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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 811 records · Page 45
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Exfoliation of surfactant swollen layered MWW zeolites into two-dimensional zeolite nanosheets using telechelic liquid polybutadiene

We report two-dimensional (2D) zeolites have the potential to enhance mass transport by reducing diffusion lengths and thus find applications in catalysis and separation. High aspect ratio 2D zeolite nanosheets are required for fabrication of thin, high-flux zeolite membranes. Preparation of 2D zeolite nanosheets can be achieved by exfoliation of layered zeolite precursors, which usually requires multiple steps including swelling with cationic surfactants, exfoliation by applying a mechanical force such as shearing or sonication, purification and removal of the surfactants. The exfoliation of surfactant swollen layered zeolite precursors has been studied using molten polystyrene and telechelic liquid polybutadiene, but still requires extensive shearing force. Recently, a novel one-step exfoliation method has been developed for nonswollen MWW zeolite precursors using tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH) solution. In this work, we study the exfoliation of surfactant swollen MWW layered precursors (with and without aluminum) in commercially available liquid hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) with the aim to provide fundamental understanding of the interaction between the liquid polybutadiene and the surfactant swollen layered zeolite precursors. It was found that surfactant swollen ITQ-1, (ITQ-1(S)), a pure silica layered precursor with MWW framework after being swollen with a cationic surfactant, can be exfoliated in liquid HTPB at room temperature without applying any additional shearing force. The aluminum containing surfactant swollen MWW precursors can be also exfoliated in HTPB at room temperature, but require additional shearing forces. The exfoliation process was monitored using rheology experiments and studied by tuning the composition of the zeolite precursors. The interaction between the layered zeolite precursor and the hydroxyl group of the liquid polybutadiene allows the polymer to intercalate the precursor and exfoliate it into nanosheets. The presence of framework aluminum and the nature of the organic structure directing agents (OSDAs) are key parameters affecting the exfoliation process. Framework Al is unfavorable for the exfoliation possibly due to the surface charges introduced by the aluminum. Bulky OSDA, trimethyladamantammonium (TMAda + ), in the interlayer spacing may facilitate the exfoliation.

2D nanosheets↗
DOE OSTI2016

Growth and coalescence control of inclined c-axis polar and semipolar GaN multilayer structures grown on Si(111), Si(112), and Si(115) by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Herein, silicon substrates in alternative orientations from the commonly used Si(111) were used to enable the growth of polar and semipolar GaN-based structures by the metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy method. Specifically, Si(112) and Si(115) substrates were used for the epitaxial growth of nitride multilayer structures, while the same layer schemes were also deposited on Si(111) for comparison purposes. Multiple approaches were studied to examine the influence of the seed layers and the growth process conditions upon the final properties of the GaN/Si(11x) templates. Scanning electron microscope images were acquired to examine the topography of the deposited samples. It was observed that the substrate orientation and the process conditions allow control to produce an isolated GaN block growth or a coalesced layer growth, resulting in inclined c-axis GaN structures under various forms. The angles of the GaN c-axis inclination were determined by x-ray diffraction measurements and compared with the results obtained from the analysis of the atomic force microscope (AFM) images. The AFM image analysis method to determine the structure tilt was found to be a viable method to estimate the c-axis inclination angles of the isolated blocks and the not-fully coalesced layers. The quality of the grown samples was characterized by the photoluminescence method conducted at a wide range of temperatures from 77 to 297 K, and was correlated with the sample degree of coalescence. Using the free-excitation peak positions plotted as a function of temperature, analytical Bose-Einstein model parameters were fitted to obtain further information about the grown structures.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Efficient calculation of self magnetic field, self-force, and self-inductance for electromagnetic coils with rectangular cross-section

