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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 613 records · Page 34

Detect-and-Avoid in Off-Nominal Situations for Supersonic Transport Aircraft in Upper Class E Airspace

This thesis researches potential failure conditions within supersonic and potential hypersonic aircraft. The most critical off-nominal situations have been identified to be Engine Failures, Rapid Decompression and High Altitude Radiation. Having in mind, current regulatory requirements as well as past operations of Concorde, potential locations for different speeds have been modeled to identify safe operational volumes. With an emphasis on the engine failure case as part of the thesis requirement, a potential first order approach to future DAA systems is described in order to add these models on top of current conflict resolution models.

supersonic↗

Rafting-Enabled Recovery Avoids Recrystallization in 3D-Printing-Repaired Single-Crystal Superalloys

The repair of damaged Ni-based superalloy single-crystal turbine blades has been a long-standing challenge. Additive manufacturing by an electron beam is promising to this end, but there is a formidable obstacle: either the residual stress and γ/γ' microstructure in the single-crystalline fusion zone after e-beam melting are unacceptable (e.g., prone to cracking), or, after solutionizing heat treatment, recrystallization occurs, bringing forth new grains that degrade the high-temperature creep properties. Here, a post-3D printing recovery protocol is designed that eliminates the driving force for recrystallization, namely, the stored energy associated with the high retained dislocation density, prior to standard solution treatment and aging. The post-electron-beam-melting, pre-solutionizing recovery via sub-solvus annealing is rendered possible by the rafting (i.e., directional coarsening) of γ' particles that facilitates dislocation rearrangement and annihilation. The rafted microstructure is removed in subsequent solution treatment, leaving behind a damage-free and residual-stress-free single crystal with uniform γ' precipitates indistinguishable from the rest of the turbine blade. Finally, this discovery offers a practical means to keep 3D-printed single crystals from cracking due to unrelieved residual stress, or stress-relieved but recrystallizing into a polycrystalline microstructure, paving the way for additive manufacturing to repair, restore, and reshape any superalloy single-crystal product.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Avoiding CO 2 Improves Thermal Stability at the Interface of Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 Electrolyte with Layered Oxide Cathodes

Abstract Solid‐state batteries promise higher energy densities and better safety than Li‐ion batteries with liquid electrolytes. However, the interface between solid electrolyte and cathode is unstable at the elevated temperatures that are needed while sintering to achieve good bonding between ceramic components. Here, the hypothesis is that, the gas environment, especially the presence of CO 2, is critical in determining the stability of the solid electrolyte–cathode interface. The effect of gas species on the interface is systematically probed, by a using Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 (LLZO) solid electrolyte with a thin film LiNi 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 O 2 cathode as a model system to enable interface sensitivity. Detrimental phases formed at the interface and their onset conditions are identified by X‐ray absorption spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and Gibbs free energy analysis. As a result, removing CO 2 and minimizing H 2 O(g) during sintering is necessary to obtain good contact at the LLZO|cathode interface without forming secondary phases. Sintering in O 2 is ideal, yielding excellent chemical stability and low interfacial resistance. Secondary phases also do not form in N 2, but oxygen loss occurs at elevated temperatures. The interfacial resistance obtained upon sintering in pure O 2 is comparable to the lowest values at LLZO interfaces with protective coatings, but here without the need for interface coatings.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Synthesis of succinic acid‐based polyamide through direct solid‐state polymerization method: Avoiding cyclization of succinic acid

Abstract Succinic acid is an important synthetic monomer but it is difficult to use it as a precursor for synthesizing high molecular weight polyamide, due to its tendency to perform intra‐cyclization reaction at high temperature. In order to solve this problem, in this paper, the direct solid‐state polymerization (DSSP) method with the initial reactant, nylon salt which was composed of 1, 5‐diaminopentane, succinic acid, and terephthalic acid, was applied to synthesize the bio‐based copolyamide PA 5T/54. In comparison with the conventional melting polymerization method, the DSSP method can prevent the cyclization reaction of succinic acid effectively due to the lower reacting temperature as well as the restriction effect of the nylon salt. As a result, the product fabricated by DSSP method has higher molecular weight and much lighter color from red to white. Therefore, the DSSP method is advantageous for the synthesis of the polymers or copolymers composed of the succinic acid as the monomer. Furthermore, the polymerization mechanism proposed in this work can serve as a guidance for the design of the molecular structure and control of the polymerization process.

