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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Results from Laboratory and Field Study of Thin Triple Pane Windows

Heat transfer through windows accounts for a significant percentage of a building’s energy use and adds substantially to the peak cooling load of a home. In recent years, improvements in glass manufacturing have enabled the use of a very thin central pane of glass similar to a cell phone screen to produce a thin triple-pane window, for finished insulated glass units (IGUs) with an overall thickness similar to standard double-pane windows. Because this highly insulating “thin triple” glass product can be incorporated into almost any existing window frame and can be fabricated at a modest added cost, the U.S. Department of Energy sponsored laboratory and field demonstration testing of thin triple-pane windows to validate thermal performance and installation requirements in real-life field settings. Thin triple pane windows were evaluated at the PNNL Lab Homes, a matched pair of manufactured houses located on PNNL’s campus in Richland, Washington and also at 16 different field study sites around the country. The experimental results include a comparison of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) energy usage, condensation potential, occupant comfort, sound infiltration, and thermal performance. Field study data will be gathered through June of 2022; preliminary results are being shared in this paper. The lab houses are identical except that the reference house had standard double pane windows with assembly U-0.66 and the test house had thin triple pane windows with assembly U-0.19. Across the experimental test days, the daily HVAC savings ranged from 0.2 to 18.7 kWh (3%–18%) for the heating season and from 2.5 to 8.0 kWh (23%–41%) for the cooling season. The higher thermal performance of the thin triple-pane windows also reduced the condensation potential on the interior surface during winter months and provided more even distribution of temperatures throughout the home in comparison to the baseline. In addition to the added thermal performance, the thin triple-pane windows demonstrated significant acoustic benefits, reducing sound infiltration by 8 dB to 10 dB. For the field test portion of the project thin triple pane insulated glass units were produced by two different manufacturers, and then installed without modification into the ½” IGU pockets of the standard double pane frames of four other manufacturers. Field tests performed on existing homes in Washington, Montana, Colorado, and New York compared thin triple pane retrofits to original window conditions (before and after). Field tests at new construction sites in Minnesota, Michigan, and New York compared thin triple pane windows to commercially available solutions such as double pane or traditional triple pane (with a standard-thickness center pane). Field test work is ongoing, but preliminary results appear to follow the sound, surface temperature, and energy improvement results from the Lab Homes comparison. Additionally, reports from builders and installers indicate that thin triples require almost no added time or effort to install and look nearly identical to other windows, indicating the possibility of offering next-level performance with a product that requires very little modification to current production or installation practices, long considered a major barrier to technology uptake in the construction market.

energy efficiency, home retrofit, Windows, window ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Grain growth competition during thin-sample directional solidification of dendritic microstructures: A phase-field study

Here we present the results of a comprehensive phase-field study of columnar grain growth competition in bi-crystalline samples in two dimensions (2D) and in three dimensions (3D) for small sample thicknesses allowing a single row of dendrites to form. We focus on the selection of grain boundary (GB) orientation during directional solidification in the steady-state dendritic regime, and study its dependence upon the orientation of two competing grains. In 2D, we map the entire orientation range for both grains, performing several simulations for each configuration to account for the stochasticity of GB orientation selection and to assess the average GB behavior. We find that GB orientation selection depends strongly on whether the primary dendrite growth directions have lateral components (i.e. components perpendicular to the axis of the temperature gradient) that point in the same or opposite directions in the two grains. Here, we identify a range of grain orientations in which grain selection follows the classical description of Walton and Chalmers. We also identify conditions that favor unusual overgrowth of favorably-oriented dendrites at a converging GB. We propose a simple analytical description that reproduces the average GB orientation selection from 2D simulations within statistical fluctuations of a few degrees. In 3D, we find a similar GB orientation selection as in 2D when secondary branches grow in planes parallel and perpendicular to the sample walls. Remarkably, quasi-2D behavior is also observed even when those perpendicular sidebranching planes are rotated by a finite azimuthal angle about the primary dendrite growth axis as long as the absolute values of those azimuthal angles are equal in both grains. In contrast, when the absolute values of those azimuthal angles differ markedly, we find that unusual overgrowth events at a converging GB are promoted by a high azimuthal angle in the least-favorably-oriented grain. We also find that diverging GBs can be strongly affected by those azimuthal angles, while converging GBs exhibit a weak dependence on those angles. Finally, for diverging GBs, GB orientation is also strongly affected by the relative signs of the lateral components of the primary dendrite growth directions in both grains.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Data Acquisition System Selection and Calibration of Resistive Moisture Content Measurements for Large-Scale Field Studies in Cold Climate Residential Building Envelope Performance

