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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 1,369 records · Page 76
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Laser-induced digital oxidation for copper-based flexible photodetectors

Copper oxide compounds (Cu x O) with bandgaps of 1.3–2.1 eV (CuO) and 2.1–2.6 eV (Cu 2 O) have been investigated as promising p-type semiconducting materials. Cu x O is generally obtained by deposition or thermal oxidation, but those methods are not optimal for flexible substrates. Furthermore, additional patterning steps are required to fabricate devices. In this work, we present an easy, controllable method to fabricate a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector using laser-induced oxidation of a thin Cu film. After laser irradiation, the Cu film is heated under ambient conditions, and this leads to a thermal oxidation reaction, in which Cu oxide is monolithically formed in the Cu film and a Cu-Cu x O-Cu MSM structure is produced. Since the laser offers localized heating, an arbitrary CuxO pattern can be written in the Cu film by spatially controlled heating. In addition, by optimizing the heating time, the laser-induced oxidation can be successfully performed even on a flexible substrate. To study the laser-induced oxidation, we examined the correlation between laser parameters and the oxidation pattern and analyzed the composition using scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Furthermore, we measured the transient photoresponse and employed scanning photocurrent microscopy to investigate the mechanism of carrier transport behavior.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Impact of grassland fire dynamics on particulate emission factors

Understanding particulate emission factors in grassland fires is critical for improving air quality assessments and refining emissions inventories. This study explores the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of fire processes and their influence on particulate emissions. Traditional emission factor inventories often rely on static values, overlooking the spatially and temporally variable dynamics of fire behavior. Through field experiments conducted at Konza Prairie Biological Station measuring emissions with uncrewed aerial vehicles, and computational modeling using HIGRAD/FIRETEC, this research highlights the dependency of emission production on localized fire dynamics, including ignition patterns, fuel properties, and atmospheric conditions. The results demonstrate a need for fire dynamic considerations to accurately capture emissions variability.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structural and optical properties of Ni-doped CdS thin films prepared by chemical bath deposition method

The structural and optical behavior of undoped Cadmiun Sulphide (CdS) and Ni-doped CdS thinfilms prepared by Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) technique is reported. The crystallite sizes of the thinfilms have been characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD). The particle sizes increase with the increase of Ni content in the CdS thinfilms. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) results indicated that CdS thinfilms is made up of aggregate of spherical-like particles. The composition was estimated by Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-ray (EDX) and reported. Spectroscopic studies revealed considerable improvement in transmission and the band gap of the films changes with addition of Ni dopant that is associated with variation in crystallite sizes in the nano regime.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

HumoNet: A Framework for Realistic Modeling and Simulation of Human Mobility Network

Understanding, analyzing, and predicting human mobility and dynamics are valuable to solving pressing problems, developing effective plans, and prescribing timely remedies. As a computational approach, realistic human mobility simulations allow us to understand, analyze, and predict complex systems, including human societies. Accurate simulations rely on (1) the model that captures interactions and behaviors of myriad entities in our society and (2) the mapping of model instances to real-world entities. Taking this into account, this paper introduces the Human Mobility Network simulation framework (HumoNet), an integrated patterns of life (POL) simulation framework that leverages real-world data layers including transportation networks, points of interest, populations, popularity, and human trajectories. HumoNet is a data informed model in which agents are equipped with activities, locomotion, and planning capabilities. To simulate realistic kinematic maneuvers of individuals in transportation networks, HumoNet harnesses a microscopic traffic simulator that provides interaction among vehicles and traffic objects. In this paper, we describe the framework, outline our methodologies, and discuss the data processing and challenges of each data layer. Through experiments, we demonstrate that our simulations capture key features of human mobility by comparing them to the literature and real data using standard measures of human mobility (i.e., the radius of gyration, number of locations visited, level of exploration) and metrics scoring (i.e., Jensen-Shannon divergence). We envision that the synthetic data produced by HumoNet will serve as a benchmark for analyzing epidemics, deploying EV charging networks, and validating AI/ML tasks such as location prediction.

