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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

Exploration of Near-Term Potential Routes and Procedures for Urban Air Mobility

Urban air mobility is gaining interest as the need for On Demand Mobility in today's congested traffic is becoming high in metropolitan areas. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is envisioned as a concept to transport passengers and cargo safely and efficiently using innovative aircraft in the urban areas. It is expected to improve mobility for the general public, decongest road traffic, reduce transport time and reduce the strain on existing public transport networks. There exist several challenges to Urban Air Mobility (UAM) such as integration of procedures with airspace and the airport, noise levels that are acceptable to the general public, public safety, public acceptance, vehicle certification, and more. Most of the research in the United States and European skies (DLR - German Aerospace Center) related to urban areas has focused on small UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) flights (NASA's UTM (UAS Traffic Management) research) and their integration with the airspace and building safe operations in densely populated areas. Previous studies on UAM have focused on fast time simulations of the routes that are separated via a separation service and network of routes. Similarly, research in Europe has focused on the approach profile for these innovative aircraft, vertiports and battery life among others. UAM as a part of the On-Demand Mobility effort has provided some guidelines for operations as shown below: Does not require additional ATC (Air Traffic Control) infrastructure; Does not impose additional workload on ATC; Does not restrict operations of traditional airspace users; Will meet appropriate safety thresholds and requirements; Will prioritize operational scalability; Will allow flexibility where possible and structure where necessary. This paper explores potential routes and procedures in a Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) experiment that could be applied in the near-term to allow integration of UAM flights into the airspace as well as a large airport. The airspace that was explored was Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airspace managed by the DFW East Tower in South Flow only. In addition, Dallas Love Field (DAL) and Addison (ADS) airspace were also part of the testbed. The initial set of routes investigated in this study were published helicopter routes in the DFW area. Figure 1 shows class B airspace in DFW area and the origin/destination city pairs where UAM flights flew along with helicopter routes shown in blue. The research focused on exploring procedures for integrating UAM flights into Class Bravo and Class Delta airspace. Three different communication procedures, evaluated with three different levels of UAM traffic, are shown in Table 1. The current day routes were evaluated with current day communication procedures were explored as the first condition. The current day routes were also evaluated in the second condition with reduced communications, which was assumed due to the presence of a Letter Of Agreement (LOA). The purpose of the LOA was to reduce the verbiage associated with pilots getting clearance to Class B airspace from the controllers, pre-assigning beacons codes to the UAM flights, separate routes by assigning altitudes and speeds to flights going in any one direction. Flights were expected to automatically change frequency when exiting Class B airspace, thus transition points for entry and exit points were also specified in the LOA.

Urban Air Mobility↗

Initial Assessment of Lost Command and Control Link Procedures

This paper presents an initial assessment of lost command and control (LC2L) procedures for large Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) in a simulated representative airspace environment using real airspace procedures. The experiment matrix consists of nine different flight routes: four nominal, four following current LC2L procedures, and one that routes the UAS more conservatively through less-busy airspace. For each route, eleven simulated UAS flights – in ten-minute increments – were flown into Fort Worth Alliance Airport following a real Instrument Approach Procedure. The simulated UAS flew amongst real recorded tracks of approximately 4,700 flights on January 18, 2022. The analysis focused primarily on the number of aircraft with which each UAS lost separation and where the losses occurred. This work presents a significant increase in testing capability and provides the foundation for further verification and validation of LC2L procedures using additional analysis metrics.

Uncrewed aircraft↗

Initial Assessment of Lost Command and Control Link Procedures

This paper presents an initial assessment of lost command and control (LC2L) procedures for large Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) in a simulated representative airspace environment using real airspace procedures. The experiment matrix consists of nine different flight routes: four nominal, four following current LC2L procedures, and one that routes the UAS more conservatively through less-busy airspace. For each route, eleven simulated UAS flights – in ten-minute increments – were flown into Fort Worth Alliance Airport following a real Instrument Approach Procedure. The simulated UAS flew amongst real recorded tracks of approximately 4,700 flights on January 18, 2022. The analysis focused primarily on the number of aircraft with which each UAS lost separation and where the losses occurred. This work presents a significant increase in testing capability and provides the foundation for further verification and validation of LC2L procedures using additional analysis metrics.

uncrewed aircraft↗

Why Didn't They Just Follow the Procedure?

