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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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Probing plasma physics with spectral index maps of accreting black holes on event horizon scales

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has produced the first resolved images of the supermassive black holes at the centre of our galaxy and at the centre of the elliptical galaxy M87. As both technology and analysis pipelines improve, it will soon become possible to produce spectral index maps of black hole accretion flows on event horizon scales. Here, in this work, we predict spectral index maps of both M87* and Sgr A* by applying the general relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) code IPOLE to a suite of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. We analytically show that the spectral index increases with increasing magnetic field strength, electron temperature, and optical depth. Consequently, spectral index maps grow more negative with increasing radius in almost all models, since all of these quantities tend to be maximized near the event horizon. Additionally, photon ring geodesics exhibit more positive spectral indices, since they sample the innermost regions of the accretion flow with the most extreme plasma conditions. Spectral index maps are sensitive to highly uncertain plasma heating prescriptions (the electron temperature and distribution function). However, if our understanding of these aspects of plasma physics can be tightened, even the spatially unresolved spectral index around 230 GHz can be used to discriminate between models. In particular, Standard and Normal Evolution (SANE) flows tend to exhibit more negative spectral indices than Magnetically Arrested Disc (MAD) flows due to differences in the characteristic magnetic field strength and temperature of emitting plasma.

(magnetohydrodynamics) MHD↗
DOE OSTI2023

Opposing Hysteresis Patterns in Flow and Outflow Macroscopic Fundamental Diagrams and Their Implications

Two key aggregated traffic models are the relationship between average network flow and density (known as the network or flow macroscopic fundamental diagram [flow-MFD]) and the relationship between trip completion and density (known as network exit function or the outflow-MFD [o-FMD]). The flow- and o-MFDs have been shown to be related by average network length and average trip distance under steady-state conditions. However, recent studies have demonstrated that these two relationships might have different patterns when traffic conditions are allowed to vary: the flow-MFD exhibits a clockwise hysteresis loop, while the o-MFD exhibits a counter-clockwise loop. One recent study attributes this behavior to the presence of bottlenecks within the network. The present paper demonstrates that this phenomenon may arise even without bottlenecks present and offers an alternative, but more general, explanation for these findings: a vehicle’s entire trip contributes to a network’s average flow, while only its end contributes to the trip completion rate. This lag can also be exaggerated by trips with different lengths, and it can lead to other patterns in the o-MFD such as figure-eight patterns. A simple arterial example is used to demonstrate this explanation and reveal the expected patterns, and they are also identified in real networks using empirical data. Then, simulations of a congestible ring network are used to unveil features that might increase or diminish the differences between the flow- and o-MFDs. Finally, more realistic simulations are used to confirm that these behaviors arise in real networks.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advanced Multi-Tube Mixer Combustion for 65% Efficiency (Final Report)

This project targeted advanced low NOx combustion for advanced gas turbines capable of 65%, or greater, efficiency in combined cycle application. This technology advancement has further potential to benefit gas turbines used in coal based IGCC applications with pre-combustion carbon capture and hydrogen as the resulting fuel. The program developed and synthesized the most advanced combustion system capable of achieving low NOX emissions up to turbine inlet temperatures of 3100F while also supporting the load-following needs of a modern grid. The combustion system contributes to the overall gas turbine efficiency goal by setting the maximum cycle temperature achievable for a given NOX level and by minimizing the through-combustor air flow pressure drop. Focus areas for this project targeted maximizing the turbine inlet temperature entitlement, as constrained by emissions considerations. The design also minimized parasitic air flow pressure drop by using advanced cooling techniques and performance materials selections and by minimizing hot surface area. These two technology objectives (maximum, emissions-compliant cycle temperature and minimum air flow pressure drop) were integrated into a prototype design. The primarily analytical project sought to identify the most promising technologies to meet these objectives. Additional critical “jugular” data were obtained from multi-tube mixer tests to realize the potential of leveraging “micro flames” for minimizing overall hot surface area. This data was used, in conjunction with an understanding of advanced material and cooling design technologies, to analytically develop multiple design concepts. Phase I focused on in-depth engineering analysis and design, with minimal supporting laboratory testing to enable a selection of the top three combustion architectures for achieving these overall objectives. Phase II of the program developed the selected design through a combination of sub-scale testing and analytical efforts. Early tests included a cold-flow cascade to establish aerodynamic performance characteristics and a sub-scale fired test at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, NY, to establish cooling and heat transfer characteristics in conjunction with combustion performance. The data from these tests validated the analytical models to ultimately design a full-scale, test article to evaluate at prototypical pressure and temperature conditions at GE Gas Power’s Gas Turbine Technology Laboratory in Greenville, SC. GE Gas Power also developed, tested, and recommended a suitable seal design to be applied to the unique features of the combustor. To assess the technology challenges from prospective future production of the combustor from a ceramic matrix composite material, screening tests of Environmental Barrier Coatings were completed.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Retrospective Analysis of Backwater Habitat Availability Using Remote Sensing

