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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Decoupling of redox processes from soil saturation in Arctic tundra

Permafrost thaw in warming Arctic landscapes alters hydrology and saturation-driven biogeochemical processes. Models assume that aerobic respiration occurs in drained soils while saturated soils support methanogenesis; however, saturated soils maintain redox gradients that host a range of anaerobic metabolisms. We evaluated how redox potential and redox-active solutes vary with soil moisture in the active layer of permafrost-affected acidic and non-acidic tundra hillslopes. Oxidizing conditions persisted in highly permeable organic horizons of both unsaturated tussock tundra and saturated wet sedge meadows. Redox potential decreased with depth in all soils as increasing soil bulk density restricted groundwater flow and oxygen diffusion. High concentrations of dissolved iron, phosphate, and organic carbon coincided with redox boundaries below the soil surface in acidic tundra, indicating active iron redox cycling and potential release of adsorbed phosphate during iron (oxyhydr)oxide dissolution. In non-acidic tundra, weatherable minerals affected nutrient dynamics more than redox-driven iron cycling, especially in low-lying, saturated areas where thaw reached mineral soils. The role of thaw depth and the ability of saturated soils to maintain oxidizing conditions in organic surface layers highlight the importance of soil physical properties and hydrology in predicting biogeochemical processes and greenhouse gas emissions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quasiclassical evaluation of gluon saturation induced helicity effects

At sub-eikonal order in the high-energy limit, helicity dependences are generally contained in the transverse components of the gluon field. In the gluon saturation regime, novel helicity effects arise from the nonlinear interaction between the eikonal-order longitudinal gluon field and the sub-eikonal-order transverse gluon field. We derive this saturation induced helicity-dependent field both by solving the classical Yang-Mills equations and through direct diagrammatic calculations. Our analysis shows that the saturation induced helicity effect is intrinsically a two-particle (or multiparticle) correlation effect, rather than a single-particle distribution effect. Furthermore, we evaluate this effect in the context of double-spin asymmetry for incoherent diffractive dijet production in longitudinally polarized electron-nucleus collisions, using a simplified helicity-extended McLerran-Venugopalan model. We find that the saturation induced helicity effect further suppresses the back-to-back peak in the dijet azimuthal angle correlation, with a magnitude comparable to that of the direct helicity effect. This gluon saturation induced helicity effect may offer a novel avenue to probe gluon saturation in polarized collisions. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Li, Ming (ORCID:0000000195509691)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Experimental investigation of the influence of drainage condition on change in saturation of sheared sand

Here, this paper investigates the validity of the interpretation of results from testing saturated axisymmetric triaxial compression (ATC) sand specimens utilising three-dimensional (3D) synchrotron micro-computed tomography (SMT) to probe localised events that are completely missed or misinterpreted when analysing ATC measurements based on global standard measurements. Drained and undrained experiments were conducted at low and high back-pressures (BPs) coupled with multiple in situ 3D SMT to acquire high-resolution scans of the specimens at different axial strains. Specimens tested under low BP exhibited a large pore air volume change, which was not detected by the pump system that represents standard volume measurement. The increase in air volume caused a significant reduction in the degree of saturation leading to a possible transition from saturated to partially saturated constitutive behaviour. Undrained experiments exhibited a significant volume change contrary to the assumption of negligible volumetric strain for saturated undrained experiments. Air bubbles within the shear band for drained and undrained low-BP specimens showed opposite capillary pressure responses, increased for drained and decreased for undrained cases, due to the variation in the mechanism by which each of the two experiments predominantly counters the volume expansion within the shear band.

capillary pressure↗
DOE OSTI2025

Investigating the broadening phenomenon in two-particle correlations induced by gluon saturation

