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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Mobile Hot Cell Digital Twin: End-of-life Management of Disused High Activity Radioactive Sources – 23598

Sealed radioactive sources are utilized for a wide range of applications across nuclear facilities, universities, hospitals, and industry. When these sources reach the end of serviceable life, they become waste. As waste, this radioactive material then goes through a process of recapture and then transfer to long term storage. With the advancement of technology in conjunction with better accessibility of technology, industries are exploring the use of digital automation to enhance productivity, efficiency, and safety while minimizing operation and maintenance costs, health and environmental risks, and uncertainty in the project life cycles. One area for exploration is the use of a digital twin to help design a robust, versatile, and safe solution for recapturing spent sources. We believe this avenue can also provide further advantages in the operations aspect of end-of-life management of spent radioactive sources by reducing the deployment time, increasing operator safety, and reducing operation & maintenance cost. We present a novel digital twin framework for end-of-life management of disused high activity radioactive sources. We have designed and developed a framework that houses a digital twin for visualizing and monitoring the recapture process to inform the engineering and design of a new Mobile Hot Cell. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed framework by providing a prototypical implementation, supporting the Mobile Hot Cell and human-machine interface's virtual replication.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2020

X-ray Nanocomputed Tomography in Zernike Phase Contrast for Studying 3D Morphology of Li–O 2 Battery Electrode

In this work, we investigated the lithium peroxide (Li 2 O 2 ) and pore size distribution in lithium-O 2 battery electrodes at different states of charge using transmission X-ray microscopy coupled with Zernike phase contrast to carry out nano-Computed Tomography. We report that such technique enables, at the nanoscale, to distinguish light elements such as carbon and Li 2 O 2 in Li-O 2 battery cathode electrodes. We verified by wave-propagation simulation that this approach efficiently improves the contrast of images in comparison with the pure absorption. The Li 2 O 2 distribution and thickness, interphases, and pore network are visualized and quantified, which give a valuable insight into our cathode architecture. From this 3D analysis, we highlight modifications of the air-cathode morphology and the Li 2 O 2 spatial organization as well as their potential implication in terms of carbon surface passivation and pore-clogging. After the full recharge process, this technique can also reveal the spatial distribution of the residual Li 2 O 2 and other byproducts.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Streaming Data in HPC Workflows Using ADIOS

The “IO Wall” problem, in which the gap between computation rate and data access rate grows continuously, poses significant problems to scientific workflows which have traditionally relied upon using the filesystem for intermediate storage between workflow stages. One way to avoid this problem in scientific workflows is to stream data directly from producers to consumers and avoiding storage entirely. However, the manner in which this is accomplished is key to both performance and usability. This paper presents the Sustainable Staging Transport, an approach which allows direct streaming between traditional file writers and readers with few application changes. SST is an ADIOS “engine”, accessible via standard ADIOS APIs, and because ADIOS allows engines to be chosen at run-time, many existing file-oriented ADIOS workflows can utilize SST for direct application-to-application communication without any source code changes. This paper describes the design of SST and presents performance results from various applications that use SST, for feeding model training with simulation data with substantially higher bandwidth than the theoretical limits of Frontier’s file system, for strong coupling of separately developed applications for multiphysics multiscale simulation, or for in situ analysis and visualization of data to complete all data processing shortly after the simulation finishes.

Podhorszki, Norbert [ORNL] (ORCID:000000019647542X↗
DOE OSTI2022

Flow Boiling Heat Transfer Characteristics of Water for Metal-foam-filled Horizontal Tubes

The goal of this paper is to enhance the in-tube flow boiling heat transfer of water while accounting for potential increase in pressure drop. Metal foams are a class of cellular structure with large surface-area-to-volume ratio and tortuous structure which has shown promising results for various energy conversion and storage applications. The higher heat transfer area and higher nucleation sites density due to the porous media can effectively enhance the heat transfer of water in both single-phase and two-phase operations. This paper presents the local heat transfer and pressure drop measurements of water in a partially metal-foam-filled horizontal copper tube. The ranges of parameters in the experiments are: mass flux from 80 to 200 kg/s-m2, heat flux from 3.5 to 105 kW/m2, and vapor quality from subcooled to 0.3. The results in the metal-foam-filled tube are compared with that of the bare copper tube. The effect of metal foam on the thermal hydraulic characteristics is discussed and analyzed. In addition, the two-phase flow behavior in a transparent tube filled with the same metal foam was visualized and investigated by high-speed imaging system. The experiments were also conducted in the tube without the metal foam for comparison.

