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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 55 records · Page 3

SLAR image interpretation keys for geographic analysis

A means for side-looking airborne radar (SLAR) imagery to become a more widely used data source in geoscience and agriculture is suggested by providing interpretation keys as an easily implemented interpretation model. Interpretation problems faced by the researcher wishing to employ SLAR are specifically described, and the use of various types of image interpretation keys to overcome these problems is suggested. With examples drawn from agriculture and vegetation mapping, direct and associate dichotomous image interpretation keys are discussed and methods of constructing keys are outlined. Initial testing of the keys, key-based automated decision rules, and the role of the keys in an information system for agriculture are developed.

Coiner, J. C.↗

Prediction of Long-Term Geochemical Change in Bentonite Based on the Interpretative THMC Model of the FEBEX In Situ Test

Since nuclear energy is crucial in the decarbonization of the energy supply, one hurdle to remove is the handling of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Disposal of HLW in a deep geological repository has long been deemed a viable permanent option. In the design of a deep geological repository, compacted bentonite is the most commonly proposed buffer material. Predicting the long-term chemical evolution in bentonite, which is important for the safety assessment of a repository, has been challenging because of the complex coupled processes. Models for large-scale tests and predictions based on such models have been some of the best practices for such purposes. An 18-year-long in situ test with two dismantling events provided a unique set of chemical data that allowed for studying chemical changes in bentonite. In this paper, we first developed coupled thermal, hydrological, mechanical, and chemical (THMC) models to interpret the geochemical data collected in the in situ test and then extended the THMC model to 200 years to make long-term prediction of the geochemical evolution of bentonite. The interpretive coupled THMC model shows that the geochemical profiles were strongly affected by THM processes such as evaporation/condensation, porosity change caused by swelling, permeability change, and the shape of concentration profiles for major cations were largely controlled by transport processes, but concentration levels were regulated by chemical reactions, and the profiles of some species such as pH, bicarbonate, and sulfate were dominated by these reactions. The long-term THMC model showed that heating prolongs the time that bentonite becomes fully saturated in the area close to the heater/canister; however, once the bentonite becomes fully saturated, high concentrations of ions in bentonite near the heater, which was observed in the field test, will disappear; illitization continues for 50 years but will not proceed further.

Zheng, Liange↗

Integrating adaptive learning with post hoc model explanation and symbolic regression to build interpretable surrogate models

Abstract We develop a materials informatics workflow to build an interpretable surrogate model for micromagnetic simulations. Our goal is to predict the energy barrier of a moving isolated skyrmion in rare-earth-free $$\hbox {Mn}_4$$ Mn 4 N. Our approach integrates adaptive learning with post hoc model explanation and symbolic regression methods. We discuss an unexplored acquisition function (information condensing active learning) within the adaptive learning loop and compare it with the known standard deviation function for efficient navigation of the search space. Model-agnostic post hoc explanation techniques then uncover trends learned by the trained model, which we then leverage to constrain the expressions used for symbolic regression. Graphical abstract

Biswas, Ankita↗

Mn-53 and Al-26 evidence for solar cosmic ray constancy - An improved model for interpretation

A general, numerical method for calculating activities of solar cosmic ray produced radionuclides at any point within an irregularly shaped lunar rock of known surface contour and lunar surface orientation is described. This method is then used to predict the activities of Mn-53 andAl-26 as a function of postion within lunar rock 68815 for various assumed values of solar cosmic ray flux (J), rigidity (R sub 0), and rock erosion rate (ER). The predicted activities agree with the measured activities of Kohl et al. (1978) when values of R sub 0 = 100 MV, J = 70 p/sq cm-sec (4 pi, E greater than 10 MeV), ER not greater than 1 mm/m.y. and a total exposure time of 2 m.y. are assumed. These values are in agreement with those found for rocks exposed for not less than 10 m.y. and provide no evidence for variation of the average solar cosmic ray parameters between the last 2 and 10 m.y. intervals. When interpreted with the improved model the activity vs. depth profiles for three faces of 68815 show no evidence of SCR anisotropy or differential erosion.

Russ, G. P., III↗

Model for Interpreting Discordant SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Test Results

We devised a model to interpret discordant SARS-CoV-2 test results. We estimate that, during March 2020–May 2022, a patient in the United States who received a positive rapid antigen test result followed by a negative nucleic acid test result had only a 15.4% (95% CI 0.6%–56.7%) chance of being infected.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Guiding center model to interpret neutral particle analyzer results

The theoretical model is discussed, which accounts for drift and cyclotron components of ion motion in a partially ionized plasma. Density and velocity distributions are systematically precribed. The flux into the neutral particle analyzer (NPA) from this plasma is determined by summing over all charge exchange neutrals in phase space which are directed into apertures. Especially detailed data, obtained by sweeping the line of sight of the apertures across the plasma of the NASA Lewis HIP-1 burnout device, are presented. Selection of randomized cyclotron velocity distributions about mean azimuthal drift yield energy distributions which compared well with experiment. Use of data obtained with a bending magnet on the NPA showed that separation between energy distribution curves of various mass species correlate well with a drift divided by mean cyclotron energy parameter of the theory. Use of the guiding center model in conjunction with NPA scans across the plasma aid in estimates of ion density and E field variation with plasma radius.

