Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Alternating minimization”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,549 records · Page 86
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Two-Stage Fracturing Wastewater Management in Shale Gas Development

Here, management of shale gas wastewater treatment, disposal, and reuse has become a significant environmental challenge, driven by an ongoing boom in development of U.S. shale gas reservoirs. Systems-analysis based decision support is helpful for effective management of wastewater, and provision of cost-effective decision alternatives from a whole-system perspective. Uncertainties are inherent in many modeling parameters, affecting the generated decisions. In order to effectively deal with the recourse issue in decision making, in this work a two-stage stochastic fracturing wastewater management model, named TSWM, is developed to provide decision support for wastewater management planning in shale plays. Using the TSWM model, probabilistic and nonprobabilistic uncertainties are effectively handled. The TSWM model provides flexibility in generating shale gas wastewater management strategies, in which the first-stage decision predefined by decision makers before uncertainties are unfolded is corrected in the second stage to achieve the whole-system’s optimality. Application of the TSWM model to a comprehensive synthetic example demonstrates its practical applicability and feasibility. Optimal results are generated for allowable wastewater quantities, excess wastewater, and capacity expansions of hazardous wastewater treatment plants to achieve the minimized total system cost. The obtained interval solutions encompass both optimistic and conservative decisions. Trade-offs between economic and environmental objectives are made depending on decision makers’ knowledge and judgment, as well as site-specific information. In conclusion, the proposed model is helpful in forming informed decisions for wastewater management associated with shale gas development.

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Material selection for accident tolerant fuel cladding

Alternative cladding materials are being investigated for accident tolerance, which can be defined as >100X improvement (compared to current Zr-based alloys) in oxidation resistance in steam environments at ≥1200°C for short (≤4 h) times. After reviewing a wide range of candidates, current steam oxidation testing is being conducted on Mo, MAX phases and FeCrAl alloys. Recently reported low mass losses for Mo in steam at 800°C could not be reproduced. Both FeCrAl and MAX phase Ti 2 AlC form a protective alumina scale in steam. Therefore, commercial Ti 2 AlC that is not single phase, formed a much thicker oxide at 1200°C in steam and significant TiO 2 , and therefore may be challenging to use as a cladding or a coating. Alloy development for FeCrAl is seeking to maintain its steam oxidation resistance to 1475°C, while reducing its Cr content to minimize susceptibility to irradiation assisted Cr-rich α’ formation. The composition effects and critical limits to retaining protective scale formation at >1400°C are still being evaluated.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Jules Horowitz Reactor, a new irradiation facility: Improving dosimetry for the future of nuclear experimentation

Document available in abstract form only, full text of document follows: The Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) is an experimental reactor under construction at the French Nuclear Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA) facility at Cadarache. It will achieve its first criticality by the end of 2014. Experiments that will be conducted at JHR will deal with fuel, cladding, and material behavior. The JHR will also produce medical radio-isotopes and doped silicon for the electronic industry. As a new irradiation facility, its instrumentation will benefit from recent improvements. Nuclear instrumentation will include reactor dosimetry, as it is a reference technique to determine neutron fluence in experimental devices or characterize irradiation locations. Reactor dosimetry has been improved with the progress of simulation tools and nuclear data, but at the same time the customer needs have increased: Experimental results must have reduced and assessed uncertainties. This is now a necessary condition to perform an experimental irradiation in a test reactor. Items improved, in the framework of a general upgrading of the dosimetry process based on uncertainty minimization, will include dosimeter, nuclear data, and modelling scheme. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Results of Copper Catalyzed Peroxide Oxidation (CCPO) of Tank 48H Simulants