Kim, Joon-Seok↗
DOE OSTI2018

Voltron Compatible Whole Building Root-Fault Detection and Diagnosis

Buildings consume more than 40% of primary energy in the U.S. Malfunctioning sensors, components, and control systems, as well as degrading components in Heating, Ventilating and Air-conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems are main reasons for energy waste and unsatisfactory indoor environment. Field studies have shown that an energy saving of 5-30% of total building energy consumption and improved indoor air quality can be achieved by simply applying automated fault detection and diagnosis (AFDD), followed by corrections even if these are not done in real time. Extensive research has been made on the development of component level AFDD tools in the past two decades. However, in recent years, the development of method for a whole building level AFDD has received much attention. Here, a whole building fault refers to a fault happening in one subsystem but impact on more than one subsystems, or has a significant impact on building performances, such as building’s energy consumption. Existing component level AFDD tools could fail to detect or give false alarm for faults that trigger abnormalities in multiple subsystems. Isolating such whole building faults, which have impacts on multiple subsystems, is also challenging by simply using component based AFDD solutions. On the other hand, it might be more cost-effective for medium- or small-sized commercial buildings that have subsystems (e.g. primary cooling subsystem, air loop subsystem, heating subsystem, lighting subsystem, etc.) to install one whole building level AFDD tool, rather than many component level AFDD tools, to focus on significant faults. The focus of this project is firstly to provide training opportunities in building AFDD research area for undergraduate students and to develop a workforce pipeline in building sciences. The objective of the proposed research activities is to develop cost-effective and scalable AFDD solutions for whole building level faults. The developed AFDD solution is VOLTTRONTM compatible to further increase its plug-n-play capacity and the market penetration. VOLTTRONTM is an open-source innovative distributed control and sensing software platform developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. A VOLTTRONTM compatible AFDD tool brings the benefits such as low-cost deployment, and better building to grid integration, etc. The performance of the developed whole building AFDD tools is evaluated using data collected from a mixed-use medium-sized university campus building. Another significant goal of this project is to engage undergraduate students in research activities and expose them to building control and AFDD fields. A demonstration building – Nesbitt Hall at Drexel University is identified for this study. This demonstration building has a typical HVAC system configuration, which includes a water-cooled chiller system, three variable air volume (VAV) air handling unit (AHU) systems, and a hydronic heating system. Faults, that are expected to have a whole building level impact, are artificially implemented in this demonstration building for three different seasons. Building data have been collected in this project, which include fault free building automation system (BAS) data and BAS data that contain system behaviors caused by artificially implemented and naturally occurred faults. These collected data are used to evaluate the developed whole building AFDD tools. A data-driven method, which includes a weather and schedule-based pattern matching (WPM) method and Feature based Principal Component Analysis (FPCA) method, is developed for whole building level fault detection. Parameter sensitivity tests, including snapshot window size, data sample searching pool size, etc., are implemented to evaluate the impacts of various WPM-FPCA parameters. A data-driven and expert knowledge/rule-based method using Bayesian Network (BN) and WPM is developed for whole building level fault diagnosis. The developed WPM-BN method, which includes a two-layer BN structure model and BN parameters, are either learned from baseline data or developed from expert knowledge. The developed whole building AFDD tools are evaluated using BAS data collected from the demonstration building. Using the evaluation data set, the WPM-FPCA fault detection method is evaluated under two different Principle Component (PC) retention rates, i.e., 0.65 retention rate and 0.95 retention rate. It is observed that when using 0.65 PC retention rate, the WPM-FPCA fault detection method achieves a 79% fault detection rate (this rate reaches to 85% when including the six make-up fault test cases discussed in the next bullet), while when using 0.95 PC retention rate, the WPM-FPCA fault detection method achieves 100% fault detection rate (this rate remains to be 100% when including the six make-up fault test cases). Under both PC retention rates, the WPM-FPCA fault detection method demonstrates 0% false alarm rates. Using the evaluation data set, the developed WPM-BN fault diagnosis method has successfully diagnosed thirteen (13) faults out of the fourteen (14) fault test cases. The one mis-diagnosed case exhibits fewer fault symptoms in different subsystems, when compared with other fault test cases. Overall speaking, the developed whole building AFDD solutions demonstrate satisfactory fault detection/diagnosis accuracy with very low false alarm rate. Lastly, a survey and market study has been performed to understand the existing AFDD market, including its gaps and needs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Rotation of Low-mass Stars in Upper Scorpius and ρ Ophiuchus with K2

