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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 577 records · Page 32

Deep Learning-Based Queue-Aware Eco-Approach and Departure System for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Buses at Signalized Intersections: A Simulation Study

Eco-Approach and Departure (EAD) has been considered as a promising eco-driving strategy for vehicles traveling in an urban environment, where information such as signal phase and timing (SPaT) and geometric intersection description is well utilized to guide vehicles passing through intersections in the most energy-efficient manner. Previous studies formulated the optimal trajectory planning problem as finding the shortest path on a graphical model. While this method is effective in terms of energy saving, its computation efficiency can be further enhanced by adopting machine learning techniques. In this paper, we propose an innovative deep learning-based queue-aware eco-approach and departure (DLQ-EAD) system for a plug-in hybrid electric bus (PHEB), which is able to provide an online optimal trajectory for the vehicle considering both the downstream traffic condition (i.e. traffic lights, queues) and the vehicle powertrain efficiency. Based on optimal solutions obtained from the graph-based trajectory planning algorithm (GTPA), a deep neural network (DNN) is developed to learn the optimal vehicle speed for the next time step given its current state. It is demonstrated that the trained DNN can provide energy-efficient trajectories with high computational efficiency and high flexibility adopting to dynamic changes in the surrounding environment. To address the impact of downstream traffic, a queue prediction model is further developed using data from radars and connected vehicles (CVs), as well as signal timing data from SPaT messages. A comprehensive simulation study in the microscopic traffic modeling software PTV VISSIM shows that the proposed DLQ-EAD can achieve 18.7%-24.0% energy efficiency improvements for a single PHEB on various traffic congestion levels. The proposed queue prediction model can be of practical significance even at low penetration rates of CVs. Specifically, additional energy savings of 2.0%-8.2% can be further achieved with 20% vehicles in the network.

Ye, Fei↗

Modeling and Rapid Prototyping of Integrated Transmission-Distribution OPF Formulations with PowerModelsITD.jl

Conventional electric power systems are composed of different unidirectional power flow stages of generation, transmission, and distribution, managed independently by transmission system and distribution system operators. However, as distribution systems increase in complexity due to the integration of distributed energy resources, coordination between transmission and distribution networks will be imperative for the optimal operation of the power grid. However, coupling models and formulations between transmission and distribution is non-trivial, in particular due to the common practice of modeling transmission systems as single-phase, and distribution systems as multi-conductor phase-unbalanced. To enable the rapid prototyping of power flow formulations, in particular in the modeling of the boundary conditions between these two seemingly incompatible data models, we introduce PowerModelsITD.jl, a free, open-source toolkit written in Julia for integrated transmission-distribution (ITD) optimization that leverages mature optimization libraries from the InfrastructureModels.jl-ecosystem. The primary objective of the proposed framework is to provide baseline implementations of steady-state ITD optimization problems, while providing a common platform for the evaluation of emerging formulations and optimization problems. In this work, we introduce the nonlinear formulations currently supported in PowerModelsITD.jl, which include AC-polar, AC-rectangular, current-voltage, and a linear network transportation model. Results are validated using combinations of IEEE transmission and distribution networks.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Mixed Precision Fermi-Operator Expansion on Tensor Cores from a Machine Learning Perspective

Here we present a second-order recursive Fermi-operator expansion scheme using mixed precision floating point operations to perform electronic structure calculations using tensor core units. A performance of over 100 teraFLOPs is achieved for half-precision floating point operations on Nvidia’s A100 tensor core units. The second-order recursive Fermi-operator scheme is formulated in terms of a generalized, differentiable deep neural network structure, which solves the quantum mechanical electronic structure problem. We demonstrate how this network can be accelerated by optimizing the weight and bias values to substantially reduce the number of layers required for convergence. We also show how this machine learning approach can be used to optimize the coefficients of the recursive Fermi-operator expansion to accurately represent the fractional occupation numbers of the electronic states at finite temperatures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Final Report for ARPA-E NODES "Real-Time Optimization and Control of Next-Generation Distribution Infrastructure" Project

The project examined next-generation power distribution systems with high levels of power- electronics-interfaced distributed energy resources (DERs) that include: renewable energy systems (RESs), energy-storage devices, electric vehicles, fuel cells, small-scale diesel generators, and controllable loads. The project developed a comprehensive distribution- network management framework that unifies real-time voltage and frequency control with network-wide energy management under an integrated framework. The aim of the project was to: i) systematically optimize network-wide operation and congruently regulate voltages and frequency in the face of high volatility induced by rapidly varying RES and uncontrolled loads; ii) facilitate high renewable integration beyond 50% on an energy basis; iii) meet power-quality requirements and operational constraints; and, iv) respect response, ramp- time, and hold-time requirements for synthetic frequency and regulating reserves via fast- and longer-term dynamic energy management.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Learning protocols for the fast and efficient control of active matter