Englert, G. W.↗

The Barnes-Evans color-surface brightness relation: A preliminary theoretical interpretation

Model atmosphere calculations are used to assess whether an empirically derived relation between V-R and surface brightness is independent of a variety of stellar paramters, including surface gravity. This relationship is used in a variety of applications, including the determination of the distances of Cepheid variables using a method based on the Beade-Wesselink method. It is concluded that the use of a main sequence relation between V-R color and surface brightness in determining radii of giant stars is subject to systematic errors that are smaller than 10% in the determination of a radius or distance for temperature cooler than 12,000 K. The error in white dwarf radii determined from a main sequence color surface brightness relation is roughly 10%.

Shipman, H. L.↗

Model for interpreting Doppler broadened optical line emission measurements on axially symmetric plasma

A plasma model, previously developed to interpret neutral-particle analyzer measurements on E x B heating devices, is adapted to analyze Doppler broadened charge-exchange-neutral lines measured by an optical monochromator. Comparison of theoretical with experimental results indicates that azimuthal drift as well as cyclotron motion are quite influential in determining line shapes and widths, and thus important in temperature determination, even when the monochromator line of sight is intersecting the plasma axis of symmetry. At this central sighting position, however, results are quite insensitive to radial ion density distribution when time lag between the charge-exchange-excitation events and emission is neglected. Line shapes and widths obtained by sighting across chords of plasma at various distances from the plasma axis of symmetry indicate a strong dependence on time lag.

Englert, G. W.↗

Learning Physically Interpretable Atmospheric Models From Data With WSINDy

The multiscale and turbulent nature of Earth's atmosphere has historically rendered accurate weather modeling a hard problem. Recently, there has been an explosion of interest surrounding data-driven approaches to weather modeling, which in many cases show improved forecasting accuracy and computational efficiency when compared to traditional methods. However, many of the current data-driven approaches employ highly parameterized neural networks, often resulting in uninterpretable models and limited gains in scientific understanding. In this work, we address the interpretability problem by explicitly discovering partial differential equations governing atmospheric phenomena, identifying symbolic mathematical models with direct physical interpretations. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that, in particular, the weak-form sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics (WSINDy) algorithm can learn effective atmospheric models from both simulated and assimilated data. Our approach adapts the standard WSINDy algorithm to work with high-dimensional fluid data of arbitrary spatial dimension.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Guiding center model to interpret neutral particle analyzer results

An attempt is made to model the essential features of ion motion in a plasma. A guiding center model is hypothesized for a plasma heating device whose radial electric fields and axial magnetic fields are crossed. The guiding center model is shown to give results which agree with experimental data from four different plasma heating devices and are helpful for the interpretation of neutral particle analyzer results.

Englert, G. W.↗

Investigation to develop a multistage forest sampling inventory system using ERTS-1 imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. The annotation system produced a RMSE of about 200 m ground distance in the MSS data system with the control data used. All the analytical MSS interpretation models tried were highly significant. However, the gains in forest sampling efficiency that can be achieved by using the models vary from zero to over 50 percent depending on the area to which they are applied and the sampling method used. Among the sampling methods tried, regression sampling yielded substantial and the most consistent gains. The single most significant variable in the interpretation model was the difference between bands 5 and 7. The contrast variable, computed by the Hadamard transform was significant but did not contribute much to the interpretation model. Forest areas containing very large timber volumes because of large tree sizes were not separable from areas of similar crown cover but containing smaller trees using ERTS image interpretation only. All correlations between space derived timber volume predictions and estimates obtained from aerial and ground sampling were relatively low but significant and stable. There was a much stronger relationship between variables derived from MSS and U2 data than between U2 and ground data.

Langley, P. G.↗

Understanding the Impact of Unobservable Variables on the Performance of Predictive Models: The Need for Feature Space Partitioning and Fusion

When developing predictive models over a dataset, the model is globally optimized across the entire feature space to learn a decision boundary. However, when unobservable variables—which cannot be measured or estimated—interact with the observable variables, this can negatively impact the optimization applied to the decision boundary since the data samples introduced by unobservable variables may have little to no association with the applied global optimization. This, consequently, penalizes the entire decision boundary and model performance. This paper examines some of the detrimental effects of unobservable variables, particularly their role in creating new modes in the distribution of observable variables and reducing the separability of class distributions. Such challenges result in skewed or warped decision boundaries and decreased accuracy of model predictions, particularly for interpretable models like logistic regression and decision trees. Through two illustrative case examples, we highlight the need to address the challenges imposed by unobservable variables. We propose a strategy to mitigate these challenges by creating local regions within the feature space through partitioning. This enables the optimization of local models within the regions to overcome the impact of unobservability in different feature space localities. Research into a more sophisticated partitioning strategy and where the partition should be relative to the sample of interest is left as future work. Through the analysis of the impact of unobservability and the development of a partitioning method, we demonstrate the clear need for a partitioning strategy that integrates knowledge from multiple local models to estimate risk factors using information fusion. Thus, we establish the foundation and motivation for using partitioning and information fusion to overcome the effects of unobservability in predictive models. Formal fusion methods, such as Dempster-Shafer theory, can better leverage the information from local regions to improve the performance of interpretable predictive models in the presence of unobservable variables.

