Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “sampling design”

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 91 records · Page 5

Statistically-driven Experimental Design to Improve Reference-free Quantification of Small Molecules by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Non-targeted analysis of small molecules and metabolites in unknown, complex samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry remains challenging. One of the main bottlenecks is the extensive unannotated regions of metabolomics mass spectrometry data, resulting in knowledge gaps. Small molecule annotation in mass spectrometry data has conventionally relied on reference standards and libraries for compound identification and confirmation, which can constrain compound identification to those molecules already known, thus limiting the ability to discover new knowledge and new markers. Retention time prediction can facilitate and expedite unknown compound identification in non-targeted analysis of complex metabolomics samples. Additionally, accurate retention time predictions can also inform sample mixture design for LC-MS/MS analyses. However, current machine learning-based methods for retention time prediction are typically developed for specific chromatographic platforms and are not generalizable across scales. And while technologies and methods to improve reference-free metabolite identification for more comprehensive annotation of unknowns has received much attention, development of the same for quantitation without reference standards has been much more limited, despite its importance in toxicological, environmental, food safety, forensics, and clinical applications. We believe that a reference-free quantitation strategy that exploits mass spectrometry data already collected for reference-free identification can provide much more insight on unknowns, and move the metabolomics field for more complete unknowns characterization. As such, we pursue two efforts to improve upon current state-of-the-art methods in non-targeted analysis: (1) machine learning-based retention time prediction and (2) statistical design of experiments framework for reference-free quantitation. In this work, we develop and demonstrate (1) a generalizable retention time prediction capability across chromatographic conditions and scales, and (2) a statistical design-based framework for response factor contribution elucidation and reference-free quantitation. Evaluation of our retention time prediction model, PrediToR, showed approximately 24% improvement over current models, and we observed approximately 10X improvement in concentration estimation accuracy from our statistical design-based response factor model over a primarily ionization efficiency-based model. We expect that future efforts to improve upon these new capabilities will further advance non-targeted analysis of small molecules towards truly reference-free metabolomics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A high-granularity calorimeter insert based on SiPM-on-tile technology at the future Electron-Ion Collider

Herein we present a design for a high-granularity calorimeter insert for future experiments at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The sampling-calorimeter design uses scintillator tiles read out with silicon photomultipliers. It maximizes coverage close to the beampipe, while solving challenges arising from the beam-crossing angle and mechanical integration. It yields a compensated response that is linear over the energy range of interest for the EIC. Its energy resolution meets the requirements set in the EIC Yellow Report even with a basic reconstruction algorithm. Moreover, this detector will provide 5D shower data (position, energy, and time), which can be exploited with machine-learning techniques. This detector concept has the potential to unleash the power of imaging calorimetry at the EIC to enable measurements at extreme kinematics in electron–proton and electron–nucleus collisions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Changing the Rules of the Game: Used Fuel Studies Outside of a Remote Handling Facility

Recent advances in micro-fabrication tools like the FEI Helios NanoLab 660 dual Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) now make it possible to easily and reliably prepare micron (or smaller) specimens for analyses or further experimentation. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has leveraged this capability at the Category II Nuclear Facility, the Radiochemical Processing Laboratory, to facilitate nuclear materials analysis and experimentation of used nuclear fuel. Micron-scale specimens of un-irradiated UO2 fuel pellets of various enrichments from depleted to 4.95% enriched, relative to 235U, were prepared at PNNL and shipped to the University of Missouri’s Research Reactor (MURR) for irradiation. Prior to shipping, samples were attached to commercially available Transmission Electron Microscopy half-grids via ion deposition, which were then housed in specially designed aluminum sample holders approved for use at the reactor facility. This minimized handling and preparation requirements prior to materials analysis after irradiation. Samples were irradiated to a burnup equivalent of 8 – 3,700 MWd/MTU. Additionally, by reducing the size of the specimens, and therefore their emitted radiation dose, the required cooling time after irradiation and prior to analysis was greatly diminished, and handling of these samples could proceed outside of a hot cell facility. Results from these experiments provided insight into the initial production of noble metal phase particles in used nuclear fuel at extremely low burnup levels. Some incompatibility with the container was observed at higher burnup. Micro-scale irradiation experiments were performed at roughly 1/7th of the time, effort and expense a similar bulk-scale study requiring a shielded hot cell facility would require. Conducting nuclear materials analysis at the micron-scale holds the promise of enhancing collaboration and material accessibility to the broader research community, improving accessibility to cutting edge research tools by the nuclear materials science community, lowering the risk to the scientist by reducing radiation dose and exposure, reducing facility and research costs associated with the requirement to conduct nuclear materials science within glovebox or remote handling facilities, and minimizing waste.