Low-velocity channel-margin habitats serve as important nursery habitats for the endangered Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius) in the middle Green River between Jensen and Ouray, Utah. These habitats, known as backwaters, are associated with emergent sandbars, and are shaped and reformed annually by peak flows. Our recent knowledge about backwater characteristics and dynamics that is summarized in the synthesis report (Grippo et al. 2015) was based on detailed annual survey data from a relatively small sample of backwaters that were collected from 2003 to 2014 and reach-wide evaluations of backwater surface area based on manual interpretation of aerial and satellite imagery. Methods that bridge the gap between the detailed surveys from a small number of backwaters and the reach-wide assessment of their surface area would enable an assessment of the availability of backwater habitats that meet the minimum depth requirements for suitable habitat for Colorado pikeminnow. In 2015 Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) tested three regression models—linear, multiple, and partial least square (PLS) regression models—for estimating backwater depth using National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery collected in July 2006 that covered the Jensen-Ouray reach of the Green River (Hamada and LaGory 2016). The results suggested that a PLS regression model showed high correlation with the reference depth (R 2 = 0.69) and had the most unbiased and consistent estimate of backwater depth. The results also indicated that the PLS model would provide reasonable estimates of the amount of habitat providing a minimum suitable depth of 30 cm for young-of-the-year Colorado pikeminnow, even though absolute depth estimates may be uncertain for backwater areas deeper than approximately 40 cm. The study also provided insights regarding the amount and the selection of calibration and validation (cal-val) data needed for improving the accuracy of depth prediction.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

"Designing, simulating, and performing the 100-AV field test for the CIRCLES consortium: Methodology and Implementation of the Largest mobile traffic control experiment to date"

Previous controlled experiments on single-lane ring roads have shown that a single partially autonomous vehicle (AV) can effectively mitigate traffic waves. This naturally prompts the question of how these findings can be generalized to field operational, high-density traffic conditions. To address this question, the Congestion Impacts Reduction via CAV-in-the-loop Lagrangian Energy Smoothing (CIRCLES) Consortium conducted MegaVanderTest (MVT), a live traffic control experiment involving 100 vehicles near Nashville, TN, USA. This article is a tutorial for developing analytical and simulation-based tools essential for designing and executing a live traffic control experiment like the MVT. It presents an overview of the proposed roadmap and various procedures used in designing, monitoring, and conducting the MVT, which is the largest mobile traffic control experiment at the time. The design process is aimed at evaluating the impact of the CIRCLES AVs on surrounding traffic. The article discusses the agent-based traffic simulation framework created for this evaluation. A novel methodological framework is introduced to calibrate this microsimulation, aiming to accurately capture traffic dynamics and assess the impact of adding 100 vehicles to existing traffic. The calibration model's effectiveness is verified using data from a six-mile section of Nashville's I-24 highway. The results indicate that the proposed model establishes an effective feedback loop between the optimizer and the simulator, thereby calibrating flow and speed with different spatiotemporal characteristics to minimize the error between simulated and real-world data. Finally, We simulate AVs in multiple scenarios to assess their effect on traffic congestion. This evaluation validates the AV routes, thereby contributing to the execution of a safe and successful live traffic control experiment via AVs.

