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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 145 records · Page 8

Connecting Minds: AI Use Cases to Bridge Power Systems and Large Language Models for Practical Applications

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and development of large language models (LLMs) present the opportunity to develop a new generation of power systems applications. In contrast with early power system AI applications based on structured numerical data, LLMs offer unique capabilities to perform logical reasoning using text documents, unstructured data, and application programming interface (API) calls to computational software. This paper seeks to bridge the knowledge gap between power systems engineers and LLM developers through a crosscutting explanation of use cases, characteristics, requirements, practical considerations from the perspectives of both LLM capabilities and industry needs. Specific focus is given to applications that can be realistically deployed by electric utilities. After introducing the architecture of LLMs and unique challenges of the power systems domain, this paper proposes twenty representative LLM applications grouped into categories of 1) power system operations, 2) asset management, 3) system planning and analytics, and 4) energy management and protection systems. Five use cases are presented within each category with descriptions of the motivation, objectives, approaches, example inputs / outputs, and benefits of each use case.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

AI Applications to Physics Experiments at Jefferson Lab

We survey how AI/ML is being deployed across Jefferson Lab's experimental and accelerator programs. In EPSCI, Hydra applies computer vision to automate real-time data-quality monitoring across all four experimental halls, replacing manual inspection of hundreds to thousands of histograms per shift. AIEC (AI Experiment Controls) uses ML to stabilize drift chamber gains and is now part of standard CEBAF production running, while AI Optimized Polarization (AIOP) targets autonomous control of polarized targets and photon beam angular alignment. In CASA, cavity fault classification models identify faulted cavities and trip types from waveform data with ~85% and ~78% agreement to labeled data, respectively, and are deployed in production; a separate effort applies LLMs and hybrid search to make the CEBAF operations logbook AI-ready. QCD-focused work includes transformer- and GAN-based generative models for particle-level event simulation, with distributed GAN training scaling studies on Polaris. Additional efforts span ML-on-FPGA for the EIC and a new Data Science Department coordinating anomaly detection, uncertainty quantification, and HPC-scalable ML lab-wide. Collectively, these projects illustrate AI's growing role in improving efficiency across JLab's nuclear physics mission.

Mei, Xinxin [Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator↗

Solving the Grid Optimization Competition Challenge 3 Problem

The Grid Optimization Competition Challenge 3 Problem posed a multiperiod security-constrained unit commitment problem with base-case AC power flow. The problem formulation includes binary unit commitment decisions, nonlinear AC power flow and balance, dispatchable loads, and linearized contingency real power flow, among other features. This talk will present a modified consensus ADMM algorithm, which splits the problem into mixed-integer linear and nonlinear components, as a heuristic solution method for this large-scale mixed integer nonlinear program. We will present some computational results from the competition for our implementation and reflect on the challenges of participating the grid optimization competition.

AC power flow↗

Summary Report Of The FY25 Reactor Physics Verification And Validation Exercises In The Advanced Reactor Technologies - Gas-cooled Reactor Program

Valdiation and verification of numerical tools is critical for ensuring reasonable predictions for design scoping, licensing, and safety analsyis. In this report, two reactor physics verification and validation exercises are presented. The first of these exercises focuses on burnup analysis with data from the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) program. Simulations are performed with Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) and are compared with the experimental measurements for the AGR 1 and 2 experiments that utilize both UCO and UO2 fuel. The second exercises utilizes data from the HTR-Proteus experiments to perform reactor physics validation. Specifications of the experimental facility are provdied, along with a demonstration of initial modeling efforts in Serpent for one of the determistic packing experiments. Both cases are part of the Generation-IV international forum (GIF) Very High-Temperature Reactor (VHTR) Computational Methods, Validation, and Benchmarking (CMVB) program, an international collaborative organization dedicated to the verification and validation of High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) analysis. Participation in the CMVB allows the US Department of Energy (DOE) to leverage these existing validation activities to provide extra value through benchmarking activities with other CMVB members.

and Benchmarking (CMVB) program↗

A Comparison of GPU-Accelerated Multiphase CFD Solvers on the Polaris Supercomputer: Part 1

