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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 1,459 records · Page 81
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Safety analysis of the FASt TEst reactor (FASTER) preconceptual design

Here, the FASt TEst Reactor (FASTER) plant is a sodium-cooled fast spectrum test reactor design that was developed as part of an advanced demonstration and test reactor study, and provides high levels of fast and thermal neutron flux for scientific research and development. The 120 MWe FASTER plant has been designed with extended testing capabilities in mind, while keeping the design as simple as possible in order to make it efficient and cost attractive. The main function of the reactor is to provide neutrons for irradiation testing utilizing existing proven technologies to ensure a high technology readiness level. A preliminary safety analysis was performed of the FASTER design using the fast reactor safety analysis code SAS4A/SASSYS-1 to assess the reactor's safety performance during beyond design basis accidents. Three types of transient scenarios were analyzed for the FASTER design: unprotected transient overpower, unprotected loss of heat sink, and unprotected station blackout. These transients were simulated at beginning of equilibrium cycle and end of equilibrium cycle conditions. For each transient, failures of both the primary and secondary reactor scram systems were assumed. Because of the favorable reactivity feedbacks, relatively low peak fuel, cladding, and coolant temperatures were obtained during the transients and the reactor vessel temperature remained well below the limit for ensuring structural stability.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measurement of rabbit eardrum vibration through stroboscopic digital holography

In this work, we present a setup for high-power single shot stroboscopic digital holography and demonstrate it in an application on rabbit eardrum vibration measurement. The setup is able to make full-field time-resolved measurements of vibrating surfaces with a precision in the nanometer range in a broad frequency range. The height displacement of the measured object is visualized over the entire surface as a function of time. Vibration magnitude and phase maps can be extracted from these data, the latter proving to be very useful to reveal phase delays across the surface. Such deviations from modal motion indicate energy losses due to internal damping, in contrast to purely elastic mechanics. This is of great interest in middle ear mechanics and finite element modelling. In our setup, short laser pulses are fired at selected instants within the surface vibration period and are recorded by a CCD camera. The timing of the pulses and the exposure of the camera are synchronized to the vibration phase by a microprocessor. The high-power frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser produces pulses containing up to 5 mJ of energy, which is amply sufficient to record single-shot holograms. As the laser pulse length is 8 ns and the smallest time step of the trigger electronics is 1 μs, vibration measurements of frequencies up to 250 kHz are achievable through this method, provided that the maximum vibration amplitude exceeds a few nanometers. In our application, middle ear mechanics, measuring frequencies extend from 5 Hz to 20 kHz. The experimental setup will be presented, as well as results of measurements on a stretched circular rubber membrane and a rabbit's eardrum. Two of the challenges when measuring biological tissues, such as the eardrum, are low reflectivity and fast dehydration. To increase reflectivity, a coating is applied and to counteract the undesirable effects of tissue dehydration, the measurement setup and software have been optimized for speed without compromising on the quality. Results of a repeatability test will be presented as well. Since the method measures the membrane motion as a function of time in small time steps, we do not only measure vibration amplitude like in time-average holography, but we can also measure non-linear elastic and transient behaviour. In conclusion, the combination of good spatial, depth and time resolution with the fast data acquisition and very wide frequency range make our technique applicable in a number of fields, including biological tissue vibrations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Machine learning for continuous quantum error correction on superconducting qubits

Abstract Continuous quantum error correction has been found to have certain advantages over discrete quantum error correction, such as a reduction in hardware resources and the elimination of error mechanisms introduced by having entangling gates and ancilla qubits. We propose a machine learning algorithm for continuous quantum error correction that is based on the use of a recurrent neural network to identify bit-flip errors from continuous noisy syndrome measurements. The algorithm is designed to operate on measurement signals deviating from the ideal behavior in which the mean value corresponds to a code syndrome value and the measurement has white noise. We analyze continuous measurements taken from a superconducting architecture using three transmon qubits to identify three significant practical examples of non-ideal behavior, namely auto-correlation at temporal short lags, transient syndrome dynamics after each bit-flip, and drift in the steady-state syndrome values over the course of many experiments. Based on these real-world imperfections, we generate synthetic measurement signals from which to train the recurrent neural network, and then test its proficiency when implementing active error correction, comparing this with a traditional double threshold scheme and a discrete Bayesian classifier. The results show that our machine learning protocol is able to outperform the double threshold protocol across all tests, achieving a final state fidelity comparable to the discrete Bayesian classifier.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Response of Waveguide-Integrated Germanium-on-Silicon p-i-n Photodiodes to Neutron Displacement Damage

