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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 1,279 records · Page 71

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1993

An Interactive Tool for Discrete Phase Analysis in Two-Phase Flows

Under a NASA MSFC SBIR Phase 1 effort an interactive software package has been developed for the analysis of discrete (particulate) phase dynamics in two-phase flows in which the discrete phase does not significantly affect the continuous phase. This package contains a Graphical User Interface (based on the X Window system and the Motif tool kit) coupled to a particle tracing program, which allows the user to interactively set up and run a case for which a continuous phase grid and flow field are available. The software has been applied to a solid rocket motor problem, to demonstrate its ease of use and its suitability for problems of engineering interest, and has been delivered to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Dejong, Frederik J.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Modeling receiver flux of commercial power tower concentrating solar power plants using ray tracing: a round-robin comparison of SolTrace, Solstice, and TieSOL

This study presents a multi-stage, cross-validation comparison of three software packages for Monte Carlo ray tracing (MCRT) applied to central tower concentrating solar power (CSP) systems. The three packages evaluated are: (1) SolTrace, an open-source tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); (2) Solstice, an open-source program created by CNRS-PROMES and Meso-Star, with enhancements for CSP applications (called solsticepy) from the Australian National University; and (3) TieSOL, a commercial software developed by Tietronix. This investigation extends previous ray tracing comparisons by incorporating models of multi-facet heliostats within a commercial-scale solar field, taking into account zoned focal lengths and canting configurations. Receiver flux distributions were compared across the tools using a series of case studies, including single-heliostat scenarios, isolated blocking situations, and comprehensive full-field simulations. The case studies were designed to diagnose differences across the models at varying levels of complexity, and to identify and resolve discrepancies as additional parameters were introduced. Key factors examined in the analysis include sun positions, heliostat location, facet and canting focus, and aimpoint strategies. The comparison aims to improve the accuracy and reliability of these tools while providing benchmark cases for validating future optical modeling tools.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1991

Integrated Analysis Capability Program

Integrated Analysis Capability (IAC) software system intended to provide highly effective, interactive analysis tool for integrated design of large structures. Supports needs of engineering analysis groups concerned with interdisciplinary problems. Developed to serve as software interface between computer programs from fields of structures, thermodynamics, controls, and dynamics of systems on one hand and executive software system and data base on other hand to yield highly efficient multi-disciplinary system. Special attention given to such users' requirements as handling data and online assistance with operational features and ability to add new modules of user's choice at future date. Written in FORTRAN 77.

Vos, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Hierarchical Data Formats (HDF) Update

In this presentation, we will talk about the latest releases of HDF4 and HDF5 software and tools, new features available in HDF5, and roadmap for the HDF software. We will also solicit feedback from the users of HDF data and HDF application developers on new features and new tools. The talk will cover: Difference between 1.8 and 1.10 releases and how and when to move to the latest release Features of the recent HDF5 1.8.19, 1.10.1 and HDF 4.2.13 Overview of HDF View 3.0 and other enhancements to tools Supported compilers and systems Open discussion of new requirements and wish list of the HDF features Compression library for interoperability with h5py and Pandas and better floating-point data compression.

