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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Offshore Wind Turbine Blade (85 to120meters ultra-long blade) static and fatigue test

Offshore blades are not just longer, they are wider, heavier and more flexible. These longer blades are a key component of larger wind turbines and for turbines to be more efficient in low wind speeds. These longer blades help reduce the LCOE further and make offshore wind even more competitive. As described earlier, it is essential for the blades to be fully tested to verify and validate the blade designs and manufacturing processes to ensure a reliable product is installed in the field. Through this project WTTC developed and procured new testing equipment required to test longer blades with larger deflections and higher loads. R&D’s BCDA system commissioned was the largest fatigue test exciter system in the world and set the bar for other blade testing facilities worldwide.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Oxidation of Materials and Coatings at 1000°C and 250 bar for use in Oxy-Combustion Turbine

Combinations of materials and coatings were tested in supercritical CO2 (sCO2) to evaluate their reliability in an oxy-fuel turbine being designed to operate in the 150-300 MWe size range at inlet temperatures of 1,150 °C at 300 bar and exhaust temperatures in the 725-775 °C range. Nickel alloys and stainless steels were exposed to supercritical CO2 at 1,000 °C and 250 bar for a total of over 1,500 hours. The materials were tested bare, with a nanocrystalline MCrAlY bond coat only, or with one of two types of bond coat and a thermal barrier coating. A novel test facility using a localized heat zone generated by an induction heater inside an externally cooled autoclave was developed to perform those tests. The specimens were weighed before and after exposure to determine the oxidation rate. All specimens were inspected visually, and a smaller group of coated specimens were studied using secondary electron microscopy (SEM). The integrity of the coating, and the morphology and composition of the thermally grown oxide were especially of interest for the SEM investigation. This paper presents the up-to-date results of the testing coated and uncoated superalloys in sCO2 at up to 1150 °C and up to 300 bar performed at Southwest Research Institute.

Bocher, Florent [Southwest Research Institute, San↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ensuring High-Purity Liquid Argon for the LBNF FDC: Collaborative Cryogenics Research Between UNICAMP and Fermilab

Ensuring High-Purity Liquid Argon for the LBNF FDC: Collaborative Cryogenics Research Between UNICAMP and Fermilab R. Doubnik1, M. Adamowski1, F. de M. Blaszczyk1, A. Hahn1, D. Montanari1, R. Mrowca1, Z. West1, C. Adriano2, T. P.M. Alegre2, D. Correia2, A. A. B. Machado2, E. Segreto2, R. G. Gonçalves3, E. M. Assaf6, J. M. Assaf3, D. Cardoso3, M. B. Fontes4, H. Da Motta4, D. Noriler5, P. J. G. Pagliuso2. 1 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, PO Box 500, Batavia IL 60510, United States. 2 “Gleb Wataghin” Institute of Physics, UNICAMP, Campinas-SP, 13083-859, Brazil. 3 CPqMAE - Research Center on Advanced Materials and Energy, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), São Carlos, 13565-905, Brazil. 4 The Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro-RJ, 22290-180, Brazil. 5 School of Chemical Engineering, UNICAMP, Campinas-SP, 13083-859, Brazil. 6 São Carlos Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo, São Carlos-SP, 13566-590, Brazil. Email: rdoubnik@fnal.gov Abstract. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) located at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, hosts the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). This experiment employs cryostats containing nearly 70,000 metric tons of high-purity liquid argon (LAr). Ensuring LAr purity is critical for achieving the required electron lifetime, which directly impacts the experiment’s signal-to-noise ratio. The Horizontal Drift (HD) detector demands an electron lifetime exceeding 3 ms within its 3.5 m drift, equivalent to less than 100 parts-per-trillion (ppt) Oxygen contamination, while the Vertical Drift (VD) detector requires over 6 ms electron lifetime within its 6.0 m drift, corresponding to less than 50 ppt Oxygen contamination. To mitigate Nitrogen (N2) quenching of scintillation light, N2 contamination must remain below 1 ppm, as higher levels can result in up to a 20 % loss of light. The Brazil State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) significantly contributes to LBNF FDC through the development of argon purification and regeneration systems for HD and VD cryostats. UNICAMP designed and constructed the Purification Liquid Argon Cryostat (PuLArC), a small-scale test facility holding approximately 90 liters of LAr. Tests using PuLArC demonstrated that 1.2 kg of Li-FAU zeolite could reduce N₂ contamination from 20-50 ppm to 0.1-1.0 ppm within 1-2 hours. Tests at Fermilab’s Iceberg cryostat (2,596 liters) confirmed scalability, with 3 kg of Li-FAU reducing N₂ contamination from ~5 ppm to <1 ppm over 96 hours cycles without active circulation. This presentation will detail the research methods, test setups, and results, showcasing the potential of Li-FAU as an alternative to Molecular Sieve 4A for large-scale LAr systems. This advancement enhances DUNE's precision and demonstrates the impact of international collaboration on cryogenic research.

