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DOE OSTI2022

Deep Reinforcement Learning From Demonstrations to Assist Service Restoration in Islanded Microgrids

Microgrids can be operated in island mode during utility grid outages to support service restoration and improve system resilience. To schedule and dispatch distributed energy resources (DERs) in an islanded microgrid, conventional model-based methods rely on accurate distribution network models and lack generalization and adaptability. Data-driven methods are promising for DER coordination but face practical challenges such as potential hazards to microgrids during online training and insufficient online training opportunities due to low outage rates. This paper presents a novel two-stage learning framework that builds on the deep deterministic policy gradient from demonstrations to identify an optimal restoration strategy. At the pre-training stage, imitation learning is applied to equip the control agent with expert experiences to guarantee acceptable initial performance. At the online training stage, action clipping, reward shaping, and expert demonstrations are leveraged to ensure safe exploration while accelerating the training process. In conclusion, the proposed method is illustrated using the IEEE 123-node system and compared with a representative model-based method and the standard deep deterministic policy gradient method to prove solution accuracy and demonstrate increased computational efficiency.

Du, Yan↗

NASA NTRS1996

Microgravity Segregation in Binary Mixtures of Inelastic Spheres Driven by Velocity Fluctuation Gradients

We are interested in collisional granular flows of dry materials in reduced gravity. Because the particles interact through collisions, the energy of the particle velocity fluctuations plays an important role in the physics. Here we focus on the separation of grains by properties - size, for example - that is driven by spatial gradients in the fluctuation energy of the grains. The segregation of grains by size is commonly observed in geophysical flows and industrial processes. Segregation of flowing grains can also take place based on other properties, e.g. shape, mass, friction, and coefficient of restitution. Many mechanisms may be responsible for segregation; most of these are strongly influenced by gravity. Here, we outline a mechanism that is independent of gravity. This mechanism may be important but is often obscured in terrestrial grain flows. It is driven by gradients in fluctuation energy. In microgravity, the separation of grains by property will proceed slowly enough to permit flight observations to provide an unambiguous measurement of the transport coefficients associated with the segregation. In this context, we are planning a microgravity shear cell experiment that contains a mixture of two types of spherical grains. The grains will be driven to interact with two different types of boundaries on either sides of the cell. The resulting separation will be observed visually.

Jenkins, James T.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Predicting Morphological Evolution during Coprecipitation of MnCO 3 Battery Cathode Precursors Using Multiscale Simulations Aided by Targeted Synthesis

The performance of lithium-ion batteries is intimately linked to both the structure and the morphology of the cathode material, which in turn is critically linked to the synthesis conditions. However, few studies focus on understanding synthesis, especially during the coprecipitation of metal oxide precursors, a process that largely determines the final morphology of the material. In this paper, we go beyond the typical equilibrium particle shape analysis conducted in the literature and incorporate kinetic aspects of morphology evolution. We perform these studies using controlled synthesis on a well-defined metal salt system (MnCO 3 ) combined with multiscale simulations and high-resolution microscopy. Results show that with increasing metal concentration, the particles transition from rhombohedral to cubic to spherical shapes. Computational analysis using density functional theory (DFT) reveals that rhombohedral shaped particles evolve under equilibrium conditions. Phase field techniques indicate that at higher metal concentrations, fast growth kinetics of the precipitates result in the transition to cubic and, subsequently, spherical shapes, accompanied by a decrease in particle size. This study, while limited to the one metal salt system, provides an approach to shed light on the synthesis process of mixed transition metal salts, gradient materials, and other cathode materials of interest to the battery community.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2020

Symbiotic niche mapping reveals functional specialization by two ectomycorrhizal fungi that expands the host plant niche

