Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Projection”

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 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

Shared Voyage: Learning and Unlearning from Remarkable Projects

Shared Voyage is about four remarkable projects: the Advanced Composition Explorer (NASA), the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (U.S. Air Force), the Pathfinder Solar-Powered Airplane (NASA), and the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (U.S.Air Force). Each project is presented as a case study comprised of stories collected from key members of the project teams. The stories found in the book are included with the purpose of providing an effective learning source for project management, encouraging the unlearning of outdated project management concepts, and enhancing awareness of the contexts surrounding different projects. Significantly different from project concepts found in most project management literature, Shared Voyage highlights concepts like a will to win, a results-oriented focus, and collaboration through trust. All four project teams researched in this study applied similar concepts; however, they applied them differently, tailoring them to fit the context of their own particular projects. It is clear that the one best way approach which is still the prevailing paradigm in project management literature should be replaced by a new paradigm: Even though general project management principles exist, their successful application depends on the specifics of the situation.

Laufer, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS2008

Guidance and Control Software Project Data - Volume 1: Planning Documents

The Guidance and Control Software (GCS) project was the last in a series of software reliability studies conducted at Langley Research Center between 1977 and 1994. The technical results of the GCS project were recorded after the experiment was completed. Some of the support documentation produced as part of the experiment, however, is serving an unexpected role far beyond its original project context. Some of the software used as part of the GCS project was developed to conform to the RTCA/DO-178B software standard, "Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification," used in the civil aviation industry. That standard requires extensive documentation throughout the software development life cycle, including plans, software requirements, design and source code, verification cases and results, and configuration management and quality control data. The project documentation that includes this information is open for public scrutiny without the legal or safety implications associated with comparable data from an avionics manufacturer. This public availability has afforded an opportunity to use the GCS project documents for DO-178B training. This report provides a brief overview of the GCS project, describes the 4-volume set of documents and the role they are playing in training, and includes the planning documents from the GCS project. Volume 1 contains five appendices: A. Plan for Software Aspects of Certification for the Guidance and Control Software Project; B. Software Development Standards for the Guidance and Control Software Project; C. Software Verification Plan for the Guidance and Control Software Project; D. Software Configuration Management Plan for the Guidance and Control Software Project; and E. Software Quality Assurance Activities.

Hayhurst, Kelly J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

A Statistical Project Control Tool for Engineering Managers

This slide presentation reviews the use of a Statistical Project Control Tool (SPCT) for managing engineering projects. A literature review pointed to a definition of project success, (i.e., A project is successful when the cost, schedule, technical performance, and quality satisfy the customer.) The literature review also pointed to project success factors, and traditional project control tools, and performance measures that are detailed in the report. The essential problem is that with resources becoming more limited, and an increasing number or projects, project failure is increasing, there is a limitation of existing methods and systematic methods are required. The objective of the work is to provide a new statistical project control tool for project managers. Graphs using the SPCT method plotting results of 3 successful projects and 3 failed projects are reviewed, with success and failure being defined by the owner.

Bauch, Garland T.↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Brief Description of My Projects

My internship was in the IDC which consist of a machine shop and an array of design space. During my tour I worked on a wide variety of projects some of which included design, research, machining and fabrication. I gained further knowledge on some machines that I have had prior experience on such as the lathe and Hurco CNC machines. The first thing we did was complete our checkout in the machine shop which went pretty well, since I was already familiar with most of the machines. I also did a couple of practice parts on some of the machines, I made a name block on the CNC machine and I also used the vertical milling machine to complete this project. One of the other projects that I did was machine a hammer with my initials with the use of the lathe and CNC machine, this project took much longer since I had to set up a cylindrical piece on the CNC machine. The first project that I began work on was the Systems Engineering & Management Advancement Program (SEPMAP) Hexacopter project and helped them to assemble and modify one of their particle capture doors on their boxes. After a while we ended up helping them make a hinge and holes to reduce the weight of their design. We helped the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) team a bit with some of their name tags and assembly of some of their underwater parts. One of the more challenging projects was a rail that came in with a rather weirdly drawn part. The biggest project that I worked on was the solar array project. Which consisted of a variety of machining and 3D printing and it took me about 3 different times of re-designing to come up with a final prototype. Along with this project I also had to complete a project in which I had to modify a thermos. This was rather simple since I just had to draw up a part and print it out on the 3D printer. I also learned how to use Pro E/Creo parametric to design a square block and print it on the 3D Printer. All of these projects increased my experience on all of the machines and equipment that I used. I also got to tweak my design skills and better understand how to modify my designs and how to improve those specific designs.