Exact analytic calculation shows that optimal control protocols for passive molecular systems often involve rapid variations and discontinuities. However, similar analytic baselines are not generally available for active-matter systems, because it is more difficult to treat active systems exactly. Here we use machine learning to derive efficient control protocols for active-matter systems, and find that they are characterized by sharp features similar to those seen in passive systems. We show that it is possible to learn protocols that effect fast and efficient state-to-state transformations in simulation models of active particles by encoding the protocol in the form of a neural network. We use evolutionary methods to identify protocols that take active particles from one steady state to another, as quickly as possible or with as little energy expended as possible. Our results show that protocols identified by a flexible neural-network ansatz, which allows the optimization of multiple control parameters and the emergence of sharp features, are more efficient than protocols derived recently by constrained analytical methods. Our learning scheme is straightforward to use in experiment, suggesting a way of designing protocols for the efficient manipulation of active matter in the laboratory.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Intelligent Electrochemical Sensors for Precise Identification of Volatile Organic Compounds Enabled by Neural Network Analysis

The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a wide spectrum of categories were identified as biomarkers in aquatic environments, playing an important role in marine and freshwater ecology and global atmospheric chemistry. VOCs released from biofuel have also attracted increasing attention. Although the importance has been recognized, the portable detection and analysis methods of VOC in aquatic systems have not yet been well developed and understood. Here, in this work, we innovatively proposed an intelligent electrochemical sensing approach to classify and quantify VOCs in solution. Utilizing the cyclic voltammetry (CV) method with an ionic liquid (IL)-based electrolyte, we analyzed 50 μL samples of various VOC analytes, including acetic acid (AC), acetone, dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethanol, formaldehyde, formic acid, methanol, methyl formate (MF), toluene, and a formaldehyde-methanol mixture, along with deionized water (DI water). The generated voltammograms were subsequently analyzed using our uniquely designed and optimized 1-D convolutional neural network (1D-CNN). This deep-learning algorithm achieved a 99.09% accuracy in VOC classification validated through fivefold cross-validation and demonstrated an impressive 94.4% test accuracy for methanol detection within a 10 μL error range. For quantification, the system accurately categorized methanol volumes ranging from 0 to 50 μL in 10 μL increments, achieving a 98.18% accuracy. A notable linear correlation (R2 = 95.56%) was found between max current density at the oxidation peak and methanol volume, with the limit of detection (LOD) at 9.3 μL. Such a sensing method exhibits potential for portability, high accuracy, and generalization in the classification and quantification, ultimately reshaping the realm of VOC analysis in solution.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Learning Local Volt/VAR Controllers Toward Efficient Network Operation with Stability Guarantees: Preprint

This paper considers the problem of voltage regulation in distribution network. The primary motivation is to keep voltages within pre-assigned operating limits by commanding the reactive power output of distributed energy resources (DERs) deployed in the grid. We develop a framework for developing local Volt/Var control that comprises of two main steps. In the first, exploiting historical data and for each DER, we learn a function representing desirable equilibrium points for the power network. These points approximate solutions of an Optimal Power Flow problem. In the second, we propose a control scheme for steering the network towards these favorable configurations. Theoretical conditions are derived to formally guarantee the stability of the developed control scheme and numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

data-driven control↗

Constructing Regulatory Networks to Compare Axenic and Interspecies Microbial Gene Transcription

In this preliminary study, we constructed gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from transcriptional expression data of axenic and interspecies microbial cultures with the goal of predicting how cocultivation affected greenhouse gas respiration by these species. The specific strains of Methylotuvimicrobium alkaliphilum 20Z, a methylotroph, and Cyanobacterium stanieri HL-69, a phototroph, were chosen for their viability in industrial bioprocessing. We ranked directed interactions between gene pairs based on the ability of the input gene to predict the expression of a target gene relative to their transcriptomes. While we were able to identify topological differences between conditions, our initial findings require validation through experimental analysis and further modeling. We aimed to develop a systematic thresholding approach to optimize the accuracy of our networks. We filtered out trial networks separately from top gene interactions of the scored rankings. Parameters of unfiltered and filtered networks were used to test and develop thresholding approaches. Knee point detection of edge weight distributions was explored as an approach for separating significant interactions from insignificant interactions in unfiltered networks. While knee detection failed to produce analogous networks for broad cross-condition comparisons, the results informed us about the proportions of significant edges present in unfiltered networks. We also calculated the average mean degree for nodes in a selection of trial networks to find a thresholding value characteristic to all groups. While we did not reach a definitive conclusion, we gained insight into the coregulatory structures of our groups and made critical evaluations of systematic methods for filtering networks. We recommend an iterative process for the inference of GRNs, where the most significant results from preliminary explorations are used to improve the efficiency with which regulatory motifs are chosen for experimental characterization. Experimental results can then inform the framework of adjusted models to improve broad interpretations of GRNs.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Peer-to-Peer Communication Trade-Offs for Smart Grid Applications: Preprint