Schwantes, Jon M.↗

Optical leakage mitigation in ortho-mode transducer detectors for microwave applications

Ortho-mode transducers (OMT) are a commonly used method of coupling opti-cal signals between waveguides and on-chip circuitry and detectors. While the ideal OMT-waveguide coupling requires minimal disturbance to the waveguide, when used for mm-wave applications the waveguide is often slide though and the OMT probes inserted on a thin support membrane. This interface is a potential source of signal leakage and can lead to signal loss and experimental systematics (e.g. in CMB polarization experiments where lost signal can result in temperature to polarization leakage). Here we report on the development of new OMT- waveguide coupling structures with the goal of reducing leakage at the horn-to-detector-wafer interface. The pixel to pixel optical leakage due to the gap be-tween the coupling waveguide and the backshort is reduced by means of a protrusion that passes through the OMT membrane and connects the waveguide sections on each side of the wafer. High frequency electromagnetic simulations indicate that these protrusions can reduce optical leakage in the gap by ~80% percent, with a ~60% filling factor, respect to an ordinary OMT coupling without protrusion, using designs that are compatible with current fabrication processes. We describe the design of the new coupling structure including the impact of varying two key parameters: wafer to optical coupling gap and protrusion fill factor. Prototype devices have been designed that will characterize the performance of the new design using a relative measurement with varying filling factors. We describe the simulation setup and results, and present a chip layout and sample box designed to perform an initial measurement.

Detectors↗

Active learning for the design of polycrystalline textures using conditional normalizing flows

Generative modeling has opened new avenues for solving previously intractable materials design problems. However, these new opportunities are accompanied by a drastic increase in the required amount of training data. This is in stark juxtaposition to the high expense and difficulty in curating such large materials datasets. In this work, we propose a novel framework for integrating generative models within an active learning loop. Further, this enables the training of generative models with datasets significantly smaller than what has previously been demonstrated, providing a direct route for their application in data constrained environments. The functionality of this framework is then demonstrated by addressing the challenge of designing polycrystalline textures associated with target anisotropic mechanical properties. The developed protocol exhibited a cost reduction between 14 to 18 times over a randomly sampled experimental design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Towards a Robust Sampling Approach: A Computational Review and Design

As pointed out in several other works, the estimation of the reliability of the electrical grid can not be conducted without the estimation of the stochastic phenomena of electicity demand and electricity production by variable renewable sources. Therefore, sampling procedures have become integral in the design of engineering structures and analysis. Commonly referred to as Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis or integration, the general objective of these procedures is to establish specifics about the uncertainty of an output characteristic of such an engineering system, given uncertainty about its input characteristics. These sampling procedures are applied in a context in which establishing such specifics cannot be performed through other means. Variance-reduction techniques are designed to lessen the variability among estimators to estimate statistics of those output uncertainties. Importance-sampling techniques, on the other hand, are designed to reduce the number of samples needed to estimate a particular statistic—e.g., a tail probability. The combination of these approaches can reduce the computational burden considerably for a particular estimator and statistic. Importance sampling—geared and designed as it is toward improving a particular estimator—suffers, unfortunately, from the unintended consequence of reducing the performance of other estimators in terms of their variance. The objective of this paper is to offer an alternative sampling procedure where this variance does not grow unacceptably large for a suite of estimators. Moreover, it is anticipated that, with additional knowledge of how an engineering output characteristic responds to its input characteristics, tuning parameters of the input’s sampling procedure can be set to improve the output characteristic’s estimation. This work proves the effectiveness of the suggested alternative approach. Such positive outcome will lead to a decrease of the computational burden of performing stochastic optimization of integrated energy systems (e.g., components dispatch, and portfolio composition). In particular, capturing the contribution to the overall system cost of rare and unlikely events and patterns of the electricity demand and production will become less computationally expensive. This is due to the fact that the approach demonstrated here will allow the sampling of those rare occurrences more frequently without misrepresenting their probabilistic impacts.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Do Minor Interactions Trigger Star Formation in Galaxy Pairs?

