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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 541 records · Page 30

Distinct Gas-Particle Partitioning and Viscosity Characteristics of Secondary Organic Aerosols Derived from α-Pinene versus Ocimene

Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) have complex, multicomponent composition that controls particle viscosity and gas-particle partitioning, key factors to their atmospheric evolution. This study investigates the chemical composition, volatility and viscosity of SOA formed by ozonolysis of cyclic α-pinene (PSOA) and acyclic ocimene (OSOA) monoterpenes. Using Temperature-Programmed Desorption combined with Direct Analysis in Real-Time ionization and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry, we determined the molecular composition and saturation mass concentration of individual SOA constituents. These data enabled gas-particle partitioning and viscosity estimates under varied atmospheric conditions. PSOA, composed of higher molecular weight and less oxidized species, shows higher condensability and viscosity under high total organic mass (tOM) loadings. Here, in contrast, OSOA, consisting of more oxidized, lower molecular weight species, exhibits greater sensitivity to tOM, with viscosity increasing significantly upon dilution. Poke-flow experiments support this trend, indicating that OSOA undergoes more dynamic compositional and phase changes during atmospheric aging. These observations reveal distinct dynamic trends in the atmospheric transformations and reactivity of SOA from cyclic and acyclic monoterpenes, with the latter showing greater compositional changes during aging that alter viscosity and diffusion. This highlights the importance of incorporating such dynamic transformations into atmospheric models to improve predictions of SOA atmospheric loadings, lifetimes, and impacts.

cyclic and acyclic monoterpenes↗

Chemical characterization of microplastic particles formed in airborne waste discharged from sewer pipe repairs

Microplastic particles are of increasing environmental concern due to the widespread uncontrolled degradation of various commercial products made of plastic and their associated waste disposal. Recently, common technology used to repair sewer pipes was reported as one of the emission sources of airborne microplastics in urban areas. This research presents results of the multi-modal comprehensive chemical characterization of the microplastic particles related to waste discharged in the pipe repair process and compares particle composition with the components of uncured resin and cured plastic composite used in the process. Analysis of these materials employs complementary use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, scanning transmission X-ray spectro-microscopy, single particle mass spectrometry, and direct analysis in real-time high-resolution mass spectrometry. Further, it is shown that the composition of the relatively large (100 μm) microplastic particles resembles components of plastic material used in the process. In contrast, the composition of the smaller (micrometer and sub-micrometer) particles is significantly different, suggesting their formation from unintended polymerization of water-soluble components occurring in drying droplets of the air-discharged waste. In addition, resin material type influences the composition of released microplastic particles. Results are further discussed to guide the detection and advanced characterization of airborne microplastics in future field and laboratory studies pertaining to sewer pipe repair technology.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Advanced flip-coil system for magnetic field integral measurements of insertion devices

A novel flip-coil measurement system has been developed for the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. This paper describes the design, implementation, and commissioning of the new measurement bench, highlighting its key features, including improved mechanical stability, advanced data acquisition, and enhanced reproducibility. The system enables precise characterization of field integrals and multipole components, ensuring the optimal performance of Insertion Devices (IDs) before installation in the NSLS-II storage ring. The flip-coil system incorporates an innovative approach to minimize mechanical and electrical errors, which significantly improves the reproducibility of measurements. In addition, the system features a state-of-the-art data acquisition system that enables real-time monitoring and analysis, further enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of the measurement process. Furthermore, preliminary tests have demonstrated that the new system meets the stringent requirements for magnetic field characterization of advanced insertion devices, making it an essential tool for future ID commissioning and quality assurance at NSLS-II.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DeepGrid: Robust Deep Reinforcement Learning-based Contingency Management

Increasing uncertainty raised by the integration of renewable energy resources requires an enormous number of simulations to be carried out for the security assessment of the power grid. However, it is challenging to assess the steady-state and dynamic security indices for different system contingency events by doing an exhaustive analysis in real-time due to the computational and communication constraints. One promising solution is using data-driven techniques along with the system models to train an intelligent contingency management framework to better handle the contingencies in real-time. Nevertheless, implementing a data-driven technique to obtain the best remedial actions necessitates to account for the effect of the measurement noise on the performance of the contingency management. To tackle these challenges, we leverage a robust deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm called Double Deep Q-Network (DDQN) to design a recommender system capable of prescribing optimal control actions with the help of the real-time digital simulator (RTDS). The use of RTDS system in combination with the advanced DRL algorithm allows to explore a wide variety of system contingencies in order to derive better remedial actions. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated in IEEE 9-bus system under different loading conditions, and different network configurations in presence of noisy measurements.

