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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 559 records · Page 31
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Pool boiling on metal-foam enhanced tube bundle: heat transfer characteristics and flow visualization

A flooded evaporator configuration is common in large central air conditioning or process cooling systems. It is basically a shell and tube heat exchanger, in which a secondary fluid (brine or water) circulates inside the tube bundle and is cooled by the vaporization of the refrigerant on the outside surface of the tubes. The enhanced pool boiling process enables the compact design of flooded evaporators, which substantially reduces the refrigerant charge. High-porosity metal foam, with a large surface-area-to-volume ratio, could provide an extended heat transfer area and a high-density of nucleation sites. This study experimentally investigated the pool boiling heat transfer and flow characteristics on metal-foam enhanced tube bundles. The enhanced bundle consists of four aluminum tubes with aluminum foam brazed around the outer surface, which are horizontally mounted in a staggered arrangement. The results showed that the metal-foam enhanced tube bundles improved the heat transfer coefficient by 100-160% with a lower wall temperature difference of 1-10°C, compared to the baseline. In addition, the tube pitch played a significant role in determining the pool boiling behavior of the tube bundles.

Yang, Cheng-Min↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modular, Mobile Systems for the Treatment of Contaminated Water at Three Magnox Sites in the United Kingdom - 20421

Veolia Nuclear Solutions (VNS), and its mitigated entity, Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Services (VNSFS), are designing, overseeing the fabrication and installation, and supporting the commissioning of highly mobile and modular skid-based water treatment systems to assist in the decommissioning of three Magnox reactor sites based in the U.K. These Modular Active Effluent Treatment Plants (MAETP) will be deployed at the Chapelcross, Hinkley Point A, and Dungeness A sites to process contaminated water through the use of ion exchange systems and/or filtration units. At the time of writing, two systems have been installed and inactively commissioned, and the third system is expected to be delivered in 2020. Veolia has utilized a multi-national team of engineers, based in the UK and the US, to effectively leverage the best of Veolia expertise in the design and delivery of mobile, modular systems. The VNS team continues to refine the modular, mobile, and scalable approach to water processing system delivery, and has successfully patented the evolving technology for proprietary protection. The intent of this technology investment is to improve the functionality, mobility, and modularity, resulting in a system which can be adapted to a broad range of throughput and isotope removal requirements to achieve the most cost effective, flexible system possible for customers. Designing, fabricating, and factory-testing the modules off site followed by onsite installation, testing, start-up, and commissioning ensures expedited delivery and setup, as well as cost savings for nuclear applications. For the MAETP systems, VNS's previous nuclear site experience and ongoing Research and Development (R and D), combined with the resulting mobile/modular water processing systems developed and successfully deployed by VNS, have proven to be important inputs for the successful end-design of the systems, materials selection, system testing and commissioning. The lessons learned in the development and continued enhancement of the patented systems described in this paper will prove useful in advancing and deploying future systems for other nuclear sites, where rapid customizing and cost-effective implementation are critical factors. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

MPC4CLR (Model-Predictive-Control-for-Critical-Load-Restoration-in-Power-Distribution-Systems) [SWR-22-24]

Model predictive control (MPC) is a system or process control technique for making decisions under uncertainty via rolling look-ahead optimizations at each control step where only the current step decisions are applied, and the rest are discarded. In this work, we developed an MPC for a critical load restoration (CLR) in power distribution systems to recover system service (electricity delivery) following an extreme event-triggered substation outage. The method considers the problem of controlling distributed energy resources (DERs) of the distribution system with the objective of achieving maximum load pick up while satisfying distribution network flow and voltage constraints. A linearized optimal power flow (OPF) model is employed to represent the physics of the network. The problem formulation is augmented with a ramping (up) reserve product for the DERs to ensure improved and upward monotonic load restoration as time evolves. Simulation analysis and performance tests are performed using a modified IEEE 13-bus test feeder integrated with wind, solar, microturbine, and energy storage battery. The software is developed using various software packages in Julia and Python. The MPC model is implemented using the JuMP optimization language in Julia while the data analytics including renewable generation and load demand forecasts, running the MPC simulation and visualizations is performed in Python.

