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At least 1,531 records · Page 85

Portable COTS RGB Wavefront System for Real-time Turbulence Mitigation

Atmospheric effects reduce the ability to detect or identify objects of interest due to spatial and spectral scintillation. Algorithms alone cannot correct for turbulence over long-range horizontal paths. While adaptive optics methods work well for astronomical viewing, they are not readily adapted for complex imagery over long-range horizontal paths. At MSS Parallel in 2016, we presented our work for the red/green/blue (RGB) wavefront sensor. Since then, we have completed our system to combine an off-the-shelf high-frame-rate USB3 color camera with a compact 90 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope and an OKO deformable mirror (DM) to create a portable, real-time RGB wavefront sensor and turbulence mitigation system. The telescope’s aperture is covered with an aluminum plate holding three separate narrowband color filters. These filters, specifically matched to the relative spectral response of the sensor’s Bayer mask, provide nearly complete separation of the three color images. This device enables portable imaging through atmospheric turbulence and analysis thereof, where relative motion of the three-color Bayer-pixel video provides real-time wavefront information on the second-order statistics of Kolmogorov turbulence. We measured relative RGB pixel shifts and controlled this mirror using an ODROID single-board computer. We developed a bench setup to calibrate the relationship between pixel shifts and the deformable mirror actuators. We demonstrated the feasibility of this system on a benchtop and on scenes at 700 meters showing real time correction.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Method for radionuclide contaminatecontaminant mitigation

The method and system disclosed provides radionuclide contamination mitigation by applying an aqueous carrier solution comprising a cation to a surface bearing a radionuclide contaminant to cause the radionuclide contaminant to enter solution forming a laden solution, then contacting the laden solution with a sequestering agent to bind to the radionuclide contaminant to form a laden sequestering agent. The removal and sequestration of the radionuclide contaminant from the contaminated surface leads directly to a reduction in the amount of radiologically-impacted critical infrastructure and the environment. The method and system are able to be performed or utilized economically with materials quickly available in the event of a radiological dispersion event.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Spectral notch interference mitigation for stretch processing synthetic aperture radar

Various technologies for mitigating interference in stretch-processed SAR imagery are described herein. Stretch-processed SAR data is received at a computing device. The stretch-processed (or deramped) SAR data is then reramped, thereby removing frequency-variant components of narrowband interference signals in the deramped data. A frequency-domain transform is executed over the reramped data to generate a spectral characteristic of the reramped data. A spectral notch filter is applied to frequency bands corresponding to the peaks of the spectral characteristic in order to filter out the narrowband interference signals. An inverse frequency-domain transform can then be executed over the filtered spectral characteristic to return to a phase-history representation of the SAR data. The phase history resulting from the inverse frequency-domain transform is a ramped phase history, which can then be deramped prior to use in connection with generating images of the scanned scene.

Musgrove, Cameron↗

A progressive deep transfer learning approach to cycle-skipping mitigation in FWI, In SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2019, pp. 2348-2352. Society of Exploration Geophysicists, 2019.

To effectively mitigate the cycle-skipping phenomenon in full waveform inversion (FWI), we developed an inception-based deep learning neural network to reconstruct the absent low frequency data by exploiting the subsurface low wavenumber information buried in the acquired high frequency data. Two unique features of our deep learning network for the low frequency data reconstruction are 1) Dual Data Feed; 2) Progressive Transfer Learning. With the Dual Data Feed feature, not only the high frequency data, but also the corresponding Beat Tone data are fed into the neural network, significantly reducing the network complexity and the network training cost. The Progressive Transfer Learning technique enables us to initiate the deep learning network with only one training dataset. Unlike other deep learning approaches in this category, our training dataset is not fixed. Instead, the training dataset and the network accuracy are progressively enhanced in an iterative manner within the Progressive Transfer Learning workflow. The numerical experiments validated that the low frequency data reconstructed by this progressive transfer learning network are sufficiently accurate for a successful FWI inversion without suffering from the cycle-skipping without any priori geological information.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Power-Domain Impedance Theory for the Analysis and Mitigation of Interarea Oscillations: Preprint

