Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “error fields”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 847 records · Page 47
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Use of Electronic Hand-held Devices for Collection of Savannah River Site Environmental Data - 13329

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions has begun using Xplore Tablet PC's to collect data in the field for soil samples, groundwater samples, air samples and round sheets at the Savannah River Site (SRS). EPA guidelines for groundwater sampling are incorporated into the application to ensure the sample technician follows the proper protocol. The sample technician is guided through the process for sampling and round sheet data collection by a series of menus and input boxes. Field measurements and well stabilization information are entered into the tablet for uploading into Environmental Restoration Data Management System (ERDMS). The process helps to eliminate input errors and provides data integrity. A soil sample technician has the ability to collect information about location of sample, field parameter, describe the soil sample, print bottle labels, and print chain of custody for the sample that they have collected. An air sample technician has the ability to provide flow, pressure, hours of operation, print bottle labels and chain of custody for samples they collect. Round sheets are collected using the information provided in the various procedures. The data are collected and uploaded into ERDMS. The equipment used is weather proof and hardened for the field use. Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities are integrated into the applications to provide the location where samples were collected and to help sample technicians locate wells that are not visited often. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2022

Geometrical picture of the electron–electron correlation at the large- D limit

In electronic structure calculations, the correlation energy is defined as the difference between the mean field and the exact solution of the non relativistic Schrödinger equation. Such an error in the different calculations is not directly observable as there is no simple quantum mechanical operator, apart from correlation functions, that correspond to such quantity. Here, we use the dimensional scaling approach, in which the electrons are localized at the large-dimensional scaled space, to describe a geometric picture of the electronic correlation. Both, the mean field, and the exact solutions at the large-D limit have distinct geometries. Thus, the difference might be used to describe the correlation effect. Moreover, correlations can be also described and quantified by the entanglement between the electrons, which is a strong correlation without a classical analog. Entanglement is directly observable and it is one of the most striking properties of quantum mechanics and bounded by the area law for local gapped Hamiltonians of interacting many-body systems. This study opens up the possibility of presenting a geometrical picture of the electron–electron correlations and might give a bound on the correlation energy. Furthermore, the results at the large-D limit and at D = 3 indicate the feasibility of using the geometrical picture to get a bound on the electron–electron correlations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2012

Relationship between x-ray illumination field size and flat field intensity and its impacts on x-ray imaging

Purpose: X-ray cone-beam CT (CBCT) is being increasingly used for various clinical applications, while its performance is still hindered by image artifacts. This work investigates a new source of reconstruction error, which is often overlooked in the current CBCT imaging. The authors find that the x-ray flat field intensity (I{sub 0}) varies significantly as the illumination volume size changes at different collimator settings. A wrong I{sub 0} value leads to inaccurate CT numbers of reconstructed images as well as wrong scatter measurements in the CBCT research. Methods: The authors argue that the finite size of x-ray focal spot together with the detector glare effect cause the I{sub 0} variation at different illumination sizes. Although the focal spot of commercial x-ray tubes typically has a nominal size of less than 1 mm, the off-focal-spot radiation covers an area of several millimeters on the tungsten target. Due to the large magnification factor from the field collimator to the detector, the penumbra effects of the collimator blades result in different I{sub 0} values for different illumination field sizes. Detector glare further increases the variation, since one pencil beam of incident x-ray is scattered into an area of several centimeters on the detector. In this paper, the authors study these two effects by measuring the focal spot distribution with a pinhole assembly and the detector point spread function (PSF) with an edge-spread function method. The authors then derive a formula to estimate the I{sub 0} value for different illumination field sizes, using the measured focal spot distribution and the detector PSF. Phantom studies are carried out to investigate the accuracy of scatter measurements and CT images with and without considering the I{sub 0} variation effects. Results: On our tabletop system with a Varian Paxscan 4030CB flat-panel detector and a Varian RAD-94 x-ray tube as used on a clinical CBCT system, the focal spot distribution has a measured full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of around 0.4 mm, while non-negligible off-focal-spot radiation is observed at a distance of over 2 mm from the center. The measured detector PSF has an FWHM of 0.510 mm, with a shape close to Gaussian. From these two distributions, the author calculate the estimated I{sub 0} values at different collimator settings. The I{sub 0} variation mainly comes from the focal spot effect. The estimation matches well with the measurements at different collimator widths in both horizontal and vertical directions, with an average error of less than 3%. Our method improves the accuracy of conventional scatter measurements, where the scatter is measured as the difference between fan-beam and cone-beam projections. On a uniform water cylinder phantom, more accurate I{sub 0} suppresses the unfaithful high-frequency signals at the object boundaries of the measured scatter, and the SPR estimation error is reduced from 0.158 to 0.014. The proposed I{sub 0} estimation also reduces the reconstruction error from about 20 HU on the Catphan Copyright-Sign 600 phantom in the selected regions of interest to less than 4 HU. Conclusions: The I{sub 0} variation is identified as one additional error source in x-ray imaging. By measuring the focal-spot distribution and detector PSF, the authors propose an accurate method of estimating the I{sub 0} value for different illumination field sizes. The method obtains more accurate scatter measurements and therefore facilitates scatter correction algorithm designs. As correction methods for other CBCT artifacts become more successful, our research is significant in further improving the CBCT imaging accuracy.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