It is often said that to err is human and that procedures are in place to prevent people from making mistakes. It's true that failures can be traced to human limitation, but what's more important is that all successes, all safe operations are the result of human capabilities. And while it's true that good procedures can help avoid error, it's also the case that procedures have their own limitations. This talk highlights the limits of procedures and the resilience people bring to operations. It discusses ways to change the common narrative that people are the creators of safety rather than only the source of error and failure, and it proposes an approach to the design of procedures that supports the human operator.

operations↗

Preliminary Procedures and Acceptance Criteria for in-situ Structural Materials Surveillance for MSR

This report describes the initial development of the technical basis for a materials surveillance technology that, when fully developed and validated, can be used by stakeholders to develop and implement a materials surveillance program to manage materials degradation during reactor operations. The procedures described in this report aim to bound the detrimental effects of the reactor environment on the creep-fatigue life of the reactor components through materials surveillance. Specifically, the report describes procedures for selecting critical locations within the reactor components for surrogate materials surveillance and the sizing and placements of passively-actuated materials surveillance test articles under development by the US Department of Energy, Advanced Reactor Technologies Program. These test articles apply cyclic thermomechanical load to a surrogate sample of the component structural material passively through thermal expansion mismatch within the articles, without requiring any penetrations in the reactor coolant boundary. The procedures can be used to size materials surveillance test articles so that they will fail before the corresponding structural component. These articles would be exposed to the component operating environment, located to experience a bounding radiation fluence and representative coolant exposure. They can be monitored during reactor operations to ensure that they have not failed under the combination of creep-fatigue damage and environmental degradation. The report describes the key technical decisions and the corresponding rational for using these procedures to provide advanced warning of any impending material failure. An appendix describes the technical basis and the procedure for sizing a family of passively-actuated test articles. Finally, the report describes future work needed to complete the technical basis underlying this materials surveillance technology.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Method to convert a written procedure to structured data, and related systems and methods

Various embodiments described in this disclosure relate to methods and computer-based systems that implement those methods for converting tasks performed as part of a procedure into dynamic procedure tasks. Such dynamic procedure tasks may be used by computer-based procedure solutions to create highly dynamic computer-based procedures.

Oxstrand, Johanna H.↗

Consensus statement for stability assessment and reporting for perovskite photovoltaics based on ISOS procedures

Improving the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells is critical to the deployment of this technology. Despite the great emphasis laid on stability-related investigations, publications lack consistency in experimental procedures and parameters reported. It is therefore challenging to reproduce and compare results and thereby develop a deep understanding of degradation mechanisms. Here, we report a consensus between researchers in the field on procedures for testing perovskite solar cell stability, which are based on the International Summit on Organic Photovoltaic Stability (ISOS) protocols. We propose additional procedures to account for properties specific to PSCs such as ion redistribution under electric fields, reversible degradation and to distinguish ambient-induced degradation from other stress factors. These protocols are not intended as a replacement of the existing qualification standards, but rather they aim to unify the stability assessment and to understand failure modes. Finally, we identify key procedural information which we suggest reporting in publications to improve reproducibility and enable large data set analysis.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: Use of Time Distributions to Predict Operator Procedure Performance in Dynamic Human Reliability Analysis

The Human Unimodel for Nuclear Technology to Enhance Reliability (HUNTER) framework affords software capable of conducting human reliability analysis (HRA) using a dynamic approach built around operating procedures (OPs) from nuclear power plants (NPPs). Previous HUNTER reports document the development of this software tool, the coupling of HUNTER to the simulator code, the collection of operator performance data by using simulators to calibrate HUNTER models, and linking HUNTER to probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) software. The present report largely addresses two topics. The first is a new function in HUNTER called the HUNTER Procedure Performance Predictor (P3). HUNTER P3 uses HUNTER’s built in Monte Carlo tools featuring human performance variability to identify potential error traps in procedures. The second topic is time distribution analysis to generate time inputs for dynamic HRA. The current analysis was performed to investigate time distributions for task primitives, which are the minimum task unit of analysis used in dynamic HRA modeling. Using the time distribution data, the elapsed time for human actions in an extended loss of AC power (ELAP) scenario is then investigated. Time data and prediction are essential for modeling procedure performance.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Procedure Automation Rating Matrix