HDFView↗

DOE OSTI2025

RAG for FLAG: AI Assistance for a Physics Code

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become an important tool in scientific research, where significant efforts are underway to develop tools that will expedite the research process. One area of particular impact is scientific software, which can be particularly complex, and therefore time consuming to learn and use effectively. AI assistants are increasingly helping to streamline the process by performing tasks such as interactively answering user questions or suggesting solutions. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) develops several advanced scientific codes, such as FLAG, which can be used to run multiphysics simulations. With this study, our goal was to develop an AI assistant for FLAG that could help make the process of understanding the software and running physics simulations more efficient. To develop an AI assistant for FLAG, we used a method called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which is a technique that uses information from relevant data sources to enhance the accuracy of large language models (LLMs). We used the FLAG user manual and other FLAG documentation as the knowledge base for the RAG system. When a user provides a query, RAG retrieves relevant sections from the knowledge base in response, then uses those excerpts to generate grounded and contextually rich answers. We found that our AI assistant was able to provide context aware answers and source references to user queries. To evaluate performance, we developed a set of 40 benchmark questions and compared the accuracy of the responses to those of two standard LLMs without retrieval. Our AI assistant significantly outperformed the standard LLMs at answering FLAG-related questions, with an 82.5% accuracy rate, compared to 47.5% for both of the standard LLMs. This has the potential to make the process of learning and using FLAG much easier, especially for new users. Ultimately, it supports LANL’s broader mission by empowering scientists and engineers to focus more on discovery and analysis rather than on navigating complex software systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2013

Cementitious Barriers Partnership (CBP): Training and Release of CBP Toolbox Software, Version 1.0 - 13480

The Cementitious Barriers Partnership (CBP) Project is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration supported by the Office of Tank Waste Management within the Office of Environmental Management of U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE). The CBP program has developed a set of integrated tools (based on state-of-the-art models and leaching test methods) that improve understanding and predictions of the long-term hydraulic and chemical performance of cementitious barriers used in nuclear applications. Tools selected for and developed under this program are intended to evaluate and predict the behavior of cementitious barriers used in near-surface engineered waste disposal systems for periods of performance up to or longer than 100 years for operating facilities and longer than 1,000 years for waste management purposes. CBP software tools were made available to selected DOE Office of Environmental Management and field site users for training and evaluation based on a set of important degradation scenarios, including sulfate ingress/attack and carbonation of cementitious materials. The tools were presented at two-day training workshops held at U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Savannah River, and Hanford included LeachXS{sup TM}/ORCHESTRA, STADIUM{sup R}, and a CBP-developed GoldSim Dashboard interface. Collectively, these components form the CBP Software Toolbox. The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency leaching test methods based on the Leaching Environmental Assessment Framework (LEAF) were also presented. The CBP Dashboard uses a custom Dynamic-link library developed by CBP to couple to the LeachXS{sup TM}/ORCHESTRA and STADIUM{sup R} codes to simulate reactive transport and degradation in cementitious materials for selected performance assessment scenarios. The first day of the workshop introduced participants to the software components via presentation materials, and the second day included hands-on tutorial exercises followed by discussions of enhancements desired by participants. Tools were revised based on feedback obtained during the workshops held from April through June 2012. The resulting improved CBP Software Toolbox, including evaluation versions of and LeachXS{sup TM}/ORCHESTRA and STADIUM{sup R} has been made available to workshop and selected other participants for further assessment. Inquiries about future workshops and requests for access to the Toolbox software can be made via the CBP web site [1]. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

NASA NTRS2003

Building Safer Systems With SpecTRM

System safety, an integral component in software development, often poses a challenge to engineers designing computer-based systems. While the relaxed constraints on software design allow for increased power and flexibility, this flexibility introduces more possibilities for error. As a result, system engineers must identify the design constraints necessary to maintain safety and ensure that the system and software design enforces them. Safeware Engineering Corporation, of Seattle, Washington, provides the information, tools, and techniques to accomplish this task with its Specification Tools and Requirements Methodology (SpecTRM). NASA assisted in developing this engineering toolset by awarding the company several Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center. The technology benefits NASA through its applications for Space Station rendezvous and docking. SpecTRM aids system and software engineers in developing specifications for large, complex safety critical systems. The product enables engineers to find errors early in development so that they can be fixed with the lowest cost and impact on the system design. SpecTRM traces both the requirements and design rationale (including safety constraints) throughout the system design and documentation, allowing engineers to build required system properties into the design from the beginning, rather than emphasizing assessment at the end of the development process when changes are limited and costly.System safety, an integral component in software development, often poses a challenge to engineers designing computer-based systems. While the relaxed constraints on software design allow for increased power and flexibility, this flexibility introduces more possibilities for error. As a result, system engineers must identify the design constraints necessary to maintain safety and ensure that the system and software design enforces them. Safeware Engineering Corporation, of Seattle, Washington, provides the information, tools, and techniques to accomplish this task with its Specification Tools and Requirements Methodology (SpecTRM). NASA assisted in developing this engineering toolset by awarding the company several Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts with Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center. The technology benefits NASA through its applications for Space Station rendezvous and docking. SpecTRM aids system and software engineers in developing specifications for large, complex safety critical systems. The product enables engineers to find errors early in development so that they can be fixed with the lowest cost and impact on the system design. SpecTRM traces both the requirements and design rationale (including safety constraints) throughout the system design and documentation, allowing engineers to build required system properties into the design from the beginning, rather than emphasizing assessment at the end of the development process when changes are limited and costly.