It has been found that the gluon density inside the proton grows rapidly at small momentum fractions. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) predicts that this growth can be regulated by nonlinear effects, ultimately leading to gluon saturation. Within the color glass condensate framework, nonlinear QCD effects are predicted to suppress and broaden back-to-back angular correlations in collisions involving heavy nuclei. While suppression has been observed in various experiments in 𝑑/𝑝 + A collisions compared to 𝑝 + 𝑝 collisions, the predicted broadening remains unobserved. This study investigates the contributions of intrinsic transverse momentum (𝑘 𝑇 ), which is associated with saturation physics, as well as parton showers and transverse motion from fragmentation (𝑝$^{frag}_{𝑇}$), which are not saturation dependent, to the width of the correlation function. Our findings show that the non-saturation dependent effects, especially the initial-state parton shower and 𝑝$^{frag}_{𝑇}$, which occur independently of the collision system, smear the back-to-back correlation more than gluon saturation does, making the broadening phenomenon difficult to observe.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Soil Carbon Saturation: What Do We Really Know?

Managing soils to increase organic carbon storage presents a potential opportunity to mitigate and adapt to global change challenges, while providing numerous co-benefits and ecosystem services. However, soils differ widely in their potential for carbon sequestration, and knowledge of biophysical limits to carbon accumulation may aid in informing priority regions. Consequently, there is great interest in assessing whether soils exhibit a maximum capacity for storing organic carbon, particularly within organo–mineral associations given the finite nature of reactive minerals in a soil. While the concept of soil carbon saturation has existed for over 25 years, recent studies have argued for and against its importance. Here, we summarize the conceptual understanding of soil carbon saturation at both micro- and macro-scales, define key terminology, and address common concerns and misconceptions. We review methods used to quantify soil carbon saturation, highlighting the theory and potential caveats of each approach. Critically, we explore the utility of the principles of soil carbon saturation for informing carbon accumulation, vulnerability to loss, and representations in process-based models. We highlight key knowledge gaps and propose next steps for furthering our mechanistic understanding of soil carbon saturation and its implications for soil management.

Environmental sciences↗
DOE OSTI2025

Preferential adsorption of noble gases in zeolitic tuff with variable saturation: A modeling study of counter-intuitive diffusive-adsorptive behavior

Noble gas transport through geologic media has important applications in the prediction and characterization of measured gas signatures related to underground nuclear explosions (UNEs). Retarding processes such as adsorption can cause significant species fractionation of radionuclide gases, which has implications for measured and predicted signatures used to distinguish radioxenon originating from civilian nuclear facilities or from UNEs. Accounting for the effects of variable water saturation in geologic media on tracer transport is one of the most challenging aspects of modeling gas transport because there is no unifying relationship for the associated tortuosity changes between different rock types, and reactive transport processes such as adsorption that are affected by the presence of water likewise behave differently between gas species. In this study, we perform numerical diffusive-adsorptive transport simulations to estimate gas transport parameters associated with bench-scale laboratory diffusion cell experiments measuring breakthrough in zeolitic and non-zeolitic rocks for a gaseous mixture of xenon, krypton, and SF 6 at varying degrees of water saturation (S w ). Counter-intuitive transport behavior was observed in the zeolitic rock experiments whereby breakthrough concentrations were significantly higher when the core was partially saturated (S w = 17 %) than under dry (S w = 0 %) conditions. Breakthrough of xenon was especially retarded in the dry core – likely due to comparatively high affinity of xenon for zeolitic adsorption sites – and estimated effective diffusion coefficients for all gases were approximately an order of magnitude lower than what is predicted by porosity-tortuosity models. We propose the counter-intuitive behavior observed is because water infiltration of zeolite nanopores reduces both the adsorptive capacity of the rock and the tortuosity of connected flow paths. We developed a two-site competitive kinetic Langmuir adsorption reaction for the porous media transport simulator in order to constrain transport parameters within zeolitic tuff, where differential adsorption to zeolite and non-zeolite pores was observed. We determined that liquid saturation-dependent diffusive-adsorptive transport is affected by subtle and at times competing processes that are specific to different gases, which have a significant overall influence on effective transport parameters.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Perturbative model for the saturation of energetic-particle-driven modes limited by self-generated zonal modes

