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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 1,171 records · Page 65

Toward Soil Spatial Information Systems (SSIS) for global modeling and ecosystem management

The general objective is to conduct research to contribute toward the realization of a world soils and terrain (SOTER) database, which can stand alone or be incorporated into a more complete and comprehensive natural resources digital information system. The following specific objectives are focussed on: (1) to conduct research related to (a) translation and correlation of different soil classification systems to the SOTER database legend and (b) the inferfacing of disparate data sets in support of the SOTER Project; (2) to examine the potential use of AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data for delineating meaningful soils and terrain boundaries for small scale soil survey (range of scale: 1:250,000 to 1:1,000,000) and terrestrial ecosystem assessment and monitoring; and (3) to determine the potential use of high dimensional spectral data (220 reflectance bands with 10 m spatial resolution) for delineating meaningful soils boundaries and conditions for the purpose of detailed soil survey and land management.

Baumgardner, Marion F.↗

Analytic Study of Induced Pressure on Long Bodies of Revolution with Varying Nose Bluntness at Hypersonic Speeds

Pressure distributions and shock shapes for a series of cylindrical afterbodies having nose fineness ratios from 0.4 to 4 have been calculated by using the method of characteristics for a perfect gas. The fluid mediums investigated were air and helium and the Mach number range was from 5 to 40. Flow parameters obtained from blast-wave analogy gave good correlations of blunt-nose induced pressures and shock shapes. Experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the characteristic calculations. The concept of hypersonic similitude enables good correlation of the results with respect to body shape, Mach number, and ratio of specific heats.

VanHise, Vernon↗

Modeling Laser Altimeter Return Waveforms Over Complex Vegetation Using High-Resolution Elevation Data

The upcoming generation of laser altimeters record the interaction of emitted laser radiation with terrestrial surfaces in the form of a digitized waveform. We model these laser altimeter return waveforms as the sum of the reflections from individual surfaces within laser footprints, accounting for instrument-specific properties. We compare over 1000 modeled and recorded waveform pairs using the Pearson correlation. We show that we reliably synthesize the vertical structure information for vegetation canopies contained in a medium-large diameter laser footprint from a high-resolution elevation data set.

Blair, J. Bryan↗

Calibration of Passive Microwave Hybrid Coupler-based Polarimeters

Passive microwave polarimeters, or polarimetric radiometers, are important tools for Earth remote sensing. They have found utility in ocean surface wind-vector remote sensing and polarization basis rotation systems for compensating instrument or ionospheric induced rotation. The hybrid coupler-based polarimeter is a specific class of polarimeter that utilizes a 180-degree hybrid coupler to affect a correlation between the received vertical and horizontal polarization signals. This type of polarimeter requires at least four calibration states for complete calibration. One state must be a polarized signal, such as the application of a correlated noise source. The phase balance of the noise source directly determines the quality of the calibration.

Piepmeier, J. R.↗

Bioelectrical impedance analysis. What does it measure?

Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) has been proposed for measuring fat-free mass, total body water, percent fat, body cell mass, intracellular water, and extracellular water: a veritable laboratory in a box. Although it is unlikely that BIA is quite this versatile, correlations have been demonstrated between BIA and all of these body compartments. At the same time, it is known that all of the compartments are correlated among themselves. Because of this, it is difficult to determine whether BIA is specific for any or all of these compartments. To investigate this question, we induced acute changes in total body water and its compartments over a 3-h period. Using this approach, we demonstrated that multifrequency BIA, using the Cole-Cole model to calculate the zero frequency and infinite frequency resistance, measures extracellular and intracellular water.

NASA Discipline Regulatory Physiology↗

A New Global Mascon Solution Tuned for High-Latitude Ice Studies

A new global mascon solution has been developed with I-arc-degree spatial and IO-day temporal sampling. The global mas cons are estimated from the reduction of nearly 8 years of GRACE K-band range-rate data. Temporal and anisotropic spatial constraints have been applied for land, ocean and ice regions. The solution construction and tuning is focused towards the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (GIS and AIS) as well as the Gulf of Alaska mountain glaciers (GoA). Details of the solution development will be discussed, including the mascon parameter definitions, constraints, and the tuning of the constraint damping factor. Results will be presented, exploring the spatial and temporal variability of the ice sheets and GoA regions. A detailed error analysis will be discussed, including solution dependence on iteration, damping factor, forward modeling, and multitechnique comparisons. We also investigate the fundamental resolution of the solution and the spatial correlation of ice sheet inter-annual change. Finally, we discuss future improvements, including specific constraint application for the rest of the major land ice regions and improvements in solution regularization.

