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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Characterizing the Oscillatory Properties of Bulk Electric Systems

This paper presents a process for characterizing the oscillatory dynamics of a large bulk power system. As a demonstration, the process is applied to the Western Interconnection of North America. Several complementary analysis approaches, both new and existing, are employed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the oscillatory properties of the system. Established modal analysis techniques based on ringdown and mode-meter algorithms are utilized. In addition, we derive and apply methods based on spectral correlation analysis to identify modal frequencies, distinguish between modes that are closely spaced in frequency, and determine locations at which the modes are observable. Critical interarea modes are identified and characterized using actual-system synchrophasor measurements taken over several years of operation in concert with industry-standard simulation models. This includes 145 hours of PMU data and two planning base cases.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Isochronous Architecture-Based Voltage-Active Power Droop for Multi-Inverter Systems

This article proposes an isochronous architecture for parallel inverters with only voltage-active power droop (VP-D) control for improving active power sharing as well as plug-and-play of multi-inverter-based distributed energy resources (DERs). The isochronous framework obviates the need for an explicit regulation of the frequency while allowing for sharing of reactive power. The article shows that the detrimental effects of circulating currents between inverters can be addressed in the framework developed. The isochronous architecture is implemented by employing a GPS to disseminate clock timing signals that enable the microgrid to maintain the nominal system frequency. Small signal eigenvalue analysis of a Multi-inverter Microgrid system near the steady-state operating point is presented to evaluate the system stability. Moreover, unlike traditional droop-based methods, the isochronous strategy lends itself to analytical guarantees which are developed in the article. Furthermore, the effect of delays in receiving GPS clock signals by an inverter is experimentally characterized and an inverter isolation mechanism is proposed that disconnects inverters facing large GPS communication delays. Hardware experiments on an 1.2 kVA-prototype and controller-hardware-in-the-loop validation on the CIGRE distribution network are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed architecture towards active and reactive power sharing between inverters with load scenarios.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Initiating Event Rates at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants, 2021 Update

Analyzing initiating event rates is important because it indicates trends and patterns of plant performance and provides inputs to several U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) risk-informed regulatory activities. This report presents an analysis of initiating event frequencies at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants from calendar year 1988 through 2021, as reported in licensee event reports. Engineers with nuclear power plant experience reviewed each event report since the last update to this report to categorize and characterize reactor trips. To be included in this study, an event had to meet all of the following criteria: (1) the event included an unplanned reactor trip (not a scheduled reactor trip on the daily operations schedule), (2) the sequence of events started when the reactor was critical and at or above the point of adding heat, (3) the event occurred at a U.S. commercial nuclear power plant (excluding Fort St. Vrain and LaCrosse), and (4) the event was reported by a licensee event report. Sixteen initiating event groupings are trended and displayed. For some of the categories, relevant events are plotted separately for boiling-water reactors (BWR) and pressurized-water reactors (PWR). P-values are given for the possible presence of a trend over the most recent 10 years. The following trends were identified for the most recent 10 years (2012–2021): • A highly statistically significant decreasing trend was identified for Loss of Offsite Power (p-value = 0.002) • A statistically significant decreasing trend was identified for BWR general transients (p-value = 0.025) • A statistically significant decreasing trend was identified for PWR general transients for the second year in a row (p-value = 0.038).

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Power Electronics Based Self-Monitoring and Diagnosing for Photovoltaic Systems

Faults in photovoltaic (PV) systems can seriously affect the efficiency, energy yield, cost, safety, and reliability of PV plants. Condition monitoring of PV plants is, therefore, a very important approach to estimating the health condition of PV modules and power electronics in the system. However, additional hardware for PV system monitoring adds cost to the system's operation; delayed maintenance service also causes additional energy production loss. The Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Siemens Cooperate Research developed the online impedance measurement for a PV panel self-monitoring and diagnosing technology using the DC-DC converter connected to the panel. Small-signal impedances of a monocrystalline silicon PV panel were modeled and simulated to reflect fault conditions such as the short-circuit, hot-spot, and junction box faults. Modeling and simulation results were validated firstly using a test setup consisting of a solar simulator, a network analyzer, small-signal injectors, and a monocrystalline PV panel rated at 300 W.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Initiating Event Rates at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants: 2022 Update

