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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 1,693 records · Page 94
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Using excitation-energy dependent fission yields to identify key fissioning nuclei in r -process nucleosynthesis

The possibility that nucleosynthesis in neutron star mergers may reach fissioning nuclei introduces significant uncertainties in predicting the relative abundances of $r$-process material from such events. We evaluate the impact of using sets of fission yields given by the 2016 GEF code for spontaneous (sf), neutron-induced $((n, f))$, and $β$-delayed (βdf) fission processes which take into account the approximate initial excitation energy of the fissioning compound nucleus. We further explore energy-dependent fission dynamics in the $r$ process by considering the sensitivity of our results to the treatment of the energy sharing and de-excitation of the fission fragments using the FREYA code. We show that the asymmetric-to-symmetric yield trends predicted by GEF 2016 can reproduce the high-mass edge of the second $r$-process peak seen in solar data and examine the sensitivity of this result to the mass model and astrophysical conditions applied. We consider the effect of fission yields and barrier heights on the nuclear heating rates used to predict kilonova light curves. We find that fission barriers influence the contribution of 254 Cf spontaneous fission to the heating at ~100 d, such that a light curve observation consistent with such late-time heating would both confirm that actinides were produced in the event and imply the fission barriers are relatively high along the 254 Cf β-feeding path. We lastly determine the key nuclei responsible for setting the r-process abundance pattern by averaging over thirty trajectories from a 1.2–1.4 M ⊙ neutron star merger simulation. Finally, we show it is largely the odd-N nuclei undergoing $(Z, N)(n, f)$ and $(Z, N)β$df that control the relative abundances near the second peak. We find the 'hot spots' for β-delayed and neutron-induced fission given all mass models considered and show most of these nuclei lie between the predicted $N$ = 184 shell closure and the location of currently available experimental decay data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Capitalizing on nuclear data libraries' comprehensiveness to obtain solar r-process abundances

The recent observation of neutron stars merger by the LIGO collaboration and the measurements of the event’s electromagnetic spectrum as a function of time for different wavelengths, have altered profoundly our understanding of the r-process site, as well as considerably energized nuclear astrophysics research efforts. R -process abundances are a key element in r-process simulations, as a successful calculation must account for these abundances in the final debris of a stellar cataclysmic event. In this letter, mankind’s complete knowledge of neutron cross sections obtained in the last80 years, as encapsulated in the latest release of the Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF/B) library, is used to obtain solar r-process abundances in a novel way. Here, ENDF/B cross sections has been successfully used for decades in nuclear power and defense applications and are now used to obtain r-process abundances in a fully traceable, documented and unbiased way.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Integrated RMP-based ELM-crash-control process for plasma performance enhancement during ELM crash suppression in KSTAR

The integrated Resonant Magnetic Perturbation (RMP)-based Edge-Localized Mode (ELM)-crash-control process aims to enhance the plasma performance during the RMP-driven ELM crash suppression, where the RMP induces an unwanted confinement degradation. In this study, the normalized beta ($\beta_\textrm{N}$) is introduced as a metric for plasma performance. The integrated process incorporates the latest achievements in the RMP technique to enhance $\beta_\textrm{N}$ efficiently. The integrated process triggers the n = 1 Edge-localized RMP (ERMP) at the L–H transition timing using the real-time Machine Learning (ML) classifier. The pre-emptive RMP onset can reduce the required external heating power for achieving the same $\beta_\textrm{N}$ by over 10% compared to the conventional onset. During the RMP phase, the adaptive feedback RMP ELM controller, demonstrating its performance in previous experiments, plays a crucial role in maximizing $\beta_\textrm{N}$ during the suppression phase and sustaining the $\beta_\textrm{N}$-enhanced suppression state by optimizing the RMP strength. The integrated process achieves $\beta_\textrm{N}$ up to ~2.65 during the suppression phase, which is ~10% higher than the previous KSTAR record but ~6% lower than the target of the K-DEMO first phase ($\beta_\textrm{N}$ = 2.8), and maintains the suppression phase above the lower limit of target $\beta_\textrm{N}$ (= 2.4) for ~4 s (~60$\tau_\textrm{E}$). In addition to $\beta_\textrm{N}$ enhancement, the integrated process demonstrates quicker restoration of the suppression phase and recovery of $\beta_\textrm{N}$ compared to the adaptive control with the n = 1 Conventional RMP (CRMP). The post-analysis of the experiment shows the localized effect of the ERMP spectrum in radial and the close relationship between the evolution of $\beta_\textrm{N}$ and the electron temperature.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

r -process nucleosynthesis and kilonovae from hypermassive neutron star post-merger remnants