We present an analysis of K2 light curves (LCs) for candidate members of the young Upper Sco (USco) association (∼8 Myr) and the neighboring ρ Oph embedded cluster (∼1 Myr). We establish ∼1300 stars as probable members, ∼80% of which are periodic. The phased LCs have a variety of shapes which can be attributed to physical causes ranging from stellar pulsation and stellar rotation to disk-related phenomena. We identify and discuss a number of observed behaviors. The periods are ∼0.2–30 days with a peak near 2 days and the rapid period end nearing breakup velocity. M stars in the young USco region rotate systematically faster than GK stars, a pattern also present in K2 data for the older Pleiades and Praesepe systems. At higher masses (types FGK), the well-defined period–color relationship for slowly rotating stars seen in the Pleiades and Praesepe systems is not yet present in USco. Circumstellar disks are present predominantly among the more slowly rotating M stars in USco, with few disks in the subday rotators. However, M dwarfs with disks rotate faster on average than FGK systems with disks. For four of these disked M dwarfs, we provide direct evidence for disk locking based on the K2 LC morphologies. Our preliminary analysis shows a relatively mass-independent spin-up by a factor of ∼3.5 between USco and the Pleiades, then mass-dependent spin-down between Pleiades and Praesepe.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Radius-to-frequency Mapping and FRB Frequency Drifts

We build a model of radius-to-frequency mapping in magnetospheres of neutron stars and apply it to frequency drifts observed in fast radio bursts (FRBs). We assume that an emission patch propagates along the dipolar magnetic field lines, producing coherent emission with frequency, direction, and polarization defined by the local magnetic field. The observed temporal evolution of the frequency depends on the relativistic effects of time contraction and the curvature of the magnetic field lines. The model generically produces linear scaling of the drift rate, $\dot{\omega}$ ∝-${\omega}$, matching both numerically and parametrically the rates observed in FBRs; a more complicated behavior of $\dot{\omega}$ is also possible. Fast rotating magnetospheres produce higher drifts rates for similar viewing parameters than the slowly rotating ones. In the case of repeaters, the same source may show variable drift patterns depending on the observing phase. We expect rotational of polarization position angle through a burst, though by smaller amount than in radio pulsars. All of these findings compare favorably with properties of FBRs, strengthening their possible loci in the magnetospheres of neutron stars.

Magnetars↗
NASA NTRS1979

Vibration characteristics of walls and a plate glass window representative of those of a wood-frame house

Mechanical excitation was used, and measurements of acceleration response, natural frequencies, and nodal patterns were performed. Results indicate that the wall sections and the complete wall did not act as a unit in responding to sinusoidal vibration inputs. Calculated frequencies of the components that account for this independent behavior of the studs and face sheets agreed resonably well with experimental frequencies. Experimental vibrations of the plate glass window agreed with the calculated behavior, and responses of the window exposed to airplane flyover noise were readily correlated with the test results.