Peer-to-peer energy management systems for smart grids require developers to consider the trade-offs between the amount of communication traffic generated and the quality and speed of convergence of the control algorithms that are deployed. Employing a fully connected communication causes messages to scale exponentially with the number of nodes, while using a sparse connectivity causes less information dissemination leading to degradation of the algorithm performance. The best communication topology for a particular application lies somewhere in between and often requires empirical evaluation by application designers. Existing methods do not put focus on the needs for smart grid applications, which is information dissemination throughout the network and they do not provide a flexible solution for application developers to prototype and deploy different topologies without modifying the application code. This paper introduces a configurable virtual communication topology framework TopLinkMgr, allowing users to specify any chosen communication topology and deploy peer-to-peer applications using it. It also introduces a self-adaptive, fault-tolerant topology management algorithm, Bounded Path Dissemination that can ensure the dissemination of information to all peers within a specified threshold for a sparsely connected topology. Experiments show that the algorithm improves on convergence speed and accuracy over state-of-the-art methods and is also robust against node failures. The results indicate the possibility of achieving a close-to optimal convergence without overloading the network allowing the realization of peer-to-peer control platforms covering larger and more complex power systems.

Bounded Path Dissemination↗

ELASTOMERIC MICROVASCULAR SELF-HEALING MATERIALS

Damaged elastomeric diaphragms within pneumatic controllers used in the oil and gas industry lead to an unintended release of methane. Self-healing microvascular materials capable of healing various types of damage have been fabricated. These microvascular materials are designed to replace currently available commercial diaphragms found in pneumatic controllers and provide a solution to reduce unintended methane leaks. Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) was used as the main matrix material, with additional testing conducted on polyurethane and flexibilised epoxy materials. Microvascular networks were implemented into the elastomeric membranes to act as ves- sels to deliver healing agents to the damaged areas. The complex, interdigitated channel networks were created using a 3D printed custom compounded filament composed of polylactic acid (PLA) and tin(II) oxalate. Two-part liquid casting polymers were poured around the channels into a mould to create samples with the scaffolding of the microvascular channels intact. Hollow microvascular networks were created by placing the samples within a vacuum oven at 250◦C which causes the thermal depolymerisation of PLA into its gaseous monomers. The manufactured materials were placed in test stands and pressurized using nitrogen gas to determine their healing and mechanical behaviour. Self-healing behaviour was demonstrated using PDMS matrix materials and healing chemistries within a pressure test cell. This test cell was designed to detect any damage to a sample by record- ing an outlet pressure. Damages including puncture holes, diagonal cuts and star-shaped central iv cuts were applied to the samples and a reduction in the outlet pressure was recorded for all sam- ples. A variation in channel spacing and diameter was studied to determine the optimal design of the microvascular network for self-healing performance. The mechanical performance of elastomeric membrane materials within a diaphragmatic pressurised stand was observed. Deformations and strains around the channels and channel inter- sections at the midplane of the materials were recorded using digital image correlation. Normal stresses were calculated using Hooke’s law and the material properties of the PDMS matrix. A reduction in leak rate, implying the success of self-healing, was recorded within manu- factured diaphragm samples tested within a commercial valve. PDMS is the favourable material when compared to polyurethane and flexibilised epoxy for creating

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Data-driven modeling of coarse mesh turbulence for reactor transient analysis using convolutional recurrent neural networks