Mutualisms are ubiquitous in natural systems, but less is known about how these positive interactions influence species distributions compared with antagonistic interactions, such as competition and predation. The niche concept is one useful approach for thinking about factors that shape species ranges, which we apply here towards understanding how the nature of plant-mycorrhizal symbioses change across large environmental gradients. We used a continuous niche mapping approach to examine how two ectomycorrhizal fungi (Thelephora terrestris, Suillus pungens) impact pine seedling growth across a two-dimensional soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) gradient. We found that ectomycorrhizal fungi improved plant growth most in nutrient addition treatments with highly imbalanced N:P ratios, demonstrating that mycorrhizal benefits depend on interactions between niche axes. Nevertheless, T. terrestris (highN:lowP) and S. pungens (lowN:highP) benefited plants most at opposite ends of the resource ratio spectrum, consistent with niche partitioning and functional specialization. While ectomycorrhizal fungi are often thought of as being most beneficial for nitrogen uptake, our results suggest that members of the Thelephoraceae may specialize in improving plant P uptake. Ectomycorrhizal colonization by a single fungus increased plant niche volume (calculated as convex hull volumes of plant growth response surfaces across N and P gradients) compared to non-mycorrhizal control plants and shows the overall positive effects of mutualisms on plant niche volume. Despite plant host benefits in S. pungens and T. terrestris single species treatments, the presence of both fungi together decreased plant niche volume. The lack of functional complementarity, despite functional specialization, indicates that in some environments, either fungal competition or the cost of maintaining a suboptimal mycorrhizal partner can limit the benefits of a higher quality partner. The niche mapping approach we present has the potential to answer fundamental questions about the dimensions of functional diversity in ectomycorrhizal fungi and the distributions of mycorrhizal symbioses.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2017

Elastocapillary levelling of thin viscous films on soft substrates

A thin liquid film with nonzero curvature at its free surface spontaneously flows to reach a flat configuration, a process driven by Laplace pressure gradients and resisted by the liquid's viscosity. Inspired by recent progresses on the dynamics of liquid droplets on soft substrates, we here study the relaxation of a viscous film supported by an elastic foundation. Experiments involve thin polymer films on elastomeric substrates, where the dynamics of the liquid-air interface is monitored using atomic force microscopy. A theoretical model that describes the coupled evolution of the solid-liquid and the liquid-air interfaces is also provided. In this soft-levelling configuration, Laplace pressure gradients not only drive the flow, but they also induce elastic deformations on the substrate that affect the flow and the shape of the liquid-air interface itself. This process represents an original example of elastocapillarity that is not mediated by the presence of a contact line. We discuss the impact of the elastic contribution on the levelling dynamics and show the departure from the classical self-similarities and power laws observed for capillary levelling on rigid substrates.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS1968

Design of fluid-duct bends with low pressure loss

Duct bends are designed in which pressure losses and velocity profile distortions due to centrifugal force gradients are significantly reduced. The correction is achieved by properly changing the cross sectional area through the bend without affecting the shape of the duct at the upstream and downstream sides.

Gerlach, R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Development of an integrated BEM approach for hot fluid structure interaction

A comprehensive boundary element method is presented for transient thermoelastic analysis of hot section Earth-to-Orbit engine components. This time-domain formulation requires discretization of only the surface of the component, and thus provides an attractive alternative to finite element analysis for this class of problems. In addition, steep thermal gradients, which often occur near the surface, can be captured more readily since with a boundary element approach there are no shape functions to constrain the solution in the direction normal to the surface. For example, the circular disc analysis indicates the high level of accuracy that can be obtained. In fact, on the basis of reduced modeling effort and improved accuracy, it appears that the present boundary element method should be the preferred approach for general problems of transient thermoelasticity.

Dargush, G. F.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Asymptotic behavior of curvature of surface elements in isotropic turbulence

The asymptotic behavior of the curvature of material elements in turbulence is investigated using Lagrangian velocity-gradient time series obtained from direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence. Several material-element ensembles of different initial curvatures and shapes are studied. It is found that, at long times, the (first five) moments of the logarithm of characteristic curvature and shape factor asymptote to values that are independent of the initial curvature or shape. This evidence strongly suggests that the asymptotic pdf's of the curvature and shape of material elements are stationary and independent of initial conditions. Irrespective of initial curvature or shape, the asymptotic shape of a material surface is cylindrical with a high probability.

