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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 OSTI2025

Intelligent Surrogate Model Development: Boosting Computational Efficiency for Autonomous Control of Advanced Reactors

Advanced reactors promise enhanced safety, greater efficiency, and waste reductions. To fully realize these benefits, it is crucial to address the need for autonomous or semi-autonomous control systems that require fewer operators. This research primarily supports the MARVEL autonomous control system, which requires real-time operation. However, the current RELAP5 reactor thermal hydraulic transient simulation is excessively time-consuming. Therefore, this study aims to leverage deep learning techniques to develop a surrogate model, providing a more efficient and accurate alternative for real-time performance. The model was trained using a combination of one-timestep prediction and scheduled sampling. It was then used for recursive prediction of the reactor state. This developed surrogate model significantly improves computational efficiency, achieving a 12 times acceleration.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Surrogate Model Development of Spent Fuel Degradation for Repository Performance Assessment

In model simulations of deep geologic repositories, UO 2 fuel matrix degradation typically begins as soon as the waste package breaches and groundwater contacts the fuel surface. The initial degradation rate depends on the timing of these events, burnup of the fuel, temperature, and concentrations of dissolved reactants. Estimating the initial rate of degradation is fairly straightforward, but as UO 2 corrosion products precipitate on the fuel surface and the movement of dissolved species between the fuel surface and environment is impeded by the precipitated solids, the rate is more difficult to quantify. At that point, calculating the degradation rate becomes a reactive-transport problem in which a large number of equations must be solved by iteration for a large number of grid cells at each time step. The consequence is that repository simulations, which are already expensive, become much more expensive, especially when hundreds or thousands of waste packages breach. The Fuel Matrix Degradation (FMD) model is the process model of the Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) campaign of the US Department of Energy (DOE). It calculates spent fuel degradation rates as a function of radiolysis, redox reactions, electrochemical reactions, alteration layer growth, and diffusion of reactants through the alteration layer. Like other similar fuel degradation process models, it is a complicated model requiring a large number of calculations and iterations at each time step.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Surrogate Model of Flexible Research Platform EnergyPlus Models to Enable Sensitivity Analysis

This letter report describes the surrogate models developed from the EnergyPlus model of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Flexible Research Platform. Two data-driven black-box models were developed, and the outputs of the surrogate models were compared with the EnergyPlus model. The two models developed are a multilayer perceptron deep learning model, and a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model. The three factors for selecting the black-box models are scalability, computation time, and accuracy. A total of 107 input variables were the dominant variables in determining the outputs of building energy consumptions and thermal comfort. A total of 54 output variables were identified as the prediction targets, including the system- and zone-level outputs. The large set of the simulation cases were generated by integrating sensor errors into an emulator based on EnergyPlus and Python EMS, which includes advanced control sequences from ASHRAE Guideline 36-2018: High-Performance Sequences of Operation. The surrogate models were developed based on a set of large-scale simulation runs (i.e., 4,000 runs) on a cloud platform. The comparison analysis shows that the two black-box models had good accuracy for predicting new outputs for sensitivity analysis using the root mean square error metric. As a next step, the developed surrogate models will be used to perform sensitivity analysis for different sensor impacts (e.g., sensor types, sensor locations).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Surrogate models for development of unconventional shale reservoirs by an integrated numerical approach of hydraulic fracturing, flow and geomechanics, and machine learning

