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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 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

The LED calibration systems for the mDOM and D-Egg sensor modules of the IceCube Upgrade: Design, production, testing and use in module calibration

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, instrumenting about 1 km 3 of deep, glacial ice at the geographic South Pole, is due to be enhanced with the IceCube Upgrade. The IceCube Upgrade, to be deployed during the 2025/26 Antarctic summer season, will consist of seven new strings of photosensors, densely embedded near the bottom center of the existing array. Aside from a world-leading sensitivity to neutrino oscillations, a primary goal is the improvement of the calibration of the optical properties of the instrumented ice. This calibration will be applied to the entire archive of IceCube data, improving the angular and energy resolution of the detected neutrino events. For this purpose, the Upgrade strings include a host of new calibration devices. Aside from dedicated calibration modules, several thousand LED flashers have been incorporated into the photosensor modules. We describe the design, production, and testing of these LED flashers before their integration into the sensor modules as well as the use of the LED flashers during lab testing of assembled sensor modules.

Analogue electronic circuits↗
DOE OSTI2026

Exploratory calculation of 𝐾 L → 𝜇 + ⁢𝜇 − decay from lattice QCD at physical pion mass

We compute the complex, long-distance two-photon-exchange amplitude which contributes to the rare 𝐾 L → 𝜇 + ⁢𝜇 − decay from lattice QCD. We use a 24 3 × 64 physical-pion-mass gauge field ensemble at an inverse lattice spacing of 1.023 GeV and a QED ∞ -based formalism. Our implementation strategies for all five non-SU(3)-flavor-suppressed diagram topologies are given in detail. We achieve a 25% statistical precision on the dispersive part of this long-distance amplitude. This calculation is carried out with 2+1 quark flavors and therefore requires the addition of counterterms to compensate for the absence of the Glashow-Iliopoulos-Maiani mechanism. These counterterms are not included in the current calculation and will be the subject of a second paper. Although a direct comparison to experiment cannot yet be made because of those omitted counterterms, the present exploratory calculation allows one to identify principal sources of statistical uncertainty in this calculation. The precision of our results is limited by the reconstruction of the physical contribution of the 𝜂 intermediate state, for which various strategies are tested and compared.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Indications for Freeze-Out of Charge Fluctuations in the Quark-Gluon Plasma at the LHC

The D-measure of net-charge fluctuations quantifies the variance of net charge in strongly interacting matter. It was introduced over 20 years ago as a potential signal of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in heavy-ion collisions, where it is expected to be suppressed due to the fractional electric charges of quarks. Measurements have been performed at RHIC and LHC, but the conclusion has been elusive in the absence of quantitative calculations for both scenarios. We address this issue by employing a recently developed formalism of density correlations and incorporate resonance decays, local charge conservation, and experimental kinematic cuts. We find that the hadron gas scenario is in fair agreement with the ALICE data for $\sqrt{{𝑠}_{\textrm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV Pb–Pb collisions only when a very short rapidity range of local charge conservation is enforced, while the QGP scenario is in excellent agreement with experimental data and largely insensitive to the range of local charge conservation. A Bayesian analysis of the data utilizing different priors yields moderate evidence for the freeze-out of charge fluctuations in the QGP phase relative to hadron gas. The upcoming high-fidelity measurements from LHC Run 2 will serve as a precision test of the two scenarios.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Air-Handling and DME-Propane Blends on the Performance and Emissions of a 4-Cylinder CI Engine

Dimethyl ether (DME) is considered an excellent alternative to diesel because of its higher cetane number and lower carbon content. Additionally, DME can be blended with abundantly available propane with minimal modifications to the propane infrastructure. This paper focuses on an experimental investigation of the effect of air-handling i.e., boost pressure and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), and DME-propane blends on the combustion and emissions performance of a light-duty, four-cylinder, compression ignition (CI) engine. Here, the boost pressure and EGR sweeps were carried out and showed that higher boost pressures resulted in increased brake thermal efficiencies (BTE) at the expense of higher NOx emissions which could be reduced by an increase in EGR. The fuel sweeps were carried out at 0, 15 and 25% propane (neat, 85% and 75% DME) with 0% and 25% EGR. The fuel sweeps indicated that the ignition delay (ID) increased and burn duration (BD) decreased monotonically when the blend increased to 25% propane/75% DME. The results suggest optimum engine performance with neat DME at 105 kPa boost pressure and 25% EGR with propane addition improving the BTE with negligible increase in emissions. Higher contents of Propane, up to 25%, did not affect the variability of combustion, with standard deviations of burn duration and peak cylinder pressures below 1% for all test cases.