The residential building stock built before the energy codes were enforced has several significant inefficiency problems in terms of insulation and air leakage. To decrease these inefficiencies, building retrofits are necessary. However, if the envelope is not appropriately designed, excessive accumulation of moisture content and thus mold formation and decay inside the envelope layers can be a vital problem. This risk becomes higher, especially in extreme climate conditions such as cold winters and hot and humid summers as in some northern regions of the U.S. Field studies are essential to test the long-term hygrothermal performance of building envelopes. Although in-situ temperature, RH, and heat flux measurements are straightforward, moisture content measurements are cumbersome. Mainly, because of the heterogeneous nature of the wood materials, deviations and nonuniformities within the materials are unavoidable. Resistance measurements are one of the oldest methods used to measure the moisture content of wood and other building materials. In large-scale studies, it is commonly preferred to use multi-purpose data acquisition systems (DAQ) and custom-made or prefabricated moisture pins to measure the electrical resistance (and thus moisture content) of critical building materials. These multi-purpose DAQ systems generally provide lower costs and offer more flexibility. However, these systems require calibration and fine-tuning to achieve accurate moisture content measurements. A large-scale, two-year-long field study was conducted in northern Minnesota to monitor the hygrothermal performance of residential retrofit wall systems in cold climates. Two base case walls and sixteen different wall treatments were tested. Moisture contents were measured at various layers in each wall treatment using 85 sets of moisture pins. This paper focuses on the overall approach, fabrication, and calibration methodology for the combination of custom-made moisture pins and a multi-purpose DAQ. The aim is to directly use the low-excitation multi-purpose DAQ without any extra voltage regulator. A half-bridge circuit is used to measure wood resistance with 4V excitation voltage and 100 kΩ and 500 kΩ reference resistors. The system is calibrated for four different materials: Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, western red cedar, and oriented strand board (OSB). Calibration experiments were done under controlled conditions in 50% and 65% RH test chambers. Resistance-based moisture content calibration curves are obtained for each species. Results show that higher reference resistors provided better calibration curves for lower excitation voltages.

Desjarlais, Andre Omer↗
DOE OSTI2018

Large-scale replicated field study of maize rhizosphere identifies heritable microbes

Up until now, soil microbes that colonize plant roots and are responsive to differences in plant genotype remain to be ascertained for agronomically important crops. From a very large-scale longitudinal field study of 27 maize inbred lines planted in three fields, with partial replication 5 y later, we identify root-associated microbiota exhibiting reproducible associations with plant genotype. Analysis of 4,866 samples identified 143 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) whose variation in relative abundances across the samples was significantly regulated by plant genotype, and included five of seven core OTUs present in all samples. Plant genetic effects were significant amid the large effects of plant age on the rhizosphere microbiome, regardless of the specific community of each field, and despite microbiome responses to climate events. Seasonal patterns showed that the plant root microbiome is locally seeded, changes with plant growth, and responds to weather events. However, against this background of variation, specific taxa responded to differences in host genotype. If shown to have beneficial functions, microbes may be considered candidate traits for selective breeding.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Plug Load Management System Field Study: Wireless Meter and Controls

This presentation offers background on GSA's Green Proving Ground (GPG) and DOE's High Impact Technology (HIT) Catalyst work, and a field study that assessed a plug load management (PLM) system in two commercial building applications. The Ibis InteliNetwork (TM) PLM system enables users to measure and analyze device energy use and identify opportunities for reduction of plug load energy use, and set times for individual devices (or groups of devices) to turn off when not in use. The presentation gives an overview of the PLM demonstration project, its results, and lessons learned.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Pennsylvania and Delaware Energy Code Field Studies (Final Technical Report (FTR)