Analyzing initiating event rates is important because it indicates trends and patterns of plant performance and provides inputs to several U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) risk-informed regulatory activities. This report presents an analysis of initiating event frequencies at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants from calendar year 1988 through 2022, as reported in licensee event reports. Engineers with nuclear power plant experience reviewed each event report since the last update to this report to categorize and characterize reactor trips. To be included in this study, an event had to meet all of the following criteria: (1) the event included an unplanned reactor trip (not a scheduled reactor trip on the daily operations schedule), (2) the sequence of events started when the reactor was critical and at or above the point of adding heat, (3) the event occurred at a U.S. commercial nuclear power plant (excluding Fort St. Vrain and LaCrosse), and (4) the event was reported by a licensee event report. Sixteen initiating event groupings are trended and displayed. For some of the categories, relevant events are plotted separately for boiling-water reactors (BWR) and pressurized-water reactors (PWR). P-values are given for the possible presence of a trend over the most recent 10 years.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Condition monitoring of wind turbine drivetrains: state-of-the-art technologies, recent trends, and future outlook

As global wind capacity expands, reducing operations and maintenance costs is critical to lowering the levelized cost of energy. This paper explores the state of the art in condition monitoring and prognostic strategies for wind turbine drivetrains, which are among the most failure-prone and maintenance-intensive subsystems. Current diagnostic methodologies are evaluated, covering supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data, high-frequency vibration and acoustic analysis, machine learning and digital twin frameworks. Finally, practical challenges are identified that limit wide-scale industrial adoption, in order to guide future research and industrial efforts.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Land-based wind turbines with flexible rail-transportable blades – Part 2: 3D finite element design optimization of the rotor blades

Abstract. Increasing growth in land-based wind turbine blades to enable higher machine capacities and capacity factors is creating challenges in design, manufacturing, logistics, and operation. Enabling further blade growth will require technology innovation. An emerging solution to overcome logistics constraints is to segment the blades spanwise and chordwise, which is effective, but the additional field-assembled joints result in added mass and loads, as well as increased reliability concerns in operation. An alternative to this methodology is to design slender flexible blades that can be shipped on rail lines by flexing during transport. However, the increased flexibility is challenging to accommodate with a typical glass-fiber, upwind design. In a two-part paper series, several design options are evaluated to enable slender flexible blades: downwind machines, optimized carbon fiber, and active aerodynamic controls. Part 1 presents the system-level optimization of the rotor variants as compared to conventional and segmented baselines, with a low-fidelity representation of the blades. The present work, Part 2, supplements the system-level optimization in Part 1 with high-fidelity blade structural optimization to ensure that the designs are at feasible optima with respect to material strength and fatigue limits, as well as global stability and structural dynamics constraints. To accommodate the requirements of the design process, a new version of the Numerical Manufacturing And Design (NuMAD) code has been developed and released. The code now supports laminate-level blade optimization and an interface to the International Energy Agency Wind Task 37 blade ontology. Transporting long, flexible blades via controlled flapwise bending is found to be a viable approach for blades of up to 100 m. The results confirm that blade mass can be substantially reduced by going either to a downwind design or to a highly coned and tilted upwind design. A discussion of active and inactive constraints consisting of material rupture, fatigue damage, buckling, deflection, and resonant frequencies is presented. An analysis of driving load cases revealed that the downwind designs are dominated by loads from sudden, abrupt events like gusts rather than fatigue. Finally, an analysis of carbon fiber spar caps for downwind machines finds that, compared to typical carbon fibers, the use of a new heavy-tow carbon fiber in the spar caps is found to yield between 9 % and 13 % cost savings.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-Power Clock Laser Spectrally Tailored for High-Fidelity Quantum State Engineering

Highly frequency-stable lasers are ubiquitous tools for optical-frequency metrology, precision interferometry, and quantum information science. While making a universally applicable laser is unrealistic, spectral noise can be tailored for specific applications. Here we report a high-power 698-nm clock laser with a maximum output of 4W and minimized frequency noise up to a few kHz Fourier frequency, together with long-term instability of 3.5 × 10 −17 at one to thousands of seconds. The laser-frequency noise is precisely characterized with atom-based spectral analysis that employs a pulse sequence designed to suppress sensitivity to intensity noise. This method provides universally applicable tunability of the spectral response and analysis of quantum sensors over a wide frequency range. With the optimized laser system characterized by this technique, we achieve an average single-qubit Clifford gate fidelity of up to 𝐹$^2_1$ = 0.999⁢64⁢(3) when simultaneously driving 3000 optical qubits with a homogeneous Rabi frequency ranging from 10 Hz to 1 kHz. This result represents the highest single optical-qubit-gate fidelity for a large number of atoms.