We present a simplified energy-conserving approach to incorporate wave–wave nonlinear effects within the framework commonly used to describe wave–particle nonlinearities. In particular, the effects of zonal mode (ZM) generation on the determination of the saturation amplitude of energetic particle (EP)-driven Alfvénic instabilities is studied. The model assumes that the zonal perturbations grow at a rate twice that of the original (pump) wave, consistent with a beat-driven (or force-driven) generation mechanism. The evolution and saturation of the mode amplitude are investigated both analytically and numerically within our reduced model assumptions, in both the collisionless and scattering-dominated regimes. These studies underscore the crucial role of sources and sinks in capturing the impact and the role of beat-driven zonal perturbations on mode evolution. In the realistic case of saturation set by sources and sinks, we discuss the role of a finite amplitude ZM in reducing microturbulent particle scattering, thus limiting the energy source for the resonant mode. We then discuss comparisons between the model’s predictions and simulation results. The model reproduces key features observed in gyrokinetic simulations as the reduction in saturated mode amplitude and the onset of wave–wave nonlinear effects as functions of mode growth rate and amplitude. Thanks to its simplicity, it can be readily implemented into codes based on reduced models, thereby improving their predictive capability for strongly driven instabilities.

Alfvén eigenmodes↗
DOE OSTI2024

Saturation of fishbone instability through zonal flows driven by energetic particle transport in tokamak plasmas

Gyrokinetic and kinetic-MHD simulations are performed for the fishbone instability in the DIII-D discharge #178631, chosen for validation of first-principles simulations to predict the energetic particle (EP) transport in an ITER prefusion baseline scenario. Fishbone modes are found to generate zonal flows, which dominate the fishbone saturation. The underlying mechanisms of the two-way fishbone-zonal flows nonlinear interplay are discussed in details. Numerical and analytical analyses identify the fishbone-induced EP redistribution as the dominant generation mechanism for zonal flows. The zonal flows modify the nonlinear dynamics of phase space zonal structures, which reduces the amount of EPs able to resonate with the mode, leading to an early fishbone saturation. Simulation results including zonal flows agree quantitatively with DIII-D experimental measurements of the fishbone saturation amplitude and EP transport, supporting this novel saturation mechanism by self- generated zonal flows. Moreover, the wave-particle mode-locking mechanism is shown to determine quantitatively the fishbone frequency down-chirping, as evident in GTC simulation results in agreement with predictions from analytical theory. Finally, the
fishbone-induced zonal flows are possibly responsible for the formation of an ion-ITB in the DIII-D discharge. Based on the low EP transport and the large zonal flow shearing rates associated with the fishbone instability in gyrokinetic simulations of the ITER scenario, it is conjectured that high performance scenarios could be designed in ITER burning plasmas through fishbone-induced ITBs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Alfvén eigenmode-driven zonal modes saturate and heat thermal ions by cross-scale interactions

In scenarios where a sustained energetic particle source strongly drives toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAE), and phase-space transport is insufficient to saturate TAE, this novel theory of TAE-zonal mode (ZM)-turbulence—self-regulated by cross-scale interactions (including collisionless ZF damping) – merits consideration. Zonal modes are driven by Reynolds and Maxwell stresses, without the onset of modulational instability. TAE evolution in the presence of ZMs conserves energy and closes the system feedback loop. The saturated zonal shears can be sufficient to suppress ambient drift-ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence, achieving an enhanced core confinement regime. The saturated state is regulated by linear and turbulent zonal flow drag. This regulation leads to bursty TAE spectral oscillations, which overshoot while approaching saturation. Heating by both collisional and collisionless ZM damping deposits alpha particle energy into the thermal plasma, achieving effective alpha channeling. This theory offers a mechanism for EP-induced transport barrier formation, and predicts a novel thermal ion heating mechanism.