Abstract We analyze the galaxy pairs in a set of volume limited samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to study the effects of minor interactions on the star formation rate (SFR) and color of galaxies. We carefully design control samples of isolated galaxies by matching the stellar mass and redshift of the minor pairs. The SFR distributions and color distributions in the minor pairs differ from their controls at >99% significance level. We also simultaneously match the control galaxies in stellar mass, redshift and local density to assess the role of the environment. The null hypothesis can be rejected at >99% confidence level even after matching the environment. Our analysis shows a quenching in the minor pairs where the degree of quenching decreases with the increasing pair separation and plateaus beyond 50 kpc. We also prepare a sample of minor pairs with H α line information. We calculate the SFR of these galaxies using the H α line and repeat our analysis. We observe a quenching in the H α sample too. We find that the majority of the minor pairs are quiescent systems that could be quenched due to minor interactions. Combining data from the Galaxy Zoo and Galaxy Zoo 2, we find that only ∼1% galaxies have a dominant bulge, 4%–7% galaxies host a bar and 5%–10% of galaxies show active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in minor pairs. This indicates that the presence of bulge, bar or AGN activity plays an insignificant role in quenching the galaxies in minor pairs. The more massive companion satisfies the criteria for mass quenching in most of the minor pairs. We propose that the stripping and starvation likely caused the quenching in the less massive companion at a later stage of evolution.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Ice Nucleating Particles (INP) Raw Data

The ice nucleation spectrometer (INS) is an offline analytical measurement system used to process filter samples for freezing temperature spectra of immersion-mode ice-nucleating particle (INP) number concentrations. It is almost identical to the Colorado State University (CSU) ice spectrometer design. Filter samples are collected at ARM facilities routinely and during intensive operational periods, and on the ARM tethered balloon system operated by Sandia National Laboratories, then processed on the INS at CSU. This filter log contains the detailed metadata at all ARM sites where INP filter sample collection has occurred or is currently ongoing. Metadata include start and end times, vacuum line pressures and temperatures, and flow rates; total accumulated flow through each filter; and notes on collection issues or weather conditions. Users can also keep up to date with the status of filter and data processing, even before data are available on ARM's Data Discovery. Users can contact INP mentors Jessie Creamean or Thomas Hill with any questions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Summary of Stack Tests at TA-16-Bldg 205: Horizontal Duct on WETF Roof

In late 2023 and early 2024, testing was done at the Weapons Engineering Tritium Facility (WETF) rooftop exhaust duct to verify that the stack sample location was in compliance with the ANSI standard for stack sampling, ANSI N13.1-1999. This ANSI standard is called out by the Clean Air Act rules for airborne radionuclide emissions from DOE facilities, 40 CFR 61 Subpart H. This sample location is designated 16020504, indicating Technical Area 16, Building 0205. The rooftop duct formerly discharged to Exhaust Stack 04, but in 2007 it was re-routed to exhaust out Building 0450, Exhaust Stack 05. For continuity, we have kept the 16020504 designation to represent this duct sample location.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