A non-intrusive optical (NIO) approach to characterize heliostats in utility-scale power tower plants: Methodology and in-situ validation

No reliable in-situ optical characterization tool is available that can efficiently and accurately measure various optical errors of individual heliostats in a utility-scale power-tower plant. Here, an innovative non-intrusive optical (NIO) approach is proposed to measure mirror surface slope error, mirror facet canting error, and heliostat tracking error based on reflection images using the natural target—the tower—in a heliostat field. The NIO approach adopts various techniques in photogrammetry, reflectometry, and geometrical optics to first determine the camera position and the actual tower position with respect to the heliostat. Then, Snell’s law is applied to find the surface normal at the reflection point or line of a reflection image and derive the surface slope error, mirror facet canting error, and heliostat tracking error accordingly. In addition, an in-situ validation is performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the NIO approach. Analysis with multiple sets of reflection images on one single heliostat of interest demonstrates that the NIO method can achieve a measurement uncertainty of 0.22 mrad for mirror facet slope error (root-mean-square) at the given test conditions. The sensitivity of measurement uncertainty to various parameters will be presented in a separate work. In the future, state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are planned to perform the efficient image collection with a goal to complete the survey across a utility-scale field of over 10,000 heliostats within one or a few days depending on the number of UASs. The development of the NIO approach is expected to fill the critical gap for successful solar-field operation and maintenance, which is necessary for the global growth of the solar power-tower technology. The NIO approach can also be applied to any relevant industry requiring high-precision mirror surface shape characterization.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Beam correction for multi-pass arcs in FFA@CEBAF: status update

This work examines the multi-pass steering of six electron beams in an FFA arc ranging from approximately 10.5 GeV to 22 GeV. Shown here is an algorithm based on singular value decomposition (SVD) to successfully steer all six beams through the arc given precise knowledge of all beam positions at each of one hundred and one diagnostic locations with one hundred individual corrector magnets: that is successive application of SVD to different 100 × 101 response matrices—one for each beam energy. Further, a machine learning scheme is developed which only requires knowledge of the energy-averaged beam position at each location to provide equivalent steering. Extension of this scheme to other beam optics quantities as well as transverse and longitudinal coupling is explored.

Accelerator Physics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Manufactured solutions for an electromagnetic slot model

The accurate modeling of electromagnetic penetration is an important topic in computational electromagnetics. Electromagnetic penetration occurs through intentional or inadvertent openings in an otherwise closed electromagnetic scatterer, which prevent the contents from being fully shielded from external fields. To efficiently model electromagnetic penetration, aperture or slot models can be used with surface integral equations to solve Maxwell's equations. A necessary step towards establishing the credibility of these models is to assess the correctness of the implementation of the underlying numerical methods through code verification. Surface integral equations and slot models yield multiple interacting sources of numerical error and other challenges, which render traditional code-verification approaches ineffective. In this paper, we provide approaches to separately measure the numerical errors arising from these different error sources for the method-of-moments implementation of the electric-field integral equation with a slot model. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of these approaches for a variety of cases.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

FInd Gas Source

FIGS is a neural network software that ingests real time synchronized field data on environmental flow fields and turbulence and gas concentration variations at high frequency and uses an error minimization algorithm to locate the gas source and quantify its strength. The software can be interfaced with atmospheric, oceanic and subsurface instruments in a variety of platforms stationary or mobile (e.g. cars, UAVs, submersible vehicles or boreholes) and used to find gas sources by smart use of data and phenomenology. FIGS can be trained by phenomenological model of the flow fields in the environment of interest and/or be calibrated by controlled release. After initial deployment the FIGS learning will grow with time as it accumulates data on source quantification. FIGS can be installed on any computer from small beagle-bones for field deployment/end-use to PC/MACs/main-frame for training/analysis. FIGS has been trained (using LANL's high resolution atmospheric simulations) and calibrated, tested and evaluated in the field and shown to perform well in finding and quantifying methane leaks at 10-100m scales at well pads by ingesting atmospheric measurements. The code is applicable to gas and particle source location at large scales.