Nawaz, Kashif↗
DOE OSTI2022

Visualization Tool for Comparing Low-Carbon Energy Options

This project developed a web based visualization tool for comparing current and future nuclear fuel cycle options to low-carbon and conventional energy technologies in the United States. While nuclear power is well established as the gold-standard for baseload power production and also as the technology with the lowest overall carbon intensity of any commercial form of electricity generation. This project develop a web-based tool for electricity producers and consumers to compare renewable and conventional energy technologies to the conventional and advanced nuclear fuel cycle options. The work leveraged data on land use, carbon intensity, unit cost and pricing data for renewables from the open literature. Input data from the Advanced Fuel Cycle Cost Basis report will be used for current and advanced nuclear power systems. We coupled these data to energy flow and lifecycle models for user-selected energy generation and storage types. We will display economic comparisons from the perspectives of generators and consumers, as well as carbon production, land use, and reliability comparisons.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of a Testbed for Pipeline Flushing - 20425

Pipelines which carry high-level waste within the DOE complex should be properly flushed in the cases where stationary or moving beds of solid sediment occur, or lines are prone to hydrogen gas buildup. Present guidelines establish a minimum for the amount of water (flush volume) and flush velocity values used for post-transfer flushing operations to achieve satisfactory cleaning of pipelines. However, further studies are needed to find optimal operating velocity modes/values in order to minimizing the flush volume and consequent downstream waste. These efforts are significantly helpful to DOE waste remediation sites by preserving tank storage, preventing additional waste processing, and minimizing dilution and changes in waste chemistry. An experimental test loop was recently developed for study of non-Newtonian slurry flushing at the Florida International University (FIU). This loop was designed to create sediment beds of various materials and bed heights and investigate parameters that effect the efficiency of flushing operations. The objective is to find flush velocity values/modes which lead to satisfactory cleaning of transport lines with a minimum amount of water usage. A 165 ft experimental test loop made of 3-inch carbon steel pipes was constructed and used in initial testing campaigns. This pipe loop was equipped with real-time monitoring instruments to record variation of pressure, density, mass flow rate, and temperature during testing. Post-flush in-situ no-flow evaluations were performed using ultrasonic, endoscopy, and visual inspection. Additional post-flush evaluations were conducted using filtration and density monitoring of residuals within a designated circulations loop. These provisions enable comparison of pipeline cleanness before the start and after termination of flushing operations for efficiency evaluation. This paper presents efforts associated with flushing of kaolin-water mixtures at different concentrations and with various flush volume and flush velocity values/modes. In initial testing, efforts focused on creating repeatable sediment beds inside the pipeline in both fully-flooded (no pre-flush drainage) and gravity-drained (pre-flush drained) systems. Bed characterization (i.e., measurement of sediment height and solids concentration) was conducted to ensure about consistency of initial conditions between tests. Preliminary results for flushing study of 10% vol. kaolin-water mixtures starting from a fully-flooded initial condition showed that flushing with 1-line volume (65 gallons) could remove up to 72 percent of solids from the pipeline. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Aquifer Injection Modeling (AIM) Toolbox User Guide

The Aquifer Injection Modeling Toolbox (“AIM Toolbox”) software was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) to provide a collection of analytical solutions suitable for evaluating the potential extent of the area impacted by subsurface injection operations. Subsurface injection operations are regulated under the EPA’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) program and are typically related to oil/gas development, waste disposal, or subsurface mining or storage. The analytical algorithms provided in the AIM Toolbox each have different approaches/assumptions/focus with respect to the nature and processes in subsurface and the nature of the injection operations. Collectively the set of analysis algorithms provides a broader evaluation of the area that can potentially be impacted by an injection operation. By providing estimates for the injectate plume extent, the software supports technical aspects of planning, evaluation, and overseeing injection activities. That is, the results help assess when further regulatory controls (e.g., monitoring, reporting) may be required and, in the case of disposal into an underground source of drinking water, the extent of the impacted area would require exemption from protection under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The AIM Toolbox software is available as a single-page web application, providing an interface to provide the necessary inputs, and both chart and map panes for visualizing the results. This User Guide describes the AIM Toolbox software, information required, user interactions, and the underlying basis of the calculations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Aquifer Injection Modeling (AIM) Toolbox User Guide

