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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 OSTI2021

RISE: Reducing I/O Contention in Staging-based Extreme-Scale In-situ Workflows

While in-situ workflow formulations have addressed some of the data-related challenges associated with extreme-scale scientific workflows, these workflows involve complex interactions and different modes of data exchange. In the context of increasing system complexity, such workflows present significant resource management challenges, requiring complex cost-performance tradeoffs. This paper presents RISE, an intelligent staging-based data management middleware, which builds on the DataSpaces framework and performs intelligent scheduling of data management operations to reduce I/O contention. In RISE, data are always written immediately to local buffers to reduce the effect of the transfer impact upon application performance. RISE identifies applications’ data access patterns and moves data towards data consumers only when the network is expected to be idle, reducing the impact of asynchronous background data movement upon critical data read/write requests. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that RISE can take advantage of staging nodes to offload data during writes without degrading application data movement performance.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Studying baryon acoustic oscillations using photometric redshifts from the DESI Legacy Imaging survey DR9

Context. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Survey DR9 (DR9 hereafter), with its extensive dataset of galaxy locations and photometric redshifts, presents an opportunity to study baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the region covered by the ongoing spectroscopic survey with DESI. Aims. We aim to investigate differences between different parts of the DR9 footprint. Furthermore, we want to measure the BAO scale for luminous red galaxies within them. Our selected redshift range of 0.6–0.8 corresponds to the bin in which a tension between DESI Y1 and eBOSS was found. Methods. We calculated the anisotropic two-point correlation function in a modified binning scheme to detect the BAOs in DR9 data. We then used template fits based on simulations to measure the BAO scale in the imaging data. Results. Our analysis reveals the expected correlation function shape in most of the footprint areas, showing a BAO scale consistent with Planck’s observations. Aside from identified mask-related data issues in the southern region of the South Galactic Cap, we find a notable variance between the different footprints. Conclusions. We find that this variance is consistent with the difference between the DESI Y1 and eBOSS data, and it supports the argument that that tension is caused by sample variance. Additionally, we also uncovered systematic biases not previously accounted for in photometric BAO studies. We emphasize the necessity of adjusting for the systematic shift in the BAO scale associated with typical photometric redshift uncertainties to ensure accurate measurements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Self-sorting in supramolecular assemblies

Supramolecular self-assembly enables living organisms to form highly functional hierarchical structures with individual components self-organized across multiple length scales. This has inspired work on multicomponent supramolecular materials to understand factors behind co-assembly versus self-sorting of molecules. We report here on a supramolecular system comprised of negatively charged peptide amphiphile (PA) molecules, in which only a tiny fraction of the molecules (0.7 mol%) were covalently conjugated to one of two different fluorophores, half to fluorescein isothiocyanate (FTIC) and the other half to tetramethylrhodamine (TAMRA). Confocal microscopy of the system revealed self-sorting of the two different fluorescent PA molecules, where TAMRA PA is concentrated in micron-scale domains while FITC PA remains dispersed throughout the sample. From Förster resonance energy transfer and fluorescence recovery experiments, we conclude that conjugation of the negatively charged FITC to PA significantly disrupts its co-assembly with the 99.3 mol% of unlabeled molecules, which are responsible for formation of micron-scale domains. Conversely, conjugation of the zwitterionic TAMRA causes no such disruption. Interestingly, this dissimilar behavior between FITC and TAMRA PA causes them to self-sort at large length scales in the supramolecular system, mediated not by specific interactions among the individual fluorophores but instead by their different propensities to co-assemble with the majority component. We also found that greater ionic strength in the aqueous environment of the system promotes mixing by lowering the electrostatic barriers involved in self-sorting. Furthermore, our results demonstrate great thermodynamic subtlety in the driving forces that mediate self-sorting versus co-assembly in supramolecular peptide assemblies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Wall diffuser velocity effects on American Shad ( Alosa sapidissima ) inside a fishway entrance channel