ABSTRACT We investigate r-process nucleosynthesis and kilonova emission resulting from binary neutron star (BNS) mergers based on a three-dimensional (3D) general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation of a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) remnant. The simulation includes a microphysical finite-temperature equation of state (EOS) and neutrino emission and absorption effects via a leakage scheme. We track the thermodynamic properties of the ejecta using Lagrangian tracer particles and determine its composition using the nuclear reaction network SkyNet. We investigate the impact of neutrinos on the nucleosynthetic yields by varying the neutrino luminosities during post-processing. The ejecta show a broad distribution with respect to their electron fraction Ye, peaking between ∼0.25–0.4 depending on the neutrino luminosity employed. We find that the resulting r-process abundance patterns differ from solar, with no significant production of material beyond the second r-process peak when using luminosities recorded by the tracer particles. We also map the HMNS outflows to the radiation hydrodynamics code SNEC and predict the evolution of the bolometric luminosity as well as broadband light curves of the kilonova. The bolometric light curve peaks on the timescale of a day and the brightest emission is seen in the infrared bands. This is the first direct calculation of the r-process yields and kilonova signal expected from HMNS winds based on 3D GRMHD simulations. For longer-lived remnants, these winds may be the dominant ejecta component producing the kilonova emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Proto-neutron star convection and the neutrino-driven wind: implications for the r-process

The neutrino-driven wind from proto-neutron stars is a proposed site for r-process nucleosynthesis, although most previous work has found that a wind heated only by neutrinos cannot produce the third r-process peak. However, several groups have noted that introducing a secondary heating source within the wind can change the hydrodynamic conditions sufficiently for a strong r-process to proceed. One possible secondary heating source is gravito-acoustic waves, generated by convection inside the proto-neutron star. As these waves propagate into the wind, they can both accelerate the wind and shock and deposit energy into the wind. Additionally, the acceleration of the wind by these waves can reduce the total number of neutrino captures and thereby reduce the final electron fraction of the wind. In neutron rich conditions, all of these effects can make conditions more favourable for r-process nucleosynthesis. Here, we present a systematic investigation of the impact of these convection-generated gravito-acoustic waves within the wind on potential nucleosynthesis. We find that wave effects in the wind can generate conditions favourable for a strong r-process, even when the energy flux in the waves is a factor of 10 –4 smaller than the total neutrino energy flux and the wind is marginally neutron rich. Nevertheless, this depends strongly on the radius at which the waves become non-linear and form shocks. We also find that both entropy production after shock formation and the acceleration of the wind due to stresses produced by the waves prior to shock formation impact the structure and nucleosynthesis of these winds.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Efficient method for estimation of fission fragment yields of $\textit{r}$-process nuclei

Background: More than half of all the elements heavier than iron are made by the rapid neutron capture process (or $\textit{r}$ process). For very-neutron-rich astrophysical conditions, such at those found in the tidal ejecta of neutron stars, nuclear fission determines the $\textit{r}$-process endpoint, and the fission-fragment yields shape the final abundances of 110 ≤ $\textit{A}$ ≤ 170 nuclei. The knowledge of fission-fragment yields of hundreds of nuclei inhabiting very-neutron-rich regions of the nuclear landscape is thus crucial for the modeling of heavy-element nucleosynthesis. Purpose: In this study, we propose a model for the fast calculation of fission-fragment yields based on the concept of shell-stabilized prefragments defined with help of the nucleonic localization functions. Methods: To generate realistic potential-energy surfaces and nucleonic localizations, we apply Skyrme density-functional theory. In this work, the distribution of the neck nucleons among the two prefragments is obtained by means of a statistical model. Results: We benchmark the method by studying the fission yields of 178 Pt, 240 Pu, 254 Cf, and 254,256,258 Fm and show that it satisfactorily explains the experimental data. We then make predictions for 254 Pu and 290 Fm as two representative cases of fissioning nuclei that are expected to significantly contribute during the $\textit{r}$-process nucleosynthesis occurring in neutron-star mergers. Conclusions: The proposed framework provides an efficient alternative to microscopic approaches based on the evolution of the system in a space of collective coordinates all the way to scission. It can be used to carry out global calculations of fission-fragment distributions across the $\textit{r}$-process region.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Bulk viscosity from Urca processes: npeμ matter in the neutrino-trapped regime

