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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 1,297 records · Page 72
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Cybersecurity Considerations for Hydrogen Infrastructure in Airport Environments

This report explores key cybersecurity concerns and best practices within environments that serve as reference points for the development of hydrogen fueling infrastructure for aviation. This cybersecurity analysis leverages prior NREL studies: 1) hydrogen fueling station component validation to identify vulnerabilities and failure events documented in physical equipment, and 2) electric aircraft charging infrastructure analysis to explore primary cybersecurity vulnerabilities. It reviews the criticality of digitized technologies in sustaining hydrogen fuel production, storage, and fueling systems, noting cybersecurity concerns that are universal to power systems and industrial control systems in general. In considering cybersecurity vulnerabilities within a future landscape of hydrogen energy for aviation applications, a reference architecture was intended to reveal the points of connection between assets and the potential sensors that are vulnerable to manipulation in the event of compromised access or communication within a SCADA system. A generalized reference architecture can help stakeholders, engineers, or strategists understand connections, criticalities, and standard practices when it comes to designing and planning for new systems. There are several gaps to account for in assessing the future of hydrogen production, storage, and fueling for aviation. Engaging stakeholders, including aircraft manufacturers, electric utilities, site property owners, and local communities, will inform decision-making around site structure, operations, and resources for future hydrogen fueling infrastructure to understand operational needs and cybersecurity awareness. Cybersecurity mitigation strategy must consider physical attack vectors that emerge with the integration of hydrogen systems into existing airport security requirements. The cybersecurity risk assessment contained in this report is an entry point into potential future granular-level analyses to be conducted as part of hazard and risk assessments for safe aviation hydrogen infrastructure, determining how the scale of hydrogen fuel infrastructure for aviation impacts the volume of cyber attack vectors, and what, if any, are the vulnerabilities associated with different types of on-board hydrogen systems. In this nascent development phase, assessing how best to integrate cybersecurity practices into an evolving U.S. aviation landscape provides critical insights into building increased awareness and stakeholder engagement to support a cyber-resilient infrastructure.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advanced Intelligent Sensor Development and Demonstration for Future Distribution Systems with High Penetration DERs

The nation’s electric grid is evolving to supply the electricity needed for economic growth, health, and quality of life. As the DOE has pointed out “Old Tools Won’t Solve New Problems” This project conceived, designed, built, and demonstrated a new tool that promises to make the emerging grid dependable at a lower cost. The tool is a smart sensor with the sensitivity and the bandwidth to measure actionable information about grid health that was unmeasurable.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Foreword: Selected papers from the 2020 Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space Topical Meeting (NETS 2020)

Humanity’s curiosity of and intrigue for exploring space has been with our species since we first looked up into the night sky. This age-old curiosity has driven humankind to innovate technologies for millennia, including efforts ranging from the construction of Stonehenge to track the annual movements of the sun to the investigation of advanced propulsion systems capable of transporting people to distant planets. Today’s technical communities dedicated to researching and developing innovative technologies for space exploration have seen a recent reinvigoration. Over the past few years, impressive progress made by industry, with exceptional support from government agencies, to reestablish and develop new capabilities has renewed confidence in humanity’s ability to reach the stars—a confidence that has not been present since the days of the Apollo program. Moreover, history shows that innovation and collaboration within the scientific and engineering communities reaches unparalleled pinnacles during periods of astrophilia. Finally, given the advancements in computational capacities for advanced modeling and simulation, unprecedented breakthroughs in commercializing advanced manufacturing techniques, and powerful collaborative relationships between industry and national scientific organizations, today we are limited only by our own imaginations.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A high-throughput workflow to analyze sequence-conformation relationships and explore hydrophobic patterning in disordered peptoids

Understanding how a macromolecule’s primary sequence governs its conformational landscape is crucial for elucidating its function, yet these design principles are still emerging for macromolecules with intrinsic disorder. Herein, we introduce a high-throughput workflow that implements a practical colorimetric conformational assay, introduces a semi-automated sequencing protocol using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS/MS), and develops a generalizable sequence-structure algorithm. Using a model system of 20mer peptidomimetics containing polar glycine and hydrophobic N-butylglycine residues, we identified nine classifications of conformational disorder and isolated 122 unique sequences across varied compositions and conformations. Conformational distributions of three compositionally identical library sequences were corroborated through atomistic simulations and ion mobility spectrometry coupled with liquid chromatography. A data-driven strategy was developed using existing sequence variables and data-derived “motifs” to inform a machine-learning algorithm toward conformation prediction. Here, this multifaceted approach enhances our understanding of sequence-conformation relationships and offers a powerful tool for accelerating the discovery of materials with conformational control.