Attraction water for fishways is typically introduced through a diffuser inside the entrance channel, often through the floor or wall. In the spring of 2019, this laboratory study examined how 151 adult American Shad (Alosa sapidissima) responded to different gross velocities through a wall diffuser inside a full-scale fishway entrance channel. Two velocity conditions were studied, 0.152 m/s and 0.305 m/s, both without turning vanes inside the auxiliary water channel. The fish were tracked using the passive integrated transponder telemetry technique. The results of the experiments showed no difference in American Shad behavior when exhibited to the low and high velocity treatments. Moreover, shad passed the diffuser in roughly 3 out of every 4 attempts, regardless of the treatment. However, the similarity in shad behavior and passage performance is believed to be more of a result of the similarity in flow fields that resulted from the lack of flow guidance devices inside the auxiliary water channel. Furthermore, these findings therefore highlight the importance of properly maintained flow guidance devices, an often-overlooked component of an auxiliary water system.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry: Workshop Summary

This document presents a summary of the 2023 Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop hosted by CERN. The workshop brought together experts from around the world to discuss the exciting developments in large-scale atom interferometer (AI) prototypes and their potential for detecting ultralight dark matter and gravitational waves. The primary objective of the workshop was to lay the groundwork for an international TVLBAI proto-collaboration. This collaboration aims to unite researchers from different institutions to strategize and secure funding for terrestrial large-scale AI projects. The ultimate goal is to create a roadmap detailing the design and technology choices for one or more km-scale detectors, which will be operational in the mid-2030s. The key sections of this report present the physics case and technical challenges, together with a comprehensive overview of the discussions at the workshop together with the main conclusions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Characterization of Arsenic and Selenium in Coal Fly Ash to Improve Evaluations for Disposal and Reuse Potential (Final Technical Report)

Coal fly ash is a high volume waste material that is discarded in landfills and surface water impoundments across the U.S. and is also widely recycled for a variety of applications. The leaching of potential of contaminants of concern, such as arsenic (As) and selenium (Se), is often the driver of risk assessments for coal ash disposal and reuse. The extent of leachable As and Se depends on several factors related to environmental conditions and fly ash characteristics. Previous studies employed various methods to delineate the concentration, chemical form, and distribution of As and Se in fly ash materials. However, few studies have attempted to directly correlate these properties to mobilization parameters relevant to disposal and reuse. Instead, the coal residuals industries often rely upon standardized leaching protocols that can be laborious or involve hazardous chemicals. The goals of the project were to: 1) Develop and evaluate a characterization protocol that can be used to screen fly ash samples for leachability of As and Se; 2) Characterize As, Se, and associated constituents of fly ash particles at multiple length scales (nanometer to micrometer) to determine if elemental associations differ as a function of the resolution of characterization; and 3) Establish a predictive model for the chemical composition of coal ash produced annually at major U.S. coal fired power facilities on 50-year national coal supply records. For the first objective, we performed leaching experiments with 52 fly ash samples collected from 15 different U.S. power plants and representing coal feedstocks from the three major domestic coal regions. For this work, we assessed the mobilization potential of As and Se in fly ash based on standardized leaching protocols and performed multivariate and lasso regression analyses to explore correlations of leachable As and Se contents with characteristics such as major element contents, loss on ignition (LOI) and pH. The results of regression models indicated that major elements (Fe, Ca, Al) for a wide range of fly ashes can serve as predictor variables for the leaching potential of As, but not for Se. LOI and pH were not important predictive variables in the models. Both regression approaches resulted in relatively strong fits for leachable As (correlation coefficient R 2 = 0.78 for both models) compared to models for leachable Se (R 2 = 0.49). Overall, these results suggest that correlation models combined with on-site elemental analysis with portable analyzers may enable a screening method for leachable As in coal ash. For the second objective, we utilized nanoscale 2-D imaging (30-50 nm spot size) with the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (HXN) in combination with microprobe X-ray capabilities (~5 µm resolution) to determine As and Se elemental associations in fly ash particles. Speciation of As and Se was also measured at the nano- to microscale with X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The enhanced resolution of HXN showed As and Se that were diffusely located around or comingled with Ca- and Fe-rich particles. The results also showed nanoparticles of Se attached to the surface of fly ash grains. Overall, a comparison of As and Se species across scales highlights the heterogeneity and complexity of chemical associations for these trace elements of concern in coal fly ash. For the final objective, we developed a predictive model for major element composition of coal ash in reserve at disposal sites of major U.S. coal fired power plants. This model was constructed from coal purchase records of 705 power stations from 1973-2022 and was trained on coal ash composition data showing that coal ash elemental composition is strongly associated with the source of feedstock coal. The model showed regional shifts in the major element contents of ash produced by power plants in the last 50 years, particularly for calcium and iron (expressed as %CaO and %Fe 2 O 3 ), as coal-fired power stations changed their source of coal over this time frame. Our approach enables an estimation of coal ash chemical composition that is stored in waste impoundments at individual power stations. Such information can help delineate the regional market potential for material applications that would utilize coal ash harvested from disposal sites across the U.S.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2021