High-Resolution Sampling of a River Plume Front with Uncrewed Underwater and Aerial Vehicles

Sampling fast-propagating oceanic features is inherently challenging and demands versatile instrumentation and innovative strategies. This paper introduces a novel sampling strategy designed to capture such phenomena, exemplified by a river plume front. Our method revolves around modifying the preprogrammed pathway of an uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) to dynamically track and three-dimensionally sample the evolution of the front. To enable the UUV to follow the feature, we adapt the use of a drifting gateway buoy to be positioned and trapped at the front’s convergence zone, allowing underway navigation relative to the buoy. In our demonstration, we showcase the effectiveness of this strategy by successfully conducting over 30 crossings of a river plume front within a 6-h window. The UUV sensors allowed a comprehensive assessment of key front characteristics, including density, velocity, and turbulence. Supplemental drone footage contributed to the overall picture and facilitated the transformation of the dataset into a front-following reference frame. This article provides an in-depth description of the deployment strategy and required postcollection data processing, including frontal crossing detection, the assessment of the frontal orientation from drone footage, and defining the plume bottom boundaries using backscatter intensity contours.

autonomous observations↗

Data-Driven Model Reduction of Multiphase Flow in a Single-Hole Automotive Injector

Fuel injector design has a substantial influence on the performance and emissions of direct injection engines. To date, large eddy simulations coupled with a single-fluidmixture modeling approach have shown great success in evaluating the complex interplay among injector design, fuel properties, and operating conditions on the injector performance. However, this simulation approach is too computationally expensive to be used by industry routinely for injector design due to the fine temporal and spatial resolution required to resolve wall-bounded flow within the injector. The work presented in this paper highlights a potential pathway to addressing this issue. To study the influence of injector design, fuel properties, and operating conditions on injector performance, large eddy simulations were performed to model the turbulent multiphase flow development through a side-oriented singlehole diesel injector. Using Latin hypercube sampling, the design space spanning a range of fuel properties, operating conditions, and needle lifts were explored. Two techniques for dimensionality reduction, namely proper orthogonal decomposition and autoencoders, were compared to evaluate their accuracy in representing the flow in a reduced dimensional space. Finally, based on the findings from this work, recommendations are provided in using machine learning approaches within the context of emulation to construct reduced-ordermodels for internal flow development relevant to automotive applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Airfoil Computational Fluid Dynamics - 2k shapes, 25 AoA's, 3 Re numbers

This dataset contains aerodynamic quantities - including flow field values (momentum, energy, and vorticity) and summary values (coefficients of lift, drag, and momentum) - for 1,830 airfoil shapes computed using the HAM2D CFD (computational fluid dynamics) model. The airfoil shapes were designed using the separable shape tensor parameterization that encodes two-dimensional shapes as elements of the Grassmann manifold. This data-driven approach learns two independent spaces of parameter from a collection of sample airfoils. The first captures large-scale, linear perturbations, and the second defines small-scale, higher-order perturbations. For this dataset, we used the G2Aero database of over 19,000 airfoil shapes to learn a parameter space that captured a wide array of shape characteristics. We sampled airfoil designs over both parameter spaces to explore the full range of possible shape variations. The aerodynamic quantities for the generated airfoil were obtained using the HAM2D code, which is a finite-volume Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) flow solver. We employ a fifth-order WENO scheme for spatial reconstruction with Roe's flux difference scheme for inviscid flux and second-order central differencing for viscous flux. A preconditioned GMRES method is applied for implicit integration. The Spalart-Allmaras 1-eq turbulence model is used for the turbulence closure, and the Medida-Baeder 2-eq transition model is applied to account for the effects of laminar turbulent transition. The airfoil grid is generated with a total of 400 points on the airfoil surface, the initial wall-normal spacing of y+ = 1, and an outer boundary located at 300 chord lengths away from the wall. The CFD simulations are performed at a freestream Mach number of 0.1, for or three different Reynolds' numbers (3M, 6M, and 9M), and for 25 angles of attack from -4 deg. to 20 deg. with 1 degree increments. Across all these various parameters, this dataset includes the results from over 250,000 CFD simulations. The simulations were performed using the Bridges-2 system at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center in February 2023 as part of the INTEGRATE project funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy, in the U.S. Department of Energy. The data was collected, reformatted, and preprocessed for this OEDI submission in July 2023 under the Foundational AI for Wind Energy project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Wind Energy Technologies Office. This dataset is intended to serve as a benchmark against which new artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) tools may be tested. Baseline AI/ML methods for analyzing this dataset have been implemented, and a link to their repository containing those models has been provided. The .h5 data file structure can be found in the GitHub Repository resource under explore_airfoil_2k_data.ipynb.

