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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Study of the heat pipe vapor flow using the MOOSE application Sockeye and the CFD code Nek5000

Heat pipes are efficient heat transfer devices used in various applications, including nuclear microreactors. Heat pipe-cooled microreactors offer advantages in size and cost, which can significantly accelerate their deployment and adoption. Developing accurate models of heat pipes is crucial for a heat pipe-cooled microreactor design and operation. In this work a verification and validation of the heat pipe application Sockeye is presented. Results are compared against RANS simulations, performed with the code Nek5000, and the SPHERE experiment, conducted at INL.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multi-Rigor Agile Verification and Rapid Prototyping for Formally Verified Software

We propose a novel approach to developing formally verified systems through Multi-rigor Agile Verification. Multi-rigor Agile Verification is rooted in the hypothesis of Rigor Independence, that a system’s specification and verification architecture depend primarily on the system requirements to be verified, and they depend very little on the rigor level of the methods used to verify those requirements. Due to its iterative nature, Multi-rigor Agile Verification promises to mitigate many of the high upfront design costs experienced by formally verified systems and to deliver a better-architected, and thus better-trusted, system in the end. We then discuss the tooling needed to perform Multi-rigor Agile Verification and go in depth to build one of those tools, which directly generates executable prototype code from declarative formal specifications using the Maude rewrite-logic framework.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Summary of FY2024 Experimental Results to Support Development of New Inelastic Material Models and Validation of Section III, Division 5, Class A Design Rules

To address the data gap crucial for updating existing viscoplastic constitutive material models for the Class A materials in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section III, Division 5, High Temperature Reactors (ASME, 2023) for inelastic design analysis, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducted experimental studies on Alloy 800H and Alloy 617 across a range of temperatures up to their maximum temperature limits in Section III, Division 5. The studies aim to characterize the materials' deformation behavior under both strain-controlled mechanical cyclic loading and thermal cycling conditions. This report summarizes ORNL's FY 2024 experimental findings on Alloy 800H and Alloy 617, focusing on pure fatigue tests, cyclic stress-strain curves, thermomechanical fatigue experiments, and verification of the high temperature cyclic damage summation design rules.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Open Radiation Monitoring: Histogram Builder Module Design

The Open Radiation Monitoring Project seeks to develop and demonstrate a modular radiation detection architecture designed specifically for use in arms control treaty verification (ACTV) applications that will facilitate rapid development of trusted systems to meet the needs of potential future treaties. A modular architecture can be used to reduce more complex systems to a series of single purpose building blocks, thereby facilitating equipment inspection and in turn building trust in the equipment by all treaty parties. Furthermore, a modular architecture can be used to control data flow within the measurement system, reducing the risk of "hidden switches" and constraining the amount of sensitive information that could potentially be inadvertently leaked. This report details the first revision of a prototype circuit that will convert analog pulses directly into a histogrammed data set for further processing. The circuit was designed with both spectroscopy and multiplicity analysis in mind but can, in principle, be used to reduce any raw data stream into a histogram. The number of output channels is limited, and the histogram bin ranges are user configurable to allow for non-uniform and discontinuous bins, which makes it possible to restrict the information being passed down stream if desired. Pulse processing relies entirely on analog circuitry and non- programmable logic, which enables operation without the need for a central processor or other programmable control unit. The circuit remains untested under the Open Radiation Monitoring project due to the closure of the sponsoring program. However, further development and testing is scheduled to take place in support of a purpose-built trusted verification system development effort known as COGNIZANT, which demonstrates the potential benefit of developing a suite of modular trusted system components.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Safeguards by Design Projects (FY2020 Final Report)