air-handling↗
DOE OSTI2025

The weak land carbon sink hypothesis

Over the past three decades, assessments of the contemporary global carbon budget consistently report a strong net land carbon sink. Here, we review evidence supporting this paradigm and quantify the differences in global and Northern Hemisphere estimates of the net land sink derived from atmospheric inversion and satellite-derived vegetation biomass time series. Our analysis, combined with additional synthesis, supports a hypothesis that the net land sink is substantially weaker than commonly reported. At a global scale, our estimate of the net land carbon sink is 0.8 ± 0.7 petagrams of carbon per year from 2000 through 2019, nearly a factor of two lower than the Global Carbon Project estimate. With concurrent adjustments to ocean (+8%) and fossil fuel (−6%) fluxes, we develop a budget that partially reconciles key constraints provided by vegetation carbon, the north-south CO 2 gradient, and O 2 trends. We further outline potential modifications to models to improve agreement with a weaker land sink and describe several approaches for testing the hypothesis.

Randerson, James T. [Univ. of California, Irvine, ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Computer Programs For Analysis Of Thermally Reactive Tracer Tests In Geothermal Reservoirs

The Tracer Analysis Toolbox (TAT) is a stand-alone executable software package that focuses on reservoir monitoring, using changes in concentration of thermally degrading tracers between and injection well and a production well to reflect the temperature-time histories along flow paths through the reservoir. By conducting such tests periodically, the thermal evolution of the flow paths connecting injection wells to production wells can be monitored. Because this approach is sensitive to temperature along the whole path, it can detect changes well before they occur at the distal end of the path (i.e., the production well). Thus, the thermally degrading tracer method provides early detection of thermal decline before it impacts that well. The goal of TAT is to simplify planning of a reactive tracer monitoring campaign and interpretation of results by providing: (1) tracer test planning and analysis tools to define the necessary kinetic parameters, injection concentrations, and other tracer parameters that are suitable for the expected reservoir residence time and temperature, (2) identification of tracers with suitable characteristics (defined by (1)) and (3) a suite of analysis programs to analyze tracer test results.

Plummer, MitchellAaron [Idaho National Laboratory ↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Comparison of Machine Learning Methods of Association Tested on Dense Nodal Arrays

The association of phase picks to form events is one of the fundamental components of seismology. Large and dense sensor networks, such as >1000 geophone arrays (and distributed acoustic sensing), offer unique challenges in association due to the vast numbers of observations and high likelihood of errant picks. In addition, the large number of stations can greatly increase the time it takes to perform the association. For this reason, machine learning (ML) methods might provide a more optimal method of association for such networks. In this work, we examine how well ML methods (e.g., Gaussian mixture model association, PhaseLink, and Graph Earthquake Neural Interpretation Engine) can incorporate dense seismic arrays into regional networks and how well they handle the increasing numbers of stations. Here, we test their capabilities on two dense seismic deployments, one within Rock Valley Nevada (52 nodes and a 9-station sparse local network), and the LArge-n Seismic Survey in Oklahoma dense nodal array (>1800 vertical-component geophones). Processing data from these two different styles of dense seismic deployments allows testing of how the ML algorithms can merge array data with a broader regional network, how they deal with poorly picked phases, and how they handle anthropogenic noise. We compare the ML-associated bulletins to those obtained using the Rapid Earthquake Association and Location algorithm, a more traditional method of association. We find that there are very small differences in results between the methods for small networks (<100 stations) with low pick rates. For large networks (>1000), there are enough errant picks that some of the ML methods start to create false events out of noise. We also find that the ML methods vary in computation time significantly but are all faster than the traditional method tested here.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Lightweight High Pressure Die Casting Tooling