2k↗

Advanced Permanent Magnet Generator Topologies Using Multimaterial Shape Optimization and 3D Printing: Preprint

A vast majority of utility-scale wind turbine generators in the United States are dependent on foreign- sourced rare-earth permanent magnets that are vulnerable to supply chain uncertainties. Many small wind original equipment manufacturers are motivated to pursue continuous improvements to the generator design to lower the material and production costs and improve performance by lowering cogging torque and increasing the efficiency. Traditional design and manufacturing offer limited opportunities. In this work, we demonstrate advanced design approaches for a 15-kW baseline wind turbine generator by making use of recent progress in three-dimensional (3D) printing of polymer- bonded magnets and, electrical and structural steel. We explore three methods of magnet parametrization using Bezier curves resulting in symmetric, asymmetric and multimaterial magnet designs. We employ a multiphysics approach combining parametric computer-aided design modeling, finite- element analysis and targeted sampling to identify novel designs with more opportunities for reducing rare-earth material, improving efficiency and minimizing cogging torque. The results show that asymmetric-pole design and multimaterial-pole designs offer a greater opportunity to minimize rare-earth magnet materials by up to 35% with similar performance as the baseline generator, suggesting newer opportunities with design freedom beyond traditional limits of symmetry and as allowed by 3D printing.

Bezier curves↗

A highly wear resistant nanostructured bainitic steel with accelerated transformation kinetics

A coupled Calculation of Phase Diagrams (CALPHAD), machine learning, and data mining approach was used to design a new, highly wear-resistant nanostructured bainitic steel. Arc melting of the designed compositions, dilatometry, and advanced microscopy indicate that the designed steel had a nanoscale dual-phase structure of ferrite and austenite (approximately 50 nm) with kinetics 7x faster for the onset of bainite and 2x faster for complete transformation. Under dry sliding conditions using the current state-of-the-art AISI 52100 bearing steel as the counter sample, the designed steel little to no wear, indicating its potential for applications in high-wear service conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Dispersion-enhanced sequential batch sampling for adaptive contour estimation

In computer simulation and optimal design, sequential batch sampling offers an appealing way to iteratively stipulate optimal sampling points based upon existing selections and efficiently construct surrogate modeling. Nonetheless, the issue of near duplicates poses tremendous quandary for sequential learning. It refers to the situation that selected critical points cluster together in each sampling batch, which are individually but not collectively informative towards the optimal design. Near duplicates severely diminish the computational efficiency as they barely contribute extra information towards update of the surrogate. To address this issue, we impose a dispersion criterion on concurrent selection of sampling points, which essentially forces a sparse distribution of critical points in each batch, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in adaptive contour estimation. Specifically, we adopt Gaussian process surrogate to emulate the simulator, acquire variance reduction of the critical region from new sampling points as a dispersion criterion, and combine it with the modified expected improvement (EI) function for critical batch selection. The critical region here is the proximity of the contour of interest. This proposed approach is vindicated in numerical examples of a two-dimensional four-branch function, a four-dimensional function with a disjoint contour of interest and a time-delay dynamic system.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

