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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 1,657 records · Page 92

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NASA NTRS2018

Comparison of the Integrated Medical Model Predictions to Real World ISS and STS Observations

The Human Research Program funded the development of the integrated medical model (IMM) to quantify the medical component of overall mission risk. The IMM uses Monte Carlo methodology to integrate space flight and ground medical data to assess the probability of mission medical outcomes and resource utilization. To determine the credibility of IMM output the IMM project team completed two validation studies that compare IMM output to observed medical events from a selection of Shuttle Transportation System (STS) and International Space Station (ISS) missions.

validation↗

DOE OSTI2021

Evaluation of Technically-Recoverable Resources in the Marcellus and Utica Shale Gas Plays of the Appalachian Basin

Well production estimates are evaluated to provide estimates of total and remaining technically-recoverable gas resources in the Marcellus and Utica shale gas plays of the Appalachian basin. Domestic gas resources are critical contributors to the United States (U.S.) economy and will be key to enabling the sustainable and carbon-neutral fuel systems of the future. Recent assessments by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) continue to identify resources of the Appalachian region as critical to meeting energy demand, with the Marcellus and Utica- Point Pleasant (“Utica”) shale plays combining for more than 30 percent of projected U.S. domestic natural gas production through 2050.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Spatial and temporal characterization of municipal solid waste based on resource recovery pathways

This study presents a two-year, quarterly assessment of MSW across four source sectors (residential, schools, restaurants, and grocery stores) from sixteen sites across five U.S. states. MSW was manually sorted into 27 categories and aggregated into pathway fractions: high-moisture (HM) organics, low-moisture (LM) organics, recyclable (RC) materials, and residuals for disposal. Organics represented 89 % of the MSW stream. The largest fraction was HM organics consisting of food waste (31 %) and yard waste (3 %), with large coefficient of variations (CV), 79 and 278 %, respectively, reflecting high seasonal and site variability that varied significantly (p < 0.01) across sampling periods. The HM fraction showed properties favorable for anaerobic digestion, with moisture content ranging from 56 to 95 % and volatile solids ranges of 86-95 %. In contrast, the LM and RC fractions remained more stable (plastics CV = 41 %; paper CV = 53 %) with heating values up to 26.9 MJ/kg across sources, reflecting suitability for gasification. Microstructural analysis revealed less porosity in residential waste sampled at the landfill, which can influence preprocessing efficiency and microbial accessibility. Pathway informed allocations showed that 35 % of MSW is suitable for anaerobic digestion, 36 % for gasification, and 18 % for recycling, leaving 11 % requiring landfill disposal. These results provide quantitative evidence to determine feedstock allocation, waste-to-energy system design, and the development of data-driven sustainability and resource recovery strategies within a circular bioeconomy.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Drivers of Future Physical Water Scarcity and Its Economic Impacts in Latin America and the Caribbean

Future water scarcity is a global concern with significant impacts on the energy, water, and land (EWL) sectors. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are significant producers of agricultural goods consumed around the world, so disruptions resulting from land and water scarcity in LAC are a source of global supply chain risk. Understanding where water scarcity in LAC could occur and what could drive that scarcity to emerge is critical for strategic resource management and planning, both regionally and globally. Assessing future water scarcity impacts in LAC is challenging given the multisector dynamic interactions among the EWL sectors and the multiple uncertainties acting across different spatial scales. We use scenario discovery to explore the drivers of future water scarcity, considering assumptions related to climate, socioeconomics, and the EWL sectors. Understanding what factors drive uncertainty across outcomes can help stakeholders in targeting long-term solutions and future data collection efforts. To illuminate these dynamics, we use a database consisting of a large ensemble of scenarios representing diverse worlds simulated using the Global Change Analysis Model. We quantify future water scarcity and its economic impacts across the scenarios using three metrics: (1) physical water scarcity, (2) water price, and (3) crop profit. We find that physical water scarcity and water price are driven primarily by reservoir storage capacity assumptions, highlighting the importance of strategic water infrastructure development in maintaining future water availability and accessibility. Crop profit is driven by a combination of water supply and demand assumptions, which emphasizes the complex nature of EWL multisector dynamics. While most of LAC is poised to have abundant land and water resources available for development, water basins in Mexico and along the Pacific coast of South America experience high levels of severity and uncertainty across the future scenarios for at least one of the metrics. We find that the drivers of extreme scarcity vary spatially and across the metrics, further highlighting the heterogeneity of the region and the importance of considering multiple metrics to assess water scarcity vulnerability.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Accelerated Assessment of Critical Infrastructure in Aiding Recovery Efforts During Natural and Human-made Disaster

