the linear peridynamic solid model.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

MEITNER Resource Team Modeling and Simulation Support to Holos-Quad Reactor Development (Final CRADA Report)

The main objective of this CRADA is to provide Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)’s modeling and simulation capabilities via ARPA-E's MEITNER (Modeling-Enhanced Innovations Trailblazing Nuclear Energy Reinvigoration) Resource Team (RT) arrangement to support the demonstration of the viability of HolosGen’s Holos-Quad reactor design. The Holos-Quad reactor design is an advanced reactor concept that incorporates many new design features, such as the neutron-coupled Subcritical Power Modules (SPMs) in its core design, elimination of balance of plant (BOP) by direct integration of a helium Brayton cycle power conversion system with each SPM, among many other innovative features. The demonstration of the viability of such an innovative reactor design warrants iterations of modeling and simulation and testing. The purpose of this project is to utilize ANL’s modeling and simulation capabilities in nuclear reactor analysis and power conversion system analysis to inform HolosGen and the Design Team (DT) in the design and optimization of the Holos-Quad concept. The major work scopes of this project include: to investigate conceptual designs and materials for radiation shielding to protect personnel and internal components such as turbomachinery; Assess the the helium Brayton cycle power conversion system performance in both nominal and load following conditions; Investigate power conversion components and overall system performance; Identify control strategies to enable load following; Perform simulations of HolosGen’s subscale simulator and using available test data for code validation/benchmark purpose; Perform core thermal-hydraulics, safety analysis, and structural analysis.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Simulation of Deuterium Oxidation in a Room with a Fire

A series of experiments where deuterium was released in trace amounts into a room with a fire were performed at Sandia National Laboratories. This report describes the corresponding effort to model the test series using SIERRA/FUEGO. The objective of this modeling effort was to produce a simulation test matrix that can be utilized to help interpret the corresponding experiments and be used to assess the credibility of using the SIERRA/FUEGO simulations as a surrogate for real tritium reaction data for mock fire and release studies. The simulations assessed multiple configurations of fire size and location and overall found that there was low conversion of deuterium to oxidized deuterium. There are some notable differences between the simulation predictions and the experimental results, such as the simulations generally predicting higher amounts of deuterium conversion compared to the experiment. A strategy to address modeling uncertainties and unknowns is also given in this report.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Turbine modeling technique to generate off-design performance data for both single and multistage axial-flow turbines

This technique is applicable to larger axial flow turbines which may or may not incorporate variable geometry in the first stage stator. A user specified option will also permit the calculation of design point cooling flow levels and the corresponding change in turbine efficiency. The modeling technique was incorporated into a time sharing computer program in order to facilitate its use. Because this report contains a description of the input output data, values of typical inputs, and example cases, it is suitable as a user's manual.

Converse, G. L.↗

Steam reforming of n-hexane on pellet and monolithic catalyst beds. A comparative study on improvements due to heat transfer

Monolithic catalysts with higher available active surface areas and better thermal conductivity than conventional pellets beds, making possible the steam reforming of fuels heavier than naphtha, were examined. Performance comparisons were made between conventional pellet beds and honeycomb monolith catalysts using n-hexane as the fuel. Metal-supported monoliths were examined. These offer higher structural stability and higher thermal conductivity than ceramic supports. Data from two metal monoliths of different nickel catalyst loadings were compared to pellets under the same operating conditions. Improved heat transfer and better conversion efficiencies were obtained with the monolith having higher catalyst loading. Surface-gas interaction was observed throughout the length of the monoliths.

Source record↗

The Snowmelt-Runoff Model (SRM) user's manual

A manual to provide a means by which a user may apply the snowmelt runoff model (SRM) unaided is presented. Model structure, conditions of application, and data requirements, including remote sensing, are described. Guidance is given for determining various model variables and parameters. Possible sources of error are discussed and conversion of snowmelt runoff model (SRM) from the simulation mode to the operational forecasting mode is explained. A computer program is presented for running SRM is easily adaptable to most systems used by water resources agencies.

Martinec, J.↗

LAMPS software

The dynamic prediction model along with its macro-processor capability and data flow system from the Drexel Limited-Area and Mesoscale Prediction System (LAMPS) were converted and recorded for the Perkin-Elmer 3220. The previous version of this model was written for Control Data Corporation 7600 and CRAY-1a computer environment which existed until recently at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The purpose of this conversion was to prepare LAMPS for porting to computer environments other than that encountered at NCAR. The emphasis was shifted from programming tasks to model simulation and evaluation tests.