All-purpose, all-sky photometric redshifts for the Legacy Imaging Surveys Data Release 8

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present photometric redshift (photo-z) estimates for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Surveys, currently the most sensitive optical survey covering the majority of the extragalactic sky. Our photo-z methodology is based on a machine-learning approach, using sparse Gaussian processes augmented with Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) that allow regions of parameter space to be identified and trained separately in a purely data-driven way. The same GMMs are also used to calculate cost-sensitive learning weights that mitigate biases in the spectroscopic training sample. By design, this approach aims to produce reliable and unbiased predictions for all parts of the parameter space present in wide area surveys. Compared to previous literature estimates using the same underlying photometry, our photo-zs are significantly less biased and more accurate at z > 1, with negligible loss in precision or reliability for resolved galaxies at z < 1. Our photo-z estimates offer accurate predictions for rare high-value populations within the parent sample, including optically selected quasars at the highest redshifts (z > 6), as well as X-ray or radio continuum selected populations across a broad range of flux (densities) and redshift. Deriving photo-z estimates for the full Legacy Imaging Surveys Data Release 8, the catalogues provided in this work offer photo-z estimates predicted to be of high quality for ≳9 × 108 galaxies over ${\sim}19\, 400\, \text{deg}^{2}$ and spanning 0 < z ≲ 7, offering one of the most extensive samples of redshift estimates ever produced.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Effects of Hydrogen Redistribution at High Temperatures in Yttrium Hydride Moderator Material

We report advanced materials development, manufacturing, and modeling capabilities for innovative reactor designs support nuclear security and mission-focused science through enhanced technology for safer and more efficient and secure production of nuclear energy. The high temperature moderator material yttrium hydride poses a significant enhancement in small reactor design by thermalizing (slowing down) neutrons and decreasing the required fuel mass for a system. The research presented here supports understanding hydrogen distribution in yttrium hydride through: (1) the development of neutron-based hydrogen imaging and crystallographic characterization that allows us to understand fundamental diffraction behaviors and to observe changes in hydrogen distribution as a function of temperature and (2) subsequent neutron multiplication (reactivity) effects of changes in hydrogen distribution using measurement-based cross sections in a sample microreactor design. The main conclusions from the work are that: (1) hydrogen does not redistribute significantly below temperatures of 800°C in yttrium hydride and (2) hydrogen redistribution affects the reactivity slightly but not significantly.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Comprehensive framework for assessing and optimizing existing research networks

Conservation, monitoring, and research networks, or collections of ecological research sites unified under a common mission of data collection or a research mission, are essential infrastructure for understanding large landscapes. However, most networks developed opportunistically over decades rather than through systematic design, creating potential limitations in the ability to address conservation challenges across entire regions. We developed a framework to evaluate how well an existing research network represents the environmental conditions its members study and devised an approach to rank sites of priority for strategic expansion. Our approach measures performance through environmental representativeness, geographic coverage, and adequacy for scientific inference and thus optimizes limited monitoring resources to maximize scientific impact. We demonstrated this approach with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Experimental Forests and Ranges Network (EFRN), a 79‐site network across the United States that grew opportunistically over a century. At the national scale, the network effectively captured high‐biomass forests important for carbon cycle research; 82% of forest biomass was in well‐represented areas. Some areas in Texas, Florida, the Rocky Mountains, and the West Coast had no relevant EFRN sites, which limits the ability to make regional inferences. A fundamental challenge for the EFRN was that sites improving regional extent coverage sometimes provided minimal national benefits, which can create conflicts between local and global priorities. Adding the highest‐ranked candidate site provided a relevant site for 17% of currently poorly represented 1‐km pixel cells nationally, but regional and national site rankings varied considerably due to nested spatial inference. This framework provides quantitative tools for strategic infrastructure decision‐making, ensures that limited monitoring resources maximize conservation impact, and can be applied broadly to address the widespread challenge of optimizing conservation and monitoring networks worldwide.

additional site↗