Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Resilience Assessment”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SysML Success Tree for DAVINCI In-Situ Campaign Requirements Validation and Redundancy Assessment

The DAVINCI mission will scientifically study the Venusian atmosphere to better understand the current state of the planet and its evolutionary history. This will be accomplished by deploying a descent probe to collect in-situ atmospheric dynamic and spectroscopic measurements, characterize ambient temperatures and pressures during descent, and surface imaging below the cloud layer. To better characterize the DAVINCI In-Situ Campaign, a success tree, developed in the SysML tool, MagicDraw, was created to define the events necessary to have a successful in-situ campaign, for each phase of the campaign. This success tree was also used to validate DAVINCI Program, Mission, and Element level requirements. In addition, because DAVINCI is a single-string mission, the success tree was also used to identify areas of redundancy and resiliency throughout the campaign. The initial redundancy assessment recommended further on-orbit evaluation of the probe’s communication system, as well as further evaluation of the ability of the mass spectrometer turbo-molecular pump to handle the expected decent environment. During the integration and test phase of the overall mission, the success tree will be used to guide the mission validation process, helping to ensure that the in-situ mission elements can perform in accordance with the DAVINCI In-Situ Concept of Operations document.

ConOps↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SysML Success Tree for DAVINCI In-Situ Campaign Requirements Validation and Redundancy Assessment

The DAVINCI mission will scientifically study the Venusian atmosphere to better understand the current state of the planet and its evolutionary history. This will be accomplished by deploying a descent probe to collect in-situ atmospheric dynamic and spectroscopic measurements, characterize ambient temperatures and pressures during descent, and surface imaging below the cloud layer. To better characterize the DAVINCI In-Situ Campaign, a success tree, developed in the SysML tool, MagicDraw, was created to define the events necessary to have a successful in-situ campaign, for each phase of the campaign. This success tree was also used to validate DAVINCI Program, Mission, and Element level requirements. In addition, because DAVINCI is a single-string mission, the success tree was also used to identify areas of redundancy and resiliency throughout the campaign. The initial redundancy assessment recommended further on-orbit evaluation of the probe’s communication system, as well as further evaluation of the ability of the mass spectrometer turbo-molecular pump to handle the expected decent environment. During the integration and test phase of the overall mission, the success tree will be used to guide the mission validation process, helping to ensure that the in-situ mission elements can perform in accordance with the DAVINCI In-Situ Concept of Operations document.

model-based↗
NASA NTRS2021

Importance of Trade Dependencies for Agricultural Inputs: A Case Study of Finland

Approximately 80% of the world's population lives in countries that are dependent on food imports to sustain an adequate food supply. Besides these food imports, further dependencies also arise due to the requirements for agricultural inputs, including energy, fertilisers, feed and agricultural machinery. While the trade of agricultural inputs is relatively well represented in economic analysis, the quantification is often in terms of monetary values, and thus the assessments of the actual input quantities are very limited. In this paper, we develop a framework for analysis of the traded input quantities at the country-level and demonstrate its utility through an in-depth analysis of Finland's dependency on agricultural inputs. Further, we assess the importance of these inputs for domestic food production from a resilience perspective. We find that Finland, a country with relatively high food self-sufficiency but also a great dependency on imported agricultural inputs, experienced an increase in its dependency over the period 1996-2016. In case of trading partners, the story is more mixed: while trading partners for soybeans increased, those decreased in case of electricity while no significant change was observed in other commodities. In Finland, the rapeseed dependency on imports (ratio of net imports and consumption) grew from around 0% to almost 50% between the years 1987-2013. Changes for electricity remained substantially smaller, with dependency only slightly growing during the study period. Crude oil and soybean supplies are totally dependent on imports as neither is produced in Finland. Interestingly, the highest dependencies for agricultural inputs were on different countries than that for foodstuff imports. Thus, when identifying and assessing approaches to increase resilience to trade-related shocks, it is essential to understand both foodstuff and agricultural input dependencies within the global food system.