This paper presents an impedance-based theory for the analysis and mitigation of interarea oscillations in power systems. Because low-frequency power system oscillations primarily manifest in phasor quantities, including active and reactive power flows, and the magnitude and frequency of bus voltages, a new-type of impedance, called power-domain impedance, is defined in terms of these phasor quantities. The power-domain impedance provides an intuitive framework for the analysis of interarea oscillations without requiring internal details of generators, and it is ideally suited for developing oscillation damping controls in inverter-based resources. The power-domain impedance theory is demonstrated in this paper using PSCAD simulations of a two-area system. The theory is also used for designing damping control in synchronous generators and a wind power plant in the two-area system.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Co-notch and independent windowing to mitigate interference in SAR-based imagery

Various technologies for mitigating distortion in coherent image products generated from SAR data are described herein. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) datasets generated based upon SAR returns from first and second passes of a SAR platform over a scene are received. The SAR datasets can be co-notched at matching sample indices to improve coherence of SAR images generated from the datasets. Windowed SAR data is generated by applying independent windows to subsets of each of the datasets to reduce sidelobe levels of their image impulse responses. Coherent image products are generated based upon the windowed SAR data, wherein an image quality of the coherent image products is improved as compared to coherent image products generated based upon the SAR datasets.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Hydrophobicity of Rare-earth Oxide Ceramics and their Application in Promoting Sustained Dropwise Condensation and Corrosion and Fouling Mitigation in Hydropower Systems

Hydrophobic surfaces that are robust can have widespread applications in various industries including energy, hydropower, and transportation. In particular, hydrophobic materials promote dropwise condensation, which results in heat transfer coefficients that can be an order of magnitude higher than those seen in conventional filmwise condensation. Existing durable materials such as metals and ceramics are generally hydrophilic and require polymeric modifiers to render them hydrophobic, but these modifiers deteriorate in harsh environments. Therefore, robust hydrophobic surfaces have been difficult to realize and their widespread applicability has been limited. In this project, the class of ceramics comprising the lanthanide series rare-earth oxides (REOs) is studied for their hydrophobic potential. The unique electronic structure of the rare-earth metal atom inhibits hydrogen bonding with interfacial water molecules resulting in a hydrophobic hydration structure where the surface oxygen atoms are the only hydrogen bonding sites. Despite being inherently hydrophobic, the presence of excess surface oxygen on REOs can lead to increased hydrogen bonding and thereby reduce their hydrophobicity. Using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and wetting measurements, surface stoichiometry and surface relaxations have been shown to impact wetting properties of REOs. Specifically, freshly sputtered ceria is shown to be hydrophilic due to excess surface oxygen (shown to have an O/Ce ratio of ~3), which when relaxed in a clean, ultra-high vacuum environment isolated from airborne contaminants reaches close to stoichiometric O/Ce ratio (~2.2) and becomes hydrophobic. Further, airborne hydrocarbon contaminants do not exclusively impact the wetting properties of REOs, and relaxed REOs are intrinsically hydrophobic. This project also demonstrates that thin-film coatings (~300 nm) of relaxed hydrophobic REOs show sustained dropwise condensation behavior for over 100 hours at accelerated saturated steam conditions without compromising structural integrity or hydrophobicity, and produce an almost tenfold enhancement in the heat transfer co-efficient (103 ± 5 kW/m2K) compared to conventional filmwise condensation (usually <10 kW/m2K). It is envisioned that robust hydrophobic rare-earth oxide ceramics will have far reaching technological applications, especially in dropwise condensation and fouling mitigation in hydropower systems.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

Liquid-Cooled Heat Sink Optimization for Thermal Imbalance Mitigation in Wide-Bandgap Power Modules

Power semiconductor die layout in substrates used in power modules is generally optimized for minimum electrical parasitics (e.g., stray inductance) by considering the minimum spacing between dies for thermal decoupling. The layout assumes sufficient heat spreading and transfer from dies to the cooling structure. For module designs using a direct substrate cooling method, the base plate is removed, leading to a steady-state thermal asymmetry in the power module due to insufficient heat spreading/transfer. This causes significant temperature differences among the devices. Such unintentional thermal asymmetries can lead to undesirable asymmetries in power conversion among semiconductor devices, which impact reliability. This article proposes a thermal imbalance mitigation method that uses evolutionary optimized liquid-cooled heat sinks to improve the thermal loading among devices.