Barnes, Tobin↗
DOE OSTI2012

Project Independence: Construction of an Integrated Biorefinery for Production of Renewable Biofuels at an Existing Pulp and Paper Mill

Project Independence proposed to construct a demonstration biomass-to-liquids (BTL) biorefinery in Wisconsin Rapids, isconsin. The biorefinery was to be co-located at the existing pulp and paper mill, NewPage Wisconsin System Incorporated’s Wisconsin Rapids Mill, and when in full operation would both generate renewable energy for Wisconsin Rapids Mill and produce liquid fuels from abundant and renewable lignocellulosic biomass. The biorefinery would serve to validate the thermochemical pathway and economic models for BTL production using forest residuals and wood waste, providing a basis for proliferating BTL conversion technologies throughout the United States. It was a project goal to create a compelling new business model for the pulp and paper industry, and support the nation’s goal for increasing renewable fuels production and reducing its dependence on foreign oil. NewPage Corporation planned to replicate this facility at other NewPage Corporation mills after this first demonstration scale plant was operational and had proven technical and economic feasibility. An overview of the process begins with biomass being harvested, sized, conditioned and fed into a ThermoChem Recovery International (TRI) steam reformer where it is converted to high quality synthetic gas (syngas). The syngas is then cleaned, compressed, scrubbed, polished and fed into the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) catalytic reactors where the gas is converted into two, sulfur-free, clean crude products which will be marketed as revenue generating streams. Additionally, the Fischer-Tropsch products could be upgraded for use in automotive, aviation and chemical industries as valuable products, if desired. As the Project Independence project set out to prove forest products could be used to commercially produce biofuels, they planned to address and mitigate issues as they arose. In the early days of the Project Independence project, the plant was sized to process 500 dry tons of biomass per day but would generate a blend of synthesis gas for the lime kiln and a minimum of Fischer-Tropsch liquids for sale. This was to be done using a single stage of Fischer-Tropsch reaction at roughly a 70% yield. The capability of the Wisconsin Rapids Mill lime kiln to run on the relatively low heating value of the product synthesis gas was problematic. The design was then changed to maximize Fischer-Tropsch liquids production using a two stage Fischer-Tropsch process. Project Independence progressed with the design of the mill as ThermoChem Recovery International worked on the technical details of the project as well as develop information from their pilot plant. The pilot plant work uncovered several problems with the synthesis gas clean-up that solutions. ThermoChem Recovery International found these solutions and developed a very good path forward on the technical side. The technical solutions were demonstrated in the pilot plant to everyone’s satisfaction. In July 2010, NewPage Corporation had been severely affected by the downturn in the economy and actively went to find a strategic partner. By April 2011 the Abell Foundation entered the picture as this strategic partner. The Abell Foundation would join forces as Project Independence Inc. to build the 500 dry ton per day Project Independence plant. The design of this facility progress even after NewPage Corporation declared Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in September, 2011. This continued until April 2012 when NewPage Corporation determined that continued work on Project Independence Inc. presented too much risk with little reward for NewPage Corporation. The project was terminated at this point.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Quantitative Risk Management - Risk Informed Decision Making on High-Risk Waste Remediation Projects - 19022