Source record↗

DOE OSTI2024

Sensitivity Analysis for the Component Design App: Analysis of Success Assured Data

A new tool has been developed to perform variance-based global sensitivity analysis (VBGSA) on data from a set-based concurrent engineering software called Success Assured (SA). The tool is part of a digital component design app, which is currently in production as an Accelerated Digital Engineering Pathfinder at Sandia National Laboratories. When working with complex digital models, it is important to understand relationships between inputs and outputs, i.e., how “sensitive” model outputs are to changes in model inputs. After extensive research and trials of various sensitivity analysis methods, it was determined that estimation of Sobol’ indices for VBGSA with Monte Carlo simulation, paired with simple surrogate models, produces the best results for SA data. This tool increases understanding of SA models and streamlines the creation of SA datasets. This report details the methodology and implementation of this sensitivity analysis tool so others can understand it and implement it.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS1987

Standards for the user interface - Developing a user consensus

The user support environment (USE) which is a set of software tools for a flexible standard interactive user interface to the Space Station systems, platforms, and payloads is described in detail. Included in the USE concept are a user interface language, a run time environment and user interface management system, support tools, and standards for human interaction methods. The goals and challenges of the USE are discussed as well as a methodology based on prototype demonstrations for involving users in the process of validating the USE concepts. By prototyping the key concepts and salient features of the proposed user interface standards, the user's ability to respond is greatly enhanced.

Moe, Karen L.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Perspectives on NASA flight software development - Apollo, Shuttle, Space Station

Flight data systems' software development is chronicled for the period encompassing NASA's Apollo, Space Shuttle, and (ongoing) Space Station Freedom programs, with attention to the methodologies and 'development tools' employed in each case and their mutual relationships. A dominant concern in all three programs has been the accommodation of software change; it has also been noted that any such long-term program carries the additional challenge of identifying which elements of its software-related 'institutional memory' are most critical, in order to preclude their loss through the retirement, promotion, or transfer of its 'last expert'.

Garman, John R.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Recent Developments to the Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) Software

The Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software is a suite of tools for the analysis of porous materials and generation of material microstructures. From microstructural data, often obtained through X-ray microtomography, PuMA can determine a number of effective material properties and perform material response simulations. Version 2.2 includes capabilities for computing volume fractions, porosity, specific surface area, effective thermal and electrical conductivities, and continuum and rarefied diffusive tortuosity. PuMA can also simulate competitive diffusion/reaction processes at the micro-scale, such as surface oxidation. In this poster, recent advancements to the PuMA software are detailed, including the full refactoring of PuMA into v3.0, a new module to compute heat conduction in anisotropic materials, a particle method for simulating molecular beam experiments, a new finite-volume Laplace solver, complex fibrous material generation, woven material generation, and a coupling of PuMA with the DAKOTA software for advanced statistics.