Relief and recovery from disasters (both natural and human-made) require a coordinated approach across several federal and state government agencies. In order to achieve optimal resource allocation and deployment of first responders, accurate and timely assessment of the impact and extent of destruction are the cornerstones to any recovery effort. Ideally, this knowledge should be gathered and shared within the first 0-24 hours (termed as "Acute Phase" by the U.S. CDC guideline) for informed decision-making. But achieving this poses significant challenges for the data collection and data harmonization processes, particularly when voluminous data are being generated from diverse and distributed sources during the disaster responses. To this end, this work developed a scalable and efficient workflow to dynamically collect and harmonize crowd-sourced geographic multi-modal data, and then assess critical infrastructure (CI) damaged during disaster events. We demonstrate the application of our framework with two real-world experiences in addressing post-disaster recovery efforts - for the Bahamas (Natural - due to Hurricane Dorian, 2019) and Beirut (Human-made - due to explosion caused by the ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse, 2020). We have illustrated that a coordinated effort is needed for planning as well as for execution to achieve informed decision making.

Thakur, Gautam Malviya↗

DOE OSTI2017

Framework for Shared Drinking Water Risk Assessment.

Central to protecting our nation's critical infrastructure is the development of methodologies for prioritizing action and supporting resource allocation decisions associated with risk-reduction initiatives. Toward this need a web-based risk assessment framework that promotes the anonymous sharing of results among water utilities is demonstrated. Anonymous sharing of results offers a number of potential advantages such as assistance in recognizing and correcting bias, identification of 'unknown, unknowns', self-assessment and benchmarking for the local utility, treatment of shared assets and/or threats across multiple utilities, and prioritization of actions beyond the scale of a single utility. The constructed framework was demonstrated for three water utilities. Demonstration results were then compared to risk assessment results developed using a different risk assessment application by a different set of analysts.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-246: Evaluation of Healthcare Failure Mode And Effect Analysis For Risk Assessment

Purpose: To evaluate the differences between the Veteran Affairs Healthcare Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) and the AAPM Task Group 100 Failure and Effect Analysis (FMEA) risk assessment techniques in the setting of a stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) procedure were compared respectively. Understanding the differences in the techniques methodologies and outcomes will provide further insight into the applicability and utility of risk assessments exercises in radiation therapy. Methods: HFMEA risk assessment analysis was performed on a stereotactic radiosurgery procedure. A previous study from our institution completed a FMEA of our SRS procedure and the process map generated from this work was used for the HFMEA. The process of performing the HFMEA scoring was analyzed, and the results from both analyses were compared. Results: The key differences between the two risk assessments are the scoring criteria for failure modes and identifying critical failure modes for potential hazards. The general consensus among the team performing the analyses was that scoring for the HFMEA was simpler and more intuitive then the FMEA. The FMEA identified 25 critical failure modes while the HFMEA identified 39. Seven of the FMEA critical failure modes were not identified by the HFMEA and 21 of the HFMEA critical failure modes were not identified by the FMEA. HFMEA as described by the Veteran Affairs provides guidelines on which failure modes to address first. Conclusion: HFMEA is a more efficient model for identifying gross risks in a process than FMEA. Clinics with minimal staff, time and resources can benefit from this type of risk assessment to eliminate or mitigate high risk hazards with nominal effort. FMEA can provide more in depth details but at the cost of elevated effort.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2013