Ghasemkhani, Amir↗

STUDIES ON PIPELINE POLYETHYLENES IN HYDROGEN GAS ENVIRONMENTS USING IN-SITU AND EX-SITU CHARACTERIZATION METHODS

Polymeric materials are commonplace in the natural gas infrastructure as distribution pipes, coatings, seals, and gaskets. Under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy HyBlend program, one of the means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is with replacing natural gas, either partially or completely, with hydrogen. This approach makes it imperative that we conduct near-term and long-term materials compatibility research in these relevant environments. Insights into the effects of hydrogen and hydrogen gas blends on polymer integrity can be gained through both ex-situ and in-situ analytical methods. Our work represented here highlights a study of the behavior of pipeline polyethylene (PE) materials, including HDPE (Dow 2490 and GDB50) and MDPE (Ineos and legacy Dupont Aldyl A), when exposed to hydrogen by means of in-situ X-ray scattering and ex-situ Raman spectroscopy techniques. Samples were tested in ex-situ hydrogen and argon gas environments and in-situ hydrogen environments to identify differences due to permeation and solubility of these gases. These methods complemented each other because Raman spectroscopy could capture permanent effects after materials were removed from gaseous environments, and in-situ X-ray scattering analysis collected real-time data to elucidate the impact of the gas environment on polymer microstructure. Data collected revealed that the aforementioned polymers did not show significant changes in crystallinity and microstructure under the exposure conditions tested. Our findings from these studies will help establish real-time effects caused by hydrogen gas transport through pipeline polyethylenes by way of its influence on polymer structure and chemistry, which is directly related to pipeline mechanical strength and longevity of service.

Hydrogen materials compatibility, Natural gas pipe↗

Spread spectrum time domain reflectometry (SSTDR) and frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) cable inspection using machine learning

Cables are initially qualified for nuclear power plant use for 40 years. As plants extend their operating license to 60 and 80 years, justification for continued cable use must shift to a condition-based approach since it is cost prohibitive to completely replace cables that are likely still capable of performing their design function. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Accelerated and Real Time Experimental Nodal Analysis (ARENA) cable motor test bed was used to test the response of a commercial spread spectrum time domain reflectometry (SSTDR) system, a laboratory instrument software-controlled SSTDR, and a vector network analyzer-based frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) system to various cable anomalies. The three instrument systems were able to interrogate cables over a range of frequency bandwidths that can be helpful for human data analysis. Data were subjected to supervised and unsupervised machine learning (ML) analyses to distinguish normal undamaged cable responses from anomalous cable responses. Both supervised and unsupervised ML approaches produced encouraging results with an undamaged/anomalous prediction accuracy from 0.69% to 0.87%. Recommendations for further development and field implementation include increased and more balanced sample sets particularly including more training data.

SSTDR, FDR, Reflectometry, Machine Learning, ARENA↗

Dynamic STEM-EELS for single-atom and defect measurement during electron beam transformations

This study introduces the integration of dynamic computer vision–enabled imaging with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). This approach involves real-time discovery and analysis of atomic structures as they form, allowing us to observe the evolution of material properties at the atomic level, capturing transient states traditional techniques often miss. Rapid object detection and action system enhances the efficiency and accuracy of STEM-EELS by autonomously identifying and targeting only areas of interest. This machine learning (ML)–based approach differs from classical ML in that it must be executed on the fly, not using static data. We apply this technology to V-doped MoS 2 , uncovering insights into defect formation and evolution under electron beam exposure. This approach opens uncharted avenues for exploring and characterizing materials in dynamic states, offering a pathway to increase our understanding of dynamic phenomena in materials under thermal, chemical, and beam stimuli.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Eureka: Enabling Fine-Grained Access and Range Queries on Compressed Scientific Data via Data-Index Co-Compression

Handling large-scale scientific data in high-performance computing (HPC) environments poses significant challenges, including excessive I/O, high storage costs, and slow query performance. Traditional approaches often require full data decompression and scans, making them impractical for real-time or interactive analysis. To address these limitations, we introduce Eureka, a unified data-index co-compression framework that enables fine-grained access and efficient range queries on compressed scientific datasets. Eureka integrates spatial domain decomposition with block-wise error-bounded lossy compression to support selective decompression. It constructs a hierarchical AVL-tree index during compression to capture block-level value ranges, enabling fast pruning during query execution. To reduce metadata overhead, the index itself is also compressed while ensuring recall-preserving results. Experiments on six diverse HPC simulation datasets show that Eureka achieves up to 25x data compression and over 300x index compression, surpassing state-of-the-art compressors such as SZ3 and ZFP in rate-distortion performance. Additionally, Eureka delivers over 30x speedup for low-selectivity range queries, making it a scalable and efficient solution for modern scientific data analysis.