ITB↗
DOE OSTI2024

Deep Learning-based Parameterization of Complex 3D CO2 Saturation Data in Large-scale Geological Carbon Storage

In deep learning (DL), dimension reduction plays a pivotal role in improving training efficiency and minimizing overfitting, especially when working with complex datasets like three-dimensional (3D) saturation data. In the context of geological carbon storage (GCS), 3D saturation data introduces unique challenges due to its sparse nature and sharp transitions at plume boundaries, known as shock fronts. To tackle these challenges, we developed a novel DL framework that combines dimension reduction with advanced 3D reconstruction techniques. Our approach utilizes latent variables derived from 2D average saturation fields to efficiently capture the essential features of high-dimensional data while reducing the number of variables. This enhances both the robustness and accuracy of DL models, making the framework more practical for real-world applications. By offering a tailored solution for modeling complex 3D saturation dynamics, this framework holds significant potential for environmental monitoring, energy storage, and other geological applications.

Wang, Hongsheng [University of Texas at Austin]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Poromechanical cohesive interface element with combined Mode I-II cohesive zone elastoplasticity for simulating fracture in fluid-saturated porous media

A combined Mode I-II cohesive zone (CZ) elasto-plastic constitutive model, and a two-dimensional (2D) cohesive interface element (CIE) are formulated and implemented at small strain within an ABAQUS User Element (UEL) for simulating 2D crack nucleation and propagation in fluid-saturated porous media. Here, the CZ model mitigates problems of convergence for the global Newton-Raphson solver within ABAQUS, which when combined with a viscous stabilization procedure allows for simulation of post-peak response under load control for coupled poromechanical finite element analysis, such as concrete gravity dam stability analysis. Verification examples are presented, along with a more complex ambient limestone-concrete wedge fracture experiment, water-pressurized concrete wedge experiment, and concrete gravity dam stability analyses. A calibration procedure for estimating the CZ parameters is demonstrated with the limestone-concrete wedge fracture process. For the water-pressurized concrete wedge fracture experiment it is shown that the inherent time-dependence of the poromechanical CIE analysis provides a good match with experimental force versus displacement results at various crack mouth opening rates, yet misses the pore water pressure evolution ahead of the crack tip propagation. This is likely a result of the concrete being partially-saturated in the experiment, whereas the finite element analysis assumes fully water saturated concrete. For the concrete gravity dam analysis, it is shown that base crack opening and associated water uplift pressure leads to a reduced Factor of Safety, which is confirmed by separate analytical calculations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dynamic soil columns simulate Arctic redox biogeochemistry and carbon release during changes in water saturation

Thawing Arctic permafrost can induce hydrologic change and alter redox conditions, shifting the balance of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition. There remains uncertainty about how soil saturation and redox transitions impact dissolved and gas phase carbon fluxes, and efforts to link hydrobiogeochemical processes to ecosystem-scale models are limited. This study evaluates SOM decomposition of Arctic tundra soils using column experiments, water chemistry measurements, microbial community analysis, and a PFLOTRAN reactive transport model. Soil columns from a thermokarst channel (TC) and an upland tundra (UC) were exposed to cycles of saturation and drainage, which controlled carbon emissions. During saturation, an outflow of dissolved organic carbon from the UC soil correlated with elevated reduced iron and decreased pH; during drainage, UC carbon dioxide fluxes were 70% higher than TC fluxes. Intermittent methane release was observed for TC, consistent with higher methanogen abundance. Slower drainage in the TC soil correlated with more subtle biogeochemical changes. PFLOTRAN simulations captured experimental trends in soil carbon fluxes, oxygen concentrations, and water contents. The model was then used to evaluate additional soil water drainage rates. This study emphasizes the importance of considering hydrologic change when evaluating and simulating SOM decomposition in dynamic Arctic tundra environments.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Direct prediction of saturated neoclassical tearing modes in slab using an equilibrium approach