Pre-conditioned BFGS-based uncertainty quantification in elastic full-waveform inversion

SUMMARY Full-waveform inversion has become an essential technique for mapping geophysical subsurface structures. However, proper uncertainty quantification is often lacking in current applications. In theory, uncertainty quantification is related to the inverse Hessian (or the posterior covariance matrix). Even for common geophysical inverse problems its calculation is beyond the computational and storage capacities of the largest high-performance computing systems. In this study, we amend the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS) algorithm to perform uncertainty quantification for large-scale applications. For seismic inverse problems, the limited-memory BFGS (L-BFGS) method prevails as the most efficient quasi-Newton method. We aim to augment it further to obtain an approximate inverse Hessian for uncertainty quantification in FWI. To facilitate retrieval of the inverse Hessian, we combine BFGS (essentially a full-history L-BFGS) with randomized singular value decomposition to determine a low-rank approximation of the inverse Hessian. Setting the rank number equal to the number of iterations makes this solution efficient and memory-affordable even for large-scale problems. Furthermore, based on the Gauss–Newton method, we formulate different initial, diagonal Hessian matrices as pre-conditioners for the inverse scheme and compare their performances in elastic FWI applications. We highlight our approach with the elastic Marmousi benchmark model, demonstrating the applicability of pre-conditioned BFGS for large-scale FWI and uncertainty quantification.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Pursuing small-scale measures of penetration resistance in Ti-5553 alloy

This work was originally proposed to illustrate the performance of a particular set of differently processed Ti-5553 plates under dynamic threats. It became clear that the larger question, at present, is whether the small-scale shaped charge design of an RP-4 detonator can be employed to efficiently explore the dynamic penetration resistance of representative test articles. The initial penetration testing that employed three variants of thermomechanical processing of Ti-5553 plates appeared to demonstrate that there was a noticeable difference in their performance. The remaining pertinent question was regarding the variation in the shaped charge performance and how it compares to the variation from the three titanium plate tests. Based on the limited testing presented here the RP-4 shaped charge detonator appears to have an average depth of penetration in 6061 aluminum of 90mm with a 1.5CD stand off.

shaped charge penetration↗
DOE OSTI2023

A new step forward in realistic cluster lens mass modelling: analysis of Hubble Frontier Field Cluster Abell S1063 from joint lensing, X-ray, and galaxy kinematics data

