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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 937 records · Page 52

Faster than Real-Time Dynamic Simulation for Large-Size Power System with Detailed Dynamic Models using High-Performance Computing Platform

This paper presents a faster-than-real-time dynamic simulation software package that is designed for large-size power system dynamic simulation. It was developed on the GridPACKTM high-performance computing (HPC) framework. The key features of the developed software package include (1) faster-than-real-time dynamic simulation for a WECC system (17,000 buses) with different types of detailed generator, controller, and relay dynamic models, (2) a decoupled parallel dynamic simulation algorithm with optimized computation architecture to better leverage HPC resources and technologies, (3) options for HPC-based linear and iterative solvers, (4) hidden HPC details, such as data communication and distribution, to enable development centered on mathematical models and algorithms rather than on computational details for power system researchers, and (5) easy integration of new dynamic models and related algorithms into the software package.

Huang, Renke↗

Dependencies of Simulated Convective Cell and System Growth Biases on Atmospheric Instability and Model Resolution

Abstract This study evaluates convective cell properties and their relationships with convective and stratiform rainfall within a season‐long convection‐permitting weather research and forecasting simulation over central Argentina using radar, satellite, and radiosonde measurements from the RELAMPAGO‐CACTI field campaign. The simulation slightly underestimates radar‐estimated rainfall over the ∼3.5‐month evaluation period but underestimates stratiform rainfall by 46% and overestimates convective rainfall by 43%. As convective available potential energy (CAPE) increases, the convective rainfall overestimation decreases, but the stratiform rainfall underestimation increases such that the contribution of convective to total rainfall remains constantly high biased by ∼26%. Overestimated convective rainfall arises from the simulation generating 2.6 times more precipitating convective cells (14,299) than observed by radar (5,662) despite similar observed and simulated cell growth processes, with relatively wide cells contributing mostly to excessive convective rainfall. Relatively shallow cells, typically reaching heights of 4–7 km, contribute most to the cell number bias. This cell number bias increases as CAPE decreases, potentially because cells and their updrafts become narrower and more under‐resolved as CAPE decreases. The gross overproduction of precipitating shallow cells leads to overly efficient precipitation and inadequate detrainment of ice aloft, thereby diminishing the formation of robust stratiform rainfall regions. Decreasing model horizontal grid spacing from 3 to 1 or 0.333 km for low (<300 J kg −1 ) and high CAPE (>1,000 J kg −1 ) cases results in minimal change to cell number, depth, and convective‐to‐stratiform partitioning biases. This suggests that improving prediction of these convective properties depends on factors beyond solely increasing model resolution.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Distributed and communication-efficient solutions to linear equations with special sparse structure

In this paper we report two distributed and communication-efficient algorithms based on the multi-agent system are proposed to solve a system of linear equations with the Laplacian sparse system matrix. One algorithm is based on the gradient descent method in optimization. In this algorithm, the agents only share partial information instead of all of their collective state vectors to save significant communication. The other algorithm is obtained by approximating Newton’s method for a faster convergence rate. Although it requires twice as much communication as the first one, it is still communication-efficient given the low dimension of the information shared among agents. The convergence at a linear rate is proved for both algorithms, and a comprehensive comparison of their convergence rate, communication burden, and computation costs is also performed. The proposed algorithms can be applied to various systems to solve those problems that can be modeled as a system of linear equations with a Laplacian sparse system matrix. Simulation results with the electric power system illustrate their effectiveness.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Molecular Simulation of Capture of Sulfur-Containing Gases by Porous Aromatic Frameworks