data-driven analysis↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of Torque-Dense Electric Machine Technology for Off-Highway Vehicle Electrification

Electrification of off-highway vehicles offers the benefits of improved energy efficiency, enhanced control, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. However, progress towards electrification has been limited by the low torque density (30 kNm/m 3 ) of conventional electric machines compared to mobile hydraulic machines (up to approximately 1000 kNm/m 3 ). This paper reviews emerging variants of electric machines that offer a step improvement in torque density and potential pathway to enable electrified off-highway vehicles. First, sizing approaches for electric and hydraulic machines are developed, and torque-dense electric machines reviewed in literature are compared to commercial hydraulic machines to identify design trends in terms of speed, torque density, and power density. Next, key metrics are identified for the electric machine, based on which the following four emerging electric machine variants that promise to improve torque density are reviewed: i) multi-harmonic machines injection, ii) combined radial-axial flux machines, iii) magnetic gears, and iv) magnetically-geared machines. Here, the findings from this review show that these new electric machines can achieve upwards of 300% improvement in electric machine torque density, with several designs exceeding 100 kNm/m 3 , making them worthy candidates for further research to bridge the torque density gap with hydraulic machines.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS2008

Multiscale Modeling of Damage Processes in Aluminum Alloys: Grain-Scale Mechanisms

This paper has two goals related to the development of a physically-grounded methodology for modeling the initial stages of fatigue crack growth in an aluminum alloy. The aluminum alloy, AA 7075-T651, is susceptible to fatigue cracking that nucleates from cracked second phase iron-bearing particles. Thus, the first goal of the paper is to validate an existing framework for the prediction of the conditions under which the particles crack. The observed statistics of particle cracking (defined as incubation for this alloy) must be accurately predicted to simulate the stochastic nature of microstructurally small fatigue crack (MSFC) formation. Also, only by simulating incubation of damage in a statistically accurate manner can subsequent stages of crack growth be accurately predicted. To maintain fidelity and computational efficiency, a filtering procedure was developed to eliminate particles that were unlikely to crack. The particle filter considers the distributions of particle sizes and shapes, grain texture, and the configuration of the surrounding grains. This filter helps substantially reduce the number of particles that need to be included in the microstructural models and forms the basis of the future work on the subsequent stages of MSFC, crack nucleation and microstructurally small crack propagation. A physics-based approach to simulating fracture should ultimately begin at nanometer length scale, in which atomistic simulation is used to predict the fundamental damage mechanisms of MSFC. These mechanisms include dislocation formation and interaction, interstitial void formation, and atomic diffusion. However, atomistic simulations quickly become computationally intractable as the system size increases, especially when directly linking to the already large microstructural models. Therefore, the second goal of this paper is to propose a method that will incorporate atomistic simulation and small-scale experimental characterization into the existing multiscale framework. At the microscale, the nanoscale mechanics are represented within cohesive zones where appropriate, i.e. where the mechanics observed at the nanoscale can be represented as occurring on a plane such as at grain boundaries or slip planes at a crack front. Important advancements that are yet to be made include: 1. an increased fidelity in cohesive zone modeling; 2. a means to understand how atomistic simulation scales with time; 3. a new experimental methodology for generating empirical models for CZMs and emerging materials; and 4. a validation of simulations of the damage processes at the nano-micro scale. With ever-increasing computer power, the long-term ability to employ atomistic simulation for the prognosis of structural components will not be limited by computation power, but by our lack of knowledge in incorporating atomistic models into simulations of MSFC into a multiscale framework.