For every $1 billion invested in projects, $97 million is wasted due to poor project performance. That means 9.7% of money spent on projects is wasted due to poor risk and uncertainty management. High-risk projects, similar to those in waste remediation, have the most to lose. A solid quantitative risk management program is one of the keys to increasing the likelihood that a project will succeed. A quantitative risk program solves two major problems that challenge the effective management of risk and uncertainty: 1. Risks arise at all levels of an organization; however, not all organizational levels have an effective way to identify and resolve them. This can lead to risks that, even if identified, are not reported. 2. Decision-makers are often forced to operate solely on intuition when implementing mitigation strategies, not fully understanding the effects that certain decisions have on the program's cost and schedule. A quantitative risk program uses a risk register and builds it into the project/program integrated schedule to assess the impact of these risks, typically at the 80% confidence contingency level for specific milestones and/or project completion. Implementing a quantitative risk program drives a forward-thinking, proactive mentality to problem solving into all levels of the organization. A healthy risk program for regular reporting and communication ensures that all members of an organization are thinking about risks and using their communication channels to resolve them. It gives a method of communication and incentive for all levels in the organization and helps to ensure that risks will be reported and resolved. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed tools and methods that provide a level of realism for analyzing different scenarios and estimating contingency that does not exist in the standard industry risk tool kit. These tools and methods provide decision-makers with actionable, quantitatively based information to guide their decision making. The first tool is a probabilistic branching risk model for mitigation strategies. Current quantitative risk analysis tools in the industry simulate two cases: fully mitigated and un-mitigated. In the fully mitigated case, the user assumes that every planned mitigation activity is successful. In the un-mitigated case, the user assumes that none are successful. The truth lies between these two extremes. The PNNL team has developed a probabilistic risk model for mitigation scenarios that includes a probability that a mitigation activity will succeed and a probability that a mitigation action will be funded. These probabilities are elicited from subject matter experts and ensure that the contingency calculations at the specified confidence are approaching reality. The second tool developed at PNNL is the Risk Box, which is a tool that integrates with different scenarios in the risk register. For example, say the user is faced with two different and mutually exclusive mitigation actions to reduce a risk. The Risk Box methodology performs the contingency calculations and then displays them on a time-phased graph that shows how each scenario reduces the risk contingency needed on the project/program. This graph then provides quantitative information to show decision-makers which mitigation action provides the greatest reduction (cost and schedule) in risk contingency for the program. Implementing these and other tools within a structured risk program increases the likelihood that a project will come in on schedule and budget, ensures that all personnel are proactively thinking about problems and resolutions, creates communication channels for all members to submit and resolve potential problems, produces a prioritized list of risk rankings to focus leadership on issues that may cause the biggest problems, and implements processes that drive updates to the risk program as the risk profile changes. PNNL has been developing these methods and using them on projects for over 20 years. They have been successfully applied on waste management projects, high-tech research and development projects, and construction projects, and they continue to be used on a number of U.S. Department of Energy projects today. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2013

Developing Renewable Energy Projects Larger Than 10 MWs at Federal Facilities

To accomplish Federal goals for renewable energy, sustainability, and energy security, large-scale renewable energy projects must be developed and constructed on Federal sites at a significant scale with significant private investment. For the purposes of this Guide, large-scale Federal renewable energy projects are defined as renewable energy facilities larger than 10 megawatts (MW) that are sited on Federal property and lands and typically financed and owned by third parties.1 The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) helps Federal agencies meet these goals and assists agency personnel navigate the complexities of developing such projects and attract the necessary private capital to complete them. This Guide is intended to provide a general resource that will begin to develop the Federal employee’s awareness and understanding of the project developer’s operating environment and the private sector’s awareness and understanding of the Federal environment. Because the vast majority of the investment that is required to meet the goals for large-scale renewable energy projects will come from the private sector, this Guide has been organized to match Federal processes with typical phases of commercial project development. FEMP collaborated with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and professional project developers on this Guide to ensure that Federal projects have key elements recognizable to private sector developers and investors. The main purpose of this Guide is to provide a project development framework to allow the Federal Government, private developers, and investors to work in a coordinated fashion on large-scale renewable energy projects. The framework includes key elements that describe a successful, financially attractive large-scale renewable energy project. This framework begins the translation between the Federal and private sector operating environments. When viewing the overall

Developing, Renewable, Energy, Projects, Facilitie↗
DOE OSTI2012

Oppenheimer's Box of Chocolates: Remediation of the Manhattan Project Landfill at Los Alamos National Laboratory - 12283