In this work, we extend our previous study of the bulk viscosity of hot and dense npe matter induced by the Urca process in the neutrino trapped regime to npeμ matter by adding the muonic Urca processes as well as the purely leptonic electroweak processes involving electron-muon transition. Here, the nuclear matter is modeled in a relativistic density functional approach with two different parametrizations which predict neutrino dominated matter (DDME2 model) and anti-neutrino dominated matter (NL3 model) at temperatures for which neutrinos/anti-neutrinos are trapped. In the case of neutrino-dominated matter, the main equilibration mechanism is lepton capture, whereas in the case of antineutrino-dominated matter this is due to neutron decay. We find that the equilibration rates of Urca processes are higher than that of the pure leptonic processes, which implies that the Urca bulk viscosity can be computed with the leptonic reactions assumed to be frozen. We find that the bulk viscosity decreases with temperature as ζ~T –2 at moderate temperatures. At high temperatures this scaling breaks down by sharp drops of the bulk viscosity close to the temperature where the proton fraction is density-independent and the matter becomes scale-invariant. This occurs also when the matter undergoes a transition from the antineutrino-dominated regime to the neutrino-dominated regime where the bulk viscosity attains a local maximum. We also estimate the bulk viscous dissipation timescales and find that these are in the range ≳ 1 s for temperatures above the neutrino trapping temperature. These timescales would be relevant only for long-lived objects formed in binary neutron star mergers and hot proto-neutron stars formed in core-collapse supernovas.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Quantification of uncertainties in thermoelectric properties of materials from a first-principles prediction method: An approach based on Gaussian process regression

We present the electron-phonon averaged via Gaussian process regression (EPA-GPR) method, in which the electron-phonon coupling matrix is represented as a function of two energies and is in turn modeled as a Gaussian process. The EPA-GPR method can be used as an efficient method to estimate thermoelectric properties of materials for fast-screening applications, comparable to the original electron-phonon averaged (EPA) method and the electron-phonon averaged via moving-least-squares (EPA-MLS) method. The EPA-GPR method does not require specification of any open parameter, unlike the other EPA-related methods, since all the hyperparameters in the model can be unambiguously estimated within the type II maximum likelihood (ML-II) approximation. Thus, the EPA-GPR method is a parameter-free estimation method. Additionally, the concept of Gaussian processes in the EPA-GPR method allows us to quantify the uncertainty in estimated properties of thermoelectric materials. One can randomly realize the electron-phonon coupling coefficients from the identified Gaussian process, and those realized samples can be further analyzed in the solution process of the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equation for charge carriers. The results of the semiclassical Boltzmann transport equation provide the statistical properties of the thermoelectric properties of interest. The means, standard deviations, histograms, and confidence intervals of the Seebeck coefficient, the electrical conductivity, and the power factor can be constructed and analyzed. Furthermore the proposed EPA-GPR method is applied to a p-type half-Heusler compound, i.e., HfCoSb, as a case example, the results of which clearly present the advantages of the method.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2018

A processing diagram for high-density Ti-6Al-4V by selective laser melting

Density optimization is the first critical step in building additively manufactured parts with highquality and good mechanical properties. In earlier work, we developed an approach that combines simulations and experiments to identify processing parameters for high-density parts. Here we present the results for Ti-6Al-4V using the laser powder-bed-fusion technique. We show how simple, but approximate, simulations are used to design parameters for a limited set of single track experiments. The resulting melt-pool characteristics are then used to identify processing parameters for high-density pillars. From these experimental data, a processing diagram based on the normalized energy density concept is constructed, illustrating an optimized processing window for high- or low-density samples. Excellent mechanical properties are obtained for Ti-6Al-4V samples built from the optimized window. We discuss the limitations and implications of the processing diagram on the microstructure and mechanical properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Shrink or Substitute: Handling Process Failures in HPC Systems Using In-Situ Recovery

Efficient utilization of today's high-performance computing (HPC) systems with complex software and hardware components requires that the HPC applications are designed to tolerate process failures at runtime. With low mean-time-to-failure (MTTF) of current and future HPC systems, long running simulations on these systems requires capabilities for gracefully handling process failures by the applications themselves. In this paper, we explore the use of fault tolerance extensions to Message Passing Interface (MPI) called user-level failure mitigation (ULFM) for handling process failures without the need to discard the progress made by the application. We explore two alternative recovery strategies, which use ULFM along with application-driven in-memory checkpointing. In the first case, the application is recovered with only the surviving processes, and in the second case, spares are used to replace the failed processes, such that the original configuration of the application is restored. Our experimental results demonstrate that graceful degradation is a viable alternative for recovery in environments where spares may not be available.