trade dependencies↗
DOE OSTI2024

Industry Scan of Non-SF6 Gas-Insulated Technologies

Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF 6 ) is a specialty gas with excellent electrical insulation properties which has been used extensively in the power industry. This gas is unfortunately also one of the most potent greenhouse gases known to humanity. A 2014 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that SF 6 has a global warming potential (GWP) 23,000 times higher than Carbon Dioxide, and has the highest GWP of all gases assessed (Myhre 2013). SF 6 is almost exclusively man-made and is produced for use as an insulator in high voltage electrical equipment. This makes the production and use of SF 6 one of the leading sources of anthropogenic climate change. Since SF 6 recognition as a significant contributor to climate change, most governments and organizations have sought ways to reduce or eliminate their use of this gas. Many utilities have initiated leak monitoring and repair programs which have significantly reduced emissions of this gas into the atmosphere. While leak reduction programs have been effective at reducing emission rates in the developed world, leak rates remain frozen at ~1% annually. However, one of the largest and fastest growing markets for this gas is in the developing world where emissions standards are often lacking (P&S Intelligence. 2023). To fully eliminate the environmental impacts of SF 6 , alternative technology is needed. The ideal replacement would be a technology that can fulfil the same role as SF 6 , at the same cost or cheaper, but without adverse environmental effects. Currently, no technology fits this description, however several promising technologies have begun to enter the market. This report was commissioned by the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity under the Transformer Resilience and Advanced Components (TRAC) program to assess the state of industry adoption and manufacturing capability for SF 6 -free alternative technologies for use at the high-voltage level, and the primary barriers to broader adoption. While this report is tailored to the United States, the findings should be relevant to all stakeholders seeking to reduce SF 6 emissions.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

A metric framework for evaluating the resilience contribution of hydropower to the grid

This paper will describe a proposed framework for expressing the resilience of hydropower generation and provide initial case studies for three classes of hydropower, run-of-river hydropower, hydropower with reservoirs, and pumped storage hydropower. Hydropower has great flexibility to provide support during and after natural and man-made events that can disrupt critical infrastructure functionality. The concept of the framework provides for consideration of policy and rules, constraints of the water shed and other allocations of water, storage and plant capabilities to produce real and reactive power, and the strength of the delivery network. The paper details a resilience response metric that has inputs of state of storage and plant level constraints on real and reactive power production. Using the definition of resilience, based on maintaining a minimally normal operations, we provide a qualitative assessment of hydropower’s ability to address the various time scales comprising the “R”s of resilience.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

ARM-IRL: Adaptive Resilience Metric Quantification Using Inverse Reinforcement Learning

The resilience of safety-critical systems is gaining importance due to the rise in cyber and physical threats, especially within critical infrastructure. Traditional static resilience metrics may not capture dynamic system states, leading to inaccurate assessments and ineffective responses to cyber threats. This work aims to develop a data-driven, adaptive method for resilience metric learning. We propose a data-driven approach using inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) to learn a single, adaptive resilience metric. The method infers a reward function from expert control actions. Unlike previous approaches using static weights or fuzzy logic, this work applies adversarial inverse reinforcement learning (AIRL), training a generator and discriminator in parallel to learn the reward structure and derive an optimal policy. The proposed approach is evaluated on multiple scenarios: optimal communication network rerouting, power distribution network reconfiguration, and cyber–physical restoration of critical loads using the IEEE 123-bus system. The adaptive, learned resilience metric enables faster critical load restoration in comparison to conventional RL approaches.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Natural variation in growth and yield to waterlogging across climate-diverse pennycress accessions

Many winter annual crops, such as pennycress ( Thlaspi arvense L.), are subjected to heavy precipitation events during their growing season. Therefore, it is essential to identify pennycress accessions with natural variation in flooding resilience. We used climate modeling data to assess spring soil moisture levels in the geographic origins of 471 natural pennycress accessions. We selected 34 accessions with variation in predicted soil moisture and tested survivability under prolonged waterlogging at the rosette stage. It took seven weeks for the first accessions to die, indicating that pennycress is hardy to prolonged waterlogging at the vegetative stage. Furthermore, we chose ‘susceptible’ and ‘tolerant’ accessions to waterlog for one week at the reproductive stage, the growth stage aligned with spring rainfall. Six accessions had significantly reduced seed weight at maturity and two had minimal impacts on growth and seed yield after waterlogging and can be further explored for adaptive traits.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Modeling and Calibration of Supplier Selection Problem in Freight Agent-Based Simulations

Freight transportation modeling often struggles with data limitations, especially in accurately representing complex supplier selection processes and their impact on network flows. This research addresses this critical gap by developing a large-scale, calibrated agent-based model for supplier selection, complemented by a probabilistic heuristic for international shipments. Our approach integrates trade relationships between industry sectors, transportation costs, and a supplier-rating model adapted from existing literature. The model’s core objective is to minimize the discrepancy between modeled and observed commodity flows while ensuring a close match to regional shipping distance distributions. Implemented and tested across four major U.S. metropolitan areas—Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Los Angeles—the model demonstrates high fidelity in replicating observed freight patterns. Key findings reveal consistent alignment with national shipping distance trends and highlight significant spatial variations in commodity trade assignments and demand across the study regions. This behaviorally informed and transport-sensitive framework is designed to approximate real-world decision making, providing a robust tool for policymakers and planners to evaluate targeted interventions, assess infrastructure investments, and enhance supply chain resilience in the face of disruptions.

