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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 37 records · Page 2

Melting of Magnesium Borohydride under High Hydrogen Pressure: Thermodynamic Stability and Effects of Nanoconfinement

The thermodynamic stability and melting point of magnesium borohydride were probed under hydrogen pressures up to 1000 bar (100 MPa) and temperatures up to 400 °C. At 400 °C, Mg(BH4)2 was found to be chemically stable between 700 and 1000 bar H2, whereas under 350 bar H2 or lower pressures, the bulk material partially decomposed into MgH2 and MgB12H12. The melting point of solvent-free Mg(BH4)2 was estimated to be 367-375 °C, which was above previously reported values by 40-90 °C. Our results indicated that a high hydrogen backpressure is needed to prevent the decomposition of Mg(BH4)2 before measuring the melting point and that molten Mg(BH4)2 can exist as a stable liquid phase between 367 and 400 °C under hydrogen overpressures of 700 bar or above. The occurrence of a pure molten Mg(BH4)2 phase enabled efficient melt-infiltration of Mg(BH4)2 into the pores of porous templated carbons (CMK-3 and CMK-8) and graphene aerogels. Both transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering confirmed efficient incorporation of the borohydride into the carbon pores. The Mg(BH4)2@carbon samples exhibited comparable hydrogen capacities to bulk Mg(BH4)2 upon desorption up to 390 °C based on the mass of the active component; the onset of hydrogen release was reduced by 15-25 °C compared to the bulk. Importantly, melt-infiltration under hydrogen pressure was shown to be an efficient way to introduce metal borohydrides into the pores of carbon-based materials, helping to prevent particle agglomeration and formation of stable closo-polyborate byproducts.

White, James L.↗

Remote effects of Tibetan Plateau spring land temperature on global subseasonal to seasonal precipitation prediction and comparison with effects of sea surface temperature: the GEWEX/LS4P Phase I experiment

The prediction skill for precipitation anomalies in late spring and summer months—a significant component of extreme climate events—has remained stubbornly low for years. This paper presents a new idea that utilizes information on boreal spring land surface temperature/subsurface temperature (LST/SUBT) anomalies over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) to improve prediction of subsequent summer droughts/floods over several regions over the world, East Asia and North America in particular. The work was performed in the framework of the GEWEX/LS4P Phase I (LS4P-I) experiment, which focused on whether the TP LST/SUBT provides an additional source for subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) predictability. The summer 2003, when there were severe drought/flood over the southern/northern part of the Yangtze River basin, respectively, has been selected as the focus case. With the newly developed LST/SUBT initialization method, the observed surface temperature anomaly over the TP has been partially produced by the LS4P-I model ensemble mean, and 8 hotspot regions in the world were identified where June precipitation is significantly associated with anomalies of May TP land temperature. Consideration of the TP LST/SUBT effect has produced about 25–50% of observed precipitation anomalies in most hotspot regions. The multiple models have shown more consistency in the hotspot regions along the Tibetan Plateau-Rocky Mountain Circumglobal (TRC) wave train. The mechanisms for the LST/SUBT effect on the 2003 drought over the southern part of the Yangtze River Basin are discussed. For comparison, the global SST effect has also been tested and 6 regions with significant SST effects were identified in the 2003 case, explaining about 25–50% of precipitation anomalies over most of these regions. This study suggests that the TP LST/SUBT effect is a first-order source of S2S precipitation predictability, and hence it is comparable to that of the SST effect. With the completion of the LS4P-I, the LS4P-II has been launched and the LS4P-II protocol is briefly presented.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Potential Effects of Climate Change and Solar Radiation Modification on Renewable Energy Resources

Solar radiation modification (SRM) is a possible deliberate approach to decrease or reflect incoming solar radiation with the goal of reducing global temperatures, which have increased over the last decades due to high atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Stratospheric aerosol injection, specifically, has shown potential for successfully reducing global temperatures in climate model simulations. Despite the growing literature in the areas of climate change and SRM, their combined effects on renewable energy generation, a climate change mitigation strategy, have not been addressed. In this review paper, we synthesize previous literature on the possible effects of climate change and SRM on renewable energy resources (i.e., wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, and hydropower), review the status of climate change and SRM research, and explore potential effects of SRM on renewable energy primarily in the Continental United States (CONUS), but with global perspectives as well. We discuss the research challenges and impacts of SRM on renewable energy and conclude by discussing the potential implications of SRM for renewables for SRM governance and policy. This work is not advocating for or against SRM. It is highlighting an important potential impact for future decision makers.