Material Disposal Area B (MDA B) is the oldest radioactive waste disposal facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Operated from 1944-48, MDA B was the disposal facility for the Manhattan Project. Recognized as one of the most challenging environmental remediation projects at Los Alamos, the excavation of MDA B received $110 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to accelerate this complex remediation work. Several factors combined to create significant challenges to remediating the landfill known in the 1940's as the 'contaminated dump'. The secrecy surrounding the Manhattan Project meant that no records were kept of radiological materials and chemicals disposed or of the landfill design. An extensive review of historical documents and interviews with early laboratory personnel resulted in a list of hundreds of hazardous chemicals that could have been buried in MDA B. Also, historical reports of MDA B spontaneously combusting on three occasions -with 50-foot flames and pink smoke spewing across the mesa during the last incident in 1948-indicated that hazardous materials were likely present in MDA B. To complicate matters further, though MDA B was located on an isolated mesa in the 1940's, the landfill has since been surrounded by a Los Alamos commercial district. The local newspaper, hardware store and a number of other businesses are located directly across the street from MDA B. This close proximity to the public and the potential for hazardous materials in MDA B necessitated conducting remediation work within protective enclosures. Potential chemical hazards and radiological inventory were better defined using a minimally intrusive sampling method called direct push technology (DPT) prior to excavation. Even with extensive sampling and planning the project team encountered many surprises and challenges during the project. The one area where planning did not fail to meet reality was safety. There were no serious worker injuries and the minor injuries recorded were those common to construction type activities. Extensive monitoring along the site boundary demonstrated that no hazardous chemicals were released and radiological dose to the public was within administrative limits. More than three years of effort by the LANL project team went into the planning for remediation of Material Disposal Area B. Hundreds of historical documents were reviewed; retired personnel were extensively interviewed and noninvasive techniques were used to characterize the site. The information collected was incorporated into the safety requirements, cost estimate, schedule and primary execution plan for the project. Ultimately the waste volume managed by the project approached 40000 m{sup 3}, more than double the original project estimate. This increase had a major impact on both project cost and schedule. Nuclear safety requirements for the project were based on an estimated MDA B radionuclide inventory of 12 PE-Ci. When excavation was complete over 123 PE-Ci had been removed from the trenches. The radionuclide inventory at MDA B was an order of magnitude higher than estimated. Work at MDA B could not have proceeded without the safety basis exemption from DOE-HQ. The one area where planning did not fail to meet reality was safety. There were no serious worker injuries and the minor injuries recorded were those common to construction type activities. Extensive monitoring along the site boundary demonstrated that no hazardous chemicals were released and radiological dose to the public was within administrative limits. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2014

Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact assessment. • Our methodology allows distinguishing corporate impacts from contextual changes. • Promptly observing context changes and impacts enables companies to react nimbly.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

A Novel Markerless Technique to Evaluate Daily Lung Tumor Motion Based on Conventional Cone-Beam CT Projection Data

Purpose: In this study, we present a novel markerless technique, based on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) raw projection data, to evaluate lung tumor daily motion. Method and Materials: The markerless technique, which uses raw CBCT projection data and locates tumors directly on every projection, consists of three steps. First, the tumor contour on the planning CT is used to create digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRRs) at every projection angle. Two sets of DRRs are created: one showing only the tumor, and another with the complete anatomy without the tumor. Second, a rigid two-dimensional image registration is performed to register the DRR set without the tumor to the CBCT projections. After the registration, the projections are subtracted from the DRRs, resulting in a projection dataset containing primarily tumor. Finally, a second registration is performed between the subtracted projection and tumor-only DRR. The methodology was evaluated using a chest phantom containing a moving tumor, and retrospectively in 4 lung cancer patients treated by stereotactic body radiation therapy. Tumors detected on projection images were compared with those from three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) CBCT reconstruction results. Results: Results in both static and moving phantoms demonstrate that the accuracy is within 1 mm. The subsequent application to 22 sets of CBCT scan raw projection data of 4 lung cancer patients includes about 11,000 projections, with the detected tumor locations consistent with 3D and 4D CBCT reconstruction results. This technique reveals detailed lung tumor motion and provides additional information than conventional 4D images. Conclusion: This technique is capable of accurately characterizing lung tumor motion on a daily basis based on a conventional CBCT scan. It provides daily verification of the tumor motion to ensure that these motions are within prior estimation and covered by the treatment planning volume.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Spin-projected generalized Hartree-Fock method as a polynomial of particle-hole excitations

