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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Evolution of the Horizontal Winds in Jupiter's Great Red Spot From One Jovian Year of HST/WFC3 Maps

We measured the horizontal winds in Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) using data from the WFC3/UVIS instrument on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The data cover 11 epochs from 2009 to 2020. Long-term monotonic trends in size and shape previously noted from the visible cloud appearance are paralleled by changes in the high-speed ring around the vortex. The circularization of the GRS cannot be explained by changes in the horizontal wind shear of the surrounding environment. The velocity fields suggest no long-term trend in the static stability inside or outside the vortex. Instead, the changes are accompanied by a 4%–8% increase in the mean wind speeds of the high-speed ring from 2009 to 2020. Changes in the wind field coincided with the South Equatorial Belt Outbreak storms of 2016–2017, but not with 2019 "flaking" events involving detachment of red material from the main oval.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Enhanced Cloud Top Longwave Radiative Cooling Due To the Effect of Horizontal Radiative Transfer in the Stratocumulus to Trade Cumulus Transition Regime

Abstract Recent studies develop the SPeedy Algorithm for Radiative TrAnsfer through CloUd Sides (SPARTACUS) to handle the influence of horizontal RT on vertical radiative fluxes within an atmospheric column. The present study applies SPARTACUS to large eddy simulation (LES)‐generated cloud fields across the stratocumulus to trade cumulus transition (STCT) regime with coarse and fine vertical resolutions. The results show that, as the vertical resolution increases, radiation simulations show increasingly stronger cloud‐top longwave (LW) radiative cooling. Consequently, the sharp radiative heating gradient across the cloud layer in the LES‐like resolution simulations cannot be resolved with the coarse resolution simulations. Including the horizontal RT typically enhances cloud LW radiative cooling rate by less than 10% for all the cloud fields but more significantly in the cloud fields during the STCT. The enhanced cloud LW radiative cooling also occurs in the lower cloud layer in the decoupled cumulus cloud regime.

Geology↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sensitivity measurements for a 250 MHz quartz shear-horizontal surface acoustic wave biosensor under liquid viscous loading

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices have been used in biochemical assays due to their high sensitivity. The device sensitivity is a function of changes in the density and viscosity of the liquid. Here, we studied the effect of fluid viscosity using a 250 MHz quartz shear-horizontal (SH)-SAW biosensor by monitoring different concentrations of binary aqueous/glycerol solutions. In this study, the sensitivity of the biosensor was determined by fitting the data to models derived from perturbation theory. Measurements in water were used as the reference. For a 0% to 50% glycerol solution, an 87°–204° separation in the phase shift was observed. The slope of the plot of the phase shift vs (ηρ)0.5 was used to indicate the sensor’s sensitivity. The sensitivity for our 250 MHz quartz SH-SAW sensors was calculated to be 3.7×10−3m2sKg. The corresponding mass sensitivity was determined to be 9.25 × 105m2Kg. The limit of detection was calculated to be 36 picograms (pg), while the limit of quantification or LOQ was calculated to be 109 pg. Traditionally, liquid phase measurements have been challenging for SAW devices because liquids dampen the vibrating sensors severely. This problem has been largely solved using a transverse (shear) wave instead of the more popular longitudinal or Rayleigh waves. Liquid measurements are now possible using transverse waves, also known as shear waves, because transverse waves are only minimally attenuated by liquids. Shear-horizontal SAW sensors (SH-SAW) show great promise as label-free biosensors because of their ability to handle liquid samples. However, the viscosity of the liquid still induces loading effects and can be measured when the liquid is loaded onto the SH-SAW propagating surface (delay line). When the liquid above the delay line is perturbed by physical or chemical changes, such as binding to a receptor, it alters the propagating acoustic wave. The SH-SAW device can measure these changes in liquid properties as a change in the wave’s phase compared to the original wave. The device’s phase shift was recorded as a function of the changes in the density and viscosity of the binary glycerol solution and used to determine the sensitivity in the linear dynamic range of responses.