The Aquifer Injection Modeling Toolbox (“AIM Toolbox”) software was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) to provide a collection of analytical solutions suitable for evaluating the potential extent of the area impacted by subsurface injection operations. Subsurface injection operations are regulated under the EPA’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) program and are typically related to oil/gas development, waste disposal, or subsurface mining or storage. The analytical algorithms provided in the AIM Toolbox each have different approaches/assumptions/focus with respect to the nature and processes in subsurface and the nature of the injection operations. Collectively the set of analysis algorithms provides a broader evaluation of the area that can potentially be impacted by an injection operation. By providing estimates for the injectate plume extent, the software supports technical aspects of planning, evaluation, and overseeing injection activities. That is, the results help assess when further regulatory controls (e.g., monitoring, reporting) may be required and, in the case of disposal into an underground source of drinking water, the extent of the impacted area would require exemption from protection under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The AIM Toolbox software is available as a single-page web application, providing an interface to provide the necessary inputs, and both chart and map panes for visualizing the results. This User Guide describes the AIM Toolbox software, information required, user interactions, and the underlying basis of the calculations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

SRR's 'Next Step' in the Lean Journey -Taking Lean to the Workforce - 17247

The Savannah River Site, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility, contracted Savannah River Remediation (SRR) to manage its liquid waste project, which is a unique, high hazard nuclear waste treatment and disposal facility consisting of 51, one million-gallon underground waste tanks, a solvent extraction processing unit, a vitrification facility for the highest radioactive waste, and a grout solidification and disposal facility for a decontaminated salt solution. Our Project mission is to treat the nuclear waste and close the associated storage and treatment facilities, of which, 8 tanks have been closed to date. At SRR, the Lean business management system has been adopted to address site inefficiencies, aging infrastructure concerns and budget constraints. The Lean philosophy took root decades ago in the manufacturing sector and started with the work of W. Edwards Deming and his contemporaries. In more recent years the process has matured in the Toyota Production System and migrated into fields as diverse as services industries, health-care, and now the DOE complex. The first step of the SRR Lean Journey was to formally identify areas of improvement and initiate Value Stream Analysis (VSAs) and Rapid Improvement Events (RIEs). SRR has achieved improvements in procedure implementation, work planning and control, project schedule compression, and engineering requirements. SRR is now phasing in the next phase of Lean through Managing for Daily Improvement (MDI), Visual Management and 5S (sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain). MDI is a fundamental Lean principle in that we use our most valuable asset, our employees, to drive continuous improvement versus a smaller population through formal events. Part of MDI includes visual management where the workforce can go to a 'dashboard' to see and understand the company mission and status. 5S is a process where a work group improves performance in an area by addressing physical organization, efficiency, uniformity, standardization, and mechanisms to sustain improvements. 5S stands for: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. This paper will focus on the 'Next Step' in SRR's Lean journey by address how SRR is implementing MDI and 5S to improve CONOPs, Project efficiencies, and worker engagement in day to day operations. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sidewall Breach During Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway Triggered by Cell-to-Cell Propagation Visualized Using High-Speed X-Ray Imaging