We present a new method to simultaneously and self-consistently model the mass distribution of galaxy clusters that combines constraints from strong lensing features, X-ray emission, and galaxy kinematics measurements. We are able to successfully decompose clusters into their collisionless and collisional mass components thanks to the X-ray surface brightness, as well as use the dynamics of cluster members, to obtain more accurate masses exploiting the fundamental plane of elliptical galaxies. Knowledge from all observables is included through a consistent Bayesian approach in the likelihood or in physically motivated priors. We apply this method to the galaxy cluster Abell S1063 and produce a mass model that we publicly release with this paper. The resulting mass distribution presents different ellipticities for the intra-cluster gas and the other large-scale mass components as well as deviation from elliptical symmetry in the main halo. We assess the ability of our method to recover the masses of the different elements of the cluster using a mock cluster based on a simplified version of our Abell S1063 model. Thanks to the wealth of mutliwavelength information provided by the mass model and the detected X-ray emission, we also found evidence for an ongoing merger event with gas sloshing from a smaller infalling structure into the main cluster. In agreement with previous findings, the total mass, gas profile, and gas mass fraction are all consistent with small deviations from the hydrostatic equilibrium. This new mass model for Abell S1063 is publicly available, as the lenstool extension used to construct it.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Interactions Between Microturbulence and Magnetohydrodynamic Instabilities in Magnetized Plasmas (Final Technical Report)

This document details the work accomplished during the period 04/15/2012-01/31/2020 for the collaborative project “Interactions Between Microturbulence and Magnetohydrodynamic Instabilities in Magnetized Plasmas,” and serves as the final report on the University of California, San Diego part of this collaborative project for Department of Energy Office of Science - Fusion Energy Sciences Grant No. DE- SC0007783. This project focused on the development of analytic and computational tools, seeking to better understand the mutual interactions between small-scale temperature-gradient driven microturbulence and macroscopic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities, particularly tearing modes, in magnetically confined plasmas relevant for the generation of fusion energy. This project advanced understanding through numerical simulations of different sets of model equations, corresponding to different microturbulence instabilities. Questions addressed included how the magnitudes, spatial structures, and scaling's of turbulent forcing's and drags impact magnetic island dynamics, as well as quantifying the “region of influence” of an island on the microturbulence dynamics. A key finding of the project is that the microturbulence fluctuations and associated cross-field particle and energy fluxes exhibit spatial asymmetries for sufficiently large islands. The results have improved our fundamental understanding of plasma dynamics, motivated new experimental investigations, and will help inform future fusion predictive modeling efforts.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

The role of breakup and coalescence in fine-scale bubble-induced turbulence. II. Kinematics

This second part of our research explores the kinematic aspect of fine-scale bubble-induced turbulence (BIT) to (i) present the effect of bubble breakup and coalescence and (ii) compare it against the universal kinematic fine-scale turbulence characteristics reported in the literature. To this end, we simulate a dilute bubbly system of 0.5% void fraction using two distinct numerical simulations. In the volume-of-fluid (VoF) simulation, bubbles undergo breakup and coalescence. In the immersed boundary method (IBM) simulation, however, they act as rigid spheres. We also perform a simulation of classical homogeneous isotropic turbulence (HIT). The first important outcome of this study is that BIT is radically different from HIT in terms of its kinematic fine-scale characteristics. In the vorticity-dominating regions, BIT exhibits a weak vortex stretching. This weak vortex stretching is due to (a) the intermediate strain-rate eigenvalues skewed weakly to positive and (b) the extensive strain-rate eigenvector aligning perpendicular to the vorticity vector. The BIT has, on average, not only a weak enstrophy production but also a weak strain production in strain-dominating regions. The weak strain production is due to (a) the presence of vortex stretching in highly strained fluid elements and (b) the absolute magnitude of compressive strain-rate eigenvalue being as close to the extensive strain-rate eigenvalue. Thus, none of the kinematic fine-scale HIT characteristics is noted for BIT. The second important conclusion is that bubble breakup and coalescence play little to no influence on the kinematics of fine-scale BIT as VoF and IBM simulations produce similar results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Crop diversification improves water-use efficiency and regional water sustainability