Luthcke, S. B.↗

Effect of Cross-Correlation of Orbital Error on Probability of Collision Determination

This paper discusses the effect of global model error on probability of collision (Pc) determination. Modifications to the Pc formulation for cross-correlation of orbital error in prediction are developed and assessed for recent conjunctions. While specific geometries can be identified or constructed to produce significant change in Pc for the modified formulation, it is of operational interest to quanti- fy the relative occurrence of such cases for satellite conjunction risk assessment. Large-scale analysis is feasible per data collections in place over the past year.

Steve Casali↗

Microstructural Characterization of Irradiated U0.7ZrH1.6 Using Ultrasonic Techniques

In recent years, there has been an increased level of effort to understand the changes in microstructure that occur due to irradiation of nuclear fuel. The primary driver for this increased effort is the potential for designing new fuels that are safer and more reliable, in turn enabling new and improved reactor technologies. Much of the data on microstructural change in irradiated fuels is generated through a host of post irradiation examination techniques such as optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to determine grain structure, porosity, crack geometry, etc. in irradiated fuels. Such “traditional” examination techniques were recently used to characterize a novel new fuel consisting of U0.17ZrH1.6 pellets bonded to zircaloy-2 cladded with lead-bismuth eutectic before and after irradiation. However, alternative methods such as ultrasonic inspection can provide an opportunity for nondestructively assessing microstructure in both in-pile and post-irradiation examinations. In this paper, we briefly describe initial results of ultrasonic examination of the U0.17ZrH1.6 pellets (unirradiated and irradiated), in a post-irradiation examination study. Data indicate some correlation with microstructural changes due to irradiation; however, it is not clear what the specific microstructural changes are that are influencing the ultrasonic measurements. Interestingly, specimens with nominally identical burnup show differences in ultrasonic signatures, indicating apparent microstructural differences between these specimens. A summary of the experimental study, preliminary data and findings are presented in this short paper. Additional details of the analysis will be included in the presentation.

Microstructure evaluation↗

Applications of Transient Grating Spectroscopy to Radiation Materials Science

Radiation damage is an inherently multi-scale phenomenon, with much of the key material evolution occurring at the mesoscale. Current techniques for the direct interrogation of material property changes due to irradiation either function with very small volumes, such as in-situ TEM, cannot cover the full range of defect populations produced, such as in positron annihilation spectroscopy, or requires destruction of the test material, such as in standard or micromechanical testing. In addition, the ultimate quantities of interest to radiation materials scientists are the changes in key material properties with irradiation. These include stiffness, ductility, and thermal conductivity for structural materials, and optical properties such as index of refraction or changes in transmittance spectra for optically active materials. The latter of these are often correlated directly to stress- or thermally-induced changes, themselves a function of the specific defect populations responsible for their change. The rapid study of such a mesoscale phenomenon requires an inherently mesoscale technique, where multiple quantities of interest can be accurately measured in very short times. Determining the sensitivity of any technique with known certainly is of critical importance to qualifying a new technique to measure in-situ material property changes during irradiation. In this paper, we present the new applicability of an existing technique, known as transient grating (TG) spectroscopy, to rapidly and accurately study key problems in radiation materials science. Results quantifying the absolute sensitivity of the technique are presented, alongside molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the TG spectroscopy process to gauge direct agreement between theory, simulation, and experiment. An example problem of interest is demonstrated as an illustration of what is possible, showing elastic and thermal changes in irradiated silicon carbide (SiC) films. Finally, future work to quantify the effects of experimentally-simulated radiation defects is proposed, in support of building a database to use TG spectroscopy to deconvolve irradiated material property changes in-situ in terms of the defect populations responsible for their evolution. The application of the TG spectroscopy technique to in-situ radiation materials science has the potential to answer long-standing questions in the field, relating to ion beam rastering, the onset of void swelling, and direct measurement of radiation-created point defect concentrations. Before it can do so, the technique must carefully be analyzed and tuned to increase its sensitivity, the certainty of its results, and the ability to predict radiation-induced changes by simulations must be developed. Making such measurements in-situ with the aid of predictive MD simulations has the potential to elucidate mechanisms of radiation damage accumulation, as well as more rapidly qualify radiation-resistant alloys for service in nuclear systems. Work is underway to build this database of experimentally-simulated radiation-produced defects, which will be combined and compared with actual irradiated materials for eventual in-situ deconvolution of the TG signal into the defect populations responsible for irradiation-induced microstructural change. (authors)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Investigation of glass-ceramic lithium thiophosphate solid electrolytes using NMR and neutron scattering

