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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 181 records · Page 10

Treatment of Tilted Sonar Data for Salt Cavern Analysis

Structural modeling and visualization of salt caverns requires three-dimensional representations. These representations are typically produced from sonar surveys conducted by companies that then produce a report of depths, distances, and volumes. There are multiple formats that are vendor dependent, and, as technology improves, there have been changes from only horizontal surveys to inclined shots for ceilings and floors to mid-cavern inclined shots. For geomechanical modeling, leaching predictions, and cavern stability visualizations, Sandia has previously written in-house software, called SONAR8, that created a consistent geometry format from the processed sonar reports. However, the increase in the need for mid-cavern inclined surveys led to the discovery of certain limitations in that code. This report describes methods used to process the multiple different formats to handle inclined shots in a consistent and accurate manner in our modeling efforts. A set of file formats and a database schema that was developed for this work is also documented in the appendices.

02 PETROLEUM↗

pyXPCSviewer : an open-source interactive tool for X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy visualization and analysis

pyXPCSviewer , a Python-based graphical user interface that is deployed at beamline 8-ID-I of the Advanced Photon Source for interactive visualization of XPCS results, is introduced. pyXPCSviewer parses rich X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) results into independent PyQt widgets that are both interactive and easy to maintain. pyXPCSviewer is open-source and is open to customization by the XPCS community for ingestion of diversified data structures and inclusion of novel XPCS techniques, both of which are growing demands particularly with the dawn of near-diffraction-limited synchrotron sources and their dedicated XPCS beamlines.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Visualization Tool for Comparing Low-Carbon Energy Options

This project developed a web based visualization tool for comparing current and future nuclear fuel cycle options to low-carbon and conventional energy technologies in the United States. While nuclear power is well established as the gold-standard for baseload power production and also as the technology with the lowest overall carbon intensity of any commercial form of electricity generation. This project develop a web-based tool for electricity producers and consumers to compare renewable and conventional energy technologies to the conventional and advanced nuclear fuel cycle options. The work leveraged data on land use, carbon intensity, unit cost and pricing data for renewables from the open literature. Input data from the Advanced Fuel Cycle Cost Basis report will be used for current and advanced nuclear power systems. We coupled these data to energy flow and lifecycle models for user-selected energy generation and storage types. We will display economic comparisons from the perspectives of generators and consumers, as well as carbon production, land use, and reliability comparisons.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

What Is the Agent Doing? Visualizing Agentic AI Querying Workflows

We explore how visualizations can help users understand what an AI agent is doing as it builds and runs queries over data. As part of the LinkQ system, a natural language interface for querying knowledge graphs with a large language model (LLM), we designed two complementary views: A State Diagram that shows where the agent is within a larger workflow, and a Live Action Display that gives real-time updates about the agent's current task. In a study with 14 practitioners, we found that these visuals helped participants build stronger mental models of the agent's behavior while also increasing their confidence in the system. However, we also observed that users sometimes trusted incorrect outputs simply because the agent appeared to be doing the "right" thing. Our findings point to both the value and risk of visualizing agent behavior in interactive AI systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Towards time-resolved MicroED grid preparation using mix-and-inject gas dynamic virtual nozzles