This report is in support of the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE). With INCITE-level resources, one project, titled BubblyFlow, was granted computational resources for the 2025 calendar year on the Polaris supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF). The project aims to conduct simulations to understand the fundamental characteristics of turbulent bubbly flow phenomena in nature. Staff at the ALCF and Argonne’s Computational Science division, along with collaborators at the City College of New York and University of Illinois at Chicago, helped a summer student to assess the accuracy and performance of two high performance computing (HPC) codes. Both codes, ImExLBM and FluTAS, are fundamentally different in their mathematical and numerical modeling. However, both may be used to solve the same physical problem. The collaboration sought to better understand the differences between both codes in terms of accuracy and efficiency. This would ultimately help the BubblyFlow project better utilize resources and establish a knowledge-base of code capabilities in future simulation campaigns. We compare ImExLBM and FluTAS, two high-performance multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solvers, in terms of physical fidelity, time-to-solution, and parallel efficiency. We validate ImExLBM (Implicit-Explicit Lattice Boltzmann Method) against a canonical benchmark and assess it’s performance relative to FluTAS (Fluid Transport Accelerated Solver), a well-established open-source CFD code.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

IRIS-MASH: Efficient Multi-device Asynchronous Multi-Stream Heterogeneous Computing

In the rapidly evolving field of high-performance computing (HPC), effectively leveraging heterogeneous devices through asynchronous task programming is paramount. This paper presents a robust asynchronous task programming model tailored for a multi-device, multi-stream execution environment that incorporates a diverse array of heterogeneous computing units, including GPUs from various vendors and other accelerators. Current state-of-the-art task programming models provide methodologies to support asynchronous task executions, but they typically handle homogeneous devices using native programming languages, while support for heterogeneous devices is limited to frameworks like OpenCL. This gap presents significant challenges in abstracting heterogeneous devices to harness their true asynchronous capabilities effectively using their native programming languages. By implementing asynchronous task execution, our model significantly boosts the performance of tiled algorithm task graphs through overlapping data transfers with computation and enabling the simultaneous execution of multiple kernels. We integrate this approach into a heterogeneous Intelligent Runtime System (IRIS) and assess its performance using a suite of tiled algorithm benchmarks from the heterogeneous math kernels library (MatRIS) based on IRIS. Experimental results demonstrate a performance improvement ranging from 1.6 × to 2 × over IRIS without asynchronous support, and a notable 22% performance enhancement compared to established runtime systems such as StarPU and PaRSEC. This approach significantly improves computation efficiency of HPC workflows and provides a solid base for future exploration and development in the area of asynchronous task programming in heterogeneous systems.

Miniskar, Narasinga Rao [ORNL] (ORCID:000000018259↗

Computational Determination of the Refractive Index of TATB, LLM-105, β-HMX, & α-RDX

In this study, we use Materials Studio CASTEP, an ab initio quantum mechanical (QM) program employing density functional theory (DFT), to compute the refractive index (RI) of solid energetic materials, specifically, PETN (tetragonal phase), TATB, LLM-105, β-HMX, and α-RDX. The use of quantum mechanical DFT methods affords the investigation of the optical mate rial properties of a system without the need for any experimental input. The RI values of PETN and TATB have been experimentally determined previously and are compared here to the QM derived RI values as validation of the theoretical approach in determining material optical proper ties. To date, experimental measurements to determine the RI values for LLM-105 have yet to be determined. This fact obviates the need to determine LLM-105 RI values using quantum mechanical means.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Generating Euler Diagrams Through Combinatorial Optimization

Abstract Can a given set system be drawn as an Euler diagram? We present the first method that correctly decides this question for arbitrary set systems if the Euler diagram is required to represent each set with a single connected region. If the answer is yes, our method constructs an Euler diagram. If the answer is no, our method yields an Euler diagram for a simplified version of the set system, where a minimum number of set elements have been removed. Further, we integrate known wellformedness criteria for Euler diagrams as additional optimization objectives into our method. Our focus lies on the computation of a planar graph that is embedded in the plane to serve as the dual graph of the Euler diagram. Since even a basic version of this problem is known to be NP‐hard, we choose an approach based on integer linear programming (ILP), which allows us to compute optimal solutions with existing mathematical solvers. For this, we draw upon previous research on computing planar supports of hypergraphs and adapt existing ILP building blocks for contiguity‐constrained spatial unit allocation and the maximum planar subgraph problem. To generate Euler diagrams for large set systems, for which the proposed simplification through element removal becomes indispensable, we also present an efficient heuristic. We report on experiments with data from MovieDB and Twitter. Over all examples, including 850 non‐trivial instances, our exact optimization method failed only for one set system to find a solution without removing a set element. However, with the removal of only a few set elements, the Euler diagrams can be substantially improved with respect to our wellformedness criteria.