Li, Haijie↗

Avoiding Excess Computation in Asynchronous Evolutionary Algorithms

Asynchronous evolutionary algorithms are becoming increasingly popular as a means of making full use of many processors while solving computationally expensive search and optimization problems. These algorithms excel at keeping large clusters fully utilized, but may sometimes inefficiently sample an excess of fast-evaluating solutions at the expense of higher-quality, slow-evaluating ones. We introduce a steady-state parent selection strategy, SWEET (“Selection whilE EvaluaTing”), that sometimes selects individuals that are still being evaluated and allows them to reproduce early. This gives slow-evaluating individuals that have higher fitnesses an increased ability to multiply in the population. We find that SWEET appears effective in simulated take-over time analysis, but that its benefit is confined mostly to early in the run, and our preliminary study on an autonomous vehicle controller problem that involves tuning a spiking neural network proves inconclusive.

Scott, Eric↗

Chern-Weil global symmetries and how quantum gravity avoids them

We draw attention to a class of generalized global symmetries, which we call “Chern-Weil global symmetries,” that arise ubiquitously in gauge theories. The Noether currents of these Chern-Weil global symmetries are given by wedge products of gauge field strengths, such as F 2 $\wedge$ H 3 and tr(F$^2_2$), and their conservation follows from Bianchi identities. As a result, they are not easy to break. However, it is widely believed that exact global symmetries are not allowed in a consistent theory of quantum gravity. As a result, any Chern-Weil global symmetry in a low-energy effective field theory must be either broken or gauged when the theory is coupled to gravity. In this paper, we explore the processes by which Chern-Weil symmetries may be broken or gauged in effective field theory and string theory. We will see that many familiar phenomena in string theory, such as axions, Chern-Simons terms, worldvolume degrees of freedom, and branes ending on or dissolving in other branes, can be interpreted as consequences of the absence of Chern-Weil symmetries in quantum gravity, suggesting that they might be general features of quantum gravity. We further discuss implications of breaking and gauging Chern-Weil symmetries for particle phenomenology and for boundary CFTs of AdS bulk theories. Chern-Weil global symmetries thus offer a unified framework for understanding many familiar aspects of quantum field theory and quantum gravity.

Brane dynamics in gauge theories↗

Avoiding Complications in Bone and Soft Tissue Ablation

As with percutaneous ablation of tumors in the liver, lungs, and kidneys, ablation of bone and non-visceral soft tissue tumors carries risk, primarily from collateral damage to vital structures in proximity to the target tumor. Certain risks are of particular interest when ablating bone and non-visceral soft tissue tumors, namely neural or skin injury, bowel injury, fracture, and gas embolism from damaged applicators. Ablation of large volume tumors also carries special risk. Many techniques may be employed by the interventional radiologist to minimize complications when treating tumors in the musculoskeletal system. These methods include those to depict, displace, or monitor critical structures. Thus, measures to provide thermoprotection may be active, such as careful ablation applicator placement and use of various displacement techniques, as well as passive, including employment of direct temperature, radiographic, or neurophysiologic monitoring techniques. Cementoplasty should be considered in certain skeletal locations at risk of fracture. Patients treated with large volume tumors should be monitored for renal dysfunction and properly hydrated. Finally, ablation applicators should be cautiously placed in the constrained environment of intact bone.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

The Onco-cardiologist Dilemma: to Implant, to Defer, or to Avoid Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Cancer Patients with Aortic Stenosis?