Doubnik, Roza [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Expansion of the Fuel Motion Monitoring System

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) Fuel Motion Monitoring System (FMMS) is a diagnostic tool used to visualize the movement and location of fuel within the nuclear reactor during transient experiments. TREAT is designed to test the behavior of nuclear fuel under accident conditions, such as a rapid power increase. The TREAT FMMS, also referred to as the “hodoscope” because of the system’s massive steel collimator component, is located on the North beam port of the reactor. While the FMMS system is capable of incorporating a total of 360 sensors, initial refurbishment efforts resulted in a array of 96 fast neutron detectors. This initial array was configured to provide a narrow (2 channels) full-length view of experiment vessels with an extended 4-channel–wide region in the center of the array capable of providing a full view of all initially planned experiments. Planning and efforts to expand the FMMS array began immediately following the restart of TREAT. An additional 96 detectors were evaluated, characterized, and prepared for installation at TREAT during the summer of 2018. Unfortunately, funding reductions forced the project towards a 5-year hiatus. In October of 2023 funding from the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Science User Facilities enabled the expansion to recommence. This report serves to document the activities performed to expand the FMMS detector array to 192 channels in order to provide a broader view of the larger and more sophisticated test capsules currently planned for future irradiation in the TREAT reactor. This expansion also included doubling the data acquisition capability, addressing the new heat load on the system, and synchronizing the time for all digital components.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Broadband 920-nm mirror thin film damage competition

The 2023 Laser Damage conference thin-film damage competition was devoted to a survey on the state-of-the-art broadband near-IR multilayer dielectric (MLD) mirrors designed for ultra-short pulsed laser applications. The requirements for the coatings were a minimum reflection of 99.5% at 45-deg incidence angle for S-polarization from 830 nm to 1010 nm and group delay dispersion (GDD) < ± 50fs 2 . The participants were allowed to select the coating materials, coating design, and coating deposition method. Samples were damage tested at a single testing facility to enable direct comparison among the participants using a 25 ± 5 fs optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) laser system operating at 5 Hz. The testing results from this set of 37 samples showed that dense coatings by ion-beam sputtering (IBS), magnetron sputtering (MS), and electron-beam ion assisted deposition (e-beam IAD) exhibited highest damage initiation onset (laser-induced damage threshold or LIDT) while e-beam coatings were low performers. In addition, multilayer coatings using tantala and/or hafnia as high index materials were top performers. Furthermore, this competition included for the first time the measurement of the damage growth onset (laser-induced damage growth threshold or LDGT). This latter performance metric plays an important role in establishing the safe operational conditions for larger aperture ultrashort pulsed lasers. Information pertaining to the morphology of the damage sites and their evolution under subsequent exposure to different laser fluences leading to damage growth is presented. Finally, not all coating samples in the survey met the GDD requirements stated above and associated measurements are discussed in the context of the present and past thin-film damage competitions focused on similar broadband near-IR MLD coatings.

23 broadband high reflectors↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-Fidelity Modeling of Fuel-To-Coolant Thermomechanical Transport Behaviors Under Transient Conditions

This report summarizes the work completed under NEUP project number 21-24006. The objectives of this project are to advance the high-fidelity modeling capabilities and important phenomena that is important for high-burnup UO 2 and accident tolerant fuels (ATF) during transient conditions. Accurate modeling of the time-dependent phenomena that impact material performance must be used to determine the figures of merit and safety margin. Phenomena such as fuel fragmentation, cladding oxidation, pellet-clad interaction, clad ballooning, and clad rupture are examples that pose challenges to modeling during these transients. This project focused on the development of high-fidelity tightly coupled multiphysics models that can capture the time-dependent material response and associated thermal hydraulic conditions during these events. These models can then be validated against existing separate effects tests and in-pile integral experiments and will be used to model Transient Reactor Test facility (TREAT) loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCA) experiments. To achieve the project objective, we used a combination of NEAMS and NRC codes to model various LOCA test sets for the separate effects and in-pile integral experiments. BlueCRAB tool set, which can accurately predict material response at a sub-fuel pin level, as well as modeling the entire reactor system response to these events. Fuel performance was modeled using BISON (various versions) and FAST (version 1.2.1). BISON and FAST can model on a sub-fuel pin level the fuel performance under transient conditions. Both have simplified thermal hydraulic models that are capable of providing basic coolant boundary conditions. To better capture the thermomechanical interaction between the fuel, clad, and coolant, more sophisticated thermal hydraulic models are necessary.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Workflow to Optimize Fast Neutron Irradiation in A Thermal Neutron Spectrum Test Reactor Leveraging Open-Source Tools