Girimaji, S. S.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Constraints on the formation history of the elliptical galaxy NGC 3923 from the colors of its globular clusters

We present a study of the colors of globular clusters associated with the elliptical galaxy NGC 3923. Our final sample consists of Wasington system C and T(sub 1) photometry for 143 globular cluster candidates with an expected contamination of no more than 10%. We find that the color distribution of the NGC 3923 globular cluster system (GCS) is broad and appears to have at least two peaks. A mixture modeling analysis of the color distribution indicates that a two-component model is favored over a single-component one at a high level of confidence (greater than 99%). This evidence for more than one population in the GCS of NGC 3923 is similar to that previously noted for the four other elliptical galaxies for which similar data have been published. Furthermore, we find that the NGC 3923 GCS is redder than the GCSs of previously studed elliptical galaxies of similar luminosity. The median metallicity inferred from our (C-(T(sub 1)))(sub 0) colors is (Fe/H)(sub med) = -0.56, with an uncertainty of 0.14 dex arising from all sources of uncertainty in the mean color. This is more metal rich than the median metallicity found for the GCS of M87 using the same method, (Fe/H)(sub med) = -0.94. Since M87 is more luminous than NGC 3923, this result points to significant scatter about any trend of higher GCS metallicity with increasing galaxy luminosity. We also show that there is a color gradient in the NGC 3923 GCS corresponding to about -0.5 dex in Delta(Fe/H)/Delta(log r). We conclude that the shape of the color distribution of individual GCSs and the variation in mean color among the GCSs of ellipticals are difficult to understand if elliptical galaxies are formed in a single protogalactic collapse. Models in which ellipticals and their globular clusters are formed in more than one event, such as a merger scenario, are more successful in accounting for these observations.

Zepf, Stephen E.↗

DOE OSTI2014

Low-adiabat rugby hohlraum experiments on the National Ignition Facility: Comparison with high-flux modeling and the potential for gas-wall interpenetration

Rugby-shaped gold hohlraums driven by a nominal low-adiabat laser pulse shape have been tested on the National Ignition Facility. The rugby affords a higher coupling efficiency than a comparably sized cylinder hohlraum or, alternatively, improved drive symmetry and laser beam clearances for a larger hohlraum with similar cylinder wall area and laser energy. A first (large rugby hohlraum) shot at low energy (0.75 MJ) to test laser backscatter resulted in a moderately oblate CH capsule implosion, followed by a high energy shot (1.3 MJ) that gave a highly oblate compressed core according to both time-integrated and –resolved x-ray images. These implosions used low wavelength separation (1.0 Å) between the outer and inner cones to provide an alternative platform free of significant cross-beam energy transfer for simplified hohlraum dynamics. Post-shot 2- and 3-D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations using the high-flux model [M. D. Rosen et al., High Energy Density Phys. 7, 180 (2011)], however, give nearly round implosions for both shots, in striking contrast with observations. An analytic assessment of Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instability growth on the gold–helium gas-fill interface shows the potential for significant linear growth, saturation and transition to a highly nonlinear state. Candidate seeds for instability growth include laser speckle during the early-time laser picket episode in the presence of only partial temporal beam smoothing (1-D smoothing by spectral dispersion and polarization smoothing) and intensity modulations from quad-to-quad and beam overlap. Radiation-hydrodynamic 2-D simulations adapted to include a dynamic fall-line mix model across the unstable Au-He interface show good agreement with the observed implosion symmetry for both shots using an interface-to-fall-line penetration fraction of 100%. Physically, the potential development of an instability layer in a rugby hohlraum is tantamount to an enhanced wall motion leading to hindered inner-beam propagation, due largely to the confluence of rugby shape and low ray angles relative to the hohlraum symmetry axis. A significant inward pointing shift of 500 μm in the outer cones for the third (full energy) shot of the series was used to improve the inner-beam propagation, resulting in a nearly symmetric x-ray self-emission image of the compressed core and reduced sensitivity to mix. Comparatively low time-dependent symmetry swings were also measured, and a significantly lower hot electron fraction was measured for potentially favorable fuel adiabat control. The outer cone stimulated Brillouin scatter levels jumped significantly, but remedial measures such as the use of a boron dopant in the Au wall are planned. A continuing trend of delayed implosion times is found in rugby hohlraums, suggesting levels of unaccounted hohlraum energy (∼150–200 kJ) similar to what is inferred in cylinder hohlraums. A mix-based physical scenario is described, based on suppressed channel heat flux to the dense gold wall from a temperature-gradient reversal induced by a multispecies plasma lapse rate [P. Amendt, C. Bellei, and S. C. Wilks, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 075002 (2012)].