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Mercury Marine partnered to develop and test methods for additively manufactured tooling for aluminum die casting applications under CRADA agreement NFE-20-08193. Tooling is the largest capital expense for high production casting projects. The lead time for tooling is often measured in months with a typical project taking 9-12 months to realize Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) ready die cast samples. This project demonstrated the technical viability of rapidly produced steel components for high pressure die casting tooling via Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). A 410 stainless steel tool was redesigned and optimized with conformal cooling channels and additively manufactured. The finished tool was tested and used to produce over 4000 parts, which well surpassed expectations. A secondary objective was to evaluate the durability of multi-material additively manufactured (AM) components with conformal cooling. A large multi-material tool (H13 and 410SSNiMo) was manufactured using the same methods showing potential reductions in used material and cost. However, the H13 section sustained material cracking. Further analysis showed that the potential cause was the CTE mismatch of the two materials at higher temperatures. It is also suggested that the material mix can be used if the steel processing temperature does not exceed 600 ̊C.This project has shown high potential for using the WAAM technology for creating AM parts for aluminum dies casting. However, the multi-material approach requires extended study and tests.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Findings on subtask 3.3 – applicability of automated brine chemistry determinations for treatment and recovery processes through facility automation/modularization: engineering design study

Under the Energy & Environmental Research Center’s (EERC’s) ~$\$$22 million Phase II Brine Extraction and Storage Test (BEST) Program, a multimillion-dollar brine treatment technology test bed facility was established in western North Dakota to provide a platform for evaluating developing technologies and approaches for brine treatment and volume reduction. The initial facility, and associated research effort, was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), with in-kind contributions provided by several industry participants and the state of North Dakota. Since its opening, the Brine Technology Test Facility (BTTF) has supported performance evaluations of desalination technologies capable of treating high-salinity produced water (PW) and enabled data collection for multiple approaches of PW management and critical material recovery. As part of the decommissioning process for the original project, facility ownership and liability were transferred to Select Water, which is providing the EERC with a continuing site access option for state or federal research and/or commercial technology development. This report documents the findings from a design study conducted by the EERC and the engineering firm that was originally contracted to design and construct the facility (Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, LLC [AE2S]) that evaluated the current status of BTTF and its systems and developed a retrofit design to increase the facility’s capabilities through automation and modularization of its PW treatment infrastructure. The proposed retrofit will provide DOE and industry with an expanded range of conditioned PW that can be produced at the facility for evaluating fit-for-purpose water treatment technologies, online instrumentation for brine chemistry determination, and systems that recover critical materials like lithium and magnesium. The current facility consists of an 9600-square-foot facility that includes a 40-foot by 65-foot Class 1, Division 2-rated demonstration area and associated control rooms and lab-ready space capable of sourcing oil and gas PW and wastewater from industrial sources or tailoring brine compositions up to 300,000 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS) and supplying them at rates up to 25 gpm for extended-duration technology demonstrations. The colocation of the facility with Select Water’s water management facilities allows for access and unloading of more than 10,000 bbl/day of trucked water delivered to site and associated access to on-site Class I and Class II brine disposal wells and nearby hazardous waste landfills operated and/or contracted by Select Water to dispose of concentrate and/or effluents associated with the testing.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Lessons Learned from MARVEL Initial Fabrication and Testing

The Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) project is intended to be amongst the first U.S. advanced reactor demonstrations in four decades. By virtue of being sponsored directly by the U.S. Department of Energy, the reactor is intended to benefit the broader nuclear community by exercising design processes, safety reviews, and supply chains. This project is intent on publicly documenting key lessons learned along the way toward demonstration. Building on a 2024 report that focused on lessons learned from the design and project management phase, this 2025 edition focuses on findings from the MARVEL guard vessel fabrication and primary coolant apparatus test (PCAT) testing.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Lightweight High Pressure Die Casting Tooling

