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At least 451 records · Page 25

ARC disruption physics and strategy

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) plans to operate a tokamak power plant called ARC in the early 2030s. Tokamak plasmas have stability limits that, if crossed, lead to a rapid termination of the plasma, referred to as a disruption. Disruptions pose a melt risk to the first wall resulting from thermal and non-thermal particle heat fluxes, and an electromagnetic loading risk on all metal components within the equilibrium coils. A comprehensive set of models is used herein to provide an assessment of both mitigated and unmitigated ARC disruption loads. A preliminary massive gas injection system is baselined and a runaway electron mitigation coil option is proposed to close possible gaps in the baseline. It is predicted that all ARC disruption loads are within a factor of 2 of the disruption loads in SPARC, a tokamak presently under construction by CFS, and therefore SPARC provides an opportunity to calibrate models, test solutions and inform the design of ARC. The goal for ARC is disruption-free operation, however, the pragmatic design target is to withstand one mitigated disruption per day, and to restart the plasma following mitigation in tens of seconds without interrupting the power output. Unmitigated disruptions must be rare, and experience with unmitigated disruption impacts in SPARC will better define what rare means. The implications of this strategy for plasma disruptivity and disruption prediction are discussed, and operating the ARC scenario on SPARC is expected to refine the ARC final design and operational plan.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Well–based monitoring of CO 2 geological sequestration operations in saline aquifers: Critical insights into key questions

Geological carbon sequestration in saline aquifers is one of the most promising strategies to help mitigate emissions of CO 2 to the atmosphere. Significant challenges in ensuring the security of the sequestration process rest in the evolution and expansion of the CO 2 plume in the subsurface. The ability to track the movement of the injected CO 2 poses another challenge. Critical questions related to the integrity of the sequestration operations in saline aquifers relate to plume characteristics that can we monitor using well-based variables. We addressed this and related questions using an integrated modeling framework through a numerical investigation of carbon sequestration in saline aquifers during long-term and post-injection periods. This modeling paradigm incorporates the effect of structural, geological, and petrophysical characteristics. That way, we can account for critical physicochemical processes, rock-fluid interactions, and lithology dependencies. The well fluid variables investigated include fluid composition, pH, fluid density, and ion activity. We learned that fluid property analytics and diagnostics can be powerful tools to estimate the movement of CO 2 and its storage in different trapping mechanisms. These analytics can help optimize operational aspects and simplify reservoir-scale models while still reflecting the complex nature of the CO 2 interactions underground and offering insights into plume evolution.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Opportunities for increasing CO 2 storage in deep, saline formations by active reservoir management and treatment of extracted formation water: Case study at the GreenGen IGCC facility, Tianjin, PR China

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) seeks beneficial applications for CO 2 recovered from fossil fuel combustion. This study evaluated the potential for removing formation water to create additional storage capacity for CO 2 , while simultaneously treating the produced water for beneficial use. Furthermore, the process would control pressures within the target formation, lessen the risk of caprock failure, and better control the movement of CO 2 within that formation. The project plans to highlight the method of using individual wells to produce formation water prior to injecting CO 2 as an efficient means of managing reservoir pressure. Because the pressure drawdown resulting from pre-injection formation water production will inversely correlate with pressure buildup resulting from CO 2 injection, it can be proactively used to estimate CO 2 storage capacity and to plan well-field operations. The project studied the GreenGen site in Tianjin, China where Huaneng Corporation is capturing CO 2 at a coal fired IGCC power plant. Known as the Tianjin Enhanced Water Recovery (EWR) project, local rock units were evaluated for CO 2 storage potential and produced water treatment options were then developed. Average treatment cost for produced water with a cooling water treatment goal ranged from 2.27 to 2.96 US$/m 3 (recovery 95.25%), and for a boiler water treatment goal ranged from 2.37 to 3.18 US$/m 3 (recovery 92.78%). Importance analysis indicated that water quality parameters and transportation are significant cost factors as the injection-extraction system is managed over time. Our study found that in a broad sense, active reservoir management in the context of CCUS/EWR is technically feasible. In addition, criteria for evaluating suitable vs. unsuitable reservoir properties, reservoir storage (caprock) integrity, a recommended injection/withdrawal strategy and cost estimates for water treatment and reservoir management are proposed.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Lung and liver editing by lipid nanoparticle delivery of a stable CRISPR–Cas9 ribonucleoprotein

Lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) could enable high-efficiency, low-toxicity and scalable in vivo genome editing if efficacious RNP–LNP complexes can be reliably produced. Here we engineer a thermostable Cas9 from Geobacillus stearothermophilus (GeoCas9) to generate iGeoCas9 variants capable of >100× more genome editing of cells and organs compared with the native GeoCas9 enzyme. Furthermore, iGeoCas9 RNP–LNP complexes edit a variety of cell types and induce homology-directed repair in cells receiving codelivered single-stranded DNA templates. Using tissue-selective LNP formulations, we observe genome-editing levels of 16-37% in the liver and lungs of reporter mice that receive single intravenous injections of iGeoCas9 RNP–LNPs. In addition, iGeoCas9 RNPs complexed to biodegradable LNPs edit the disease-causing SFTPC gene in lung tissue with 19% average efficiency, representing a major improvement over genome-editing levels observed previously using viral or nonviral delivery strategies. These results show that thermostable Cas9 RNP–LNP complexes can expand the therapeutic potential of genome editing.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Characterization of temporal variations and feedback timescales of exhaust gas recirculation gas properties using high-speed diode laser absorption spectroscopy for next-cycle control of cyclic variability

Dilute combustion offers efficiency gains in boosted gasoline direct injection engines both through knock-limit extension and thermodynamic advantages (i.e. the effect of γ on cycle efficiency), but is limited by cyclic variability at high dilution levels. Past studies have shown that the cycle-to-cycle dynamics are a combination of deterministic and stochastic effects. The deterministic causes of cyclic variations, which arise from feedback due to exhaust gas recirculation, imply the possibility of using active control strategies for dilution limit extension. While internal exhaust gas recirculation will largely provide a next-cycle effect (short-timescale feedback), the feedback of external exhaust gas recirculation will have an effect after a delay of several cycles (long timescale). Therefore, control strategies aiming to improve engine stability at dilution limit may have to account for both short- and long-timescale feedback pathways. This study shows the results of a study examining the extent to which variations in exhaust gas recirculation composition are preserved along the exhaust gas recirculation flow path and thus the relative importance and information content of the long-timescale feedback pathway. To characterize the filtering or retention of cycle-resolved feedback information, high-speed (1–5 kHz) CO 2 concentration measurements were performed simultaneously at three different locations along the low-pressure external exhaust gas recirculation loop of a four-cylinder General Motors gasoline direct injection engine using a multiplexed two-color diode laser absorption spectroscopy sensor system during steady-state and transient engine operation at various exhaust gas recirculation levels. It was determined that cycle-resolved feedback propagates through internal residual gases but is filtered out by the low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation flow system and do not reach the intake manifold. Intermediate variations driven by flow rate and compositional changes are also distinguished and identified.

Dilute combustion↗

Pressure Monitoring to Detect Fault Rupture Due to CO 2 Injection

The capacity for fault systems to be reactivated by fluid injection is well-known. In the context of CO 2 sequestration, however, the consequence of reactivated faults with respect to leakage and monitoring is poorly understood. Using multi-phase fluid flow simulations, this study addresses key questions concerning the likelihood of ruptures, the timing of consequent upward leakage of CO 2 , and the effectiveness of pressure monitoring in the reservoir and overlying zones for rupture detection. A range of injection scenarios was simulated using random sampling of uncertain parameters. These include the assumed distance between the injector and the vulnerable fault zone, the critical overpressure required for the fault to rupture, reservoir permeability, and the CO 2 injection rate. We assumed a conservative scenario, in which if at any time during the five-year simulations the critical fault overpressure is exceeded, the fault permeability is assumed to instantaneously increase. For the purposes of conservatism we assume that CO 2 injection continues ‘blindly’ after fault rupture. We show that, despite this assumption, in most cases the CO 2 plume does not reach the base of the ruptured fault after 5 years. As a result, one possible implication of this result is that leak mitigation strategies such as pressure management have a reasonable chance of preventing a CO 2 leak.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE): Integrated CCS Pre-Feasibility CarbonSAFE Illinois East Sub-Basin (Final Report)