Advanced nuclear reactors often exhibit complex thermal-fluid phenomena during transients. To accurately capture such phenomena, a coarse-mesh three-dimensional (3-D) modeling capability is desired for modern nuclear-system code. In the coarse-mesh 3-D modeling of advanced-reactor transients that involve flow and heat transfer, accurately predicting the turbulent viscosity is a challenging task that requires an accurate and computationally efficient model to capture the unresolved fine-scale turbulence. In this work, we propose a data-driven coarse-mesh turbulence model based on local flow features for the transient analysis of thermal mixing and stratification in a sodium-cooled fast reactor. The model has a coarse mesh setup to ensure computational efficiency, while it is trained by fine-mesh computational fluid dynamics (CFD) data to ensure accuracy. A novel neural network architecture, combining a densely connected convolutional network and a long-short-term-memory network, is developed that can efficiently learn from the spatial temporal CFD transient simulation results. The neural network model was trained and optimized on a loss-of flow transient and demonstrated high accuracy in predicting the turbulent viscosity field during the whole transient. The trained model's generalization capability was also investigated on two other transients with different inlet conditions. The study demonstrates the potential of applying the proposed data-driven approach to support the coarse-mesh multi-dimensional modeling of advanced reactors.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

CMLM (Co-Optimized Machine-Learned Manifolds) [SWR-23-41]

Co-optimized Machine-Learned Manifolds (CMLM) is a data-driven approach for developing reduced-order manifold models for high-dimensional chemically reacting systems. It involves a specially designed neural network, the training of which simultaneously optimizes linear combinations of species that define the manifold, nonlinear mapping to outputs of interest such as reaction rates, and (optionally) subfilter closure for large eddy simulation. This software package provides an implementation of the CMLM approach in Python using the PyTorch machine learning library. A few example cases are included, showing how the tool can be applied to different types of data from 0D and 1D reacting simulations performed using Cantera. The neural networks can be saved in a format that is readable by the Pele suite of combustion solvers for use in reacting computational fluid dynamics simulations. This software repository contains several python scripts to perform various tasks associated with the Co-optimized Machine Learned Manifolds (CMLM) model, which is described in Perry, Henry de Frahan, and Yellapantula, CNF, 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2022.112286). This includes not only the code that defines the CMLM model, but also scripts to generate suitable training data, scripts to pre-process the data, scripts to train the CMLM model, and scripts to plot the output, as well as various other helper files. The scripts depend on several commonly used python libraries for data analysis and chemical reaction computations. The trained models that result from this tool are designed to work with the an interface being implemented in the Pele suite of reacting flow solvers (https://github.com/AMReX-Combustion).

Perry, Bruce↗

Optimizing the location and configuration of disaster resilience hubs under transportation and electric power network failures

Natural disasters often result in failures of transportation network components and blackouts that imperil the wellbeing of vulnerable populations. In response to these events, resilience hubs have been proposed as a pre-disaster planning strategy to improve access to critical services. This paper introduces an optimization-based approach to locate and configure electric power-generating resilience hubs considering the possibility of failures in transportation and electric power systems. The model's objective is to identify hub locations and configurations that maximize transportation accessibility to the hubs and maximize the satisfaction of basic energy needs through hub-generated electric power. Besides a budget constraint, the model accounts for limits on the levels of hub energy generation vis-à-vis community energy demands, and on the transportation network distance of communities to hubs. Three heuristics are presented for the proposed planning problem. The first heuristic is a genetic algorithm (GA) with problem-specific solution generation procedures. The other two heuristics implement greedy search techniques. Numerical experiments were conducted, using data from rural Puerto Rico, to illustrate the application of the proposed model and heuristics, and examine their performance. In the numerical experiments, the GA heuristic found better solutions than the greedy heuristics. Additionally, design solutions consisting of spatially dispersed hubs with low energy generation capacity were better than solutions with spatially concentrated high-capacity hubs. Lastly, across a wide range of hub demand scenarios, only a small number of candidate hub locations consistently ranked among the best locations for establishing a hub.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Improving the performance of first- and last-mile mobility services through transit coordination, real-time demand prediction, advanced reservations, and trip prioritization

Socio-demographic trends and recent economic development patterns have resulted in travel behavior changes that call for more flexible and accessible public transit options. Because flexible transit services vary in scope, size, and service type, new data-informed methods are useful to optimize services based on the specific needs of local communities and riders. In this study, real-world demand and vehicle trajectory data were used to evaluate and optimize system performance for an existing first-mile–last-mile (FMLM) service in Robinson Township, PA. A general FMLM model for arbitrary demand and service supply was then developed to quantify system performance—both travel time costs and day-to-day reliability—for various operational polices considering spatio-temporal demand variation and transportation network dynamics. Heuristics were used for optimal real-time vehicle routing in sizable real-world networks accommodating various service types and scopes. In this case study, total user costs were reduced by 18.6% when rides were coordinated with mainline fixed-route transit. Predictive routing strategies were shown to marginally improve system performance under sparse and variable spatio-temporal demand. The case study also highlights potentially large travel time and user reliability improvements—reductions of 51% and 53.8%, respectively—when trip requests were made in advance of their desired pickup time. Finally, we show that travel time reliability can be improved for time-inflexible trips with trip prioritization without increasing total user costs. These results were stable to changes in demand density.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Differentiable Predictive Control with Safety Guarantees: A Control Barrier Function Approach