Led by Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) in partnership with Performance Systems Development (PSD), the project aimed to conduct energy code compliance field studies for single-family residential buildings in Pennsylvania and Delaware, as well as multifamily and commercial buildings in Pennsylvania. Using U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approved methodologies, trained field teams conducted on-site observations and testing to document compliance with key energy efficiency measures, including building envelope insulation, air sealing, duct leakage, windows, and mechanical systems. Data from these studies would then be analyzed to identify construction trends and compliance gaps. The goals included published baseline data for each study, and a training roadmap tailored to each state’s needs. This roadmap would have guided outreach and training for builders, code officials, and other stakeholders on the specific code requirements that offered the greatest opportunity for improvement.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Study of Simulation Cell Size in Mean-Field Studies of Interacting Lattice Models

A lattice model of interacting fermions is studied with the principal aim of assessing the dependence of calculated mean-field ground states versus the N×N lattice size, with N=16, 32, and 48. A two band model on the two-dimensional square lattice is simulated, with on-site energies and interaction parameters chosen to represent crystal field split orbitals in the moderately correlated regime. Nearest neighbor hopping leads to the well known van Hove singularities (vHs) of the square lattice. Anomalies in the inverse participation ratio of the eigenstates are found to be associated with the vHs, with their prevalence decreasing inversely with N. For the chosen model, inhomogeneous spin densities are always obtained for the small lattice size N=16, with the degree of variation decreasing rapidly for most polarizations as N is increased. Various spin polarizations are treated, and one case in which spin density inhomogeneity persists for the largest lattice size is discussed and analyzed. Coupling of spin density inhomogeneities to charge density variation is minor but evident, and is primarily of intra-orbital origin.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Commercial Building Energy Code Field Study: Data Collection Methodology and Protocol

In support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Energy Code Field Study, this data collection methodology and protocol provides guidance on all aspects of undertaking a compliance study, from development of a sampling plan to recruitment to code requirements and compliance checks for each energy code measure specified to be collected. The protocol also includes a data collection form that captures all key information needed for analysis of commercial energy code compliance. This methodology was developed by the Institute for Market Transformation in coordination with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the U.S. Department of Energy Building Energy Codes Program with the objective of assisting states, jurisdictions, utilities and others as they seek to measure and demonstrate compliance rates with energy codes in commercial buildings, as well as to target areas for improvement through increased energy code compliance and broader energy-efficiency programs. It is also intended to facilitate a consistent and replicable approach to research studies of this type and establish a transparent data set representing baseline construction practices across the U.S.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

Commercial Building Energy Code Field Study: Data Collection Methodology and Protocol

In support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Energy Code Field Study, this data collection methodology and protocol provides guidance on all aspects of undertaking a compliance study, from development of a sampling plan to recruitment to code requirements and compliance checks for each energy code measure specified to be collected. The protocol also includes a data collection form that captures all key information needed for analysis of commercial energy code compliance. This methodology was developed by the Institute for Market Transformation in coordination with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the U.S. Department of Energy Building Energy Codes Program with the objective of assisting states, jurisdictions, utilities and others as they seek to measure and demonstrate compliance rates with energy codes in commercial buildings, as well as to target areas for improvement through increased energy code compliance and broader energy-efficiency programs. It is also intended to facilitate a consistent and replicable approach to research studies of this type and establish a transparent data set representing baseline construction practices across the U.S.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Differing behavioral changes in crayfish and bluegill under short- and long-chain PFAS exposures: Field study in Northern Michigan, USA

The emergent contaminant family, per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) has gained research attention due to their widespread detection and stability within the environment. Despite the growing amount of research on perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluoro-n-octanoic acid (PFOA) in aquatic organisms, investigations detailing behavioral and physiological effects of aquatic organisms exposed to a mixture of PFAS analytes in the wild have been limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential behavioral and histological effects of environmental exposure to PFAS compounds within multiple trophic levels of aquatic ecosystems. The current study investigates effects of environmentally relevant PFAS concentration exposures in crayfish (Faxonius immunis, F. rusticus, F. virilis) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) sourced from four water bodies in Northern Michigan. Antipredator response and foraging behavioral assays were used to investigate potential effects on crayfish; a swimming speed behavioral assay and liver and gill histology analysis were used to investigate potential effects on fish. Linear mixed model and multiple regression analyses resulted in significant relationships between tissue accumulation levels of long chain PFAS compounds and crayfish foraging and fish critical swimming speed responses. Crayfish foraging decreased and fish critical swim speeds increased with PFAS exposure which may lead to energetic and population concerns. Antipredator response in crayfish and liver and gill histology in fish were not significantly related to PFAS tissue or water concentrations. The sensitivity of crayfish and bluegill behavior contributes to the growing body of research regarding the differential toxicity of short-chain and long-chain PFAS compounds. The sensitivity of some aquatic organism behaviors to PFAS accumulated in tissue may have implications for PFAS transfer and alterations to ecosystem functioning; based on the results of this field study, further laboratory research is recommended to further evaluate these relationships.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Raw Data published in PeerJ, 2020 for Lower Subalpine needle decomposition field study 2017-2018

