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At least 1,297 records · Page 72

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NASA NTRS2011

NEEMO 15: Evaluation of Human Exploration Systems for Near-Earth Asteroids

The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 15 mission was focused on near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) exploration techniques evaluation. It began with a University of Delaware autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) systematically mapping the coral reef for hundreds of meters surrounding the Aquarius habitat. This activity is akin to the type of "far field survey" approach that may be used by a robotic precursor in advance of a human mission to a NEA. Data from the far-field survey were then examined by the NEEMO science team and follow-up exploration traverses were planned, which used Deepworker single-person submersibles. Science traverses at NEEMO 15 were planned according to a prioritized list of scientific objectives developed by the science team based on review and discussion of previous related marine science research including previous marine science saturation missions conducted at the Aquarius habitat. AUV data was used to select several areas of scientific interest. The Deepworker science traverses were then executed at these areas of interest during 4 days of the NEEMO 15 mission and provided higher resolution data such as coral species distribution and mortality. These traverses are analogous to the "near field survey" approach that is expected to be performed by a multi mission space exploration vehicle (MMSEV) during a human mission to a NEA before conducting extravehicular activities (EVA)s. In addition to the science objectives that were pursued, the NEEMO 15 science traverses provided an opportunity to test newly developed software and techniques. Sample collection and instrument deployment on the NEA surface by EVA crew would follow the "near field survey" in a human NEA mission. Sample collection was not necessary for the purposes of the NEEMO science objectives; however, the engineering and operations objectives during NEEMO 15 were to evaluate different combinations of vehicles, crewmembers, tools, and equipment that could be used to perform these tasks on a NEA. Specifically, the productivity and acceptability of simulated NEA exploration activities were systematically quantified and compared when operating with different combinations of crew sizes and exploration systems including MMSEVs, EVA jet packs, and EVA translation devices.

Chappell, Steven P.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Cluster Node Computing for Target Generation Systems in Aircraft Simulations

Target generation systems provide the positions of aircraft in air traffic simulations. As the scope of the simulation domains expand, there is a need to develop systems that can provide position reports for thousands of aircraft simultaneously and at update rates that support out-the-window visualization. This paper discusses the motivation and reasoning behind investigating development of a next generation target generator through distributed computing using clustered node processing and how a target generation system benefit future research that utilizes human-in-the-loop simulations.

air traffic simulations↗

DOE OSTI2011

Computational Model of the Mark-IV Electrorefiner: Two-Dimensional Potential and Current Distributions

A computational model of the Mark-IV electrorefiner is currently being developed as a joint project between Idaho National Laboratory, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Seoul National University, and the University of Idaho. As part of this model, the two-dimensional potential and current distributions within the molten salt electrolyte are calculated for U3+ , Zr4+ , and Pu3+ along with the total distributions, using the partial differential equation solver of the commercial Matlab software. The electrical conductivity of the electrolyte solution is shown to depend primarily on the composition of the electrolyte and to average 205 mho/m with a standard deviation of 2.5 × 10-5% throughout the electrorefining process. These distributions show that the highest potential gradients (thus, the highest current) exist directly between the two anodes and cathode. The total, uranium, and plutonium potential gradients are shown to increase throughout the process, with a slight decrease in that of zirconium. The distributions also show small potential gradients and very little current flow in the region far from the operating electrodes.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Airside HVAC BESTEST: HVAC Air-Distribution System Model Test Cases for ASHRAE Standard 140

This paper summarizes recent work to develop new airside HVAC equipment model analytical verification test cases for ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 140, Standard Method of Test for the Evaluation of Building Energy Analysis Computer Programs. The analytical verification test method allows comparison of simulation results from a wide variety of building energy simulation programs with quasi-analytical solutions, further described below. Standard 140 is widely cited for evaluating software for use with performance-path energy efficiency analysis, in conjunction with well-known energy-efficiency standards including ASHRAE Standard 90.1, the International Energy Conservation Code, and other international standards. Airside HVAC Equipment is a common area of modelling not previously explicitly tested by Standard 140. Integration of the completed test suite into Standard 140 is in progress.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2024