The effects of 14-MeV neutron displacement damage (DD) on waveguide-integrated germanium-on-silicon p-i-n photodiodes (PDs) for silicon photonics have been investigated up to fluences of 7.5×1012 n/cm2 (14 MeV), or 1.4×1013 n1-MeVeq/cm2(Si). The study includes measurements of dark current-voltage characteristics across temperature from 150-375 K, measurements of PD junction capacitance, spectral response measurements from 1260 nm to 1360 nm, and frequency response measurements. The devices are found to be susceptible to DD-induced carrier removal effects; however, they also continue to operate without meaningful impact to performance for the DD dose levels examined. Since the PD test chips include silicon photonic integrated grating couplers and waveguides which carry the optical signal to the PD, some assessment of the impact of DD on these passive devices can also be inferred. Finally, this work does not examine the short-term annealing or transient behavior of the DD, and instead has only considered the lasting damage that remains after any initial period of room temperature annealing.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Evaluation of Erosion of the Dummy “EE” Plate 19 in YA Type ATR Fuel Element During Reactor PALM Cycles

Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) Cycle 153B-1 was a 14-day, high-power, powered axial locator mechanism (PALM) operating cycle that completed on April 12, 2013. Cycle 153B-1 was a typical operating cycle for the ATR, and did not result in any unusual plant transients. ATR was started up and shut down as scheduled. The PALM drive physically moves the selected experiments into and out of the core to simulate reactor startup and heat up, and shutdown and cooldown transients, while the reactor remains in steady-state conditions. However, after the cycle was over, when the fuel elements were removed from the core and inspected, several thousand flow-assisted erosion pits and “horseshoeing” defects were readily observed on the surface of the several YA-type fuel elements (these are aluminum “dummy” plates that contain no fuel). In order to understand these erosion phenomena, a thermal-hydraulic model of coolant channel 20 on a YA-M fuel element was generated. The boundaries of the model were the aluminum EE plate of a YA-M fuel element and a beryllium reflector block with 13 horizontal saw cuts which represented regions of zero flow. The heat generated in fuel plates 1 through 18 was modeled to be passing through the aluminum EE plate. The coolant channel 20 width was set at 0.058 in. (58 mils). It was established that the horizontal saw cuts had a significant effect on the temperature of the coolant. The flow, which was expected to vary linearly with gradual heating of the coolant as it passed through the channel, was extremely turbulent. The temperature rise, which was expected to be a smooth “S” curve, was represented by a series temperature rise “humps,” which occurred at each horizontal saw cut in the beryllium reflector block. Each of the 13 saw cuts had a chamfered edge which resulted in the coolant flow being re-directed as a jet across the coolant channel into the surface of the EE plate, which explained the temperature rise and the observed scalloping and pitting degradation on the YA-M fuel elements. In the case of scalloping (horseshoeing) a surprising similarity of that defect to those appearing on aluminum plate rolled in over-lubrication conditions, were established. In turn, this made us think that the principal feature responsible for the appearance of these defects, was horizontal cuts in the beryllium reflector block created to arrest the propagation of large vertical crack(s) in Be in PALM cycles with higher overall fluence. This assumption was fully confirmed by the results of thermo-hydraulic simulations. The neutronics data for these modeling experiments were provided using advanced irradiation simulations (MCNP, HELIOS). In the case of pitting erosion the following corrective measures were proposed based upon the results of JMatPro v.8.2 modeling (TTT- and CCT-diagrams): change the fabrication process by adding blister anneal before program anneal, immediately after cold rolling of AA6061plate. This step will allow achieving complete recrystallization, eliminating of strengthening due to metastable precipitates, and reduce the possibility of forming sharp microstructural features upon the surface.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Geomechanical Simulation of Bayou Choctaw Strategic Petroleum Reserve - Model Calibration.