We develop well-completion surrogate models by taking an integrated workflow of hydraulic fracturing, flow, geomechanics, and machine learning simulation. There are three steps in the proposed workflow. First, history-matching processes are conducted with the field data including pumping and production data for characterization. Second, full-physics simulation is performed with various parameters of the field development (e.g., cluster spacing, clusters per stage, pumping rates and times, amount of proppant, and well spacing) to generate multiple simulation results by changing the parameters of the completion design with well-known hydraulic fracturing, reservoir, geomechanics simulators to calculate fracture geometry, reservoir depressurization, induced stress changes. The workflow is demonstrated over a field in the Southern Midland Basin. Here, we take two completion scenarios: a single well case followed by a multi-well case. Finally, a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) machine learning algorithm is employed to create surrogate models that can replicate the full-physics simulation results. Furthermore, results show that the trained models applied in the single well and multi-well cases for a particular geological system can provide good accuracy close to those provided by full-physics simulations. Specifically, the site-specific surrogate models can predict fracture parameters (length, height, and surface area) and cumulative production accurately with computational efficiency, suggesting our proposed workflow can be used as a pragmatic tool for expediting the well completion optimization process.

Geomechanics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Generative diffusion model surrogates for mechanistic agent-based biological models

Mechanistic, multicellular, agent-based models are commonly used to investigate tissue, organ, and organism-scale biology at single-cell resolution. The Cellular-Potts Model (CPM) is a powerful and popular framework for developing and interrogating these models. CPMs become computationally expensive at large space- and time- scales making application and investigation of developed models difficult. Surrogate models may allow for the accelerated evaluation of CPMs of complex biological systems. However, the stochastic nature of these models means each set of parameters may give rise to different model configurations, complicating surrogate model development. In this work, we leverage denoising diffusion probabilistic models (DDPMs) to train a generative AI surrogate of a CPM used to investigate in vitro vasculogenesis. We describe the use of an image classifier to learn the characteristics that define unique areas of a 2-dimensional parameter space. We then apply this classifier to aid in surrogate model selection and verification. Our CPM model surrogate generates model configurations 20,000 timesteps ahead of a reference configuration and demonstrates approximately a 22x reduction in computational time as compared to native code execution. Our work represents a step towards the implementation of DDPMs to develop digital twins of stochastic biological systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Rapid Inverse Parameter Inference Using Physics-Informed Neural Network

As Li-ion batteries become more essential in today's economy, tools need to be developed to accurately and rapidly diagnose a battery's internal state-of-health. Using a Li-ion battery's (high-rate) voltage response, it is proposed to determine a battery's internal state through Bayesian calibration. However, Bayesian calibration is notoriously slow and requires thousands of model runs. To accelerate parameter inference using Bayesian calibration, a surrogate model is developed to replace the underlying physics-based Li-ion model. Developing a surrogate model for rapid Bayesian calibration analysis is discussed for both the single particle model (SPM) and the pseudo two-dimensional (P2D) model. Surrogate models are constructed using physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) that encode the influence of internal properties on observed voltage responses. In practice, a neural network can be trained by: 1) using simulation results of the physics-based model (i.e., a data-loss approach); 2) using the residuals of the governing equations themselves (i.e., a physics-loss approach); or 3) using a combination of simulation results and governing equation residuals. In the present work, PINNs are developed using a variety of training losses and neural network architectures. In this analysis, it is shown that a PINN surrogate model can be reliably trained with only physics-informed loss. However, using a coupled data-informed and physics-loss approach produced the most accurate PINNs.

Bayesian calibration↗
DOE OSTI2025

Incorporating corrosion design constraints in desalination process optimization: A case study in mechanical vapor compression

Corrosion is an expensive and complex challenge for desalination, yet current design approaches do not explicitly account for corrosion mechanisms in process modeling and technoeconomic analysis. Here, to address this gap, we present a workflow for incorporating corrosion design constraints directly into desalination process optimization models. We develop surrogate models for general and localized corrosion metrics as functions of temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and material using data from OLI Systems’ Corrosion Analyzer. We then integrate these surrogates as corrosion design constraints in a cost-optimization MVC model that minimizes the levelized cost of water (LCOW). For a case study of mechanical vapor compression (MVC) treating seawater across a range of recoveries, we find dissolved oxygen (DO) is the dominant driver of localized corrosion, and thus of cost-optimal material choice and operating conditions. Reducing the DO from 8 mg/L to 0.5 mg/L reduces the LCOW by 15-35%, informing the breakeven costs for implementing DO removal or selecting highly corrosion-resistant alloys. This framework is broadly applicable across corrosion types, materials, and components and enables desalination process design that minimizes capital costs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Time Series Dimension Reduction for Surrogate Models of Port Scanning Cyber Emulations