This data package contains text files that describe geochemical measurements collected from 2017-2018 during isolated conifer needle decomposition field studies at the Lower Subalpine region of Washington Gulch in Crested Butte, CO. The files within include total carbon and nitrogen (CN) content and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results for the initial needles collected in 2016 and after decomposition in October 2018. DI water extractions were conducted with the initial harvested needles in 2016 to determine extractable dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total nitrogen (TN), UV absorbance at 254 nm (UV254), and specific UV absorbance (SUVA). This dataset also includes soil extractable DOC, TN, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, total organic nitrogen (TON), and pH results from soil collections in 2017. Soil porewater results for DOC, TN, UV254, and SUVA analyses at 15 cm soil depth are also provided from 2017-2018. Gas flux raw data provides CO2, CH4, N2O, and NH3 measurements above needle decomposition over the two study years. Finally, soil samples for microbial DNA extractions were collected from the upper soil depth. This raw data is available in the NCBI SRA database under SRA accession number PRJNA605259. These datasets were generated to investigate the isolated decomposition of spruce and lodgepole conifer needles. The goal of this work was to understand how needle litter impacts terrestrial biogeochemical carbon and nitrogen cycling. Results from this work is detailed in the reference paper "A comparison of lodgepole and spruce needle chemistry impacts on terrestrial biogeochemical processes during isolated needle decomposition. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9538."

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Raw Data published in PeerJ, 2021 for Crested Butte decomposition field study 2017-2019.

This data package contains text files that describe geochemical measurements collected from 2017-2019 during isolated conifer needle decomposition field studies in Crested Butte, Colorado. The geochemical measurements were collected across three elevations (2,800–3,500 m) ranging from montane to subalpine ecoregions. The data sets within include total carbon and nitrogen content and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results for the initial needles collected in 2016 and after decomposition in 2019. Data collection results from August 2020 are also included from when the experimental plots were removed to understand final concentrations of soil extractable carbon and nitrogen content as well as mass balances from litter bag deployments. Soil porewater results are also provided from 2017-2019 for DOC, TN, UV254, and specific UV absorbance (SUVA) analyses at 15 cm soil depth. Gas flux raw data provides CO2, CH4, N2O, and NH3 measurements above needle decomposition over the three study years. Finally, soil samples for microbial DNA extractions were collected from the upper soil depth. This raw data is available in the NCBI SRA database under SRA accession numbers PRJNA605259 and PRJNA715914. These data sets were generated to investigate the isolated decomposition of spruce and lodgepole conifer needles. The goal of this work was to determine the roles of elevation, soil type, seasonal changes in soil moisture, and snowmelt timing on litter decomposition processes. Results from this work are detailed in the reference paper "Effect of elevation, season and accelerated snowmelt on biogeochemical processes during isolated conifer needle litter decomposition. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11926."

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Multi-Year Electric Field Study at the North Slope of Alaska (OYESNSA) Field Campaign Report

The Global Electric Circuit (GEC) of the atmosphere provides a unique perspective on Earth’s changing climate. Monitoring this global electrical signature provides details of the global nature of electrified clouds and thunderstorms. The North Slope of Alaska (NSA) is a unique location for collecting these electric field measurements. Besides being at the opposite pole from many previous electric field measurements taken at Russia’s Vostok station in Antarctica, this site provides a rare opportunity to use other instruments at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility’s NSA observatory at Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow), such as the Ka-band ARM Zenith Radar (KAZR), upward-facing micropulse lidar (MPL), vertical profile of meteorological measures, and other aerosol measurements. Since 2017, Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) has established an observational instrument package, including CS110 electric fields and anemometer, at ARM’s NSA observatory at Utqiaġvik. This enabled the unique opportunity to not only provide information about the global signature of the GEC, but also the physical inputs to the local electric field, by analyzing the physical properties of the simultaneous cloud, wind, and aerosol properties occurring with the vertical electric field.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Multi-Year Electric Field Study at the North Slope of Alaska (OYESNSA) Field Campaign Report

