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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 1,531 records · Page 85
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Study on grain boundary character and strain distribution of intergranular cracking in the CGHAZ of T23 steel

Intergranular reheat cracking in the coarse-grained heat-affected zone of T23 steel was produced by strain to fracture tests on a Gleeble 3500 thermal–mechanical simulator. Then the grain boundary character, as well as the strain distribution after reheat crack propagation, was studied by electron backscatter diffraction technique. The results showed that incoherent Σ3 boundaries were seldom found on the prior austenite grain boundaries. Therefore, only the type of random high-angle boundaries played a crucial role in the intergranular cracking. Microstructurally cavities and small cracks were preferentially initiated from high-angle grain boundaries. Low-angle grain boundaries and high-angle ones with misorientation angles less than 15° were more resistant to the cracking. More importantly, the fraction of high-angle grain boundaries increased with the plastic strain induced by both temperature gradient and stress in the coarse-grained heat-affected zone, which contributed to the crack initiation and propagation. Furthermore, the strain distributions in the vicinity of cavities and cracks revealed the accommodation processes of plastic deformation during stress relaxation. It also reflected the strength differences between grain interior and grain boundary at different heat-treated temperatures, which had a large influence on the cracking mechanism. - Highlights: • The coincidence site lattice boundaries play little role in the reheat cracking. • Cavity and crack occur at high-angle grain boundaries rather than low-angle ones. • The strain leads low-angle grain boundaries to transform to high-angle ones. • Strain distribution differs for cavity and crack zones at different temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Explainable machine learning for incipient anomaly detection in compact molten salt heat exchanger with overlapping feature distributions

High-temperature molten salt-cooled reactors (MSCRs) are a promising next-generation nuclear technology option, offering efficient power conversion and inherent safety features. However, the reliability of these systems depends on the robust operation of heat exchangers (HXs), which are susceptible to failure due to temperature gradients and channel plugging caused by fluid freezing. Conventional monitoring methods, relying on inlet and outlet measurements, lack the spatial resolution needed to detect early-stage faults. We propose a novel design of a compact salt-to-salt matrix-type HX design consisting of interleaved arrays of parallel tubes, with integrated synthetic fiber optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) to enable localized detection of incipient faults. To evaluate performance of this design, we generate high-fidelity synthetic data using heat transfer computational modeling to simulate channel plugging, and introduce sensor noise for realistic modeling of measurements. The dataset comprises of 97% normal operation and 3% anomaly cases, with each anomaly class representing 1% of the data. These early anomalies result in overlapping temperature profiles between normal and faulty channels, producing a non-separable dataset that challenges traditional classification techniques. We benchmark eight supervised machine learning (ML) models and demonstrate that XGBoost achieves the highest performance. To improve transparency, we develop an explainability framework combining Shapley values and partially ordered sets (POSETs) to quantify and structurally analyze feature importance. This approach identifies both dominant predictors and ambiguous feature relationships, enhancing trust and interpretability. Our results highlight the potential of combining DTS and explainable ML with intelligent feature selection to improve predictive maintenance and ensure operational resilience in advanced nuclear systems.

Prantikos, Konstantinos [Argonne National Laborato↗
NASA NTRS1987

Thermal diffusion in partially ionized gases - The case of unequal temperatures

Previous calculations of thermal diffusion coefficients in partially ionized gases are extended to the case of unequal neutral and ion temperatures and/or temperature gradients. Formulas are derived for the general case of a major gas as well as for minor atoms and ions. Strong enhancements of minor-ion thermal diffusion coefficients over their values in the fully ionized gas are found when the degree of ionization in the main gas is relatively low. However, compared to the case of equal temperatures, the enhancements are less strong when the neutrals are cooler than the ions. The specific case of the H-H(+) mixture, which is important in the study of solar and stellar atmospheres, is discussed as an application.

Geiss, J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Microchannel plate modal gain variations with temperature

Measurements of the modal gain of two high-gain curved-channel microchannel plates (MCPs) at various operating temperatures are presented. Both MCPs were fabricated from the Long Life glass with 12-micron diam channels on 15-micron centers. The modal gain was found to decrease with increasing temperature at a rate of -0.1 percent C. This reduction of gain with temperature is attributed primarily to an axial temperature gradient along each MCP channel creating a nonuniform electric field within the channel that lowers the effective output gain. A lowering of the secondary electron yield resulting from increased phonon scattering of secondary electrons released within the walls of the MCP channels was assessed, but was found to have a negligible contribution to the drop in gain with temperature.