With the rapid deployment of Li-ion batteries (LiBs) in a range of applications, it is crucial to ensure their safe operation. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the rapid thermal runaway failure that LiBs can undergo if improperly operated or subjected to abuse scenarios so that hazardous events can be avoided or mitigated. Sidewall breaches or ruptures of LiBs during thermal runaway are considered the most hazardous failure scenario, resulting in hot abrasive flare from the casing of the cell that can impinge on neighbouring cells and lead to the propagation of thermal runaway throughout a battery pack. Yet, the process leading up to the sidewall breach is not well understood due to the extreme difficulty in visualizing such a failure in commercially relevant cells. With the application of a newly developed chamber for remote-controlled abuse testing of batteries coupled with simultaneous X-ray imaging, we demonstrate here for the first time an in-situ visualization of a sidewall breach. By further applying spatiotemporal mapping techniques, the internal thermal runaway events leading up to the sidewall breach can be analyzed in detail. Subsequently, the speed of the electrode layer delamination could be calculated to a speed of 0.6 m/s. These new insights bring more clarity regarding this phenomenon, that in turn can help battery designers improve battery safety.

battery safety↗
DOE OSTI2019

Revealing the Atomic Origin of Heterogeneous Li-Ion Diffusion by Probing Na

Tracing the dynamic process of Li-ion transport at the atomic scale is a long-cherished wish in solid state ionics and essential for battery material engineering. Approaches via phase change, strain, and valence states of redox species are developed to circumvent the technical challenge of direct imaging Li, however, all are limited by poor spatial resolution and weak correlation with state-of-charge (SOC). Here, we adopt an ion-exchange approach by sodiating the de-lithiated cathode and probing Na distribution to trace the Li de-intercalation, which enables us to visualize the heterogeneous Li-ion diffusion down to atomic level. In the model LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 cathode, dislocation-mediated ion diffusion is kinetically favorable at low SOC and planar diffusion along (003) layers dominates at high SOC, which work synergistically to determine the ion diffusion dynamics. Our work unveils the heterogeneous nature of ion diffusion in battery material and stresses the role of defect engineering in tailoring ion transport kinetics.

Xiao, Biwei↗
DOE OSTI2024

ML-based Dimension Reduction Strategies

Deep learning (DL)--based surrogate models have achieved success in various applications in carbon capture and storage (CCS). However, the model training on high-dimensional spaces is computationally expensive and impractical for large-scale and complex geological models, because the models usually contain hundreds of thousands to millions of grid cells, each with a set of parameters. Furthermore, the high cost of generating training data with sufficient variation is another limitation of model training on high-dimensional spaces, which may result in overfitting and reduce the model efficiency and prediction performance. We proposed the workflow incorporating dimension reduction methods and deep learning models, which aim to extract the latent variables of input parameters and output state variables, and then build the mapping function at the latent spaces. The proposed workflow can significantly reduce the computational complexity in solving both forward and inverse problems compared to models trained on high-dimensional spaces. Dimensionality reduction models showed great potential in workflows for fast reservoir simulation, history matching, prior model generation, visualization, and more, ultimately enhancing DL model performance in related SMART Work Packages.

Hosseini, Seyyed↗
DOE OSTI2017

Tracking Internal Temperature and Structural Dynamics during Nail Penetration of Lithium-Ion Cells

Mechanical abuse of lithium-ion batteries is widely used during testing to induce thermal runaway, characterize associated risks, and expose cell and module vulnerabilities. But, the repeatability of puncture or 'nail penetration' tests is a key issue as there is often a high degree of variability in the resulting thermal runaway process. Here, the failure mechanisms of 18650 cells punctured at different locations and orientations are characterized with respect to their internal structural degradation, and both their internal and surface temperature, all of which are monitored in real time. The initiation and propagation of thermal runaway is visualized via high-speed synchrotron X-ray radiography at 2000 frames per second, and the surface and internal temperatures are recorded via infrared imaging and a thermocouple embedded in the tip of the penetrating nail, respectively. The influence of the nail, as well as how and where it penetrates the cell, on the initiation and propagation of thermal runaway is described and the suitability of this test method for representing in-field failures is discussed.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Mobile Hot Cell Digital Twin using Immersive Virtual Environment