The past several years have seen renewed interest in the use of symmetry-projected Hartree-Fock for the description of strong correlations. Unfortunately, these symmetry-projected mean-field methods do not adequately account for dynamic correlation. Presumably, this shortcoming could be addressed if one could combine symmetry-projected Hartree-Fock with a many-body method such as coupled-cluster theory, but this is by no means straightforward because the two techniques are formulated in very different ways. However, we have recently shown that the singlet S 2 -projected unrestricted Hartree-Fock wave function can in fact be written in a coupled-cluster-like wave function. That is, the spin-projected unrestricted Hartree-Fock wave function can be written as a polynomial of a double-excitation operator acting on some closed-shell reference determinant. Here, we extend this result and show that the spin-projected generalized Hartree-Fock wave function (which has both S 2 and S z projection) is likewise a polynomial of low-order excitation operators acting on a closed-shell determinant and provide a closed-form expression for the resulting polynomial coefficients. The spin projection of the generalized Hartree-Fock wave function introduces connected triple and quadruple excitations which are absent when spin-projecting an unrestricted Hartree-Fock determinant. We include a few preliminary applications of the combination of this spin-projected Hartree-Fock and coupled-cluster theory to the Hubbard Hamiltonian and comment on generalizations of the methodology. Results here are not for production level, but a similarity-transformed theory that combines the two offers the promise of being accurate for both weak and strong correlation, and may offer significant improvements in the intermediate correlation regime where neither projected Hartree-Fock nor coupled cluster is particularly accurate.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Statistical CT noise reduction with multiscale decomposition and penalized weighted least squares in the projection domain

Purposes: The suppression of noise in x-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging is of clinical relevance for diagnostic image quality and the potential for radiation dose saving. Toward this purpose, statistical noise reduction methods in either the image or projection domain have been proposed, which employ a multiscale decomposition to enhance the performance of noise suppression while maintaining image sharpness. Recognizing the advantages of noise suppression in the projection domain, the authors propose a projection domain multiscale penalized weighted least squares (PWLS) method, in which the angular sampling rate is explicitly taken into consideration to account for the possible variation of interview sampling rate in advanced clinical or preclinical applications. Methods: The projection domain multiscale PWLS method is derived by converting an isotropic diffusion partial differential equation in the image domain into the projection domain, wherein a multiscale decomposition is carried out. With adoption of the Markov random field or soft thresholding objective function, the projection domain multiscale PWLS method deals with noise at each scale. To compensate for the degradation in image sharpness caused by the projection domain multiscale PWLS method, an edge enhancement is carried out following the noise reduction. The performance of the proposed method is experimentally evaluated and verified using the projection data simulated by computer and acquired by a CT scanner. Results: The preliminary results show that the proposed projection domain multiscale PWLS method outperforms the projection domain single-scale PWLS method and the image domain multiscale anisotropic diffusion method in noise reduction. In addition, the proposed method can preserve image sharpness very well while the occurrence of 'salt-and-pepper' noise and mosaic artifacts can be avoided. Conclusions: Since the interview sampling rate is taken into account in the projection domain multiscale decomposition, the proposed method is anticipated to be useful in advanced clinical and preclinical applications where the interview sampling rate varies.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT: A sensitivity analysis of respiratory signal, binning method, reconstruction algorithm, and projection angular spacing