Computer Science↗

Navigating Large Chemical Spaces Using Graph Theory and Integer Programming

Navigating and analyzing large chemical spaces are necessary to accelerate the design and discovery of new molecules and chemical processes. In this work, we introduce a computational framework that integrates graph theory and integer programming to enable the efficient navigation of large chemical spaces. Our framework represents the chemical space as a graph, wherein nodes represent molecules and edges represent the degree of similarity or connectivity based on domain-specific information. Using the graph representation, we identify representative molecules by computing the so-called minimum dominating set (MDS), which in our context is the minimum set of molecules that is connected to all other molecules. We present a suite of solution strategies for the MDS problem including heuristic and rigorous integer programming (IP) approaches. We show that these approaches allow us to capture physicochemical properties and domain-specific logic and constraints, facilitating the identification of molecules with the target properties. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by navigating the chemical space of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); this comprises approximately 15,000 molecular structures. We compare our framework against traditional dimensionality reduction and clustering methods such as t-SNE and K-means clustering.

Chemical structure↗

Bayesian Analysis of TRISO Fuel: Quantifying Model Inadequacy, Incorporating Lower-Length-Scale Effects, and Developing Parallel Active Learning Capabilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program aims to develop predictive capabilities by applying computational methods to the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel-cycle systems. This program has been providing engineering-scale support for the continued development of BISON, a high-fidelity, high-resolution fuel performance tool. Fuel behavior in nuclear reactors is governed by a complex network of mechanisms that interact with various other physics aspects in the reactor system. Any model developed to represent fuel behavior will likely be idealized, resulting in uncertainties when comparing their predictions against the observed data. In Fiscal Year (FY)-23, we initiated the Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) work by using Bayesian methods to establish a level of model trustworthiness and further improve it, with a particular emphasis on TRI-Structural isOtropic (TRISO) nuclear fuel. This year, we further expanded on that UQ work by investigating an approach to quantifying model inadequacy and accounting for lower-length scale (LLS) effects in TRISO silver (Ag) release modeling. Furthermore, we are implementing parallel active learning capabilities to reduce the computational cost (i.e., required computational resources and elapsed time) of performing UQ. Specifically, we utilized The Kennedy O’Hagan framework for Bayesian uncertainty quantification (KOH) to account for model inadequacy in TRISO Ag release predictions made by BISON. The KOH framework represents an improvement over the standard Bayesian framework used in FY-23. Explicitly accounting for model inadequacy in the Bayesian framework helps establish the level of experimental noise uncertainty in the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) data. We compared the inverse UQ results obtained from both the standard Bayesian and KOH frameworks in light of the AGR-2/3/4 data, and also compared the predictive UQ results obtained from these two frameworks in light of the AGR-1 data. Next, we investigated the impact of considering LLS effects in the Ag release simulations. We developed an expanded database of LLS simulated effective diffusivities for Ag, covering a wide range of microstructures and temperatures. Using this database, we developed a framework for incorporating LLS effects into the engineering-scale Ag release UQ. We developed both parametric and non-parametric approaches for bridging the length scales. We then investigated the inverse UQ results in light of the AGR-2/3/4 data and the predictive UQ results in light of the AGR-1 data, and compared the LLS-informed approach and the Arrhenius equation, which does not include microstructure information. Finally, we discussed implementing parallel active learning capabilities in the Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE)/BISON to reduce the computational cost (i.e., computational resources and elapsed time) of Bayesian UQ. For verification purposes, we first tested these new capabil ities on a species interaction problem. We then demonstrated them on the TRISO Ag release application, showing that parallel active learning capabilities can enhance the accuracy of UQ while also substantially reducing the computational cost in comparison to the reference methods developed in FY-23.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Scalable semidefinite programming approach to variational embedding for quantum many-body problems