atomic gases↗
DOE OSTI2020

Analysis of the time-of-flight neutron scattering cross-section data for light water measured at the SEQUOIA spectrometer, Spallation Neutron Source (SNS)

Thermal neutron scattering cross-section data for light water available in the major nuclear data libraries observes significant differences especially at reactor operating temperatures. During the past few years there has been a renewed interest in reviewing the existing thermal scattering models and generating more accurate and reliable thermal scattering cross sections using existing experimental data and in some cases based on Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. There is a need for performing new time-of-flight experiments at high temperatures and pressures, to have a better understanding of the physics involved in the scattering process that could help improve the existing TSL data.Lack of experimental thermal scattering data for light water at high temperatures led to a new measurement campaign within the INSIDER project at the Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire (IRSN). Double differential scattering cross section for light water have been measured at the SEQUOIA spectrometer based at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States. Several measurements have been carried out at different temperatures and pressures corresponding to liquid light water. Measurements at five different incident neutron energies Ei (8, 60, 160, 280 and 800 meV) have been carried out to help exploring different regions of the frequency spectrum. This paper presents the analysis of the dynamic structure factor and the derived frequency spectrum of light water. The analysis of the experimental data would provide one with better confidence, the behavior of thermal scattering cross sections for light water at high temperatures, knowledge of which is very important for the design of novel reactors as well as existing pressurized water reactors.

Jaiswal, V↗
DOE OSTI2021

Regulatory Treatment of Low Frequency External Events under a Risk-Informed Performance-Based Licensing Pathway

Significant efforts are underway to develop and implement a risk-informed performance-based licensing framework for advanced reactors built on the establishment of an affirmative safety case. Such approaches offer the benefits of increased flexibility regarding key design and licensing decisions based on a detailed assessment and understanding of plant risk. These methods include the comprehensive analysis of scenarios that have historically been addressed through conservative and deterministic licensing analysis approaches, such as the evaluation of event sequences at frequencies of occurrence beyond the design basis. While the detailed analysis of low frequency events provides insights that can help justify alternative treatments to past conservatism, the findings are dependent on the quality and confidence associated with the analyses. The assessment of external hazards presents a unique challenge, as their potential frequency of occurrence, especially of large magnitude events, is inherently uncertain given the long return periods in question. The current project seeks to further explore the regulatory treatment of low frequency external events as part of a risk-informed performance-based framework. The goals are to identify the benefits and challenges of such approaches for advanced reactor vendors and to aid in the development of consistent and appropriate methodologies. As part of this effort, the current report summarizes initial project findings, with a focus on the evaluation of the seismic hazard. This includes an exploration of the implementation of a risk-informed performance-based approach through an example analysis. Based on the identified challenges associated with the probabilistic treatment of low frequency event sequences, additional performance-based methods were explored as complementary tools for demonstrating regulatory compliance. The report highlights key challenges and opportunities associated with the methods and outlines recommendations and future activities to assist with their implementation.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A comparison of smartphone and infrasound microphone data from a fuel air explosive and a high explosive

For prompt detection of large (>1 kt) above-ground explosions, infrasound microphone networks and arrays are deployed at surveyed locations across the world. Denser regional and local networks are deployed for smaller explosions, however, they are limited in number and are often deployed temporarily for experiments. With the expanded interest in smaller yield explosions targeted at vulnerable areas such as population centers and key infrastructures, the need for more dense microphone networks has increased. An “attritable” (affordable, reusable, and replaceable) and flexible alternative can be provided by smartphone networks. Explosion signals from a fuel air explosive (thermobaric bomb) and a high explosive with trinitrotoluene equivalent yields of 6.35 and 3.63 kg, respectively, were captured on both an infrasound microphone and a network of smartphones. The resulting waveforms were compared in time, frequency, and time-frequency domains. The acoustic waveforms collected on smartphones produced a filtered explosion pulse due to the smartphone's diminishing frequency response at infrasound frequencies (<20 Hz) and was found difficult to be used with explosion characterization methods utilizing waveform features (peak overpressure, impulse, etc.). However, the similarities in time frequency representations and additional sensor inputs are promising for other explosion signal identification and analysis. As an example, a method utilizing the relative acoustic amplitudes for source localization using the smartphone sensor network is presented.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