Ameli, Mostafa↗
DOE OSTI2021

Experiment and model for a Stokes layer in a strongly coupled dusty plasma

A Stokes layer, which is a flow pattern that arises in a viscous fluid adjacent to an oscillatory boundary, was observed in an experiment using a two-dimensional strongly coupled dusty plasma. Liquid conditions were maintained using laser heating, while a separate laser manipulation applied an oscillatory shear that was localized and sinusoidal. The evolution of the resulting flow was analyzed using space-time diagrams. These figures provide an intuitive visualization of a Stokes layer, including features such as the depth of penetration and wavelength. Another feature, the characteristic speed for the penetration of the oscillatory flow, also appears prominently in space-time diagrams. To model the experiment, the Maxwell-fluid model of a Stokes layer was generalized to describe a two-phase liquid. In our experiment, the phases were gas and dust, where the dust cloud was viscoelastic due to strong Coulomb coupling. Furthermore, the model is found to agree with the experiment, in the appearance of the space-time diagrams, and in the values of the characteristic speed, depth of penetration, and wavelength.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Hydropower Infrastructure - LAkes, Reservoirs, and RIvers (HILARRI), v4

HILARRI is a database of links between major datasets of operational hydropower dams and powerplants, and inland water bodies. These connections are critical for conducting large-scale analysis of hydropower infrastructure and their associated natural and engineered water systems. Features include: – Dams from the National Inventory of Dams (2025) and the Global Reservoir and Dam Database (GRanD v1.3) – Hydropower plants from the Existing Hydropower Assets dataset (EHA 2025) – Power plants that are listed in the 2025 U.S. Hydropower Development Pipeline Data or were listed in previous versions of the dataset These hydropower infrastructure features are linked to several major datasets that provide hydrologic and hydraulic information relevant for analysis of hydropower systems that includes the integral water resources. That information comes from: – Products from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) – NHDPlusV2 Medium Resolution river network flowlines, – NHD waterbodies (limited to lakes and reservoirs), – NHD Watershed Boundary Dataset (HUC12-level for the Conterminous United States (CONUS)) – NHD High Resolution waterbodies – HydroLAKES water bodies (lakes and reservoirs) – LAGOS-US lakes and reservoirs – EPA National Lakes Assessment (2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022) – The Reservoir Sedimentation Database (RESSED) – EPA SuRGE sampling locations Unique identifiers are used to facilitate joining to the original full datasets. For example, characteristics of NHD flowlines such as estimated average flow rate can be joined from the NHDPlusV2 dataset to a dam or power plant listed in HILARRI based on the ID field, “COMID”, that is common to both datasets. HILARRI only includes basic information about identifiers, location, and data quality or usage notes. It does not contain the attributes or time series data associated with these sites. The HILARRI dataset incorporates information from several datasets to facilitate more effective and accurate analysis of hydropower infrastructure and their associated waterbodies. For example, dams were checked against the most recent American Rivers Dam Removal Database to identify and flag facilities that may no longer exist. Additionally, dams that are listed multiple times in the NID are identified and flagged to avoid double-counting when analyzing and summarizing information. Other quality flags include certainty of operational hydropower (i.e., if one or more datasets indicates hydropower at a particular location), whether an associated water body is accurate or composed of multiple polygons, or whether there is a known issue with reported characteristics in one of the underlying datasets. These additional data flags are designed to increase confidence in data usage for individual to large-scale analyses.