Materials Science↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electromagnetic energy calibration of the SoLid detector with horizontal muons

SoLid is a neutrino experiment at very-short baselinesearching for active-to-sterile oscillations of reactorantineutrinos. The detection principle is based on the pairing oftwo types of solid scintillators: polyvinyl toluene and $^{6}$Li:ZnS(Ag), which is a new technology used in this field ofPhysics. In addition to good neutron-gamma discrimination, thissetup allows the detector to be highly segmented; the basicdetection unit is a 5 cm cube. High segmentation provides numerousadvantages including precise localisation of the Inverse Beta Decay(IBD) products, the derivation of an antineutrino energy estimatorbased on the isolated positron energy, and a powerful backgroundreduction tool that relies on the topological signature of thesignal. Finally, the system is read out by a network ofwavelength-shifting fibres coupled to photosensors. A relativeelectromagnetic calibration is performed with horizontal cosmicmuons. This source poses the simplest calibration problem in which asingle detection unit is involved. In addition, large muon energydeposits allow us to perform a calibration at the most detailedlevel (i.e. per fibre) and to accurately define the fraction ofenergy escaping to neighbouring detection cells. A statisticalprecision at the sub-percent level is reached. The paper alsodiscusses two methods to calibrate the absolute energy scale andpresents their implementation and results. The first method relieson horizontal muons, though the precision is limited to around 10%because of the uncertainty in the energy distribution of suchmuons. A novel, alternative method based on the radioactiveamericium-beryllium source is proposed. It takes advantage of theelectron-positron pair-production process and provides a calibrationpoint at 3.4 MeV (i.e. in the core of the IBD positronspectrum). The paper is concluded with various cross-check includinga determination of the energy spectrum of the standard cosmogenicbackground candle: $^{12}$B.

Abreu, Y. [Antwerp U.]↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Value of Information From Horizontal Distributed Acoustic Sensing Compared to Multicomponent Geophones Via Machine Learning

Abstract Faults play an important role in recharging many geothermal reservoirs, and seismic information can image the locations of these faults. The value of information (VOI) metric is used to objectively quantify and compare the value of two types of seismic receiver data via a machine learning approach. The demonstrated VOI methodology is novel by including spatial models from seismic data and obtaining the information statistics from machine learning. Our two-dimensional numerical experiments compare images created from sparsely spaced (80 m), two-component geophone sampling to high spatial resolution (1 m), single-component DAS. We used a three-fold cross validation of a U-Net convolutional neural networks to achieve average classification statistics. The results suggest that when horizontal sources are utilized, geophones and DAS identify reflectors and non-reflectors at roughly the same rate. The average F1 score for horizontal DAS is 0.939 and 0.931 for geophones. For images created from a vertical source, DAS performed marginally better (F1 = 0.919) than geophones (F1 = 0.877). Our transferrable methodology can provide guidance on which acquisition scenarios can improve images of important structures in the subsurface and present an efficient method for obtaining reliability statistics from high-dimensional, spatial data.

Energy & Fuels↗
DOE OSTI2026

Horizontal transfer of chromosomal DNA mediated by an integrative and conjugative element generates frequent localized recombination in Novosphingobium aromaticivorans

Horizontal gene transfer is an important evolutionary process by which DNA is exchanged between cells that are physically co-located but not direct evolutionary descendants. Horizontal transfer of highly divergent DNA is relatively easy to detect and can produce major phenotypic changes, exemplified by the acquisition of antibiotic resistance determinants. However, transfer of high-identity DNA, for example, between strains of the same species, is likely to be more frequent, harder to detect, and highly impactful in aggregate. In this work, we demonstrate that soil isolates of the alphaproteobacterium Novosphingobium aromaticivorans can exchange chromosomal DNA, leading to multiple unselected recombination events spanning approximately 10% of the chromosome. Chromosomal recombination was directional and more efficient near an integrative and conjugative element (ICE), and required a relaxase found in the ICE. Recombination could not be observed in strains from closely related Novosphingobium species. In combination, these results suggest that ICE-mediated recombination can efficiently recombine DNA within N. aromaticivorans, increasing the adaptive potential of the species while also enforcing species boundaries through preferential intraspecific recombination.

Allemann, Marco [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2020

Horizontal Gene Transfer to a Defensive Symbiont with a Reduced Genome in a Multipartite Beetle Microbiome