Ashraf, Rizwan↗
DOE OSTI2020

Processing Full-Scale Square Kilometre Array Data on the Summit Supercomputer

This work presents a workflow for simulating and processing the full-scale low-frequency telescope data of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Phase 1. The SKA project will enter the construction phase soon, and once completed, it will be the world’s largest radio telescope and one of the world’s largest data generators. The authors used Summit to mimic an endto-end SKA workflow, simulating a dataset of a typical 6 hour observation and then processing that dataset with an imaging pipeline. This workflow was deployed and run on 4,560 compute nodes, and used 27,360 GPUs to generate 2.6 PB of data. This was the first time that radio astronomical data were processed at this scale. Results show that the workflow has the capability to process one of the key SKA science cases, an Epoch of Reionization observation. This analysis also helps reveal critical design factors for the next-generation radio telescopes and the required dedicated processing facilities.

Wang, Ruonan↗
DOE OSTI2025

Toward Mixed Analog-Digital Quantum Signal Processing: Quantum AD/DA Conversion and the Fourier Transform

Signal processing stands as a pillar of classical computation and modern information technology, applicable to both analog and digital signals. Recently, advancements in quantum information science have suggested that quantum signal processing (QSP) can enable more powerful signal processing capabilities. However, the developments in QSP have primarily leveraged digital quantum resources, such as discrete-variable (DV) systems like qubits, rather than analog quantum resources, such as continuous-variable (CV) systems like quantum oscillators. Consequently, there remains a gap in understanding how signal processing can be performed on hybrid CV-DV quantum computers. Here we address this gap by developing a new paradigm of mixed analog-digital QSP. We demonstrate the utility of this paradigm by showcasing how it naturally enables analog-digital conversion of quantum signals—specifically, the transfer of states between DV and CV quantum systems. We then show that such quantum analog-digital conversion enables new implementations of quantum algorithms on CV-DV hardware. This is exemplified by realizing the quantum Fourier transform of a state encoded on qubits via the free-evolution of a quantum oscillator, albeit with a runtime exponential in the number of qubits due to information theoretic arguments. Collectively, this work marks a significant step forward in hybrid CV-DV quantum computation, providing a foundation for scalable analog-digital signal processing on quantum processors.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Dynamic microbial assembly processes correspond to soil fertility in sustainable paddy agroecosystems

1. Microorganisms underpin the sustainability of agroecosystems, but we have a poor understanding of how the assembly processes that govern microbial community structure interact through time to maintain soil fertility. 2. Ancient rice paddies have a history of cultivation spanning hundreds or thousands of years and provide an ideal opportunity to explore relationships between community assembly processes and long-term agroecosystem sustainability. We used statistical null models to evaluate temporal patterns of bacterial community assembly processes across rice cultivation years and their associations with increases in soil fertility in paddy agroecosystems. 3. We found that stochasticity was a persistent force structuring paddy soil microbial communities, putatively due to frequent flooding that facilities dispersal. However, determinism gradually increased over centuries of agriculture and corresponded to increases in soil fertility. Accordingly, multifunctionality, calculated using enzymes catalyzing key soil functions in carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and sulfur cycling significantly increased along rice cultivation years. We therefore propose that balanced assembly processes preserve a diverse array of traits that can dominate under various circumstances (stochasticity) while allowing for traits relevant to soil fertility to be selected for by soil fertility (determinism), thus supporting multifunctionality that underlies sustainable agroecosystems. 4. In total, our results highlight that knowledge on temporal microbial assembly processes, community composition, and ecological function in context of soil fertility is key to understanding ecological mechanisms maintaining agroecosystems sustainability.

