Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “continuous deployment”

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 991 records · Page 55
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Vapor Extraction Well Performance and Recommendations for Future Soil Vapor Extraction Activities at the A-014 Outfall

The vadose zone near the A-014 Outfall contains residual volatile organic compounds that serve as a potential source for groundwater contamination. Since 1995 active soil vapor extraction has been an integral part of the corrective actions at this facility. Currently two separate soil vapor extraction systems are being used to remove contamination in the vapor phase from the subsurface. The 782-3M soil vapor extraction unit was deployed in April of 1995 and the A-014 Mobile #3 unit was deployed in January of 2009. The objective of this investigation is to evaluate the performance of individual wells associated with these systems and provide recommendations on possible optimizations to these systems. Options that are considered include continuation of active extraction, transition to a low-energy soil vapor extraction treatment, or abandon nonperforming wells. The scope of the investigation examined the eighteen (18) vadose zone wells that are associated with the ongoing Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective action program within A/M Area. During the evaluation process, individual wells were isolated and purged for a standard period using the existing soil vapor extraction system. Following the purge period, vapor samples were collected intermittently over the following 24–72-hour period. The objective of the sampling activity was to collect sufficient data to estimate the mass flow rate of contaminants from the individual extraction wells. Subsequent analysis then evaluated and ranked extraction performance to provide recommendations on the viability, operational scheme, and applicability of low energy soil vapor extraction.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2017

Development of a Knowledgebase (MetRxn) of Metabolites, Reactions and Atom Mappings to Accelerate Discovery and Redesign

With advances in DNA sequencing and genome annotation techniques, the breadth of metabolic knowledge across all kingdoms of life is increasing. The construction of genome-scale models (GSMs) facilitates this distillation of knowledge by systematically accounting for reaction stoichiometry and directionality, gene to protein to reaction relationships, reaction localization among cellular organelles, metabolite transport costs and routes, transcriptional regulation, and biomass composition. Genome-scale reconstructions available now span across all kingdoms of life, from microbes to whole-plant models, and have become indispensable for driving informed metabolic designs and interventions. A key barrier to the pace of this development is our inability to utilize metabolite/reaction information from databases such as BRENDA [1], KEGG [2], MetaCyc [3], etc. due to incompatibilities of representation, duplications, and errors. Duplicate entries constitute a major impediment, where the same metabolite is found with multiple names across databases and models, which significantly slows downs the collating of information from multiple data sources. This can also lead to serious modeling errors such as charge/mass imbalances [4,5] which can thwart model predictive abilities such as identifying synthetic lethal gene pairs and quantifying metabolic flows. Hence, we created the MetRxn database [6] that takes the next step in integrating data from multiple sources and formats to automatically create a standardized knowledgebase. We subsequently deployed this resource to bring about new paradigms in genome-scale metabolic model reconstruction, metabolic flux elucidation through MFA, modeling of microbial communities, and pathway prospecting. This research has enabled the PI’s group to continue building upon research milestones and reach new ones (see list of MetRxn-related publications below).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1990

Precisely measuring the distance to the moon

Continuing improvements in the lasers and the detection electronics over the years which have led to accurate measurements of the distance from the earth to the moon are discussed. The first reflector of laser light pulses, deployed on the moon surface twenty years ago by the Apollo 11 astronauts, consisted of 100 fused silica corner cubes, and reflected a beam of light directly back toward its point of origin. Observatories located in Texas, Hawaii, and France now regularly range the moon with an accuracy of approximately 1 inch. Ranging programs have also been carried out in Australia and the Soviet Union. The ranges are computer-analyzed to determine precisely the positions of the observatories on earth, the positions of the reflectors on the moon, the orbit of the moon around the earth, and the rotation and orientation of the earth and the moon. The most important scientific advances derived from lunar ranging are also reviewed.