Carden, H. D.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Combustion behavior of solid fuel ramjets

Nonreacting flowfield characteristics and fundamental fuel properties are considered with respect to their use in estimating the obtainable combustion efficiency for fuels and/or combustor geometries. It is shown that near wall turbulence intensity in nonreacting flow appears to correlate reasonably well with the fuel regression pattern in identical geometries. The HTPB based fuels exhibit solid phase exothermic reactions in contrast to purely endothermic reactions for plexiglas. It is further shown that combustion pressure oscillations appear to be related to physically induced disturbances to the fluctuating shear layers at the fuel grain and aft mixing chamber inlets.

Netzer, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Steady state volcanism - Evidence from eruption histories of polygenetic volcanoes

Cumulative volcano volume curves are presented as evidence for steady-state behavior at certain volcanoes and to develop a model of steady-state volcanism. A minimum criteria of five eruptions over a year was chosen to characterize a steady-state volcano. The subsequent model features a constant head of magmatic pressure from a reservoir supplied from depth, a sawtooth curve produced by the magma arrivals or discharge from the subvolcanic reservoir, large volume eruptions with long repose periods, and conditions of nonsupply of magma. The behavior of Mts. Etna, Nyamuragira, and Kilauea are described and show continuous levels of plasma output resulting in cumulative volume increases. Further discussion is made of steady-state andesitic and dacitic volcanism, long term patterns of the steady state, and magma storage, and the lack of a sufficient number of steady-state volcanoes in the world is taken as evidence that further data is required for a comprehensive model.

Wadge, G.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Turbine blade-tip clearance excitation forces

The results of an effort to assess the existing knowledge and plan the required experimentation in the area of turbine blade tip excitation forces is summarized. The work was carried out in three phases. The first was a literature search and evaluation, which served to highlight the state of the art and to expose the need for an articulated theoretical experimental effort to provide not only design data, but also a rational framework for their extrapolation to new configurations and regimes. The second phase was a start in this direction, in which several of the explicit or implicit assumptions contained in the usual formulations of the Alford force effect were removed and a rigorous linearized flow analysis of the behavior of a nonsymmetric actuator disc was carried out. In the third phase a preliminary design of a turbine test facility that would be used to measure both the excitation forces themselves and the flow patterns responsible for them were conducted and do so over a realistic range of dimensionless parameters.

Martinez-Sanchez, M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Steps toward determination of the size and structure of the broad-line region in active galactic nuclei. II - An intensive study of NGC 5548 at optical wavelengths

A large, international program of ground-based optical spectroscopy and photometry of the variable Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 undertaken in support of an IUE monitoring campaign is described. This contribution presents the data base and describes the methods used to correct for systematic differences between spectra from different sources. Optical continuum and H-beta emission-line light curves are derived from the spectra. The behavior of the optical continuum is qualitatively the same as the behavior of the ultraviolet continuum. Cross-correlation of the ultraviolet and optical continuum measurements does not reveal any significant lag between them. The h-beta emission-line variations show the same basic pattern as seen in the continuum and ultraviolet emission lines, with H-beta lagging behind the continuum by about 20 days. This is significantly larger than the about 10 day lag deduced for Ly-alpha.

Peterson, B. M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Ku-band ocean radar backscatter observations during SWADE

