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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 1,045 records · Page 58

Joint Appointments: General Principles for Joint Appointments between LANL and University Partners

The Joint Appointment Program provides opportunities for LANL and partner universities to recruit, retain, and recognize premier scientists and engineers by offering them the ability to work in both the LANL and university environments. These interactions enhance the ability of both institutions to achieve their respective research and development missions while providing increased academic strength to educational institutions.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Sandia and Ditch Witch Technology Commercialization Fund Integral Motor and Percussive Hammer

This report captures the results of development and testing of a integral downhole motor and percussive hammer used for drilling in near-surface hard rock formations. The work was funded through the DOE Office of Technology Transitions Technology Commercialization Fund. It was a collaboration between Sandia National Labs and The Charles Machine Works (aka Ditch Witch). In the collaboration, Sandia developed a pneumatic motor derived from an indexing tool used in other drilling applications, and Ditch Witch developed the bearing pack tied to the output shaft of the motor as well as the angled beacon housing used for directional control.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Robotics Technologies on Knowledge Management Information Tool (KM-IT) Platform - 16465

The Knowledge Management Information Tool (KM-IT) is a web-based system developed to maintain and preserve the deactivation and decommissioning (D and D) knowledge base across the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. The system was developed by the Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) with the support of the D and D community, including the DOE Office of Environmental Management (DOE EM), and with the active collaboration and support of the DOE's Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG). The KM-IT system is a D and D community driven system tailored to serve the technical issues faced by the D and D workforce across the DOE Complex. New information, including vendors and technologies related to D and D, are researched and added to KM-IT on an ongoing basis. In late 2014, DOE EM provided a database of 471 robotic technologies, originally developed by NuVision Engineering and Cogentus Consulting, with a request to evaluate the potential for integrating the data into the KM-IT framework for ongoing hosting/maintenance of the information. All of the data from the original database as well as photographs, documents, and videos are now available on KM-IT. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Four-harmonic buncher for radioactive and stable beams switching at the ATLAS facility [Four-harmonic buncher for radioactive and stable beams combination at the ATLAS facility]

Here, the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) is planning an upgrade to a multi-user facility to simultaneously accelerate both stable beams from an ECR ion source and radioactive beams from an Electron Beam Ion Source charge breeder. The ATLAS Multi-User Upgrade will need to provide high transmission of ion beams with a mass-to-charge ratio up to 7 as it enables more options to alternate radioactive and stable beams. Currently, the bunching is provided with a lumped circuit multi-harmonic buncher, which cannot effectively operate at the required amplitude of the saw-tooth voltage for ions with mass-to-charge ratio of 7 due to thermal issues. RadiaBeam Systems in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory has designed a four-harmonic coaxial resonator buncher with the ATLAS fundamental frequency of 12.125 MHz, and a compact, less than 2-m-long, footprint, capable of providing the required voltage of 6.2 kV. This device allows fast and reliable pre-bunching of DC ion beams with the capability of fast switching of heavy-ion radioactive and stable beams for delivery to multiple users. In this paper, we will discuss the RF and engineering design considerations of this buncher.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Isotope Production at the Jefferson Lab LERF Facility

The project initially proceeded well, meeting all of the Milestones. However, the need to create a new irradiation area in the LERF (the initial proposal was to use the CEBAF Injector) used up a larger fraction of the budget than foreseen. A further problem arose when the hot-cell became unavailable at VCU, followed by VCU dropping out of the collaboration. This meant that we were unable to separate the 67 Cu from the gallium. We replaced this by carrying out detailed gamma spectroscopy to determine the quantity of 67 Cu produced. This work was published as presentations in November of 2021 by the two doctoral students (Geno Santistevan and Robert Bentley) and proceedings articles for American Nuclear Society’s topical meeting AccApp21 (https://www.ans.org/pubs/proceedings/issue-3206/), as well as in invited, expanded versions in the peer-reviewed journal “Nuclear Science and Engineering”. Geno and Robert have subsequently successfully leveraged this research to achieve “doctoral candidacy” status and are expected to defend their dissertations in the Fall of 2023.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Regional Manufacturing Cost Structures and Supply Chain Considerations for Medium Voltage Silicon Carbide Power Applications

Bottoms-up cost analysis has been a mainstay of commoditized industry and manufacturing processes for years, however a holistic objective supply chain analysis to inform research and investment in the development of early stage technologies has not. The potential for rapid adoption of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, specifically silicon carbide (SiC), highlights a need to understand the drivers of location-specific manufacturing cost, global supply chains, and plant location decisions. Further, ongoing research and investment, necessitates analytical analysis to help inform the roadmap of SiC technologies. In collaboration with PowerAmerica the project explores the bottoms-up cost analysis of wafers, devices, modules, and motor drives at the anticipated manufacturing levels. Leveraging these models, it outlines how the cost reduction potential of proposed research advances can be quantified.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Market Survey (UUR)