Solar Development on Contaminated and Disturbed Lands

Land classified as contaminated and disturbed across the United States has the potential to host developments of utility-scale solar power. This report examines the prospect of developing utility- and commercial-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) and solar photovoltaics (PV) technologies on degraded and environmentally contaminated lands. The potential for solar development on contaminated anddisturbed lands was assessed, and for the largest and highest solar resource sites, the economic impacts and feasibility were evaluated. Developing solar power on contaminated and disturbed lands can help create jobs and revitalize local and state economies, and selecting these sites over greenfield sites can potentially have permitting and environmental mitigation advantages. The U.S.Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot goals call for 632 GW of PV and 83 GW of CSP to be deployed by 2050. Conservative land-use estimates of this study (10 acres per megawatt) show that there are disturbed and environmentally contaminated lands throughout the country that could be suitable for utility-scale solar power, and, that there is sufficient land area to meet SunShot solar deployment goals. The purpose of this assessment is to improve the understanding of these sites and facilitate solar developers' selection of contaminated and disturbed sites for development.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS2014

Low-Cost, Class D Testing of Spacecraft Photovoltaic Systems Can Reduce Risk

The end-to-end verification of a spacecraft photovoltaic power generation system requires light! Specifically, the standard practice for doing so is the Large Area Pulsed Solar Simulation (LAPSS). A LAPSS test can characterize a photovoltaic system's efficiency via its response to rapidly applied impulses of simulated sunlight. However, a Class D program on a constrained budget and schedule may not have the resources to ship an entire satellite for a LAPSS test alone. Such was the case with the Lunar Atmospheric and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) program, which was also averse to the risk of hardware damage during shipment. When the Electrical Power System (EPS) team was denied a spacecraft-level LAPSS test, the lack of an end-to-end power generation test elevated to a project-level technical risk. The team pulled together very limited resources to not only eliminate the risk, but build a process to monitor the health of the system through mission operations. We discuss a process for performing a low-cost, end-to-end test of the LADEE photovoltaic system. The approach combines system-level functional test, panel-level performance results, and periodic inspection (and repair) up until launch. Following launch, mission operations tools are utilized to assess system performance based on a scant amount of data. The process starts in manufacturing at the subcontractor. The panel manufacturer provides functional test and LAPSS data on each individual panel. We apply an initial assumption that the per-panel performance is sufficient to meet the power generation requirements. The manufacturer's data is also carried as the performance allocation for each panel during EPS system modeling and initial mission operations. During integration and test, a high-power, professional theater lamp system provides simulated sunlight to each panel on the spacecraft, thereby permitting a true end-to-end system test. A passing test results in a step response to nearly full-rated current at the appropriate solar array switch in the power system. A metal-halide bulb, infrared imagers, and onboard spacecraft measurements are utilized to minimize risk of thermal damage during test. Data is provided to support test results for both passing and marginal panels. Prior to encapsulation in the launch vehicle, each panel is inspected for damage by the panel manufacturer. Cracked cells or other damage is amended on-site. Because the photovoltaic test system is inexpensive and portable, each repaired panel can be re-verified immediately. Post-launch, the photovoltaic system is again characterized for per-panel deviations from the manufacturer's performance test. This proved especially tricky as the LADEE spacecraft performs only one current measurement on the entire array. The algorithm for Matlab tools to assess panel performance based on spacecraft attitude is discussed. While not as precise and comprehensive as LAPSS, the LADEE approach leverages minimal resources into an ongoing assessment program that can be applied through numerous stages of the mission. The project takes a true Class D approach in assessing the technical value of a spacecraft level performance test versus the programmatic risk of shipping the spacecraft to another facility. The resources required are a fraction of that for a LAPSS test, and is easy to repeat. Further, the test equipment can be handed down to future projects without building an on-site facility.