This University Engagement project challenged engineering students at universities, that do not have Bachelor degrees in nuclear engineering but do have research reactors and some nuclear engineering coursework, to incorporate Safeguards by Design concepts into their Senior Capstone Design Project. This University Engagement project was part of the U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Office of International Nuclear Safeguards, Next Generation Safeguards Initiative, Human Capital Development: University Engagement Program. This program exposed university students with Mechanical Engineering majors and Nuclear Engineering minors to the concepts of international nuclear safeguards. FY20, three teams at the University of Rhode Island and one team at the University of Texas - Austin participated in researching, designing, building, and testing projects to support international nuclear safeguards measurements or verification. The projects involved engaging in activities at the university’s research reactors. All the projects engaged students with prototyping a design and/or tool for application at the Universities’ reactor. At the end of the course, most of the students expressed the experience was a positive and they learned more about international nuclear safeguards and applying requirements than they had previously encountered. This school year the projects were further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Both universities cancelled in class room classes, and limited direct student/professor interactions. Furthermore, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) greatly restricted travel, therefore making it impossible to visit the students at the end of the semester for the review of their design projects. The final design and review meeting for the projects happened via the internet. Additionally, while the teams planned to build prototypes this did not happen since there was a social distancing ban on students meeting in person.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Safeguards by Design Projects (Final Report-FY-22)

This University Engagement project challenged engineering students at universities, that do not have Bachelor degree programs in nuclear engineering but do have research reactors and some nuclear engineering coursework, to incorporate Safeguards by Design concepts into their Senior Capstone Design Project. This University Engagement project was part of the U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Office of International Nuclear Safeguards, Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI), Human Capital Development (HCD): University Engagement Program. This program exposed university students with Mechanical Engineering majors and Nuclear Engineering minors to the concepts of international nuclear safeguards. In FY22, three teams at the University of Rhode Island and two teams at the University of Texas - Austin participated in researching, designing, building, and testing projects to support international nuclear safeguards measurements or verification. The projects involved engaging in activities at the university’s research reactors. All the projects engaged students with prototyping a design and/or tool for application at the Universities’ reactor. At the end of the course, most of the students expressed the experience was positive and they learned more about international nuclear safeguards and applying requirements than they had previously encountered. This school year the projects were further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Both universities had limited in classes on campus, still relying on Zoom classes, and limited direct student/professor interactions. Furthermore, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) greatly restricted travel, therefore making it impossible to visit the students at the end of the semester for the review of their design projects. The final design and review meeting for the projects happened via meetings over the internet. Additionally, the teams did build and test some prototypes but could only do so in a limited capacity.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Safeguards by Design Table Top Exercises Final Report (FY 2023)

This University Engagement project challenged engineering students at universities, that do not have bachelor’s degree programs in nuclear engineering but do have research reactors and some nuclear engineering coursework, to develop capacity in Safeguards by Design concepts through the application of Tabletop Exercises. This University Engagement project was part of the U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Office of International Nuclear Safeguards, Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI), Human Capital Development (HCD): University Engagement Program. This program exposed university students with Mechanical Engineering majors and Nuclear Engineering minors to the concepts of international nuclear safeguards. In FY22, three teams at the University of Rhode Island and two teams at the University of Texas Austin participated in researching, designing, building, and testing projects to support international nuclear safeguards measurements or verification. The projects involved engaging in activities at the university’s research reactors. All the projects engaged students with prototyping a design and/or tool for application at the Universities’ reactor. However, for FY23, the direction of the HCD project had changed to implementing a Tabletop Exercise in Safeguards by Design (SBD). A Tabletop Exercise was not executed during FY23, but relationships with both Universities was maintained and how to integrate the exercise into the curriculum of both programs was determined.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dynamic Modelling of HiveWind Floating Wind Substructure in OpenFAST

Current aero-elastic modes tend to consider the wind turbine floating substructures as rigid. However, the new generation of offshore wind platforms are leaner, less rigid. The OpenFAST code has been updated to consider the flexibility of the floating substructure. This presentation shows how a numerical model of the HiveWind design was created within OpenFAST as well as some verifications performed. When comparing the flexible model to a simplified rigid model (previous state-of-the-art), there are some significant differences in key performance indicators. The new flexibility capability within OpenFAST allows to calculate ultimate and fatigue loads within the floating substructure, allowing for the development of more economical designs.