A parallel and performance portable implementation of a full-field crystal plasticity model

We have developed a parallel implementation of an Elasto-Viscoplastic Fast Fourier Transform-based (EVPFFT) micromechanical solver to enable computationally efficient crystal plasticity modeling for polycrystalline materials. Our primary focus lies in achieving performance portability, allowing a single EVPFFT implementation to run optimally on various homogeneous architectures, including multi-core Central Processing Units (CPUs), as well as on heterogeneous computer architectures comprising multi-core CPUs and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) from different vendors. To accomplish this goal, we have leveraged MATAR, a C++ software library that simplifies the creation and utilization of multidimensional dense or sparse matrix and array data structures. These data structures are designed to be portable across diverse architectures through the use of Kokkos, a performance-portable library. Additionally, we have employed the Message Passing Interface (MPI) to efficiently distribute the computational workload among processors. The heFFTe (Highly Efficient FFT for Exascale) library is used to facilitate the performance portability of the fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) computation. The computational performance of EVPFFT is evaluated and presented in terms of parallel scalability and simulation runtime on different high-performance computing (HPC) architectures. As a result, the utility of the developed framework to efficiently simulate the micro-mechanical fields in polycrystalline microstructures in engineering applications is discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2016

Supply Chain-Based Solution to Prevent Fuel Tax Evasion: Final Report

The primary source of funding for the United States transportation system is derived from motor fuel and other highway use taxes. Loss of revenue attributed to fuel-tax evasion has been assessed to be somewhere between 1 billion and 3 billion per year. Any solution that addresses this problem needs to include not only the tax-collection agencies and auditors, but also the carriers transporting oil products and the carriers customers. This report presents a system developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the Federal Highway Administration which has the potential to reduce or eliminate many fuel-tax evasion schemes. The solution balances the needs of tax-auditors and those of the fuel-hauling companies and their customers. The system has three main components. The on-board subsystem combined sensors, tracking and communication devices, and software (the on-board Evidential Reasoning System, or obERS) to detect, monitor, and geo-locate the transfer of fuel among different locations. The back office sub-system (boERS) used self-learning algorithms to determine the legitimacy of the fuel loading and offloading (important for tax auditors) and detect potential illicit operations such as fuel theft (important for carriers and their customers, and may justify the deployment costs). The third sub-system, the Fuel Distribution and Auditing System or FDAS, is a centralized database, which together with a user interface allows tax auditors to query the data submitted by the fuel-hauling companies and correlate different parameters to quickly identify any anomalies. Industry partners included Barger Transport of Weber City, Virginia (fleet); Air-Weigh, of Eugene, Oregon (and their wires and harnesses); Liquid Bulk Tank (LBT) of Omaha, Nebraska (three five-compartment trailers); and Innovative Software Engineering (ISE) of Coralville, Iowa(on-board telematics device and back-office system). ORNL conducted a pilot test with the three instrumented vehicles collecting real-world data during an eight-month period (October 2014 to June 2015). The vehicles logged a total of 375,000 miles and transported more than 7.5 million gallons of fuel. The drivers entered information on the telematics device about 77% of the time, with about 15% (10%) of the data showing at least one compartment with loading (offloading) valve activity, but not driver information entry for that compartment. Seven events (or about 0.7% of the trips) were identified by the boERS as having a missing fuel diversion number. The solution developed and tested in the pilot test had federal- and state-level tax auditors as its main audience. Nonetheless, the technology has to be adopted by the fuel carriers and therefore the solution had to address the needs of fuel-hauling companies and their customers (i.e., fuel theft and cocktailing). Sensors in the hatches allowed the obERS recognize when one of those were opened (always a suspicious activity, unless it happens at locations where maintenance is performed on the vehicle). The fuel-theft issue was addressed by a self-learning algorithm deployed on the boERS that continuously processed the data from the field to construct probability distributions of measures such as elapsed time of fuel loading and offloading by driver, vehicle, and compartment, valve actuation sequence, elapsed time between the first two valve actuations (by driver, compartment, and location), and other parameters. Probability thresholds, which can be set up by the carrier, determined how to classify the observed events. The boERS also kept track of valve sequencing at a given location and analyzed these actuations to help identify any suspicious activities. Technical and economic recommendations include: a) simplification of the driver data-entry task; b) reduction of system deployment cost; c) addition of capabilities that make the system more appealing to industry (i.e., identify and avoid fuel misdelivery); and d) incorporation of additional capabilities to the FDAS. Path to commercialization recommendations include: a) identify a company willing to further develop, test, and certify a hardened system with a price point the market will bear; b).transfer ERS to licensee; c) establish a fleet or fleets who want this technology for carrier benefits or trailer manufacturer who wants to offer it as optional technology; and d) identify a location for the deployment of FDAS.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