photovoltaic↗

DOE OSTI2011

Industry and government perspectives on First Nations' participation in the British Columbia environmental assessment process

Research was conducted with West Moberly First Nations, Halfway First Nation and the Treaty 8 Tribal Association (located in northeastern British Columbia, Canada) on effective engagement in environmental assessment processes. As part of this research, we examined the perspectives of a subset of resource industry proponents and their consultants, as well as staff from the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office on their experiences with the requirement to consult with Canada's indigenous peoples. Research into the perspectives of industry proponents and consultants is almost non-existent, yet industry and governments are key participants within environmental assessments. This research found that industry proponents were disenfranchised by the British Columbia environmental assessment process and its mechanisms for consulting with First Nations, and that they sought changes to that process. Their concerns and their implications are documented and some recommendations are offered for addressing those concerns. Understanding industry and government views on First Nations engagement could suggest not only potential improvements in EA processes that facilitate all parties but provide common grounds for mutually engaging to resolve challenges.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2016

U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation Planning Project Modeling Tools

The U.S. Department Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy's (DOE-NE) Nuclear Fuels Storage and Transportation (NFST) is developing foundational capabilities and tools to support and inform the future deployment of consolidated interim storage and large-scale transportation of SNF. These tools include Used Nuclear Fuel Storage, Transportation, and Disposal Analysis Resource and Data System (UNF-Standards), Stakeholder Tool for Assessing Radioactive Transportation (START), Transportation and Storage Logistics (TSL), Next- Generation System Analysis Model (NGSAM), Execution Strategy Analysis (ESA), Multi-Objective Evaluation Framework (MOEF), and the Centralized Used Fuel Resource for Information Exchange (CURIE). (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

NASA NTRS2020

Corrosion Atmospheric Exposure Facility PRL #239 SWMU Assessment Report/Confirmation Sampling Work Plan

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit requires identification and evaluation of known Solid Waste Management Units (SWMU) located at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The Corrosion Atmospheric Exposure Facility (CAEF), also known as facility number K8-0600, and the Corrosion Test Area (CTA); also known as facility number K8-0237, herein referred to as the site, is designated Potential Release Location (PRL) 239 under the NASA RCRA permit. A SWMU Assessment (SA) was conducted between November 2019 and February 2020 to identify potential environmental impacts related to current and historic operations being conducted at the site. The SA included a site reconnaissance visit in February 2020, interviews with various personnel possessing knowledge of past work practices and operations at the site, and review of available historical documentation, engineering drawings, and facility inspection reports. Current site conditions were documented in photographs. Soil types and wildlife habitat were also evaluated. The objective of the assessment was to identify potential locations of concern (LOC) at the site and to determine whether further evaluation is required.

Kimberly Clower↗

NASA NTRS2007

Productivity Analysis of Public and Private Airports: A Causal Investigation

Around the world, airports are being viewed as enterprises, rather than public services, which are expected to be managed efficiently and provide passengers with courteous customer services. Governments are, increasingly, turning to the private sectors for their efficiency in managing the operation, financing, and development, as well as providing security for airports. Operational and financial performance evaluation has become increasingly important to airport operators due to recent trends in airport privatization. Assessing performance allows the airport operators to plan for human resources and capital investment as efficiently as possible. Productivity measurements may be used as comparisons and guidelines in strategic planning, in the internal analysis of operational efficiency and effectiveness, and in assessing the competitive position of an airport in transportation industry. The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the operational and financial efficiencies of 22 major airports in the United States and Europe. These airports are divided into three groups based on private ownership (7 British Airport Authority airports), public ownership (8 major United States airports), and a mix of private and public ownership (7 major European Union airports. The detail ownership structures of these airports are presented in Appendix A. Total factor productivity (TFP) model was utilized to measure airport performance in terms of financial and operational efficiencies and to develop a benchmarking tool to identify the areas of strength and weakness. A regression model was then employed to measure the relationship between TFP and ownership structure. Finally a Granger causality test was performed to determine whether ownership structure is a Granger cause of TFP. The results of the analysis presented in this paper demonstrate that there is not a significant relationship between airport TFP and ownership structure. Airport productivity and efficiency is, however dependent upon the level of competition, choice of the market, and regulatory control.