In this paper, we develop a novel form of differentiable predictive control (DPC) with safety and robustness guarantees. DPC is a form of approximate model predictive control (MPC), wherein the control policy is a neural network that learns a receding horizon, optimal control law. The proposed approach exploits a new form of sampled-data barrier function to enforce safety, while only interrupting the neural network-based controller near the boundary of the safe set. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated in simulation.

Shaw Cortez, Wenceslao E.↗

Dynamical Large Deviations of Two-Dimensional Kinetically Constrained Models Using a Neural-Network State Ansatz

We use a neural-network ansatz originally designed for the variational optimization of quantum systems to study dynamical large deviations in classical ones. We use recurrent neural networks to describe the large deviations of the dynamical activity of model glasses, kinetically constrained models in two dimensions. We present the first finite size-scaling analysis of the large-deviation functions of the two-dimensional Fredrickson-Andersen model, and explore the spatial structure of the high-activity sector of the South-or-East model. These results provide a new route to the study of dynamical large-deviation functions, and highlight the broad applicability of the neural-network state ansatz across domains in physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Stepwise Dynamic Calibration of a Hydromechanical Simulation Using Time-Lapse Vertical Seismic Profile

This study aims to develop a methodology for calibrating subsurface stress changes through time-lapse Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP) integration. The selected study site is the 13-10A injector well within the ongoing CO2-EOR operation of the Farnsworth Field Unit. The Time-lapse VSP dataset carries the combined effects of fluid substitution and mean effective stress changes, thereby providing a dataset amenable for the calibration of production and injection-induced stress changes. The concept is similar to calibrating a reservoir simulation model in that the process honor real field data to set up an inverse problem. The solution optimizes the independent and impactful geomechanical parameters that replicate the observed time-lapse seismic velocity changes. This stress calibration is enabled by 4D geomechanical modeling and the VSP Integration workflow. This calibration benefits from extensive geological, geophysical and geomechanical characterization through 3D seismic data, geophysical well logs, and core assessed as part of the 1D MEM conducted on the 13-10A subject well. These data are used to develop a site-specific rock physics model. The Biot Gassmann workflow combines rock physics and reservoir simulation outputs to determine the fluid substitution contribution to seismic velocity change. Additionally, modeled seismic velocity attributed to mean effective stress are determined from the geomechanical simulation outputs, and the stress-velocity relationship developed from the ultrasonic seismic velocity measurements on the extracted Morrow B core. A penalty function is then formed between the modeled seismic velocities and the observed time-lapse VSP dataset. Four independent and impactful geomechanical parameters have been determined. These are the bulk modulus and shear modulus for zero porosity and the shear and compressional seismic velocity to mean effective stress derivatives. The dataset of numerous coupled hydromechanical- geomechanical simulation realizations is built by combining variations of the four stated geomechanical parameters. A machine learning-assisted workflow comprised of an artificial neural network and a particle swarm optimizer are used to converge on the optimal geomechanical parameters. The successful execution of this workflow has affirmed the suitability of acoustic time-lapse measurements for 4D-VSP geomechanical stress calibration pending measurable stress sensitivities within the anticipated effective stress changes and the availability of suitable and reliable datasets for petroelastic modeling.

02 PETROLEUM↗

Training Spiking Neural Networks Using Combined Learning Approaches

Spiking neural networks (SNNs), the class of neural networks used in neuromorphic computing, are difficult to train using traditional back-propagation techniques. Spike timingdependent plasticity (STDP) is a biologically inspired learning mechanism that can be used to train SNNs. Evolutionary algorithms have also been demonstrated as a method for training SNNs. In this work, we explore the relationship between these two training methodologies. We evaluate STDP and evolutionary optimization as standalone methods for training networks, and also evaluate a combined approach where STDP weight updates are applied within an evolutionary algorithm. We also apply Bayesian hyperparameter optimization as a meta learner for each of the algorithms. We find that STDP by itself is not an ideal learning rule for randomly connected networks, while the inclusion of STDP within an evolutionary algorithm leads to similar performance, with a few interesting differences. This study suggests future work in understanding the relationship between network topology and learning rules.

Elbrecht, Daniel↗