Hansen, Carly [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000193280838)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Assessment of Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Carbon Dioxide in Michigan Basin Silurian Pinnacle Reefs

The Michigan team at Western Michigan University has provided technical analysis and support of the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Northern Michigan Silurian Pinnacle reefs. This report discussed the relevant data about reservoir properties, including lithologic and depositional characteristics of the reservoir formations and porosity and fluid flow properties through different compartments in the reservoir. The team has also developed models that represent the geological and physical characteristics of the reservoir and seal system.

EOR↗
DOE OSTI2020

Assessment of Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Carbon Dioxide in Michigan Basin Silurian Pinnacle Reefs

The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) has incorporated the work of geologic research teams (Geoteams) in its regional characterization, project planning and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) injection implementation work since the partnership was established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2003. Over this 16-year period, the cohort of Geoteams has grown from five to ten states and has contributed to the characterization of geologic sequestration opportunities, refinement of reservoir and seal data, and supported injection efforts through both predictive and post-injection assessments. The Michigan team at Western Michigan University has provided technical analysis and support of the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the Northern Michigan Silurian Pinnacle reefs. With Core Energy, LLC as the industry partner, this project has assessed the potential for EOR in known fields in the Michigan Pinnacle reefs and the capacity for CO2 storage in the reef reservoirs as they are depleted and after reservoir abandonment. This project managed by Core Energy, LLC, involves the only commercial CO 2 Enhanced Oil Recovery floods within the MRCSP region. The Silurian pinnacle reef trend shows significant potential for CO 2 -EOR: this play is relatively new, with approximately 60% of the wells in the largest Niagaran fields still accessible. Most wells have modern logs and there are many cores, core analyses, pressure tests and produced water analyses available for study from these fields. These carbonate reservoirs in Michigan have produced sufficient oil to warrant evaluation for additional recovery efforts. The role of the Michigan team was to collect and analyze all relevant data about reservoir properties, including lithologic and depositional characteristics of the reservoir formations and porosity and fluid flow properties through different compartments in the reservoir. The team has also developed models that represent the geological and physical characteristics of the reservoir and seal system.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2020

Simulator for Hydrologic Unstructured Domains (SHUD v1.0): numerical modeling of watershed hydrology with the finite volume method

Abstract. Hydrologic modeling is an essential strategy for understanding and predicting natural flows, particularly where observations are lacking in either space or time or where complex terrain leads to a disconnect in the characteristic time and space scales of overland and groundwater flow. However, significant difficulties remain for the development of efficient and extensible modeling systems that operate robustly across complex regions. This paper introduces the Simulator for Hydrologic Unstructured Domains (SHUD), an integrated, multiprocess, multiscale, flexible-time-step model, in which hydrologic processes are fully coupled using the finite volume method. SHUD integrates overland flow, snow accumulation/melt, evapotranspiration, subsurface flow, groundwater flow, and river routing, thus allowing physical processes in general watersheds to be realistically captured. SHUD incorporates one-dimensional unsaturated flow, two-dimensional groundwater flow, and a fully connected river channel network with hillslopes supporting overland flow and baseflow. The paper introduces the design of SHUD, from the conceptual and mathematical description of hydrologic processes in a watershed to the model's computational structures. To demonstrate and validate the model performance, we employ three hydrologic experiments: the V-catchment experiment, Vauclin's experiment, and a model study of the Cache Creek Watershed in northern California. Ongoing applications of the SHUD model include hydrologic analyses of hillslope to regional scales (1 m2 to 106 km2), water resource and stormwater management, and interdisciplinary research for questions in limnology, agriculture, geochemistry, geomorphology, water quality, ecology, climate and land-use change. The strength of SHUD is its flexibility as a scientific and resource evaluation tool where modeling and simulation are required.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Identifying Characteristics of Wildfire Towers and Troughs