Symbiotic mutualisms of bacteria and animals are ubiquitous in nature, running a continuum from facultative to obligate from the perspectives of both partners. The loss of functions required for living independently but not within a host gives rise to reduced genomes in many symbionts. Although the phenomenon of genome reduction can be explained by existing evolutionary models, the initiation of the process is not well understood. Here, we describe the microbiome associated with the eggs of the beetle Lagria villosa, consisting of multiple bacterial symbionts related to Burkholderia gladioli, including a reduced-genome symbiont thought to be the exclusive producer of the defensive compound lagriamide. We show that the putative lagriamide-producing symbiont is the only member of the microbiome undergoing genome reduction and that it has already lost the majority of its primary metabolism and DNA repair pathways. The key step preceding genome reduction in the symbiont was likely the horizontal acquisition of the putative lagriamide lga biosynthetic gene cluster. Unexpectedly, we uncovered evidence of additional horizontal transfers to the symbiont’s genome while genome reduction was occurring and despite a current lack of genes needed for homologous recombination. These gene gains may have given the genome-reduced symbiont a selective advantage in the microbiome, especially given the maintenance of the large lga gene cluster despite ongoing genome reduction.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Influences of Environmental Relative Humidity and Horizontal Scale of Subcloud Ascent on Deep Convective Initiation

This study examines two factors impacting initiation of moist deep convection: free-tropospheric environmental relative humidity (φ E ) and horizontal scale of subcloud ascent (R sub ), the latter exerting a dominant control on cumulus cloud width. A simple theoretical model is used to formulate a “scale selection” hypothesis: that a minimum R sub is required for moist convection to go deep, and that this minimum scale decreases with increasing φ E . Specifically, the ratio of R 2 sub to saturation deficit (1 - φ E ) must exceed a certain threshold value that depends on cloud-layer environmental lapse rate. Idealized, large-eddy simulations of moist convection forced by horizontally varying surface fluxes show strong sensitivity of maximum cumulus height to both φ E and R sub consistent with the hypothesis. Increasing R sub by only 300–400 m can lead to a large increase (>5 km) in cloud height. A passive tracer analysis shows that the bulk fractional entrainment rate decreases rapidly with R sub but depends little on φ E . However, buoyancy dilution increases as either R sub or φ E decreases; buoyancy above the level of free convection is rapidly depleted in dry environments when R sub is small. While deep convective initiation occurs with an increase in relative humidity of the near environment from moistening by earlier convection, the importance of this moisture preconditioning is inconclusive as it is accompanied by an increase in R sub . Overall, it is concluded that small changes to R sub driven by external forcing or by convection itself could be a dominant regulator of deep convective initiation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Interpretation of Fracture Initiation Points by In-Well Low-Frequency Distributed Acoustic Sensing in Horizontal Wells

Summary Low-frequency distributed acoustic sensing (LF-DAS) exploits the optical phase shift of Rayleigh backscatter in fiber-optic cables to obtain distributed measurements of changes in strain and temperature. Fiber-optic cables are often installed for multistage hydraulic fracture diagnostics in horizontal wells. LF-DAS in an untreated well provides far-field strain measurements, while offset wells are hydraulically fractured. Such a configuration is called crosswell LF-DAS sensing. Crosswell LF-DAS measurements have proved useful in diagnosing fracture hits, fracture azimuth, planarity, cluster efficiency, fracture propagation rates, and the dynamic distance to the fracture front. In contrast, in-well LF-DAS is conducted on the actively fractured well. Due to cool fracture fluid being injected at high injection rates, the strain component of the LF-DAS response is largely obscured by temperature changes. In permanent fiber-optic cable installations, distributed temperature sensing (DTS) is often conducted simultaneously with LF-DAS. An opportunity exists to decouple the temperature and strain components of LF-DAS sensors to observe strain changes on in-well LF-DAS. The LF-DAS response is modeled as linearly dependent on strain and temperature changes. Theoretical LF-DAS temperature and strain sensitivity coefficients are derived based on the changes to the index of refraction and length of the fiber. Using the DTS measurements, temperature changes are computed, smoothed, filtered, and compared to the LF-DAS response. Crossplots of the in-well LF-DAS measurements and temperature changes from DTS measurements far from the actively fractured region are used to validate the theoretical sensitivity coefficients. Uncertainty in the temperature component of the LF-DAS response is quantified. The difficulty in corresponding the different spatial and temporal resolutions of the DTS and LF-DAS measurements is overcome by comparing the responses over a moving temporal and spatial window. If the LF-DAS response at the center of the window agrees with the DTS response within uncertainty, the measurement is filtered out. After filtering, the remaining nonzero in-well LF-DAS measurements are due to changes in strain. The data are then visualized in waterfall plots. The results indicate that the theoretical and observed strain and temperature coefficients agree within 10%. After the temperature component of the in-well LF-DAS response is extracted, the remaining nonzero measurements are located primarily within the actively treated region. Locations with peaks in the strain response are interpreted to indicate fracture initiation points. These fracture initiation points are compared with in-well DTS and high-frequency DAS noise measurements across multiple stages to better understand fracture initiation along the horizontal well.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2021

Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulation for Electrolyte Flow in Horizontal EP of Nb SRF Elliptical Cavities

An electrolyte flow velocity on an electropolishingsurface affects a material removal rate where higherremoval is observed with a higher velocity of theelectrolyte. In horizontal EP (HEP) of an ellipticalcavity, an electrolyte flow near the equator positionmight remain slow and responsible for a lowerremoval compared to that on the iris and beam pipepositions. In order to understand the flow dynamicon an elliptical cavity surface in the horizontal EPprocess, a computational fluid dynamic simulationwas conducted. This study was conducted on 1.3GHz cavity with different cathodes and acid flowrates. Final aim of the study is to improve the flowuniformity to attain uniform removal especially inmulticell cavities.

Chouhan, V.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Fermilab’s horizontal test stand upgrade overview and commissioning

Cryo-assemblies with the low-beta Nb3Sn quadrupoles for the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) upgrade will be tested at Fermilab’s magnet test facility. Total of 10 cryo-assemblies will be delivered to CERN within the US HL-LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project (AUP). The horizontal test stand at Fermilab already has been used for testing the existing LHC inner-triplet quadrupoles, but the stand and corresponding electrical and cryogenic sub-systems were not operational more than a decade. In order to restore the test stand functions and meet the design and test requirements for the high luminosity LHC magnets, the existing horizontal test facility at Fermilab underwent a significant refurbishment of the cryogenic and mechanical components. Most of the upgrades were completed and verified during so called zero-magnet test by late 2020, and then final commissioning of the upgraded test stand was completed during the first cryo-assembly test in 2023. These tests verified all the cryo-mechanical installations, as well as the test stand operations, including controlled cooldown and operation at 1.9 K, the helium recovery capabilities, magnet protection and process controls.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Global horizontal spectral irradiance and module spectral response measurements: an open dataset for PV research

This report describes the creation process and final content of a spectral irradiance dataset for Albuquerque, New Mexico accompanied by a set of spectral response measurements for modules deployed at the same location. The spectral irradiance measurements were made using horizontally mounted spectroradiometers; therefore, they represent global horizontal irradiance. The dataset combines non-continuous spectroradiometer and weather measurements from a two-year period into a single calendar year. The data files are accompanied by extensive metadata as well as example calculations and graphs to demonstrate the potential uses of this database. The spectral response measurements were carried out by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory using 12 commercial silicon modules types that are undergoing long-term evaluation at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Convergent evolution and horizontal gene transfer in Arctic Ocean microalgae

Microbial communities in the world ocean are affected strongly by oceanic circulation, creating characteristic marine biomes. The high connectivity of most of the ocean makes it difficult to disentangle selective retention of colonizing genotypes (with traits suited to biome specific conditions) from evolutionary selection, which would act on founder genotypes over time. The Arctic Ocean is exceptional with limited exchange with other oceans and ice covered since the last ice age. To test whether Arctic microalgal lineages evolved apart from algae in the global ocean, we sequenced four lineages of microalgae isolated from Arctic waters and sea ice. Here we show convergent evolution and highlight geographically limited HGT as an ecological adaptive force in the form of PFAM complements and horizontal acquisition of key adaptive genes. Notably, ice-binding proteins were acquired and horizontally transferred among Arctic strains. A comparison with Tara Oceans metagenomes and metatranscriptomes confirmed mostly Arctic distributions of these IBPs. The phylogeny of Arctic-specific genes indicated that these events were independent of bacterial-sourced HGTs in Antarctic Southern Ocean microalgae.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assessing the sensitivity of aerosol mass budget and effective radiative forcing to horizontal grid spacing in E3SMv1 using a regional refinement approach