Slater, David C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Supersonic solutions of the solar-wind equations

We re-examine the inviscid solar-wind equations with heat conduction from below, and establish a fundamentally new approach for finding stellar solutions. Although the problem is fourth order, only two independent integration constants can be assigned, since two boundary conditions that are required to specify well-behaved supersonic solutions determine the values of the other two constants. The solar-wind-model of Noble and Scarf are essentially accurate for practical purposes, but in a fundamental sense they are not self-consistent. At the supersonic level, the ratio of thermal energy to gravitational potential, (kTr/GMm)(sub s), must lie in a narrow range, between 0.4375 and about 0.40, to permit well-behaved solutions for ionized hydrogen. For a supersonic solution this ratio uniquely determines the constants A and epsilon, which in turn govern not only the escape flux and the energy flux per particle but also T'(lambda approaches 0), the temperature gradient at infinity. It is very difficult to find solutions by trial and error, without employing T'(0) as a guide to the iteration of A and epsilon, because not only must (kTr/GMm)(sub s) be chosen within the acceptable range but then either A or epsilon must be guessed with phenomenal accuracy. Otherwise the numerical integration of temperature and expansion velocity do not yield acceptable values at infinity.

Chamberlain, Joseph W.↗
NASA NTRS2022

On the Importance of Neutral Composition and Temperature Measurements in the 100–200 km Altitude Region

Currently, thermospheric species densities and temperatures between ∼100 and 200 km are not known to the accuracy needed to fully characterize how the thermosphere transitions from a well-mixed atmosphere to a diffusively separated atmosphere with zero temperature gradient. This greatly inhibits scientific discovery attainable from either models or observations in this region, especially the understanding of mechanisms that drive thermosphere and ionospheric variability from space weather to climatological time scales. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance and critical need for new, global, height-resolved neutral composition (O, O2, N2) and temperature measurements in the new ignorosphere: the 100–200 km region of the thermosphere. We conclude with observation recommendations and requirements for new comprehensive composition and temperature measurements in the 100–200 km altitude region that would lead to significant advances in thermosphere-ionosphere science, space weather, and space climate.

thermosphere↗
DOE OSTI2019

Adaptive relay autotuning under static and non-static disturbances with application to friction stir welding

When a traditional relay feedback test is biased, asymmetry is induced, erroneous system identification occurs, and the test may stop oscillating. Adaptive methods which restore symmetry to the relay test are developed, and additional methods are presented to detect and recover from a non-oscillation condition. This is demonstrated both in simulation and in a process with significant transients and disturbances - friction stir welding (FSW). In testing, it is shown that the adaptive method is able to restore symmetry even in the presence of severe and changing disturbances, including after the weld plunge where temperature gradients change rapidly. Finally, these improvements enable system identification of systems such as FSW in a more robust and accurate manner.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Flames with repetitive extinction and ignition in a micro flow reactor with a controlled temperature profile at engine-relevant conditions

In this paper, combustion in a narrow channel with an imposed temperature gradient is studied numerically at elevated pressure with engine-relevant fuels. The focus is placed on unsteady flames with repetitive extinction and ignition (FREI) to determine the potential of this regime for fuel testing. It is shown that the FREI regime does occur at elevated pressures for sufficiently small tube diameters. The sensitivity of the extinction and ignition temperatures to low-temperature chemistry is found to be significantly enhanced at 25 bar compared to atmospheric conditions. The ignition and extinction temperatures differ by up to 100 K between PRF mixtures with varying octane numbers. Ternary mixtures of iso-octane/n-heptane/toluene and iso-octane/n-heptane/ethanol at similar RON and MON are also studied. Finally, differences in ignition and extinction temperatures further illustrate the potential of combustion in a narrow channel to distinguish between engine-relevant fuels.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1982

Bubble migration inside a liquid drop in a space laboratory

The design of experiments in materials processing for trials on board the Shuttle are described. Thermocapillary flows will be examined as an aid to mixing in the formation of glasses. Acoustically levitated molten glass spheres will be spot heated to induce surface flow away from the hot spot to induce mixing. The surface flows are also expected to cause internal convective motion which will drive entrained gas bubbles toward the hot spot, a process also enhanced by the presence of thermal gradients. The method is called fining, and will be augmented by rotation of the sphere to cause bubble migration toward the axes of rotation to form one large bubble which is more easily removed. Centering techniques to fix the maximum centering accuracy will also be tried. Ground-based studies of bubble migration in a rotating liquid and in a temperature gradient in a liquid drop are reviewed.