A finite element numerical analysis model has been constructed that consists of a realistic mesh capturing the geometries of Bayou Choctaw (BC) Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) site and multi - mechanism deformation ( M - D ) salt constitutive model using the daily data of actual wellhead pressure and oil - brine interface. The salt creep rate is not uniform in the salt dome, and the creep test data for BC salt is limited. Therefore, the model calibration is necessary to simulate the geomechanical behavior of the salt dome. The cavern volumetric closures of SPR caverns calculated from CAVEMAN are used for the field baseline measurement. The structure factor, A 2 , and transient strain limit factor, K 0 , in the M - D constitutive model are used for the calibration. The A 2 value obtained experimentally from the BC salt and K 0 value of Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) salt are used for the baseline values. T o adjust the magnitude of A 2 and K 0 , multiplication factors A2F and K0F are defined, respectively. The A2F and K0F values of the salt dome and salt drawdown skins surrounding each SPR cavern have been determined through a number of back fitting analyses. The cavern volumetric closures calculated from this model correspond to the predictions from CAVEMAN for six SPR caverns. Therefore, this model is able to predict past and future geomechanical behaviors of the salt dome, caverns, caprock , and interbed layers. The geological concerns issued in the BC site will be explained from this model in a follow - up report .

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

An Evaluation of Co-Simulation for Modeling Coupled Natural Gas and Electricity Networks

Reliance on natural gas for power generation has increased the coupling between gas and power networks. While this coupling can bring operational and economic benefits, it can also yield challenges, as the constraints in one system can impact the other. Co-simulation can capture the constraints and interactions between these systems, but so far, there has been limited comparison of co-simulation results to those of an integrated model. In this work, we develop a new co-simulation framework using the HELICS platform and the SAInt tool for modeling transient gas and AC optimal power flow. We evaluate this co-simulation framework against a fully integrated version of the SAInt power and gas simulators, thus providing a benchmarking of the co-simulation approach. We compare results across the two approaches for two test networks and a network representing the Belgian power and gas networks, testing both normal operating conditions and cases with compressor disruptions. In each of the cases tested, we find nearly identical results from the two approaches across various metrics of interest, such as nodal pressure, gas flow rates, and active power generation. This alignment suggests that co-simulation can yield comparable results to fully integrated models for modeling coupled gas and electricity networks.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Droplet Entrainment in Steam Supply System of Water-Cooled Small Modular Reactors: Experiment and Modeling Approaches

Droplet entrainment in steam-flow is a prominent phenomenon that needs adequate safety and risk analysis of postulated transient and accident scenarios—including experimental investigation and representative modeling and simulation (M&S)—for small modular reactor (SMR) system design and demonstration. This study identifies knowledge gaps by evaluating experimental and computational fluid dynamics modeling approaches to support early-stage reactor system design, testing, and model evaluation. Previous studies reported in the literature for steam-flow entrainment primarily focused on gigawatt capacity pressurized water reactor (PWR) systems. However, entrainment phenomena are even more prominent for PWR-type SMRs due to their more compact integrated designs, which need further research and development. To fill the research gaps, this study provides insight by specifying the phenomena of interest by leveraging the lessons learned from past research, adopting advanced M&S techniques and advanced instrumentation and control. The findings and recommendations are applicable for evaluating steam-flow entrainment models and for designing integral effect test and separate effect test facilities for gaining reactor design approvals.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Photometric Classification of Early-time Supernova Light Curves with SCONE

Abstract In this work, we present classification results on early supernova light curves from SCONE, a photometric classifier that uses convolutional neural networks to categorize supernovae (SNe) by type using light-curve data. SCONE is able to identify SN types from light curves at any stage, from the night of initial alert to the end of their lifetimes. Simulated LSST SNe light curves were truncated at 0, 5, 15, 25, and 50 days after the trigger date and used to train Gaussian processes in wavelength and time space to produce wavelength–time heatmaps. SCONE uses these heatmaps to perform six-way classification between SN types Ia, II, Ibc, Ia-91bg, Iax, and SLSN-I. SCONE is able to perform classification with or without redshift, but we show that incorporating redshift information improves performance at each epoch. SCONE achieved 75% overall accuracy at the date of trigger (60% without redshift), and 89% accuracy 50 days after trigger (82% without redshift). SCONE was also tested on bright subsets of SNe ( r < 20 mag) and produced 91% accuracy at the date of trigger (83% without redshift) and 95% five days after trigger (94.7% without redshift). SCONE is the first application of convolutional neural networks to the early-time photometric transient classification problem. All of the data processing and model code developed for this paper can be found in the SCONE software package 1 1 github.com/helenqu/scone located at github.com/helenqu/scone (Qu 2021).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Optimizing Optical Searches for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Active Galactic Nuclei Light Curves: Fourier versus Bayesian Periodicity Detection