Hochhalter, J. D.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Advanced Shipboard Communications Demonstrations with ACTS

For ships at sea. satellites provide the only option for high data rate (HDR), long haul communications. Furthermore the demand for HDR satellite communications (SATCOM) for military and commercial ships. and other offshore platforms is increasing. Presently the bulk of this maritime HDR SATCOM connectivity is provided via C-band and X-band. However, the shipboard antenna sizes required to achieve a data rate of, say T 1 (1.544 Mbps) with present C-/X-band SATCOM systems range from seven to ten feet in diameter. This limits the classes of ships to which HDR services can be provided to those which are large enough to accommodate the massive antennas. With its high powered K/Ka-band spot beams, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) was able to provide T I and higher rate services to ships at sea using much smaller shipboard antennas. This paper discusses three shipboard HDR SATCOM demonstrations that were conducted with ACTS between 1996 and 1998. The first demonstration involved a 2 Mbps link provided to the seismic survey ship MN Geco Diamond equipped with a 16-inch wide, 4.5-inch tall, mechanically steered slotted waveguide array antenna developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In this February 1996 demonstration ACTS allowed supercomputers ashore to process Geco Diamond's voluminous oceanographic seismic data in near real time. This capability allowed the ship to adjust its search parameters on a daily basis based on feedback from the processed data, thereby greatly increasing survey efficiency. The second demonstration was conducted on the US Navy cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) with the same antenna used on Geco Diamond. Princeton conducted a six-month (January-July 1997) Western Hemisphere solo deployment during which time T1 connectivity via ACTS provided the ship with a range of valuable tools for operational, administrative and quality-of-life tasks. In one instance, video teleconferencing (VTC) via ACTS allowed the ship to provide life-saving emergency medical aid, assisted by specialists ashore. to a fellow mariner - the Master of a Greek cargo ship. The third demonstration set what is believed to be the all-time SATCOM data rate record to a ship at sea, 45 Mbps in October 1998. This Lake Michigan (Chicago area) demonstration employed one of ACTS' fixed beams and involved the smallest of the three vessels, the 45-foot Bayliner M/V Entropy equipped with a modified commercial-off-the-shelf one-meter antenna. A variety of multi-media services were provided to Entropy through a stressing range of sea states. These three demonstrations provided a preview of the capabilities that could be provided to future mariners on a more routine basis when K/Ka-band SATCOM systems are widely deployed.

Axford, Roy A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Best Practices in Integrated Resource Planning: A guide for planners developing the electricity resource mix of the future

Most states today require regulated electric utilities to file an IRP every 1 to 5 years, and some utilities voluntarily prepare these plans. Planning needs have changed in recent years due to emerging load growth, plant retirements, rising costs, and more extreme weather events – among other factors. In response, Synapse Energy Economics and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory produced a joint report, Best Practices in Integrated Resource Planning: A guide for planners developing the electricity resource mix of the future. The guide offers best planning practices for electricity systems undergoing a major transition, but also contains a wealth of practical guidance to develop technically sophisticated, clearer, more effective, and state-of-the-art electric utility resource plans. The guide is for resource planning professionals and stakeholders involved in resource planning processes. This diverse group includes utility personnel tasked with conducting resource planning and making investment decisions, state regulatory commissions that develop planning guidance and oversee the resource planning process, and stakeholders that represent a wide range of interests—utility consumer advocates, environmental groups, industrial customers, local governments, independent power producers, and many other

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Topology by Dissipation: Majorana Bosons in Metastable Quadratic Markovian Dynamics

Majorana bosons, that is, tight bosonic analogs of the Majorana fermionic quasiparticles of condensed-matter physics, are forbidden for gapped free bosonic matter within a standard Hamiltonian scenario. We show how the interplay between dynamical metastability and nontrivial bulk topology makes their emergence possible in noninteracting bosonic chains undergoing Markovian dissipation. This leads to a distinctive form of topological metastability, whereby a conserved Majorana boson localized on one edge is paired, in general, with a symmetry generator localized on the opposite edge. We argue that Majorana bosons are robust against disorder and identifiable by signatures in the zero-frequency steady-state power spectrum. Our results suggest that symmetry-protected topological phases for free bosons may arise in transient metastable regimes, which persist over practical timescales.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Research Priorities and Opportunities in United States Wholesale Electricity Markets

The power system is currently undergoing a number of changes, including a rapidly evolving resource mix, growth of distributed energy resources (DERs), more active consumer participation, increased deployment of energy storage and hybrid resources, and more advanced communication and control requirements. These changes in the power system present numerous technical, economic, implementation, and policy challenges and research opportunities for power system operators. To help address these challenges, a collaboration among five research institutions—Argonne National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Johns Hopkins University—has been established to provide technical assistance to the seven U.S. Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). The 3-year project aims to leverage the advanced methods, tools, datasets, and resources of the collaborators to provide robust analytical support to address the high-priority market challenges that will be faced in the 2- to 10-year time horizon.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