The Global Electric Circuit (GEC) of the atmosphere provides a unique perspective on Earth’s changing climate. Monitoring this global electrical signature provides details of the global nature of electrified clouds and thunderstorms. The North Slope of Alaska (NSA) is a unique location for collecting these electric field measurements. Besides being at the opposite pole from many previous electric field measurements taken at Russia’s Vostok station in Antarctica, this site provides a rare opportunity to use other instruments at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility’s NSA observatory at Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow), such as the Ka-band ARM Zenith Radar (KAZR), upward-facing micropulse lidar (MPL), vertical profile of meteorological measures, and other aerosol measurements. Since 2017, Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) has established an observational instrument package, including CS110 electric fields and anemometer, at ARM’s NSA observatory at Utqiaġvik. This enabled the unique opportunity to not only provide information about the global signature of the GEC, but also the physical inputs to the local electric field, by analyzing the physical properties of the simultaneous cloud, wind, and aerosol properties occurring with the vertical electric field.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

GALAXY MERGERS DRIVE SHOCKS: AN INTEGRAL FIELD STUDY OF GOALS GALAXIES

We present an integral field spectroscopic study of radiative shocks in 27 nearby ultraluminous and luminous infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs) from the Great Observatory All-sky LIRG Survey, a subset of the Revised Bright Galaxy Sample. Our analysis of the resolved spectroscopic data from the Wide Field Spectrograph focuses on determining the detailed properties of the emission-line gas, including a careful treatment of multicomponent emission-line profiles. The resulting information obtained from the spectral fits is used to map the kinematics of the gas, sources of ionizing radiation, and feedback present in each system. The resulting properties are tracked as a function of merger stage. Using emission-line flux ratios and velocity dispersions, we find evidence for widespread, extended shock excitation in many local U/LIRGs. These low-velocity shocks become an increasingly important component of the optical emission lines as a merger progresses. We find that shocks may account for as much as half of the Hα luminosity in the latest-stage mergers in our sample. We discuss some possible implications of our result and consider the presence of active galactic nuclei and their effects on the spectra in our sample.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Excavationless Exterior Foundation Insulation Field Study - Minnesota

The NorthernSTAR Building America Partnership team implemented an innovative, minimally invasive foundation insulation upgrade technique on an existing home. The approach consisted of using hydrovac excavation technology combined with a liquid insulating foam. Two houses were originally selected for this field study. One was not ready for retrofit at the time of study and had to be eliminated. The collaborative nature of the one field installation, however, enabled the team to advance the methodology as the work progressed. Improvements to the method of installation and reduction of costs were developed on site. This is a repository for all "excavationless" foundation insulation retrofit projects performed by the NorthernSTAR research team. Minneapolis, MN 55411 - Test house for first NorthernSTAR excavationless foundation insulation retrofit.

Array↗
DOE OSTI2026

Enter the AHU (36th Chamber of ASHRAE): A Multi-site Field Study of ASHRAE G36

Despite being recognized as the best practice for advanced building controls, ASHRAE Guideline 36 (G36) has seen slow adoption in retrofit cases. Decisionmakers lack credible field evidence to justify the time and person-power investment. Most prior analyses have relied on software simulations, which overlook implementation challenges and fail to persuade owners to move from models to real-world deployment. This paper presents a multi-site field study of G36 performance, drawing on measured results from 17 projects across diverse building types and climate zones. The analysis disaggregates outcomes by the most widely adopted air handling unit (AHU) based G36 strategies, including trim-and-respond approaches to supply air temperature (SAT) and duct static pressure (DSP) reset, and economizer controls. Results for controls re programming implementations are encouraging, with HVAC savings ranging from 2% - 49%, with a median of 18%. The range aligns with simulation study findings showing 1% - 46% savings through these three strategies. These findings show that even without capital investment in control infrastructure upgrades, existing building owners are reaping significant benefits from updating HVAC sequences of operation to industry best-practice solutions. The results give practitioners and decisionmakers a reference point on what to expect, which strategies deliver, and how field performance may compare to simulation.

Deshpande, Reva↗