Yan, Ning↗

A Robotics Enabled Eddy Current Testing System for Autonomous Inspection of Heat Exchanger Tubes

The objective of the project is to develop a robotics enabled eddy current testing system (REECTS) in automatic probe deployment, inspection, and data acquisition and analysis. The main functions of the REECTS are to: 1) identify geometry and locations of heat exchange tubes with assistance of an imaging recognition system; 2) precisely control the position and motion speed of ECT probes by an adaptive control system; 3) facilitate data analysis and real-time decision making for autonomous inspection assisted by machine learning algorithms.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

PNNL ARENA Cable Motor Test Bed Update

A major focus of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Cable Nondestructive Examination (NDE) 2021 research is to acquire new equipment and integrate it with existing NDE instruments for a cable motor test bed which has been dubbed the Accelerated and Real Time Experimental Nodal Analysis or “ARENA”. All the primary components have been received and are being staged in the 2410 Stevens building on PNNL’s Richland campus. Building modifications to support a plug-in 480VAC receptacle have been completed and details of the system operating procedure (SOP) are in review. The approved SOP is required before the system is energized but is expected before July 2021. The ARENA system will support planned cable tests for 2021 and beyond that cannot conveniently be performed with on-site installations of cable test equipment including: (1) NDE Tests including Frequency Domain Reflectometry (FDR), Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR), Tan Delta (TD) Impedance measurements, Low Frequency Dielectric Spectroscopy (DS) measurements, standard multi-meter resistance checks, withstand tests and other bulk and distributed tests from the instrument panel with and without motors connected. (2) Online energized live wire tests using partial discharge instruments and LIVE-WIRE spread-spectrum TDR instruments. (3) Cable tests with partially submerged cable segments (including ability to submerge live cable segments). (4) Cable tests with partially or completely thermally aged segments (including ability to expose energized cable segments to thermal aging and use online monitoring instruments to monitor cable performance. (5) Ability to introduce low resistance simulations of connector or splice faults to off-line and on-line instrument setups.

42 ENGINEERING↗

The Digital Engineering Vision for DOME: Facilitating Design, Deployment, and Operations [Poster]

DOME is a planned microreactor test facility at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex. It is a complex system with several interdependent sub-systems such as the reactor (up to 20 MWth), radioactive confinement, temperature and pressure regulation system, ventilation system, etc. The engineering design process for such a system traditionally involves several documents from various sources and the system information is scattered across these documents. Digital engineering represents a paradigm shift through which systems are designed using digital models and integrated data. The digital engineering vision for DOME utilizes a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach. The system architecture, physical components, control logic, and verification experiments are all designed using MathWorks MATLAB and Simulink. This hierarchical model can combine data from multiple sources at various levels of abstraction. It can be used to simulate the facility’s operations and to test the system using different sets of parameters. Its capabilities can be expanded by interfacing it with high-fidelity multi-physics models, risk analysis tools, etc. The same model can evolve into a digital twin that can monitor operations and conduct predictive analysis using real-time sensor data from the facility. The eventual goal of this effort is to transform the end-to-end engineering of nuclear facilities in every phase of their lifecycle, including design, deployment, and operations.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

SinhaRoy_TechPresentation_2024 [Slides]

DOME is a planned microreactor test facility at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex. It is a complex system with several interdependent sub-systems such as the reactor (up to 20 MWth), radioactive confinement, temperature and pressure regulation system, ventilation system, etc. The engineering design process for such a system traditionally involves several documents from various sources and the system information is scattered across these documents. Digital engineering represents a paradigm shift through which systems are designed using digital models and integrated data. The digital engineering vision for DOME utilizes a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) approach. The system architecture, physical components, control logic, and verification experiments are all designed using MathWorks MATLAB and Simulink. This hierarchical model can combine data from multiple sources at various levels of abstraction. It can be used to simulate the facility’s operations and to test the system using different sets of parameters. Its capabilities can be expanded by interfacing it with high-fidelity multi-physics models, risk analysis tools, etc. The same model can evolve into a digital twin that can monitor operations and conduct predictive analysis using real-time sensor data from the facility. The eventual goal of this effort is to transform the end-to-end engineering of nuclear facilities in every phase of their lifecycle, including design, deployment, and operations.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Advanced Data Science Model for Detecting Intelligent Malware