ENGINEERING,WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Source Physics Experiment (SPE) Science Plan

The Source Physics Experiment (SPE) series is a long-term NNSA research and development effort designed to improve U.S. arms control and nuclear nonproliferation verification and monitoring capabilities. The findings from the SPE will advance the United States’ nuclear explosion monitoring capabilities, particularly with respect to detection, discrimination and determination of yields associated with small nuclear explosions that can be lost amid the noisy seismo-acoustic background from other sources. The data generated from the SPE, a series of well-designed and recorded chemical explosions, will contribute to the development and validation of first-principles explosive source generated seismo-acoustic modeling codes. These codes will then facilitate the update of semi-empirical methods, currently based on historic test site data, such that key explosion observables can be reproduced, thus improving confidence in nuclear test monitoring in new areas and/or under novel emplacement conditions. The overall SPE project is comprised of both the development of the new explosion simulation codes and the chemical explosion test series. The chemical explosion test series will generate the empirical data required to both develop and validate the new simulation codes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Core Design of the Holos-Quad Microreactor

The Holos-Quad micro-reactor concept, developed by HolosGen LLC, is equipped with a 22 MWt (Mega-Watt thermal) core and an integral power conversion system converting the core thermal energy into approximately 10 MWe (Mega-Watt electric). This design can be configured to support a wide range of applications. It is a very innovative high-temperature gas-cooled reactor concept using TRI-structural ISOtropic particle fuel (TRISO) distributed in graphite hexagonal blocks, cooled with helium in a direct Brayton cycle independently executed by four Subcritical Power Modules (SPMs) fitted into a hardened 40-foot container whose dimensions are in compliance with ISO shipping containers requirements. In FY2019 HolosGen LLC was awarded by the Department of Energy Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (DOE ARPA-E) under the MEITNER funding program. As part of the MEITNER award, the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) contributed expertise through two specialized teams: The “Design Team” and the “Resource Team”. The Design Team was dedicated to validate feasibility of the Holos-Quad core and to optimize its core design through neutronics analyses. The Resource Team was dedicated to feasibility verification via high-fidelity codes of Holos-Quad thermal-hydraulic, heat transfer, shielding, and structural aspects. This report summarizes the activities conducted by ANL Design Team. A rigorous design approach based on multi-criteria optimization and code-to-code comparison involving stochastic and high-fidelity deterministic solutions was developed and employed at several evolutionary stages of the Holos-Quad design. Several generations of the Holos-Quad core were designed within this project before converging to the current full-scale Gen 2+ design that is detailed in this report. Figure EA-1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of Gen 2+ Holos-Quad core configuration, and Figure EA-2 provides a simplified perspective view of 1-of-4 SPMs. The Holos-Quad uses four thermal-hydraulically independent SPMs locked into stationary positions during power operation, surrounded by BeO reflector and structural component fully comprised within the dimensional constraints represented by traditional ISO containers. One of the benefits of this approach is to enable transportation of each SPM promptly after irradiation in shielded containers. The core is designed to operate for approximately 8 full-power years while the reactivity controls and power conversion system enable load-following operations. The reactivity controls are represented by independent, diversified, and redundant reactivity control systems based on control drums and redundant sets of shutdown rods. The high-fidelity simulation tools were used to assess detailed power and flux distributions of the three-dimensional full-core or quarter-core of the Gen 2+ configuration. Single-physics and multi-physics simulations of the neutronics code PROTEUS and the thermal-hydraulic code System Analysis Module (SAM) were performed to analyze the Holos design configurations with detailed high-fidelity solutions. The design work performed confirmed feasibility of the Holos-Quad concept, provided realistic design description for detailed design of the operational system, and identified several core design improvements to be further considered for future reactor development activities.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Implementation of a Drift Flux Model into SAM with Development of a Verification and Validation Test Suite for Modeling of Noncondensable Gas Mixtures