Purpose: Respiratory signal, binning method, and reconstruction algorithm are three major controllable factors affecting image quality in thoracic 4D cone-beam CT (4D-CBCT), which is widely used in image guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Previous studies have investigated each of these factors individually, but no integrated sensitivity analysis has been performed. In addition, projection angular spacing is also a key factor in reconstruction, but how it affects image quality is not obvious. An investigation of the impacts of these four factors on image quality can help determine the most effective strategy in improving 4D-CBCT for IGRT. Methods: Fourteen 4D-CBCT patient projection datasets with various respiratory motion features were reconstructed with the following controllable factors: (i) respiratory signal (real-time position management, projection image intensity analysis, or fiducial marker tracking), (ii) binning method (phase, displacement, or equal-projection-density displacement binning), and (iii) reconstruction algorithm [Feldkamp–Davis–Kress (FDK), McKinnon–Bates (MKB), or adaptive-steepest-descent projection-onto-convex-sets (ASD-POCS)]. The image quality was quantified using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio, and edge-response width in order to assess noise/streaking and blur. The SNR values were also analyzed with respect to the maximum, mean, and root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) projection angular spacing to investigate how projection angular spacing affects image quality. Results: The choice of respiratory signals was found to have no significant impact on image quality. Displacement-based binning was found to be less prone to motion artifacts compared to phase binning in more than half of the cases, but was shown to suffer from large interbin image quality variation and large projection angular gaps. Both MKB and ASD-POCS resulted in noticeably improved image quality almost 100% of the time relative to FDK. In addition, SNR values were found to increase with decreasing RMSE values of projection angular gaps with strong correlations (r ≈ −0.7) regardless of the reconstruction algorithm used. Conclusions: Based on the authors’ results, displacement-based binning methods, better reconstruction algorithms, and the acquisition of even projection angular views are the most important factors to consider for improving thoracic 4D-CBCT image quality. In view of the practical issues with displacement-based binning and the fact that projection angular spacing is not currently directly controllable, development of better reconstruction algorithms represents the most effective strategy for improving image quality in thoracic 4D-CBCT for IGRT applications at the current stage.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-D-12A-01: An Inter-Projection Interpolation (IPI) Approach for the Synchronized Moving Grid (SMOG) to Reduce Dose in Cone Beam CT

Purpose: Synchronized moving grid is a promising technique to reduce scatter and ghost artifacts in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). However, it requires 2 projections in the same gantry angle to obtain full information due to signal blockage by the grid. We proposed an inter-projection interpolation (IPI) method to estimate blocked signals, which may reduce the scan time and the dose. This study aims to provide a framework to achieve a balance between speed, dose and image quality. Methods: The IPI method is based on the hypothesis that an abrupt signal in a projection can be well predicted by the information in the two immediate neighboring projections if the gantry angle step is small. The study was performed on a Catphan and a head phantom. The SMOG was simulated by erasing the information (filling with “0”) of the areas in each projection corresponding to the grid. An IPI algorithm was applied on each projection to recover the erased information. FDK algorithm was used to reconstruct CBCT images for the IPI-processed projections, and compared with the original image in term of signal to noise ratio (SNR) measured in the whole reconstruction image range. The effect of gantry angle step was investigated by comparing the CBCT images from projection sets of various gantry intervals, with IPI-predicted projections to fill the missing projection in the interval. Results: The IPI procession time was 1.79s±0.53s for each projection. SNR after IPI was 29.0db and 28.1db for the Catphan and head phantom, respectively, comparing to 15.3db and 22.7db for an inpainting based interpolation technique. SNR was 28.3, 28.3, 21.8, 19.3 and 17.3 db for gantry angle intervals of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 degrees, respectively. Conclusion: IPI is feasible to estimate the missing information, and achieve an reasonable CBCT image quality with reduced dose and scan time. This study is supported by NIH/NCI grant 1R01CA166948-01.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Envision Charlotte Project Final Report

The Envision Charlotte Project (EC Project), supported by partners at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Center for Sustainably Integrated Buildings and Sites and the City of Charlotte, has successfully demonstrated that existing buildings can benefit from operations improvements and low-cost efficiency upgrades, and that behavioral change campaigns can be effectively designed for measurability, longevity and impact. Support from this grant gave Envision Charlotte and its partners the resources and flexibility to demonstrate a variety of approaches to improve coordination with stakeholders in the implementation of programs to reduce the consumption of energy, water and waste. The project team also gained insights into the motivations and abilities that influence stakeholder engagement in sustainability initiatives at multiple levels. Importantly, as this report describes, strong partnerships between nonprofits, industry partners and research institutions can produce tangible impacts and replicable results in building efficiency. Further, building operators working alongside student researchers can form productive relationships that can advance building energy management goals. Key Findings of the EC Project This project focused on advancing solutions to energy efficiency in U.S. commercial buildings. The Building Re-Tuning™ Training (BRT) developed by the U.S. DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL), designed to detect energy savings opportunities and implement improvements with resources and online tools, provided the starting point for the curriculum developed by stakeholders in the EC Project. Although the project partners encountered some issues with data consistency, the overall project outcomes fell short of the energy savings stated in the original proposal, and the total participating building targets were lower than anticipated, important findings, outcomes and lessons learned were achieved. EC Project grantees observed that the PNNL BRT, as currently written, was not compatible with the skills of average frontline mechanical personnel in the Charlotte region where the grant program was performed. Frontline staff are not, typically, energy managers, engineers or building commissioning agents, but they can play a key role in building performance. As detailed in this report, the grantees therefore focused on changes to the BRT that improved the level of training and competency of the frontline workers in this region. Among the technical observations related to improving the BRT that were observed in the EC Project: centralized facilities management often has an impact on building performance; operators can be overly reliant on service contracts; individual behaviors matter, and technology cannot be viewed as a crutch; current Building Automation Systems (BAS) are often too complex to support building efficiency optimization, but BAS coupled with appropriate training can support better outcomes; the “perfectly optimized” building is not a near-term possibility, but better education, especially of executives and managers, on the role of behavioral intervention is a promising direction the building science community can and should pursue; a lack of standards and protocols, and competition between proprietary software from service contracts, remain challenges for this industry. These technical observations, in turn, informed the EC Project’s overall findings, which were: Accomplishing building efficiency is a process of education for all involved in the building design, construction and operation supply chain. Building operators, as a professional class, have an opportunity for further training and education that will lead to better on-the-job performance. An updated Building Re-Tuning™ Training curriculum, based on the findings of this report, could be an avenue for these operators’ professional development.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