Eseye, Abinet Tesfaye↗
DOE OSTI2019

Concepts for Autonomous Operation of Microreactors

Microreactor concepts have seen increasing interest in recent years given their potential use for meeting energy needs in remote and grid-isolated communities. Given the small power outputs of microreactors and the potential for remote siting, there is a need to reduce operational staffing levels to improve their economic viability. A key enabling technology for this purpose is autonomous control that enables autonomous operation of microreactors. While several options for autonomous control exist, the level of human operator involvement in operational decision making needs to be defined as part of the system design process. Once this separation of function is achieved, several options exist for autonomous control ranging from simple automation of some procedures to fully autonomous operational mode decision making and execution.A critical aspect of autonomous decision making is the ability to have as complete an awareness of the system state as possible. In addition to data on temperature, pressure, flow, and neutron flux, measurements of the condition of important components will be necessary. This type of information will allow the autonomous control system to adapt its decision making to any changing conditions within the reactor, thereby not compromising safety while continuing to operate for as long as possible. Several technical advances are needed before widespread use of autonomous control in microreactors. These include sensor and instrumentation technologies that are capable of long term, unattended operation in harsh environments, technologies for inferring the state of the microreactor system or subsystems in an automated fashion, algorithms for predictive decision making that account for the assessed condition of the microreactor subsystems as well as the potential impact on those components of any operational decision, and actuators and control system hardware that are also long-lived in a harsh environment. In addition, given the need to remotely monitor the operations, cybersecurity requirements will likely need to be imposed to ensure secure operations.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Initial Engineering and Design for CO 2 Capture from Ethanol Facilities

The Energy & Environmental Research Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and North Dakota ethanol producer Red Trail Energy, LLC (RTE) and with technical support from Trimeric Corporation and the KLJ engineering firm, completed an initial engineering design (IED) for a hybrid capture system to estimate associated costs for retrofitting the operational RTE ethanol plant. The project goal supports the DOE objective to achieve negative emissions using commercially available technologies to attain Technology Readiness Level 6+ from a facility emitting >100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) annually. The RTE CCS (carbon capture and storage) Project is currently operating a CO 2 capture facility, adjacent to the RTE ethanol facility in western North Dakota, and injecting the CO 2 more than a mile below RTE property for permanent storage. This novel hybrid capture system would process about 310,000 tonnes of CO 2 annually for the RTE host site and includes CO 2 capture and compression from bioprocessing as well as capturing CO 2 produced from natural gas boilers. The bioprocessing capture process, based on past RTE studies investigating ammonia liquefaction technology with CO 2 produced from natural gas boilers captured utilizing chemical absorption with amine, was shown to be technically feasible for the RTE site. Activities conducted to support the project goal included 1) designing a hybrid capture system using CO 2 emissions from both bioprocessing and heat production at the host site facility; 2) conducting a pre-front-end engineering and design analysis of the hybrid capture system to include environmental health and safety, a constructability report, identification of permits, and corporate approvals; and 3) performing a techno-economic assessment in accordance with DOE’s methodology, as demonstrated by the bituminous baseline study. In addition, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was completed for the RTE site to estimate the carbon life cycle for ethanol-CCS implementation using the designed hybrid capture system to determine potential for net-negative carbon emissions. Results of the IED showed the hybrid system to be technically viable, with a moderate estimated cost of $55/tonne CO 2 captured for the hybrid system. The cradle-to-gate LCA showed preliminary net-negative carbon emissions potential anticipated from implementing a hybrid CCS system at a commercial scale. Recommended next steps toward potential implementation include hybrid capture system demonstration testing for detailed engineering and LCA model comparisons with low-carbon fuel incentive programs for financial support.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2021

Development of Integrated Safety and Security Models for Comprehensive Reliability and Resiliency Evaluation

The security of the electric grid and supporting energy systems is crucial to national security. One of the complexities in analyzing the security of energy systems is the safety consequences that may result from accidents. For energy systems, the goal is to ensure that they operate as intended and that any consequences are mitigated or prevented. The integration of safety and security is paramount to protecting these systems from attacks and ensuring that large consequences are prevented. This report describes an integrated safety and security methodology to evaluate cybersecurity events that can lead to large consequences. This novel approach first describes how Systems-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) provides a digital causal analysis for Bayesian Networks (BNs). The use of STPA causal analysis provides a systematic approach to constructing BNs that adequately model cyber scenarios that result in consequences. When combined with the technical principles described in Risk-Informed Management of Enterprise Systems (RIMES), a comprehensive risk-informed cybersecurity analysis results that allows decision-makers to prioritize systems that most impact risk.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Temperature Effect of Cesium Exchange onto Crystalline Silicotitanate in AP-107 and AP-105 Hanford Tank Wastes and Two Simulants

Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS) is charged with the development of the Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system to process Hanford tank waste supernates in preparation for vitrification. In addition to a filtration step, TSCR will remove cesium (Cs) using ion exchange columns filled with crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange media. CST is produced by Honeywell UOP, LLC. The documented safety analysis (DSA) developed for the TSCR system limits a single column loading to 141,600 Ci 137 Cs. Given a 137 Cs isotopic mass fraction of 20% and the planned CST bed size of 596 L (157.5 gal) in a TSCR column, this equates to 0.10 mmole Cs per g CST (Cs distribution coefficient, K d , 1400 mL/g). Factors that influence Cs uptake by CST include (but are not limited to) (1) CST production (lot-to-lot variations), (2) contact temperature, (3) contact duration, (4) competitors in the tank waste feed, (5) anionic composition of the tank waste feed, and (6) the 137 Cs isotopic mass fraction (differs slightly among tank wastes and decreases with time).

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Chemical Security Principles of Material Control and Accountability (MC&A) using a Chemical Inventory Management System.

Chemical Risk Management is a system or process to control safety and security risks associated with hazardous or toxic chemicals. Chemical Risk Management includes the management of both chemical safety and chemical security. There are five pillars that make up chemical security management10 (Figure 1). Each of the five pillars are key components to the implementation of a chemical security risk management system. In this paper, we will review the "Material Control and Accountability" pillar and how an academic institution can implement this principle using a chemical inventory management system.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Vitrification of Hanford Tank 241-AP-107 with Recycled Condensate

During the vitrification of nuclear waste at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) – the primary mission of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of River Protection – the offgas condensate generated from the waste-to-glass conversion is currently planned to be concentrated by evaporation in the Effluent Management Facility (EMF). This concentrated condensate can then be recycled back to the incoming waste and vitrified. To test the recycle process, a test apparatus was designed to mimic the EMF evaporator and used to concentrate a volume of condensate that had been previously produced during the vitrification of Hanford tank 241-AP-107 (referred to herein as AP-107) waste in a continuous laboratory-scale melter (CLSM). The test apparatus successfully concentrated the AP-107 condensate by a factor of 10 while retaining over 90 % of the technetium-99 ( 99 Tc), Cs, and I inventory. A second portion of AP-107 waste was retrieved by Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC, given to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and combined with the AP-107 condensate concentrate after undergoing solids filtration and cesium removal by ion exchange. This combination served to approximate the recycling action to be performed at the WTP. After the addition of glass-forming chemicals (GFCs), the combined AP-107 waste and AP-107 condensate concentrate were processed in the CLSM to produce a glass, called AP-107-1R, that was designed to satisfy the WTP baseline requirements (Kim et al. 2012). During the 8.87 hours of processing, 7.27 kg of AP-107-1R glass were produced for an average glass production rate of 1739 kg m 2 d -1 . Compared to the previous run in the CLSM without recycled condensate, the run with the recycle had a greater average glass production rate, but the rate was within the potential range of variability when processing melter feeds with similar composition in the CLSM. The glass produced from the AP-107 recycle run in the CLSM was within 10 % of the target AP-107-1R glass composition with respect to the primary glass components. Analysis of the minor component impurities revealed that their content in the glass product had approached their nominal target after 2 turnovers of the glass inventory in the CLSM while the activity of the minor radionuclides was retained in the glass product. The 99 Tc and total cesium content in the combined AP-107 waste and recycled condensate were maintained at concentrations expected to be experienced at the WTP. During processing in the CLSM, at discrete sampling time periods, the target 99 Tc/Cs mass ratio in the glass formulation varied from 0.9 to 62.9. Across this range, the Cs retention in the glass ranged from 53 to 60 %, while the retention from the entire runtime totaled 68 %, values which align with Cs retention in other scaled melter systems while processing LAW melter feeds at 99 Tc/Cs mass ratios ranging from 1 to 100. The 99 Tc retention in the glass ranged from 22 to 32 %, primarily due to the cold-cap coverage on the glass melt surface, the area covered by reacting melter feed, varying from ~80 % to ~95 % during processing, demonstrating greater volatility of 99 Tc from the glass while more surface was exposed, as expected based on previous 99 Tc volatility studies.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2026