Faller, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Autonomous NanoTechnology Swarm (ANTS) Prospecting Asteroid Mission (PAM), Asteroid Proximity Operations

The Autonomous NanoTechnology Swarm (ANTS) is a generic mission architecture based on spatially distributed spacecraft, autonomous and redundant components, and hierarchical organization. The ANTS Prospecting Asteroid Mission (PAM) is an ANTS application which will nominally use a swarm of 1000 spacecraft. There would be 10 types of "specialists" with common spacecraft buses. There would be 10 subswarms of approximately 100 spacecraft each or approximately 10 of each specialist in each swarm. The ANTS PAM primary objective is the exploration of the asteroid belt in search of resources and material with astrobiologically relevant origins and signatures. The ANTS PAM spacecraft will nominally be released from a station in an Earth-Moon L1 libration point orbit, and they will use Solar sails for propulsion. The sail structure would be highly flexible, capable of changing morphology to change cross-section for capture of sunlight or to form effective "tip vanes" for attitude control. ANTS PAM sails would be capable of full to partial deployment, to change effective sail area and center of pressure, and thus allow attitude control. Results of analysis of a transfer trajectory from Earth to a sample target asteroid will be presented. ANTS PAM will require continuous coverage of different asteroid locations as close as one to two asteroid "diameters" from the surface of the asteroid for periods of science data collection during asteroid proximity operations. Hovering spacecraft could meet the science data collection objectives. The results of hovering analysis will be presented. There are locations for which hovering is not possible, for example on the illuminated side of the asteroid. For cases where hovering is not possible, the results of utilizing asteroid formations to orbit the asteroid and achieve the desired asteroid viewing will be presented for sample asteroids. The ability of ANTS PAM to reduce the area of the solar sail during asteroid proximity operations is critical to the maintenance of orbiting formations for a period of time. Results of analysis of potential "traffic" problems during asteroid proximity operations will be presented.

Marr, Greg↗
NASA NTRS2006

Design, fabrication, and testing of a SMA hybrid composite jet engine chevron

Control of jet noise continues to be an important research topic. Exhaust nozzle chevrons have been shown to reduce jet noise, but parametric effects are not well understood. Additionally, thrust loss due to chevrons at cruise suggests significant benefit from deployable chevrons. The focus of this study is development of an active chevron concept for the primary purpose of parametric studies for jet noise reduction in the laboratory and technology development to leverage for full scale systems. The active chevron concept employed in this work consists of a laminated composite structure with embedded shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators, termed a SMA hybrid composite (SMAHC). The actuators are embedded on one side of the middle surface such that thermal excitation generates a moment and deflects the structure. A brief description of the chevron design is given followed by details of the fabrication approach. Results from bench top tests are presented and correlated with numerical predictions from a model for such structures that was recently implemented in MSC.Nastran and ABAQUS. Excellent performance and agreement with predictions is demonstrated. Results from tests in a representative flow environment are also presented. Excellent performance is again achieved for both open- and closed-loop tests, the latter demonstrating control to a specified immersion into the flow. The actuation authority and immersion performance is shown to be relatively insensitive to nozzle pressure ratio (NPR). Very repeatable immersion control with modest power requirements is demonstrated.

Turner, Travis L.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Cassini Attitude Control Operations - Guidelines Levied on Science to Extend Reaction Wheel Life

The Cassini spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997 and arrived at Saturn on June 30, 2004. It has performed detailed observations and remote sensing of Saturn, its rings, and its satellites since that time. Cassini deployed the European-built Huygens probe, which descended through the Titan atmosphere (Saturn's largest moon) and landed on its surface on January 14, 2005. The Cassini mission has recently been approved by NASA to continue through September of 2017. This 7-year extension is called the Solstice mission and it presents challenges to the spacecraft operations team and its ability to maintain the health of the spacecraft. To keep the spacecraft healthy for 7 more years, the spacecraft team must carefully manage hydrazine use (about 48% of the 132 kg launch load remains as of January 2011). A vital part of conserving hydrazine is to use the reaction wheel assembly (RWA) control system for precise pointing and slews wherever possible. In any given week, the Cassini spacecraft is commanded to use RWA control about 99% of the time, with about 1% of the time requiring reaction control system (RCS) thruster control (to perform Delta V course corrections or to bias the RWA momentum). Such extensive use of the RWA hardware throughout the mission requires that the RWAs be operated in a way that minimizes degradation in the RWA electronics, DC motor, and spin bearing for each reaction wheel. Three consumables in particular have been identified for the RWAs: (1) Total number of revolutions for each RWA. (2) Time spent at very low wheel speeds. At these low speeds, good elasto-hydrodynamic (EHD) film lubrication may be compromised. (3) Total number of on/off power cycles. The second of these consumables, minimizing the time spent at very low wheel speeds, is especially important to keep the spin bearing healthy and well-lubricated. These consumables are actively managed by the attitude control operations team throughout the mission. One vital management technique is to predict individual RWA momentum (given the pointing and slews that are needed to collect the best science) and to bias the RWA momentum in a way that reduces both the total number of revolutions as well as the time spent below EHD wheel speed. Another strategy to protect RWA health is to alter the planned pointing of the spacecraft (which can affect science collection) so that the RWA consumables are conserved. This paper focuses on why this second technique is needed, and discusses how guidelines have been developed by the attitude control team which affects the planned science pointing, so that science data can be most optimally collected while still minimizing RWA consumable usage.