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) located at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the key nuclear engineering research and testing facilities within the US Department of Energy (DOE). The ATR is one of few high-power research reactors in the world with different application including accelerated testing of nuclear fuel, materials irradiation in a very high neutron flux environment, and medical radioisotope production [1]. Also, the ATR offers opportunities for testing fast spectrum fission and fusion reactor materials. The key challenges in this area are in further detailing and optimizing a fast spectrum environment within a thermal test reactor. This challenge involves researching, developing, and testing novel concepts for the multiplying of neutron populations into ever higher energy spectra in high flux test reactors like ATR. The main objective of this work is to investigate candidate materials for establishing a fast neutron experiment irradiation in thermal neutron spectrum test reactors which can be accomplished by filtering thermal and epithermal neutrons and boosting fast neutrons at designated irradiation positions. However, adding these filters will render the neutron spectrum and the criticality of the system. The selection of the thickness and material layers should be accomplished by developing an optimization design algorithm that is applicable for ATR to enhance the fast neutron spectrum irradiation utilizing high-fidelity Monte Carlo methods along with advanced machine learning capabilities. This paper presents workflow for design optimization to enhance fast neutron irradiation in the ATR. The workflow leverages open-source tools to develop an algorithm that is viable to ATR and can be leveraged in other reactors. The following sections discuss the development of the experiment design optimization workflow and its application to ATR irradiation positions.

42 - ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Enabling In-Core Strain Measurement: Printed Sensors for Advanced Reactors

Advances in nuclear energy systems require an improved understanding of fuels, cladding, and structural materials; however, the extreme environmental conditions at irradiation test facilities often limit mechanical property evaluation to post-irradiation examination. In-situ monitoring techniques can accelerate materials qualification by providing direct insight into real-time material behavior during irradiation testing. Additively manufactured (AM) strain gauges offer a compact, material-compatible alternative to commercial sensors, particularly where space constraints, attachment limitations, or material compatibility requirements complicate conventional sensor use. This poster presents an overview of the development and testing of AM strain gauges in nuclear-relevant environments, demonstrating their potential to enhance structural health monitoring capabilities during irradiation experiments.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Advanced Scale Up Reactor Experiment (ASURE) Facility: A Testbed for Advancing the Art of Biomass and Waste Co-Gasification Systems

Powerpoint slides for an oral presentation at the 2024 Clearwater Clean Energy conference. It includes a brief discussion of the plans to construct a small pilot-scale co-gasification test facility known as the Advanced Scale Up Reactor Experiment (ASURE) Facility at NETL’s Morgantown, WV site in support of FECM’s goals for advancing biomass and waste co-gasification systems for carbon-neutral hydrogen production.

Rowan, Steven↗
DOE OSTI2025

Expansion of the Fast Neutron Hodoscope at TREAT to Support Fuel Safety Experiments

In 2024 the Fuel Motion Monitoring System (FMMS), or Hodoscope, at the Transient Reactor Test Facility, is being expanded from 96 viewing channels to 192 viewing channels, effectively doubling the FMMS field of view. Here, this increase in capability will allow the FMMS to support larger scale fuel tests, encompassing height-of-core test devices, test devices with multi-pin fuel assemblies, and test devices with recirculating coolant flow. Work supporting the expansion included refurbishing 96 additional proton recoil scintillator (PRS) detectors, doubling the data acquisition system (DAS) installed architecture, improving time synchronization in the DAS, and new research to measure the PRS detector energy-dependent, fast-neutron detection efficiency. In addition, laboratory activities have produced an improved benchtop testing capability for assessing the DAS, time synchronization, and external start triggering, along with an updated capability to scan PRS detectors to develop a preliminary flat-field normalization prior to deployment to TREAT.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reactor System Facility Modification to Detect Compromised Human Machine Interfaces