Understanding Adsorption and Reactions at Aqueous Oxide Interfaces with Neural Network Potential Molecular Dynamics

Chemical processes at metal oxide−water interfaces are of central importance in geochemistry, biology, and energy technologies. A better understanding of these processes would allow us to make a significant step toward optimizing and controlling them, which could in turn lead to broader impacts. Computational modeling is indispensable to accomplishing this task because complexity and disorder often make it difficult to extract atomistic information from experiments. Balancing computational cost and accuracy, simulation schemes based on efficient machine learning representations of the potential energy surface (PES) predicted by ab initio calculations have become increasingly popular over the past decade. In particular, several studies have demonstrated the ability of machine learning models to accurately reproduce the complex ab initio PESs of aqueous oxide interfaces, allowing simulations of systems and processes that are not accessible with ab initio methods. In this Account, we review our recent efforts to understand adsorption processes and reactions at aqueous oxide interfaces using deep potential molecular dynamics (DPMD), a simulation scheme employing deep neural networks (DNNs), which has proven to be quite successful in accurately describing many different systems in the condensed phase. After summarizing the DPMD methodology, we first review our work on the acid−base chemistry of oxide surfaces in contact with water, a fundamental characteristic that controls proton transfer and surface charge at the interface. We focus on the aqueous interface of rutile IrO 2 , an oxide material thus far considered the best catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). We show that this interface is characterized by a large fraction of dissociated water and a strong Brønsted acidity of the surface sites, in good agreement with the experimentally measured value of the point of zero proton charge. In our second example, we investigate how the adsorption of organic species from ambient air or water affects the structure and wettability of the aqueous interfaces of TiO 2 , a prototypical photocatalytic material. This is a question that is relevant to understanding the UV-induced hydrophilicity of TiO 2 surfaces, a property at the basis of self-cleaning windows and related applications. Specifically focusing on formic and acetic acids, the two most common atmospheric organic acids, our simulations reveal that these acids control the wettability of TiO 2 largely through acid−base chemistry at the interface rather than chemisorption on the oxide surface, a finding that could help improve the design of self-cleaning surfaces and photocatalytic devices. Finally, we review our recent study of methanol at TiO 2 −water interfaces, a system whose interest is largely motivated by the role of methanol in enhancing photocatalytic hydrogen evolution on TiO 2 . Our simulations provide mechanistic insights into the coupled roles of the organic adsorbate and water at the TiO 2 interface, with implications for how methanol enhances the activity of H 2 evolution.

adsorption↗
DOE OSTI2023

SAM Assessment Report

The System Analysis Module (SAM) is a modern system analysis tool being developed at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) for advanced non-LWR safety analysis. A series of assessment cases are modeled using SAM and, when applicable, compared against analytical solutions or engineering judgement. This report documents the assessment of SAM for eleven different categories. Each category contains a series of tests that examine different boundary conditions, system configurations, or modeling options. Although relatively simple, these tests cover the basic equation models, basic component models, and basic system level processes and phenomena that may be utilized during advanced reactor safety analyses.

1-D fluid flow↗
DOE OSTI2020

Methods for separating non-fibrous solids from liquids using a double-roller

A method for separating solids from liquids is disclosed. A double-roller system is provided. A process fluid is provided to the double-roller system. The process fluid comprises a suspended solid and a process liquid. The suspended solid comprises non-fibrous solid particles. A portion of the process fluid is compressed through the double-roller system to produce a compressed portion of the suspended solid. A product stream and a dilute fluid stream are separated. The product stream comprises a compressed portion of the suspended solid and a first portion of the process liquid. The dilute fluid stream comprises a second portion of the suspended solid and a second portion of the process liquid.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Basic Energy Sciences Roundtable: Foundational Science for Carbon-Neutral Hydrogen Technologies

The amount of molecular hydrogen used worldwide is enormous; about 70 million metric tons are produced globally every year, with approximately 10 million metric tons produced within the U.S. alone. 1 Hydrogen is used primarily by the industrial sector for oil refining; chemical production, especially for ammonia; steel manufacturing; and transportation fuels. With the recent announcement of the Hydrogen Shot, the first U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Earthshot, the DOE declared a near-term focus on “accelerating breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade.” Consequently, there is a compelling need for novel approaches to enable hydrogen processes and technologies that do not emit carbon dioxide (i.e., are carbon-neutral). Innovative hydrogen research and development is required to impact how hydrogen is produced, stored, transported, converted, and used. Although progress has been made over the previous two decades, fundamental research can play a critical role in overcoming the technical hurdles that continue to limit implementation of economically viable systems and processes for carbon-neutral hydrogen technologies.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2023