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign (NC) is researching the means by which future Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft will operate safely in an integrated and scalable airspace architecture. Consistent with this objective, the NASA NC Airspace Procedures team designed a matrix to evaluate UAM instrument flight procedure design, flyability and interoperability of candidate departure, enroute, and approach architectures in live flight or simulation. The Procedure Automation Rating Matrix (PARM) is a multi-dimensional rating scale designed to provide direct feedback from test pilots and operators to airspace procedure designers developing airspace constructs for the integration and scalability of AAM operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). The PARM is assessed using a hierarchical decision tree that guides the operator through a ten-point alpha-numeric rating scale initiated either with or without the use of automation.

National Campaign↗

eVTOL Vehicle-Agnostic Instrument Flight Procedures Test Plan

NASA Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign is researching the utility of electric vertical takeoff and land (eVTOL) advanced air mobility (AAM) instrument flight procedures. The result will be dynamic and tailored procedures that align to the following modus operandi: maximize safety, optimize efficiency, support passenger comfort and minimize acoustics. This is achieved through dynamic airspace procedure design, which is a modular approach to create an airspace construct that customizes procedures to vehicle design and configuration, operation and environmental conditions. The test plan supports different eVTOL platforms and envisioned operations for flight test or simulation and may be leveraged by AAM aircraft manufacturers and operators for any given aircraft, location and operation.

eVTOL test plan↗

Dataset of solution-based inorganic materials synthesis procedures extracted from the scientific literature

The development of a materials synthesis route is usually based on heuristics and experience. A possible new approach would be to apply data-driven approaches to learn the patterns of synthesis from past experience and use them to predict the syntheses of novel materials. However, this route is impeded by the lack of a large-scale database of synthesis formulations. In this work, we applied advanced machine learning and natural language processing techniques to construct a dataset of 35,675 solution-based synthesis procedures extracted from the scientific literature. Each procedure contains essential synthesis information including the precursors and target materials, their quantities, and the synthesis actions and corresponding attributes. Every procedure is also augmented with the reaction formula. Through this work, we are making freely available the first large dataset of solution-based inorganic materials synthesis procedures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A Step-Down Test Procedure for Wavelet Shrinkage Using Bootstrapping

Wavelet thresholding (or shrinkage) attempts to remove the noises existing in the signals while preserving inherent pattern characteristics in the reconstruction of true signals. For data-denoising purpose, we present a new wavelet thresholding procedure which employs the step-down testing idea of identifying active contrasts in unreplicated fractional factorial experiments. The proposed method employs bootstrapping methods to a step-down test for thresholding wavelet coefficients. By introducing the concept of a false discovery error rate in testing wavelet coefficients, we shrink the wavelet coefficients with p -values higher than the error rate. The error rate controls the expected proportion of wrongly accepted coefficients among chosen wavelet coefficients. Bootstrap samples are used to approximate the p -value for computational efficiency. We also present some guidelines for selecting the values of hyper-parameters which affect the performance in the step-down thresholding procedure. Based on some common testing signals and an air-conditioner sounds example, the comparison of our proposed procedure with other thresholding methods in the literature is performed. The analytical results show that the proposed procedure has a potential in data-denoising and data-reduction in a variety of signal reconstruction applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Elemental Analysis of Bio-Oils by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP), Issue Date: May 13, 2022