Abstract For designing high-field electromagnets, the Lorentz force on coils needs to be computed in order to design suitable support structures, and the inductance should be computed to evaluate the stored energy and dynamics. Also, the magnetic field and its variation inside the conductor is of interest for computing stress and strain, and due to superconducting quench limits. For these force, inductance, energy, and internal field calculations, the coils cannot be naively approximated as infinitesimally thin filaments due to divergences when the source and evaluation points coincide, so more computationally demanding calculations are usually required, resolving the finite cross-section of the conductors. Here, we present a new alternative method that enables the internal magnetic field vector, self-force, and self-inductance to be computed rapidly and accurately within a 1D filament model. The method is applicable to coils for which the curve center-line can have general noncircular shape, as long as the conductor width is small compared to the radius of curvature. This paper extends a previous calculation for circular-cross-section conductors (Hurwitz et al 2024 IEEE Trans. Magn. ) to consider the case of rectangular cross-section. The reduced model is derived by rigorous analysis of the singularity, regularizing the filament integrals such that they match the true high-dimensional integrals at high coil aspect ratio. The new filament model exactly recovers analytic results for a circular coil, and is shown to accurately reproduce full finite-cross-section calculations for a non-planar coil of a stellarator magnetic fusion device. Due to the efficiency of the model here, it is well suited for use inside design optimization.

Landreman, Matt (ORCID:000000027233577X)↗
DOE OSTI2019

Rosette-scan video-rate atomic force microscopy: Trajectory patterning and control design

We introduce an analysis and a systematic design methodology for a novel nonraster scan method based on a rosette pattern and demonstrate its application in video-rate atomic force microscopy. This pattern is traced when the lateral axes of a parallel kinematic scanner are commanded to follow a combination of two sinusoids with identical amplitudes and different frequencies. We create an internal-model-based controller to enhance the tracking performance of this pattern and implement the scheme on a microelectromechanical system scanner. The conclusions reveal high-precision tracking of the rosette pattern in order to acquire time-lapsed atomic force microscope images at the rate of 10 frames/s.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Graphene folding on flat substrates

We present a combined experimental-theoretical study of graphene folding on flat substrates. The structure and deformation of the folded graphene sheet are experimentally characterized by atomic force microscopy. The local graphene folding behaviors are interpreted based on nonlinear continuum mechanics modeling and molecular dynamics simulations. Our study on self-folding of a trilayer graphene sheet reports a bending stiffness of about 6.57 eV, which is about four times the reported values for monolayer graphene. Our results reveal that an intriguing free sliding phenomenon occurs at the interlayer van der Waals interfaces during the graphene folding process. This work demonstrates that it is a plausible venue to quantify the bending stiffness of graphene based on its self-folding conformation on flat substrates. The findings reported in this work are useful to a better understanding of the mechanical properties of graphene and in the pursuit of its applications.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

On the toroidal plasma rotations induced by lower hybrid waves

A theoretical model is developed to explain the plasma rotations induced by lower hybrid waves in Alcator C-Mod. In this model, torodial rotations are driven by the Lorentz force on the bulk-electron flow across flux surfaces, which is a response of the plasma to the resonant-electron flow across flux surfaces induced by the lower hybrid waves. The flow across flux surfaces of the resonant electrons and the bulk electrons are coupled through the radial electric field initiated by the resonant electrons, and the friction between ions and electrons transfers the toroidal momentum to ions from electrons. An improved quasilinear theory with gyrophase dependent distribution function is developed to calculate the perpendicular resonant-electron flow. Toroidal rotations are determined using a set of fluid equations for bulk electrons and ions, which are solved numerically by a finite-difference method. Numerical results agree well with the experimental observations in terms of flow profile and amplitude. The model explains the strong correlation between torodial flow and internal inductance observed experimentally, and predicts both counter-current and co-current flows, depending on the perpendicular wave vectors of the lower hybrid waves.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Solution of the Skyrme-Hartree–Fock–Bogolyubov equations in the Cartesian deformed harmonic-oscillator basis. (VIII) HFODD (v2.73y): A new version of the program