In quantum embedding theories, a quantum many-body system is divided into localized clusters of sites which are treated with an accurate ‘high-level’ theory and glued together self-consistently by a less accurate ‘low-level’ theory at the global scale. The recently introduced variational embedding approach for quantum many-body problems combines the insights of semidefinite relaxation and quantum embedding theory to provide a lower bound on the ground-state energy that improves as the cluster size is increased. The variational embedding method is formulated as a semidefinite program (SDP), which can suffer from poor computational scaling when treated with black-box solvers. Here, we exploit the interpretation of this SDP as an embedding method to develop an algorithm which alternates parallelizable local updates of the high-level quantities with updates that enforce the low-level global constraints. Moreover, we show how translation invariance in lattice systems can be exploited to reduce the complexity of projecting a key matrix to the positive semidefinite cone.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High Energy Physics Network Requirements Review: Final Report, July 2024–December 2024

The world-class research infrastructure at the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) provides the research community with premier observational, experimental, computational, and network capabilities. Each user facility is designed to provide unique capabilities to advance the core DOE mission in science and technology for its SC program to stimulate rich scientific discoveries and enhance its innovation ecosystem. Research communities gather and flourish around each user facility, bringing together new and enhanced perspectives. The continual reinvention of the practice of science — as users and staff forge novel approaches expressed in research workflows — unlocks new discoveries and propels scientific progress. Within this research ecosystem, the high-performance computing (HPC) and networking user facilities stewarded by the SC’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program play a dynamic cross-cutting role, enabling complex workflows demanding high-performance data, networking, and computing solutions. The ASCR facilities enterprise seeks to understand and meet the needs and requirements across SC and DOE domain science programs and priority efforts, highlighted by the formal requirements review methodology. Between July and December 2024, the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) and the Office of High Energy Physics (HEP) of the DOE-SC organized an ESnet requirements review of HEP-supported program activities. Preparation for these events included identification of key stakeholders: program and facility management, research groups, and technology providers. Each stakeholder group was asked to prepare formal case study documents about its relationship to the HEP program to build a complete understanding of the current, near-term, and long-term status, expectations, and processes that will support the science going forward.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Characterization of Peripheral Neurophotonic Systems for High-Performance Human-Computer Interfaces (CRADA Final Report)

As part of the Cyclotron Road program, Morphosis Inc. sought to investigate a non-invasive neuromuscular sensing approach for use as an intuitive and secure human–computer interface. These highly miniaturized, wearable neural interfaces were completely non-invasive and maintained stable, high-bandwidth, long-term access to a user’s actions, intent, and identity, while offering an exceptionally high signal-to-noise ratio compared to contemporary neural recording technologies. The widespread adoption of neural interfaces had the potential to reshape how people interact with technology, with profound societal impacts. Millions worldwide suffered from movement and/or speech disabilities, and these tools had the potential to democratize access to technology to enhance autonomy and quality of life. More broadly, interfaces capable of accurately conveying intentions and safeguarding identities could serve as a cornerstone for privacy, trust, and personal authenticity in digital environments. The use of thought-driven control of digitally enabled devices and governance of digital identities had the potential to revolutionize relationships with technology, transforming how people learn, communicate, and interact with the world.

42 ENGINEERING↗

The U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, 1991-2021: Follow-Up Study Shows Major Impact on Recipients and the Scientific Workforce

Since 1991, the U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) has addressed DOE National Laboratory needs as well as demands in the national workforce for trained professionals in computational science and engineering. Sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration, the DOE CSGF supports doctoral students in the pursuit of novel scientific or engineering discoveries using high-performance computing (HPC) resources. To meet the program’s core requirements, recipients participate in multidisciplinary studies, carry out at least one 12-week DOE laboratory research practicum, and contribute to an annual program review where the fellows present their research for sponsor review. The Krell Institute, which as managed the fellowship on behalf of the DOE since 1997, has commissioned several follow-up studies to examine the DOE CSGF recipients’ characteristics, fellows’ outcomes and professional accomplishments, alumni’s career paths and achievements, and recipients’ impact on national priorities through research and education.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, 1991-2021: Follow-Up Study Shows Major Impact on Recipients and the Scientific Workforce

Since 1991, the U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) has addressed DOE National Laboratory needs as well as demands in the national workforce for trained professionals in computational science and engineering. Sponsored by the Department of Energy's Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration, the DOE CSGF supports doctoral students in the pursuit of novel scientific or engineering discoveries using high-performance computing (HPC) resources. To meet the program’s core requirements, recipients participate in multidisciplinary studies, carry out at least one 12-week DOE laboratory research practicum, and contribute to an annual program review where the fellows present their research for sponsor review. The Krell Institute, which as managed the fellowship on behalf of the DOE since 1997, has commissioned several follow-up studies to examine the DOE CSGF recipients’ characteristics, fellows’ outcomes and professional accomplishments, alumni’s career paths and achievements, and recipients’ impact on national priorities through research and education.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Preparing MPICH for exascale