Kumler, Andrew [National Renewable Energy Laborato↗

Effective field theory interactions for liquid argon target in DarkSide-50 experiment

We reanalize data collected with the DarkSide-50 experiment and recently used to set limits on the spin-independent interaction rate of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) on argon nuclei with an effective field theory framework. The dataset corresponds to a total (16660 ± 270) kg d exposure using a target of low-radioactivity argon extracted from underground sources. We obtain upper limits on the effective couplings of the 12 leading operators in the nonrelativistic systematic expansion. For each effective coupling we set constraints on WIMP-nucleon cross sections, setting upper limits between 2.4×10-45 cm2 and 2.3×10-42 cm2 (8.9 ×10-45 cm2 and 6.0 ×10-42 cm2) for WIMPs of mass of 100 GeV/c2 (1000 GeV/c2) at 90% confidence level.

Agnes, P↗

Validation Metrics for Fixed Effects and Mixed-Effects Calibration

The modern scientific process often involves the development of a predictive computational model. To improve its accuracy, a computational model can be calibrated to a set of experimental data. A variety of validation metrics can be used to quantify this process. Some of these metrics have direct physical interpretations and a history of use, while others, especially those for probabilistic data, are more difficult to interpret. In this work, a variety of validation metrics are used to quantify the accuracy of different calibration methods. Frequentist and Bayesian perspectives are used with both fixed effects and mixed-effects statistical models. Through a quantitative comparison of the resulting distributions, the most accurate calibration method can be selected. Two examples are included which compare the results of various validation metrics for different calibration methods. It is quantitatively shown that, in the presence of significant laboratory biases, a fixed effects calibration is significantly less accurate than a mixed-effects calibration. This is because the mixed-effects statistical model better characterizes the underlying parameter distributions than the fixed effects model. The results suggest that validation metrics can be used to select the most accurate calibration model for a particular empirical model with corresponding experimental data.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The Effects of Channel Supplies on Overall Film-Cooling Effectiveness

Abstract Cooling components in the hot section of a gas turbine are essential to component durability. Common methods of cooling include rib turbulators in internal passages and film cooling on external surfaces. The holes that produce the film cooling are fed from the internal channels often containing ribs. Consequently, there is an interdependence of internal heat transfer and external film cooling. The purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the interaction of ribs and film cooling. To quantify the cooling performance, the surface temperatures were measured, from which overall effectiveness was calculated. For the experiments, additively manufactured test coupons were made of Inconel 718 to match engine Biot numbers. These test coupons had internal feed channels with and without ribs and had both cylindrical holes and meter-diffuser-shaped holes with 15 deg lateral expansion angles and a 1 deg forward expansion angle. A single rectangular channel was one type of feed channel. The other type of feed channel was individual circular channels, with each circular channel supplying an individual film-cooling hole. The experimental results showed that the circular individual channels have 80% higher baseline overall effectiveness than the single rectangular channels without any film cooling. Ribbed turbulators without film cooling also increased the overall effectiveness by 21% for single rectangular channels and by 29% for the circular individual channels compared to the respective non-ribbed channels. While the film cooling increased the overall effectiveness of all geometries, the single rectangular channels had increased overall effectiveness levels by up to twice that of the no film-cooling case. On average, the single rectangular channels had an 80% improvement from film cooling, whereas the individual channel feeds, on average, had only a 50% improvement, given their high baseline effectiveness levels.