Optimized Carbon Fiber Composites in Wind Turbine Blade Design: Follow-On Studies

This project has identified opportunities to bring further reductions in the mass and cost of modern wind turbine blades through the use of alternative material systems and manufacturing processes. The fiber reinforced polymer material systems currently used by the wind industry have stagnated as the technology continues to mature and as a means to reduce risk while introducing new products with continually increasing blade lengths. However, as blade lengths continue to increase, the challenge of controlling blade mass becomes even more critical to enabling the associated levelized cost of energy reductions. Stiffer and stronger reinforcement fibers can help to resolve the challenges of meeting the loading demands while limiting the increase in weight, but these materials are substantially more expensive than the traditional E-glass fiber systems. One goal of this project and associated work is to identify pathways that improve the cost-effectiveness of carbon fiber such that it is the reinforcement of choice in the primary structural elements of wind blades. The use of heavy-tow textile carbon fiber material systems has been shown to reduce the blade mass by 30-31% when used in the spar cap and by up to 7% when used in edgewise reinforcement. A pultrusion cost model was developed to enable a material cost comparison that includes an accurate estimate of the intermediate manufacturing step of pultrusion for the carbon fiber composite. Material cost reductions were revealed in most cases for the heavy-tow textile carbon fiber compared to infused fiberglass. The use of carbon fiber in the edgewise reinforcement produced the most notable material cost reduction of 33% for the heavy-tow textile carbon fiber. The mass and cost savings observed when using carbon fiber in edgewise reinforcement demonstrate a clear opportunity of this design approach. A carbon fiber conversion cost model was expanded to include a characterization of manufacturing costs when using advanced conversion processes with atmospheric plasma oxidation. This manufacturing approach was estimated to reduce the cost of carbon fiber material systems by greater than 10% and can be used with textile carbon systems or traditional carbon fiber precursors. The pultrusion cost model was also used to assess the opportunity for using pultruded fiberglass in wind blades, studying conventional E-glass fiber reinforcement. When using pultruded fiberglass as the spar cap material for two design classifications, the blade weight was reduced by 6% and 9% compared to infused fiberglass. However, due to the relatively large share of the pultrusion manufacturing cost compared to fiber cost, the spar cap material cost increased by 12% and 7%. When considering the system benefits of reduced blade mass and potentially lower blade manufacturing costs for pultruded composites, there may be opportunity for pultruded E-glass in wind blade spar caps, but further studies are needed. There is a clearer outcome for using pultruded fiberglass in the edgewise reinforcement where it resulted in a blade mass reduction of 2% and associated reinforcement material cost reduction of 1% compared to infused E-glass. The use of higher performing glass fibers, such as S-glass and H-glass systems, will produce greater mass savings but a study is needed to assess the cost implications for these more expensive systems. The most likely opportunity for these high-performance glass fibers is in the edgewise reinforcement, where the increased strength will reduce the damage accumulation of this fatigue-driven component. The blade design assessments in this project characterize the controlling material properties for the primary structural components in the flapwise and edgewise directions for modern wind blades. The observed trends with low and high wind speed turbine classifications for carbon and glass fiber reinforced polymer systems help to identify where cost reductions are needed, and where improvements in mechanical properties would help to reduce the material demands.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

A radar view of ice microphysics and turbulence in Arctic cloud systems

Ice microphysical processes are inherently complex because of their sensitivity to temperature and humidity, the diversity of ice crystal habits, and their interaction with supercooled liquid water (SCL) and turbulence. Long-term surface-based radar observations have been systematically used to unravel the different processes that affect ice particle growth. In this study, we present a statistical analysis of 6.5 years of Ka-band radar observations in Arctic cloud systems, combined with thermodynamic profiles derived from radiosonde measurements. For the first time, ice particle growth and sublimation – diagnosed from vertical gradients of radar reflectivity and mean Doppler velocity – are systematically mapped across a broad range of temperature and moisture conditions. These vertical gradients correspond closely to saturation levels relative to ice and exhibit a strong temperature dependence in supersaturated regions. Notably, distinct signatures near −15 °C are indicative of dendritic growth. Turbulence, quantified via the eddy dissipation rate (EDR), is most frequently observed in regions containing SCL. The co-occurrence of SCL and elevated turbulence results in significantly enhanced ice particle growth compared to conditions in which either is present alone. This work provides new observational constraints that are critical for improving the representation of ice microphysics in atmospheric models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Building Initial Dynamic System Models for Digital Twins of the Cryogenic Moderator System at the ORNL Spallation Neutron Source