Sahu, Raj↗

Wellbore Leakage Mitigation Using Advanced Mineral Precipitation Strategies (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

This research project, entitled Wellbore Leakage Mitigation using Advanced Mineral Precipitation Strategies, was directed toward advancing mineral precipitation technologies to seal wellbore leaks and other potential carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) leakage pathways, including compromised wellbore cement and fracture networks of varying geometries throughout the wellbore and surrounding formation. The advanced mineral sealing techniques were evaluated in the laboratory and the field to expand the range of temperature, pressure, and chemical conditions where mineral precipitation could be used. Rates of enzymatically or thermally induced calcium carbonate precipitation (EICP, TICP) were determined as well as rates of enzyme inactivation at elevated temperatures (>60 °C). Immobilization was shown to enhance the thermal stability of urease enzyme and provide protection from inhibition in low pH conditions. Mineral seals promoted by EICP and TICP were used to seal fractured composite (cement/sandstone) and shale cores in high pressure reactors operated at temperatures greater than 55 °C and 130 °C, respectively. A computational model was updated to model processes of EICP and TICP. The work resulted in a successful field test, which showed that EICP in the presence of low pH fluids (CO 2 -impacted brine) could promote permeability reduction and seal a channel in the near-wellbore environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Blast mitigation foam concentrates and foams made therefrom

The present disclosure is directed to highly concentrated foam formulations for blast suppression and dispersion mitigation. for use in responding to a terrorism incident involving a blast dispersion device. The foam formulation is more concentrated and more stable than current blast suppression foams, which reduces the logistics burden on the user.

Burton, Patrick D.↗

Supply voltage decoupling circuits for voltage droop mitigation

Circuits and methods are provided for utilizing decoupling capacitors to mitigate voltage droop on power supply lines of a power distribution network. A power supply line is capacitively decoupled using a first decoupling capacitor connected to the power supply line and charged to a first voltage level of the power supply line. A second decoupling capacitor is pre-charged to a second voltage level greater than the first voltage level and held in standby. A control circuit determines or predicts an occurrence of a droop event in which the first voltage decreases to a level which is at or below a droop threshold voltage level, and selectively connects the pre-charged second decoupling capacitor to the power supply line to source additional boosting current through discharging of the second decoupling capacitor and thereby capacitively decouple the power supply line using the higher second voltage and additional boosting current.

Zhang, Xin↗

Plasma Processing for In-Situ Field Emission Mitigation of Superconducting Radiofrequency (SRF) Cryomodules

Field emission (FE) is one of the main limiting factors of superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities operating in accelerators and it occurs whenever contaminants, like dust, metal flakes or even absorbates, are present on the surface of the cavity high electric field region. Field emission reduces the maximum achievable accelerating field and generates free electrons that may interact with the beam, damage or activate the beamline. One practical method that can be used to mitigate this problem is in-situ plasma cleaning, or plasma processing. The development of a processing that can be applied in-situ is extremely advantageous, since it enables the recovery of the cryomodule performance without the need of disassembling the whole cryomodule, which is an extremely expensive and time-consuming process. On the other hand, plasma processing only requires the cryomodule warm-up to room-temperature and the subsequent processing of the contaminated cavities. The entire process is reasonably quick and involves a limited number of personnel. For these reasons we would like to advocate for continuing to invest in the R&D of plasma processing to optimize its applicability in cryomodules and for extending the technique to other frequency ranges and cavities geometries.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

U.S. Commercial Building Stock Analysis of COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies: Preprint