Wildfire behavior is dictated by the complex interaction of numerous physical phenomena including dynamic ambient and fire-induced winds, heat transfer, aerodynamic drag on the wind by the fuel and combustion. These phenomena create complex feedback effects between the fire and its surroundings. In this study, we aim to study the mechanisms by which buoyant flame dynamics along with vortical motions and instabilities control wildfire propagation. Specifically, this study employs a suite of simulations conducted with the physics-based coupled fire-atmosphere behavior model (FIRETEC). The simulations are initialized with a fire line and the fires are allowed to propagate on a grass bed, where the fuel heights and wind conditions are varied systematically. Flow variables are extracted to identify the characteristics of the alternating counter-rotational vortices, called towers and troughs, that drive convective heat transfer and fire spread. These vortices have previously been observed in wildfires and laboratory fires, and have also been observed to arise spontaneously in FIRETEC due to the fundamental physics incorporated in the model. However, these past observations have been qualitative in nature and no quantitative studies can be found in the literature which connected these coherent structures fundamental to fire behavior with the constitutive flow variables. To that end, a variety of state variables are examined in the context of these coherent structures under various wind profile and grass height conditions. Identification of various correlated signatures and fire-atmosphere feedbacks in simulations provides a hypothesis that can be tested in future observational or experimental efforts, potentially assisting experimental design, and can aid in the interpretation of data from in situ detectors.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

SAS4A/SASSYS-1 Validation with EBR-II Tests Performed During the SHRT Testing Program

The EBR-II sodium-cooled fast reactor supported a wide range of fast reactor research activities. The final fifteen years of operations at EBR-II were used for experiments and tests to demonstrate the importance of passive safety in liquid metal reactors and the capability of such systems to provide strong passive responses during off-normal conditions. The Shutdown Heat Removal Test program at EBR-II provided test data supporting the validation of computer codes for design, licensing, and operation of LMRs, among other objectives. The program included nearly sixty tests, most of which were protected and unprotected loss of flow and loss of heat sink tests run at various initial powers and flow rates. This report documents the results of modeling and simulation of tests from the Shutdown Heat Removal Test program to support validation of Argonne’s SAS4A/SASSYS-1 fast reactor safety analysis code. SHRT-17 was a protected loss of flow test where a loss of electrical power to all sodium coolant pumps was simulated to demonstrate the effectiveness of natural circulation cooling characteristics. SHRT-45R was an unprotected loss of flow test where the control rod scram function of the plant protection system was disabled to demonstrate the effectiveness of EBR-II’s passive reactivity feedbacks. BOP-301 and BOP-302R were unprotected loss of heat sink tests that demonstrated how reactivity feedback effects driven by changes to the core inlet temperature can shut down the fission process. This validation activity leverages modeling and simulation efforts that originated under an International Atomic Energy Agency Coordinated Research Project for benchmark analysis of the EBR-II Shutdown Heat Removal Tests. The SAS4A/SASSYS-1 models originally developed for the CRP have been modernized to utilize new code features and modeling practices. Differences between the predicted and measured test data were explored and the causes of these differences were identified as being due to modeling approximations, uncertainty in transient component behavior, and instrumentation uncertainties. Overall, it was concluded that for SHRT-17, SHRT-45R, BOP-301, and BOP-302R there was good agreement between the flow, power, and temperature predictions and the measured data.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Free-Surface Liquid Lithium Flow Modeling and Stability Analysis for Fusion Applications

Liquid metal plasma facing components are considered an attractive design choice for fusion devices including pilot plants. Virtual prototyping of such devices includes modeling of free-surface flow of the electrically conductive liquid, which requires computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations. Numerical tools capable of simulating flows and heat transfer in the free-surface MHD flow were developed at PPPL based on the customized ANSYS CFX. Here, MHD is introduced using a magnetic vector potential approach. Free-surface flow capabilities are available in the code and were tested. Special stabilization procedures were derived and applied to improve convergence of the momentum equations with the source terms due to the Lorentz force and surface tension. Important characteristics of the fusion-relevant liquid metal flow is free surface smoothness and stability. Heat flux from the plasma impacts the liquid surface at a very acute angle, so any change of the free surface from axisymmetry can dramatically increase the local heat flux density and thus create excessive evaporation of liquid lithium into the plasma, which is detrimental to operations. Stability analysis of the liquid metal film flow was performed to determine applicable flow regimes. Thin film flow along horizontal wall is considered. Effects of gravity, magnetic field, and surface tension are included in the analysis.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Investigation of flow regimes in arc plasma–gas interactions using a two-temperature arc in crossflow model