Perkey, D. J.↗

Comparative energetics of the observed and simulated global circulation during the special observing periods of FGGE

Energetics of the observed and simulated global circulation are evaluated in the zonal spectral domain for the special observing periods of FGGE. The study utilizes GLA analyses of FGGE observational data and parallel simulation experiments. There are noticeable differences in energy transformations between the observation and simulation during SOP-1. These include the baroclinic conversion C(n) by the zonal mean motion and short-wave disturbances, and the nonlinear wave-wave interaction L(n) at the long and short waves. The energy transformations of the short-wave disturbances are much more intense in the simulated circulation than in the observation. However, good agreement is noted in the conversion and dissipation of kinetic energy in the large- and cyclone-wave range n = 1-10. Spectral distributions of global energy transformations at the long- and cyclone-wave range indicate that the SOP-2 simulation agrees more closely with the observed fields than the SOP-1 simulation. Other pertinent points of energetics diagnosis are also included in the discussion.

Kung, E. C.↗

Testing Parabolic-Dish Concentrators

Report describes test equipment and tests at Parabolic Dish Test Site at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Site established in 1978 for testing point-focusing solar concentrators operating at temperatures above 600 degree F. Used for six years to evaluate parabolic-dish concentrators, receivers, power-conversion units, and solar/fossil-fuel hybrid units. Report describes evolution of test program at site, lists experiments conducted there in chronological order, and summarizes experimental data.

Selcuk, M. Kudret↗

Nerve-muscle interactions during flight muscle development in Drosophila

During Drosophila pupal metamorphosis, the motoneurons and muscles differentiate synchronously, providing an opportunity for extensive intercellular regulation during synapse formation. We examined the existence of such interactions by developmentally delaying or permanently eliminating synaptic partners during the formation of indirect flight muscles. When we experimentally delayed muscle development, we found that although adult-specific primary motoneuron branching still occurred, the higher order (synaptic) branching was suspended until the delayed muscle fibers reached a favourable developmental state. In reciprocal experiments we found that denervation caused a decrease in the myoblast pool. Furthermore, the formation of certain muscle fibers (dorsoventral muscles) was specifically blocked. Exceptions were the adult muscles that use larval muscle fibers as myoblast fusion targets (dorsal longitudinal muscles). However, when these muscles were experimentally compelled to develop without their larval precursors, they showed an absolute dependence on the motoneurons for their formation. These data show that the size of the myoblast pool and early events in fiber formation depend on the presence of the nerve, and that, conversely, peripheral arbor development and synaptogenesis is closely synchronized with the developmental state of the muscle.

Non-NASA Center↗

Analysis of International Space Station Vehicle Materials Exposed on Materials International Space Station Experiment from 2001 to 2011

Since August 2001, the Materials on International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) has provided data on a variety of materials and spacecraft components, including samples chosen to provide sustaining engineering and life extension data for the International Space Station vehicle itself. This Technical Publication is by no means a complete set of MISSE data but does provide changes in solar absorptance, infrared emittance, and visual appearance due to atomic oxygen, ultraviolet radiation, and thermal cycling in vacuum. Conversion coatings, anodizes, thermal control coatings with organic and inorganic binders, multilayer insulation components, optical materials, and part markings are discussed.

Finckenor, M. M.↗

Cavitation Performance of a Centrifugal Pump with Water and Mercury

The cavitation performance of a given centrifugal pump with water (hot and cold) and mercury is compared. It is found that there are significant scale effects with all fluids tested, with the Thoma cavitation parameter decreasing in all cases for increased pump speed or fluid Reynolds' number. The data for a fixed flow coefficient fall into a single curve when plotted against pump speed (or fluid velocity), rather than against Reynolds' number. Conversely, the Thoma parameter for a given Reynolds' number is approximately twice as large for mercury as for water. The direction of this variation is as predicted from consideration of the cavitation thermodynamic parameters which vary by a factor of 10(exp 7) between these fluids. No difference in cavitation performance between hot and cold water (approximately 160 F and 80 F) was observed, However, the thermodynamic parameters vary only by a factor of 5.

Hammitt, F. G.↗