Recent progress in gas dynamic virtual nozzle (GDVN) technologies in combination with high-brilliance synchrotron and X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has allowed the visualization of protein dynamics in crystallo by mixing macromolecular protein crystals with a substrate using tunable mixing times on the order of milliseconds to seconds prior to serial X-ray diffraction data collection. This has become the method of choice for high-resolution structure determination of intermediate states. However, such experiments require large counts of crystals of proper sizes for high-resolution data collection, and premium beam times for screening efforts. Cryogenic microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) represents a complementary technique that may be a more accessible avenue for time-resolved nanocrystallography compared with serial X-ray diffraction experiments. MicroED can produce full diffraction datasets from just a few submicrometre-thick crystals, and the approach is more readily accessible, requiring standard cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipment available at many universities and institutes. Cryogenic MicroED, like other forms of cryo-EM, begins with rapidly freezing biological material on electron microscopy grids. In the case of MicroED, micro- to nano-crystals (<500 nm thick) are deposited onto electron microscopy grids and plunge-frozen for subsequent electron diffraction data collection. Here, we have incorporated GDVN technology developed originally for XFEL experiments into the freezing process as a first step towards time-resolved studies. We describe the limited deposition efficiency of the model MicroED protein proteinase K on TEM grids using GDVNs, preceding sample vitrification and successful MicroED data collection. We discuss both the initial results from such experiments and the methodological challenges in developing this approach into a reliable workflow for millisecond-to-second time-resolved structural studies of macromolecules. Our results promise a strategy to deposit crystals on grids using GDVNs and determine high-resolution structures by MicroED, constituting a first step towards development of time-resolved MicroED experiments.

MicroED↗

Visualization techniques for the gyrokinetic tokamak simulation code

Gyrokinetic simulations of plasma microturbulence in tokamaks are challenging to visualize because the compute grid follows the magnetic field lines that spiral around the torus. We have overcome this challenge by developing three new approaches that improve visualization of gyrokinetics. Our techniques work directly with the topology of magnetic flux surfaces where the simulation stores variables in concentric rings on poloidal planes (vertical cross sections of the torus). Our visualization preview step triangulates each consecutive pair of rings to display the data on a poloidal plane. The second visualization technique follows spiral field lines around the torus and constructs polygons to visualize a flux surface. Third, the poloidal triangles are connected between planes to form prisms that compose a 3-D model of the entire torus. The visualization workflow produces detailed geometry that matches the high resolution, irregular compute grid for every time step. The surface and solid models are displayed in scientific visualization programs to effectively explore and communicate the results, including fluctuation of electron density, ion temperature, and electrostatic potential. Highly detailed renderings verify plasma behavior along magnetic field lines over time.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Configurable antiferromagnetic domains and lateral exchange bias in atomically thin CrPS 4

Interfacial exchange coupling between antiferromagnets (AFMs) and ferromagnets (FMs) crucially makes it possible to shift the FM hysteresis, known as exchange bias, and to switch AFM states. Two-dimensional magnets unlock opportunities to combine AFM and FM materials; however, the buried AFM–FM interfaces obtained by stacking remains challenging to understand. Here, in this work, we demonstrate interfacial control via intralayer exchange coupling in the layered AFM CrPS 4 , where connected even and odd layers realize pristine lateral interfaces between AFM-like and FM-like regions. We distinguish antiphase even-layer states by scanning nitrogen-vacancy centre magnetometry due to a weak surface magnetization. This surface magnetization enables control over the even-layer state, with different regions switching at distinct fields due to their own lateral couplings. We toggle three AFM domains adjacent to a FM-like region and demonstrate a tunable multilevel exchange bias. Our nanoscale visualization unveils the microscopic origins of exchange bias and advances single two-dimensional crystals for hybrid AFM–FM technologies.

magnetic devices↗

Water Innovation and R&D Concept Exploration and Preliminary Assessment: Water Scoping Project Report Deliverable

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory produced a cursory review and initial framework to support the US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) in considering options for program development related to water. The laboratories provided a suite of tools – rationales, evaluation criteria, and visual maps – as well as R&D concepts that could be applied at various scales over short- and long-term time horizons. The effort is, by DOE request, largely the result of the authors’ creative efforts and not intended to be a comprehensive or detailed analytical exercise. This report summarizes the work provided to WPTO and is not intended for broad distribution.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Moving beyond the Solvent-Tip Approximation to Determine Site-Specific Variations of Interfacial Water Structure through 3D Force Microscopy