We present results obtained by an airborne Ku-band scatterometer during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment (SWADE). The specific objective of this study is to improve our understanding of the relationship between ocean radar backscatter and near surface winds. The airborne scatterometer, NUSCAT, was flown on the NASA Ames C-130 over an instrumented oceanic area near 37 deg N and 74 deg W. A total of 10 flights from 27 Feb. to 9 Mar. 1991 were conducted. Radar backscatter at incidence angles of 0 to 60 deg were obtained. For each incidence angle, the NUSCAT antenna was azimuthally scanned in multiple complete circles to measure the azimuthal backscatter modulations. Both horizontal and vertical polarization backscatter measurements were made. In some of the flights, the cross-polarization backscatter was measured as well. Internal calibrations were carried out throughout each of the flights. Preliminary results indicate that the radar was stable to +/-0.3 dB for each flight. In this paper, we present studies of the backscatter measurements over several crossings of the Gulf Stream. In these crossings, large air-sea temperature differences were encountered and substantial changes in the radar cross section were observed. We summarize the observations and compare them to the changes of several wind variables across the Gulf Stream boundary. In one of the flights, the apparent wind near the cold side of the Gulf Stream was very low (less than 3 m/s). The behavior of the radar cross sections at such low wind speeds and a comparison with models are presented. A case study of the effects of swell on the absolute cross section and the azimuthal modulation pattern is presented. Significant wave heights larger than m were observed during SWADE. The experimentally observed effects of the swell on the radar backscatter are discussed. The effects are used to assess the uncertainties in wind retrieval due to underlying waves. A summary of azimuthal modulation from our ten-flight of NUSCAT data is given. Wind velocities, air and sea surface temperature, ocean spectrum, and other variables measured from aircraft and buoys are also shown.

Nghiem, S. V.↗
NASA NTRS2004

"Smart" Magnetic Fluids Experiment Operated on the International Space Station

InSPACE is a microgravity fluid physics experiment that was operated on the International Space Station (ISS) in the Microgravity Science Glovebox from late March 2003 through early July 2003. (InSPACE is an acronym for Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates From Colloidal Emulsions.) The purpose of the experiment is to obtain fundamental data of the complex properties of an exciting class of smart materials termed magnetorheological (MR) fluids. MR fluids are suspensions, or colloids, comprised of small (micrometer-sized) superparamagnetic particles in a nonmagnetic medium. Colloids are suspensions of very small particles suspended in a liquid. (Examples of other colloids are blood, milk, and paint.) These controllable fluids can quickly transition into a nearly solid state when exposed to a magnetic field and return to their original liquid state when the magnetic field is removed. Controlling the strength of the magnetic field can control the relative stiffness of these fluids. MR fluids can be used to improve or develop new seat suspensions, robotics, clutches, airplane landing gear, and vibration damping systems. The principal investigator for InSPACE is Professor Alice P. Gast of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The InSPACE hardware was developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The InSPACE samples were delivered to the ISS in November 2002, on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, on Space Station Utilization Flight UF-2/STS113. Operations began on March 31, 2003, with the processing of three different particle size samples at multiple test parameters. This investigation focused on determining the structural organization of MR colloidal aggregates when exposed to a pulsing magnetic field. On Earth, the aggregates take the shape of footballs with spiky tips. This characteristic shape may be influenced by the pull of gravity, which causes most particles initially suspended in the fluid to sediment, (i.e., settle and collect at the bottom of the cell). In the absence of sedimentation effects on the ISS, the behavior and shape of these MR aggregate structures are dominated exclusively by magnetic and surface tension forces. The microscopic detail of these structures was imaged under two orthogonal camera views. The video was downlinked to the InSPACE team at Glenn's Telescience Support Center and to MIT and also recorded onboard the ISS on videotapes that will be brought back to the ground by the space shuttles. The study examined the effect on the structure formation by varying the magnetic field strength and pulse frequency, and particle size. Fundamental data that characterized the structure formation were obtained. InSPACE completed its last planned test run on July 2, 2003. Operations occurred on 21 days over approximately a 3-month period. Forty-one test points were completed during 26 test runs. During the initial testing, the procedures followed by the crew were modified to maximize the observation of some unexpected and interesting aggregate behavior. As a result Dr. Gast has reported on the formation of aggregate shapes that are more extended and diverse than those observed on the ground. Sheets of magnetic material folded over in a labyrinth pattern and large columnar aggregates with complex interfaces with the surrounding fluid are examples of the interesting structures that have been observed on the ISS. In light of these early findings, the understanding of the fundamental properties of MR fluids on the basis of ground-based observations may need to be reconsidered.The experiments on the ISS have provided a vast amount of video data for analysis. While this analysis is ongoing, plans are being made for additional experimental runs. For this purpose, additional hardware and cells containing samples of different magnetic particles and sizes are being fabricated for a future launch to the ISS. The InSPACE hardware will remain on orbit until this testing is completed.