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Mercury Marine partnered to develop and test methods for additively manufactured tooling for aluminum die casting applications under CRADA agreement NFE- 20-08193. Tooling is the largest capital expense for high production casting projects. The lead time for tooling is often measured in months with a typical project taking 9-12 months to realize Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) ready die cast samples. This project demonstrated the technical viability of rapidly produced steel components for high pressure die casting tooling via Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). A 410 stainless steel tool was redesigned and optimized with conformal cooling channels and additively manufactured. The finished tool was tested and used to produce over 4000 parts, which well surpassed expectations. A secondary objective was to evaluate the durability of multi-material additively manufactured (AM) components with conformal cooling. A large multi-material tool (H13 and 410SSNiMo) was manufactured using the same methods showing potential reductions in used material and cost. However, the H13 section sustained material cracking. Further analysis showed that the potential cause was the CTE mismatch of the two materials at higher temperatures. It is also suggested that the material mix can be used if the steel processing temperature does not exceed 600 ˚C. This project has shown high potential for using the WAAM technology for creating AM parts for aluminum dies casting. However, the multi-material approach requires extended study and tests.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Code Coverage Status of the ARC Code PERSENT

The Argonne Reactor Code (ARC) software system supports users in their fast reactor design goals by providing neutronic, thermal-hydraulic, and structural analysis capabilities. PERSENT fulfills the role of generating reactivity coefficients for a given time point of a REBUS calculation usable in a point kinetics based safety analysis capability. PERSENT also provides a sensitivity coefficient capability on eigenvalue, reactivity worth, and several other key coefficients that are used in the follow-on safety analysis. Given a co-variance matrix, PERSENT can carry out the uncertainty quantification to indicate the amount of error in the reactivity coefficients derived from the errors in the cross section measurements. With continued improvement of computational resources, many of the geometry modeling capabilities in DIF3D that were primarily used in low order schemes are not really needed anymore. Today, the diffusion and transport capabilities of DIF3D-VARIANT are primarily used in the reactor design process with some scattered usage of DIF3D-FD and DIF3D-Nodal. PERSENT is part of the ARC code system and is built around DIF3D-VARIANT and the flux solution it provides. The purpose of the present work is to identify a set of test problems for PERSENT and assess the code coverage of PERSENT for those test problems. PERSENT treats the DIF3D executable as an external executable and thus the code coverage considerations only need to focus on the PERSENT source code and only a fraction of the connected modules in the existing ARC software library. The goal is to document what parts of the existing PERSENT code are touched by the set of test problems and which are not. Because the verification work done on PERSENT was focused on the most common uses of PERSENT for fast reactor analysis, the code coverage assessment of those capabilities is the highest priority. This will ensure that nothing is being missed by the existing verification test problems that users of PERSENT rely upon. The code coverage analysis of PERSENT was performed with the Code Coverage Tool of the Intel Fortran compiler which requires modifications to the compilation of PERSENT. The detailed coverage tables are given for each submodule of PERSENT. Most of the uncovered parts/files could be easily ignored because they are either for error message and debugging output or not needed by PERSENT today. Only a few uncovered parts of PERSENT deserve extending the verification test suite.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status of the Fuel Fragment Dispersal Studies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

During a loss-of-coolant accident, a nuclear fuel rods undergo balloon and burst. High burnup fuel is known to fragment and pulverize leading to the potential for the fuel to disperse through the burst opening either during the initial burst or following the burst during the reflood event. This milestone summarizes the design and assembly of a system to study dispersal in a postburst event. Surrogate fuel material (HfO 2 , tungsten, and yttria-stabilized zirconia [YSZ]) dispersing from as-burst loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) test specimens was extensively investigated, along with dispersal of actual nuclear fuel following a LOCA Severe Accident Test Station (SATS) test.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reducing Mass of Steel Auto Bodies using Thin Advanced High Strength Steel with Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Epoxy