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) performed a series of laboratory-scale experiments that examined copper-catalyzed hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) aided destruction of organic components, most notably tetraphenylborate (TPB), in Tank 48H simulant slurries. The experiments were designed with an expectation of conducting the process within existing vessels of Building 241-96H with minimal modifications to the existing equipment. Results of the experiments indicate that TPB destruction levels exceeding 99.9% are achievable, dependent on the reaction conditions. The following observations were made with respect to the major processing variables investigated. A lower reaction pH provides faster reaction rates (pH 7 > pH 9 > pH 11); however, pH 9 reactions provide the least quantity of organic residual compounds within the limits of species analyzed. Higher temperatures lead to faster reaction rates and smaller quantities of organic residual compounds. Higher concentrations of the copper catalyst provide faster reaction rates, but the highest copper concentration (500 mg/L) also resulted in the second highest quantity of organic residual compounds. Faster rates of H 2 O 2 addition lead to faster reaction rates and lower quantities of organic residual compounds. Testing with simulated slurries continues. Current testing is examining lower copper concentrations, refined peroxide addition rates, and alternate acidification methods. A revision of this report will provide updated findings with emphasis on defining recommended conditions for similar tests with actual waste samples.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2010

Display Sharing: An Alternative Paradigm

The current Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Control Center (MCC) Video Transport System (VTS) provides flight controllers and management the ability to meld raw video from various sources with telemetry to improve situational awareness. However, maintaining a separate infrastructure for video delivery and integration of video content with data adds significant complexity and cost to the system. When considering alternative architectures for a VTS, the current system's ability to share specific computer displays in their entirety to other locations, such as large projector systems, flight control rooms, and back supporting rooms throughout the facilities and centers must be incorporated into any new architecture. Internet Protocol (IP)-based systems also support video delivery and integration. IP-based systems generally have an advantage in terms of cost and maintainability. Although IP-based systems are versatile, the task of sharing a computer display from one workstation to another can be time consuming for an end-user and inconvenient to administer at a system level. The objective of this paper is to present a prototype display sharing enterprise solution. Display sharing is a system which delivers image sharing across the LAN while simultaneously managing bandwidth, supporting encryption, enabling recovery and resynchronization following a loss of signal, and, minimizing latency. Additional critical elements will include image scaling support, multi -sharing, ease of initial integration and configuration, integration with desktop window managers, collaboration tools, host and recipient controls. This goal of this paper is to summarize the various elements of an IP-based display sharing system that can be used in today's control center environment.

Brown, Michael A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fermionic shift symmetries in (anti) de Sitter space

We study extended shift symmetries that arise for fermionic fields on anti-de Sitter (AdS) space and de Sitter (dS) space for particular values of the mass relative to the curvature scale. We classify these symmetries for general mixed-symmetry fermionic fields in arbitrary dimension and describe how fields with these symmetries arise as the decoupled longitudinal modes of massive fermions as they approach partially massless points. For the particular case of AdS 4 , we look for non-trivial Lie superalgebras that can underly interacting theories that involve these fields. We study from this perspective the minimal such theory, the Akulov-Volkov theory on AdS 4 , which is a non-linear theory of a spin-1/2 Goldstino field that describes the spontaneous breaking of $\mathcal{N}$ = 1 supersymmetry on AdS 4 down to the isometries of AdS 4 . We show how to write the nonlinear supersymmetry transformation for this theory using the fermionic ambient space formalism. We also study the Lie superalgebras of candidate multi-field examples and rule out the existence of a supersymmetric special galileon on AdS 4 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A novel path to runaway electron mitigation via deuterium injection and current-driven MHD instability