Although interfacial solution structure impacts environmental, biological, and technological phenomena, including colloidal stability, protein assembly, heterogeneous nucleation, and water desalination, its molecular details remain poorly understood. Here, we visualize the three-dimensional (3D) hydration structure at the boehmite(010)-water interface using fast force mapping (FFM). Using a self-consistent scheme to decouple long-range tip-sample interactions from short-range solvation forces, we obtain the solution structure with lattice resolution. The results are benchmarked against molecular dynamics simulations that explicitly include the effects of the tip with different levels of approximation and systematically account for tip size, chemistry, and confinement effects. We find four laterally structured water layers within 1 nm of the surface, with the highest water densities at sites adjacent to hydroxyl groups. The key features beyond the first two layers can only be predicted using a full-scale simulation of the boehmite-water-silica system. Our findings further reveal a complex relationship between site-specific chemistry, water density, and long-range particle interactions; and present important advances toward quantitative data interpretation in 3D FFM.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Turbine-based Power System Tool

Advanced research tools are essential to illustrate the effects of turbine-based power system operations on the electric grid network. This paper presents the development of an open-source tool to visualize the operation of turbine-based electricity generation. The tool exposes power system models, control parameters, and corresponding values of the turbine model and its electrical system, allowing them to customize the simulation according to their needs. The developed tool enables users to simulate power profiles for different turbinebased energy generation such as wind, tidal, and gas turbines. It allows users to investigate the details of the generated profiles of various types of turbine systems at various scales. It can provide valuable insights into model development and facilitate the analysis of integrated power systems. By enabling access to turbine-based operations visualization, the tool aims to bridge the gap between advanced research tools and users, facilitating broader adoption of renewable energy technologies and aiding in developing sustainable power systems.

Kini, Roshan L.↗

Improving Discovery, Sharing, and Use of Water Data: Initial Findings and Suggested Future Work

Collaborative management of water resources requires a broad suite of “water data” that extends beyond basic information about water quantity and quality to other related topics such as water infrastructure, aquatic ecosystem health, socioeconomic factors, and power generation. Water data are disparate in nature because they are collected and provided by many entities, and in some cases, remain challenging to access and use. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office initiated a project to characterize relevant categories of water data; describe the current state of accessing, using, and visualizing water data; and outline investigatory pathways for future efforts aimed at improving the discovery, sharing, and use of water data. Input on these topics was solicited from a small but diverse cross section of members of the water resources community. Fourteen broad categories of water data were identified: dams; ecology; flood control; hydroclimatology; hydrography; hydrology; hydropower; management landscape; migratory barriers; recreation and aesthetic importance; socioeconomic; water quality; water availability and use; and weather. Stakeholder perspectives on the accessibility and usability of water data indicate these aspects are affected by a complex set of technical and social factors. However, stakeholders generally agreed that better access to water data can provide a range of benefits to water management, and they stressed the need to generate broad support from water data users and producers. Two investigatory pathways were outlined that, taken together, provide a logical progression toward the goals of the project. The first pathway emphasizes further investigation to better define target audiences and data needs, identify opportunities for collaboration between related efforts, and conduct value demonstration activities to generate further support for improving discovery and access of water data. The second pathway focuses on creating a comprehensive vision for potential solutions that improve the discovery of water data. Several activities that align with the first pathway are suggested for the next phase of the project.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

Modernizing GlideinWMS Factory Monitoring with Prometheus & Grafana

Large-scale scientific experiments like CMS and DUNE rely on the distributed workload management system GlideinWMS to efficiently utilize computing resources across heterogeneous computing environments. GlideinWMS currently records Factory statistics using Round Robin Databases (RRDBs), XML, and JSON files, and these statistics are displayed via custom monitoring Web pages, thereby limiting integration with modern observability platforms. This project investigates the use of Prometheus-based instrumentation to expose Factory metrics using OpenTelemetry principles. Factory statistics related to Glidein submission and job execution are exported as Prometheus metrics through the Prometheus Python Client Library and are served via an HTTP metrics endpoint. The collected metrics are inspected using the Prometheus web-based interface and are visualized through Grafana dashboards within the Landscape monitoring infrastructure at Fermilab. This project significantly streamlines the integration of modern monitoring technologies into GlideinWMS and establishes a framework for extending observability across additional system components.