Solid-state Li batteries require solid electrolytes which have high Li+ conductivity and good chemical/mechanical compatibility with Li metal anodes and high energy cathodes. Structure/function correlations which relate local bonding to macroscopic properties are needed to guide development of new solid electrolyte materials. This study combines diffraction measurements with solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR) and neutron pair distribution function (nPDF) analysis to probe the short-range vs. long-range structure of glass-ceramic Li 3 PS 4 -based solid electrolytes. Here, we demonstrate how different synthesis conditions (e.g., solvent selection and thermal processing) affect the resulting polyanionic network. More specifically, structures with high P coordination numbers (e.g., PS 4 3– and P 2 S 7 4– ) correlate with higher Li + mobility compared to other polyanions (e.g., (PS 3 ) n n– chains and P 2 S 6 4– ). Overall, this work demonstrates how ssNMR and nPDF can be used to draw key structure/function correlations for solid-state superionic conductors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Hexavalent Chromium Sources and Distribution in California Groundwater

Groundwater resources in California represent a confluence of high-risk factors for hexavalent chromium contamination as a result of industrial activities, natural geology, and, potentially, land use. Here, we examine state-wide links in California between groundwater Cr(VI) concentrations and chemicals that provide signatures for source attribution. In environmental monitoring wells, Cr(VI) had the highest co-occurrence and also clustered with 1,4-dioxane and several chlorinated hydrocarbons indicative of the metal plating industry. Additionally, hotspots of Cr(VI) co-occurring with bromoform result from volatile organic compound remediation using in situ chemical oxidation that inadvertently oxidizes naturally occurring Cr(III). In groundwater supply wells, which are typically free of industrial inputs, Cr(VI) correlates with dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE), vanadium, and ammonia and clusters with nitrate and dissolved oxygen, suggesting potential links between agricultural activities and Cr(VI). Specific controls on Cr(VI) vary substantially by region: from the metal plating industry around Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay areas to natural redox conditions along flow paths in the Mojave Desert and to correlations with agricultural practices in the Central Valley of California. Here, while industrial uses of Cr lead to the most acute cases of groundwater Cr(VI) contamination, oxidation of naturally occurring Cr affects a larger area, more wells, and a greater number of people throughout California.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Thermal Analysis and Correlation of the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft's Solar Array During Aerobraking Operations

The Mars Odyssey spacecraft made use of multipass aerobraking to gradually reduce its orbit period from a highly elliptical insertion orbit to its final science orbit. Aerobraking operations provided an opportunity to apply advanced thermal analysis techniques to predict the temperature of the spacecraft's solar array for each drag pass. Odyssey telemetry data was used to correlate the thermal model. The thermal analysis was tightly coupled to the flight mechanics, aerodynamics, and atmospheric modeling efforts being performed during operations. Specifically, the thermal analysis predictions required a calculation of the spacecraft's velocity relative to the atmosphere, a prediction of the atmospheric density, and a prediction of the heat transfer coefficients due to aerodynamic heating. Temperature correlations were performed by comparing predicted temperatures of the thermocouples to the actual thermocouple readings from the spacecraft. Time histories of the spacecraft relative velocity, atmospheric density, and heat transfer coefficients, calculated using flight accelerometer and quaternion data, were used to calculate the aerodynamic heating. During aerobraking operations, the correlations were used to continually update the thermal model, thus increasing confidence in the predictions. This paper describes the thermal analysis that was performed and presents the correlations to the flight data.