Ismael, Abdelrahman (ORCID:0000000303712110)↗
DOE OSTI2024

State Requirements for Electric Distribution System Planning

Utilities have conducted distribution planning since they first began building and operating electricity systems. But filing these plans for regulatory and stakeholder review is a relatively recent phenomenon. This report summarizes legislative and regulatory requirements for regulated electric utilities to file some type of distribution system plan in 20 U.S. jurisdictions. Some plans focus on expedited cost recovery for certain types of distribution system improvements; other plans focus on investments for grid modernization or distributed energy resources. Increasingly, states are adopting requirements for Integrated Distribution Plans. Such plans provide holistic grid investment strategies that address state and local policies and increasing complexity at the grid edge. The report covers the following topics for distribution system plans, highlighting advanced practices: -State goals and objectives -Procedural requirements -Forecasting loads and distributed energy resources -Hosting capacity analysis -Baseline information requirements -Grid modernization strategy -Grid needs assessment -Non-wires solutions -Reliability and resilience analyses -Stakeholder engagement -Equity -Pilots -Coordination with other planning processes The report includes links to legislation; regulatory requirements, proceedings, and orders; and filed utility plans. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity provided funding support.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Pumped Storage Hydropower Resource and Deployment Potential

There is growing interest in deploying new pumped storage hydropower (PSH) to meet grid needs for flexibility, reliability, and resiliency. This presentation describes how NLR resource assessment, cost modeling, and capacity expansion modeling are used to identify technical and economic PSH deployment potential and support industry decision-making on PSH investments. NLR's open data and tools demonstrate the vast technical potential of PSH on the order of 80 TW, and modeling shows economic PSH deployment under an attractive cost-value proposition.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Laser-induced graphene gas sensors for environmental monitoring

Artemesia tridentatais a foundational plant taxon in western North America and an important medicinal plant threatened by climate change. Low-cost fabrication of sensors is critical for developing large-area sensor networks for understanding and monitoring a range of environmental conditions. However, the availability of materials and manufacturing processes is still in the early stages, limiting the capacity to develop cost-effective sensors at a large scale. In this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of low-cost flexible sensors using laser-induced graphene (LIG); a graphitic material synthesized using a 450-nm wavelength bench top laser patterned onto polyimide substrates. We demonstrate the effect of the intensity and focus of the incident beam on the morphology and electrical properties of the synthesized material. Raman analyses of the synthesized LIG show a defect-rich graphene with a crystallite size in the tens of nanometers. This shows that the high level of disorder within the LIG structure, along with the porous nature of the material provide a good surface for gas adsorption. The initial characterization of the material has shown an analyte response represented by a change in resistance of up to 5% in the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted and detected byArtemisiaspecies. Bend testing up to 100 cycles provides evidence that these sensors will remain resilient when deployed across the landscapes to assess VOC signaling in plant communities. The versatile low-cost laser writing technique highlights the promise of low-cost and scalable fabrication of LIG sensors for gas sensor monitoring.