As global water scarcity intensifies, identifying agricultural practices that enhance sustainable water management is critical. Temporal crop diversification-rotating multiple species over time-has been proposed to improve soil health and water retention based on field-scale experiments. However, widespread adoption remains limited on farms, in part due to unverified benefits at larger scales. Here, we assess the influence of crop diversification on agricultural water-use efficiency (WUE, ratio of gross primary productivity to evapotranspiration) along a spectrum of monoculture to complex species rotations in California. Leveraging new high-resolution remote sensing datasets, we show that crop diversification is a key driver of agricultural WUE, and increasing the number of species planted in the previous 6 years from two to four increases WUE by ∼20% after accounting for differences between crops. Our results provide spatially explicit, large-scale quantification of crop diversification’s improvements to WUE, with direct implications for climate adaptation. More broadly, our framework offers a tool to evaluate other sustainable practices and guide policy and farm-scale decision-making.

climate-resilient agriculture↗
DOE OSTI2023

ResStock: Annual Baseline Results with Component Loads

The ResStock Analysis Tool was developed by NREL with support from the U.S. Department of Energy to provide a new approach to large-scale residential analysis by combining large public and private data sources, statistical sampling, detailed sub hourly building simulations, and high-performance computing. This combination achieves unprecedented granularity and accuracy in modeling the diversity of the housing stock and the distributional impacts of building technologies in different communities. The annual baseline energy results from a national-scale ResStock run use typical meteorological year 3 (TMY3) files for energy simulations. Results include heating and cooling loads for individual components of each building. Component loads describe the heating/cooling load that can be attributed to specific elements of a home, such as heat transfer through walls or internal gains. Additionally, these results include the standard ResStock outputs for housing characteristics and numerous energy outputs by end-use and fuel. A snapshot of the ResStock version used to produce this data, including a configuration file for the run can be found using the Source Code resource link.

Array↗
DOE OSTI2023

Laboratory-Scale Coal-Derived Graphene Process (Final Report)