Simulations predict that supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) will exhibit periodic brightness variations that may exceed the stochastic variability intrinsic to active galactic nuclei (AGN). In this paper, we simulate SMBHBs with damped random walk (DRW) AGN variability and an added sinusoidal signal from the orbital motion, and test three methods—a generalized Lomb–Scargle periodogram (GLSP), a nested Bayesian sampler (NBS), and a weighted wavelet z-transform (or WWZ)—to determine which is best at recovering the periodicity. Our simulated light curves follow the properties of the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (or CRTS), Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), and Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) to best inform current and future SMBHB searches. We map a broad range of parameter space and identify which DRW-only light curves best mimic periodicity and pass each method’s model selection. The NBS performs best at detecting periodicity and filtering out DRW-only light curves. Combined candidate selection with both the NBS and GLSP significantly reduces false-positive rates (FPRs) with marginal impact on true-positive rates (TPRs). With this joint model selection pipeline, we find the lowest FPRs in ZTF-like simulations and the highest detection rates in LSST-like simulations. Using a modified computation of the false-alarm probability with GLSP, we efficiently triage LSST AGN light curves (∼10 7 light curves in ∼10–30 hr) and achieve TPRs and FPRs of ∼40% and ∼0.5%, respectively.

Banaszak, Sebastian M. [Vanderbilt Univ., Nashvill↗
DOE OSTI2016

ULTRAFAST OUTFLOWS FROM BLACK HOLE MERGERS WITH A MINIDISK

Recently, the direct detection of gravitational waves from black hole (BH) mergers was announced by the Advanced LIGO Collaboration. Multi-messenger counterparts of stellar-mass BH mergers are of interest, and it had been suggested that a small disk or celestial body may be involved in the binary of two BHs. To test such possibilities, we consider the fate of a wind powered by an active minidisk in a relatively short, super-Eddington accretion episode onto a BH with ∼10–100 solar masses. We show that its thermal emission could be seen as a fast optical transient with the duration from hours to days. We also find that the coasting outflow forms external shocks due to interaction with the interstellar medium, whose synchrotron emission might be expected in the radio band on a timescale of years. Finally, we also discuss a possible jet component and the associated high-energy neutrino emission as well as ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray acceleration.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Study the Protection Improvements for a Weak Grid Area With High IBRs

NLR is collaborating with Florida Power & Light (FPL) and GE to investigate power system stability and protection reliability challenges in a weak-grid region with high penetration of inverter-based resources (IBRs). This presentation will primarily focus on the protection aspects of the study. We will share key insights from this real-world project, including best practices for developing high-fidelity fault study models, establishing a controller-hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) platform for testing physical relays, identifying system-level protection challenges, and designing enhanced protection schemes to address those issues. Through this discussion, the audience will gain practical understanding of protection studies in IBR-dominated systems, the emerging challenges associated with reduced fault current and altered transient behavior, and effective mitigation strategies. In particular, we will highlight the critical importance of IBR compliance with IEEE 2800-2022 to ensure dependable and secure protection relay operation in modern transmission systems.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Structure and Photophysics of Indigoids for Singlet Fission: Cibalackrot

Here, we report an investigation of structure and photophysics of thin layers of cibalackrot, a sturdy dye derived from indigo by double annulation at the central double bond. Evaporated layers contain up to three phases, two crystalline and one amorphous. Relative amounts of all three have been determined by a combination of X-ray diffraction and FT-IR reflectance spectroscopy. Initially, excited singlet state rapidly produces a high yield of a transient intermediate whose spectral properties are compatible with charge-transfer nature. This intermediate more slowly converts to a significant yield of triplet, which, however, does not exceed 100% and may well be produced by intersystem crossing rather than singlet fission. The yields were determined by transient absorption spectroscopy and corrected for effects of partial sample alignment by a simple generally applicable procedure. Formation of excimers was also observed. Here, in order to obtain guidance for improving molecular packing by a minor structural modification, calculations by a simplified frontier orbital method were used to find all local maxima of singlet fission rate as a function of geometry of a molecular pair. The method was tested at 48 maxima by comparison with the ab initio Frenkel-Davydov exciton model.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of Conceptual Lead Cartridge Design to Perform Irradiation Experiments in VTR