Surrogate model development is a key resource in the scientific modeling community for providing computational expedience when simulating complex systems without loss of great fidelity. The initial step to development of a surrogate model is identification of the primary governing components of the system. Principal component analysis (PCA) is a widely used data science technique that provides inspection of such driving factors, when the objective for modeling is to capture the greatest sources of variance inherent to a dataset. Although an efficient linear dimension reduction tool, PCA makes the fundamental assumption that the data is continuous and normally distributed. Thus, it provides ideal performance when these conditions are met. In the case for which cyber emulations provide realizations of a port scanning scenario, the data to be modeled follows a discrete time series function comprised of monotonically increasing piece-wise constant steps. The sources of variance are related to the timing and magnitude of these steps. Therefore, we consider using XPCA, an extension to PCA for continuous and discrete random variates. This report provides the documentation of the trade-offs between the PCA and XPCA linear dimension reduction algorithms, for the intended purpose to identify key components of greatest variance in our time series data. These components will ultimately provide the basis for future surrogate models of port scanning cyber emulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2022

A Robust Machine Learning Schema for Developing, Maintaining, and Disseminating Machine Learning Models

Recent advances in the development of machine learning (ML) algorithms have enabled the creation of predictive models that can improve decision making, decrease computational cost, and improve efficiency in a variety of fields. As an organization begins to develop and implement such models, the data used in the training, validation, and testing of ML models, the model parameters, and the use cases or limitations of the models must be properly stored to ensure models are both fully traceable and used correctly. In the context of predicting material behavior, advances in computationally intense, physics-based modeling of material behavior at various length scales and the emergence of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) have driven the need for developing data-driven surrogate models of the physics-based simulation tools using ML techniques. Surrogate model development allows for accurate material behavior prediction at a fraction of the cost of its physics-based counterpart, allowing for multiscale simulations of real-world applications, further enabling the ability to design fit-for-purpose materials for a reasonable computational investment. However, training such models requires extensive data, and thus, effective data management is necessary to reach the full potential that ML can offer to material design and ICME. This paper proposes a generalized, robust schema that allows organizations to store both real (experimental) and virtual (simulation) data used to train ML models and the defining model parameters and architectures within the Granta MI Platform. The developed schema allows for various types of data inputs and outputs, including single point values, time-series data, and images that can be used in the prediction of material behavior, while following outlined best practices for effective data management. An effective schema for ML data and models can help prevent the recreation of virtual/real training data and surrogate models, help reduce the time to create new models similar to existing ones by offering a starting point in the hyperparameter determination stages, minimize resources devoted to verification and validation (V&V) and certification of models, and ensure that data and surrogate models are not misused due to full traceability of both the data and ML model. It also allows organizations access to models that have already been developed, such that they can be used in the design of new materials, enabling the overall goals of ICME.

Brandon L. Hearley↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Predicting Fiber Failure of Plain Weave Fabric with Recursive Multiscale Micromechanics