More than 300 counter-unmanned aircraft system (CUAS) products were identified in our market survey by reviewing and comparing existing market surveys and reports, academic and commercial compilations, CUAS demonstration event reports, and other documents. Of these, Sandia collected technical data on more than 200 of these products through a combination of manual research and a request for information posted to www.fbo.gov. Technical product information has been compiled into a database that can be filtered by key technical characteristics to find products that match high-level requirements. The CUAS market is shifting from an emerging to a growth industry. Many companies are partnering or collaborating with peers to combine benefits from their core strengths and technologies into more complete solutions. These companies want to know the governments CUAS requirements, so they can design and deliver a product tailored to the application space or requirements.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Machine Learning of Plasma Science for Next Generation Microelectronics (Project Final Report)

Low temperature plasmas (LTPs) are an enabling technology behind reducing device dimensions and the continuation of Moore’s Law. It is estimated that 40-45% of all process steps necessary to manufacture semiconductor devices involve LTPs. However, challenges in plasma process design and continuous incorporation of novel materials for new device architectures are pushing the limits of what is possible with current plasma technology. For example, creating higher aspect ratio structures and etching features at the atomic scale both require finer control of the ion energy/velocity at wafer surfaces. To support these types of future innovations in the plasma processing systems that Sandia and the DOE rely upon, we have developed novel diagnostics, simulations, and machine learning capabilities to discover, characterize, and predict plasma phenomena affecting the ion energy/velocity distribution function (IEDF). These efforts also supported research program development and external collaboration with industry and academia through Sandia’s Plasma Research Facility (PRF). This report will focus on the following topics and accomplishments of this three year LDRD project, briefly summarized.

42 ENGINEERING↗

ASCR Cybersecurity for Scientific Computing Integrity

The Department of Energy (DOE) has the responsibility to address the energy, environmental, and nuclear security challenges that face our nation. Much of DOE’s enterprise involves distributed, collaborative teams; a significant fraction involves “open science,” which depends on multi-institutional, often international collaborations that must access or share significant amounts of information between institutions and over networks around the world. The mission of the Office of Science is the delivery of scientific discoveries and major scientific tools to transform our understanding of nature and to advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. The ability of DOE to execute its responsibilities depends critically on its ability to assure the integrity and availability of scientific facilities and computer systems, and of the scientific, engineering, and operational software and data that support its mission.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A GENERIC MICROGRID CONTROLLER

The main objective of this project was to develop and test a Generic Microgrid Controller (GMC) that provides (1) seamless islanding and reconnection of the microgrid, (2) efficient, reliable, and resilient operation of the microgrid with the required power quality, whether islanded or grid-connected, (3) existing and future ancillary services to the larger grid, (4) the capability for the microgrid to serve the resiliency needs of participating communities, (5) communication with the electric grid utility as a single controllable entity, and (6) increased reliability, efficiency and reduced emissions. The GMC developed under this project was designed to facilitate the deployment of microgrids, to be easily adapted to various microgrid configurations, and reduce up-front engineering costs associated with the design and development of microgrid controllers. Specifically, the GMC: 1. Provides a control structure amenable to accommodating an array of microgrid configurations and a portfolio of functional requirements; 2. Possesses a high level architecture that can readily be adopted by commercial suppliers; 3. Supports unlimited nesting of conforming microgrid control schemes; 4. Integrates into a full-featured Energy Management System (EMS) as a module. A select set of microgrids, operating a variety of microgrid configurations, served as “collaborating microgrid partners” in the project and assured thereby that the GMC developed under this program can readily be applied to microgrids of different sizes, and equipped with various resources, attributes, and equipment. Collaborating microgrid partners included the UCI Medical Center), the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, and the Irvine Ranch Water District. The objectives of the project were achieved in two phases: (Phase I) Research, Development and Design (“Design”), and (Phase II) Testing, Evaluation, and Verification (“TEV”). In Phase I, specifications were developed for the GMC and a detailed test plan was established to test the functional requirements of the GMC. The GMC addresses two core functions, transition and dispatch, as well as several optional higher level functions such as economic dispatch, and renewable and load forecasting.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Undergraduate Women in STEM Internship Program

