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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 73 records · Page 4

Longitudinal train dynamics model for a rail transit simulation system

The paper develops a longitudinal train dynamics model in support of microscopic railway transportation simulation. The model can be calibrated without any mechanical data making it ideal for implementation in transportation simulators. The calibration and validation work is based on data collected from the Portland light rail train fleet. The calibration procedure is mathematically formulated as a constrained non-linear optimization problem. The validity of the model is assessed by comparing instantaneous model predictions against field observations, and also evaluated in the domains of acceleration/deceleration versus speed and acceleration/deceleration versus distance. A test is conducted to investigate the adequacy of the model in simulation implementation. The results demonstrate that the proposed model can adequately capture instantaneous train dynamics, and provides good performance in the simulation test. Thus, the model provides a simple theoretical foundation for microscopic simulators and will significantly support the planning, management and control of railway transportation systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Mesoscale Convective Systems Simulated by a High–Resolution Global Nonhydrostatic Model Over the United States and China

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) contribute a large fraction of warm-season precipitation and generate hazardous weather with substantial socio-economic impacts. Uncertainties in convection parameterizations in climate models limit our understanding of MCS characteristics and reliability of future projection. We examine the MCS simulation from the global 14-km Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) without cumulus parameterization against satellite observation from Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) during 2001-2008. We focus on MCSs over the central U.S. and eastern China where MCSs prevail from March to August. A process-oriented tracking method incorporating both cloud and precipitation criteria is used to identify and track MCSs. About 140/100 MCSs initiate in the central U.S./eastern China per warm season and most of them initiate east of high mountains and in coastal regions. The frequency distribution of MCS lifetime is well captured in NICAM. But the simulated MCSs have stronger precipitation, smaller precipitation area, and larger cold cloud system than observed in both regions, which may be caused by weak entrainment as it is not well resolved at 14 km resolution. Here, the simulated MCS number is also underestimated in summer. By examining the climatological and MCS large-scale environments, the significant underestimation of MCS number in summer over the central U.S. may be attributed to the large climatological dry bias in the atmosphere. For China, mean moisture in summer is well simulated but deficiency in capturing the dynamic condition related to the coastal topography for triggering convection may have contributed to underestimation of MCS even in a sufficiently moist environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Derivation of WECC Distributed PV System Model Parameters from Quasi-Static Time-Series Distribution System Simulations

The response of low voltage networks with high penetration of PV systems to transmission network faults will, in the future, determine the overall power system performance during certain hours of the year. The WECC distributed PV system model (PVD1) is designed to represent small-scale distribution-connected systems. Although default values are provided by WECC for the model parameters, tuning of those parameters seems to become important in order to accurately estimate the partial loss of distributed PV systems for bulk system studies. The objective of this paper is to describe a new methodology to determine the WECC distributed PV system (PVD1) model parameters and to derive parameter sets obtained for six distribution circuits of a Californian investor-owned utility with large amounts of distributed PV systems. The results indicate that the parameters for the partial loss of distributed PV systems may differ significantly from the default values provided by WECC.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Low-order aquifer thermal energy storage model for geothermal system simulation

This paper presents a low-order aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) model for simulation of combined subsurface and above-surface energy systems. The model is included in the Modelica IBPSA Library, which is a free open-source library with basic models for building and district energy and control systems. The model uses a lumped-component method, in which the transient conductive-convective heat and mass transfer equation is radially discretized. To verify the accuracy of the model, we present an inter-model comparison from a simulation test suite. Results show that the Modelica ATES model is in good agreement, with a normalized mean bias error for yearly variation of aquifer temperatures of 1.6×10−2 and 9×10−5 at 1 m and 10 m distance from the well.

Maccarini, Alessandro↗

MO-FG-CAMPUS-JeP3-03: Detection of Unpredictable Patient Movement During SBRT Using a Single KV Projection of An On-Board CBCT System: Simulation Study