Relativistic electron (RE) beams at high current density (low safety factor, qa) yet very low free-electron density accessed with D2 secondary injection in the DIII-D and JET tokamak are found to exhibit large-scale MHD instabilities that benignly terminate the RE beam. In JET, this technique has enabled termination of MA-level RE currents without measurable first-wall heating. This scenario thus offers an unexpected alternate pathway to achieve RE mitigation without collisional dissipation. Benign termination is explained by two synergistic effects. First, during the MHD-driven RE loss events both experiment and MHD orbit-loss modeling supports a significant increase in the wetted area of the RE loss. Second, as previously identified at JET and DIII-D, the fast kink loss timescale precludes RE beam regeneration and the resulting dangerous conversion of magnetic to RE kinetic energy. During the termination, the RE kinetic energy is lost to the wall, but the current fully transfers to the cold bulk thus enabling benign Ohmic dissipation of the magnetic energy on longer timescales via a conventional current quench. Hydrogenic (D2) secondary injection is found to be the only injected species that enables access to the benign termination. D2 injection: 1) facilitates access to low qa in existing devices (via reduced collisionality & resistivity), 2) minimizes the RE avalanche by ‘purging’ the high-Z atoms from the RE beam, 3) drives recombination of the background plasma, reducing the density and Alfven time, thus accelerating the MHD growth. Furthermore, this phenomenon is found to be accessible when crossing the low qa stability boundary with rising current, falling toroidal field, or contracting minor radius - the latter being the expected scenario for vertically unstable RE beams in ITER. While unexpected, this path scales favorably to fusion-grade tokamaks and offers a novel RE mitigation scenario in principle accessible with the day-one disruption mitigation system (DMS) of ITER.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Automated tape-target centering based on template matching for construction measurement tasks using robotic total station

Robotic total stations have transformed surveying and construction mapping through precise, efficient, and automated measurements. These instruments integrate a theodolite, which measures horizontal and vertical angles, with an electronic distance measurement (EDM) unit to determine distances, allowing accurate 3D measurement of observable points. Traditionally, users manually aimed the total station at a target. Recent advancements in robotic motor control and integration of cameras now enable automatic rotation and aiming, typically requiring only a single operator to position the target. Automated aiming is commonly performed using retroreflector prisms, which reflect light back to the source with minimal scattering, enabling high-precision measurements over long distances. However, retroreflectors, especially those designed for 360 degree, can be expensive and impractical for certain applications. This paper presents an algorithm for automating the center detection of low-cost disposable tape targets using the total station's onboard camera and a template matching algorithm. The algorithm identifies the target's center pixel in the image, and the instrument is commanded to aim at that location. We evaluated the performance of this template-matching-based centering method under various distances, angles, lighting conditions, and field environments, comparing its results to both manual aiming and conventional automated aiming of tape targets. Manual aiming was used as the baseline operational reference in the absence of an independent ground-truth measurement. The proposed approach achieves target centering results comparable to the manual baseline. This method provides a cost-effective alternative for high-precision applications where retroreflector targets are constrained by budget or logistics.

Harrington, Joshua [ORNL]↗
NASA NTRS2005

Flexible Metal-Fabric Radiators

Flexible metal-fabric radiators have been considered as alternative means of dissipating excess heat from spacecraft and space suits. The radiators also may be useful in such special terrestrial applications as rejecting heat from space-suit-like protective suits worn in hot work environments. In addition to flexibility and consequent ease of deployment and installation on objects of varying sizes and shapes, the main advantages of these radiators over conventional rigid radiators are that they weigh less and occupy less volume for a given amount of cooling capacity. A radiator of this type includes conventional stainless-steel tubes carrying a coolant fluid. The main radiating component consists of a fabric of interwoven aluminum-foil strips bonded to the tubes by use of a proprietary process. The strip/tube bonds are strong and highly thermally conductive. Coolant is fed to and from the tubes via flexible stainless-steel manifolds designed to accommodate flexing of, and minimize bending forces on, the fabric. The manifolds are sized to minimize pressure drops and distribute the flow of coolant evenly to all the tubes. The tubes and manifolds are configured in two independent flow loops for operational flexibility and protective redundancy.