The perpendicular impingement of a gas stream on an electric arc, a configuration known as the arc in crossflow, is of primary relevance in the study of plasma-gas interactions, as well as in industrial applications such as circuit breakers and wire-arc spraying. The flow dynamics in the arc in crossflow are the result of coupled fluid-thermal-electromagnetic phenomena accompanied by large property gradients, which can produce significant deviations from Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) among electrons and gas species. These characteristics can lead to the establishment of distinct flow regimes depending on the relative values of the controlling parameters of the system, such as inflow velocity, arc current, and inter-electrode spacing. A two-temperature non-LTE (NLTE) model is used to investigate the arc dynamics and the establishment of flow regimes in the arc in crossflow. The plasma flow model is implemented within a nonlinear Variational Multiscale (VMS) numerical discretization approach that is less dissipative, and hence better suited to capture unstable behavior, than traditional VMS methods commonly used in computational fluid dynamics simulations. The Reynolds and the Enthalpy dimensionless numbers, characterizing the relative flow strength and arc strength, respectively, are chosen as the controlling parameters of the system. Simulation results reveal the onset of dynamic behavior and the establishment of steady, periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic or potentially turbulent, regimes, as identified by distinct spatiotemporal fluctuations. The computational findings reveal the role of increasing the relative arc strength on enhancing flow stability by delaying the growth of fluctuating and unstable flow behavior.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effects of Part-to-Part Flow Variations on Overall Effectiveness and Life of Rotating Turbine Blades

Abstract As firing temperatures in gas turbine engines continue to increase to achieve high efficiencies, components in the main gas path must be protected with cooling flows to ensure lifing targets are met. Manufacturing variations, however, influence the performance and life characteristics of components with the same nominal design. This study presents blade flow and overall cooling effectiveness measurements for nine true-scale, aero engine turbine blades with realistic manufacturing variations. Flow measurements were made through each blade at a fixed pressure ratio to determine flow variability between holes and between blades. Infrared thermography was used to capture spatially-resolved temperature measurements reported as overall effectiveness on the same nine blades under high-speed rotating conditions at the Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine Laboratory. Thermal performance was correlated with blade flow performance indicating substantial blade-to-blade variations resulting from manufacturing differences. Measurements also indicated wide variations in cooling jet trajectories as well as overall cooling effectiveness. Finally, the observed blade-to-blade variations in effectiveness were scaled to engine conditions with lifing estimates showing some blades would be expected to last only half as long as others due to manufacturing variability.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluation of a nonlinear variational multiscale method for fluid transport problems