NASA NTRS2002

Automated CFD Parameter Studies on Distributed Parallel Computers

The objective of the current work is to build a prototype software system which will automated the process of running CFD jobs on Information Power Grid (IPG) resources. This system should remove the need for user monitoring and intervention of every single CFD job. It should enable the use of many different computers to populate a massive run matrix in the shortest time possible. Such a software system has been developed, and is known as the AeroDB script system. The approach taken for the development of AeroDB was to build several discrete modules. These include a database, a job-launcher module, a run-manager module to monitor each individual job, and a web-based user portal for monitoring of the progress of the parameter study. The details of the design of AeroDB are presented in the following section. The following section provides the results of a parameter study which was performed using AeroDB for the analysis of a reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The paper concludes with a section on the lessons learned in this effort, and ideas for future work in this area.

Rogers, Stuart E.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Development of a Dynamically Configurable, Object-Oriented Framework for Distributed, Multi-modal Computational Aerospace Systems Simulation: Second Year Progress Report

Mesh generation has long been recognized as a bottleneck in the CFD process. While much research on automating the volume mesh generation process have been relatively successful,these methods rely on appropriate initial surface triangulation to work properly. Surface discretization has been one of the least automated steps in computational simulation due to its dependence on implicitly defined CAD surfaces and curves. Differences in CAD peometry engines manifest themselves in discrepancies in their interpretation of the same entities. This lack of "good" geometry causes significant problems for mesh generators, requiring users to "repair" the CAD geometry before mesh generation. The problem is exacerbated when CAD geometry is translated to other forms (e.g., IGES )which do not include important topological and construction information in addition to entity geometry. One technique to avoid these problems is to access the CAD geometry directly from the mesh generating software, rather than through files. By accessing the geometry model (not a discretized version) in its native environment, t h s a proach avoids translation to a format which can deplete the model of topological information. Our approach to enable models developed in the Denali software environment to directly access CAD geometry and functions is through an Application Programming Interface (API) known as CAPRI. CAPRI provides a layer of indirection through which CAD-specific data may be accessed by an application program using CAD-system neutral C and FORTRAN language function calls. CAPRI supports a general set of CAD operations such as truth testing, geometry construction and entity queries.

Afjeh, Abdollah A.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Aeroelastic Modeling for Distributed Wind Turbines: March 11, 2021 - November 10, 2021