Cross, Cynthia↗
DOE OSTI2018

Design and Licensing of Irradiated Uranyl Nitrate Liquid Containers and Applicable Loading and Packaging System - 18481

Irradiated highly enriched uranyl nitrate liquid (HEUNL) solutions are typically residual materials resulting from the processing of uranium target materials in the production of radioisotopes. Traditionally, these residual materials have been processed and stored at the site of origin, due to the lack of an option for packaging, transportation and disposition. Modern alternatives to process, stabilize, package and dispose of these materials have been developed, but until recently there has not been a viable Type B package solution that could be used to ship these materials in sufficient quantities to justify the cost of an off-site disposition strategy. For this reason, most facilities that generate irradiated HEUNL materials have implemented on-site storage tanks or containers, resulting in the significant accumulation of HEUNL inventories worldwide. This paper provides an overview of the design and licensing activities for the development of sealed irradiated HEUNL transport containers to permit safe transportation of this material in the NAC Legal Weight Truck (NAC-LWT) cask. A description of the robust HEUNL container, licensing and fabrication is also presented. In addition, NAC has developed a specialized loading system to optimize the process to load, package and un-package HEUNL materials to minimize worker exposure during loading, and execute the packaging process efficiently for safe transport and retrieval. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Minimal area surfaces in AdS n+1 and Wilson loops

The AdS/CFT correspondence relates the expectation value of Wilson loops in N = 4 SYM to the area of minimal surfaces in AdS 5 . In this paper we consider minimal area surfaces in generic Euclidean AdS n+1 using the Pohlmeyer reduction in a similar way as we did previously in Euclidean AdS 3 . As in that case, the main obstacle is to find the correct parameterization of the curve in terms of a conformal parameter. Once that is done, the boundary conditions for the Pohlmeyer fields are obtained in terms of conformal invariants of the curve. After solving the Pohlmeyer equations, the area can be expressed as a boundary integral involving a generalization of the conformal arc-length, curvature and torsion of the curve. Furthermore, one can introduce the λ-deformation symmetry of the contours by a simple change in the conformal invariants. This determines the λ-deformed contours in terms of the solution of a boundary linear problem. In fact the condition that all λ deformed contours are periodic can be used as an alternative to solving the Pohlmeyer equations and is equivalent to imposing the vanishing of an infinite set of conserved charges derived from integrability.

't Hooft and Polyakov loops↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Spacecraft Charging as an Asset to Interplanetary Small Spacecraft

Small spacecraft operate on a far more limited power budget than their larger counterparts, a problem compounded for interplanetary spacecraft in the outer solar system. The reduced solar flux beyond Earth’s orbit makes solar panels less effective for spacecraft exploring the gas giants and can they are susceptible to damage by intense radiation belts. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators are expensive and bulky compared to their power output. Interplanetary small satellite missions benefit from both alternative energy sources and low-power electronics to power their buses and scientific payloads. Traditionally, spacecraft engineers treat the space environment as a hazard, but it nevertheless offers a potential solution. Currents from space plasmas charge spacecraft to high potentials and can cause electrical arcing to occur between differentially charged surfaces. The spacecraft can harvest a small amount of power —<10 mW/m2at Jupiter — from the electric field between these surfaces to do useful work, either by charging a battery or directly powering an instrument or actuator. While using the energy directly has limited use due to the low electron density and temperature of most space plasmas, it can nevertheless be used in situations where solar panels are not desirable, such as high radiation environments. Two applications — a Langmuir probe and an attitude control actuator — exploit the disparate current-voltage characteristics between surfaces with different material properties and require minimal input power to operate.

Spacecraft↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Spacecraft Charging as an Asset to Interplanetary Small Spacecraft

Small spacecraft operate on a far more limited power budget than their larger counterparts, a problem compounded for interplanetary spacecraft in the outer solar system. The reduced solar flux beyond Earth’s orbit makes solar panels less effective for spacecraft exploring the gas giants and they are susceptible to damage by intense radiation belts. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators are expensive and bulky compared to their power output. Interplanetary small satellite missions benefit from both alternative energy sources and low-power electronics to power their buses and scientific payloads. Traditionally, spacecraft engineers treat the space environment as a hazard, but it nevertheless offers a potential solution. Currents from space plasmas charge spacecraft to high potentials and can cause electrical arcing to occur between differentially charged surfaces. The spacecraft can harvest a small amount of power —<10 mW/m2at Jupiter — from the electric field between these surfaces to do useful work, either by charging a battery or directly powering an instrument or actuator. While using the energy directly has limited use due to the low electron density and temperature of most space plasmas, it can nevertheless be used in situations where solar panels are not desirable, such as high radiation environments. Two applications — a Langmuir probe and an attitude control actuator — exploit the disparate current-voltage characteristics between surfaces with different material properties and require minimal input power to operate.