W.A. Parish Post-Combustion CO 2 Capture and Sequestration Demonstration Project (Final Technical Report)

The Petra Nova Project (Project) is a commercial scale post-combustion carbon capture project developed by a joint venture between NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG) and JX Nippon Oil Exploration (EOR) Limited (JX). The Project is designed to separate and capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from an existing coal-fired unit’s flue gas slipstream at NRG’s W.A. Parish Electric Generating Station (WAP) located southwest of Houston, Texas. The captured CO2 is dried, compressed, and transported via an 81-mile pipeline to the West Ranch oilfield (West Ranch) in Jackson County, Texas, where it is injected to boost oil production. The Project, which is partially funded by a grant (Grant) from the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) Round 3, uses the Kansai Mitsubishi Carbon Dioxide Recovery advanced amine-based CO 2 absorption technology (KM-CDR Process®), which was jointly developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and the Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc., to treat and capture at least ninety percent (90%) of the CO 2 from a 240-megawatt equivalent (MWe) flue gas slipstream off of Unit 8 at WAP. When operating at full capacity, the Project captures approximately 5,200 short tons of CO 2 per day, which would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere, representing the largest commercial scale deployment of post-combustion CO2 capture technology at a coal power plant to date. Under the Grant, the Project was managed in 3 phases: (1) Phase 1: Project Definition / Front End Engineering Design (FEED) (2) Phase 2: Detailed Engineering, Procurement & Construction (3) Phase 3: Demonstration and Monitoring. On December 29, 2016, commercial operation of the Project was achieved, ending Phase 2 and starting Phase 3, a 3-year demonstration period running from January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2019. The key objectives of Phase 3 were to (a) demonstrate the specific advanced technologies constructed during Phase 2 and (b) monitor the injected CO 2 at West Ranch to demonstrate technologies and protocols for monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA). As of the end of Phase 3, Petra Nova captured 3,904,978 short tons of CO 2 (3,542,537 metric tons) that was transported to West Ranch. To support the DOE obligation to monitor, verify, and account for the sequestered CO 2 at West Ranch, Petra Nova contracted with the Bureau of Economic Geology (in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin) to (a) design a monitoring program, (b) draft an MVA Plan for DOE review and approval, and (c) working with Petra Nova and the operator of West Ranch to manage and report on the MVA activity. This report discussed the technical aspects of the project during each of the 3 phases of the project as identified above.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2021