Travis, Bryan↗
DOE OSTI2020

Interlaboratory Study of Digital Volume Correlation Error Due to X-Ray Computed Tomography Equipment and Scan Parameters: an Update from the DVC Challenge

Background: The quality of Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) full-field displacement measurements depends directly on the characteristics of the X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) equipment, and scan procedures used to acquire the tomographic images. Objective: In this work, we seek to experimentally study the effects of XCT equipment and tomographic scan procedures on the quality of these images for DVC analysis, and to survey the level of DVC error that may be achieved using standard XCT operating procedures. Methods: Six participants in an interlaboratory study acquired high-quality XCT scans of a syntactic foam before and after rigid body motion. The resulting images were correlated using commercial DVC software to quantify error sources due to random image noise, reconstruction artifacts, as well as systematic spatial or temporal distortion. Results: In the absence of rigid body motion, the standard deviation of the displacement measurements ranged from 0.012 to 0.043 voxels using a moderate subvolume size, indicating that subvoxel measurement resolution could readily be achieved with a variety of XCT equipment and scan recipes. Comparison of consecutive scans without rigid body motion showed transient dilatational displacement gradients due to self-heating of the X-ray source and/or thermal expansion of the foam. Evaluation of the scans after rigid body motion showed significant, machine-specific spatial distortion in the displacement fields of up to 0.5 voxels; new approaches to remove this error need to be developed. Conclusions: Analysis of the scan protocols used in the interlaboratory study, as well as a complementary parametric sensitivity study, showed that the DVC error was strongly influenced by the XCT equipment, but could be mitigated by adjusting the total scan duration.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Towards sharp error analysis of extended Lagrangian molecular dynamics

The extended Lagrangian molecular dynamics (XLMD) method provides a useful framework for reducing the computational cost of a class of molecular dynamics simulations with constrained latent variables. The XLMD method relaxes the constraints by introducing a fictitious mass ε for the latent variables and solving a set of singularly perturbed ordinary differential equations. While favorable numerical performance of XLMD has been demonstrated in several different contexts in the past decade, mathematical analysis of the method remains scarce. Here, we propose the first error analysis of the XLMD method in the context of a classical polarizable force field model. While the dynamics with respect to the atomic degrees of freedom are general and nonlinear, the key mathematical simplification of the polarizable force field model is that the constraints on the latent variables are given by a linear system of equations. We prove that when the initial value of the latent variables is compatible in a sense that we define, XLMD converges as the fictitious mass ε is made small with $\mathscr{O}$(ε) error for the atomic degrees of freedom and with $\mathscr{O}$($\sqrt{ε}$) error for the latent variables, when the dimension of the latent variable d' is 1. Furthermore, when the initial value of the latent variables is improved to be optimally compatible in a certain sense, we prove that the convergence rate can be improved to $\mathscr{O}$(ε) for the latent variables as well. Numerical results verify that both estimates are sharp not only for d'=1, but also for arbitrary d'. In the setting of general d', we do obtain convergence, but with the non-sharp rate of $\mathscr{O}$($\sqrt{ε}$) for both the atomic and latent variables.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Image-Guided Localization Accuracy of Stereoscopic Planar and Volumetric Imaging Methods for Stereotactic Radiation Surgery and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: A Phantom Study

Purpose: To evaluate the positioning accuracies of two image-guided localization systems, ExacTrac and On-Board Imager (OBI), in a stereotactic treatment unit. Methods and Materials: An anthropomorphic pelvis phantom with eight internal metal markers (BBs) was used. The center of one BB was set as plan isocenter. The phantom was set up on a treatment table with various initial setup errors. Then, the errors were corrected using each of the investigated systems. The residual errors were measured with respect to the radiation isocenter using orthogonal portal images with field size 3 x 3 cm{sup 2}. The angular localization discrepancies of the two systems and the correction accuracy of the robotic couch were also studied. A pair of pre- and post-cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images was acquired for each angular correction. Then, the correction errors were estimated by using the internal BBs through fiducial marker-based registrations. Results: The isocenter localization errors ({mu} {+-}{sigma}) in the left/right, posterior/anterior, and superior/inferior directions were, respectively, -0.2 {+-} 0.2 mm, -0.8 {+-} 0.2 mm, and -0.8 {+-} 0.4 mm for ExacTrac, and 0.5 {+-} 0.7 mm, 0.6 {+-} 0.5 mm, and 0.0 {+-} 0.5 mm for OBI CBCT. The registration angular discrepancy was 0.1 {+-} 0.2{sup o} between the two systems, and the maximum angle correction error of the robotic couch was 0.2{sup o} about all axes. Conclusion: Both the ExacTrac and the OBI CBCT systems showed approximately 1 mm isocenter localization accuracies. The angular discrepancy of two systems was minimal, and the robotic couch angle correction was accurate. These positioning uncertainties should be taken as a lower bound because the results were based on a rigid dosimetry phantom.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Structure of the Wall Sheath in a Gas-Discharge Plasma for an Arbitrary Orientation of a Flat Probe Relative to the Electric Field in the Plasma