interplanetary trajectory↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Verification Framework for Runtime Assurance of Autonomous UAS

Runtime Assurance (RTA) is a design-time architecture for safety-critical systems where an internal monitor acts upon detecting a violation of a property. The simplex architecture is an instance of RTA, where the action taken is to hand control of the overall system to a trusted controller when an untrusted one violates a safety property. Simplex RTA is emerging as a method for allowing AI/ML and other unverified software to be integrated into safety-critical applications like aircraft. To this end, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and NASA have each published guidelines on the use of RTA in such systems. In the simplex RTA framework, a system has an advanced controller (AC) and a reversionary controller (RC). The system is allowed to operate with the AC until a runtime monitor detects that some property has been violated and then the RC takes over. Assuming that the sample rate of the monitor will detect improper functioning with enough time for the RC to correct the impending problem, and that the RC is trusted, the system will operate as intended. This use of the simplex RTA framework can allow for the integration of untrusted, but possibly more performant, controllers in a safe way. This paper presents a formalization of a simplex RTA framework in the Prototype Verification System (PVS) theorem prover using an embedding of differential dynamic logic (DDL) called Plaidypvs. A novel feature of this framework is that it can be instantiated at different levels of abstraction. This feature allows for the formal verification of a system with an untrusted black box component, such as an AI/ML controller. This paper does not address the many difficulties in deploying RTA in an industrial-level system. Instead, the focus is on the formal verification of the simplex RTA framework in the language of hybrid programs. Hybrid programs are programs that include both discrete and continuous dynamics and can be used to model complex cyber-physical systems. Plaidypvs is a tool that enables formalization of hybrid programs in the PVS theorem prover. Plaidypvs enables the verification of the general simplex RTA framework and then, by specializing some components of the hybrid program, verifying instances of the framework while treating the untrusted component as a black box. A selection of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations are shown as instances of the general RTA framework in PVS. This offers the benefit of design time verification of relevant safety properties to the system, and it also gives requirements on the sample rate of sensors that determine the time interval in which the ‘switch’ property of the RTA framework is checked.

PVS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Crossing the Digital Divide

Nuclear utilities continue to upgrade aging instrumentation and control (I&C) systems with modern digital-based systems to address reliability and obsolescence concerns. In addition, the industry has demonstrated that these systems can be successfully developed and deployed even for highly safety-significant applications, such as reactor protection. However, three factors have retarded wide-scale implementation of digital technology for plant modernization and business innovation: *Large-scale digital upgrades entail considerable risk; *The upgrades are very costly and have not led to bottom-line business improvement, financial or otherwise; *Cyber Security concerns discourage wide-scale digital integration. A new national research program is under way that has been designed to address these industry concerns about expanding the use of digital technology. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has lead responsibility for the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies research pathway within the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program. The LWRS Program is a research and development (R&D) program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and performed in close collaboration with industry R&D and improvement programs (as defined in INL’s FY2009–2013 Light Water Reactor Sustainability Research and Development Program Plan, INL/MIS08-14918). Its purpose is to provide the technical foundations for licensing and managing the long-term, safe, and economical operation of existing nuclear power plants. The DOE’s program focus is on longer-term and higher-risk/reward research that contributes to the national policy objectives of energy security and environmental security. The specific concern addressed by this program is that large-scale I&C obsolescence could become a life-limiting issue for the current nuclear operating fleet.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Assessment of Technologies for Improving Light-Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy—2025-2035