Agui, Juan H.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Understanding and Verifying Neural Networks

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have gained immense popularity in recent times and have widespread use in applications such as image classification, sentiment analysis, speech recognition and also in safety-critical applications such as autonomous driving. However, they suffer limitations such as lack of explainability and robustness which raise safety and security concerns in their usage. Further, the complex structure and large input spaces of DNNs act as an impediment to thorough verification and testing. The SafeDNN project at the Robust Software Engineering (RSE) group at NASA aims at exploring techniques to ensure that systems that use deep neural networks are safe, robust and interpretable. In this talk, I will be presenting our technique Prophecy that automatically infers formal properties of deep neural network models. The tool extracts patterns based on neuron activations as preconditions that imply certain desirable output properties of the model. I would be highlighting case studies that use Prophecy in obtaining explanations for network decisions, understanding correct and incorrect behavior, providing formal guarantees wrt safety and robustness, and debugging neural network models. We have applied the tool on image classification networks, neural network controllers providing turn advisories in unmanned aircrafts, regression models used for autonomous center-line tracking in aircrafts and neural network object detectors

Deep Neural Networks↗
DOE OSTI2014

Application Power Signature Analysis

The high-performance computing (HPC) community has been greatly concerned about energy efficiency. To address this concern, it is essential to understand and characterize the electrical loads of HPC applications. In this work, we study whether HPC applications can be distinguished by their power-consumption patterns using quantitative measures in an automatic manner. Using a collection of 88 power traces from 4 different systems, we find that basic statistical measures do a surprisingly good job of summarizing applications' distinctive power behavior. Moreover, this study opens up a new area of research in power-aware HPC that has a multitude of potential applications.

Hsu, Chung-Hsing↗
DOE OSTI2021

Human Mobility to Parks Under the COVID-19 Pandemic and Wildfire Seasons in the Western and Central United States

In 2020, people's health suffered a great crisis under the dual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the extensive, severe wildfires in the western and central United States. Parks, including city, national, and cultural parks, offer a unique opportunity for people to maintain their recreation behaviors following the social distancing protocols during the pandemic. However, massive forest wildfires in western and central US, producing harmful toxic gases and smoke, pose significant threats to human health and affect their recreation behaviors and mobility to parks. In this study, we employed the geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) Models to investigate how COVID-19 and wildfires jointly shaped human mobility to parks, regarding the number of visits per capita, dwell time, and travel distance to parks, during June - September 2020. We detected strong correlations between visitations and COVID-19 incidence in southern Montana, western Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah before August. However, the pattern was weakened over time, indicating the decreasing trend of the degree of concern regarding the pandemic. Moreover, more park visits and lower dwell time were found in parks further away from wildfires and less air pollution in Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, and New Mexico, during the wildfire season, suggesting the potential avoidance of wildfires when visiting parks. This study provides important insights on people's responses in recreation and social behaviors when facing multiple severe crises that impact their health and wellbeing, which could support the preparation and mitigation of the health impacts from future pandemics and natural hazards.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of samarium doping on the dielectric behavior of barium zircomium titanate ceramic

Samarium doped Barium Zirconium Titanate ceramic with general formula Ba{sub 1−x}Sm{sub 2x/3}Zr{sub 0.05}Ti{sub 0.95}O{sub 3} [x=0.0,0.01,0.02,0.03,0.04] has been prepared by high energy ball milling. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed that these ceramics have a single phase with perovskite-type upto x≤0.03 and a small secondary phase exist at x=0.04. The temperature dependent dielectric study shows a ferroelectric phase transition and transition temperature decreases with an increase in the Samarium content.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