Concentrations of inorganic elements is a key quality metric for bio-oils as certain elements impact upgrading processes and product quality. Unless reduced or removed during production and processing, alkali and alkaline metals native to lignocellulosic biomass can carry over into bio-oils contributing to ash content and degraded catalyst performance during upgrading to hydrocarbon fuels or chemical products. Non-metallic elements such as sulfur and phosphorus can also negatively impact upgrading catalysts and product quality. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) can be used to measure inorganic elements of interest in bio-oils. This procedure covers the preparation and analysis of fast pyrolysis (FP) and catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) bio-oils. The concentrations of these elements can indicate potential bio-oil quality from the perspective of deoxygenation processes. The implications of elemental composition will depend on process parameters such as upgrading catalyst sensitivities. This Laboratory Analytical Procedure (LAP) covers two methods for quantification of inorganic elements by ICP-OES: Procedure A uses microwave assisted digestion with concentrated nitric acid, and Procedure B is an organic ICP-OES method utilizing a diglyme solvent.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Procedure for Creating, Reviewing, and Submitting Input Files into the Benchmark Library

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has a number of criticality benchmark input files, modeled for use with MCNP, developed and maintained by various organizations including the Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) Division, XCP-3, and XCP-5. The purpose of this procedure is to standardize input file creation, review, and maintenance. This procedure incorporates existing practices used by IRSN as documented in the original report and the translation from French in addition to practices used by the LANL NCS Division as documented in. The report relates to input files used for the validation of the continuous energy Monte Carlo code MCNP6 but is general enough to be extended to other codes. This report describes the procedure on how to prepare and use benchmarks (taken mainly from the ICSBEP Handbook) for the validation of calculation routes. In particular, this report describes the procedure to follow in the creation of the input files and their integration in the experimental validation databases.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Real-air data reduction procedures based on flow parameters measured in the test section of supersonic and hypersonic facilities

Data-reduction procedures for determining free stream and post-normal shock kinetic and thermodynamic quantities are derived. These procedures are applicable to imperfect real air flows in thermochemical equilibrium for temperatures to 15 000 K and a range of pressures from 0.25 N/sq m to 1 GN/sq m. Although derived primarily to meet the immediate needs of the 6-inch expansion tube, these procedures are applicable to any supersonic or hypersonic test facility where combinations of three of the following flow parameters are measured in the test section: (1) Stagnation pressure behind normal shock; (2) freestream static pressure; (3) stagnation point heat transfer rate; (4) free stream velocity; (5) stagnation density behind normal shock; and (6) free stream density. Limitations of the nine procedures and uncertainties in calculated flow quantities corresponding to uncertainties in measured input data are discussed. A listing of the computer program is presented, along with a description of the inputs required and a sample of the data printout.

Miller, C. G., III↗

Boundary condition computational procedures for inviscid, supersonic steady flow field calculations

Results are given of a comparative study of numerical procedures for computing solid wall boundary points in supersonic inviscid flow calculatons. Twenty five different calculation procedures were tested on two sample problems: a simple expansion wave and a simple compression (two-dimensional steady flow). A simple calculation procedure was developed. The merits and shortcomings of the various procedures are discussed, along with complications for three-dimensional and time-dependent flows.

Abbett, M. J.↗

Round-off errors in cutting plane algorithms based on the revised simplex procedure

This report statistically analyzes computational round-off errors associated with the cutting plane approach to solving linear integer programming problems. Cutting plane methods require that the inverse of a sequence of matrices be computed. The problem basically reduces to one of minimizing round-off errors in the sequence of inverses. Two procedures for minimizing this problem are presented, and their influence on error accumulation is statistically analyzed. One procedure employs a very small tolerance factor to round computed values to zero. The other procedure is a numerical analysis technique for reinverting or improving the approximate inverse of a matrix. The results indicated that round-off accumulation can be effectively minimized by employing a tolerance factor which reflects the number of significant digits carried for each calculation and by applying the reinversion procedure once to each computed inverse. If 18 significant digits plus an exponent are carried for each variable during computations, then a tolerance value of 0.1 x 10 to the minus 12th power is reasonable.

Moore, J. E.↗

Boundary condition calculation procedures for inviscid supersonic flow fields.

Results are given of a comparative study of numerical procedures for computing solid wall and sharp shock boundary points in supersonic inviscid flow calculations. Thirty different calculation procedures were tested on four sample problems in two dimensional steady flow. A new simple but accurate calculation procedure was developed for solid wall boundary point calculations. The merits and shortcomings of the various procedures are thoroughly discussed.

Abbett, M. J.↗