Purpose: An unpredictable movement of a patient can occur during SBRT even when immobilization devices are applied. In the SBRT treatments using a conventional linear accelerator detection of such movements relies heavily on human interaction and monitoring. This study aims to detect such positional abnormalities in real-time by assessing intra-fractional gantry mounted kV projection images of a patient’s spine. Methods: We propose a self-CBCT image based spine tracking method consisting of the following steps: (1)Acquire a pre-treatment CBCT image; (2)Transform the CBCT volume according to the couch correction; (3)Acquire kV projections during treatment beam delivery; (4)Simultaneously with each acquisition generate a DRR from the CBCT volume based-on the current projection geometry; (5)Perform an intensity gradient-based 2D registration between spine ROI images of the projection and the DRR images; (6)Report an alarm if the detected 2D displacement is beyond a threshold value. To demonstrate the feasibility, retrospective simulations were performed on 1,896 projections from nine CBCT sessions of three patients who received lung SBRT. The unpredictable movements were simulated by applying random rotations and translations to the reference CBCT prior to each DRR generation. As the ground truth, the 3D translations and/or rotations causing >3 mm displacement of the midpoint of the thoracic spine were regarded as abnormal. In the measurements, different threshold values of 2D displacement were tested to investigate sensitivity and specificity of the proposed method. Results: A linear relationship between the ground truth 3D displacement and the detected 2D displacement was observed (R{sup 2} = 0.44). When the 2D displacement threshold was set to 3.6 mm the overall sensitivity and specificity were 77.7±5.7% and 77.9±3.5% respectively. Conclusion: In this simulation study, it was demonstrated that intrafractional kV projections from an on-board CBCT system have a potential to detect unpredictable patient movement during SBRT. This research is funded by Interfractional Imaging Research Grant from Elekta.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

A Control-oriented Building Envelope and HVAC System Simulation Model for a Typical Large Office Building

To enable advanced controls research for buildings, in this paper we present a dynamic simulation model for a typical large office building. In this model, we utilized EnergyPlus for calculating the building thermal load and the Modelica HVAC equipment library to implement the dynamic behavior of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. We utilized a functional mockup interface to enable the run-time communication between the EnergyPlus model and the Modelica model. This simulation model can be driven by control inputs from supervisory decision making algorithms and thus can be used as a virtual testbed for advanced controls development and evaluation. To demonstrate the usage of the model, we implemented two HVAC control sequences representative for large office buildings, both based on the ASHRAE standard. Simulation results allowed us to compare the energy performance associated with the two control strategies, and the evolution of the system dynamics at a high temporal granularity.

Huang, Sen↗

Open-Source PSCAD Grid-Following and Grid-Forming Inverters and a Benchmark for Zero-Inertia Power System Simulations: Preprint

This paper presents open-source, flexible, and easily-scalable models of grid following and grid forming inverters for the PSCAD software platform. The models are intended for system integration studies, particularly stability analyses of power systems with high penetration of inverter-based generation. To verify the model functionality, they are implemented in a IEEE9-bus system in a zero-inertia operational scenario of 100% inverter-based generation. The models have been made available open source at the PyPSCAD NREL GitHub page.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗

Pan-spectral observing system simulation experiments of shortwave reflectance and long-wave radiance for climate model evaluation

Abstract. Top-of-atmosphere (TOA) spectrally resolved shortwave reflectances and long-wave radiances describe the response of the Earth's surface and atmosphere to feedback processes and human-induced forcings. In order to evaluate proposed long-duration spectral measurements, we have projected 21st Century changes from the Community Climate System Model (CCSM3.0) conducted for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) A2 Emissions Scenario onto shortwave reflectance spectra from 300 to 2500 nm and long-wave radiance spectra from 2000 to 200 cm –1 at 8 nm and 1 cm –1 resolution, respectively. The radiative transfer calculations have been rigorously validated against published standards and produce complementary signals describing the climate system forcings and feedbacks. Additional demonstration experiments were performed with the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC5) and Hadley Centre Global Environment Model version 2 Earth System (HadGEM2-ES) models for the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario. The calculations contain readily distinguishable signatures of low clouds, snow/ice, aerosols, temperature gradients, and water vapour distributions. The goal of this effort is to understand both how climate change alters reflected solar and emitted infrared spectra of the Earth and determine whether spectral measurements enhance our detection and attribution of climate change. This effort also presents a path forward to understand the characteristics of hyperspectral observational records needed to confront models and inline instrument simulation. Such simulation will enable a diverse set of comparisons between model results from coupled model intercomparisons and existing and proposed satellite instrument measurement systems.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

FISPACT-II: An Advanced Simulation System for Activation, Transmutation and Material Modelling

Fispact-II is a code system and library database for modelling activation-transmutation processes, depletion-burn-up, time dependent inventory and radiation damage source terms caused by nuclear reactions and decays. The Fispact-II code, written in object-style Fortran, follows the evolution of material irradiated by neutrons, alphas, gammas, protons, or deuterons, and provides a wide range of derived radiological output quantities to satisfy most needs for nuclear applications. It can be used with any ENDF-compliant group library data for nuclear reactions, particle-induced and spontaneous fission yields, and radioactive decay (including but not limited to TENDL-2015, ENDF/B-VII.1, JEFF-3.2, JENDL-4.0u, CENDL-3.1 processed into fine-group-structure files, GEFY-5.2 and UKDD-16), as well as resolved and unresolved resonance range probability tables for self-shielding corrections and updated radiological hazard indices. The code has many novel features including: extension of the energy range up to 1 GeV; additional neutron physics including self-shielding effects, temperature dependence, thin and thick target yields; pathway analysis; and sensitivity and uncertainty quantification and propagation using full covariance data. The latest ENDF libraries such as TENDL encompass thousands of target isotopes. Nuclear data libraries for Fispact-II are prepared from these using processing codes PREPRO, NJOY and CALENDF. These data include resonance parameters, cross sections with covariances, probability tables in the resonance ranges, PKA spectra, kerma, dpa, gas and radionuclide production and energy-dependent fission yields, supplemented with all 27 decay types. All such data for the five most important incident particles are provided in evaluated data tables. The Fispact-II simulation software is described in detail in this paper, together with the nuclear data libraries. The Fispact-II system also includes several utility programs for code-use optimisation, visualisation and production of secondary radiological quantities. Included in the paper are summaries of results from the suite of verification and validation reports available with the code.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