Diverse transport problems, especially those based on fluid flow models, are intrinsically multiscale and nonlinear, characteristics that often lead to intricate dynamics such as the development of instabilities and turbulence. Computational simulations that resolve all scales in these problems are often unfeasible, prompting to coarse-grained simulation strategies in which small-scale features are modeled instead of resolved. Variational Multiscale (VMS) methods, and particularly residual-based Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) approaches, have proven effective and robust for the coarse-grained simulation of complex transport problems. VMS methods avoid the assumption of separable nonlinearity and the reliance on empirical small-scale models by using a variational decomposition of scales together with a residual-based approximation of the small-scales. Evaluation of a nonlinear VMS approach, denoted as VMS n , is presented for the coarse-grained simulation of transient-advective-diffusive-reactive (TADR) transport problems arising from fluid flow models. In contrast to classical VMS approaches that neglect the effect of the small scales on the transport operator, VMS n treats the inter-dependence between large- and small-scales upfront. The treatment of inter-scale coupling involves the solution of a local algebraic nonlinear system describing the evolution of the small-scales. The VMS n approach is complemented with two algebraic approximations of the small-scales: one based on the main diagonal of the transport matrices and another that preserves transport fluxes and is suitable for generic TADR systems. The suitability of the VMS n approach for handling general TADR problems and regimes is evaluated with benchmark incompressible, compressible, and magnetohydrodynamic laminar flow problems, the incompressible Taylor-Green vortex flow, the turbulent free jet, and the two-temperature arc in crossflow. Furthermore, simulation results show that VMS n leads to minor improvements in accuracy with respect to the classical VMS for the laminar flow problems, but to significantly greater accuracy for the turbulent flows and the unsteady plasma flow problems, while using the same cohesive numerical formulation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Reducing the matrix effect in mass spectral imaging of biofilms using flow-cell culture

The interactions between soil microorganisms and soil minerals play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of minerals and the stability of soil aggregates. Due to the heterogeneity and diversity of the soil environment, the under-standing of the functions of bacterial biofilms in soil minerals at the microscale is limited. A soil mineral-bacterial biofilm system was used as a model in this study, and it was analyzed by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to acquire molecular level information. Static culture in multi-wells and dynamic flow-cell culture in microfluidics of biofilms were investigated. Our results show that more characteristic molecules of biofilms can be observed in SIMS spectra of the flow-cell culture. In contrast, biofilm signature peaks are buried under the mineral components in SIMS spectra in the static culture case. Spectral overlay was used in peak selection prior to performing Principal component analysis (PCA). Comparisons of the PCA results between the static and flow-cell culture show more pronounced molecular features and higher loadings of organic peaks of the dynamic cultured specimens. For example, fatty acids secreted from bacterial biofilm extracellular polymeric substance are likely to be responsible for biofilm dispersal due to mineral treatment up to 48 h. Such findings suggest that the use of microfluidic cells to dynamically culture biofilms be a more suitable method for reducing the matrix effect arisen from the growth medium and minerals as a perturbation fac-tor for improved spectral and multivariate analysis of complex mass spectral data in ToF-SIMS. These results show that the interaction mechanism between biofilms and soil minerals at the molecular level can be better studied using the flow-cell culture and advanced mass spectral imaging techniques like ToF-SIMS.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Mechanistic modeling of CO 2 well leakage in a generic abandoned well through a bridge plug cement-casing gap

Both known and unmapped plugged and abandoned wells are potential leakage pathways for CO 2 from geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) sites. Although many abandoned wells have cement bridge plugs installed to prevent leakage, the seal between the cement and the inner casing wall is subject to failure. In this study, we carried out detailed T2Well simulations of cases of sudden non-Darcy flow of CO 2 and brine leakage up the gap between a cement plug and the inner steel casing wall that becomes a fully connected flow path during the post-injection period. The goal of our study was two-fold: (1) to understand the dynamics, rates, and the characteristic temporal signals associated with the onset of leakage through various gap-aperture sizes, and (2) to suggest potential monitoring strategies based on the findings. Simulation results show that the leakage of CO 2 and brine upward is transient with interesting phase interference behavior. Time-dependent oscillatory flows with varying pressure, temperature, and flow rates of CO 2 and brine show strong dependence on gap aperture. Phase-change and decompression lead to very low temperatures at the top of the well for gap apertures larger than 4 mm suggesting that remote thermal monitoring at the ground surface may be an effective way of monitoring even if well locations are not known a priori. Pressure in the well is also indicative of CO 2 leakage. The temporal patterns of changing temperature and pressure may be useful diagnostic signals for leakage detection. Finally, these transient leakage signals may provide information on the cause of leakage and/or characteristics of the flow path that could inform effective remediation design and execution approaches.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