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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

Path Forward: Materials Data Modernization for ASME Codes and Standards in the Artificial Intelligence Era

Development of the ASME Materials Properties Database was initiated in the early 2010s to support the ASME Codes and Standards. As information technologies advance at an accelerated pace with the artificial intelligence era on the horizon, the ASME Materials Properties Database must be further modernized from a database to a knowledgebase to ride the wave of digital information revolution and effectively support the ASME Codes and Standards in the new era.This paper is intended to provide an overview of the ASME Materials Properties Database and discuss a roadmap for its future development to facilitate understanding of and participation from different sectors of the Codes and Standards community. It first reviews the basic concepts of data, information, knowledge, database, and database system; as well as the pros and cons in different types of data management, and then discusses the path forward for a desired evolution of the database into a self-explanatory and machine-readable knowledgebase that is consistent with human cognitive processes for the Codes and Standards development and furthermore provides resources for data processing and analysis to reach an eventual goal of streamlining the Codes and Standards development from the initial inquiry, throughout data submission, analysis, …, to Codes and Standards rule establishment for final publication.

Ren, Weiju↗

The Nuclear Energy Knowledge and Validation Center Summary of Activities Conducted in FY16

The Nuclear Energy Knowledge and Validation Center (NEKVaC) is a new initiative by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to coordinate and focus the resources and expertise that exist with the DOE toward solving issues in modern nuclear code validation and knowledge management. In time, code owners, users, and developers will view the NEKVaC as a partner and essential resource for acquiring the best practices and latest techniques for validating codes, providing guidance in planning and executing experiments, facilitating access to and maximizing the usefulness of existing data, and preserving knowledge for continual use by nuclear professionals and organizations for their own validation needs. The scope of the NEKVaC covers many interrelated activities that will need to be cultivated carefully in the near term and managed properly once the NEKVaC is fully functional. Three areas comprise the principal mission: (1) identify and prioritize projects that extend the field of validation science and its application to modern codes, (2) develop and disseminate best practices and guidelines for high-fidelity multiphysics/multiscale analysis code development and associated experiment design, and (3) define protocols for data acquisition and knowledge preservation and provide a portal for access to databases currently scattered among numerous organizations. These mission areas, while each having a unique focus, are interdependent and complementary. Likewise, all activities supported by the NEKVaC, both near term and long term, must possess elements supporting all three areas. This cross cutting nature is essential to ensuring that activities and supporting personnel do not become “stove piped” (i.e., focused a specific function that the activity itself becomes the objective rather than achieving the larger vision). This report begins with a description of the mission areas; specifically, the role played by each major committee and the types of activities for which they are responsible. It then lists and describes the proposed near term tasks upon which future efforts can build.

##CAI suggestions##↗

The Nuclear Energy Knowledge and Validation Center – Summary of Activities Conducted in FY15

The Nuclear Energy Knowledge and Validation Center (NEKVaC) is a new initiative by the Department of Energy and the Idaho National Laboratory to coordinate and focus the resources and expertise that exist with the DOE Complex toward solving issues in modern nuclear code validation. In time, code owners, users, and developers will view the Center as a partner and essential resource for acquiring the best practices and latest techniques for validating codes, for guidance in planning and executing experiments, for facilitating access to, and maximizing the usefulness of, existing data, and for preserving knowledge for continual use by nuclear professionals and organizations for their own validation needs. The scope of the center covers many inter-related activities which will need to be cultivated carefully in the near-term and managed properly once the Center is fully functional. Three areas comprise the principal mission: 1) identification and prioritization of projects that extend the field of validation science and its application to modern codes, 2) adapt or develop best practices and guidelines for high fidelity multiphysics/multiscale analysis code development and associated experiment design, and 3) define protocols for data acquisition and knowledge preservation and provide a portal for access to databases currently scattered among numerous organizations. These mission areas, while each having a unique focus, are inter-dependent and complementary. Likewise, all activities supported by the NEKVaC, both near-term and long-term), must possess elements supporting all three. This cross-cutting nature is essential to ensuring that activities and supporting personnel do not become ‘stove-piped’, i.e. focused so much on a specific function that the activity itself becomes the objective rather than the achieving the larger vision. Achieving the broader vision will require a healthy and accountable level of activity in each of the areas. This will take time and significant DOE support. Growing too fast (budget-wise) will not allow ideas to mature, lessons to be learned, and taxpayer money to be spent responsibly. The process should be initiated with a small set of tasks, executed over a short but reasonable term, that will exercise most if not all aspects of the Center’s potential operation. The initial activities described in this report have a high potential for near-term success in demonstrating Center objectives but also to work out some of the issues in task execution, communication between functional elements, and the ability to raise awareness of the Center and cement stakeholder buy-in. This report begins with a description of the Mission areas; specifically the role played by each and the types of activities for which they are responsible. It then lists and describes the proposed near-term tasks upon which future efforts can build.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment for Azerbaijan

Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessments (PSHA) underpin the determination of seismic loads in most contemporary seismic provisions of building codes around the world. Modern building codes are migrating towards using the entire uniform hazard spectrum at a range of vibration periods (typically up to 4 s or 10 s) rather than a single peak value such as peak ground acceleration (PGA), thus requiring a larger range of PSHA outputs. The hazard maps in the current version of the building code of Azerbaijan (2011) are in terms of intensity and peak ground acceleration. Recognizing the need for an up-to-date seismic hazard assessment in the country, Seismic Cooperation Program (SCP) under the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) undertook, in coordination with the Republican Seismic Survey Center of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and the Azerbaijan Scientific Research Institute of Construction and Architecture, a PSHA study that reflects new seismic data recorded locally and recent research conducted nationally and regionally since the last update to the building code. The PSHA framework for this project was designed to help develop a new earthquake catalogue, to incorporate a novel characterization of ground motions that specifically reflects the attenuation characteristics in the eastern Caucasus, and to generate hazard information in a form that is useful for an update of the current building code or the development of a new building code for Azerbaijan. The project also aimed to provide training and support for the local seismologists and engineers related to the seismic hazard models, probabilistic seismic hazard results and their use towards changes in the building code.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

SIMD Programming for the SMASH Shock Physics Code

Many modern CPUs that are available to the NNSA as mission computing resources support vector instruction sets. Making good use of vector instructions, referred to as “vectorization”, is often critical to getting the best performance from these CPUs. While other codes choose to rely on compiler auto-vectorization, the SMASH shock physics code chooses to leverage APIs for explicit vectorization. These APIs are similar to directly calling the CPU vendor’s vector intrinsics, with the additional benefit of being vendor-agnostic. This document explains what the SIMD APIs are and how to use them in developing SMASH.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Modernization efforts for the R-Matrix code SAMMY [Slides]

This presentation details modernization efforts for the R-Matrix code SAMMY. It provides an overview of SAMMY, modernization and maintenance goals, modernization accomplishments, covariance data, SAMMY API development, as well as future plans.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

An X-ray Intensity Operations Monitor (AXIOM) (Final LDRD Project Report)

The Saturn accelerator has historically lacked the capability to measure time-resolved spectra for its 3-ring bremsstrahlung x-ray source. This project aimed to create a spectrometer called AXIOM to provide this capability. The project had three major development pillars: hardware, simulation, and unfold code. The hardware consists of a ring of 24 detectors around an existing x-ray pinhole camera. The diagnostic was fielded on two shots at Saturn and over 100 shots at the TriMeV accelerator at Idaho Accelerator Center. A new Saturn x-ray environment simulation was created using measured data to validate. This simulation allows for timeresolved spectra computation to compare the experimental results. The AXIOM-Unfold code is a new parametric unfold code using modern global optimizers and uncertainty quantification. The code was written in Python, uses Gitlab version control and issue tracking, and has been developed with long term code support and maintenance in mind.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

SAS4A/SASSYS-1 Code Improvements for FY2016

SAS4A/SASSYS-1 is a simulation tool used to perform deterministic analysis of anticipated events as well as design basis and beyond design basis accidents for advanced reactors. This report summarizes ongoing tasks to modernize the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 code system to improve internal data management, update several other code modules, and add new features. Code modernization activities focused on eliminating legacy data management in the balance-of-plant module, which was the only module that still used non-portable data allocation. Code extensions include the development of a new axial expansion model that can accurately account for non-uniform or heterogeneous fuel compositions. The most significant accomplishment is the addition of uncertainty quantification capabilities for transient simulations using the Dakota toolkit from Sandia National Laboratory. The motivation for performing these updates stems from the relevance of SAS4A/SASSYS-1 to a number of U.S. Department of Energy programs as well as domestic and international collaborations. External collaborations have also produced improvements in the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 code, and these are summarized in this report. SAS4A/SASSYS-1 has a growing user base that continues to strengthen the promotion of advanced reactor concepts such as sodium cooled fast reactors. Additional users will help solidify DOE’s leadership role in fast reactor safety both domestically and in international collaborations.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