Aeroelastic modeling (AM) is the primary methodology for structural and performance assessment of any wind turbine whereby providing an understanding of the impact of design parameters on its loading and power response before witnessing it in the field. Despite these advantages, the use of AM in the Distributed Wind Technology (DWT) sector is limited, especially within the less established manufacturers. This project represents an in-depth assessment of the status of AM and its role within the Standards for the DWT industry. The study gathered input and feedback from a large number of national and international stakeholders, reviewed technical strengths and weaknesses of the current edition of the design standards, analyzed recent industry workshops' and meetings' minutes, collected publicly available AM templates, and provided an evaluation of the existing AM codes. The study achieved several goals including providing strategies for the load assessment categorization of turbines based on rotor swept area and archetype, and guidance for AM verification and validation (V&V), which includes discussions of measurement requirements and a sample test-plan useful for future V&V campaigns and design standard development. This document summarizes the different tasks conducted in the course of the project and highlights the steps required to improve the AM adoption based on a multifaceted approach that encompasses: 1) augmenting AM software capabilities, 2) publishing AM best-practices and design-basis, 3) creating new model templates, 4) providing guidance for V&V of codes and specific turbine models leveraging field testing best-practice, and 5) addressing weaknesses in the current standards. Many of the future objectives identified in this study could leverage NREL's upcoming testing campaigns of three modern distributed wind turbines. Recommendations within this study will advance the value and the ease-of-use of AM, thereby allowing the industry to better capitalize this underutilized tool resulting in a more efficient design process, an easier path to certification, and overall better and more distributed reliable wind turbine products.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Constellation: The autonomous control and data acquisition system for dynamic experimental setups

The operation of instruments and detectors in laboratory or beamline environments presents a complex challenge, requiring stable operation of multiple concurrent devices, often controlled by separate hardware and software solutions. These environments frequently undergo modifications, such as the inclusion of different auxiliary devices depending on the experiment or facility, adding further complexity. The successful management of such dynamic configurations demands a flexible and robust system capable of controlling data acquisition, monitoring experimental setups, enabling seamless reconfiguration, and integrating new devices with limited effort. This paper presents Constellation, a flexible and network-distributed control and data acquisition software framework tailored to laboratory and beamline environments, that addresses the limitations of existing solutions. The framework is designed with a focus on extensibility, providing a streamlined interface for instrument integration. It supports efficient system setup via network discovery mechanisms, promotes stability through autonomous operational features, and provides comprehensive documentation and supporting tools for operators and application developers such as controllers and logging interfaces. At the core of the architectural design is the autonomy of the individual components, called satellites, which can make independent decisions about their operation and communicate these decisions to other components. This paper introduces the design principles and framework architecture of Constellation, presents the available graphical user interfaces, shares insights from initial successful deployments, and provides an outlook on future developments and applications.

Autonomy↗

DOE OSTI2024

Extending Rucio with modern cloud storage support

Rucio is a software framework designed to facilitate scientific collaborations in efficiently organising, managing, and accessing extensive volumes of data through customizable policies. The framework enables data distribution across globally distributed locations and heterogeneous data centres, integrating various storage and network technologies into a unified federated entity. Rucio offers advanced features like distributed data recovery and adaptive replication, and it exhibits high scalability, modularity, and extensibility. Originally developed to meet the requirements of the high-energy physics experiment ATLAS, Rucio has been continuously expanded to support LHC experiments and diverse scientific communities. Recent R&D projects within these communities have evaluated the integration of both private and commercially-provided cloud storage systems, leading to the development of additional functionalities for seamless integration within Rucio. Furthermore, the underlying systems, FTS and GFAL/Davix, have been extended to cater to specific use cases. This contribution focuses on the technical aspects of this work, particularly the challenges encountered in building a generic interface for self-hosted cloud storage, such as MinIO or CEPH S3 Gateway, and established providers like Google Cloud Storage and Amazon Simple Storage Service. Additionally, the integration of decentralised clouds like SEAL is explored. Key aspects, including authentication and authorisation, direct and remote access, throughput and cost estimation, are highlighted, along with shared experiences in daily operations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Material Protection, Accounting and Control Technologies (MPACT) Implementation Plan: Lab-Scale Demonstration of Advanced Safeguard and Security Systems