Purpose of the project was to conduct a pre-feasibility assessment for commercial-scale CO 2 geological storage complexes in the East Sub-Basin of the Illinois Basin. This work will be used to advance the experience and knowledge about scaling up from demonstration to commercial-scale storage (CCS), and eventually readying sites for more than 50 million tonnes injection from one or more industrial sources. To accomplish this, the project formed a CCS coordination team with varied backgrounds to evaluate aspects of developing an integrated CCS project, including regulatory, legislative, technical, public policy, commercial and financial requirements. We developed a plan and strategy to address the technical and non-technical challenges to enable an economically feasible and publicly acceptable integrated CCS project. A significant output of this high-level technical evaluation of the East Sub-Basin was to identify suitable site(s) within the storage complex(es) that include detailed subsurface characterization and risk identification, along with evaluation of potential industrial CO 2 sources for sequestration.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Procedure design of F and B operation and its impact on the risk of a nuclear power plant - 168

A feed and bleed (F and B) operation is an operator's emergency task to remove core heat from a reactor coolant system by bleeding coolant from the pressurizer, and feeding makeup water through safety injection systems under the loss of all feedwater condition. Even though the F and B operation is an important task having a significant impact on the risk of a nuclear power plant, there is a high uncertainty regarding its modeling and analysis in a PSA. This paper introduces a study on the design of an operational strategy for an F and B operation and its impact on the risk of a nuclear power plant in Korea. An intensive support analysis was conducted to understand the plant behavior and revise the success criteria for the HRA of the F and B operation. A human performance analysis on the emergency tasks was also conducted using a training simulator to generate the operator's performance time for the F and B operation. We revised the PSA model and updated the risk of the reference plant, which shows that the risk of the revised model is much higher than that of the existing model. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Circular Reprocessing of Thermoset Polyurethane Foams

Thermoset polyurethane (PU) foams are widely used in industrial applications, but they cannot be recycled by conventional melt reprocessing because of their cross-linked structures. The introduction of carbamate exchange catalysts converts thermoset PU into covalent adaptable networks (CANs), which are amenable to reprocessing at elevated temperatures. However, this approach has produced solid PU films, which have fewer uses and lower commercial demand. In this work, simultaneous reprocessing and refoaming of thermoset PU foams is demonstrated by leveraging the melt-processability of PU CANs and allowing cell growth by gas generation in a twin-screw extruder. The optimal operating temperature of the refoaming process is determined through chemical, thermal, and structural analysis of PU foam extrudates. The foam-to-foam extrusion process produces controllable, continuous, and uniform foam structures, as characterized by cell diameter and cell number density. Low-density PU foams are obtained through a process simulating injection molding. The compression properties of reprocessed PU foam are compared with as-synthesized PU foam to demonstrate efficacy of the refoaming processes. These results demonstrate that PU foams can be prepared through recycling while maintaining microstructural and chemical integrity. In the future, this strategy may be applied to thermoset PU foams of various chemical compositions and shows promise for scalability.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Novel strategies for modal-based structural material identification

Here, we present modal-based methods for model calibration in structural dynamics, and address several key challenges in the solution of gradient-based optimization problems with eigenvalues and eigenvectors, including the solution of singular Helmholtz problems encountered in sensitivity calculations, non-differentiable objective functions caused by mode swapping during optimization, and cases with repeated eigenvalues. Unlike previous literature that relied on direct solution of the eigenvector adjoint equations, we present a parallel iterative domain decomposition strategy (Adjoint Computation via Modal Superposition with Truncation Augmentation) for the solution of the singular Helmholtz problems. For problems with repeated eigenvalues we present a novel Mode Separation via Projection algorithm, and in order to address mode swapping between inverse iterations we present a novel Injective mode ordering metric. We present the implementation of these methods in a massively parallel finite element framework with the ability to use measured modal data to extract unknown structural model parameters from large complex problems. A series of increasingly complex numerical examples are presented that demonstrate the implementation and performance of the methods in a massively parallel finite element framework [7], [5], using gradient-based optimization techniques in the Rapid Optimization Library (ROL) [21].