We investigate the structure of the wall sheath of a gas discharge near a flat surface at a negative potential for high mean electron energy. It is shown that in the conditions where the mean energy of ions in the plasma is much lower than the mean electron energy, the parameters of the wall sheath weakly depend on the mutual orientation of the normal to the surface and the electric field in the plasma for an arbitrary ratio of the Debye radius to the ion mean free path relative to the resonant charge exchange process. It is found that for inert gases (He, Ar) for ratio E/P of the electric field to pressure exceeding 10 V/(cm Torr) in the plasma, the disregard of ionization in the perturbed wall sheath can lead to substantial errors in the calculation of its parameters. It is shown that the ionization leads to an increase in the electric field in the wall sheath and, as a consequence, to an increase in the mean velocity of ions at the boundary between the quasi-neutral presheath and the part of the perturbed wall sheath in which quasi-neutrality is substantially violated. The parameters of the wall sheath where quasi-neutrality is significantly violated depend on the ionization rate much less strongly than the corresponding parameters of the quasi-neutral presheath. We have determined the relation for concentration of charged particles in the unperturbed plasma from the ion saturation current considering the actual ion energy distribution function in the plasma as well as ionization in the presheath and the part of the perturbed wall sheath in which quasi-neutrality is violated significantly.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Heliostat Consortium: Gap Analysis on Wind Load for Achieving a Fully Competitive Heliostat Industry

The Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon) Wind Load Subtask was initiated with the aim of bringing research work pertaining to wind load measurement, characterization, and prediction taking place across several tasks, including Advanced Manufacturing, Components and Controls, and Field Deployment. The cross-cutting wind load subtopic in the HelioCon roadmap report [1] highlighted standardized methods and tools that are needed for a more detailed understanding of the static and dynamic loads on a heliostat. This will enable cost reduction of wind-dependent heliostat components to avoid unnecessarily conservative, overly constrained designs and increase field efficiency/reliability, to reduce the risk of component failures due to high-wind events (>15 m/s). Gaps related to heliostat wind load include site characterization for wind measurements, critical load cases for heliostat design, turbulence impacts on heliostat tracking error, testing of heliostat array configurations, understanding spatial variation of maximum loads across the solar field, and heliostat field layout and operating strategies. The recommended highest-priority pathway as first steps taken by HelioCon to address these gaps are to develop site characterization guidelines for heliostat design and field load measurements.

Emes, Matthew (ORCID:0000000341474387)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Precise 2D electric field density simulations for superconducting quantum devices

Dielectric loss due to two-level systems is a limiting factor for superconducting qubit relaxation times. These losses arise mostly from nanometer-scale interfacial defect regions in superconducting devices with planar dimensions of microns to millimeters, thus making it resource intensive to accurately simulate the electric field density in these regions with traditional electromagnetic solvers. In this work, we demonstrate a fast boundary integral equation solver that allows precise simulation of electric field density in these thin regions, showing a speedup of around two orders of magnitude over traditional solvers, with relative errors around $10^{-7}$ for a ten-minute solution runtime. By computing participation ratios through Green's first identity without squaring the electric field, our approach is less susceptible to the field singularities near conductor corners. We apply this solver to a basic untrenched coplanar waveguide cross-section, showing that the common assumption of participation ratio linearity with dielectric constant holds well for some interfaces and not others; in particular, while the metal-air (MA) top and corner follow this linear relationship strongly, the MA sidewall does not. We then compare isotropic and anisotropic etching, showing that the MA sidewall and the metal-air-substrate triple junction are the most strongly affected. We are currently leveraging this solver to explore geometries that will uniquely isolate the participation ratios of the different dielectrics. Finally, we are working to combine this solver framework with a full 3D microwave solver to accurately calculate participation ratios for the thin dielectrics that are known sources of loss in superconducting qubits.