Engineering↗

On CCN Effects upon Convective Cold Pool Timing and Features

Abstract Cold pools produced by deep convection can initiate new convection, and their representation in larger-scale weather and climate models could improve prediction of the extent and timing of upscale growth. Cold pools originate from latent cooling from precipitation changing phase, but little attention has been paid to microphysical influences on cold pool characteristics, particularly CCN effects. Datasets obtained from the CACTI and RELAMPAGO field campaigns, along with idealized numerical modeling, are utilized to investigate the hypothesis that convective storms forming in higher-CCN environments generate their first surface rainfall later, delaying cold pool initiation. Aircraft observations of CCN and shallow convection on 9 days do suggest a CCN effect. Those ingesting more CCN contained fewer drizzle drops, although a decreased cloud depth with increasing CCN was also likely a limiting factor. In three of those cases that later developed into deep convection, the timing of cold pool onset was not ubiquitously delayed in environments with more CCN. Idealized numerical simulations suggest that an ordinary thunderstorm can experience small delays in cold pool onset with increasing CCN due to changes in graupel production, but CCN effects on the cold pool from a supercell thunderstorm can be easily overpowered by its unique dynamics. A strong inverse relationship between cold pool strength, expansion rate, and depth with increasing CCN is suggested by the results of the ordinary thunderstorm simulation. Further consideration of CCN appears warranted for future cold pool parameterization development, but other environmental factors affecting storm morphology and precipitation cannot be ignored.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗

Approaches for effective negative pressure isolation space control to minimize airborne transmission of contaminants in residential homes

Controlling airborne transmission of contaminants including respired viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 is necessary to protect occupants living in the same house with a contagious person. The effectiveness of interventions requiring minor efforts that create a negative pressure isolation zone (IZ) for a contagious person has yet to be systematically tested for residential homes. In this study, ASHRAE Standard 170, which offers guidance for negative pressure isolation space control in healthcare facilities, was used in developing practical and attainable recommendations for residential single-family homes. The relative effectiveness of several control strategies was evaluated through experimentally conducting 17 different test cases in a manufactured single-family house laboratory. These cases were designed based on various heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) operating scenarios, intervention measures including closing the IZ door and/or sealing over supply and return air grilles in the IZ, and utilization of bathroom exhaust or portable window fans for pressure control. Four out of 17 test cases were identified as having the potential for strong containment with adequate depressurization in the IZ. The most effective IZ depressurization was achieved through continuously operating the exhaust fan in the bathroom attached to the IZ, by installing a portable window fan that extracted air out of the IZ, and a portable room air conditioner with the AC unit exhaust duct installed in one of the IZ windows.

Construction & Building Technology↗

Effect of the inversion symmetry breaking on the orbital Hall effect: A model study

The orbital Hall effect (OHE) is the transverse flow of orbital moment in a solid in response to an applied electric field, analogous to the flow of spin moment in the spin Hall effect (SHE). Although the effect has not been directly observed, there is ample indirect evidence for its existence in a number of experiments. Here, we show that the OHE is enhanced in solids with broken inversion symmetry, which may be more suitable to observe the effect. The mechanism of the OHE is fundamentally different in solids with inversion symmetry, where the orbital moment is quenched in the Brillouin zone (BZ), from that in a solid with broken inversion symmetry, where an intrinsic orbital moment is already present, the motion of which under the applied electric field could lead to a robust OHE. Using a tight-binding model Hamiltonian of a simple cubic lattice with two atoms in the unit cell, we study the effect of the inversion symmetry breaking on the OHE. We show that with the increase in the strength of the broken symmetry, the magnitude of the intrinsic orbital moment in the Brillouin zone increases. This, in turn, enhances the orbital Hall conductivity, in particular, the part that is directly proportional to the orbital moment in the BZ, which we call the “noncentrosymmetric contribution.” If the spin-orbit coupling is present, which couples the orbital and spin moments, the OHE leads to the SHE, which also becomes enhanced by the broken inversion symmetry. Furthermore, our work has important implications for experimenters, suggesting that noncentrosymmetric solids may be more suitable for direct observation of the OHE.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Particle-in-cell Monte Carlo-collision modeling of non-ideal effects in wave-heated dense microplasmas

A computational model for non-ideal plasma effects during the time evolution of a second-stage laser-heated discharge at high pressures is presented. The model extends a classical one-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte Carlo-collision (PIC-MCC) approach coupled with Maxwell's equations for the laser-heating process of a xenon plasma at 300 K temperature and 10–100 bar pressure. Plasma non-ideality resulting from Coulomb coupling at high plasma densities is manifested as a depression in the effective ionization potential of atoms and enhanced collision cross sections. These non-ideal effects are represented using the Ecker–Kröll model in the context of the PIC-MCC approach. We find that full ionization of the plasma is obtained on the picosecond timescale, starting from the skin layer and quickly expanding throughout the domain through an anomalous extension of the skin depth. More critically, we show that the inclusion of the non-ideal plasma effects results in more rapid ionization compared to an ideal plasma, especially at higher pressures. The ionization delay reduction is of the order of a fraction of a picosecond, corresponding to a 16% decrease at 100 bar. As the amplitude of the wave field is lowered, the ionization rate is lowered, making the plasma non-ideality effects more prominent.