Vasigh, Bijan↗

DOE OSTI2022

The Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization Framework - CELAVI

A circular economy (CE) aims to decouple human activities from economic growth and resource use, and its overall goal is reducing or avoiding negative environmental externalities. The newly developed Circular Economy Lifecycle Assessment and Visualization (CELAVI) framework simulates changes in supply chain environmental impacts as it transitions toward circularity. This study expands CELAVI by incorporating detailed spatial resolution and real-world road routes connecting all facilities within the system. The case study on end-of-life decision making of wind turbine blades in the states of Iowa and Missouri explores how supply chain circularity and environmental impacts are affected by pathway costs and level of wind turbine installations. It demonstrates how high circularity costs might be beneficial for circularity transitions given revenue generated from circular pathways. Finally, impacts have important contributions to the supply chain design and thus show the importance of including detailed spatial resolution in CELAVI and CE studies in general.

circular economy↗

DOE OSTI2014

Subtask – CO 2 storage and enhanced bakken recovery research program

Small improvements in productivity could increase technically recoverable oil in the Bakken Petroleum System by billions of barrels. The use of CO 2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in tight oil reservoirs is a relatively new concept. The large-scale injection of CO 2 into the Bakken would also result in the geological storage of significant amounts of CO 2 . The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) has conducted laboratory and modeling activities to examine the potential for CO 2 storage and EOR in the Bakken. Specific activities included the characterization and subsequent modeling of North Dakota study areas as well as dynamic predictive simulations of possible CO 2 injection schemes to predict the potential CO 2 storage and EOR in those areas. Laboratory studies to evaluate the ability of CO 2 to remove hydrocarbons from Bakken rocks and determine minimum miscibility pressures for Bakken oil samples were conducted. Data from a CO 2 injection test conducted in the Elm Coulee area of Montana in 2009 were evaluated with an eye toward the possible application of knowledge gained to future injection tests in other areas. A first-order estimation of potential CO 2 storage capacity in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota was also conducted. Key findings of the program are as follows. The results of the research activities suggest that CO 2 may be effective in enhancing the productivity of oil from the Bakken and that the Bakken may hold the ability to geologically store between 120 Mt and 3.2 Gt of CO 2 . However, there are no clear-cut answers regarding the most effective approach for using CO 2 to improve oil productivity or the storage capacity of the Bakken. The results underscore the notion that an unconventional resource will likely require unconventional methods of both assessment and implementation when it comes to the injection of CO 2 . In particular, a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms controlling the interactions between CO 2 , oil, and other reservoir fluids in these unique formations is necessary to develop accurate assessments of potential CO 2 storage and EOR in the Bakken. In addition, existing modeling and simulation software packages do not adequately address or incorporate the unique properties of these tight, unconventional reservoirs in terms of their impact on CO 2 behavior. These knowledge gaps can be filled by conducting scaled-up laboratory activities integrated with improved modeling and simulation techniques, the results of which will provide a robust foundation for pilot-scale field injection tests. Finally, field-based data on injection, fluid production, and long-term monitoring from pilot-scale CO 2 injection tests in the Bakken are necessary to verify and validate the findings of the laboratory- and modeling-based research efforts. This subtask was funded through the EERC–U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Program on Research and Development for Fossil Energy-Related Resources Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC26-08NT43291. Nonfederal funding was provided by the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Marathon Oil Corporation, Continental Resources Inc., and TAQA North, Ltd.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2014