Gimbutas, Z. [NIST, Boulder] (ORCID:00000003320982↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-T-631: Preliminary Results for Analytical Investigation Into Effects of ArcCHECK Setup Errors

Purpose: As three-dimensional diode arrays increase in popularity for patient-specific quality assurance for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), it is important to evaluate an array’s susceptibility to setup errors. The ArcCHECK phantom is set up by manually aligning its outside marks with the linear accelerator’s lasers and light-field. If done correctly, this aligns the ArcCHECK cylinder’s central axis (CAX) with the linear accelerator’s axis of rotation. However, this process is prone to error. This project has developed an analytical expression including a perturbation factor to quantify the effect of shifts. Methods: The ArcCHECK is set up by aligning its machine marks with either the sagittal room lasers or the light-field of the linear accelerator at gantry zero (IEC). ArcCHECK has sixty-six evenly-spaced SunPoint diodes aligned radially in a ring 14.4 cm from CAX. The detector response function (DRF) was measured and combined with inverse-square correction to develop an analytical expression for output. The output was calculated using shifts of 0 (perfect alignment), +/−1, +/−2 and +/−5 mm. The effect on a series of simple inputs was determined: unity, 1-D ramp, steps, and hat-function to represent uniform field, wedge, evenly-spaced modulation, and single sharp modulation, respectively. Results: Geometric expressions were developed with perturbation factor included to represent shifts. DRF was modeled using sixth-degree polynomials with correlation coefficient 0.9997. The output was calculated using simple inputs such as unity, 1-D ramp, steps, and hat-function, with perturbation factors of: 0, +/−1, +/−2 and +/−5 mm. Discrepancies have been observed, but large fluctuations have been somewhat mitigated by aliasing arising from discrete diode placement. Conclusion: An analytical expression with perturbation factors was developed to estimate the impact of setup errors on an ArcCHECK phantom. Presently, this has been applied to simple functions, but is being developed to handle more realistic clinical cases.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2011

Scintillation has minimal impact on far-field Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol quantum key distribution

The effect of scintillation, arising from propagation through atmospheric turbulence, on the sift and error probabilities of a quantum key distribution (QKD) system that uses the weak-laser-pulse version of the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) protocol is evaluated. Two earth-space scenarios are examined: satellite-to-ground and ground-to-satellite transmission. Both lie in the far-field power-transfer regime. This work complements previous analysis of turbulence effects in near-field terrestrial BB84 QKD [J. H. Shapiro, Phys. Rev. A 67, 022309 (2003)]. More importantly, it shows that scintillation has virtually no impact on the sift and error probabilities in earth-space BB84 QKD, something that has been implicitly assumed in prior analyses for that application. This result contrasts rather sharply with what is known for high-speed laser communications over such paths, in which deep, long-lived scintillation fades present a major challenge to high-reliability operation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

A $C^1$-Conforming Arbitrary-Order Two-Dimensional Virtual Element Method for the Fourth-Order Phase-Field Equation

We present a two-dimensional conforming virtual element method for the fourth-order phase-field equation. Our proposed numerical approach to the solution of this high-order phase-field (HOPF) equation relies on the design of an arbitrary-order accurate, virtual element space with $C^1$ global regularity. Such regularity is guaranteed by taking the values of the virtual element functions and their full gradient at the mesh vertices as degrees of freedom. Attaining high-order accuracy requires also edge polynomial moments of the trace of the virtual element functions and their normal derivatives. In this work, we detail the scheme construction, and prove its convergence by deriving error estimates in different norms. A set of representative test cases allows us to assess the behavior of the method.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measuring skewness of red blood cell deformability distribution by laser ektacytometry

An algorithm is proposed for measuring the parameters of red blood cell deformability distribution based on laser diffractometry of red blood cells in shear flow (ektacytometry). The algorithm is tested on specially prepared samples of rat blood. In these experiments we succeeded in measuring the mean deformability, deformability variance and skewness of red blood cell deformability distribution with errors of 10%, 15% and 35%, respectively. (laser biophotonics)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Local hybrid functionals with orbital-free mixing functions and balanced elimination of self-interaction error

The recently introduced density overlap regions indicator (DORI) [P. de Silva and C. Corminboeuf, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 10(9), 3745–3756 (2014)] is a density-dependent scalar field revealing regions of high density overlap between shells, atoms, and molecules. In this work, we exploit its properties to construct local hybrid exchange-correlation functionals aiming at balanced reduction of the self-interaction error. We show that DORI can successfully replace the ratio of the von Weizsäcker and exact positive-definite kinetic energy densities, which is commonly used in mixing functions of local hybrids. Additionally, we introduce several semi-empirical parameters to control the local and global admixture of exact exchange. The most promising of our local hybrids clearly outperforms the underlying semi-local functionals as well as their global hybrids.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