From daily commutes to cross-country road trips, millions of light-duty vehicles are on the road every day. The transportation sector is one of the United States’ largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and fuel is an important cost for drivers. The period from 2025-2035 could bring the most fundamental transformation in the 100-plus year history of the automobile. Battery electric vehicle costs are likely to fall and reach parity with internal combustion engine vehicles. New generations of fuel cell vehicles will be produced. Connected and automated vehicle technologies will become more common, including likely deployment of some fully automated vehicles. These new categories of vehicles will for the first time assume a major portion of new vehicle sales, while internal combustion engine vehicles with improved powertrain, design, and aerodynamics will continue to be an important part of new vehicle sales and fuel economy improvement.This study is a technical evaluation of the potential for internal combustion engine, hybrid, battery electric, fuel cell, nonpowertrain, and connected and automated vehicle technologies to contribute to efficiency in 2025-2035. In addition to making findings and recommendations related to technology cost and capabilities, Assessment of Technologies for Improving Light-Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy - 2025-2035 considers the impacts of changes in consumer behavior and regulatory regimes.

MARCHANT, GARY↗
DOE OSTI2023

DER Digital Supply Chain Gap Analysis

Solar photovoltaic (PV) cybersecurity is a growing field of research. As deployments of solar PV have increased, cyber risk has also increased. Utility solar PV installations, however, are not required to comply with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) plan unless they meet a minimum generation threshold of 75 MW. Individual residential-scale solar PV deployments will not meet that generation threshold and are therefore excluded from the NERC CIP requirements. With most solar installations less than 75 MW, solar PV has been deployed with minimal oversight and highly variable cybersecurity maturity. The resources that comprise the digital supply chain can include software, code, data, and other digital components. But as clean energy technologies advance, cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities continue to evolve and grow in sophistication. Supply chain cybersecurity represents a critical area for ensuring safe operations as the U.S. moves toward a clean energy future.

cybersecurity↗
DOE OSTI2024

Explained: Maintaining a Reliable Future Grid with More Wind and Solar

Since the early 2000s, maintaining grid reliability has become more complex due to a variety of factors, including the changing generation mix, the creation of wholesale energy markets, and a growing number of extreme weather events. Parts of the U.S. grid are already operating with significant amounts of wind and solar generation - with 2022 annual wind and solar generation in the range of 25% to 40%. Even without considering the effects of extreme weather, maintaining reliability will require new capacity to address both growth in electric demand and retiring capacity. Based on the 2022 North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Long-Term Reliability Assessment, the combination of both growth in peak demand and retirements suggests a need for more than 100 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity by 2032. In general, there are a five categories of resources that are expected to be deployed and used to meet the challenge of maintaining an adequate source of supply in the coming decades: new wind and solar resources (accounting for their reliability contributions), energy storage, demand response resources, expanded transmission, and continued use of thermal generators.