Abstract. Atmospheric aerosols have important impacts on air quality and the Earth–atmospheric energy balance. However, as computing power is limited, Earth system models generally use coarse spatial grids and parameterize finer-scale atmospheric processes. These parameterizations and the simulation of atmospheric aerosols are often sensitive to model horizontal resolutions. Understanding the sensitivities is necessary for the development of Earth system models at higher resolutions with the deployment of more powerful supercomputers. Using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) version 1, this study investigates the impact of horizontal grid spacing on the simulated aerosol mass budget, aerosol–cloud interactions, and the effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols (ERFaer) over the contiguous United States. We examine the resolution sensitivity by comparing the nudged simulation results for 2016 from the low-resolution model (LR) and the regional refinement model (RRM). As expected, the simulated emissions of natural dust, sea salt, and marine organic matter are substantially higher in the RRM than in the LR. In addition, RRM simulates stronger aqueous-phase production of sulfate through the enhanced oxidation of sulfur dioxide by hydrogen peroxide due to increased cloud liquid water content. In contrast, the gas-phase chemical production of sulfate is slightly suppressed. The RRM resolves more large-scale precipitation and produces less convective precipitation than the LR, leading to increased (decreased) aerosol wet scavenging by large-scale (convective) precipitation. Regarding aerosol effects on clouds, RRM produces larger temporal variabilities in the large-scale liquid cloud fractions than LR, resulting in increased microphysical cloud processing of aerosols (more interstitial aerosols are converted to cloud-borne aerosols via aerosol activation) in RRM. Water vapor condensation is also enhanced in RRM compared to LR. Consequently, the RRM simulation produces more cloud droplets, a larger cloud droplet radius, a higher liquid water path, and a larger cloud optical depth than the LR simulation. A comparison of the present-day and pre-industrial simulations indicates that, for this contiguous United States domain, the higher-resolution increases ERFaer at the top of the model by about 12 %, which is mainly attributed to the strengthened indirect effect associated with aerosol–cloud interactions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1972

Space shuttle horizontal flight test plan

A horizontal takeoff flight test concept for testing space shuttle vehicles is presented. The guidelines used in planning and support requirements for the flight tests are developed. Details of the test program are provided. The instrumentation requirements are defined. The limitations imposed by the short flight endurance and restricted maneuvering capability of the shuttle booster/orbiter in the horizontal mode are described. The test program covers the following investigations. (1) stall and lift boundary tests, (2)takeoff and landing tests, (3) level flight speed power tests, (4) longitudinal and laterial directional dynamic stability, and (5) static directional stability.

Mosley, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Numerical and Experimental Studies of the Natural Convection Flow Within a Horizontal Cylinder Subjected to a Uniformly Cold Wall Boundary Condition

Numberical solutions are obtained for the quasi-compressible Navier-Stokes equations governing the time dependent natural convection flow within a horizontal cylinder. The early time flow development and wall heat transfer is obtained after imposing a uniformly cold wall boundary condition on the cylinder. Solutions are also obtained for the case of a time varying cold wall boundary condition. Windware explicit differ-encing is used for the numerical solutions. The viscous truncation error associated with this scheme is controlled so that first order accuracy is maintained in time and space. The results encompass a range of Grashof numbers from 8.34 times 10,000 to 7 times 10 to the 7th power which is within the laminar flow regime for gravitationally driven fluid flows. Experiments within a small scale instrumented horizontal cylinder revealed the time development of the temperature distribution across the boundary layer and also the decay of wall heat transfer with time.

Stewart, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1973

What is the horizontal scale of the 5-min oscillations

Solar oscillations with periods near 5 min were discovered in the photosphere by Leighton et al. (1962) on Doppler photographs which showed the sun to be covered with small velocity cells a few thousand km in diameter. If wrong, all the early reports of a small horizontal scale (about 2000 km) for the 5-min oscillations may be due to unfortunate similarities between the velocity and overturning time of the solar granule convection and the corresponding velocity and period typical of the oscillations. A large horizontal scale (about 30,000 km) for the oscillations seems consistent with the old data and almost required by more recent measurements. The large scales recently measured would imply that a sizable fraction of the solar volume is involved in the oscillation and would cast some doubt on all the old theories of the 5-min oscillations which were based on plane parallel atmospheres.

Wolff, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Numerical and experimental studies of the natural convection within a horizontal cylinder

Numerical solutions are obtained for the quasi-compressible Navier-Stokes equations governing the time-dependent natural convection within a horizontal cylinder. The early flow development and wall heat transfer are obtained after a uniformly cold wall is imposed as a boundary condition on the cylinder. Results are also obtained for a time-varying cold wall as a boundary condition with windward explicit differencing used for the numerical solutions. The viscous truncation error associated with this scheme is controlled so that first-order accuracy is maintained in time and space. Experiments within a small-scale instrumented horizontal cylinder revealed the time development of the temperature distribution across the boundary layer as well as the decay of wall heat transfer with time. Agreement between temperature distributions obtained experimentally and numerically was generally good. The time decay of the dimensionless ratio of the Nusselt number to the one-fourth power of the Grashof number is found both numerically and experimentally, and good agreement is obtained between these two results over most of the cylinder wall.

Stewart, R. B.↗