The Materials Protection, Accounting, and Control Technologies (MPACT) campaign is working towards the goal of developing and demonstrating the next generation of nuclear materials management for the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy. A major milestone of the campaign is the “Lab-scale demonstration of an advanced safeguards and security system,” due in 2020. This implementation plan describes how tools developed in the MPACT campaign will be used to meet this milestone. These tools consist of instrumentation and devices as well as computer software for modelling, simulation and integration of data and information for safeguard and security analysis. The plan is focused on demonstrating an advanced safeguard and security systems for electrochemical processing plants, but also identifies activities needed to address advanced reactor, aqueous processing and other advanced fuel cycle facilities. A key component to achieving the 2020 milestone is the development of a virtual distributed test bed that incorporates the instruments, data, analysis tools, and models currently under development and provides a framework to link and normalize the data in a way that simulates a facility, including uncertainty quantification. This virtual distributed test bed will integrate computer simulated facilities that make up a fuel cycle of interest, with distributed test beds located in actual operating facilities and laboratories. The MPACT campaign recently issued roadmaps for both Modelling & Simulation and Advanced Integration which address this component, and activities necessary to achieve the 2020 milestone. Research, development and testing of specific technologies have been supported by the MPACT campaign in coordination with other DOE-NE and DOE-NNSA programs. These technologies provide the essential data needed by the safeguard and security systems, and feed into the data analysis and facility models. This plan will identify these technologies, their current status and activities needed to demonstrate the technologies at the laboratory scale. Wherever possible, test of technologies in field conditions using suitable nuclear materials will be used to define performance. Where necessary, surrogate materials and/or simulation will be used to provide useful information for the demonstration. When completed, the 2020 milestone will provide a demonstration of advanced safeguard and security technologies, including advanced modelling, simulation and analysis approaches, applied to electrochemical processing. It will also identify applications of the technology and approaches in other advanced fuel cycle and reactor concepts.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

DOE OSTI2020

UNITY: Unified Memory and Storage Space

UNITY is a 36-month project focused on providing design and evaluate a new distributed storage paradigm that unifies the traditionally distinct application views of memory- and file-based data storage into a single scalable and resilient environment. The project is a collaboration among Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Lead institution), Los Alamos National Labs (LANL), and Georgia Tech (GT). The main contributions of the GT team have been around development of low level systems software for best leveraging the capabilities of new types of persistent memory technologies, and for development of methods for intelligent data management across memory/storage substrates with heterogeneous components. GT contributed the Phoenix library for optimized checkpoint/restart for HPC I/O for systems with non-volatile memory (NVM), the NVStream library for NVM-specialized streaming I/O for HPC workflows, the CoMerge, Mnemo and Kleio solutions for intelligent data management on NVM-based systems. These contributions result in significant improvements in both application performance and system efficiency.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS1984

PIAS: A program for an iterative aeroelastic solution

A Program for an Iterative Aeroelastic Solution (PIAS) is discussed. This will be a modular computer program that combines the use of a finite-element structural analysis code with any linear or nonlinear aerodynamic code. At this point in time, PIAS has been designed but the software has not been written. The idea for this development originated with P. J. (Bud) Bobbitt of the NASA Langley Research Center. There was initial interest in an aeroelastic solution for a separation-induced leading-edge vortex. Some examples of the flow patterns for a low aspect ratio wing are shown. The Leading-Edge Vortex Program, which calculates pressure distributions including the effects of a separation-induced leading-edge vortex, uses an iterative solution method. This led to the concept of an iteration cycle on configuration shape external to the aerodynamic code.

Manro, M. E.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Space station automation of common module power management and distribution

The purpose is to automate a breadboard level Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) system which possesses many functional characteristics of a specified Space Station power system. The automation system was built upon 20 kHz ac source with redundancy of the power buses. There are two power distribution control units which furnish power to six load centers which in turn enable load circuits based upon a system generated schedule. The progress in building this specified autonomous system is described. Automation of Space Station Module PMAD was accomplished by segmenting the complete task in the following four independent tasks: (1) develop a detailed approach for PMAD automation; (2) define the software and hardware elements of automation; (3) develop the automation system for the PMAD breadboard; and (4) select an appropriate host processing environment.