Time Series Data↗

Machine Learning Augmented Predictive and Generative Model for Rupture Life in Ferritic and Austenitic Steels

The Larson-Miller parameter (LMP) offers an efficient and fast scheme to estimate the creep rupture life of alloy materials for high temperature applications. However, owing to poor generalizability and dependence on the constant C, which is typically not known a-priori, estimations using the Larson-Miller parameter often result in suboptimal performance for a wide range of materials. At best it is useful in comparing alloys of similar composition. In this work, three machine learning (ML) schemes were developed for rupture life prediction for 9-12% Cr ferritic-martensitic steels and austenitic stainless steels, i.e., a hierarchical model to parameterize LMP using the LMP constant C to compute rupture life, a hierarchical model to parameterize both C and LMP to compute rupture life, and a direct prediction of rupture life. Specifically, we show that the third scheme, using a gradient boosting algorithm, can be used to train ML models for very accurate prediction of rupture life in a variety of alloys (Pear-son Correlation Coefficient > 0.9 for 9-12% Cr and > 0.8 for austenitic stainless steels). In addition, the Shapley value was used to quantify feature importance, making the model interpretable by identifying the effect of various features on the model performance. Furthermore, a variational autoencoder-based generative model was built by conditioning on the experimental dataset to sample hypothetical synthetic candidate alloys from the learnt joint distribution not existing in both 9-12 % Cr ferritic-martensitic steel and austenitic stainless steel datasets. Finally, based on the predictive and generative model, a reinforcement learning strategy has been proposed to guide experimentalists into designing better heat resistant alloys.

Mamun, Md Osman G.↗

Accelerated Materials Design for Molten Salt Technologies Using Innovative High-Throughput Methods

The focus of the project is on building an innovative accelerated materials design platform for molten salt technologies using novel high-throughput methods coupled to data analytics. The main objectives is to predict a FeCrMnNi alloy compositional space with better corrosion resistance than stainless steel 316 and identify new molten salt corrosion mechanisms. The project demonstrates the feasibility to use high-throughput methods coupled to data analytics to accelerate alloy design for extreme environments applications. Using a trained and tested machine learning (ML) model, 2000 FeCrMnNi alloy corrosion rate in molten chloride salts were predicted and a compositional field with corrosion rate lower than 316 stainless steel was identified. The ML model interpretability unveiled multiple features of importance in the model prediction. Some features were expected to be of relative significance, such as work function, surface energy and alloy electronegativity, and the ML model interpretability analysis confirmed those. On the other hand, the most important feature is the diffusion coefficient of Ni in the bulk alloy which indicates that a surface diffusion mechanism plays an important role in the overall corrosion mechanism in molten salts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Interpretable Machine Learning for Characterizing Electric Vehicle Charging Behavior: Insights from Real-World Data

As electric vehicle (EV) adoption rises globally, concerns about the impact on aging electrical grids grow, particularly regarding the charging behavior of EV drivers. This study analyzes real-world driving and charging data from Ford battery electric vehicles (BEVs) collected between 2018 and 2019 to develop interpretable models that characterize charging behavior and quantify influencing factors. Prior research has relied on assumptions regarding driver behavior, often overlooking actual charging patterns. By employing generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), this work offers insights into how various elements, such as next trip distance and state of charge (SOC), influence charging decisions. The dataset comprises over three million park-trip pairs from 1,997 vehicles, revealing that features related to driving behavior significantly dictate charging behavior, while infrastructure and regional factors have lesser impacts. The findings suggest that existing simulation models may oversimplify EV charging behavior assumptions. This work utilizes real-world EV driving and charging data to train interpretable models that describe charging behavior and quantify the factors most associated with how drivers use charging infrastructure. This research underscores the need for interpretable, data-driven methodologies to inform future EV infrastructure planning and grid management.

29 - ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY↗

Interpretive MHD modeling of dispersive shell pellet injection for rapid shutdown in tokamaks

Dispersive shell pellet (DSP) injection is modeled with the extended-MHD code NIMROD for interpretive insight into the results of recent DIII-D DSP experiments and to explore the dynamics of an inside-out thermal quench for disruption mitigation in tokamaks. Simulations of the pre-thermal quench (TQ) phase indicate that the upper bound for the quantity of ablated carbon shell material that will not perturb the flux surfaces is in the ballpark of, but somewhat below the experimental quantity. Even below this quantity, sufficient electrons are added to the plasma by the shell material to produce significant dilution cooling before the TQ is triggered. Simulations carried through the end of the TQ have very large amplitude MHD fluctuations (δB/B>10 -2 ) at the time of the plasma current spike associated with current profile redistribution. Finally, after the plasma current spike, which is of comparable amplitude to that measured in DIII-D experiments, none of the runaway electron test-particles whose orbits are tracked throughout the simulation remain confined.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