spacecraft charging↗
DOE OSTI2023

Attentional Ptycho-Tomography (APT) for three-dimensional nanoscale X-ray imaging with minimal data acquisition and computation time

Abstract Noninvasive X-ray imaging of nanoscale three-dimensional objects, such as integrated circuits (ICs), generally requires two types of scanning: ptychographic, which is translational and returns estimates of the complex electromagnetic field through the IC; combined with a tomographic scan, which collects these complex field projections from multiple angles. Here, we present Attentional Ptycho-Tomography (APT), an approach to drastically reduce the amount of angular scanning, and thus the total acquisition time. APT is machine learning-based, utilizing axial self-Attention for Ptycho-Tomographic reconstruction. APT is trained to obtain accurate reconstructions of the ICs, despite the incompleteness of the measurements. The training process includes regularizing priors in the form of typical patterns found in IC interiors, and the physics of X-ray propagation through the IC. We show that APT with ×12 reduced angles achieves fidelity comparable to the gold standard Simultaneous Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (SART) with the original set of angles. When using the same set of reduced angles, then APT also outperforms Filtered Back Projection (FBP), Simultaneous Iterative Reconstruction Technique (SIRT) and SART. The time needed to compute the reconstruction is also reduced, because the trained neural network is a forward operation, unlike the iterative nature of these alternatives. Our experiments show that, without loss in quality, for a 4.48 × 93.2 × 3.92 µm 3 IC (≃6 × 10 8 voxels), APT reduces the total data acquisition and computation time from 67.96 h to 38 min. We expect our physics-assisted and attention-utilizing machine learning framework to be applicable to other branches of nanoscale imaging, including materials science and biological imaging.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2018

Food waste and the food-energy-water nexus: A review of food waste management alternatives

Highlights: • Little is known about FEW impacts of managing food waste after it has been disposed. • Food waste management options have variable FEW impacts and opportunities. • Preventable and unpreventable food waste have different mechanisms of FEW impact. • A “food-waste-FEW systems” approach may maximize benefits across FEW sectors. • Characterizing FEW nexus impacts of wasted food is a priority for future work. - Abstract: Throughout the world, much food produced is wasted. The resource impact of producing wasted food is substantial; however, little is known about the energy and water consumed in managing food waste after it has been disposed. Herein, we characterize food waste within the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus and parse the differential FEW effects of producing uneaten food and managing food loss and waste. We find that various food waste management options, such as waste prevention, landfilling, composting, anaerobic digestion, and incineration, present variable pathways for FEW impacts and opportunities. Furthermore, comprehensive sustainable management of food waste will involve varied mechanisms and actors at multiple levels of governance and at the level of individual consumers. To address the complex food waste problem, we therefore propose a “food-waste-systems” approach to optimize resources within the FEW nexus. Such a framework may be applied to devise strategies that, for instance, minimize the amount of edible food that is wasted, foster efficient use of energy and water in the food production process, and simultaneously reduce pollution externalities and create opportunities from recycled energy and nutrients. Characterization of FEW nexus impacts of wasted food, including descriptions of dynamic feedback behaviors, presents a significant research gap and a priority for future work. Large-scale decision making requires more complete understanding of food waste and its management within the FEW nexus, particularly regarding post-disposal impacts related to water.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Modeling and comparative assessment of municipal solid waste gasification for energy production