In collaboration with the Universities Research Association, Inc. (URA), establishment of the Undergraduate Women in STEM Internship pilot program assists Fermi Research Alliance, LLC (FRA) with honoring its commitment to increasing gender, racial and ethnic workforce diversity. This focused initiative is intended to invite, support and yield a qualified pipeline of alumnae underrepresented in FRA’s science and technology management and technical staff positions. Interns in this program spend 10-12 weeks at Fermilab working under the direct leadership, guidance and supervision of scientists, engineers, computing professionals, technicians and staff across all directorates performing hands-on research. In addition, the intern cohort meets with mentors and advisors to grow their professional networks, to take part in engaging and inclusive intellectual discussions, to directly benefit from workplace resources, and to participate in professional development and social engagement opportunities. The design of each research project and the supervision, mentorship and evaluation is conducted by a scientific, engineering, computing professional at Fermilab.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Safety Applications Project FY20-21 Highlights, FY2022 Goals [Slides]

Collaborations leverage the investment and expertise of others. Code capabilities determine the questions that can be addressed using SAP tools. Infrastructure acts as a force multiplier for software developer skills. Improved code performance allows simulations to finish faster or with greater fidelity. Code performance has dramatically improved over the past ~4 years.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Quantum Networks: A New Platform for Aerospace

The ability to distribute entanglement between quantum nodes may unlock new capabilities in the future that include teleporting information across multinode networks, higher resolution detection via entangled sensor arrays, and measurements beyond the quantum limit enabled by networked atomic clocks. These new quantum networks also hold promise for the Aerospace community in areas such as deep space exploration, improved satellite communication, and synchronizing drone swarms. Although exciting, these applications are a long way off from providing a “real-world” benefit, as they have only been theoretically explored or demonstrated in small-scale experiments. An outstanding challenge is to identify near-term use cases for quantum networks; this may be an intriguing new area of interest for the aerospace community, as the quantum networking field would benefit from more multidisciplinary collaborations. This paper introduces quantum networking, discusses the difficulties in distributing entanglement within these networks, highlights recent progress toward this endeavor, and features two current case studies on mobile quantum nodes and an entangled clock network, both of which are relevant to the aerospace community.

Engineering↗

FY 2021 High Performance Computing Overall Systems Availability

INL HPC capabilities were utilized by individuals at universities, industry, and government laboratories for a wide range of research and engineering activities between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021. The HPC systems themselves experienced minimal downtime over the course of the fiscal year. Most downtime was planned to apply critical security patches to system software. The most serious of the unplanned downtime events occurred due to maintenance on the Kohler backup generator in July. Users were kept notified of all events, both planned and unplanned, via 36 total email notifications in FY-21. The INL HPC systems continue to provide high availability for collaboration and innovation in nuclear energy systems research.

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Knowledge management information tool Web analytics - 15182

The Knowledge Management Information Tool (KM-IT) is a web-based [01] system developed to maintain and preserve the Department of Energy's (DOE's) D and D knowledge base. The system was developed by Florida International University's Applied Research Center (FIU-ARC) with the support of the D and D community including the DOE Office of Environmental Management, and with the active collaboration and support of the DOE's Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG). The KM-IT system is a D and D community driven system tailored to serve the technical issues faced by the D and D workforce across the DOE Complex. The D and D KM-IT is an interactive web-based system operational and available for free access at www.dndkm.org. [02] The D and D KM-IT is currently composed of the following tailored D and D modules: Web Crawler, Hotline, Technology, Document Library (including Hanford's and Savannah River Sites' ALARA Center Reports), Specialist Directory, Lessons Learned, Best Practices, Video/Picture Library, Vendors, Collaboration Tools, Training, and Mobile Systems. The Web Crawler dynamically searches through the D and D KM-IT repository as well as the web and displays search results based on the search criteria. The Hotline allows registered users to post questions/problems related to D and D and to receive solutions from a subject-matter specialist. The Technology module serves as repository of D and D technologies and contains technology/ demonstration fact sheets and vendor information. D and D community members can add Lessons Learned, Best Practices, Documents, and Pictures/Videos to the D and D KM-IT repository, after a formal approval process. The Vendor module provides a directory of commercial vendors who provide D and D related technologies, supplies, and services. D and D KM-IT makes excellent use of the knowledge that exists within the D and D community by allowing D and D project managers around the DOE complex to collaborate by sharing innovative ideas, past experiences, and practices and by maintaining a directory of subject matter specialists. The mobile version of the KM-IT can be accessed from m.dndkm.org [03] and currently has six active modules: Vendor, Technology, Picture/Video Library, Hotline, Lessons Learned and Specialist Directory. Web analytics is a key tool being implemented by the D and D KM-IT project team in an effort to enhance the system to better meet users' needs. The D and D KM-IT project team incorporates web analytics as part of its operational elements to analyze information and key data points on how the system is being used. Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. The use of web analytics retains or attracts D and D community members to access and share knowledge through virtual collaboration on the KM-IT platform. D and D KM-IT web analytics measures details on the overall usage of the system without tracking personal information or specific user behavior: how many users visited the application, how many of those users were unique visitors, how visitors come to the system (i.e., by following a link to the system or by using the web site URL via bookmark or directly typing the address), what keywords were used to perform searches with the search engine, how long the average user stayed on a given screen or on the entire system and what links were clicked on. This information is used to identify which areas of the system are more popular than the others and provides information that can be used to streamline the application for a better user experience. (authors)