Diversitak, a company based in Detroit, MI, has developed a proprietary, low specific gravity, carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy (CFRE) under U.S. patent number 9,963,58832. Preliminary testing on this new material conducted in collaboration with ArcelorMittal Steel Company proved out the CFRE concept. A thin layer of this CFRE was applied to a stamped sheet of steel with residual stamping oils from a mill, in a time corresponding to automotive processing (e.g., ~15 seconds), and processed following automotive e-coat procedures (phosphating + 175–200°C heating), to complete the curing. No problems with adherence or performance were noted. While the CFRE does add weight to a thin gauge steel panel, it weighs much less than what is displaced by using thicker conventional mild steel gauges. The application of the coating showed a significant increased dent resistance, oil canning resistance, and part stiffness.This current two-year project was designed to mature this new technology to near manufacturing readiness to reduce the weight of a vehicle and lower the cost of weight reduction. The process involves the use of thinner gauge steels than are currently used. The collaborative development team included two industrial manufacturers: Diversitak and ArcelorMittal Steel Company; LightMAT; and two National Laboratories: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The team developed a new manufacturing process to reduce the weight of a vehicle and lower the cost of weight reduction, as well as a better understanding of how to apply the coating so that it will perform to a high standard in-service. The team also performed an in-depth study to determine the long-term durability of the materials manufactured using this technology and well-known automotive industry standard tests.The overall process involved stiffening the thinner gauge steel by applying the CFRE on only one side. To accomplish this goal, the optimal reinforcement fiber length and fiber concentration was first determined. This was followed by measuring the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in all three directions, so it could be fed into manufacturing models and methods for rapidly and inexpensively applying the coating. This was followed by panel level evaluations of the coating and steel combination, and then by full part demonstration of the technology on door panels. The final step was corrosion testing of the parts.ArcelorMittal characterized the advanced high strength steel (AHSS) (e.g., metallurgy-heat treatment for required AHSS properties as a function of the sheet thickness, state of internal stress) and quantified CFRE adhesion to the steel as a function of sheet preparation (e.g., rolling and stamping).ORNL optimized the fiber length, fiber concentration, and coating thickness for best vehicle function and performance at the least cost. Along with the suppliers, ORNL developed a durable CFRE application process (e.g., gun material, design, robotic dispensing process) and identified the adhesion stability of the CFRE during process holding. An approach to ensure that application/curing timing conforms to conventional assembly line speed and plant cycle times was determined. ORNL also determined the CTE of the material in all three directions and performed material scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses.INL characterized the corrosion properties of the steel panels coated with CFRE. The panels were investigated for corrosion resistance and stability as replacement materials used in automotive body panels to reduce mass. The coupons tested at INL were supplied by Diversitak after an optimized CFRE formulation was achieved in the already coated form for corrosion testing.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Corrosion Testing of Refractory in Contact with Molten Glasses Designed for Waste Vitrification - HAL24 M1 Matrix Glasses

It is known that the predictive life of the refractory ceramic liner of nuclear waste glass melters is conservative, as demonstrated by performance of these materials such as in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The motivation for this task is to maximize the useful life of the melters that will be operated at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), which will in turn minimize procurement and disposal costs and melter outage times, as well as to identify maximum loadings in the waste glass of those species that corrode melter components. This task was initiated jointly with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with the objective to develop a methodology and model to enable more accurate prediction of refractory service life under prototypic conditions from laboratory-scale material corrosion tests.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

In-Cell Deployment and First Use of Digital Image Correlation for In-Situ Strain Analysis of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel Rods During LOCA Transient

Digital image correlation (DIC) is a noncontact, optical method increasingly used across industries and research environments for acquiring multidimensional strain data. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) Severe Accident Test Station (SATS), DIC has been extensively applied to study the thermomechanical response of nuclear fuel claddings, yielding fundamental insights into material behavior. However, these efforts have focused exclusively on unirradiated materials and relied on the SATS out-of-cell infrastructure. Efforts over the past two years have been made to extend these capabilities to ORNL’s Irradiated Fuels Examination Laboratory SATS system within the hot-cells to enable testing of irradiated fuel cladding materials. Integrating DIC into the hot-cell SATS infrastructure presents unique challenges, including enabling remote operation of optical equipment and adapting auxiliary hot-cell systems for DIC implementation. This report discusses design, stand-up testing, and application of DIC to an irradiated nuclear fuel cladding segment. A DIC testing rig was successfully built and validated out-of-cell through extensive surrogate tests and calibrations. The rig and specialized DIC furnace were installed in the hot-cell, and a DIC test was successfully conducted. Results from that test correspond to expectations for Zr-based alloys and showed similar uncertainties compared to out-of-cell tests.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

ORNL Testing of Multiple Graphite Benchmarks [Slides]

Integral criticality safety and reactor physics benchmark experiments from the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments (ICSBEP Handbook) and the International Handbook of Reactor Physics Experiments (IRPhE Handbook) are essential for nuclear data validation and testing

ENDF↗