power grid↗
DOE OSTI2014

Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Feasibility Assessment

The purpose of this project was to conduct the first comprehensive offshore wind assessment over Lake Michigan and to advance the body of knowledge needed to support future commercial wind energy development on the Great Lakes. The project involved evaluation and selection of emerging wind measurement technology and the permitting, installation and operation of the first mid-lake wind assessment meteorological (MET) facilities in Michigan’s Great Lakes. In addition, the project provided the first opportunity to deploy and field test floating LIDAR and Laser Wind Sensor (LWS) technology, and important research related equipment key to the sitting and permitting of future offshore wind energy development in accordance with public participation guidelines established by the Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council (GLOW). The project created opportunities for public dialogue and community education about offshore wind resource management and continued the dialogue to foster Great Lake wind resource utilization consistent with the focus of the GLOW Council. The technology proved to be effective, affordable, mobile, and the methods of data measurement accurate. The public benefited from a substantial increase in knowledge of the wind resources over Lake Michigan and gained insights about the potential environmental impacts of offshore wind turbine placements in the future. The unique first ever hub height wind resource assessment using LWS technology over water and development of related research data along with the permitting, sitting, and deployment of the WindSentinel MET buoy has captured public attention and has helped to increase awareness of the potential of future offshore wind energy development on the Great Lakes. Specifically, this project supported the acquisition and operation of a WindSentinel (WS) MET wind assessment buoy, and associated research for 549 days over multiple years at three locations on Lake Michigan. Four research objectives were defined for the project including to: 1) test and validate floating LIDAR technology; 2) collect and access offshore wind data; 3) detect and measure bird and bat activity over Lake Michigan; 4) conduct an over water sound propagation study; 5) prepare and offer a college course on offshore energy, and; 6) collect other environmental, bathometric, and atmospheric data. Desk-top research was performed to select anchorage sites and to secure permits to deploy the buoy. The project also collected and analyzed data essential to wind industry investment decision-making including: deploying highly mobile floating equipment to gather offshore wind data; correlating offshore wind data with conventional on-shore MET tower data; and performing studies that can contribute to the advancement and deployment of offshore wind technologies. Related activities included: • Siting, permitting, and deploying an offshore floating MET facility; • Validating the accuracy of floating LWS using near shoreline cup anemometer MET instruments; • Assessment of laser pulse technology (LIDAR) capability to establish hub height measurement of wind conditions at multiple locations on Lake Michigan; • Utilizing an extended-season (9-10 month) strategy to collect hub height wind data and weather conditions on Lake Michigan; • Investigation of technology best suited for wireless data transmission from distant offshore structures; • Conducting field-validated sound propagation study for a hypothetical offshore wind farm from shoreline locations; • Identifying the presence or absence of bird and bat species near wind assessment facilities; • Identifying the presence or absence of benthic and pelagic species near wind assessment facilities; All proposed project activities were completed with the following major findings: • Floating Laser Wind Sensors are capable of high quality measurement and recordings of wind resources. The WindSentinel presented no significant operational or statistical limitations in recording wind data technology at a at a high confidence level as compared to traditional anemometer cup technology. • During storms, mean Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) increases with height above water; • Sufficient wind resources exist over Lake Michigan to generate 7,684 kWh of power using a 850 kW rated turbine at elevations between 90 - 125 meters, a height lower than originally anticipated for optimum power generation; • Based on initial assessments, wind characteristics are not significantly different at distant (thirty-two mile) offshore locations as compared to near-shore (six mile) locations; • Significant cost savings can be achieved in generation wind energy at lower turbine heights and locating closer to shore. • Siting must be sufficiently distant from shore to minimize visual impact and to address public sentiment about offshore wind development; • Project results show that birds and bats do frequent the middle of Lake Michigan, bats more so than birds; • Based on the wind resource assessment and depths of Lake Michigan encountered during the project, future turbine placement will most likely need to incorporate floating or anchored technology; • The most appropriate siting of offshore wind energy locations will enable direct routing of transmission cables to existing generating and transmission facilities located along the Michigan shoreline; • Wind turbine noise propagation from a wind energy generating facility at a five mile offshore location will not be audible at the shoreline over normal background sound levels.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Development and Deployment of a Compact Eye-Safe Scanning Differential absorption Lidar (DIAL) for Spatial Mapping of Carbon Dioxide for Monitoring/Verification/Accounting at Geologic Sequestration Sites

A scanning differential absorption lidar (DIAL) instrument for monitoring carbon dioxide has been developed. The laser transmitter uses two tunable discrete mode laser diodes (DMLD) operating in the continuous wave (cw) mode with one locked to the online absorption wavelength and the other operating at the offline wavelength. Two in-line fiber optic switches are used to switch between online and offline operation. After the fiber optic switch, an acousto- optic modulator (AOM) is used to generate a pulse train used to injection seed an erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) to produce eye-safe laser pulses with maximum pulse energies of 66 {micro}J, a pulse repetition frequency of 15 kHz, and an operating wavelength of 1.571 {micro}m. The DIAL receiver uses a 28 cm diameter Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope to collect that backscattered light, which is then monitored using a photo-multiplier tube (PMT) module operating in the photon counting mode. The DIAL instrument has been operated from a laboratory environment on the campus of Montana State University, at the Zero Emission Research Technology (ZERT) field site located in the agricultural research area on the western end of the Montana State University campus, and at the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership site located in north-central Montana. DIAL data has been collected and profiles have been validated using a co-located Licor LI-820 Gas Analyzer point sensor.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Improving Long-term Monitoring of Contaminated Groundwater at Sites where Attenuation-based Remedies are Deployed