Chemistry↗
NASA NTRS2004

Transformations in Air Transportation Systems For the 21st Century

Globally, our transportation systems face increasingly discomforting realities: certain of the legacy air and ground infrastructures of the 20th century will not satisfy our 21st century mobility needs. The consequence of inaction is diminished quality of life and economic opportunity for those nations unable to transform from the 20th to 21st century systems. Clearly, new thinking is required regarding business models that cater to consumers value of time, airspace architectures that enable those new business models, and technology strategies for innovating at the system-of-networks level. This lecture proposes a structured way of thinking about transformation from the legacy systems of the 20th century toward new systems for the 21st century. The comparison and contrast between the legacy systems of the 20th century and the transformed systems of the 21st century provides insights into the structure of transformation of air transportation. Where the legacy systems tend to be analog (versus digital), centralized (versus distributed), and scheduled (versus on-demand) for example, transformed 21st century systems become capable of scalability through technological, business, and policy innovations. Where air mobility in our legacy systems of the 20th century brought economic opportunity and quality of life to large service markets, transformed air mobility of the 21st century becomes more equitable available to ever-thinner and widely distributed populations. Several technological developments in the traditional aircraft disciplines as well as in communication, navigation, surveillance and information systems create new foundations for 21st thinking about air transportation. One of the technological developments of importance arises from complexity science and modern network theory. Scale-free (i.e., scalable) networks represent a promising concept space for modeling airspace system architectures, and for assessing network performance in terms of robustness, resilience, and other metrics. The lecture offers an air transportation system topology and a scale-free network linkage graphic as framework for transportation system innovation. Successful outcomes of innovation in air transportation could lay the foundations for new paradigms for aircraft and their operating capabilities, air transportation system topologies, and airspace architectures and procedural concepts. These new paradigms could support scalable alternatives for the expansion of future air mobility to more consumers in more parts of the world.

Holmes, Bruce J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Capability for Integrated Systems Risk-Reduction Analysis

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) is working to increase the likelihoods of human health and performance success during long-duration missions, and subsequent crew long-term health. To achieve these goals, there is a need to develop an integrated understanding of how the complex human physiological-socio-technical mission system behaves in spaceflight. This understanding will allow HRP to provide cross-disciplinary spaceflight countermeasures while minimizing resources such as mass, power, and volume. This understanding will also allow development of tools to assess the state of and enhance the resilience of individual crewmembers, teams, and the integrated mission system. We will discuss a set of risk-reduction questions that has been identified to guide the systems approach necessary to meet these needs. In addition, a framework of factors influencing human health and performance in space, called the Contributing Factor Map (CFM), is being applied as the backbone for incorporating information addressing these questions from sources throughout HRP. Using the common language of the CFM, information from sources such as the Human System Risk Board summaries, Integrated Research Plan, and HRP-funded publications has been combined and visualized in ways that allow insight into cross-disciplinary interconnections in a systematic, standardized fashion. We will show examples of these visualizations. We will also discuss applications of the resulting analysis capability that can inform science portfolio decisions, such as areas in which cross-disciplinary solicitations or countermeasure development will potentially be fruitful.

Mindock, J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Feasibility Assessment of Thermal Barrier Seals for Extreme Transient Temperatures

The assembly joints of modem solid rocket motor cases are generally sealed using conventional O-ring type seals. The 5500+ F combustion gases produced by rocket motors are kept a safe distance away from the seals by thick layers of phenolic insulation. Special compounds are used to fill insulation gaps leading up to the seals to prevent a direct flowpath to them. Design criteria require that the seals should not experience torching or charring during operation, or their sealing ability would be compromised. On limited occasions, NASA has observed charring of the primary O-rings of the Space Shuttle solid rocket nozzle assembly joints due to parasitic leakage paths opening up in the gap-fill compounds during rocket operation. NASA is investigating different approaches for preventing torching or charring of the primary O-rings. One approach is to implement a braided rope seal upstream of the primary O-ring to serve as a thermal barrier that prevents the hot gases from impinging on the O-ring seals. This paper presents flow, resiliency, and thermal resistance for several types of NASA rope seals braided out of carbon fibers. Burn tests were performed to determine the time to burn through each of the seals when exposed to the flame of an oxyacetylene torch (5500 F), representative of the 5500 F solid rocket motor combustion temperatures. Rope seals braided out of carbon fibers endured the flame for over six minutes, three times longer than solid rocket motor burn time. Room and high temperature flow tests are presented for the carbon seals for different amounts of linear compression. Room temperature compression tests were performed to assess seal resiliency and unit preloads as a function of compression. The thermal barrier seal was tested in a subscale "char" motor test in which the seal sealed an intentional defect in the gap insulation. Temperature measurements indicated that the seal blocked 2500 F combustion gases on the upstream side with very little temperature rise on the downstream side.

Steinetz, Bruce M.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Financing and Implementing Resilience Products

This fact sheet defines common resilience improvements and provides key considerations for identifying, prioritizing, and implementing these improvements across a commercial building portfolio. It also discusses common barriers to resilience improvements and reviews various third-party financing solutions that can help overcome these barriers.