PuMA↗

NASA NTRS1993

Integrated modeling of advanced optical systems

This poster session paper describes an integrated modeling and analysis capability being developed at JPL under funding provided by the JPL Director's Discretionary Fund and the JPL Control/Structure Interaction Program (CSI). The posters briefly summarize the program capabilities and illustrate them with an example problem. The computer programs developed under this effort will provide an unprecedented capability for integrated modeling and design of high performance optical spacecraft. The engineering disciplines supported include structural dynamics, controls, optics and thermodynamics. Such tools are needed in order to evaluate the end-to-end system performance of spacecraft such as OSI, POINTS, and SMMM. This paper illustrates the proof-of-concept tools that have been developed to establish the technology requirements and demonstrate the new features of integrated modeling and design. The current program also includes implementation of a prototype tool based upon the CAESY environment being developed under the NASA Guidance and Control Research and Technology Computational Controls Program. This prototype will be available late in FY-92. The development plan proposes a major software production effort to fabricate, deliver, support and maintain a national-class tool from FY-93 through FY-95.

Briggs, Hugh C.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Software Tools for Energy Storage Valuation and Design

Abstract Purpose of Review As the application space for energy storage systems (ESS) grows, it is crucial to valuate the technical and economic benefits of ESS deployments. Since there are many analytical tools in this space, this paper provides a review of these tools to help the audience find the proper tools for their energy storage analyses. Recent Findings There are many software tools for valuating ESS. These tools can be classified into two groups: (1) power system simulation and planning tools for analyzing the technical contributions of ESSs, and (2) techno-economic analysis tools for valuating the economic benefits of ESS deployment and specifying the optimal design of energy systems that include ESSs. While many of the tools, developed by the national laboratories, are free to use, the commercial tools are also of great importance in meeting the customers’ specific needs. Summary This paper provides a review of software tools for ESS valuation and design. A review of analysis tools for evaluating the technical impacts of energy storage deployments is also provided, as well as a discussion of development trends for valuation and design tools.

Nguyen, Tu A. (ORCID:0000000181148063)↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

GlennICE 2.2 Capabilities and Results

GlennICE (Glenn Icing Computational Environment) is a computational tool designed to calculate ice growth on complex three-dimensional geometries using the input from a user-supplied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution for the geometry of interest. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is developing this tool to aid those evaluating, designing and certifying aircraft, engines, and aircraft components for flight in icing conditions. This domestically available software is being developed to enable the introduction of new icing physics into a computational environment in a manner that is open for evaluation and eventual use by industry, academia, and other government organizations. This paper will document the current capabilities for version 2.1 of this software and provide example cases with comparison to available experimental data.

Icing↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

GlennICE 2.2 Capabilities and Results

Icing↗

NASA NTRS2024

GlennICE Manual 4.1.0

Icing↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Improvements to GlennICE Collection Efficiency Algorithm

GlennICE (Glenn Icing Computational Environment) is a computational tool designed to calculate ice growth on complex three-dimensional geometries using the input from a user-supplied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution for the geometry of interest. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is developing this tool to aid those evaluating, designing and certifying aircraft, engines, and aircraft components for flight in icing conditions. This domestically available software is being developed to enable the introduction of new icing physics into a computational environment in a manner that is open for evaluation and eventual use by industry, academia, and other government organizations. This paper will document recent improvements that reduce the number of trajectories needed to converge on collection efficiency. These improvements are documented using example cases with complex geometries.

Aircraft Icing↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Improvements to GlennICE Collection Efficiency Algorithm

GlennICE (Glenn Icing Computational Environment) is a computational tool designed to calculate ice growth on complex three-dimensional geometries using the input from a user-supplied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution for the geometry of interest. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is developing this tool to aid those evaluating, designing and certifying aircraft, engines, and aircraft components for flight in icing conditions. This domestically available software is being developed to enable the introduction of new icing physics into a computational environment in a manner that is open for evaluation and eventual use by industry, academia, and other government organizations. This paper will document recent improvements that reduce the number of trajectories needed to converge on collection efficiency. These improvements are documented using example cases with complex geometries.

Aircraft Icing↗