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Scale-Up and Modeling Efforts Using an Omniphobic Surface Treatment for Mitigating Solids Deposition

Abstract Gas hydrates, waxes and asphaltenes represent some of the most significant flow assurance challenges, especially in subsea lines, where treatment options can be limited. Currently, complete avoidance is the primary strategy for hydrate management, while chemical or mechanical flushing/pigging may be utilized for other solids. Each system must also be treated with individualized solutions, as there have been no proved one-size-fits-all technologies demonstrated to date. As an alternative to constant chemical injection or thermodynamic controls such as insulation or heating, a robust omniphobic surface treatment material has been developed which has been shown in previous studies to significantly reduce the adhesion of flow assurance solids, resulting in lower risk for deposition and plugging of gas hydrates, waxes, and asphaltenes. As part of a Department of Energy study, laboratory scale tests were performed on a variety of apparatuses ranging from micromechanical force (micron scale) to laboratory flow loop testing (meter scale). While the results from these tests have been promising, there can be some disconnects between lab-scale observations and field-scale testing. Several factors can result in discrepancies between small-scale bench-top studies and deployment-scale efforts. These include flow conditions (Reynolds number, flow regime), chemistry (synthetic vs. crude oils, gas composition, and additives), physical differences (pipeline material, size, and geometry), etc. This work will describe the actions taken to better understand the deployment and performance of a material such as this omniphobic surface treatment in field scenarios, and to build confidence for deployment in a production scenario. These efforts include modeling field production scenarios using models developed from lab observations, application of the material to field-scale equipment to better understand application challenges, and expanded survivability and longevity testing. Understanding the bridge between laboratory testing and full-scale deployment allows for better technique and risk mitigation for field scale testing.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Numerical simulation of Water-alternating-gas Process for Optimizing EOR and Carbon Storage

Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) generated by fossil fuel combustion can have serious consequences for humans and environments. Carbon capture, utilization and geological storage (CCUS) is a key approach to reduce the emissions of the anthropogenic CO 2 into the atmosphere. Of those, sequestering the CO 2 into depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs with associated enhanced oil recovery is the most achievable approach under current economic constraints since it increases recovery of existing oil reserves, and bridges the gap between nonprofit geological CO 2 sequestration and profit CO 2 -EOR. The Upper Devonian fluvial sandstone reservoir in Jacksonburg-Stringtown oil field in West Virginia, which has produced over 22 million barrels of oil since 1895, is an ideal candidate for CO 2 sequestration coupled with EOR. This research illustrates an example of CCUS, in which CO 2 is sequestered into underground meanwhile enhanced oil recovery from the depleted hydrocarbon reservoir by water alternating gas (WAG) strategy. Three CO 2 storage mechanisms including structural/stratigraphic trapping, dissolution trapping, and residual trapping are considered. A 3D geological model is constructed based on existing geological data from the Jacksonburg-Stringtown oil field. A 3D composition fluid model with 0.4 pore volume (PV) of water injection before WAG process is considered as a benchmark of this study. Several factors including WAG cycle period, injection time ratio, CO 2 injection rate are evaluated. After injection wells are completely shut-in, stored CO 2 is monitored for additional 200 years as a function of various storage mechanisms. The result shows that over 6 years of WAG injection, total 12 - 40 MMlb-mol CO 2 is sequestrated and oil recovery factor can achieve 28%. As a conclusion, this research constructs a basic workflow for CO 2 storage coupled with CO 2 -EOR which can be applied to other super-mature oil fields.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