Highlights: • Study developed a methodology for the evaluation of gasification for MSW treatment. • Study was conducted comparatively for USA, UAE, and Thailand. • Study applies a thermodynamic model (Gibbs free energy minimization) using the Gasify software. • The energy efficiency of the process and the compatibility with different waste streams was studied. - Abstract: Gasification is the thermochemical conversion of organic feedstocks mainly into combustible syngas (CO and H{sub 2}) along with other constituents. It has been widely used to convert coal into gaseous energy carriers but only has been recently looked at as a process for producing energy from biomass. This study explores the potential of gasification for energy production and treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW). It relies on adapting the theory governing the chemistry and kinetics of the gasification process to the use of MSW as a feedstock to the process. It also relies on an equilibrium kinetics and thermodynamics solver tool (Gasify®) in the process of modeling gasification of MSW. The effect of process temperature variation on gasifying MSW was explored and the results were compared to incineration as an alternative to gasification of MSW. Also, the assessment was performed comparatively for gasification of MSW in the United Arab Emirates, USA, and Thailand, presenting a spectrum of socioeconomic settings with varying MSW compositions in order to explore the effect of MSW composition variance on the products of gasification. All in all, this study provides an insight into the potential of gasification for the treatment of MSW and as a waste to energy alternative to incineration.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

3D printed water-stable Cd-doped Cs 4 MnBi 2 Cl 12 /polylactic acid perovskite/polymer composites for high-flux X-ray scintillation

Stable and efficient X-ray scintillators are crucial for medical diagnostics, industrial, and defense applications. However, conventional scintillator technologies face a trade-off between stability, optimal performance, and sustainability. Herein, we introduce 3D-printed Cs 4 MnBi 2 Cl 12 (Pero1) and Cs 4 Cd 0.68 Mn 0.32 Bi 2 Cl 12 (Pero2) perovskite microcrystals embedded within a polylactic acid (PLA) polymer composite as X-ray scintillators, combining efficiency, stability, and sustainability. The orange luminescent perovskite powder phosphors exhibited poor water stability, which was successfully addressed through incorporation into PLA via filament extrusion and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing. The resulting composite films demonstrated remarkable water stability while maintaining uniform orange emission throughout the polymer matrix, as confirmed by 3D topography scanning and X-ray fluorescence mapping. Structural characterization revealed minimal chemical interaction between the perovskite and PLA matrix, with the composites retaining their crystalline properties. The PLA-Pero2 composite exhibited superior optical properties, with a photoluminescence quantum yield of 47%, nearly 17 times higher than that of PLA-Pero1 (2.8%), attributed to the effective suppression of non-radiative decay pathways through Cd 2+ doping. Under hard X-ray irradiation at synchrotron beamlines, both composites exhibited excellent radioluminescence, with emission peaks at 605 nm, a linear response across a wide X-ray flux range, and remarkable radiation stability, showing less than 3% intensity degradation after 600 seconds of continuous high-dose exposure. The PLA-Pero2 composite achieved a spatial resolution of 5 line pairs per millimeter and a contrast ratio of 0.255. These performance metrics, combined with the polymer's biodegradability and scalability through additive manufacturing, position PLA-based composites as a more sustainable alternative to conventional petroleum-based polymer scintillators for next-generation medical imaging, radiation monitoring, and industrial radiography applications.

3D Printing↗
NASA NTRS1972

Development of a gas pressure bonded four-pole alternator rotor

Methods were developed for fabrication of a solid four pole alternator rotor by hot isostatic pressure welding. The rotor blanks welded in this program had complex geometrical mating interfaces and were of considerable bulk, being approximately 3-1/2 inches (0.089 meters) in diameter and 14 inches (0.356 meters) long. Magnetic end pieces were machined from AlSl 4340 steel, while the non-magnetic central section was of Inconel 718. Excellent welds were produced which were shown to be responsive to post weld heat treatments which substantially improved joint strength. Prior to welding the rotors, test specimens of complex geometry were welded to demonstrate that complex surfaces with intentional mechanical misfit could be readily joined using HIP welding. This preliminary work demonstrated not only that interface compliance is achieved during welding but that welding pressure is developed in these thick sections sufficient to produce sound joints. Integral weld-heat treatment cycles were developed that permitted the attainment of magnetic properties while minimizing residual stress associated with the allotropic transformation of 4340 steel.

Lessmann, G. G.↗