Sealed radioactive sources are utilized for a wide range of applications across nuclear facilities, universities, hospitals, and industry. When these sources reach the end of their serviceable life, they become waste. This radioactive waste then goes through a process of recapture and then transfer to long term storage. With the advancement of technology in conjunction with better accessibility of technology, industries are exploring the use of digital automation to enhance productivity, efficiency, and safety while minimizing operation and maintenance costs, health and environmental risks, and uncertainty in the project life cycles. One area for exploration and the use of Digital Twin for providing a robust, versatile, and safe solution for recapturing spent sources.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Developing titanium micro/nano porous layers on planar thin/tunable LGDLs for high-efficiency hydrogen production

Proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs) have been considered one of the most promising devices for hydrogen generation and energy storage from water splitting, especially when coupled with sustainable energy resources. Microporous layers (MPLs), which have been widely used in fuel cells for better catalyst access and product/reactant removal, have limited investigations in PEMECs due to harsh environments and carbon corrosion. In this study, the MPLs with both irregular micro (~5 um) and spherical nano (30-50 nm) titanium particles are developed on novel thin/tunable liquid/gas diffusion layers (TT-LGDLs) and are investigated comprehensively both in-situ and ex-situ for the first time. The MPLs change the wettability of the TT-LGDLs and show super hydrophobic property. The results reveal that micro particle MPLs exhibit improved catalytic activity but increased ohmic resistances, and that nano particle MPLs do not impact catalytic activity meaningfully but exhibit even greater increases in ohmic resistance. The effects of the thickness of the MPLs are also investigated and the typical MPL is also studied by in-situ visualization in a transparent PEMEC with a high-speed and micro-scale visualization system (HMVS). The results indicate the strong feasibility of the TT-LGDLs with small pore size and large porosity for high-efficiency and low-cost PEMEC practical applications.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

An Operational Resilience Metric to Evaluate Inertia and Inverter-based Generation on the Grid

In an effort to reduce carbon emissions and curtail the effects of climate change there has been considerable effort to increase the penetration of inverter-based renewable energy sources. The adoption of renewable generation over conventional inertia-based generation sources is forming considerable challenges for the operation and stability of the power system. The power system has been designed around generation units characterized by high inertia and primary frequency response (PFR), allowing them to respond to disturbances such as faults or generators tripping off line. In contrast, the modern inverter-based assets are characterized by no contribution to inertia and they typically provide stochastic generation at their maximum output, thus having no contribution to PFR during low-frequency disturbance events. Because of this, inertia in power systems is reducing, resulting in a faster rate of frequency change after a disturbance occurs. As more inverter-based generation units are added to the grid it is important to understand the stability of the system and the size of disturbance a system is capable of withstanding. This paper presents a resilience metric that evaluates the maximum size of disturbance a systems can withstand based on the system inertia and the primary frequency control of inverter and inertia-based generation. The results are shown visually and are based on the real-time operation of generation units and their characteristics such as latency, ramp rates, and energy constraints. It is demonstrated that the real-time positioning or bias of the generating units has an effect of the size of disturbance that a system can withstand, i.e. its resilience. It is expected that this type of analysis can help operators increase the resilience of power systems in the future.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Editors’ Choice—Flooded by Success: On the Role of Electrode Wettability in CO 2 Electrolyzers that Generate Liquid Products

Economic operation of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) electrolyzers generating liquid products will likely require high reactant conversions and product concentrations, conditions anticipated to challenge existing gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs). Notably, electrode wettability will increase as lower surface tension products (e.g., formic acid, alcohols) are introduced into electrolyte streams, potentially leading to flooding. To understand the hydraulically stable operating envelopes in mixed aqueous-organic liquid domains, we connect intrinsic electrode wettability descriptors to operating parameters such as electrolyte flow rate and current. We first measure contact angles of water-organic product dilutions on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and graphite surfaces as planar analogues for GDE components. We then use material balances around the reactive gas-liquid-solid interface to calculate product mass fractions as functions of water sweep rate and current. Product composition maps visualize the extent to which changes in cell performance influence capillary pressure, a determinant of GDE saturation. Analyses suggest that formic acid mixtures pose little risk for GDE flooding across a wide range of conditions, but effluents containing <30% alcohol by mass may cause flooding. This study reveals opportunities to integrate microstructural features and oleophobic surface treatments into GDEs to repel aqueous-organic mixtures and expand the window of stable operating conditions.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