Dec, John A.↗

Using PCA and PLS on publicly available data to predict the extractability of hydrocarbons from shales

Prediction of hydrocarbon extraction from shale requires specialized knowledge of shale play characteristics and analysis to assess effective, economical, and sustainable implementation of oil and natural gas production. In this paper, we present a statistical approach that can be used as a preliminary investigation into the hydrocarbon resource potential of a shale play based on limited data. Statistical algorithms for Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLS) were used to determine if depositional environments and lithographic boundary characteristics of different plays allowed prediction of specific production parameters. This project characterizes Eagle Ford and Utica formations—two high-producing shale plays in the United States—and Banff/Exshaw and Colorado formations—two recently assessed shale plays in Alberta, Canada. Partial Least Squares Regression models were unable to model gas production parameters from predictor variables, highlighting the complexity of gas formations and the need for data on microscale petrophysical characteristics. In contrast, oil production parameters were better predicted, because bulk variables such as mineral composition appeared to correlate with oil location in mineral interfaces. As expected, a PLS model's predictive capabilities increased with specificity of data sets to particular regions of a shale play. Finally, this study indicates how PCA and PLS modeling could assist stakeholders to make preliminary decisions regarding hydrocarbon extraction, especially when limited to publicly available petrophysical data.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Collision system and beam energy dependence of anisotropic flow fluctuations

New measurements of elliptic flow from two- and four-particle correlations are used to investigate flow fluctuations in collisions of U+U at √ s NN = 193 GeV, Cu+Au at √ s NN = 200 GeV and Au+Au at several beam energies. These measurements highlight the dependence of these fluctuations on the event shape, system size and beam energy and indicate a dominant role for initial-state-driven fluctuations. These measurements could provide further constraints for initial-state models, as well as for precision extraction of the temperature-dependent specific shear viscosity η/s( T ).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Correlation of As-read and As-run Dosimetry Data

The Nuclear Science Users Facilities (NSUF) is responsible for the coordination of experiments conducted in Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) by Universities and other outside organizations. Completion of the experiment and data reporting process is long and expensive. As such, it is expected that targets for temperature and neutron dosage are met. Simulations of expected reactor performance under specific conditions to meet these targets are critical for this process. However, it is not often that these reports are correlated with the data produced by monitors in ATR. This project aims to correlate simulation and read data from experiments in ATR to gauge uncertainty.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Ion Solvation and Transport in Narrow Carbon Nanotubes: Effects of Polarizability, Cation-π Interaction, and Confinement

Understanding ion solvation and transport under confinement is critical for a wide range of emerging technologies, including water desalination and energy storage. While molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been widely used to study the behavior of confined ions, considerable deviations between simulation results depending on the specific treatment of intermolecular interactions remain. In the following, we present a systematic investigation of the structure and dynamics of two representative solutions, that is, KCl and LiCl, confined in narrow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with a diameter of 1.1 and 1.5 nm, using a combination of first-principles and classical MD simulations. Our simulations show that the inclusion of both polarization and cation-π interactions is essential for the description of ion solvation under confinement, particularly for large ions with weak hydration energies. Beyond the variation in ion solvation, we find that cation-π interactions can significantly influence the transport properties of ions in CNTs, particularly for KCl, where our simulations point to a strong correlation between ion dehydration and diffusion. Finally, our study highlights the complex interplay between nanoconfinement and specific intermolecular interactions that strongly control the solvation and transport properties of ions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Correlations between In Situ Conductivity and Uniform-Height Epitaxial Morphology in Pb / Si ( 1 1 1 ) ₋ ( 7 × 7 )

The growth of Pb on Si(111)-7x7 at temperatures from 72 K to 201 K has been investigated using in situ electrical resistivity measurements and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). For temperatures T>140 K the specific resistivity ρ(θ) vs coverage θ shows an unusual "hump", instead of the expected monotonic decrease with θ. This novel result correlates well with the formation of uniform height 8-layer Pb islands and the superdiffusive motion of the wetting layer, despite the low temperatures. A model of the film resistivity as two resistors in series, the amorphous wetting layer and the crystalline islands, explains quantitatively the resistivity dependence on θ.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