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2018

Modeling error PDF optimization based wavelet neural network modeling of dynamic system and its application in blast furnace ironmaking

In general, the modeling errors of dynamic system model are a set of random variables. The traditional performance index of modeling such as means square error (MSE) and root means square error (RMSE) can not fully express the connotation of modeling errors with stochastic characteristics both in the dimension of time domain and space domain. Therefore, the probability density function (PDF) is introduced to completely describe the modeling errors in both time scales and space scales. Based on it, a novel wavelet neural network (WNN) modeling method is proposed by minimizing the two-dimensional (2D) PDF shaping of modeling errors. First, the modeling error PDF by the tradional WNN is estimated using data-driven kernel density estimation (KDE) technique. Then, the quadratic sum of 2D deviation between the modeling error PDF and the target PDF is utilized as performance index to optimize the WNN model parameters by gradient descent method. Since the WNN has strong nonlinear approximation and adaptive capability, and all the parameters are well optimized by the proposed method, the developed WNN model can make the modeling error PDF track the target PDF, eventually. Simulation example and application in a blast furnace ironmaking process show that the proposed method has a higher modeling precision and better generalization ability compared with the conventional WNN modeling based on MSE criteria. Furthermore, the proposed method has more desirable estimation for modeling error PDF that approximates to a Gaussian distribution whose shape is high and narrow.

Modelling↗

DOE OSTI2026

Multipoint Aerostructural Optimization of Wind Turbine Rotors Using a Coupled Blade‐Resolved Aerostructural Solver

Physics‐based design optimization workflows thread the needle between computational cost limitations and simulation complexity, often compromising between modeling detail and the range of operating design conditions. Multipoint aerostructural optimization of wind turbine rotors has so far been confined to low‐fidelity analyses or to high‐fidelity studies with simplified structural models, leaving the most complex design trade‐offs unexplored. We close this gap by performing the first tightly coupled gradient‐based multipoint aerostructural rotor optimization using 3D aerodynamic and structural solvers with discrete coupled adjoints. The optimizer simultaneously varies blade planform, airfoil shapes, and structural thickness through more than 270 design variables, minimizing a weighted combination of rotor mass and power across multiple wind speeds. Applied to a modified DTU 10‐MW benchmark under conservative structural and aerodynamic constraints, our multipoint optimization reduces rotor mass by up to 36% and increases power by 12%–15% across the main operating conditions; biasing the objective toward power yields power gains up to 18% and a 17% mass reduction. For a nominal wind distribution, 3‐point rotor designs accounting for low RPM and high thrust conditions capture dominant trade‐offs and outperform single‐point designs. Adding two off‐design points changes individual‐condition power by less than 3% but leaves the weighted average within 0.5%, and the mass‐power bias has a stronger effect on the final design than the operating‐point weighting itself. Our framework extends naturally to richer load cases and site‐specific wind distributions, providing a basis for high‐fidelity multipoint design earlier in industrial workflows.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1975

Numerical computation of viscous flows on the lee side of blunt shapes flying at supersonic speeds

A numerical method for solving the parabolic approximation to the steady-state compressible Navier-Stokes equations is examined. The approximation neglects only the streamwise gradients of shear stress. An implicit finite difference method is used which advances the solution downstream from an initial data surface and determines the complete viscous-inviscid flow between the body and bow shock wave. It is necessary that the inviscid portion of the flow field be supersonic. Crossflow separation is determined as part of the solution. The method is applied to a 15 deg sphere-cone at 15 deg angle of attack, and the results are compared with an inviscid method-of-characteristics calculation.