The advent of exascale supercomputers heralds a new era of scientific discovery, yet it introduces significant architectural challenges that must be overcome for MPI applications to fully exploit its potential. Among these challenges is the adoption of heterogeneous architectures, particularly the integration of GPUs to accelerate computation. Additionally, the complexity of multithreaded programming models has also become a critical factor in achieving performance at scale. The efficient utilization of hardware acceleration for communication, provided by modern NICs, is also essential for achieving low latency and high throughput communication in such complex systems. In response to these challenges, the MPICH library, a high-performance and widely used Message Passing Interface (MPI) implementation, has undergone significant enhancements. Here, this paper presents four major contributions that prepare MPICH for the exascale transition. First, we describe a lightweight communication stack that leverages the advanced features of modern NICs to maximize hardware acceleration. Second, our work showcases a highly scalable multithreaded communication model that addresses the complexities of concurrent environments. Third, we introduce GPU-aware communication capabilities that optimize data movement in GPU-integrated systems. Finally, we present a new datatype engine aimed at accelerating the use of MPI derived datatypes on GPUs. These improvements in the MPICH library not only address the immediate needs of exascale computing architectures but also set a foundation for exploiting future innovations in high-performance computing. By embracing these new designs and approaches, MPICH-derived libraries from HPE Cray and Intel were able to achieve real exascale performance on OLCF Frontier and ALCF Aurora respectively.

Guo, Yanfei [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Ar↗

ASME Design Code Rule Changes for Nuclear Graphite

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler Pressure and Vessel Code (ASME BPVC) Section III, Division 5, Article HHA-3000 outlines graphite core component and graphite core assembly design guidelines. Graphite core components are defined as ?components manufactured from graphite that are installed to form a graphite core assembly within the reactor pressure vessel of a high temperature, graphite moderated fission reactor.? (p. 413) Graphites? inherent defect distributions do not allow for deterministic material reliability. Rather, graphite has variable strength distributions which change by grade. Article HHA-3000 outlines two semi-probabilistic methods, the full and simplified assessments, which set design load limit targets for each of three component structural reliability classes. The Design Task Group was officially recognized as a specialized task group within ASME November of 2023, though we?ve been collaborating since 2022. The purpose of the Design Task Group is to correct, clarify, and make HHA-3000 function as intended. The Design Task Group will sunset once we?ve achieved our objectives. The Design Task Group was specifically told to not write new Code. While there may be more precise and more accurate methods to determine reliability targets, the current methods are conservative, relatively simple to implement, and have thus far been considered satisfactory for setting design reliability targets. Much of the ground-work to write proposal files and background documents for records to make the changes needed to achieve our objective have been completed. The Design Task Group has documented much of their work through papers, presentations, and memorandums. Three memorandums in which INL team members had substantial contributions are found in the Appendices: FEA Modeling for the Baseline Program, Evaluating the Effects on Margin of Updating the Threshold and Shape Parameters in the Full Assessment, and Interpretations of the Full and Simplified Assessments in ASME BPVC. Most of the on-going work to achieve the Design Task Group?s objective will be addressing comments on existing records and moving records through the balloting process. The Design Task Group met bi-weekly mostly through the end of FY2023. Since February 2024, the Design Task Group has mostly been completed with solving and documenting the technical issues associated with the assessments. Unless new tasks are identified, the remaining work of the Design Task Group will be political and editorial.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Exploiting Modern C++ for Portable Parallel Programming in Lattice QCD Applications

The evolution of ISO C++ standards increasingly serves the needs of scientific computing, offering potential benefits for developing portable applications. The recent revisions of C++ programming language, for instance, introduces a suite of algorithms capable of being executed on accelerators. Although this approach may not yield best performance, it can present a viable balance between code productivity and computational efficiency. In this report, we discuss the implementation of the HISQ operator utilizing a range of features from the C++17/20/23 standards and include an assessment of their performance.

Strelchenko, Alexei↗