CHP↗
DOE OSTI2025

Housing-Performance Atlas of Baltimore Row Homes: Archetype-Based Multi-Hazard Baseline of Energy, Heat, Survivability, and Durability

Baltimore’s historic row-home neighborhoods face escalating risks to energy, heat, and durability under intensifying climate stress. This study develops a Housing-Performance Atlas that quantifies multi-hazard performance for eight representative archetypes using DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus Version 7.3.1.003, under Baltimore TMY3 boundary conditions. Performance is evaluated across the following four adaptation domains: energy use intensity, passive survivability during 72 h outage events, roof overheating exposure (>150 °F exceedance hours), and material service life derived from ISO 15686 and synthesized into Lean and Full Deficit Indices for comparative resilience ranking. Results show that EUI ranged from 46.7 to 67.6 kBtu ft −2 ·yr −1 , survivability from 0 to 23 h, and roof temperatures exceeded 150 °F for 150–210 h, shortening roof service life by up to 10 years. Composite Lean and Full Deficit Indices ranged 7.8–92.4, ranking Model 5 (end-unit, flat roof, two-story with basement) as the most resilient configuration and Model 8 (end-unit, pitched roof, three-story above-grade) as the least resilient due to compounded overheating and energy losses. Heat-related domains accounted for nearly 70% of overall resilience deficits, confirming thermal safety and roof reflectivity as retrofit priorities. The Housing-Performance Atlas establishes a reproducible diagnostic framework linking simulation, service life, and resilience metrics to guide cost-effective, climate-responsive retrofits in Baltimore’s aging urban housing stock.

Housing-Performance atlas↗
NASA NTRS2019

New York City Panel on Climate Change 2019 Report Chapter 1: Introduction

While urban areas like New York City and its surrounding metropolitan region are key drivers of climate change through emissions of greenhouse gases, cities are also significantly impacted by climate shifts, both chronic changes and extreme events. These are already affecting the New York metropolitan region, including the five boroughs of New York City through higher temperatures, more intense precipitation, and higher sea levels, and will increasingly do so in the coming decades. The City of New York has embarked on a flexible adaptation pathway (i.e., strategies that can evolve through time as climate risk assessment, evaluation of adaptation strategies, and monitoring continues) to respond to climate change challenges. This entails significant programs to develop resilience in communities and critical infrastructure to observed and projected changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level. The first NPCC Report laid out the risk management framing for the city and region via flexible adaptation pathways. The second New York City Panel on Climate Change Report (NPCC2) developed the “climate projections of record” that are currently being used by the City of New York in its resilience programs . The NPCC3 2019 Report co-generates new tools and methods for the next generation of climate risk assessments and implementation of region-wide resilience. Co-generation is an interactive process by which stakeholders and scientists work together to produce climate change information that is targeted to decision-making needs. These tools and methods can be used to observe, project, and map climate extremes; monitor risks and responses; and engage with communities to develop effective programs. They are especially important at “transformation points” in the adaptation process when large changes in the structure and function of physical, ecological, and social systems of the city and region are undertaken.

Rosenzweig, Cynthia↗
DOE OSTI2021

Performance Metrics to Evaluate Utility Resilience Investments

In 2019, Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) contracted Synapse Energy Economics (Synapse) to research the integration of community and electric grid resilience investment planning as part of the Designing Resilient Communities (DRC): A Consequence-Based Approach for Grid Investment project. Synapse produced a series of reports to explore the challenges and opportunities in several key areas, including benefit-cost analysis (BCA), performance metrics, microgrids, and regulatory mechanisms. This report focuses on BCA. BCA is an approach that electric utilities, electric utility regulators, and communities can use to evaluate the costs and benefits of a wide range of grid resilience investments in a comprehensive and consistent way. While BCA is regularly applied to some types of grid investments, application of BCA to grid resilience investments is in the early stages of development. Though resilience is increasingly cited in connection with grid investment proposals and plans, the resilience- related costs and benefits of grid resilience investments are typically not fully identified, infrequently quantified, and almost never monetized. Without complete assessments of costs and benefits, regulators can be hesitant to approve some types of grid resilience investments. This report provides the first application of the framework developed in the 2020 National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources (NSPM for DERs) to grid resilience investments. We provide guidance on next steps for implementation to enable grid resilience investments to receive due consideration. We suggest developing BCA principles and standards for jurisdiction-specific BCA tests. We also recommend identifying the resilience impacts of the investments and quantification of these impacts by establishing utility performance metrics for resilience. Proactive integration of grid resilience investments into existing regulatory processes and practices can increase the capacity of jurisdictions to respond to and recover from the consequences of extreme events. 1 National Energy Screening Project. 2020. National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