Annamalai, P.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Mass and Dynamical Structures of the Lensing Clusters CL0024+17 and CL2244+02

We present a detailed gravitational mass measurement based on the XMM-Newton imaging spectroscopy analysis of the lensing cluster of galaxies CL0024+17 at $z = 0.395$. The emission appears approximately symmetric. However, on the scale of $r\sim3.3'$, some indication of elongation is visible in the northwest-southeast direction from the hardness ratio map. Within $3'$, we measure a global gas temperature of $3.52\pm0.17$ keV, metallicity of $0.22\pm0.07$, and a bolometric luminosity of $2.9\pm0. l\times10(exp 44)$ erg/s. We derive a temperature distribution with an isothermal temperature of 3.9 keV up to a radius of $1.5'$ and a strong temperature gradient in the outskirts ($1.3' less than r less than 3.3'$). Under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium, we measure the gravitational mass and gas mass fraction to be $M-{200} = 2.0\pm0.3\times 10(exp 14)$ solar masses and $f-{gas} = 0.20\pm0.03$ at $r-{200} = 1.05$ Mpc (all for a Hubble constant of 70 km/sec/Mpc) using the observed gas temperature profile. The complex core structure is the key to explaining the discrepancy between the gravitational mass determined from the XMM-Newton observations and HST optical lensing measurements.

Forman, William↗
DOE OSTI2023

Operando Temperature Measurements of Photovoltaic Laser Power Converter Devices Under Continuous High-Intensity Illumination

Photovoltaic devices that operate under extremely high irradiances, such as laser power converters (LPCs), may also operate at elevated temperatures, even under active cooling, as the result of large temperature gradients. We demonstrate the operation of GaAs LPC devices under orders of magnitude of irradiances up to 150 W/cm 2 in a monochromatic laser simulator with an active cooling stage. The steady-state open-circuit voltage (V OC ) as a function of irradiance is known to droop at high irradiance as the result of junction heating, but the junction temperature can be difficult to measure by conventional methods. Fast, transient V OC measurements under these extreme operating conditions are used here to determine the junction temperature. Empirical V OC temperature coefficients of the devices at each irradiance of interest are determined and used as an integral part of this technique. We show that the thermal design of different LPC devices strongly affects the operating temperature of the junctions. Knowledge of the operating temperature can be a strong tool for understanding the nature of loss mechanisms and improving the design for the operation of photovoltaic LPCs at high irradiances. Furthermore, this technique can be used for laboratory devices during initial design as well as to characterize mass-produced and packaged devices for quality control.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1984

Burner liner thermal/structural load modelling

A serious problem exists interfacing the output temperatures and temperature gradients from either the heat transfer codes or engine tests with the input to stress analysis codes. A thermal load transfer code was developed and was used in conjunction with a three-dimensional model of a combustor liner for verification. The 3D heat transfer and stress analysis models of combustor liners and turbine blades were used to validate the mapped temperature produced by the transfer module. Verification cases were made for both finite element and finite difference heat transfer codes. A user manual for the code was written and is available.

Maffeo, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Morphological instability in rapid directional solidification

Mullins and Sekerka (1964) showed for fixed temperature gradient that the planar interface is linearly stable for all pulling speeds V above some critical value, the absolute stability limit. Near this limit, where solidification rates are rapid, the assumption of local equilibrium at the interface may be violated. Here, nonequilibrium effects are incorporated into a linear stability analysis of the planar front by allowing the segregation coefficient and interface temperature to depend on V in a thermodynamically consistent way. The absolute stability limit of the cellular mode is modified. A new oscillatory state is formed which, in the absence of latent heat, has a critical wavenumber of zero; by itself this instability would lead to the formation of solute bands in the solid. This mode has its own absolute-stability limit determined by solute trapping and kinetics. Under certain conditions, there exists a window of stability above the steady absolute-stability boundary and below the oscillatory-stability boundary; here the planar segregation-free state is restabilized.

Merchant, G. J.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Evaluation of high performance large grain medium purity SRF cavity from KEK

We presented the RF measurement on a 1.3 GHz single cell cavity fabricated at KEK using large grain ingot niobium with RRR=107. The cavity reached to 35 MV/m with Q 0 = 2.0×10zEhNZeHn at 2.0 K, record performance on the cavity made from medium purity ingot niobium. The cavity was cool down with different temperature gradient along the cavity axis in order to understand the flux expulsion mechanism when the cavity does through the superconducting transition and effect of trap residual magnetic field on the residual resistance. The measurement showed the excellent flux expulsion with the flux trapping sensitivity of 0.29 nΩ/mG for electro polished surface and 0.44 nΩ/mG for cavity followed by low temperature baking at 120°C for 12 hours.