Liu, Wenjing↗
DOE OSTI2024

Manufacturing Cathodes via Dry-Processing for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Conventional lithium-ion battery (LIB) electrodes are prepared through a wet slurry process with n-methyl pyrrolidone solvent, especially for cathodes. The wet slurry process encounters several disadvantages such as binder migration, electrode cracking in thick electrodes, energy intense heat-dry NMP solvent removal, and costly NMP recovery. The cost and energy consumption of coating and drying of electrode are about 11.5 % and > 46 % in LIB manufacturing, respectively. Thereby, it is essential to develop a facile roll-to-roll solvent-free LIB electrode processing for reducing the cost and energy consumption. Recently, the Maxwell-type dry processing (DP) shines new lights on LIB manufacturing, which mainly bases on dry mixing (DM) of electrode component powder followed by calendering into electrode films and laminating onto current collectors, realizing the rapid manufacturing of LIB electrodes in a powder-to-film manner for industries. This report shares some recent progress on the DP from our group. We aim to further advance the manufacturing science of DP by correlating the processing conditions with electrode properties and performance. Particularly, we investigate the effect of DM, and compression on the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) binder fiberization, porosity, mechanical properties, electrical conductivity and electrochemical behaviors of electrodes. The DM study suggests that PTFE fiberization heavily relies on the degree of DM. Insufficient DM results in poor PTFE fiberization while outrageous DM damages the formed PTFE fibers. Both negatively affect the mechanical behaviors of the electrodes and their rate capability. However, moderate DM is highly beneficial. In addition, our study of the porosity impact reveals that LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 (NMC) secondary particles can be broken into primary particles due to compression, especially at low porosity. Those fractured NMC secondary particles exhibit lower modulus. We propose that a moderate porosity of around 32% favors the electronic conductivity, charge transfer impedance and rate capability. The study of the cathodic electrolyte interphase layer of PTFE-based DPed electrode confirms that side reactions of PTFE binder due to the formation of LiF in LiClO4-based electrolyte.

Tao, Runming↗
DOE OSTI2021

Reactor scale simulations of ALD and ALE: Ideal and non-ideal self-limited processes in a cylindrical and a 300 mm wafer cross-flow reactor

Here, we have developed a simulation tool to model self-limited processes such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) and atomic layer etching inside reactors of arbitrary geometry as well the output of in situ quartz crystal microbalance and mass spectrometry. We have applied this model to two standard types of cross-flow reactors: a cylindrical tube reactor and a model 300 mm wafer reactor, and explored both ideal and nonideal self-limited kinetics. The model results are in agreement with experimental results and analytic expressions obtained using a simple plug-flow model for the cylindrical tube reactor. We also extended the simulations to consider two nonideal self-limited processes: soft-saturating processes characterized by a slow reaction pathway and processes where surface by-products can compete with the precursor for the same pool of adsorption sites. Our results show that it is possible to have a self-limited process with saturated yet inhomogeneous growth profiles due to the competition of reactor by-products. This is in agreement with experimental observations for titanium dioxide ALD from titanium tetraisopropoxide and titanium tetrachloride precursors.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Reducing the aerosol forcing uncertainty using observational constraints on warm rain processes

Global climate models (GCMs) disagree with other lines of evidence on the rapid adjustments of cloud cover and liquid water path to anthropogenic aerosols. Attempts to use observations to constrain the parameterizations of cloud processes in GCMs have failed to reduce the disagreement. We propose using observations sensitive to the relevant cloud processes rather than only to the atmospheric state and focusing on process realism in the absence of aerosol perturbations in addition to the process susceptibility to aerosols. We show that process-sensitive observations of precipitation can reduce the uncertainty on GCM estimates of rapid cloud adjustments to aerosols. The feasibility of an observational constraint depends on understanding the precipitation intensity spectrum in both observations and models and also on improving methods to compare the two.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Selected Chemical Engineering Applications in Nuclear-Waste Processing at the Savannah River Site

The Savannah River Site has been successfully processing and immobilizing nuclear waste since 1996. However, recent developments in both the scientific understanding of chemical principles and the engineering of immobilizing nuclear-waste systems demand a review of the state of the art. These recent advances have significance to other locations that immobilize nuclear waste. Here, the subject matter of this review may find special applicability to chemical engineers interested in hazardous chemical processes (such as processing toxic and radioactive nuclear waste) and to those in the nuclear industry curious about current research in nuclear-waste processing at a site that has eclipsed the quarter-century mark of large-scale (136 million L total) nuclear-waste processing.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Temperature controlled friction extrusion process

Processing temperature is decisive to the properties and performance of the product in friction extrusion. However, the constantly varying thermal boundary conditions result in an unstable processing temperature even fixed die rotational speed and feed rate were implemented, which extensively disturb the stability of the process and the quality of the product. It is key to maintain the process temperature to ensure the properties of the product is uniform. What's more, a controlled processing temperature enables the properties of the product to be manipulatable between parts and between different locations of one part

Li, Xiao↗