Miller, W.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Neural net diagnostics for VLSI test

This paper discusses the application of neural network pattern analysis algorithms to the IC fault diagnosis problem. A fault diagnostic is a decision rule combining what is known about an ideal circuit test response with information about how it is distorted by fabrication variations and measurement noise. The rule is used to detect fault existence in fabricated circuits using real test equipment. Traditional statistical techniques may be used to achieve this goal, but they can employ unrealistic a priori assumptions about measurement data. Our approach to this problem employs an adaptive pattern analysis technique based on feedforward neural networks. During training, a feedforward network automatically captures unknown sample distributions. This is important because distributions arising from the nonlinear effects of process variation can be more complex than is typically assumed. A feedforward network is also able to extract measurement features which contribute significantly to making a correct decision. Traditional feature extraction techniques employ matrix manipulations which can be particularly costly for large measurement vectors. In this paper we discuss a software system which we are developing that uses this approach. We also provide a simple example illustrating the use of the technique for fault detection in an operational amplifier.

Lin, T.↗

NASA NTRS1999

In Pursuit of the FIP Effect in Late-Type Stellar Coronae

Spectral line data for several coronally active stars, in addition to EUVE Deep Survey light curves, have been analysed under this program. Much difficulty has been encountered in the study that has resulted in fewer stars being analysed than had been hoped. The difficulties stemmed from the analysis of low X-ray spectra taken with the ASCA satellite that produced results that are strongly discrepant with respect to the EUVE results. There is no obvious explanation for this, though it appears that analysis of ASCA data systematically underestimate metal abundance in hot plasmas. Consequently, the final emphasis in our analyses has been on EUVE data. Observed line profiles have being fitted in order to measure their fluxes using IDL software specially developed under this and parallel efforts.The observed line profiles deviate from pure gaussian forms, but we have found the benefits of using additional functional forms in the fitting process to be of only very small value for the lines with highest S/N. The resulting line fluxes have being processed in terms of the coronal EM using new techniques. Resulting EM distribution models are being used to finalize metallicity and abundance estimates for the stars in the program. Special account of the influence of missing lines in the spectral models has been taken.

Drake, Jeremy↗

DOE OSTI2018

Utilization of Renewable Energy to Meet New National Challenges in Energy and Climate Change

The project aims to design a microgrid system to promote utilization of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar to address the national challenges in energy and climate change. Different optimization techniques and simulation software are used to study the performance of the renewable energy system under study. A series of research works performed under the grant Department of Energy (DOE) is presented. This grant opportunity affords Howard faculty, students, graduates, undergraduates, K-12, postdocs and visiting scholars to benefit state of the art research work. The research work has led to improve or advance understanding of new hardware technologies, software development and engineering optimization methods necessary and sufficient for handling probabilistic models and real-time computation and functions necessary for development of microgrid system. Consistent with State of Project Objective Howard University has partitioned the task into the following integrated activities: 1. Stochastic Model for RER and Load • Development of modeling Renewable Energy Resources (RER) and load which is used to perform distribution power flow study which leads to publication in refereed journals and conferences. The work was also published at the IEEE conference. 2. Stochastic optimization for voltage/Var • The development of voltage VAr optimization based on a review of existing knowledge in optimization led to the use of stochastic program and evolution of programming optimization method for V/VAr optimization. Papers were presented at the North America Power Systems Conference and the IEEE PES general meeting. 3. Modeling RER and Storage • Extending the concept of optimization method an RER with storage, such as the development of microgrid V/VAr and storage is performed. Several papers were published at the North America Power Systems Conference and the IEEE PES general meeting. 4. Power Game • Development of power game experiment using Labvolt to allow for hands on understanding of design and development of microgrid functions is performed. Publication were done by students at the end of their summer program. 5. Designing Microgrid Testbed • Example microgrid test bed is developed. In addition, function of the test bed are developed. The papers were presented at the North America Power Systems Conference and the IEEE general meeting. 6. Outreach Program • From the outreach program, topics from the project have been included in the revision of courses at Howard University, new book called Energy Processing and Smartgrid has being developed. • Hosted masters students from University of Denver to complete their projects with us. • Hosted high school students for early exposure for careers in STEM • Representations made in IEEE conferences to share the lessons learned in the use of micro grid to expose students to STEM education and research.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