Dhakal, P.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Measurement of Activation Volume for Creep of Dry Olivine at Upper-Mantle Conditions

Olivine is the most abundant and among the weakest phases in Earth's upper mantle, and thus, its rheological properties play a critical role in governing thermal structure and convective flow in the upper mantle. A persistent obstacle to constraining the in situ flow properties of olivine by laboratory experiment has been the difficulty in resolving the effect of pressure, which is weak within the 0- to ~2-GPa pressure range of conventional laboratory deformation instruments but potentially strong over the 1- to ~14-GPa range of the upper mantle. Using a deformation-DIA, one of a new generation of bonafide deformation devices designed for operation to ≥10 GPa, we have deformed dry, polycrystalline San Carlos olivine in high-temperature creep with the singular intent of providing the best achievable measurement of activation volume V* and a comprehensive statement of uncertainty. Under strictly dry conditions, at constant temperature (1,373 K) and strain rate (1 × 10 -5 s -1 ), varying only pressure (1.8 to 8.8 GPa), we measure V* = 15 ± 5 cm 3 /mol. We have reproduced the well-known mechanism change from [100]-slip to [001]-slip near 5 GPa and determined that, whatever the change in V* associated with the change in slip system, the effective value of 15 ± 5 cm3/mol is still accurate for modeling purposes in the 2- to 9-GPa pressure range. This is a substantial pressure effect, which in the absence of a temperature gradient would represent a viscosity increase from the top to bottom of the upper mantle of 5 ± 2 orders of magnitude.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1984

Holographic interferometry - Errors caused by thermal gradients in holographic plates

Thermal effects as sources of errors in holographic interferometry are illustrated on an example of reflection holography patterns obtained on graphite-epoxy specimens exposed before and after compressive loading. The numerical interpretation of the obtained holograms indicated some peculiar unexpected thickness changes in the specimen. In addition, some patterns showed random occurrence of zones of low and zero contrast. These discrepancies occurred usually in the first of the two exposures and were traced to thermal warping and thermal relaxation patterns caused by small temperature gradients that resulted from heat transfer to the photographic plates during their installation. Suggested precautions to minimize thermal effects include using thick holographic plates (photographic plates attached to glass plates) and insulated gloves during handling and allowing time to establish thermal equilibrium before the exposure.

Post, D.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Sensitivities of time-dependent temperature profile predictions for NSTX with the multi-mode model

The Multi-Mode Model (MMM) for turbulent transport was applied to a large set of well-analyzed discharges from the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) in order to evaluate its sensitivities to a wide range of plasma conditions. MMM calculations were performed for hundreds of milliseconds in each discharge by performing time-dependent predictive simulations with the 1.5D tokamak integrated modeling code TRANSP. A closely related study (Lestz et al 2025 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 67 105029) concluded that MMM predicted electron and ion temperature profiles that were in reasonable agreement with NSTX observations, generally outperforming a different reduced transport model, TGLF. This finding motivates the more thorough investigation of the characteristics of the MMM predictions conducted in this work. The simulations with MMM have electron energy transport dominated by electron temperature gradient modes in the examined discharges with relatively low plasma β (ratio of kinetic plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure) and high collisionality, transitioning to a mixture of different modes for higher β and lower collisionality. The thermal ion diffusivity predicted by MMM is much smaller than the neoclassical contribution, in line with previous experimental analysis of NSTX. Nonetheless, the electron and ion temperature profiles are coupled via collisional energy exchange and thus sensitive to which transport channels are predicted. The time-dependent simulations with MMM are robust to the simulation start time, converging to remarkably similar temperature profiles later during the discharge. MMM typically overpredicts confinement relative to NSTX observations, leading to the prediction of overly steep temperature profiles. Plasmas with spatially broader temperature profiles, higher plasma β, and longer energy confinement times tend to be predicted by MMM with better agreement with the experiment. As a result, these findings provide useful context for understanding the regime-dependent tendencies of MMM in anticipation of self-consistent, time-dependent predictive simulations of NSTX-U discharges with these same modeling tools.

MMM↗
NASA NTRS1984

Hot stage and sample cell design for the solidification of transparent materials with and without forced convection

A temperature gradient stage design for optical microscopy is described. Exceptional thermal stability is the major feature. The stage is used to study crystal growth phenomena occurring at the solid-liquid interface. The apparatus is designed to use transparent organic solutions as models for the study of metal-like solidification. The stage provides a controlled thermal environment for unidirectional solidification of low melting temperature materials. Freezing rate is regulated by mechanically sliding in the stage a thin glass cell containing the materials being studied. Two cell assemblies are described. One type is used for convection-free and the other for controlled forced convection studies of the solidification interface.

Kaukler, W. F.↗