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) conducted a laboratory-scale coal-derived graphene (CDG) project focused on developing a technological process for making graphene from four U.S. domestic coal or coal wastes, including lignite from North Dakota, subbituminous coal from Wyoming, bituminous coal from Utah, and anthracite from Pennsylvania. The project was divided into two performance or budget periods (BPs), with BP1 comprising the up-front laboratory experiments to make graphene materials from coal beginning on May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2022. BP2 was conducted from May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023, and was focused on analyzing the CDG process economic feasibility and the technical gaps for technological scale-up and commercialization. During this project, a few different coal-derived high-value products have been demonstrated, including graphite, graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs). A new graphite microstructure was discovered and named “croissant graphite” because of the exterior morphological and textural resemblance to croissant food items sold in commercial groceries stores. The new graphite structure and the associated preparation from coal or coal waste feedstocks has been the subject of a U.S. patent application. The systematic experimental processes involving coal cleaning, upgrading, and conversion to high-value carbon products culminated into a developed upgraded coal-to-products (UCP) technology that is being pursued for potential fast-track commercialization, if funding is available. It is envisioned that commercialization of the UCP technology would increase consumption of U.S. domestic coals or coal wastes to make environmentally sustainable high-value products for the electronics industry, high-energy-storage applications, and clean energy technologies such as electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), for which graphite has become a critical mineral commodity. Croissant graphite microstructures, when observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), display wavy surface morphology and often grow from a base that is made of graphitized particles with honeycomb-like layers, which are believed to be graphene layers. While more studies are needed to fully ascertain the mechanisms of the croissant graphite microstructure formation, it is postulated that their growth may begin from curling of the graphene sheets into ribbon-like structures, and continuous growth and densification of the ribbon-like structures forms croissant microstructures. Additional studies are ongoing to evaluate the electrochemical performance of croissant graphite for LIB applications and to determine the experimental conditions necessary to tune on/off croissant formation so that it can be either optimized or suppressed depending on performance evaluation results. In addition to the discovery of croissant graphite, the graphitization process from the four coal ranks in general was successful. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the degree of graphitization (DoG) ranged from 12% to 80% in an early sample set, and further optimization on lignite coal produces a DoG of about 92%, which was spectacular to see as lignite is the lowest-rank coal. Thus, it is expected that the graphitization performance for higher-rank coals will be similar or better when optimized as well. The coal-derived graphite was used to make GO and rGO. Analytical characterization, e.g., by methods such as Raman spectroscopy, XRD, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and FESEM, showed that the sequence of converting the coal to graphite, exfoliating it to GO, and then chemically reducing the GO to rGO was successful. Although coal naturally contains aromatic compounds and some relatively small-sized condensed aromatic units, it does not contain graphene sheets. In the UCP process, the aromatic domains in the coals, particularly low-rank coals, are concentrated and condensed further into graphene sheets, which are ordered into a 3D stack during graphitization. The synthesized graphite is then unpacked by methods such as exfoliation to various graphene products. GQDs were synthesized from all four coal types, and their optical properties were demonstrated to be tunable by the coal precursor preprocessing treatments. In all four coal types, enhanced optical properties were observed for the produced GDQs with incremental improvements made to the coal precursors. GQDs produced from raw coal samples displayed lower ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy absorbance intensity compared to those obtained from cleaned and upgraded coal residues. The photoluminescence (PL) intensities also varied with pretreatment conditions and with the concentration of GQDs in aqueous solutions. GQDs obtained from anthracite show longer emission wavelengths and can be excited by visible light as opposed to GQDs derived from the other coal ranks. UV fluorescence 3D maps and spectra revealed that the emission wavelength at which the GQDs solutions display the highest intensity was slightly redshifted based on the coal precursor pretreatments. In low-rank coal (lignite and subbituminous) samples, two clusters were observed in the maps for GQDs, which may suggest that there are potentially two types of fluorophores in solution or two main size populations. The ability to tune the properties of GQDs based on processing methods can be exploited to make GQDs for various optical display or optoelectronics applications. The results also highlight the importance of removing coal-borne impurities to improve the quality of the coal precursor for preparation of graphene products. Coal and/or coal wastes preprocessing methods were developed and applied to clean and upgrade the coal precursors prior to graphitization and subsequent conversion to graphene products. The preprocessing methods involve high specific-gravity separations, mineral acid cleaning (no hydrofluoric acid), and subsequent upgrading by reducing the coal-borne heteroatom (nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen) content using proprietary chemical agents. Analytical characterization revealed that the preprocessing steps were successful, with ash reductions that range from 38% to 80% and residual ash content that was below the 5 wt% initial target. Based on proximate and ultimate analysis, the heteroatom reduction reactions produced upgraded coal residues with the oxygen content reduced by 8% to 24%, with additional reductions in the nitrogen and sulfur contents. An initial assessment of the waste streams from the UCP process shows very small to negligible environmental impact due to CO 2 , NO x , and SO x because most process steps are performed under inert atmosphere with argon. Consequently, reactive oxygen environments that tend to create these species are avoided. The inorganic and potentially hazardous species are released into aqueous waste streams that are easy to handle for proper disposal. The liquid waste streams were found to contain low-level concentrations of rare-earth elements (REEs), which could be concentrated and recovered as value-added by-products. Additionally, the volatile and gaseous fractions from carbonization and heat treatment contain useful organic compounds that can also be recovered as potential valuable by-products. Thus, the UCP technology is considered an environmentally sustainable and promising emerging technology for making high-value products from coal and coal wastes, with potential additional value-added by-products. Analysis of potential markets for the coal-derived carbon products shows a strong demand in both niche market sectors and across a wide variety of other industrial sectors. Graphite is currently considered a critical mineral commodity that has a large and growing demand in the LIB industry for EV applications. Based on data from Fortune Business Insights (2022) and Marketwatch (2023) reports, the average global graphite market is projected to reach about 33 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 7%, with much of this growth expected to be in the LIB industry. GO and rGO have strong market potentials in various application areas, such as coatings for anticorrosion, anti-icing, and antimicrobial protection, thermal barriers, wear resistance, sensors, additive manufacturing such as 3D inks, and others. GQDs are the emerging key player in the bioimaging, photovoltaics, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) applications, with the potential to replace traditional semiconductor quantum dots (SQDs), which are based on metallic systems that are more toxic and more expensive. Biomedical applications of GQDs are becoming more attractive because of low to no toxicity and extremely low cost compared to SQDs. The major challenges for scale-up and commercialization of coal-derived carbon products such as graphene vary from the inherent attributes of graphene itself to reluctance to accept graphene in new manufacturing processes because of the uncertainty of the unknown. The 2D nature of graphene materials with a thickness of one atom presents significant challenges to proper handling/processing, and process scale-up becomes difficult because it requires high-end, expensive equipment, even for routine handling and analysis for quality assurance and control. Pristine graphene can also be extremely difficult to work into other matrices, thus hindering downstream processibility, especially at large scale. Currently, the cost of graphene and graphene products is still high and presents an economic risk that tends to slow down investment in scaling up emerging technologies. The lack of a standard for graphene materials for quality assurance and quality control poses a great challenge not only for the markets but also for commercialization efforts. A first-look economic feasibility analysis of the UCP technology provided valuable information that suggests the UCP process would be feasible, especially when it is scaled to a pilot scale and could be more competitive at the full scale. Graphitization was found to be the most energy-consuming and most capital-intensive step in the overall process. In small laboratory- and bench-scale experiments, labor is a significant contributor to the total process costs. Although these energy, capital, and labor constraints contribute to a higher selling price for the product, a preliminary economic model suggests that the process would be feasible at large scale when the process is fully integrated, optimized, and automated.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2020