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of improving building indoor air quality to reduce occupants’ chances of contracting airborne illness. The ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force (ASHRAE-ETF) released several COVID-19 mitigation strategies at the onset of the pandemic. This study explores four of those recommendations for reducing transmission of COVID-19 inside buildings: (1) 100% outdoor air ventilation, (2) MERV-13 or better filters, (3) demand control ventilation removal, and (4) HVAC flushing mode. These recommendations were simulated and assessed using ComStock, a model of the U.S. commercial building stock. The study showed the 100% outdoor air ventilation recommendation had the largest impact on energy consumption, noncoincident peak demand, and thermostat violations. Removing demand control ventilation had the smallest national aggregate impact, installing MERV-13 filters led to slight increases in energy use and peak demand, and HVAC outdoor air flushing led to modest energy use and peak demand increases.

building energy modelling↗

Creep and cascade failure mitigation in heat pipe reactors

Technique(s) to mitigate creep and/or cascade failure in high temperature heat pipe reactor cores may include gas loading each heat pipe such that when one or more heat pipes in the heat pipe array fail, the adjacent heat pipes can accommodate added heat load with little change in temperature.

Reid, Robert Stowers↗

Mitigation of Leakage and Water Ingress for a Promising Phase Change Material (PCM) Containing Polythylene Glycol (PEG): Preprint

A promising and cost-effective phase change material (PCM) containing polyethylene glycol (PEG) 600, 800, and/or 1000 has been synthesized. It is shape stabilized using a sol-gel method and displays promising thermal properties. These properties make the PCMs good candidates for thermal batteries and other thermal energy storage applications in the building sector. However, PEG leakage is observed at elevated temperatures, and due to the hygroscopic nature of PEG, moisture ingress is also observed, which can have a significant effect on performance and durability. Thus, we have developed hydrophobic coatings to prevent PEG leakage and mitigate moisture ingress. The selected approach involves a secondary sol-gel process during which a thin layer formulated with hydrophobic precursors is deposited onto the surface of the PCM samples. Several coating formulations have been investigated, including formulations composed of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), diethoxy(dimethyl)silane (DEDMS), triethoxymethylsilane (TEMS), and n- octyltriethoxysilane (OTES). We find that this is effective at increasing hydrophobicity of the PCM substrates. It also decreases substrate leakage.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION↗

Friction Stir Processed Repair Welding of Dry Storage Canisters and Mitigation Strategies: Effect of Engineered Barrier Layer on Environmental Degradation

The proposed project aims to develop a friction sir based repair technique to heal cracks of stainless steel dry storage canisters (DSCs), created by the effect of stress corrosion cracking (SCC). In real service conditions, the welded parts of the canisters become prone to SCC under exposure to aggressive chemical environment. The focus of the project is on developing a mitigation strategy that can be implemented for countering SCC in DSCs following a two-pronged approach: (i) apply friction stir processing (FSP) as a crack repair technique while creating compressive residual stresses at the canister material surface, thus improving resistance against SCC; (ii) add molybdenum and/or nitrogen by friction stir based alloying process to create compositions that improve pitting resistance and thus enhance resistance against SCC. The specific project objectives are listed below: • Investigate FSW of 304L SS a potential repair welding technique of dry storage canisters; • Optimize the FSW parameters to introduce surface compressive stress profiles in the weldments; • Develop a FSP method to surface alloy the 304L with nitrogen and Mo by adding CrN and Mo powders; • Evaluate the surface compressive residual stress profile during FSW and FSP processes; • Evaluate the localized corrosion resistance of the FSW and FSP samples as a function of temperature, chloride concentration, and surface alloy composition; • Evaluate the SCC behavior of the FSW and FSP samples as a function of stress, chloride concentration, and temperature at different surface chemistries and induced residual stress profiles.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Systems and methods for detecting and mitigating cyber attacks on power systems comprising distributed energy resources

Extensive deployment of interoperable distributed energy resources (DER) on power systems is increasing the power system cybersecurity attack surface. National and jurisdictional interconnection standards require DER to include a range of autonomous and commanded grid-support functions which can drastically influence power quality, voltage, and the generation-load balance. Investigations of the impact to the power system in scenarios where communications and operations of DER are controlled by an adversary show that each grid-support function exposes the power system to distinct types and magnitudes of risk. The invention provides methods for minimizing the risks to distribution and transmission systems using an engineered control system which detects and mitigates unsafe control commands.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