We demonstrate for the first time that the nonlinear saturation of neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) can be found directly using a variational principle based on Taylor relaxation, without needing to simulate the intermediate, resistivity-dependent dynamics. As in previous investigations of classical tearing mode saturation (Loizu et al 2020 Phys. Plasmas 27 070701; Loizu and Bonfiglio 2023 J. Plasma Phys. 89 905890507), we make use of Stepped Pressure Equilibrium Code (SPEC) (Hudson et al 2012 Phys. Plasmas 19 112502), an equilibrium solver based on the variational principle of the multi-region relaxed magnetohydrodynamics (MHDs), featuring stepped pressure profiles and arbitrary magnetic topology. We work in slab geometry and employ a simple bootstrap current model J bs = C$\boldsymbol{\nabla}$p to study the bootstrap-driven tearing modes, scanning over the asymptotic matching parameter Δ' and bootstrap current strength. Saturated island widths produced by SPEC agree well with the predictions of an initial value resistive MHDs code (Huang and Bhattacharjee 2016 Astrophys. J. 818 20) while being orders of magnitude faster to calculate. Additionally, we observe good agreement with a simple analytical modified Rutherford equation, without requiring any fitting coefficients. The match is obtained for both linearly unstable classical tearing modes in the presence of bootstrap current, and NTMs, which are linearly stable but nonlinear-unstable due to the effects of the bootstrap current.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Nonlinear saturation of ballooning modes in stellarators

Ballooning mode saturation is investigated in realistic stellarator configurations using the flux tube approach of Ham et al (2018 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 60 075017), Ham et al (2016 Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 235001). The method is adapted to account for the lack of exact force balance in stellarator equilibrium solvers that assume existence of nested flux surfaces. A variational approach for calculating flux tube energy is developed to overcome this force error problem in stellarator numerical equilibria. Saturated (equilibrium) flux tube states that cross 10%–20% of the plasma minor radius are shown to exist for linearly ballooning unstable profiles. It is shown that several features of the displaced flux tube structure in a full nonlinear MHD simulation of Wendelstein 7X are reproduced by our model. Saturated states are found in a compact stellarator equilibrium close but below the marginal ballooning linear instability, i.e. the unperturbed equilibrium is metastable. This suggests that edge-localized-mode-like explosive MHD behavior may be possible in stellarators.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

A wide-range thermodynamically consistent constitutive model for dynamic loading of partially saturated porous media

SUMMARY This paper presents a novel thermodynamically consistent constitutive model for partially saturated porous rocks across a wide range of conditions. The material states generated behind the shock wave from an explosive source can vary significantly, ranging from crushed and melted rock near the source to a poroelastic medium in the far field. In the model, rock strength is determined by the effective pressure, which is calculated using two independent equations of state: one for the solid rock and another for the pore fluid. The model accounts for shock-induced liquefaction resulting from fluid pressure buildup in the pore spaces near the explosive source. Simultaneously, it describes the increase in wave propagation speed due to elastic pore contraction in both dry and partially saturated rocks. This model is applied to investigate how fluid saturation affects the amplitude and shape of the generated waves, as well as the residual stress surrounding the cavity formed by spherical explosions.

Vorobiev, Oleg [Lawrence Livermore National Labora↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bayesian mixture model approach to quantifying the empirical nuclear saturation point