Here, we describe the new version (v2.73y) of the code hfodd which solves the nuclear Skyrme Hartree–Fock or Skyrme Hartree–Fock–Bogolyubov problem by using the Cartesian deformed harmonic-oscillator basis. In the new version, we have implemented the following new features: (i) full proton–neutron mixing in the particle–hole channel for Skyrme functionals, (ii) the Gogny force in both particle–hole and particle–particle channels, (iii) linear multi-constraint method at finite temperature, (iv) fission toolkit including the constraint on the number of particles in the neck between two fragments, calculation of the interaction energy between fragments, and calculation of the nuclear and Coulomb energy of each fragment, (v) the new version 200d of the code hfbtho, together with an enhanced interface between HFBTHO and HFODD, (vi) parallel capabilities, significantly extended by adding several restart options for large-scale jobs, (vii) the Lipkin translational energy correction method with pairing, (viii) higher-order Lipkin particle-number corrections, (ix) interface to a program plotting single-particle energies or Routhians, (x) strong-force isospin-symmetry-breaking terms, and (xi) the Augmented Lagrangian Method for calculations with 3D constraints on angular momentum and isospin. Finally, an important bug related to the calculation of the entropy at finite temperature and several other little significant errors of the previous published version were corrected.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Detection of Periodic Forced Oscillations in Power Systems

An algorithm for the detection and frequency estimation of forced oscillations in power systems is proposed. The method operates by comparing the periodogram of synchrophasor measurements to a detection threshold. This threshold is established by deriving a general expression for the distribution of the periodogram and is related to the algorithm's probabilities of false alarm and detection. Unlike classic detection algorithms designed for use with white Gaussian noise, the proposed algorithm uses a detection threshold that varies with frequency to account for the colored nature of synchrophasor measurements. Further, a detection scheme based on multiple segments of data is proposed to improve the algorithm's performance as a monitoring tool in the online environment. A design approach that helps to ensure that the best-available probability of detection from any one detection segment is constantly increasing with the duration of the forced oscillation is also developed. Results from application of the detection algorithm to simulated and measured power system data suggest that the algorithm provides the expected detection performance and can be used to detect forced oscillations in practical monitoring of power systems.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optimal smoothing length scale for actuator line models of wind turbine blades based on Gaussian body force distribution: Wind energy, actuator line model

The actuator line model (ALM) is a commonly used method to represent lifting surfaces such as wind turbine blades within large-eddy simulations (LES). In the ALM, the lift and drag forces are replaced by an imposed body force that is typically smoothed over several grid points using a Gaussian kernel with some prescribed smoothing width e. To date, the choice of e has most often been based on numerical considerations related to the grid spacing used in LES. However, especially for finely resolved LES with grid spacings on the order of or smaller than the chord length of the blade, the best choice of e is not known. In this work, a theoretical approach is followed to determine the most suitable value of e, based on an analytical solution to the linearized inviscid flow response to a Gaussian force. We find that the optimal smoothing width eopt is on the order of 14%-25% of the chord length of the blade, and the center of force is located at about 13%-26% downstream of the leading edge of the blade for the cases considered. These optimal values do not depend on angle of attack and depend only weakly on the type of lifting surface. It is then shown that an even more realistic velocity field can be induced by a 2-D elliptical Gaussian lift-force kernel. Some results are also provided regarding drag force representation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Theory of Single-Impact Atomic Force Spectroscopy in liquids with material contrast

Scanning probe microscopy has enabled nanoscale mapping of mechanical properties in important technological materials, such as tissues, biomaterials, polymers, nanointerfaces of composite materials, to name only a few. To improve and widen the measurement of nanoscale mechanical properties, a number of methods have been proposed to overcome the widely used force-displacement mode, that is inherently slow and limited to a quasi-static regime, mainly using multiple sinusoidal excitations of the sample base or of the cantilever. Here, a different approach is put forward. It exploits the unique capabilities of the wavelet transform analysis to harness the information encoded in a short duration spectroscopy experiment. It is based on an impulsive excitation of the cantilever and a single impact of the tip with the sample. It performs well in highly damped environments, which are often seen as problematic in other standard dynamic methods. Our results are very promising in terms of viscoelastic property discrimination. Their potential is oriented (but not limited) to samples that demand imaging in liquid native environments and also to highly vulnerable samples whose compositional mapping cannot be obtained through standard tapping imaging techniques.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Non-perturbative Approach to Computing Seismic Normal Modes in Rotating Planets