The adsorption of pure SO2 and H2S and their selective adsorption from various gas mixtures by porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) are investigated using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations and first-principles density functional theory calculations. The influence of functional groups including -CH 3 , -CN, -COOH, -COOCH 3 , -OH, -OCH 3 , -NH 2 , and -NO 2 on the adsorption of pure SO 2 and H 2 S as well as selective capture of SO 2 and H 2 S from SO 2 /N 2 , SO 2 /CO 2 , H 2 S/CO 2 , and H 2 S/CH 4 mixtures is explored. Our calculations indicate that PAFs exhibit high loadings for pure SO 2 and H 2 S gas adsorption at 298 K up to 40 bar compare to other gases such as CH 4 and CO 2 . Additional functional groups enhance gas uptake at low pressures because of stronger interaction with the gas molecules while reducing gas uptake at high pressures because of a decrease in pore volume. The contributions of electrostatic interactions to gas adsorption loadings are analyzed in GCMC simulations. Ideal adsorbed solution theory calculations generally overestimate SO 2 and H 2 S adsorption selectivity in gas mixtures but qualitatively predict the trends seen in GCMC simulations for these systems. The GCMC simulations further show that the inclusion of any of the functional groups we considered increases the selectivity of SO 2 /N 2 , SO 2 /CO 2 , H 2 S/CO 2 , and H 2 S/CH 4 relative to unfunctionalized materials. Electron-withdrawing groups such as -CN, -COOH, -COOCH 3 , and -NO 2 are more effective at enhancing adsorption selectivity in this work. Finally, the highest selectivity in the PAFs functionalized by these groups is predicted at the lowest temperature we considered (273 K), whereas it occurs at 298 K for PAFs with other functional groups.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Extending atomistic simulation timescale in solid/liquid systems: Crystal growth from solution by a parallel-replica dynamics and continuum hybrid method

Deposition of solid material from solution is ubiquitous in nature. However, due to the inherent complexity of such systems, this process is comparatively much less understood than deposition from a gas or vacuum. Further, the accurate atomistic modeling of such systems is computationally expensive, therefore leaving many intriguing long-timescale phenomena out of reach. We present an atomistic/continuum hybrid method for extending the simulation timescales of dynamics at solid/liquid interfaces. We demonstrate the method by simulating the deposition of Ag on Ag (001) from solution with a significant speedup over standard MD. The results reveal specific features of diffusive deposition dynamics, such as a dramatic increase in the roughness of the film.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Interface design of VSOP'94 computer code for safety analysis

Today, most software applications, also in the nuclear field, come with a graphical user interface. VSOP'94 (Very Superior Old Program), was designed to simplify the process of performing reactor simulation. VSOP is a integrated code system to simulate the life history of a nuclear reactor that is devoted in education and research. One advantage of VSOP program is its ability to calculate the neutron spectrum estimation, fuel cycle, 2-D diffusion, resonance integral, estimation of reactors fuel costs, and integrated thermal hydraulics. VSOP also can be used to comparative studies and simulation of reactor safety. However, existing VSOP is a conventional program, which was developed using Fortran 65 and have several problems in using it, for example, it is only operated on Dec Alpha mainframe platforms and provide text-based output, difficult to use, especially in data preparation and interpretation of results. We develop a GUI-VSOP, which is an interface program to facilitate the preparation of data, run the VSOP code and read the results in a more user friendly way and useable on the Personal 'Computer (PC). Modifications include the development of interfaces on preprocessing, processing and postprocessing. GUI-based interface for preprocessing aims to provide a convenience way in preparing data. Processing interface is intended to provide convenience in configuring input files and libraries and do compiling VSOP code. Postprocessing interface designed to visualized the VSOP output in table and graphic forms. GUI-VSOP expected to be useful to simplify and speed up the process and analysis of safety aspects.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Shrink or Substitute: Handling Process Failures in HPC Systems Using In-Situ Recovery

Efficient utilization of today's high-performance computing (HPC) systems with complex software and hardware components requires that the HPC applications are designed to tolerate process failures at runtime. With low mean-time-to-failure (MTTF) of current and future HPC systems, long running simulations on these systems requires capabilities for gracefully handling process failures by the applications themselves. In this paper, we explore the use of fault tolerance extensions to Message Passing Interface (MPI) called user-level failure mitigation (ULFM) for handling process failures without the need to discard the progress made by the application. We explore two alternative recovery strategies, which use ULFM along with application-driven in-memory checkpointing. In the first case, the application is recovered with only the surviving processes, and in the second case, spares are used to replace the failed processes, such that the original configuration of the application is restored. Our experimental results demonstrate that graceful degradation is a viable alternative for recovery in environments where spares may not be available.