This paper seeks to introduce the latest design of the Extended Length Test Assembly–Cartridge Lead (ELTA-CL) with associated thermal-hydraulic (TH) assessment and related experiment activities to support the critical component development performed by the ELTA-CL team (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Westinghouse Electric Company, and the University of New Mexico). The goal of the ELTA-CL program is to develop and validate an experimental capability to perform irradiation experiments in the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) addressing Lead Fast Reactor (LFR) technology gaps, in support of the commercial development of advanced lead-cooled fast reactor concepts. Through a design maturation process and parametric study, a conceptual design is proposed to meet the requirements for material and corrosion testing. Thermal-hydraulic characteristics for the conceptual design at desired operating conditions are assessed with systems-level (one-dimensional) and computational fluid dynamics (three-dimensional) simulations. Along with the conceptual design work, experimental activities for the development of critical components such as the pump and flowmeter are undertaken. From both the modeling study and the experimental results, the design requirements of the Phase 1 ELTA-CL (e.g., 500°C and 2 m/s) are achievable with the current conceptual design. Additional design improvements and safety assessments at both steady-state and transient conditions for the final ELTA-CL design will be pursued.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Local nanoscale strain mapping of a metallic glass during in situ testing

The local elastic strains during tensile deformation in a CuZrAlAg metallic glass are obtained by fitting an elliptic shape function to the characteristic amorphous ring in electron diffraction patterns. Scanning nanobeam electron diffraction enables strain mapping with a resolution of a few nanometers. Here, a fast direct electron detector is used to acquire the diffraction patterns at a sufficient speed to map the local transient strain during continuous tensile loading in situ in the transmission electron microscope. The elastic strain in tensile direction was found to increase during loading. After catastrophic fracture, a residual elastic strain that relaxes over time was observed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

High-Burnup Demonstration: Thermal Modeling of TN-32B Vacuum Drying and ISFSI Transients

This report describes thermal modeling done for the High-Burnup Spent Fuel Data Project that is being performed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology research and development program. The purpose of this project is to investigate the performance of high-burnup spent nuclear fuel in dry storage. Part of this project is a demonstration test being performed with a storage module in the North Anna Nuclear Power Station’s Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). The storage module selected for this demonstration is an Orano TN-32B High-Burnup cask which has been loaded with fuel assemblies from the North Anna spent fuel pool.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Rapid Reddening and Featureless Optical Spectra of the Optical Counterpart of GW170817, AT 2017gfo, during the First Four Days

We present the spectroscopic evolution of AT 2017gfo, the optical counterpart of the first binary neutron star (BNS) merger detected by LIGO and Virgo, GW170817. While models have long predicted that a BNS merger could produce a kilonova (KN), we have not been able to definitively test these models until now. From one day to four days after the merger, we took five spectra of AT 2017gfo before it faded away, which was possible because it was at a distance of only 39.5 Mpc in the galaxy NGC 4993. The spectra evolve from blue (∼6400 K) to red (∼3500 K) over the three days we observed. The spectra are relatively featureless—some weak features exist in our latest spectrum, but they are likely due to the host galaxy. However, a simple blackbody is not sufficient to explain our data: another source of luminosity or opacity is necessary. Predictions from simulations of KNe qualitatively match the observed spectroscopic evolution after two days past the merger, but underpredict the blue flux in our earliest spectrum. From our best-fit models, we infer that AT 2017gfo had an ejecta mass of 0.03 M{sub ⊙}, high ejecta velocities of 0.3c, and a low mass fraction ∼10{sup −4} of high-opacity lanthanides and actinides. One possible explanation for the early excess of blue flux is that the outer ejecta is lanthanide-poor, while the inner ejecta has a higher abundance of high-opacity material. With the discovery and follow-up of this unique transient, combining gravitational-wave and electromagnetic astronomy, we have arrived in the multi-messenger era.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

HOST GALAXY IDENTIFICATION FOR SUPERNOVA SURVEYS

Host galaxy identification is a crucial step for modern supernova (SN) surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will discover SNe by the thousands. Spectroscopic resources are limited, and so in the absence of real-time SN spectra these surveys must rely on host galaxy spectra to obtain accurate redshifts for the Hubble diagram and to improve photometric classification of SNe. In addition, SN luminosities are known to correlate with host-galaxy properties. Therefore, reliable identification of host galaxies is essential for cosmology and SN science. We simulate SN events and their locations within their host galaxies to develop and test methods for matching SNe to their hosts. We use both real and simulated galaxy catalog data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys General Catalog and MICECATv2.0, respectively. We also incorporate “hostless” SNe residing in undetected faint hosts into our analysis, with an assumed hostless rate of 5%. Our fully automated algorithm is run on catalog data and matches SNe to their hosts with 91% accuracy. We find that including a machine learning component, run after the initial matching algorithm, improves the accuracy (purity) of the matching to 97% with a 2% cost in efficiency (true positive rate). Although the exact results are dependent on the details of the survey and the galaxy catalogs used, the method of identifying host galaxies we outline here can be applied to any transient survey.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