EV Hosting Capacity Analysis on Distribution Grids: Preprint

Increasing electric vehicle (EV) charging loads can increase the magnitude and duration of conventional peaks in demand profiles and even shift them significantly, causing operational violations in the distribution grid. It is important to develop tools to quantify the impacts of injecting large number of EV charging loads and determine the available capacity of the existing distribution feeder for the safe operation of the grid. Such tools would enable utilities to better prepare for grid operations in the near future while exploring the impact and effectiveness of strategies such as peak pricing and smart charging in managing these loads. This paper evaluates the hosting capacity of some real-world feeders to accommodate EV charging loads, including extreme fast-charging (xFC) options.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Supramolecular Polymer Hydrogels for Drug-Induced Tissue Regeneration

Supramolecular polymers self-assemble into nanofibers, micelles, and other nanostructures through weak noncovalent interactions between subunits. Such systems possess attractive properties for use in a variety of practical settings such as energy, sustainability, and healthcare. In regenerative medicine, a common approach involves implanting a supramolecular material containing cell and growth factor binding motifs directly into a diseased or traumatized tissue defect, whereupon it interacts with and/or recruits components of the biological system to induce tissue healing. In this paper we introduce a supramolecular therapeutic in which tissue regeneration is orchestrated by a supramolecular polymer prodrug implanted subcutaneously in a remote tissue. Our approach exploits a hydrophobic small-molecule inhibitor of prolyl hydroxylase enzyme as both a regeneration-inducing therapeutic and a structure-directing agent in a supramolecular polymer that forms shear-thinning nanofiber hydrogels. Subcutaneous injection of the supramolecular hydrogel in the back of mice wounded with a critical-sized defect in the ear led to transient upregulation of hypoxia inducible factor-1α and regeneration of ear tissue in a manner reminiscent of epimorphic regeneration. This drug-induced regeneration strategy utilizes a simple and translatable supramolecular design, eliminates the need for delivery of biologics ( e. g., growth factors, cells), and avoids implantation of a foreign material directly in a tissue defect.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Optimizing DER Participation in Inertial and Primary-Frequency Response

This paper develops an approach to enable the optimal participation of distributed energy resources (DERs) in inertial and primary-frequency response alongside conventional synchronous generators. Leveraging a reduced-order model description of frequency dynamics, DERs' synthetic inertias and droop coefficients are designed to meet time-domain performance objectives of frequency overshoot and steady-state regulation. Furthermore, an optimization-based method centered around classical economic dispatch is developed to ensure that DERs share the power injections for inertial- and primary-frequency response in proportion to their power ratings. Simulations for a modified New England test-case system composed of ten synchronous generators and six instances of the IEEE 37-node test feeder with frequency-responsive DERs validate the design strategy.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

ASSESSING FUEL PROPERTY EFFECTS ON CAVITATION AND EROSION PROPENSITY USING A COMPUTATIONAL FUEL SCREENING TOOL

To advance compression ignition combustion strategies, researchers have evaluated fuel property effects and their impact on achieving higher efficiencies and lower emissions levels relative to current capabilities. Within the Department of Energy's Co-Optima initiative, there has been a recent focus on understanding the influence of fuel properties on fuel injection performance. To help identify candidate fuels that can meet desired injector performance metrics, a computational fuel screening tool is under development that can link fuel properties with the tendency of a given fuel to cavitate and lead to cavitation-induced erosion. In the initial development of this tool, five liquid fuel properties were selected to represent candidate fuels, namely density, viscosity, vapor pressure, surface tension, and heat of vaporization. A design of experiments methodology was employed to generate a set of pseudo fuel cases, which can represent the main effects and interactions among the fuel properties and be related to cavitation erosion predictions. Large eddy simulations were performed using a mixture modeling approach to predict the cavitation and erosion propensity of these pseudo-fuels in terms of the mean fuel vapor mole fraction and stored impact energy from repeated cloud collapse events. The low order regression models generated from this study revealed the importance of liquid fuel density on cavitation formation, whereas liquid viscosity was found to have a strong negative correlation with erosion severity. The surrogate models were then used in the fuel screening tool to rank the cavitation and erosion tendency of four candidate single-component fuels: methyl decanoate, isooctane, ethanol and n-dodecane. While the fuel screening tool was not able to quantitatively predict the cavitation and erosion response metrics, the tool was able to accurately rank the relative cavitation and erosion propensity of the four fuels. Overall, ethanol and iso-octane were observed to produce the highest levels of cavitation and erosion, respectively.