Rakich, J. V.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Root‐Pore Interactions, the Underestimated Driver for Rhizosphere Structure and Rhizosheath Development

Physical characteristics of rhizosphere and rhizosheath, that is, root-adhering soil, are crucial for plant performance. Yet, the drivers of the rhizosphere's structural properties and their relationships with rhizosheath development remain unclear. We used X-ray computed micro-tomography (i) to explore two drivers of rhizosphere porosity: root-induced changes vs. preferential root growth into soil with certain pore characteristics and (ii) to estimate their contributions to rhizosphere macroporosity gradients and rhizosheath formation. Rhizosheath development was assessed in relation to rhizosphere macroporosity and rhizodeposition after ¹⁴C labeling. Our results confirmed that both root-induced changes and growth preferences shape rhizosphere structure, with their relative significance depending on the inherent macropore availability. In intact soils, growth preferences were the dominant factor, while in sieved soils the root-induced changes became equally important. Rhizosheath formation was associated with roots compacting their surrounding and releasing carbon. However, no correlation was found between rhizosheath formation and the actual rhizosphere, that is, the volume of soil adjacent to the roots. The study offers new process-level understanding of rhizosphere porosity gradients, while emphasizing caution in interpreting root growth data from sieved soil studies. Similarly, traditional destructively sampled rhizosheath may not fully capture the true characteristics of the actual rhizosphere, underscoring importance of intact-soil analyses.

macroporosity gradients↗

DOE OSTI2016

Consequences of CCD imperfections for cosmology determined by weak lensing surveys: from laboratory measurements to cosmological parameter bias

Weak gravitational lensing causes subtle changes in the apparent shapes of galaxies due to the bending of light by the gravity of foreground masses. By measuring the shapes of large numbers of galaxies (millions in recent surveys, up to tens of billions in future surveys) we can infer the parameters that determine cosmology. Imperfections in the detectors used to record images of the sky can introduce changes in the apparent shapes of galaxies, which in turn can bias the inferred cosmological parameters. In this paper we consider the effect of two widely discussed sensor imperfections: tree rings, due to impurity gradients that cause transverse electric fields in the charge-coupled devices (CCDs), and pixel size variation, due to periodic CCD fabrication errors. These imperfections can be observed when the detectors are subject to uniform illumination (flat-field images). We develop methods to determine the spurious shear and convergence (due to the imperfections) from the flat-field images. We calculate how the spurious shear when added to the lensing shear will bias the determination of cosmological parameters. We apply our methods to candidate sensors of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) as a timely and important example, analyzing flat-field images recorded with LSST prototype CCDs in the laboratory. We find that tree rings and periodic pixel size variation present in the LSST CCDs will introduce negligible bias to cosmological parameters determined from the lensing power spectrum, specifically w, Ω{sub m}, and σ{sub 8}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS1972

The atmosphere of Mars from Mariner 9 radio occultation measurements.

Mariner-9 S-band radio occultation measurements conducted during November and December 1971 are described in terms of new information that was obtained about the shape and atmosphere of Mars. The arrival of the spacecraft coincided with a severely obscuring global dust storm, and the effect of the dust in the atmosphere was reflected in the reduced temperature gradients that were measured in the daytime near-equatorial atmosphere, indicating (1) heating of the atmosphere by solar radiation absorbed by dust and (2) simultaneous cooling of the surface. In general, surface atmospheric pressures measured in the equatorial regions are in very good agreement with previous radio-occultation and earth-based measurements. A global disparity in pressures strongly suggests that the physical shape of Mars is more oblate than the shape of its gravitational equipotential surface.