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

The conduct of the united states department of energy nuclear criticality safety program hands-on training and education courses - 14621

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP), funded and managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), offers courses to educate nuclear criticality safety (NCS) engineers, process supervisors, and others, and to provide experimental, hands-on training addressing important characteristics of neutron multiplying systems. This training satisfies the American National Standard Institute/American Nuclear Society (ANSI/ANS)-8.26-2007 requirement for participating in hands-on experiments with fissionable materials and provides awareness and understanding of DOE Orders, Guides and Rules, ANS standards, and hazard identification techniques, as well as control design, implementation, and maintenance in criticality safety evaluations. Since the pilot course was developed in 2011, a variety of courses have been developed for NCS practitioners and process supervisors. Attendees have come from several US and international sites. Through NCSP international collaborations and relationships, students from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in the United Kingdom, Atomic Energy of Canada, and the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety in France have participated in these courses in the US. Manager courses are available for process supervisors and operations managers with NCS responsibilities in their daily jobs. Manager courses are taught at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) and the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC); they offer a combination of hands-on experiments and classroom discussions. A two-week course is also offered for NCS practitioners, with a week of classroom instruction at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) focused on generation of NCS evaluations, and a week of hands-on training utilizing the critical assemblies at either SNL or NCERC. Cleared students can attend the hands-on training at either SNL or NCERC, and uncleared students can attend at SNL. Courses continue to evolve and continuously improve as important elements of NCS evaluations (e.g., human factors, non-destructive assay (NDA) techniques, process criticality accident lessons-learned, and hand calculation methods) are integrated with criticality safety evaluation exercises. Courses include tours of process operations at SNL, NCERC, and LANL, and interaction with instructors experienced in conducting critical experiments and working in NCS. The NNSA NCSP provides management, funding, and technical direction for these courses and makes them available with no tuition cost to NCS practitioners. This paper provides a status report to the NCS community on the conduct of these courses and how they will likely evolve in the future. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

An Augmented 3D iPad Mobile Application for Communication, Collaboration, and Learning (CCL) of Building MEP Systems

The goal of this research is to gain better understanding of how BIM models can be used to create mobile 3D game environments for some serious purpose other than entertainment. This project was motivated by the perspective that the capability of BIM creating realistic 3D virtual game environments for collaboration, communication and learning (CCL). The wide dissemination of mobile devices is driving many computer applications toward the direction of ubiquitous mobile accessibility. Considering the popularity of the iPad mobile device, a BIM model of an institutional building was created for this 3D mobile game application on iPad. This game application allows users to visualize and interact with the HVAC BIM components. In this paper, we reported our preliminary findings in developing a BIM-based iPad 3D game application for CCL activities in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). Technical barriers of using BIM models to create mobile 3D CCL applications were also discussed. The detailed system architecture and implementation framework were presented in this paper. Differences between the developed program and the existing BIM mobile programs were elaborated to distinguish the developed program from the off-the-shelf BIM mobile programs, such as Vella and Autodesk Inventor mobile viewer. The preliminary results indicated that fairly complex BIM models including multiple building systems can be imported and created through 3D virtual-built environments to conducted CCL activities in the AEC domain.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Platoon management with cooperative adaptive cruise control enabled by VANET

Previous studies have shown the ability of vehicle platooning to improve highway safety and throughput. With Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) and Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) system, vehicle platooning with small headway becomes feasible. In this paper, we developed a platoon management protocol for CACC vehicles based on wireless communication through VANET. This protocol includes three basic platooning maneuvers and a set of micro-commands to accomplish these maneuvers. Various platooning operations such as vehicle entry and vehicle (including platoon leader) leaving can be captured by these basic platoon maneuvers. The protocol operation is described in detail using various Finite State Machines (FSM), and can be applied in collaborative driving and intelligent highway systems. This protocol is determined in an integrated simulation platform, VENTOS, which is developed based on SUMO and OMNET++. The validity and effectiveness of our approach is shown by means of simulations, and different platooning setting are calibrated.

42 ENGINEERING↗