Absorber Column CFD model validation against PNNL’s device-scale absorber column on the LCFS unit

Absorber column has been widely used for CO 2 capture in the coal-fired power plants. High-fidelity CFD models play an important role in absorber column design and solvents optimization, which help enhance the CO 2 capture efficiency and reduce the operation cost. This report provides a comprehensive description of the development of CFD absorber models at two different levels, the design and implementation of PNNL’s device-scale absorber column experiment, and the methodology to combine the CFD results, experiment data, and Aspen model for a better understanding of the interface area in packed column. A composite model is firstly proposed in the Discrete Element Method (DEM) packing process, which can model the complex geometry of various packing elements. This generates a realistic packing pattern and accurate packing porosity ε and specific area a p compared to the actual values for absorber column used in LCFS. Two level of CFD absorber models were developed, namely the full-size column model (FCM) to simulate the entire packed column with a focus on the wall/entrance effects, and the representative column model (RCM) to simulate a section of column with a focus on the sensitivity study of interface area. A Design of Experiment (DoE) plan was developed to guide the collection of 100 run CFD data and 12 experiment runs. The 100 CFD runs were carried out in the RCM with Pro-Pak packing and cover a wide operation range and solvent properties. Impact of influential factors on the interface area in packed column were investigated in details. The CFD interface area was then combined with the experimental data and Aspen model to infer some information of the effective contact angle in the column. The accuracy and uncertainties in the interface area and contact angle can be quantified.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2023

Influences of cloud vertical overlapping on the calculated cloud albedo and their validation with satellite observations