Kliore, A. J.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks for Solving Heat Transfer Problems

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have been used as a deep learning approach to solving physics and engineering problems. Using deep learning for these problems is attractive in that reasonably accurate models can be inferred from only raw data, eliminating the need to define the exact physical equations governing a problem. We expand on previous work using GANs to generate steady-state solutions to the two-dimensional heat equation. Using a basic conditional GAN (cGAN), we generate accurate solutions for rectangular domains conditioned on four edge boundary conditions (MAE < 0.5%). For finding steady-state solutions over arbitrary two-dimensional domains (not constrained to rectangles), we use a cGAN designed for image-to-image translation. We train this GAN on various types of geometric domains (circles, squares, triangles, shapes with one circular or rectangular hole), achieving accurate results on test data made up of geometries similar to those in training (MAE < 1%). For both of these GANs, we experiment with different loss function terms, showing that a term using the gradients of solution images significantly improves the basic cGAN but not the image-to-image GAN. Lastly, we show that the image-to-image GAN performs poorly when applied to two-dimensional geometries that vary in structure from training data (MAE < 8% for shapes with multiple holes or different shaped holes). This demonstrates the cGAN's lack of generalizability. While the cGAN is an accurate and computationally efficient method when trained and tested on similarly structured data, it is a much less reliable method when applied to data that is slightly different in structure from the training data.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2014

Computerized detection of noncalcified plaques in coronary CT angiography: Evaluation of topological soft gradient prescreening method and luminal analysis

Purpose: The buildup of noncalcified plaques (NCPs) that are vulnerable to rupture in coronary arteries is a risk for myocardial infarction. Interpretation of coronary CT angiography (cCTA) to search for NCP is a challenging task for radiologists due to the low CT number of NCP, the large number of coronary arteries, and multiple phase CT acquisition. The authors conducted a preliminary study to develop machine learning method for automated detection of NCPs in cCTA. Methods: With IRB approval, a data set of 83 ECG-gated contrast enhanced cCTA scans with 120 NCPs was collected retrospectively from patient files. A multiscale coronary artery response and rolling balloon region growing (MSCAR-RBG) method was applied to each cCTA volume to extract the coronary arterial trees. Each extracted vessel was reformatted to a straightened volume composed of cCTA slices perpendicular to the vessel centerline. A topological soft-gradient (TSG) detection method was developed to prescreen for NCP candidates by analyzing the 2D topological features of the radial gradient field surface along the vessel wall. The NCP candidates were then characterized by a luminal analysis that used 3D geometric features to quantify the shape information and gray-level features to evaluate the density of the NCP candidates. With machine learning techniques, useful features were identified and combined into an NCP score to differentiate true NCPs from false positives (FPs). To evaluate the effectiveness of the image analysis methods, the authors performed tenfold cross-validation with the available data set. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess the classification performance of individual features and the NCP score. The overall detection performance was estimated by free response ROC (FROC) analysis. Results: With our TSG prescreening method, a prescreening sensitivity of 92.5% (111/120) was achieved with a total of 1181 FPs (14.2 FPs/scan). On average, six features were selected during the tenfold cross-validation training. The average area under the ROC curve (AUC) value for training was 0.87 ± 0.01 and the AUC value for validation was 0.85 ± 0.01. Using the NCP score, FROC analysis of the validation set showed that the FP rates were reduced to 3.16, 1.90, and 1.39 FPs/scan at sensitivities of 90%, 80%, and 70%, respectively. Conclusions: The topological soft-gradient prescreening method in combination with the luminal analysis for FP reduction was effective for detection of NCPs in cCTA, including NCPs causing positive or negative vessel remodeling. The accuracy of vessel segmentation, tracking, and centerline identification has a strong impact on NCP detection. Studies are underway to further improve these techniques and reduce the FPs of the CADe system.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