An Ultrastable Aqueous Iodine-Hydrogen Gas Battery

Rechargeable hydrogen gas batteries are highly desirable for large-scale energy storage because of their long life cycle, high round trip efficiency, fast reaction kinetics, and hydrogen gas profusion. Coupling advanced cathode chemistries with hydrogen gas anode is an emerging and exciting area of research. Here, a novel high-performance aqueous iodine-hydrogen gas (I 2 -H 2 ) battery using iodine as cathode and hydrogen gas as the electrocatalytic anode in environmentally benign aqueous electrolytes is reported. The working chemistry of the battery involves I 2 /I - solid-liquid reactions occurring over the cathode along with H 2 /H 2 O gas-liquid reactions at the anode, achieving a high rate performance of 100 C and long-lasting stability of over 60 000 cycles. Additionally, the static aqueous I 2 -H 2 battery displays a volumetric capacity of 15.5 Ah L -1 along with good self-healing capability towards cell overcharge. The current battery design exhibits robust electrochemical performance irrespective of acidic, neutral, and alkaline electrolyte systems. This study paves the way towards the industrialization of economically effective, high-power density, and long-term I 2 -H 2 batteries for large-scale energy storage applications.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Comparison of PV Resource Modeling for Sizing Microgrid Components

Microgrid systems are being deployed with increased frequency to meet critical building loads during unplanned power outages. Determining the appropriate type and size of components that make up a microgrid can greatly affect its ability to meet this need. This paper presents a new tool to appropriately size PV, battery, and generator capacities to meet all site loads, given a resilience goal. It uses a statistical model to simulate microgrid behavior under a large range of solar resource conditions, providing resilience planners with confidence that critical loads will be met even under extreme weather conditions. We compare this model with one that uses typical weather data for sizing microgrids, and quantify the resilience effects of using these different methods. Our method produces more conservative generator capacities and fuel requirements in an outage, predicting up to 30% more fuel required in the most extreme case. Microgrid systems that are designed using more conservative estimates are more likely to continue to serve load during emergency outages under a large range of conditions.

Newman, Sarah F.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Opportunities in AI/ML for the Rubin LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will produce unprecedented volumes of heterogeneous astronomical data (images, catalogs, and alerts) that challenge traditional analysis pipelines. The LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) aims to derive robust constraints on dark energy and dark matter from these data, requiring methods that are statistically powerful, scalable, and operationally reliable. Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) are already embedded across DESC science workflows, from photometric redshifts and transient classification to weak lensing inference and cosmological simulations. Yet their utility for precision cosmology hinges on trustworthy uncertainty quantification, robustness to covariate shift and model misspecification, and reproducible integration within scientific pipelines. This white paper surveys the current landscape of AI/ML across DESC's primary cosmological probes and cross-cutting analyses, revealing that the same core methodologies and fundamental challenges recur across disparate science cases. Since progress on these cross-cutting challenges would benefit multiple probes simultaneously, we identify key methodological research priorities, including Bayesian inference at scale, physics-informed methods, validation frameworks, and active learning for discovery. With an eye on emerging techniques, we also explore the potential of the latest foundation model methodologies and LLM-driven agentic AI systems to reshape DESC workflows, provided their deployment is coupled with rigorous evaluation and governance. Finally, we discuss critical software, computing, data infrastructure, and human capital requirements for the successful deployment of these new methodologies, and consider associated risks and opportunities for broader coordination with external actors.

Aubourg, Eric [APC, Paris] (ORCID:000000025592023X↗
DOE OSTI2026

Strengthening Resilience: Florida Resident Voices on Resource Needs During Power Outages

Extreme weather events related to climate change, and an aging electricity infrastructure are disrupting reliable electricity services to a greater degree. Further, previous research has found that more socially vulnerable populations are more likely to live in areas with a higher probability of power outages. Here, this study examines the issues that people face during power outages and the resources that help individuals maintain resilience during power outages caused by extreme weather events in socially vulnerable communities. Using qualitative data from focus groups with 56 individuals in Central and North Florida, the research highlights lived experiences during outages and difficulties using and accessing resources during these conditions. Based on a qualitative review of the focus group discussions, this paper explores the solutions and support systems residents believe would improve their ability to cope. The findings offer insights to guide policy and strategic planning, with the goal of strengthening personal preparedness and response by focusing on the resources people consider most helpful for enduring frequent and severe outages.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Optomechanical ring resonator for efficient microwave-optical frequency conversion