Solmaz, Evrim (ORCID:0000000211830881)↗

Relativistic and correlation effects in the photoionization dynamics of oganesson ( Z = 118): Spin-orbit-interaction-activated interchannel coupling effects

High-Z atoms are excellent laboratories to study the combination of relativistic and many-electron correlation effects in electronic structure and dynamics. In the present work, the relativistic-random-phase approximation at different levels of truncation is employed to explore the final-state correlation effects in the photoelectron dynamics of the heaviest known element in the Periodic Table: oganesson (Og) with Z = 118. Here, the focus of this work is to illustrate the relativistic effects resulting from coupling different photoionization channels arising from spin-orbit split subshells, termed the spin-orbit-interaction-activated interchannel coupling effect. Comparison with the photoelectron dynamics of Rn on a qualitative level is also carried out, since Og is a homologue of Rn. The photoelectron dynamics of 7p, 7s, and 6d subshells are investigated and differences between Og and Rn, due to enhanced relativistic effects, are investigated.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Drug-Inducible Gene Therapy Effectively Reduces Spontaneous Seizures in Kindled Rats but Creates Off-Target Side Effects in Inhibitory Neurons

Over a third of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are not effectively treated with current anti-seizure drugs, spurring the development of gene therapies. The injection of adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV) into the brain has been shown to be a safe and viable approach. However, to date, AAV expression of therapeutic genes has not been regulated. Moreover, a common property of antiepileptic drugs is a narrow therapeutic window between seizure control and side effects. Therefore, a long-term goal is to develop drug-inducible gene therapies that can be regulated by clinically relevant drugs. In this study, a first-generation doxycycline-regulated gene therapy that delivered an engineered version of the leak potassium channel Kcnk2 (TREK-M) was injected into the hippocampus of male rats. Rats were electrically stimulated until kindled. EEG was monitored 24/7. Electrical kindling revealed an important side effect, as even low expression of TREK M in the absence of doxycycline was sufficient to cause rats to develop spontaneous recurring seizures. Treating the epileptic rats with doxycycline successfully reduced spontaneous seizures. Localization studies of infected neurons suggest seizures were caused by expression in GABAergic inhibitory neurons. In contrast, doxycycline increased the expression of TREK-M in excitatory neurons, thereby reducing seizures through net inhibition of firing. These studies demonstrate that drug-inducible gene therapies are effective in reducing spontaneous seizures and highlight the importance of testing for side effects with pro-epileptic stressors such as electrical kindling. These studies also show the importance of evaluating the location and spread of AAV-based gene therapies in preclinical studies.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Crossover Effects in Batteries with High–Nickel Cathodes and Lithium–Metal Anodes

It is well understood that cathode-to-anode crossover, especially of transition-metal ions, can significantly impact the long-term cycling of lithium-ion batteries. The dissolved transition-metal ions in lithium-ion cells deposit on the graphite anode, disrupt the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), and catalyze further side reactions. Meanwhile, crossover effects in lithium-metal batteries have rarely been studied. This study is the first to investigate crossover effects in lithium-metal batteries with high-nickel layered-oxide cathodes. It is shown that the crossover of transition-metal ions from LiNi 0.9 Mn 0.05 Co 0.05 O 2 has minimal effect on the lithium-metal anode (LMA) due to the following reasons. The catalytic transition metals 1) have less effect on an inherently reactive LMA, 2) are diluted in a thicker SEI, and 3) are produced in overall lower quantity due to the limited cycle life of the LMA. Conversely, the LMA generates soluble decomposition products that cross over to the cathode even during early cycling. This crossover accelerates impedance growth and capacity fade at the cathode and is partially responsible for the mismatch between the performance of half and full-cells with layered-oxide cathodes. Finally, this study highlights the need for better battery design with LMA, potentially including electrolyte or cell modifications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