In this work, a continuous Galerkin method based approach is presented to compute the seismic normal modes of rotating planets. Special care is taken to separate out the essential spectrum in the presence of a fluid outer core using a polynomial filtering eigensolver. The relevant elastic-gravitational system of equations, including the Coriolis force, is subjected to a mixed finite-element method, while self-gravitation is accounted for with the fast multipole method. Our discretization utilizes fully unstructured tetrahedral meshes for both solid and fluid regions. The relevant eigenvalue problem is solved by a combination of several highly parallel and computationally efficient methods. We validate our three-dimensional results in the non-rotating case using analytical results for constant elastic balls, as well as numerical results for an isotropic Earth model from standard “radial” algorithms. We also validate the computations in the rotating case, but only in the slowly-rotating regime where perturbation theory applies, because no other independent algorithms are available in the general case. The algorithm and code are used to compute the point spectra of eigenfrequencies in several Earth and Mars models studying the effects of heterogeneity on a large range of scales.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Discretization Procedure for Linear Dynamical Systems

We describe in detail a method of construction of a discrete linear dynamical model of a controllable object in the recurrent Cauchy form corresponding to an initial continuous dynamical system. We describe discretization algorithms for free and forced motion of a linear continuous dynamical system and propose methods of construction of the state, control, and perturbation transition matrices.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2016

The effect of surfaces on molecular ordering in thin liquid-crystal systems

A theoretical method for analyzing the interplay between pair long-range intermolecular forces and nonlocal, relatively short-range, surface interactions in liquid crystals, confined between plates of thin planar cells, is developed. It is shown that this method, as involving the concept of local orientational and translational order parameters, enables detailed investigations of the emergence of smectic A, nematic, and isotopic phases, as well as yields an insight into phase transitions between them, in cases of systems strongly affected by surfaces. The evidence of various surface effects, including the coexistence of different phases and the inward propagation of surface melting under the increase of temperature, is also given. The underlying numerical procedure, based on the algorithm of self-consistent calculations of local order parameters, is found to be very effective, allowing one to consider model systems of rather large thicknesses, corresponding to thicknesses of real sample cells.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Benchmarking Simulated Precipitation Variability Amplitude across Time Scales

Here, objective performance metrics that measure precipitation variability across time scales from subdaily to interannual are presented and applied to Historical simulations of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 and 6 (CMIP5 and CMIP6) models. Three satellite-based precipitation estimates (IMERG, TRMM, and CMORPH) are used as reference data. We apply two independent methods to estimate temporal variability of precipitation and compare the consistency in their results. The first method is derived from power spectra analysis of 3-hourly precipitation, measuring forced variability by solar insolation (diurnal and annual cycles) and internal variability at different time scales (subdaily, synoptic, subseasonal, seasonal, and interannual). The second method is based on time averaging and facilitates estimating the seasonality of subdaily variability. Supporting the robustness of our metric, we find a near equivalence between the results obtained from the two methods when examining simulated-to-observed ratios over large domains (global, tropics, extratropics, land, or ocean). Additionally, we demonstrate that our model evaluation is not very sensitive to the discrepancies between observations. Our results reveal that CMIP5 and CMIP6 models in general overestimate the forced variability while they underestimate the internal variability, especially in the tropical ocean and higher-frequency variability. The underestimation of subdaily variability is consistent across different seasons. The internal variability is overall improved in CMIP6, but remains underestimated, and there is little evidence of improvement in forced variability. Increased horizontal resolution results in some improvement of internal variability at subdaily and synoptic time scales, but not at longer time scales.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Simulated vs. empirical weather responsiveness of crop yields: US evidence and implications for the agricultural impacts of climate change