Phonons traveling in solid-state devices are emerging as a universal excitation for coupling different physical systems. Phonons at microwave frequencies have a similar wavelength to optical photons in solids, enabling optomechanical microwave-optical transduction of classical and quantum signals. It becomes conceivable to build optomechanical integrated circuits (OMIC) that guide both photons and phonons and interconnect photonic and phononic devices. Here, we demonstrate an OMIC including an optomechanical ring resonator (OMR), where co-resonant infrared photons and GHz phonons induce significantly enhanced interconversion. The platform is hybrid, using wide bandgap semiconductor gallium phosphide (GaP) for waveguiding and piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO) for phonon generation. The OMR features photonic and phononic quality factors of >1 × 10 5 and 3.2 × 10 3 , respectively. The optomechanical interconversion between photonic modes achieved an internal conversion efficiency $η_i$ = (2.1 ± 0.1)% and a total device efficiency $η_{tot}$ = 0.57 x 10 -6 at a low acoustic pump power of 1.6 mW. The efficient conversion in OMICs enables microwave-optical transduction for quantum information and microwave photonics applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Deprojection of X-ray data in galaxy clusters: confronting simulations with observations

ABSTRACT Numerical simulations with varying realism indicate an emergent principle−multiphase condensation and large cavity power occur when the ratio of the cooling time to the free-fall time (tcool/tff) falls below a threshold value close to 10. Observations indeed show cool-core signatures when this ratio falls below 20–30, but the prevalence of cores with tcool/tff ratio below 10 is rare as compared to simulations. In X-ray observations, we obtain projected spectra from which we have to infer radial gas density and temperature profiles. Using idealized models of X-ray cavities and multiphase gas in the core and 3D hydro jet-ICM simulations, we quantify the biases introduced by deprojection based on the assumption of spherical symmetry in determining tcool/tff. We show that while the used methods are able to recover the tcool/tff ratio for relaxed clusters, they have an uncertainty of a factor of 2−3 in systems containing large cavities (≳ 20 kpc). We also show that the mass estimates from these methods, in the absence of X-ray spectra close to the virial radius, suffer from a degeneracy between the virial mass (M200) and the concentration parameter (c) in the form of M200c2 ≈ constant. Additionally, the lack of soft-X-ray (≲ 0.5 keV) coverage and poor spatial resolution makes us overestimate min(tcool/tff) by a factor of few in clusters with min(tcool/tff) ≲ 5. This bias can largely explain the lack of cool-core clusters with min(tcool/tff) ≲ 5.

Sarkar, Kartick C. (ORCID:0000000277678472)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Universal signal scaling in microwave impedance microscopy

Microwave impedance microscopy (MIM) is an emerging scanning probe technique that measures the local complex dielectric function using near-field microwave. Although it has made significant impacts in diverse fields, a systematic, quantitative understanding of the signal's dependence on various important design parameters is lacking. Here, we show that for a wide range of MIM implementations, given a complex tip-sample admittance change ΔΥ, the MIM signal—the amplified change in the reflected microwave amplitude—is –G · ΔΥ/2Υ 0 · η 2 · V in , where η is the ratio of the microwave voltage at the probe to the incident microwave amplitude, Y o is the system admittance, and G is the total voltage gain. For linear circuits, η is determined by the circuit design and does not depend on V in . We show that the maximum achievable signal for different designs scales with η 2 or η when limited by input power or sample perturbation, respectively. Furthermore, this universal scaling provides guidance on diverse design goals, including maximizing narrow-band signal for imaging and balancing bandwidth and signal strength for spectroscopy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Distribution System Behind-the-Meter DERs: Estimation, Uncertainty Quantification, and Control

This paper summarizes the three-year technical activities of the IEEE Task Force (TF) on behind-the-meter (BTM) distributed energy resources (DERs): estimation, uncertainty quantification, and control. The potential grid services from BTM DERs are discussed in detail. The paper also reviews the state-of-the-art for BTM DERs visibility, uncertainty quantification, and, optimization and control. Furthermore, different aspects of the market structures associated with BTM DERs are covered, including emerging market and business models. Finally, needs and recommendations are provided for additional areas such as system protection, computing capabilities, algorithm development, market structure design, cyberinfrastructure and security, and hardware and software developments.

behind-the-meter↗