The advanced thermal-hydraulic system code, System Analysis Module (SAM), was originally developed for the modeling of single-phase flow in advanced reactors. It has since been expanded to include a four-equation drift flux model for the modeling of two-phase flows containing a noncondensable gas. The model was expanded to support the modeling of molten salt reactor (MSR) designs in which the fuel is directly dissolved in the circulating coolant. These designs have shown that circulating gas bubbles can play an important role in the management of fission products and the operational behavior of the reactor. A drift flux model was implemented to more accurately capture the localized behavior of the void in the core and its impact on the mass transfer of fission products. A thorough assessment of the new model was performed by developing a verification and validation test suite. Verification problems were designed to test all major terms in the new governing equations. The new model converged to the correct solution at the expected order of accuracy for all verification cases. The validation cases included a wide range of flow and void conditions in different pipe geometries. Although higher void experiments show a slight underprediction of void by the drift flux model, experiments that aim to reproduce Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) experimental conditions show good agreement with the model. The gas transport model was activated for a SAM model of the MSRE to demonstrate that it can be used in a more complex model. Finally, this gas transport model will be used along with an interfacial area transport equation being implemented in SAM for the prediction of mass transport behavior in MSR conditions.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Contact pressure analysis to allow improved design for the clearing plate in a biomass comminution system

For biomass processing systems, feedstocks with small but equal sizes can improve flowability and thermochemical outputs. The Crumbler rotary shear system was designed to achieve such ideal feedstocks to reduce costs and energy throughout the biomass supply chain. Improving the wear resistance of major components in this system is important to decrease the cost. Accelerating the feedstock flow through the rotary shear machine plays an equivalent role of improving its efficiency. An analytical analysis and a finite-element analysis of the stationary clearing plate are presented in this work. Here, these tools are used to investigate the effect of contact surface curvature on the impact pressure. The optimized new clearing plate design is expected to improve the component’s lifetime and wood chips flowability. The field tests confirm that the trend of the new clearing plate design guided by FEA. The optimization method, model verification, and validation experience applied in this work can also be applied to other static components with similar simple contact wear problems.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Moving Beyond Direct Load Control: A Maturity Model for Realizing the Promise of Demand Flexibility

This report discusses a new maturity model that regulators and utilities can use to guide and expand demand flexibility programs and enable the resources to provide more grid services. The model has six demand flexibility categories: planning and design; customer engagement; program operations; evaluation, measurement and verification; distributed energy resource orchestration; and data infrastructure. Within each category, capabilities are identified and described on a maturity scale that ranges from performing below expectations to improving on best practices.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Demonstration of Model-Based Design for Digital Controller Using Formal Methods

This report describes work originally performed in FY19 that assembled a workflow enabling formal verification of high-consequence digital controllers. The approach builds on an engineering analysis strategy using multiple abstraction levels (Model-Based Design) and performs exhaustive formal analysis of appropriate levels – here, state machines and C code – to assure always/never properties of digital logic that cannot be verified by testing alone. The operation of the workflow is illustrated using example models and code, including expected failures of verification when properties are violated.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) NFE-18-07194 with TerraPower LLC (Final Report)

Because of the potential economic and safety benefits of the molten salt reactor (MSR) concept, development of several designs has been initiated around the world over the past decade. New international nuclear safeguards needs and verification challenges are likely to arise because of the commercial interests in MSRs and the number of MSR design variants. As a result, work was undertaken to explore the cross-cutting issues specific to the application of international nuclear safeguards (i.e., safeguards) to liquid-fueled molten salt reactors (LFMSRs). Through a public-private partnership, a report was developed that focuses on the TerraPower Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) design that has received a funding award from the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy. The report is intended to provide a preliminary analysis for a safeguards-by-design (SBD) effort to inform designers about how safeguards could be applied to LFMSRs by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).Although the report specifically focuses on the TerraPower design, the conclusions are applicable to the main design features of LFMSRs and can be used to extrapolate how existing IAEA safeguards measures for other fuel cycle facilities can be appropriately applied or modified. The report evaluates the appropriate safeguards approaches for LFMSRs, presents existing safeguards inspection technologies are still valid for LFMSRs, and identifies new challenges that will require novel measurement instruments to meet verification standards of the IAEA and the international safeguards regime. This document summarizes the results of the work performed under the full report developed as part of the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). This summary does not contain any protected CRADA information and is intended for public release.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Model based co-simulation platform for integrated building system control and design optimization