This study presents an effective approach to tackle the challenge of long-term monitoring of contaminated groundwater sites where remediation leaves residual contamination in the subsurface. Traditional long-term monitoring of contaminated groundwater sites focuses on measuring contaminant concentrations and is applicable to sites where contaminant mass is removed or degraded to a level below the regulatory standard. The traditional approach is less effective at sites where risk from metals or radionuclides continues to exist in the subsurface after remedial goals are achieved. We propose a long-term monitoring strategy for this type of waste site that focuses on measuring the hydrological and geochemical parameters that control attenuation or remobilization of contaminants while de-emphasizing contaminant-concentration measurements. Furthermore, we demonstrate how this approach would be more effective than traditional long-term monitoring, using a site in South Carolina, USA, where groundwater is contaminated by several radionuclides. A comprehensive enhanced attenuation remedy has been implemented at the site to minimize discharge of contamination to surface water. The immobilization of contaminants occurs in three locations by manipulation of hydrological and geochemical parameters, as well as by natural attenuation processes. Deployment of our proposed long-term monitoring strategy will combine subsurface and surface measurements using spectroscopic tools, geophysical tools, and sensors to monitor the parameters controlling contaminant attenuation. The advantage of this approach is that it will detect the potential for contaminant remobilization from engineered and natural attenuation zones, allowing potential adverse changes to be mitigated before contaminant attenuation is reversed.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2025

Toward Drilling the Perfect Geothermal Well: An International Research Coordination Network for Geothermal Drilling Optimization Supported by Deep Machine Learning and Cloud Based Data Aggregation

The EDGE project, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office under award DE-EE0008793, established a data-driven framework for improving the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and reliability of geothermal well drilling. The project focused on developing scalable data infrastructure, advanced machine learning and probabilistic models, and integrated analytics tools to support continuous drilling optimization. A central objective was to reduce geothermal drilling costs by up to seventy percent while minimizing the risk of well failure through predictive diagnostics and adaptive planning. Over the project period, a comprehensive data repository was designed and deployed, incorporating records from over one hundred geothermal wells across varied geological settings. This repository supported both structured and unstructured data and adhered to FAIR data principles, enabling provenance tracking, quality control, and standardized metadata. The project introduced automated ingestion pipelines and a cloud-hosted platform that facilitated access to raw, processed, and derived datasets. This infrastructure served as the foundation for model development and analysis. Machine learning workflows were developed to predict key drilling metrics including rate of penetration, non-productive time, and total drilling costs. Self-organizing maps and dimensionality reduction methods were used to uncover operational patterns and outliers, while supervised learning algorithms such as random forests and deep neural networks were applied to forecast performance outcomes. The models were validated on heterogeneous datasets from both U.S. and Icelandic fields, demonstrating variable but significant predictive accuracy. The results indicated that finer temporal resolution, inclusion of lithological data, and consistency in operational annotations could substantially improve model performance. The project also implemented process mining techniques to reconstruct state-transition models from drilling event logs. These models enabled the identification of deviations from optimal workflows and provided insights into recurring failure modes. Analysis of non-productive time highlighted the impact of equipment failures, geological challenges, and human factors, offering opportunities for targeted mitigation strategies. The EDGE Dashboard was developed as a web-based expert system integrating data visualization, model outputs, and user-driven queries. It provided an accessible interface for operators to explore historical data, evaluate predicted outcomes, and compare drilling scenarios. Initial feedback from project partners suggested that the dashboard could serve as a foundation for more advanced advisory and optimization tools. Overall, the EDGE project demonstrated the feasibility and value of applying modern data science techniques to geothermal drilling. It delivered a set of interoperable tools and models that can support more efficient, lower-risk well development. The findings point toward a viable path for transitioning from advisory analytics to semi-autonomous drilling systems, contingent on continued collaboration, expanded datasets, and field validation. The project results have immediate relevance for drilling operations, data management practices, and future geothermal R&D efforts aimed at achieving reliable, cost-competitive geothermal energy at scale.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Detecting isolated resonance curves using fixed frequency voltage control tests