cavitation-induced erosion↗

Numerical Prediction of CCV in a PFI Engine using a Parallel LES Approach

Cycle-to-cycle variability (CCV) is detrimental to IC engine operation and can lead to partial burn, misfire, and knock. Predicting CCV numerically is extremely challenging due to two key reasons. Firstly, high-fidelity methods such as large eddy simulation (LES) are required to accurately resolve the incylinder turbulent flowfield both spatially and temporally. Secondly, CCV is experienced over long timescales and hence the simulations need to be performed for hundreds of consecutive cycles. Ameen et al. (Int. J. Eng. Res., 2017) developed a parallel perturbation model (PPM) approach to dissociate this long time-scale problem into several shorter timescale problems. The strategy is to perform multiple single-cycle simulations in parallel by effectively perturbing the initial velocity field based on the intensity of the in-cylinder turbulence. This strategy was demonstrated for motored engine and it was shown that the mean and variance of the in-cylinder flowfield was captured reasonably well by this approach. In the present study, this PPM approach is extended to simulate the CCV in a fired port-fuel injected (PFI) SI engine. Two operating conditions are considered – a medium CCV operating case corresponding to 2500 rpm and 16 bar BMEP and a low CCV case corresponding to 4000 rpm and 12 bar BMEP. The predictions from this approach are also shown to be similar to the consecutive LES cycles. Both the consecutive and PPM LES cycles are observed to under-predict the variability in the early stage of combustion. The parallel approach slightly underpredicts the cyclic variability at all stages of combustion as compared to the consecutive LES cycles. However, it is shown that the parallel approach is able to predict the coefficient of variation (COV) of the in-cylinder pressure and burn rate related parameters with sufficient accuracy, and is also able to predict the qualitative trends in CCV with changing operating conditions. The convergence of the statistics predicted by the PPM approach with respect to the number of consecutive cycles required for each parallel simulation is also investigated. It is shown that this new approach is able to give accurate predictions of the CCV in fired engines in less than one-tenth of the time required for the conventional approach of simulating consecutive engine cycles.

Ameen, Muhsin M↗

Numerical Prediction of Cyclic Variability in a Spark Ignition Engine Using a Parallel Large Eddy Simulation Approach

Cycle-to-cycle variability (CCV) is detrimental to IC engine operation and can lead to partial burn, misfire, and knock. Predicting CCV numerically is extremely challenging due to two key reasons. First, high-fidelity methods such as large eddy simulation (LES) are required to accurately resolve the in-cylinder turbulent flow field both spatially and temporally. Second, CCV is experienced over long timescales and hence the simulations need to be performed for hundreds of consecutive cycles. Ameen et al. (2017, "Parallel Methodology to Capture Cyclic Variability in Motored Engines,"Int. J. Engine Res., 18(4), pp. 366-377.) developed a parallel perturbation model (PPM) approach to dissociate this long time-scale problem into several shorter time-scale problems. This strategy was demonstrated for motored engine and it was shown that the mean and variance of the in-cylinder flow field was captured reasonably well by this approach. In the present study, this PPM approach is extended to simulate the CCV in a fired port-fuel injected (PFI) spark ignition (SI) engine. The predictions from this approach are also shown to be similar to the consecutive LES cycles. It is shown that the parallel approach is able to predict the coefficient of variation (COV) of the in-cylinder pressure and burn raterelated parameters with sufficient accuracy, and is also able to predict the qualitative trends in CCV with changing operating conditions. It is shown that this new approach is able to give accurate predictions of the CCV in fired engines in less than one-tenth of the time required for the conventional approach of simulating consecutive engine cycles.

Ameen, Muhsin M.↗