This study focuses on a multi-layered Industrial Control System (ICS)/Operational Technology (OT) security architecture to aid in the discovery and mitigation of compromised Human Machine Interface (HMI)/Instrumentation & Control (I&C) based systems for modifying a prototypical reactor condition test facility called the Flowing Autoclave System (FAS) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This is achieved through a three-layered combination of network security solutions, hash-based algorithms, and blockchain technologies. Hash algorithms are mathematical functions used to generate a predetermined set of fixed-length values. They are widely used in computer security to verify the integrity of system information and data, both on a local network and the wider internet. Even small amounts of unauthorized system modification will cause the hash algorithm to output a set of characters that deviate significantly from its original value. Assisting secure hash functions, blockchain technology is a secure and distributed technology used to provide an immutable set of records replicated on all devices within a decentralized network. Blockchain offers a cost-effective solution to detect system compromise by providing a traceable breadcrumb trail of all network activity and data modification happening on a system. If both are used in conjunction with network monitoring tools, the integration of this three-pronged approach can become an asset in detecting suspected system compromises before any real damage can occur.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Innovative Nuclear Materials Outboard-A Project Specimen Preparation Guide

The Innovative Nuclear Materials (INM) Program was recently established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop advanced material technologies for use in nuclear reactors. The INM program is presently focused on researching in-core non-fueled materials for application in fast spectrum nuclear reactors. The widespread deployment of fast reactors continues to be a prominent aspiration for advanced nuclear technology developers. However, companies working to license these reactors have no choice but to rely on historic material technologies since further optimization and advancement of these materials is impeded by the lack of fast neutron irradiation test facilities. INM-OA is a non-fueled drop-in experiment which will irradiate material specimens of interest to fast reactor applications. This experiment will be irradiated at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) outboard-A (OA) position during normal and high temperature steady state (HTSS) cycles. It will include material specimens supplied by members of the INM program and will utilize a cadmium-lined basket to filter out incident thermal neutrons, thus simulating a faster neutron energy spectrum. Material specimens will undergo post-irradiation examination including microscopy and mechanical testing. In addition to absorption reactions, fast neutrons cause microstructural damage in materials by atom displacement, which can cause exacerbated changes in physical properties and behavior. Thus, the data obtained from the INM-OA experiment will be crucial for understanding the engineering-scale behavior of reactor materials. This document is intended for the Principal Investigators providing samples for this project. Topics included are a general description of the experiment, the irradiation experiment/capsule design, sample geometries, number of samples to be provided, documentation to be provided, a brief list potentially useful characterization methods that can be leveraged at INL, and other miscellaneous requirements specific to this project. This document is intended for informational use only.

innovative nuclear materials↗
DOE OSTI2025

Unlocking America's Abundant Marine Energy Resources

NREL Marine Energy One-Pager: A resource designed for use during NREL campus visits - especially with high-profile guests - as well as at events in Washington, D.C., when engaging with the new administration, and for displays at WPTO or lab booths. The U.S. holds vast untapped marine energy resources - wave, tidal, river, and ocean currents - that can strengthen grid resilience, support coastal communities, and advance energy independence. NREL leads innovation in this space through advanced modeling tools, patented technologies, and world-class testing facilities. NREL's simulation platforms, like OpenFAST and SAM, help reduce development time and risk. Patented devices such as PKelp and FlexWEC demonstrate flexible, resilient approaches to energy capture. At Flatirons Campus, NREL offers motion simulation, structural testing, wave tanks, and megawatt-scale microgrid emulation via the ARIES platform. These capabilities help developers refine and validate devices before in-water trials. With upcoming open-water testing at PacWave and strong partnerships, NREL is accelerating the path to commercialization - positioning the U.S. as a global leader in marine energy innovation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Advanced Scale Up Reactor Experiment (ASURE) Facility: A Testbed for Advancing the Art of Biomass and Waste Co-Gasification Systems.

This paper was an executive summary for an oral presentation to be included in the conference proceedings of the 2024 Clearwater Clean Energy conference. It includes a brief discussion of the plans to construct a small pilot-scale co-gasification test facility known as the Advanced Scale Up Reactor Experiment (ASURE) Facility at NETL’s Morgantown, WV site in support of FECM’s goals for advancing biomass and waste co-gasification systems for carbon-neutral hydrogen production.