High Frequency Monitoring and Nitrate Sourcing Reveals Baseflow and Stormflow Controls on Total Dissolved Nitrogen and Carbon Export Along a Rural‐Urban Gradient

Abstract Efforts to reduce nitrogen and carbon loading from developed watersheds typically target specific flows or sources, but across gradients in development intensity there is no consensus on the contribution of different flows to total loading or sources of nitrogen export. This information is vital to optimize management strategies leveraging source reductions, stormwater controls, and restorations. We investigate how solute loading and sources vary across flows and land‐use using high frequency monitoring and stable nitrate isotope analysis from five catchments with different sanitary infrastructure, along a gradient in development intensity. High frequency monitoring allowed estimation of annual loading and attribution to storm versus baseflows. Nitrate loads were 16 kg/km 2 /yr. from the forested catchment and ranged from 68 to 119 kg/km 2 /yr., across developed catchments, highest for the septic served site. Across developed catchments, baseflow contributions ranged from 40% of N loading to 75% from the septic served catchment, and the contribution from high stormflows increased with development intensity. Stormflows mobilized and mixed many surface and subsurface nitrate sources while baseflow nitrate was dominated by fewer sources which varied by catchment (soil, wastewater, or fertilizer). To help inform future sampling designs, we demonstrate that grab sampling and targeted storm sampling would likely fail to accurately predict annual loadings within the study period. The dominant baseflow loads and subsurface stormflows are not treated by surface water management practices primarily targeted to surface stormflows. Using a balance of green and gray infrastructure and stream/riparian restoration may target specific flow paths and improve management.

Delesantro, Joseph M.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Measuring the properties of f - mode oscillations of a protoneutron star by third-generation gravitational-wave detectors

Core-collapse supernovae are among the astrophysical sources of gravitational waves that could be detected by third-generation gravitational-wave detectors. Here, we analyze the gravitational-wave strain signals from two- and three-dimensional simulations of core-collapse supernovae generated using the code FORNAX. A subset of the two-dimensional simulations has non-zero core rotation at the core bounce. A dominant source of time changing quadrupole moment is the l = 2 fundamental mode (f- mode) oscillation of the proto-neutron star. From the time-frequency spectrogram of the gravitational-wave strain we see that, starting ~ 400 ms after the core bounce, most of the power lies within a narrow track that represents the frequency evolution of the f-mode oscillations. The f-mode frequencies obtained from linear perturbation analysis of the angle averaged profile of the protoneutron star corroborate what we observe in the spectrograms of the gravitational wave signal. We explore the measurability of the f-mode frequency evolution of protoneutron star for a supernova signal observed in the third-generation gravitational-wave detectors. Measurement of the frequency evolution can reveal information about the masses, radii, and densities of the proto-neutron stars. We find that if the third generation detectors observe a supernova within 10 kpc, we can measure these frequencies to within ~90% accuracy. Here, we can also measure the energy emitted in the fundamental f-mode using the spectrogram data of the strain signal. We find that the energy in the f-mode can be measured to within 20% error for signals observed by Cosmic Explorer using simulations with successful explosion, assuming source distances within 10 kpc.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Spatiotemporally Adaptive Compression for Scientific Dataset with Feature Preservation – A Case Study on Simulation Data with Extreme Climate Events Analysis

Scientific discoveries are increasingly constrained by limited storage space and I/O capacities. For time-series simulations and experiments, their data often need to be decimated over timesteps to accommodate storage and I/O limitations. In this paper, we propose a technique that addresses storage costs while improving post-analysis accuracy through spatiotemporal adaptive, error-controlled lossy compression. We investigate the trade-off between data precision and temporal output rates, revealing that reducing data precision and increasing timestep frequency lead to more accurate analysis outcomes. Additionally, we integrate spatiotemporal feature detection with data compression and demonstrate that performing adaptive error-bounded compression in higher dimensional space enables greater compression ratios, leveraging the error propagation theory of a transformation-based compressor. To evaluate our approach, we conduct experiments using the well-known E3SM climate simulation code and apply our method to compress variables used for cyclone tracking. Our results show a significant reduction in storage size while enhancing the quality of cyclone tracking analysis, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in comparison to the prevalent timestep decimation approach. Compared to three state-of-the-art lossy compressors lacking feature preservation capabilities, our adaptive compression framework improves perfectly matched cases in TC tracking by 26.4-51.3% at medium compression ratios and by 77.3-571.1% at large compression ratios, with a merely 5–11% computational overhead.

Gong, Qian↗