Ashraf, Rizwan↗

Multiscale Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Accelerating Conformational Sampling of Biomolecular Systems by Iterating All-Atom and Coarse-Grained Simulations

We developed the atomistic-coarse-grained multiscale MD simulation method in the OpenMM simulation package by iterating between the all-atom (AA) and coarse-grained (CG) MD simulations to enhance the sampling of biomolecular conformations. As the free energy surfaces are flattened during CG MD simulations, we can accelerate the transitions between different low-energy conformations. The AA-CG-AA cycles are repeated, facilitating the accelerated sampling of biomolecular conformations at a CG level, while the finer atomistic interactions are refined with AA simulators.

Do, Hung Nguyen↗

Stability Analysis of Power Systems with High Penetration of State-of-the-Art Inverter Technologies

With the increasing level of inverter-based resources (IBRs) in modern power systems, this paper presents a small-signal stability analysis for power systems comprising synchronous generators (SGs) and IBRs. Four types of inverter controls are considered: two grid-following (GFL) controls, with or without grid support functions; droop-based grid-forming (GFM) controls; and virtual oscillator control-based GFM. We also analyze the impact of STATCOM and synchronous condensers on system stability to assess their role in the energy mix transition. With the small-signal dynamic behavior of the major technologies modeled, this paper provides stringent stability assessments using the IEEE 39-bus benchmark system modified to simulate future power systems. The exhaustive test cases allow for (a) assessing the impacts of different types and controls of generation and supplementary grid assets, as well as system inertia and line impedance on grid stability, and (b) elucidating pathways for the stabilization of IBR-dominated power systems. The analysis also indicates that future power systems can be stabilized with only a fraction of the total generation as voltage sources without SGs or significant system inertia if they are well distributed. This study provides insights into future power system operations with a high level of IBRs that can also be used for planning and operation studies.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Studying methane migration mechanisms at Walker Ridge, Gulf of Mexico, via 3D methane hydrate reservoir modeling

We have developed a 3D methane hydrate reservoir simulator to model marine methane hydrate systems. Our simulator couples highly nonlinear heat and mass transport equations and includes heterogeneous sedimentation, in-situ microbial methanogenesis, the influence of pore size contrast on solubility gradients, and the impact of salt exclusion from the hydrate phase on dissolved methane equilibrium in pore water. Using environmental parameters from Walker Ridge in the Gulf of Mexico, we first simulate hydrate formation in and around a thin, dipping, planar sand stratum surrounded by clay lithology as it is buried to 295mbsf. We find that with sufficient methane being supplied by organic methanogenesis in the clays, a 200x pore size contrast between clays and sands allows for a strong enough concentration gradient to significantly drop the concentration of methane hydrate in clays immediately surrounding a thin sand layer, a phenomenon that is observed in well log data. Building upon previous work, our simulations account for the increase in sand-clay solubility contrast with depth from about 1.6% near the top of the sediment column to 8.6% at depth, which leads to a progressive strengthening of the diffusive flux of methane with time. By including an exponentially decaying organic methanogenesis input to the clay lithology with depth, we see a decrease in the aqueous methane supplied to the clays surrounding the sand layer with time, which works to further enhance the contrast in hydrate saturation between the sand and surrounding clays. Significant diffusive methane transport is observed in a clay interval of about 11m above the sand layer and about 4m below it, which matches well log observations. The clay-sand pore size contrast alone is not enough to completely eliminate hydrate (as observed in logs), because the diffusive flux of aqueous methane due to a contrast in pore size occurs slower than the rate at which methane is supplied via organic methanogenesis. Therefore, it is likely that additional mechanisms are at play, notably bound water activity reduction in clays. Three-dimensionality allows for inclusion of lithologic heterogeneities, which focus fluid flow and subsequently allow for heterogeneity in the methane migration mechanisms that dominate in marine sediments at a local scale. Incorporating recently acquired 3D seismic data from Walker Ridge to inform the lithologic structure of our modeled reservoir, we show that even with deep adjective sourcing of methane along highly permeable pathways, local hydrate accumulations can be sourced either by diffusive or advective methane flux; advectively-sourced hydrates accumulate evenly in highly permeable strata, while diffusively-sourced hydrates are characterized by thin strata-bound intervals with high clay-sand pore size contrasts.