Rowan, Steven↗
DOE OSTI2025

Explicit Dynamic Impact Analysis of the Building 3525 Packages

The safe transport and handling of radioactive material containers is critical to ensure the protection of personnel, facilities, and the environment. Accidental drops during handling pose a significant hazard, necessitating robust design and analysis to mitigate potential consequences. This study presents an explicit dynamic impact analysis of two container designs, the Baby Sugarman and the Core Conduction Cooldown Test Facility (CCCTF) Tall Boy, used in Building 3525 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The analysis employed nonlinear finite element modeling in LS-DYNA to simulate free-fall impacts from a height of 16.5 ft across eight critical orientations. The study evaluated deformation, strain failure, and shielding integrity under these extreme conditions. Results demonstrated that both designs maintain structural integrity, with no breaches or loss of shielding under specified administrative controls. Notably, a maximum shielding loss of 10 lbs was observed during a top-corner drop, highlighting the need to limit drop heights to less than 1 ft for certain orientations. These findings underscore the effectiveness of engineering controls and design measures in preventing containment breaches and ensuring compliance with safety requirements. This work provides a comprehensive methodology for impact analysis, contributing valuable insights to the field of radioactive materials packaging and transportation safety.

Martinez, Oscar [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000181814046)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development and Experimental Validation of a High-Power DC Distribution Testbed for Advanced Charging Infrastructure and Energy Management

This paper presents the development of a hardware testbed for DC-distributed high-power charging (HPC) stations. As DC distributed solutions emerge as a viable solution to optimize HPC site operations, challenges such as interoperability, protection, and seamless integration of distributed energy resources (DER) persist. These issues underscore the need for a robust testing facility to investigate compliance of available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) market devices. The developed testbed features a DC-distributed charging hub including a charger, emulated energy storage system (ESS), and site level communication and controller implementation. It facilitates the testing of COTS hardware, charger prototypes, standards validation and site energy management system (SEMS) controllers at rated power. This paper details the development of the charging infrastructure platform, implementation of communication system, validation of different SEMS algorithms, and understanding improvements required for future expansion. Using the developed testbed, interoperability gaps for SEMS implementation with multi-vehicle concurrent charging via a multi-port charger are experimentally observed. Aimed at supporting the transition to large-scale EV charging infrastructure deployment and DER integration, this testbed plays a crucial role in conformity testing of COTS device interoperability.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Characterizing falling particle curtain receivers at commercially relevant scales: Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR-1)

Sandia will construct a cold flow receiver test platform in order to characterize falling particle curtain receivers at commercially relevant scales. While Sandia has extensive experience in R&D of falling particle curtain receivers, most have been at pilot scale and smaller - on the order of 1 MWth with characteristic dimensions of nominally 1-2 m to adequately collect solar energy from the heliostat field at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). However, scaling up receivers to commercially relevant scales (25 MWth and above) will require a thorough understanding of particle curtain dynamics at larger scales, especially longer drop heights, for design certainty. The goal of this project will be to construct a cold falling particle curtain test rig capable of simulating particle characteristics that are expected in a commercial scale CSP plant, namely the drop height, curtain thickness, and particle mass flow rate (normalized by length of curtain). This will enable data collection on curtain opacity and spread, both of which are correlated to receiver efficiency and reliable construction, for commercially relevant scales. It will also permit validation of numerical models that will enable detailed receiver characterization and design past currently validated scales.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Virtual to Physical: Reinforcement Learning to Optimize SNS Particle Accelerator Controls

Complex accelerators must have control systems that can handle dynamic nonlinear environments. This makes traditional control methods unsuitable as they can struggle to adapt to these uncertainties. This provides an ideal environment for reinforcement learning algorithms as they are adaptable and generalizable. We present a reinforcement learning pipeline that can effectively handle the dynamics of a complex accelerator. We test and prove our pipelines capabilities on multiple environments including the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the Beam Test Facility (BTF) at Oakridge National Lab (ORNL). Due to the limited time available to train an online algorithm like reinforcement learning on a real accelerator, we utilize a virtual twin accelerator (VIRAC) developed by ORNL to pretrain the policy and show its ability to converge in the virtual environment. We then test the adaptability of the pretrained RL model by applying it on the real accelerator and comparing the results. Utilizing our Scientific Optimization and Controls Toolkit (SOCT) and open-source standards such as Gymnasium we create and solve for a MEBT orbit correction problem in the SNS and an emittance maximization problem in the BTF. We show how Twin Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (TD3) can solve this optimization environment in the virtual accelerator and transfer this policy onto the real accelerator for inference and model retraining. We show how reinforcement learning can be utilized as a control system for complex accelerators and provide a model pipeline for how an implementation performs and can be adapted to new accelerator control problems.

Kasparian, Armen [Thomas Jefferson National Accele↗