This study focused on developing a robust artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of detecting and characterizing advanced malware in Internet of Things (IoT) devices using network data. By analyzing network traffic with various machine learning (ML) models, our AI model can identify and characterize malicious activities to significantly improve malware detection accuracy and reliability as compared to traditional methods. The developed AI/ML model was trained using network data from IoT devices, leveraging classifiers such as Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, AdaBoost, and others to optimize detection performance. This project demonstrates a scalable framework for real-time malware detection and characterization in IoT networks, capable of identifying infected devices and facilitating the necessary steps to remove or isolate them, thereby preventing further infections. Although digital twin (DT) integration is not yet implemented in the current model, it represents a promising future enhancement. By creating a virtual replica of physical IoT devices, DT technology would allow for real-time monitoring and analysis without directly accessing operational technology, thus reducing the risk of compromising or reducing the performance of actual devices. This integration would further enhance the security of IoT ecosystems, combining AI technology to better flag and detect indications of malware-infected devices within a nuclear system environment.

42 ENGINEERING↗

The Design and Evaluation of Zero Trust Architecture for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: EVs @ Scale Series on EV Charging Station Cybersecurity

Implementing a zero trust architecture can significantly bolster the security of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. EV charging infrastructure includes numerous networked interfaces, each of which can present potential vulnerabilities. When these vulnerabilities are exploited, they can compromise the entire system, leading to severe operational and security risks. Zero trust is a security model that operates on the principle of "never trust, always verify," which helps manage the attack surface and limit the scope of any potential compromises. Fundamentally, this model ensures that no entity, whether inside or outside the network, is trusted by default. The design principles of zero trust include continuous verification, strict deny-by-default access controls, and micro-segmentation. Continuous verification ensures that every request is thoroughly checked, regardless of its origin. Strict access controls enforce the principle of least privilege, allowing users and devices only the minimum necessary access to perform their functions. Micro-segmentation involves dividing the network into smaller, isolated segments to prevent lateral movement in case of a breach. In the context of EV charging infrastructure, zero trust can be implemented through various strategies. For example, multi-factor authentication (MFA) can be required for engineers to access the management interfaces and control systems of charging stations. Real-time monitoring and analysis of network traffic can help detect and respond to anomalies. Systems that do not need to communicate with each other can be micro-segmented to enhance security. All communications should adhere to predefined policies to be permitted. Additionally, encrypting communications can protect sensitive information exchanged between chargers and management systems. This paper presents a zero trust architecture specifically designed for EV charging infrastructure. Implementing zero trust not only mitigates risks but also builds a resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding and quickly recovering from cyber threats. The architecture addresses six defined security objectives. A comprehensive test plan is developed to assess the architecture against these objectives, and the results of the evaluation are reported. This approach is essential for maintaining the reliability and integrity of EV charging services in an increasingly interconnected and vulnerable digital landscape. This is the first in a planned series of papers exploring the implementation of zero trust in EV charging infrastructure. Each paper will delve into different aspects and applications of zero trust, highlighting how various work processes and requirements can lead to distinct architectural designs. These architectures will be tailored to address specific security challenges and operational needs within the EV charging ecosystem, ensuring a robust and adaptable security framework.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Iodine Capture Studies of Copper- and Bismuth-Based Sorbents

The release of radioiodine, one of several radionuclides of concern when recycling used nuclear fuel (UNF), is an important consideration in the fuel cycle. In this study, two sorbent materials, Cu 0 -polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and Bi 0 -PAN, were tested as solid sorbent candidates for iodine capture. Experiments using a thin bed of sorbent material were exposed to vaporized iodine for over 300 hours (~2 weeks) under varied conditions in a dynamic flow environment. The overall performance was monitored in real-time using thermogravimetric analysis, and the materials were subsequently characterized for surface and bulk analysis using scanning electron microscopy – energy-dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and powder x-ray diffraction (pXRD), respectively. Iodine (in the form of I 2 ) is expected to be released primarily in the dissolver off-gas (DOG) stream; therefore, this study demonstrates the effects of elemental iodine (I 2 ), water vapor (H 2 O), and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). When exposed to ‘ideal’ conditions (in which I 2 is carried by dry air), Cu 0 -PAN and Bi 0 -PAN behave differently, with TGA analysis indicating that Cu 0 sorption performance is higher than that of Bi 0 , as evidenced by a larger mass change. Under ‘harsh’ conditions—such as a gaseous feed containing I 2 , H 2 O, and NO 2 vapors carried by air,—iodine capture performance for both Cu 0 - and Bi 0 -PAN are affected. SEM-EDS and pXRD analysis of these materials is discussed herein.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