This work describes the initial development of dynamic system models of the cryogenic moderator system (CMS) of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at ORNL as a part of the ORNL LDRD funded project Building TRANSFORM to Accelerate Digital Twin Applications for Nuclear Systems, LOIS 10563. The goal of the work is to start the dynamic system modeling effort with the end goal of using them for real-time applications as digital twins. The CMS is a cryogenic liquid hydrogen flow loop that provides moderation of the neutrons that are generated by the SNS. For optimal neutron production, the CMS needs to maintain a steady and controlled density of cryogenic hydrogen in the moderator section thus requiring precise temperature and pressure control. Due to the varied time scales and system characteristics, control of the system is complex, and diagnostics are also difficult. Difficulty in accessing the flow loop during operations, limited instrumentation and unknown design details of the equipment combine to make the case for having sophisticated digital twin models of the system. Operationally the CMS also provides a strong use case for digital twins due to the constant need of optimization and for troubleshooting/diagnostics. The large amount of data collected which are freely available for using in building the model and verifying and validating the model also makes it a great candidate for a proof-of-concept for digital twins. The project extends ORNL's capacity of development and implementation of the open-source dynamic system modeling tool TRANSFORM for engineering design and digital twin/real-time applications. Specific system configuration data for the CMS have been gathered and an initial dynamic model was created in the TRANSFORM library using Dymola as the solution platform. Models of increasing complexity are created to demonstrate the need for a multi-layered approach in digital twin modeling depending on the scale and phenomena being focused on. The dynamic modeling is shown to bring the dynamic operational aspects to the design process for systems as well as serve as a digital twin to the hardware and allow for models to be tuned and compared against real time operational data. These aims should help to push forward strategic goals of application of digital twins and increase the impact of ORNL systems modeling capabilities with TRANSFORM/Modelica for various advanced energy systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of scalable design optimization parameters for bi-component protective systems

Bi-component protection-systems need to withstand a variety of extreme loading conditions such as high-velocity projectile impact to shock and blast mitigation. The large number of parameters at each stage of bi-component protection system design process results in a near-infinite number of possible variables for optimization. The aim of this project is to identify the scaling laws linking material and geometric scales of the problem to the final impact performance, further including the effects of wave propagation/interaction and inter-component bonding. Specifically, the impact dynamics for different optimal projectile/target density ratios and relative component mass fractions are quantified for bonded ceramic/titanium alloy systems. The impact behavior such as wave mechanics and damage propagation within the target system is characterized and quantified via digital image correlation or via x-ray phase-contrast imaging.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Monitoring Radiochemical Processing Streams for the 238 Pu Supply Program with Process Pulse II

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is developing advanced spectroscopic and real-time monitoring capabilities to improve the timeliness of analytical measurements and process decisions for the 238Pu Supply Program. Reducing the time, resources, and costs associated with each production campaign is critical because overlapping campaigns will be required to meet the production goals of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Real-time, in situ analytical measurements in the heavily shielded hot cells at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center (REDC) will allow for rapid process information feedback and operational benefits that help the 238Pu supply program scale-up production efforts. Noteworthy steps were taken during Campaign 5 to establish the ability to monitor processing streams in real time with spectrophotometry and a commercially available online monitoring software called The Unscrambler X Process Pulse II (PP) multivariate statistical process monitoring system by Camo Analytics (version 5.60). PP automates univariate-type calculations within the software itself and executes multivariate models built using The Unscrambler X (version 10.4 or newer). The Unscrambler is a commercially available data analysis software made by the same company. PP is composed of easy-to-use-tools for all personnel, including data scientists and technicians. The software can be used to plot analyte concentration profiles, spectral data, and other process variables in real time. All process data are represented in a single view with interactive charts useful for viewing how a process evolves over time.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