Cloud albedo is expected to influence cloud radiative forcing in addition to cloud fraction, and inadequate description of the cloud overlapping effects on the cloud fraction may influence the simulated cloud fraction, and thus the relative cloud radiative forcing (RCRF) and cloud albedo. In this study, we first present a new formula by extending that presented previously in Liu et al. (2011) to consider multilayer clouds directly in the relationship between cloud albedo, cloud fraction and RCRF, and then quantitatively evaluate the effects of different cloud vertical overlapping structures, represented by the decorrelation length scales (L cf ), on the simulated cloud albedos. We use the BCC_AGCM2.0_CUACE/Aero model with simultaneous validation by observations from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiation Energy System (CERES) satellite. When L cf < 4 km (i.e., the cloud overlap is closer to the random overlap), the simulated cloud albedos are generally in good agreement with the satellite-based albedos for December– February and June–August; when L cf ≥ 4 km (i.e., the cloud vertical overlap is closer to the maximum overlap), the difference between simulated and observed cloud albedos became larger, due mainly to significant differences in cloud fractions and RCRF. Further quantitative analysis shows that the relative Euclidean distance, which represents the degree of overall model–observation disagreement, increases with the L cf for all three variables (cloud albedo, cloud fraction and RCRF), indicating the importance of cloud vertical overlapping in determining the accuracy of the calculated cloud albedo for multilayer clouds.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Aerodynamic Rotor Design for a 25 MW Offshore Downwind Turbine

Continuously increasing offshore wind turbine scales require rotor designs that maximize power and performance. Downwind rotors offer advantages in lower mass due to reduced potential for tower strike, and is especially true at large scales, e.g., for a 25 MW turbine. In this study, three 25 MW downwind rotors, each with different prescribed lift coefficient distributions were designed (chord, geometry, and twist) and compared to maximize power production at unprecedented scales and Reynolds numbers, including a new approach to optimize rotor tilt and coning based on aeroelastic effects. To achieve this objective the design process was focused on achieving high power coefficients, while maximizing swept area and minimizing blade mass. Maximizing swept area was achieved by prescribing pre-cone and shaft tilt angles to ensure the aeroelastic orientation when the blades point upwards was nearly vertical at nearly rated conditions. Maximizing the power coefficient was achieved by prescribing axial induction factor and lift coefficient distributions which were then used as inputs for an inverse rotor design tool. The resulting rotors were then simulated to compare performance and subsequently optimized for minimum rotor mass. To achieve these goals, a high Reynolds number design space was developed using computational predictions as well as new empirical correlations for flatback airfoil drag and maximum lift. Within this design space, three rotors of small, medium and large chords were considered for clean airfoil conditions (effects of premature transition were also considered but did not significantly modify the design space). The results indicated that the medium chord design provided the best performance, producing the highest power in Region 2 from simulations while resulting in the lowest rotor mass, both of which support minimum LCOE. The methodology developed herein can be used for the design of other extreme-scale (upwind and downwind) turbines.

downwind rotors↗
DOE OSTI2021

Evaluation of idealized large-eddy simulations performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting model using turbulence measurements from a 250 m meteorological mast

Abstract. We investigate the ability of the Weather Research and Forecasting model to perform large-eddy simulation of canonical flows. This is achieved through comparison of the simulation outputs with measurements from sonic anemometers on a 250 m meteorological mast located at Østerild, in northern Denmark. Østerild is on a flat and rough area, and for the predominant wind directions, the atmospheric flow can be considered to be close to homogeneous. The idealized simulated flows aim at representing atmospheric boundary layer turbulence under unstable, neutral, and stable stability conditions at the surface, which are statistically significant conditions observed at Østerild. We found that the resolved fields from the simulations appear to have the characteristics of the three stability regimes. Vertical profiles of observed mean wind speeds and direction are well reproduced by the simulations, with the largest differences under near-neutral conditions, where the effect of the subgrid-scale model is evident on the vertical wind shear close to the surface. Vertical profiles of observed eddy fluxes are also well reproduced by the simulations, with the largest differences for the three velocity component variances under stable stability conditions, although nearly always within the observed variability. With regards to turbulent kinetic energy, we find good agreement between observations and simulations at all vertical levels. Simulated and observed velocity spectra match very well and show very similar behavior with height and with atmospheric stability within the low-frequency interval; at the effective resolution, the simulated spectra show the typical drop-off of finite differences. Our findings demonstrate that these idealized simulations reproduce the characteristics of atmospheric stability regimes often observed at a high turbulent and flat site within a direction sector, where the air flows over nearly homogeneous land.

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