The Usage of Observing System Simulation Experiments and Reinforcement Learning to Optimize Experimental Design and Operation

Various organizations regularly conduct field campaigns across the globe designed to probe and improve atmospheric process understanding. However, these campaigns are mostly designed ad-hoc, and rely on anecdotes and knowledge of what was successful in previous campaigns. Such ad-hoc experiment design results in sub-optimal instrument siting and operation strategies. Inadequate targeted data collection of extreme weather is a major limitation to Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division (EESSD)’s goals of data model integration (4.5.3), which limits the knowledge gained through the collected observations, holding back significant advances in predictability. While advances in instrument design are always chipping away at these limitations, we are not optimally utilizing the instrumentation we currently possess.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Distributed Parareal in Time with Adaptive Coarse Solver for Large Scale Power System Simulations

This paper describes a distributed Parareal in time algorithm with the adaptive coarse solver. In the distributed algorithm, the propagation of a coarse solution is distributed among processors in addition to the fine solution propagation. In the adaptive coarse solver the complexity of the model is changed based on the size of generator rotor angle deviation. In addition, non-iterative approach to model a ZIP load is presented. The proposed method is tested on the large-scale 5617-machine 70285-bus Eastern Interconnection system.

Osipov, Denis↗

Dynamic System Simulation of the KRUSTY Experiment

The proposed KRUSTY experiment is a demonstration of a reactor operating at power. The planned experimental configuration includes a highly enriched uranium (HEU) reflected core, cooled by multiple heat pipes leading to Stirling engines for primary heat rejection. Operating power is expected to be approximately four (4) to five (5) kilowatts with a core temperature above 1,000 K. No data is available on any historical reactor employing HEU metal that operated over the temperature range required for the KRUSTY experiment. Further, no reactor has operated with heat pipes as the primary cooling mechanism. Historic power reactors have employed either natural or forced convection so data on their operation is not directly applicable to the KRUSTY experiment. The primary purpose of the system model once developed and refined by data from these component experiments, will be used to plan the KRUSTY experiment. This planning will include expected behavior of the reactor from start-up, through various transient conditions where cooling begins to become present and effective, and finally establishment of steady-state. In addition, the model can provide indicators of anticipated off-normal events and appropriate operator response to those conditions. This information can be used to develop specific experiment operating procedures and aids to guide the operators in conduct of the experiment.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Reactivity-controlled compression ignition drive cycle emissions and fuel economy estimations using vehicle system simulations

In-cylinder blending of gasoline and diesel to achieve reactivity-controlled compression ignition has been shown to reduce NO X and soot emissions while maintaining or improving brake thermal efficiency as compared with conventional diesel combustion. The reactivity-controlled compression ignition concept has an advantage over many advanced combustion strategies in that the fuel reactivity can be tailored to the engine speed and load, allowing stable low-temperature combustion to be extended over more of the light-duty drive cycle load range. In this paper, a multi-mode reactivity-controlled compression ignition strategy is employed where the engine switches from reactivity-controlled compression ignition to conventional diesel combustion when speed and load demand are outside of the experimentally determined reactivity-controlled compression ignition range. The potential for reactivity-controlled compression ignition to reduce drive cycle fuel economy and emissions is not clearly understood and is explored here by simulating the fuel economy and emissions for a multi-mode reactivity-controlled compression ignition–enabled vehicle operating over a variety of US drive cycles using experimental engine maps for multi-mode reactivity-controlled compression ignition, conventional diesel combustion, and a 2009 port-fuel injected gasoline engine. Drive cycle simulations are completed assuming a conventional mid-size passenger vehicle with an automatic transmission. Multi-mode reactivity-controlled compression ignition fuel economy simulation results are compared with the same vehicle powered by a representative 2009 port-fuel injected gasoline engine over multiple drive cycles. Finally, engine-out drive cycle emissions are compared with conventional diesel combustion, and observations regarding relative gasoline and diesel tank sizes needed for the various drive cycles are also summarized.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