The equation of state (EOS) in the limit of infinite symmetric nuclear matter exhibits an equilibrium density, $n_0 \approx 0.16 \, \mathrm{fm}^{-3}$, at which the pressure vanishes and the energy per particle attains its minimum, $E_0 \approx -16 \, \mathrm{MeV}$. Although not directly measurable, the nuclear saturation point $(n_0,E_0)$ can be extrapolated by density functional theory (DFT), providing tight constraints for microscopic interactions derived from chiral effective field theory (EFT). However, when considering several DFT predictions for $(n_0,E_0)$ from Skyrme and Relativistic Mean Field (RMF) models together, a discrepancy between these model classes emerges at high confidence levels that each model prediction's uncertainty cannot explain. How can we leverage these DFT constraints to rigorously benchmark nuclear saturation properties of chiral interactions? To address this question, we present a Bayesian mixture model that combines multiple DFT predictions for $(n_0,E_0)$ using an efficient conjugate prior approach. The inferred posterior distribution for the saturation point's mean and covariance matrix follows a Normal-inverse-Wishart class, resulting in posterior predictives in the form of correlated, bivariate $t$-distributions. The DFT uncertainty reports are then used to mix these posteriors using an ordinary Monte Carlo approach. At the 95\% credibility level, we estimate $n_0 \approx 0.157 \pm 0.010 \, \mathrm{fm}^{-3}$ and $E_0 \approx -15.97 \pm 0.40 \, \mathrm{MeV}$ for the marginal (univariate) $t$-distributions. Combined with chiral EFT calculations of the pure neutron matter EOS, we obtain bivariate normal distributions for the nuclear symmetry energy and its slope parameter evaluated at $n_0$: $S_v \approx 32.0 \pm 1.1 \, \mathrm{MeV}$ and $L\approx 52.6\pm 8.1 \, \mathrm{MeV}$ (95\%), respectively. Furthermore, our Bayesian framework is publicly available, so practitioners can readily use and extend our results.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hydrogen, Methane, Brine Flow Behavior, and Saturation in Sandstone Cores During H 2 and CH 4 Injection and Displacement

Large-scale underground hydrogen storage (UHS) is a critical component in the emerging hydrogen economy. Knowledge of multiphase flow behavior involving hydrogen in storage reservoir formations is crucial to characterizing hydrogen transport properties and essential for the deliverability and storage operations of UHS. There are still many gaps in fully understanding hydrogen–methane–brine multiphase phase flow that require further investigation. In this work, H 2 and CH 4 were injected through brine-saturated sandstone cores using a tri-axial core holder system fitted with flow rate meters and pressure transducers, while the effluent gas concentrations were analyzed using an online micro gas chromatograph. Brine displacement, permeability, and gas breakthrough curves were measured. We studied the flow behavior of hydrogen and methane in sandstone cores through testing brine displacement by gas injection and comparing the hydrogen displacement of methane with the methane displacement of hydrogen. We also tested the differences between horizontal and vertical flow in brine displacement. The results showed that brine displacement was more efficient in a core with higher permeability and porosity, resulting in a higher initial gas saturation. A higher gas injection rate brought about faster gas breakthrough measured by pore volume and sharper concentration curves. Hydrogen did not exhibit abnormal flow in the sandstone when the flow was horizontal and downward vertical. Gas overriding was observed in brine displacements when the flow was horizontal, with hydrogen showing this behavior more profoundly compared to methane. Downward vertical gas injection induced higher efficiency brine displacement compared to horizontal displacement and resulted in a higher initial gas saturation in the sandstone cores. These findings address critical knowledge gaps regarding gas flow patterns and displacement behaviors during hydrogen injection and recovery phases in UHS facilities using methane as the cushion gas. The insights from this research offer valuable guidance for optimizing UHS systems, ensuring operational efficiency, and advancing sustainable energy solutions in alignment with decarbonization goals.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Gluon saturation effects in exclusive heavy vector meson photoproduction

We study exclusive J/ψ and ϒ photoproduction for proton and Pb targets in the high-energy limit, with the energy dependence computed using the linear Balitsky–Fadin–Kuraev–Lipatov and the nonlinear Balitsky–Kovchegov evolution equations. The difference between these two evolution equations can be directly attributed to gluon saturation physics. We find that for proton targets there is no difference between the two approaches at the energies of the currently available data, while for Pb targets in J/ψ production the data shows a clear preference for the evolution with gluon saturation.

UPC↗