Nole, Michael↗

Biomass Scenario Model

The Biomass Scenario Model (BSM) is a unique, carefully validated, state-of-the-art dynamic model of the domestic biofuels supply chain which explicitly focuses on policy issues, their feasibility, and potential side effects. It integrates resource availability, physical/technological/economic constraints, behavior, and policy. The model uses a system dynamics simulation (not optimization) to model dynamic interactions across the supply chain.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

A Preliminary Study of Building a Transmission Overlay for Regional US Power Grid

Many European countries have taken steps toward a Supergrid in order to transmit large amount of intermittent and remote renewable energy over long distance to load centers. In the US, as the expected increase in renewable generation and electricity demand, similar problem arises. A potential solution is to upgrade the transmission system at a higher voltage by constructing a new overlay grid. This paper will first address basic requirements for such an overlay grid. Potential transmission technologies will also be discussed. A multi-terminal VSC HVDC model is developed in DSATools to implement the overlay grid and a test case on a regional NPCC system will be simulated. Another test system of entire US power grid, with three different interconnections tied together using back-to-back HVDC, is also introduced in this paper. Building an overlay system on top of this test case is ongoing, and will be discussed in future work.

Lei, Yin↗

Impact of Hydrological Data on Power System Operational Studies: Preprint

Hydropower is expected to play an important role in maintaining grid reliability and flexibility as the share of of variable renewable energy increases. While the current hydropower operational models have been studied and used widely, they haven't been updated for decades to meet new performance standards. For example, current steady state and dynamic models often neglect hydrological conditions, which may lead to unrealistic expectations when relying on hydropower for energy and ancillary services. To study this impact, a multi-timescale hydrological model was created by leveraging the National Renewable Energy Laboratory-developed Multi-timescale Integrated Dynamics and Scheduling (MIDAS) tool. Using MIDAS, we compare the impact of considering hydrological conditions in a day-ahead unit commitment (DAUC) schedule on the reduced 240-bus Western Interconnect (WI) test system under winter and summer case studies. We show that neglecting current hydrological conditions of hydropower plants in power system models can lead to an overestimation of hydropower capabilities, which could lead to power balancing issues. For example, power system DAUC simulation results of our reduced test system show that in the case where hydrological conditions are not considered in the model, an approximate 31% overestimation of hydropower capabilities occurs in the summer case and approximately 60% occurs in the winter case compared to what is available. Additionally, results show an underestimation of WI day-ahead power system generation costs by approximately $54M - $80M in the weekly summer scenario and $116M - $126M in the weekly winter scenario. This analysis helps to underscore the importance of considering hydrological data in power system operational studies.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,HYDRO ENERGY↗

MFANS 2024 - Formally Proving Characteristics of Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are engineered systems that rely on the smooth integration of computational algorithms and physical elements. This integration presents new challenges for verifying that systems will behave as expected. The goal of this presentation is to present current challenges and potential solutions for the formal verification of cyber-physical systems. For cyber systems, formal methods refer to systematically rigorous mathematical techniques employed in the specification, development, analysis, and verification of both software and hardware systems. Recent advancements in computer science have yielded sophisticated tools specifically designed to address challenges associated with formal methods in complex systems. These tools leverage various foundational concepts such as logic, formal languages, program semantics, type systems, type theory, and automata theory. A notable achievement in the application of formal methods is the seL4 microkernel, claimed to be the first general-purpose operating-system kernel to be verified. Its proof implies the absence of bugs and guarantees that the kernel meets specifications. For physical systems, dynamic and control theory has a history of using rigorous analytic techniques to prove functional correctness. Lyapunov, optimal, classical, modern, and robust control theories all provide rigorous mathematical methods both to analyze system performance and to design controller that can be guaranteed to meet certain objectives. Recent computational techniques like level set theory and reachability analysis provide assertions that a system's state will avoid unsafe regions. Even though success has been independently achieved for cyber systems and physical systems, the integration of such systems creates new challenges. In particular, there is an obvious discrepancy between finite-state machines and infinite-state systems, resulting in different approaches for modeling and analyzing these system. While it is possible to simulate hybrid systems, this provides only a demonstration of a performance and not proof. For hybrid systems, current formal methods and system analysis approaches typically require a workarounds to work on hybrid systems like CPS. This paper will outline the state of the art and limits of current practice for formally verifying CPS and will identify possible research directions that require attention.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Stochastic modeling of catalytic processes in nanoporous materials: Beyond mean-field approach