Both steady-state and dynamic simulations have been widely used by HVAC&R industry to support product/equipment development for decades. Steady-state simulation focuses on the system mass, energy and momentum balance of an equilibrium state. It is based on high-fidelity components models, and thus is suitable for system and component design optimization. Dynamic simulation studies the system transient response and is generally used for controls development and verification. It usually does not require rigorous component models of high accuracy because 1) the commonly used PID control is feedback control whose control performance evaluation doesn’t require high fidelity system/plant model; 2) high-fidelity dynamic model significantly increases the number of equations and variables and creates tremendous challenge for math solver. For supervisory control, transactive control or optimization of an integrated building system, the HVAC&R equipment is often one of the sub-components to be controlled. High-fidelity equipment models are required for accurately evaluating control strategies. In addition, building equipment manufacturers have developed a lot of high-fidelity steady-state equipment/component models per their expertise. Thus, a platform that can integrate OEM high-fidelity steady-state model with dynamic building simulation and/or electric power system & grid simulation to support the development and verification of supervisory control for integrated building systems is necessary. In this study, ORNL’s heat pump design tool (HPDM) is utilized to develop a co-simulation platform for supervisory control and optimization in integrated building systems. It is based on a model that integrates high-fidelity steady-state simulation equipment models with dynamic building simulation. A practical case of using the proposed co-simulation platform to develop and evaluate the supervisory control and optimization is presented and discussed.

Sun, Jian↗
DOE OSTI2022

Irradiation Experiments and Thermal Analysis for Reactor System Design and Analysis at INL

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is the nation's lead nuclear laboratory working to enhance reactor systems' safety, security, economics, and efficiency. Research and development (R&D) programs at INL support the current fleet of nuclear reactors for safer operation and newer reactors technology design, development, demonstration, and deployment. A major focus of INL's mission is the reactor system design and analysis supported by the irradiation experiments and thermal analysis of advanced and current-generation nuclear fuels and materials. The irradiation experiments and thermal analysis provide a deeper understanding of basic radiation damage processes that can determine the basis for performance improvements and verification of modeling assumptions. These experiments and analyses include experiment management: design, fabrication, characterization, irradiation, and post-irradiation examination. This research involves thermal, neutronic, and material investigation using the INL's Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facilities. The results from these experiments and analysis are required to develop the regulatory basis for deploying new or modified fuels and materials. This seminar talk will also provide a general overview of the INL's research facilities, ongoing research programs, core capabilities, and opportunities for students and faculties.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Importance of appropriate genome information for the design of mating type primers in black and yellow morel populations

Abstract Morels are highly prized edible fungi where sexual reproduction is essential for fruiting-body production. As a result, a comprehensive understanding of their sexual reproduction is of great interest. Central to this is the identification of the reproductive strategies used by morels. Sexual reproduction in fungi is controlled by mating-type ( MAT ) genes and morels are thought to be mainly heterothallic with two idiomorphs, MAT1-1 and MAT1-2. Genomic sequencing of black (Elata clade) and yellow (Esculenta clade) morel species has led to the development of PCR primers designed to amplify genes from the two idiomorphs for rapid genotyping of isolates from these two clades. To evaluate the design and theoretical performance of these primers we performed a thorough bioinformatic investigation, including the detection of the MAT region in publicly available Morchella genomes and in-silico PCR analyses. All examined genomes, including those used for primer design, appeared to be heterothallic. This indicates an inherent fault in the original primer design which utilized a single Morchella genome, as the use of two genomes with complementary mating types would be required to design accurate primers for both idiomorphs. Furthermore, potential off-targets were identified for some of the previously published primer sets, but verification was challenging due to lack of adequate genomic information and detailed methodologies for primer design. Examinations of the black morel specific primer pairs (MAT11L/R and MAT22L/R) indicated the MAT22 primers would correctly target and amplify the MAT1-2 idiomorph, but the MAT11 primers appear to be capable of amplifying incorrect off-targets within the genome. The yellow morel primer pairs (EMAT1-1 L/R and EMAT1-2 L/R) appear to have reporting errors, as the published primer sequences are dissimilar with reported amplicon sequences and the EMAT1-2 primers appear to amplify the RNA polymerase II subunit ( RPB2 ) gene. The lack of the reference genome used in primer design and descriptive methodology made it challenging to fully assess the apparent issues with the primers for this clade. In conclusion, additional work is still required for the generation of reliable primers to investigate mating types in morels and to assess their performance on different clades and across multiple geographical regions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