Appiah, Gideon [Grambling State U.]↗

SynopFrame: Multiscale time-dependent visual abstraction framework for analyzing DNA nanotechnology simulations

We present an open-source framework, SynopFrame, that allows DNA nanotechnology (DNA-nano) experts to analyze and understand molecular dynamics simulation trajectories of their designs. We use a multiscale multi-dimensional abstraction space, connect the representations to a projected conformational space plot of the structure’s temporal sequence, and thus enable experts to analyze the dynamics of their structural designs and, specifically, failure cases of the assembly. In addition, our time-dependent abstraction representation allows the biologists, for the first time in a smooth and structurally clear way, to identify and observe temporal transitions of a DNA-nano design from one configuration to another, and to highlight important periods of the simulation for further analysis. We realize SynopFrame as a dashboard of the different synchronized 3D spatial and 2D schematic visual representations, with a color overlay to show essential properties such as the status of hydrogen bonds. The linking of the spatial, schematic, and abstract views ensures that users can effectively analyze the high-frequency motion. We also categorize the status of the hydrogen bonds into a new format to allow us to color-encode it and overlay it on the representations. To demonstrate the utility of SynopFrame, we describe example usage scenarios and report user feedback.

Abstraction space↗

Forte: An Interactive Visual Analytic Tool for Trust-Augmented Net-Load Forecasting

Accurate net-load forecasting is vital for energy planning, aiding decisions on trade and load distribution. However, assessing the performance of forecasting models across diverse input variables, like temperature and humidity, remains challenging, particularly for eliciting a high degree of trust in the model outcomes. In this context, there is a growing need for data-driven technological interventions to aid scientists in comprehending how models react to both noisy and clean input variables, thus shedding light on complex behaviors and fostering confidence in the outcomes. In this paper, we present Forte, a visual analytics-based application to explore deep probabilistic net-load forecasting models across various input variables and understand the error rates for different scenarios. With carefully designed visual interventions, this web-based interface empowers scientists to derive insights about model performance by simulating diverse scenarios, facilitating an informed decision-making process. We discuss observations made using Forte and demonstrate the effectiveness of visualization techniques to provide valuable insights into the correlation between weather inputs and net-load forecasts, ultimately advancing grid capabilities by improving trust in forecasting models.

Bhattacharjee, Kaustav↗

November 2019 Initial Deployment of LiDAR in the H-Canyon Exhaust Tunnel

The H-Canyon Exhaust Tunnel (CAEX) structure is periodically inspected under the Structural Integrity Program using camera equipped crawlers or poles to remotely perform visual inspections. To explore the use of enhanced inspection methods a “Proof of Concept” using the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology was performed over a 2-day period in November 2019. The purpose of the “Proof of Concept” deployment was to confirm whether a commercially available LiDAR unit could successfully operate and remotely transmit data from the tunnel CAEX environment and whether the data would provide quantitative information to establish baseline measurements. The LiDAR performance requirement was a measurement accuracy of ± 0.25-inches over a 30-foot distance. This report documents the work activities leading to the deployment, the deployment and processing of data, lessons learned from the deployment and the post data processing methods that will be applied to future deployments.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

UAS Activity Profile Survey

Commercial vendors, trying to tap into the physical protection of critical infrastructure, are offering nuclear facilities the opportunity to borrow detection counter-unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS) equipment to survey the airspace over and around the facility. However, using one vendor or method of detection (e.g., radio frequency [RF], radar, acoustic, visual) will not necessarily provide a complete airspace profile since no single method can detect all UAS threats. Using several detection technologies, the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) Team, who supports the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of International Nuclear Security (INS), would like to offer partners a comprehensive airspace profile of the types and frequency of UAS that fly within and around critical infrastructure. Improved UAS awareness will aid in the risk assessment process.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