Global gridded crop models (GGCMs) are the workhorse of assessments of the agricultural impacts of climate change. Yet the changes in crop yields projected by different models in response to the same meteorological forcing can differ substantially. Through an inter-method comparison, we provide a first glimpse into the origins and implications of this divergence—both among GGCMs and between GGCMs and historical observations. We examine yields of rainfed maize, wheat, and soybeans simulated by six GGCMs as part of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project-Fast Track (ISIMIP-FT) exercise, comparing 1981–2004 hindcast yields over the coterminous United States (US) against US Department of Agriculture (USDA) time series for about 1000 counties. Leveraging the empirical climate change impacts literature, we estimate reduced-form econometric models of crop yield responses to temperature and precipitation exposures for both GGCMs and observations. We find that up to 60% of the variance in both simulated and observed yields is attributable to weather variation. A majority of the GGCMs have difficulty reproducing the observed distribution of percentage yield anomalies, and exhibit aggregate responses that show yields to be more weather-sensitive than in the observational record over the predominant range of temperature and precipitation conditions. In conclusion, this disparity is largely attributable to heterogeneity in GGCMs' responses, as opposed to uncertainty in historical weather forcings, and is responsible for widely divergent impacts of climate on future crop yields.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

What causes the spread of model projections of ocean dynamic sea-level change in response to greenhouse gas forcing?

Abstract Sea levels of different atmosphere–ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) respond to climate change forcing in different ways, representing a crucial uncertainty in climate change research. We isolate the role of the ocean dynamics in setting the spatial pattern of dynamic sea-level ( ζ ) change by forcing several AOGCMs with prescribed identical heat, momentum (wind) and freshwater flux perturbations. This method produces a ζ projection spread comparable in magnitude to the spread that results from greenhouse gas forcing, indicating that the differences in ocean model formulation are the cause, rather than diversity in surface flux change. The heat flux change drives most of the global pattern of ζ change, while the momentum and water flux changes cause locally confined features. North Atlantic heat uptake causes large temperature and salinity driven density changes, altering local ocean transport and ζ . The spread between AOGCMs here is caused largely by differences in their regional transport adjustment, which redistributes heat that was already in the ocean prior to perturbation. The geographic details of the ζ change in the North Atlantic are diverse across models, but the underlying dynamic change is similar. In contrast, the heat absorbed by the Southern Ocean does not strongly alter the vertically coherent circulation. The Arctic ζ change is dissimilar across models, owing to differences in passive heat uptake and circulation change. Only the Arctic is strongly affected by nonlinear interactions between the three air-sea flux changes, and these are model specific.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Moving Toward Quantifying Reliability - The Next Step in a Rapidly Maturing PV Industry: Preprint

Some may say that PV modules are moving toward being a simple commodity, but most major PV customers ask: 'How can I minimize chances of a module recall?' Or, 'How can I quantify the added value of a 'premium' module?' Or, 'How can I assess the value of an old PV system that I'm thinking of purchasing?' These are all questions that PVQAT (the International PV Quality Assurance Task Force) and partner organizations are working to answer. Defining standard methods for ensuring minimal acceptable quality of PV modules, differentiating modules that provide added value in the toughest of environments, and creating a process (e.g. through IECRE [1]) that can follow a PV system from design through installation and operation are tough tasks, but having standard approaches for these will increase confidence, reduce costs, and be a critical foundation of a mature PV industry. This paper summarizes current needs for new tests, some challenges for defining those tests, and some of the key efforts toward development of international standards, emphasizing that meaningful quantification of reliability (as in defining a service life prediction) must be done in the context of a specific product with design parameters defined through a quality management system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Efficiency enhancement of nonlinear odd harmonics in thermal free electron laser

The effect of axial energy spread on the radiation of third harmonic is studied in the free electron laser with planar wiggler and ion-channel guiding. Spread in the longitudinal momentum and so in the initial energy of electron beam, without any spread in the transverse velocity, is assumed in the form of Gaussian distribution function. The technique that is employed is a one-dimensional and steady-state simulation. A set of self consistent nonlinear differential equations that describes the system is solved numerically by Runge-Kutta method. Due to the sensitivity of harmonics to thermal effects, gain improvement of third harmonic radiation is achieved by using ion-channel guiding technique and efficiency enhancement is applied by tapering the magnetic field of wiggler to optimize radiation. The bunching parameter of the electron beam is also studied. It is found that the growth of the magnitude of the bunching parameter that is caused by the ponderomotive wave stops before the saturation point of the radiation. This means that ponderomotive wave saturates at a shorter distance compared to the radiation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