Transport and reaction in zeolites and other porous materials, such as mesoporous silica particles, has been a focus of interest in recent years. This is in part due to the possibility of anomalous transport effects (e.g. single-file diffusion) and its impact in the reaction yield in catalytic processes. Computational simulations are often used to study these complex nonequilibrium systems. Computer simulations using Molecular Dynamics (MD) techniques are prohibitive, so instead coarse grained one-dimensional models with the aid of Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations are used. Both techniques can be computationally expensive, both time and resource wise. These coarse-grained systems can be exactly described by a set of coupled stochastic master equations, that describe the reaction-diffusion kinetics of the system. The equations can be written exactly, however, coupling between the equations and terms within the equations make it impossible to solve them exactly; approximations must be made. One of the most common methods to obtain approximate solutions is to use Mean Field (MF) theory. MF treatments yield reasonable results at high ratios of reaction rate k to hop rate h of the particles, but fail completely at low k=h due to the over-estimation of fluxes of particles within the pore. We develop a method to estimate fluxes and intrapore diffusivity in simple one- dimensional reaction-diffusion models at high and low k=h, where the pores are coupled to an equilibrated three-dimensional fluid. We thus successfully describe analytically these simple reaction-diffusion one-dimensional systems. Extensions to models considering behavior with long range steric interactions and wider pores require determination of multiple boundary conditions. We give a prescription to estimate the required parameters for these simulations. For one dimensional systems, if single-file diffusion is relaxed, additional parameters to describe particle exchange have to be introduced. We use Langevin Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations to assess these parameters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) Simulation Algorithm for Evaluation of Photovoltaic (PV) Generation Systems

Use of inverter-based resources facilitating renewable energy resources such as photovoltaic (PV) generation is increasing rapidly with decreasing costs and reduced emissions associated. To accommodate such rapid growth of inverter-based resources like PV systems, electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulation models of both PV systems and grids are required to analyze the interaction of PVs in the grid (like the post-event analysis). In addition, the EMT simulation would help with the planning of future power grid with a large number of PVs as well as other inverter-based distributed generation systems. In this paper, the EMT simulation models of PV systems and grids are developed based on the differential algebraic equations (DAEs) representing their EMT dynamics. Furthermore, advanced simulation algorithms including numerical stiffness-based hybrid discretization, DAE clustering and aggregation, multi-order integration, and matrix splitting approaches are applied to accelerate the EMT simulation. The proposed algorithm was applied to 125 PV inverters within 52-bus medium-voltage (MV) distribution grid.

Choi, Jongchan↗

Efficient Simulation of Welding Distortion in Large Structures and Its Reduction by Jig Constraints

Two large construction machinery structures were welded separately with and without jig constraints. The welding distortion of the entire structure was measured by a 3D coordinate measuring system and simulated by elastic FEM using the inherent deformation method. To obtain an accurate inherent deformation, a thermal elastoplastic FE analysis of simple one-side fillet joints with and without jig constraints was performed. Efficient simulation of welding distortion in large structures was accomplished by applying inherent deformation in a localized region, and the effect of jig constraint on the reduction of welding distortion was clarified. The computation of inherent deformation, the weld zone definition and the conversion of inherent deformation into inherent strain were automated. Measured and computed welding distortions in large structures had a good correspondence with respect to both tendency and magnitude. Further investigation of jig configuration was performed for enhanced reduction of welding distortion. Alternative controlling techniques for common welded structures were also addressed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Robust Unit Commitment

This report summarizes the procedure to compare the robust UC approach with the deterministic counterpart. The procedure involves solving the robust and deterministic UC problems under various scenario configurations, and then performing system dispatch simulations under each UC solution to generate economic and operational performance measures. The report describes the parallelization process for solving UC problems as well as for running system dispatch simulations. The report also summarizes the statistical model used for generating Monte Carlo simulation samples and forming forecast ranges used in the robust UC approach. Some key findings are discussed as well. In particular, the economic and operational performance of the robust and deterministic approaches is compared under different 1) conservatism levels or the sizes of forecast range, 2) the wind penetration levels, and 3) the mixture of load and wind behaviors.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