Subtask1.10 – CO 2 storage and enhanced bakken recovery research program

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2011

High Performance Computing Facility Operational Assessment, FY 2011 Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) continues to deliver the most powerful resources in the U.S. for open science. At 2.33 petaflops peak performance, the Cray XT Jaguar delivered more than 1.5 billion core hours in calendar year (CY) 2010 to researchers around the world for computational simulations relevant to national and energy security; advancing the frontiers of knowledge in physical sciences and areas of biological, medical, environmental, and computer sciences; and providing world-class research facilities for the nation's science enterprise. Scientific achievements by OLCF users range from collaboration with university experimentalists to produce a working supercapacitor that uses atom-thick sheets of carbon materials to finely determining the resolution requirements for simulations of coal gasifiers and their components, thus laying the foundation for development of commercial-scale gasifiers. OLCF users are pushing the boundaries with software applications sustaining more than one petaflop of performance in the quest to illuminate the fundamental nature of electronic devices. Other teams of researchers are working to resolve predictive capabilities of climate models, to refine and validate genome sequencing, and to explore the most fundamental materials in nature - quarks and gluons - and their unique properties. Details of these scientific endeavors - not possible without access to leadership-class computing resources - are detailed in Section 4 of this report and in the INCITE in Review. Effective operations of the OLCF play a key role in the scientific missions and accomplishments of its users. This Operational Assessment Report (OAR) will delineate the policies, procedures, and innovations implemented by the OLCF to continue delivering a petaflop-scale resource for cutting-edge research. The 2010 operational assessment of the OLCF yielded recommendations that have been addressed (Reference Section 1) and where appropriate, changes in Center metrics were introduced. This report covers CY 2010 and CY 2011 Year to Date (YTD) that unless otherwise specified, denotes January 1, 2011 through June 30, 2011. User Support remains an important element of the OLCF operations, with the philosophy 'whatever it takes' to enable successful research. Impact of this center-wide activity is reflected by the user survey results that show users are 'very satisfied.' The OLCF continues to aggressively pursue outreach and training activities to promote awareness - and effective use - of U.S. leadership-class resources (Reference Section 2). The OLCF continues to meet and in many cases exceed DOE metrics for capability usage (35% target in CY 2010, delivered 39%; 40% target in CY 2011, 54% January 1, 2011 through June 30, 2011). The Schedule Availability (SA) and Overall Availability (OA) for Jaguar were exceeded in CY2010. Given the solution to the VRM problem the SA and OA for Jaguar in CY 2011 are expected to exceed the target metrics of 95% and 90%, respectively (Reference Section 3). Numerous and wide-ranging research accomplishments, scientific support, and technological innovations are more fully described in Sections 4 and 6 and reflect OLCF leadership in enabling high-impact science solutions and vision in creating an exascale-ready center. Financial Management (Section 5) and Risk Management (Section 7) are carried out using best practices approved of by DOE. The OLCF has a valid cyber security plan and Authority to Operate (Section 8). The proposed metrics for 2012 are reflected in Section 9.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

NASA NTRS1981

Application of remote sensing for California irrigated lands assessment

Recognizing the need for land use data as an input to State water planning, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and its predecessor agencies have conducted land use surveys since the late 1940's. In 1957 the California Water Plan was established. A statewide assessment is compiled every four to five years to review overall water resource conditions. Satellite remote sensing imagery, such as available from Landsat, has been recognized by DWR as a potential source of land use data. Analysis of Landsat imagery in connection with 'calibrating' data from low altitude photography and/or field checks can provide an economical means for providing a large scale, single year base inventory of general land use. The purpose of the Applications Pilot Test is to develop and document the use of Landsat for such an inventory. Towards the overall goal of developing an operational methodology that DWR could cost effectively implement four tasks have been specified.

Tinney, L.↗