Isolated resonance curves, or isolas, are resonance branches of the harmonically forced system that exist separately from the main nonlinear forced response curve, leading to excessive vibrations. Traditional stepped or swept sine simulations and tests rely on continuation along the frequency parameter, typically resulting in a jump phenomenon along the primary resonance branch, prior to the disconnected isola. The main objective of this research is to propose an approach to identify isolated resonance curves by performing continuation along the input amplitude that initializes the response from a low-amplitude solution in the linear regime. Furthermore, this is achieved with the open-loop fixed frequency voltage control method that continues along the shaker voltage parameter and measures the so-called S-curves, which are theoretically a continuous solution branch that connect to the isola. The methodology is demonstrated on a fixture-wing-pylon assembly with a vibro-impact nonlinearity localized in a pylon subcomponent attachment. Multi-harmonic balance simulations are deployed to compute both the nonlinear forced response curves and S-curves to demonstrate the isola detection strategy on a reduced-order finite element model of the nonlinear system. Swept sine and fixed frequency voltage control tests are then conducted on the physical structure to demonstrate the isola detection experimentally, revealing the existence of the large amplitude vibrations that are undetected in the forces levels and frequencies measured with traditional frequency sweeping.

Characterization and Analytical Technique↗
DOE OSTI2025

An optimization approach for cryogenic distillation-based protium removal systems in magnetic fusion energy fuel cycles

Tritium inventory reduction for fusion power plants is central to the successful adoption of fusion energy. The advent of direct internal recycling in deuterium-tritium fusion fuel cycle design has led to significant reduction in startup tritium inventory estimates for fusion power plants but requires an isotope rebalancing and protium removal (IRPR) system to ensure acceptable isotopic fuel composition. Cryogenic distillation is a potential solution for near-term deployment in an IRPR system due to its demonstrated performance in similar operating regimes. Using protium removal in the fuel cycle as the primary performance metric, this paper presents an optimization methodology for a single-column continuous cryogenic distillation-based IRPR system for a 500 MW fus magnetic fusion device. Distillation column optimization was performed using the CryOgenic Distillation For Isotopic Separation of Hydrogen (CODFISH) code developed at Savannah River National Laboratory. The distillation column design presented maximizes direct recycling of hydrogen isotopes from the fusion chamber exhaust to the fueling system while minimizing IRPR system steady-state tritium inventory. The optimized IRPR distillation column presented achieves direct recycling of 60 % of the hydrogen isotopes in the fusion chamber exhaust with an estimated steady-state system tritium inventory <30 g. In conclusion, the optimized IRPR distillation column operation was then used to estimate the design requirements for a detritation column to treat the IRPR system effluent stream.

CryOgenic distillation↗
DOE OSTI2025

An Open-source Llm Enhanced-tool Specialized In Helping Moose Related Problems And Tasks

MOOSEenger is an open-source, terminal-first chat application for the MOOSE ecosystem that couples specialized parsing of MOOSE documentation and “.i” input files with retrieval-augmented generation to deliver grounded answers about multiphysics modeling and workflows. It includes dedicated readers for MOOSE-style HTML and a pyhit-based parser that uses the MOOSE syntax tree to preserve block structure and attach retrieval metadata. A data-ingestion pipeline performs semantic chunking into atomic facts and stores them hierarchically in a local Chroma vector database that maintains parent–child relationships across documents; the system can ingest directories, individual files, and single-page web content, and it provides CRUD operations (insert, update, delete) to manage the corpus. At query time, relevant chunks are embedded, retrieved, and fused into the model context, with interactive features such as token streaming, persistent chat history, and dynamic RAG (retrieval triggered by user input or intermediate model output). Deployment is flexible: MOOSEenger runs with local Ollama models or remote Hugging Face/OpenAI backends—typically coordinating generation, lightweight tagging/summarization, and embeddings across three models—and it also supports a server mode and integration with the VS Code Continue interface.

Li, Mengnan [Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idah↗