Purpose of Review: Aging is associated with an increased prevalence of both cancer and heart disease. The progression of aortic valve calcification to aortic stenosis may be accelerated by both cardiovascular risk factors and cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy with mediastinal involvement. Symptomatic aortic stenosis is occasionally diagnosed in cancer patients undergoing cardiovascular evaluation; likewise, cancer is often recognized during assessment preceding aortic valve interventions. In these complex cases, physicians face difficult treatment decisions. Due to a myriad of clinical presentations of cancer and valve disease, specific guidelines for this patient population are not currently in place. Management is currently based on clinical judgment, on an individual basis. Recent Findings: Patients with cancer in remission or with a favorable prognosis should be treated according to current cardiovascular guidelines. In these patients, aortic valve replacement can be performed either by surgery or transcatheter. Significant challenges arise in patients with active cancer, especially those receiving anti-cancer treatment. Recent data suggests that these patients can be offered aortic valve replacement, with a trend of favoring the transcatheter route in order to minimize perioperative risk and complications associated with major surgery. Patients with advanced cancer and severe aortic stenosis should be offered palliative care and can benefit from aortic balloon valvuloplasty if indicated. Modern cancer treatments associated with improved long-term prognosis may allow the appropriate cure of aortic stenosis. Summary: We discuss the protocol, outcomes, and evolving recommendations of aortic valve replacement in cancer patients with aortic stenosis.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Avoiding surface instability and slurry jamming in simultaneous multilayer coating of structured particulate films

Simultaneous multilayer coating techniques are widely known, but their industrial application remains limited to narrow market sectors. One barrier to adoption may be the mismatch between industries that are familiar with such processes but have no need, and industries that have need but are not familiar. Moreover, there are application-specific technical challenges to developing multilayer-coating processes. In this article, we describe our resolution of two specific issues in simultaneous multilayer coating of all aqueous highly loaded slurries for new and emerging energy applications. The first issue is particle jamming (associated with Shear-thickening) of the highly loaded slurries in the die internals, which we alleviated by adding small amounts of viscosity modifiers without reducing the solid loading. The second issue is a Marangoni-driven surface instability that resembles top layer de-wetting, which we solved by carefully selecting surfactants to tune the dynamic surface tensions of each slurry. Both issues were resolved early in a step-wise development, saving significant development cost which in our case was driven by expensive materials.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Avoiding full corrections in dynamic SPECT images impacts the performance of SPECT myocardial blood flow quantitation

Introduction: This study investigated the performance of SPECT myocardial blood flow (MBF) quantitation lacking full physical corrections (All Corr) in dynamic SPECT (DySPECT) images. Methods: Eleven healthy normal volunteers (HVT) and twenty-four patients with angiography-documented CAD were assessed. All Corr in {sup 99m}Tc-sestamibi DySPECT encompassed noise reduction (NR), resolution recovery (RR), and corrections for scatter (SC) and attenuation (AC), otherwise no correction (NC) or only partial corrections. The performance was evaluated by quality index (R{sup 2}) and blood-pool spillover index (FBV) in kinetic modeling, and by rest flow (RMBF) and stress flow (SMBF) compared with those of All Corr. Results: In HVT group, NC diminished 2-fold flow uniformity with the most degraded quality (15%-18% reduced R{sup 2}) and elevated spillover effect (45%-50% increased FBV). Consistently higher RMBF and SMBF were discovered in both groups (HVT 1.54/2.31 higher; CAD 1.60/1.72; all P < .0001). Bland-Altman analysis revealed positive flow bias (HVT 0.9-2.6 mL/min/g; CAD 0.7-1.3) with wide ranges of 95% CI of agreement (HVT NC −1.9-7.1; NR −0.4-4.4; NR + SC −1.1-4.3; NR + SC + RR −0.7-2.5) (CAD NC −1.2-3.8; NR −1.0-2.8; NR + SC −1.0-2.5; NR + SC + RR −1.1-2.6). Conclusions: Uncorrected physical interference in DySPECT images can extensively impact the performance of MBF quantitation. Full physical corrections should be considered to warrant this tool for clinical utilization.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