A Rule-Based Expert System Applied to Moisture Durability of Building Envelopes

The moisture durability of an envelope component such as a wall or roof is difficult to predict. Moisture durability depends on all the construction materials used, as well as the climate, orientation, air tightness, and indoor conditions. Modern building codes require more insulation and tighter construction but provide little guidance about how to ensure these energy-efficient assemblies remain moisture durable. Furthermore, as new products and materials are introduced, builders are increasingly uncertain about the long-term durability of their building envelope designs. Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the US Department of Energy's Building America Program are applying a rule-based expert system methodology in a web tool to help designers determine whether a given wall design is likely to be moisture durable and provide expert guidance on moisture risk management specific to a wall design and climate. The expert system is populated with knowledge from both expert judgment and probabilistic hygrothermal simulation results.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Detailed opacity comparison for an improved stellar modeling of the envelopes of massive stars

Seismic observations have led to doubts or ambiguities concerning the opacity calculations used in stellar physics. Here, we concentrate on the iron-group opacity peak, due to iron, nickel, and chromium, located around T = 200,000 K for densities from 10{sup −8} to 10{sup −4} g cm{sup −3}, which creates some convective layers in stellar radiative envelopes for masses between 3 and 18 M{sub ⊙}. These conditions were extensively studied in the 1980s. More recently, inconsistencies between OP and OPAL opacity calculations have complicated the interpretation of seismic observations as the iron-group opacity peak excites acoustic and gravity modes in SPB, β Cephei, and sdB stars. We investigate the reliability of the theoretical opacity calculations using the modern opacity codes ATOMIC and SCO-RCG. We show their temperature and density dependence for conditions that are achievable in the laboratory and equivalent to astrophysical conditions. We also compare new theoretical opacity spectra with OP spectra and quantify how different approximations impact the Rosseland mean calculations.This detailed study estimates new ATOMIC and SCO-RCG Rosseland mean values for astrophysical conditions which we compare to OP values. Some puzzling questions are still under investigation for iron, but we find a strong increase in the Rosseland mean nickel opacity of a factor between 2 and 6 compared to OP. This appears to be due to the use of extrapolated atomic data for the Ni opacity within the OP calculations. A study on chromium is also shown.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A Hybrid Domain Overlapping Method for Coupling System Thermal Hydraulics and CFD Codes

A hybrid multiscale coupling methodology based on a domain overlapping approach has been developed for coupling System Thermal Hydraulics (STH) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes. The method has been implemented between the modern STH code SAM and the CFD code NekRS, using the coupling tool Cardinal. The coupling aims to extend the STH code's applicability to scenarios where local momentum and energy transfers are important yet difficult for STH codes to capture, such as three-dimensional mixing. Two coupling strategies are implemented and compared: a hybrid domain overlapping method and the conventional domain decomposition method. Here, the strategies are applied to two closed-loop applications, and the present method shows superior stability behavior when compared to the domain decomposition method. Then, the present coupling method is validated against experimental data from a double T-junction experiment. The present STH/CFD coupling shows improved agreement with experimental data when compared to STH standalone simulations.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

MDSplus quality improvement project

MDSplus is a data acquisition and analysis system used worldwide predominantly in the fusion research community. Development began 29 years ago on the OpenVMS operating system. Since that time there have been many new features added and the code has been ported to many different operating systems. There have been contributions to the MDSplus development from the fusion community in the way of feature suggestions, feature implementations, documentation and porting to different operating systems. The bulk of the development and support of MDSplus, however, has been provided by a relatively small core developer group of three or four members. Given the size of the development team and the large number of users much more effort was focused on providing new features for the community than on keeping the underlying code and documentation up to date with the evolving software development standards. To ensure that MDSplus will continue to provide the needs of the community in the future, the MDSplus development team along with other members of the MDSplus user community has commenced on a major quality improvement project. The planned improvements include changes to software build scripts to better use GNU Autoconf and Automake tools, refactoring many of the source code modules using new language features available in modern compilers, using GNU MinGW-w64 to create MS Windows distributions, migrating to a more modern source code management system, improvement of source documentation as well as improvements to the www.mdsplus.org web site documentation and layout, and the addition of more comprehensive test suites to apply to MDSplus code builds prior to releasing installation kits to the community. This paper should lead to a much more robust product and establish a framework to maintain stability as more enhancements and features are added. Finally, this paper will describe these efforts that are either in progress or planned for the near future.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Modernizing Fortran 77 legacy codes

Legacy software has great value since it is generally well debugged, produces results that are trusted and is actively meeting end-user goals. The amount of hidden expert knowledge embedded in such software can be significant, making its preservation important.

Fortran scientific programming↗