G3P3 Phase 3 Project Execution Plan. Issue 1

The National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) at Sandia National Laboratories New Mexico (SNL/NM) developed this Project Execution Plan (PEP) to document its process for executing, monitoring, controlling and closing-out Phase 3 of the Gen 3 Particle Pilot Plant G3P3. This plan serves as a resource for stakeholders who wish to be knowledgeable of project objectives and how they will be accomplished. The plan is intended to be used by the development partners, principal investigator, and the federal project director. Project objectives are derived from the mission needs statement, and an integrated project team assists in development of the PEP. This plan is a living document and will be updated throughout the project to describe current and future processes and procedures. The scope of the PEP covers: Cost, schedule, and scope Project reporting Staffing plan Quality assurance plan Environment, safety, security, and health This document is a tailored approach for the Facilities Management and Operations Center (FMOC) to meet the project management principles of DOE Order 413.3B, Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets , and DOE G 413.3-15, DOE Guide for Project Execution Plans. This document will elaborate on content as knowledge of the project is gained or refined.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Integrated Mid-Continent Stacked Carbon Storage Hub Project Phase II (Final Summary Report)

The Phase II Integrated Midcontinent Stacked Carbon Storage Hub (IMSCS-HUB) is part of the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) established by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). CarbonSAFE is phased to support the development of commercial-scale (50 million metric tonnes [Mt] over a 30-year period) carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) in the United States. The IMSCS-HUB study area comprises carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sources in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska (the source corridor), and CO 2 sinks in Kansas and Nebraska (the storage corridor), representing the first large-scale project for the Midcontinent region. The stacked storage corridor is characterized by alternating sequences of deep saline formations, oil-bearing reservoirs, shale, and evaporite units that are conducive to vertically stacked CO 2 injection for geologic storage and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Three sites within the IMSCS-HUB stacked storage corridor were evaluated in Phase II for commercial CCUS feasibility: one in southwest-central Nebraska, Sleepy Hollow Field (SHF), a second in southwestern Nebraska near Madrid (Madrid), and a third in southwestern Kansas, the Patterson Site (composed of the Patterson, Heinitz, Hartland, and Oslo fields). In Phase II, the team assessed the feasibility of storage complexes at the potential storage sites in Nebraska and Kansas to support a commercial-scale storage hub that integrates proven CO 2 capture technology and transport from nearby ethanol sources. Building on lessons learned from the DOE-NETL Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs), the Project Team has identified a clear strategy to meet DOE’s 2025 objective of commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) implementation by developing a CO 2 market and infrastructure that relies on multiple ethanol-based CO 2 sources in the short term and the incorporation of multiple coal-fired power plant CO 2 sources when commercial capture is economically viable. The team also leveraged the updated 45Q tax credit to develop capture and transport infrastructure. Commercial-scale CCUS is feasible at two candidate storage sites studied, the Madrid, Nebraska Site and the Patterson Site in Kearny County, Kansas. The Sleepy Hollow Field in Nebraska was found to be an attractive candidate for stacked storage with CO 2 -EOR (Battelle 2020e). Outreach efforts facilitated engagement from industry, government, and research sectors (Battelle and GPI, 2020) and an outreach plan for future phases of the project was developed to address issues that are of concern in the IMSCS-HUB project area (Battelle, 2020f). All components of a CCUS project were determined to be feasible in the IMSCS-HUB region and Risk Mitigation Plan was developed and includes strategies to mitigate risks associated with each project component (Battelle, 2020j). A roadmap was developed to obtain the required UIC permits for an integrated CCUS project (Battelle, 2020k). The regional storage resource characterization demonstrated significant opportunity for commercial-scale projects in the IMSCS-HUB storage corridor with 577.4 Mt of stacked CO 2 storage capacity and the potential to produce 181.9 MMbbls of oil via EOR across 17 individual storage areas (Battelle and ARI, 2020). The pipeline assessment study found viable pipeline routes that connected 45Q-eligible ethanol plants, coal fired power plants, and other sources in the IMSCS-HUB corridor. The comprehensive results of subsurface characterization, modeling efforts, outreach assessment, and regulatory analysis from were integrated to develop a Detailed Commercial Development Plan for the IMSCS-HUB (Battelle, 2020n). Commercialization efforts will involve obtaining Class VI UIC permits, establishing and finalizing the pipeline route, and evaluating capture projects at participating CO 2 sources. Phases I and II of the IMSCS-HUB CarbonSAFE provide a strong foundation for safely, efficiently, and cost-effectively characterizing and permitting commercial-scale project sites in the region. The plan for implementation of commercial-scale CCUS projects in the IMSCS-HUB is aligned with the objectives of CarbonSAFE Phase III: Site Characterization and CO 2 Capture Assessment.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