Recent advances in the development of machine learning (ML) algorithms have enabled the creation of predictive models that can improve decision making, decrease computational cost, and improve efficiency in a variety of fields. As an organization begins to develop and implement such models, the data used in the training, validation, and testing of machine learning models, the model parameters, and the use cases or limitations of the models must be properly stored to ensure models are both fully traceable and used correctly. In the context of predicting material behavior, advances in computationally intense, physics-based, modeling of material behavior at various length scales, and the emergence of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) have driven the need for developing data-driven surrogate models of the physics-based simulation tools using machine learning (ML) techniques. Surrogate model development allows for accurate material behavior prediction at a fraction of the cost of its physics-based counterpart, allowing for multiscale simulations of real-world applications, further enabling the ability to design fit-for-purpose materials for a reasonable computational investment. However, training such models requires extensive data, and thus effective data management is necessary to reach the full potential that ML can offer to material design and ICME. This paper proposes a generalized, robust schema that allows organizations to store both real (experimental) and virtual (simulation) data used to train machine learning models and the defining model parameters and architectures. The developed schema allows for various types of data inputs and outputs, including single point values, time-series data, and images that can be used in for various types of machine learning models while following outlined best practices for effective data management. An effective schema for machine learning data and models can help prevent the recreation of virtual/real training data and surrogate models, can help reduce the time to create new models similar to existing ones by offering a starting point in the hyperparameter determination stages, minimize resources devoted to verification and validation (V&V) and certification of models, and ensure that data and surrogate models are not misused due to full traceability of both the data and ML model. It also allows organizations access to models that have already been developed, such that they can be used in the design of new materials, enabling the overall goals of ICME.

Failure↗
DOE OSTI2026

Optimal CO 2 storage management considering safety constraints in multi-stakeholder multi-site GCS projects: A Markov game perspective

Geological carbon storage (GCS) projects could involve a diverse array of stakeholders or players from public, private, and regulatory sectors, each with different objectives and responsibilities. Given the complexity, scale, and long-term nature of GCS operations, determining whether individual stakeholders can independently optimize their interests — or whether collaborative coalition agreements are needed — remains a central question for effective GCS project planning and management. To access large, high-quality storage resources, future GCS deployment may increasingly occur in geologically connected sites, where shared geological features such as pressure space and reservoir pore capacity can lead to competitive behavior among stakeholders. In this work, we propose a paradigm based on Markov games to quantitatively investigate how different coalition structures affect the goals of stakeholders. We frame this multi-stakeholder multi-site problem as a multi-agent reinforcement learning problem with safety constraints. Our approach enables agents to learn optimal strategies while complying with safety regulations. We present an example where multiple operators are injecting CO 2 into their respective project areas in a geologically connected basin. To address the high computational cost of repeated simulations of high fidelity models, a previously developed surrogate model based on the Embed-to-Control (E2C) framework is employed. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in addressing optimal management of CO 2 storage when multiple stakeholders with different objectives and goals are involved.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Automated ICRF heating surrogate modeling via machine learning

This work introduces automated machine learning workflows that address critical bottlenecks in surrogate model development for Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) heating applications. The automated framework includes data analysis tools that transform raw datasets into actionable insights in seconds, replacing weeks of manual exploratory effort and ensuring consistent, reproducible dataset characterization. By integrating advanced hyperparameter optimization (HPO) methods including Bayesian optimization via BoTorch and Tree-structured Parzen Estimators (TPE), the framework significantly reduces model development time from weeks to hours, decreasing computational cost and required expertise, while enabling high-accuracy surrogate models. Compared to traditional hyperparameter scanning (HPS) techniques such as methodical, randomized, and grid searches, HPO methods achieve superior convergence and predictive performance, even when compared to already well-tuned reference models. On NSTX High Harmonic Fast Wave (HHFW) heating datasets, both Random Forest Regressor (RFR) and neural network surrogates demonstrate improved accuracy, achieving R 2 values beyond 0.97 and 0.98, respectively. The results show that while HPO gains are modest for robust architectures like RFR, they become essential for more sensitive models such as neural networks, highlighting the trade-offs across optimization strategies. Through automated workflows that eliminate manual hyperparameter tuning and require minimal ML expertise, this work enables widespread adoption of high-fidelity surrogate models across the fusion community for real-time plasma control, uncertainty quantification, rapid experimental scenario development, and integrated system optimization.

Sanchez-Villar, Alvaro [Princeton Plasma Physics L↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Low-G Slosh Workshop Results From 2023: State of the Art, Gaps and Forward Work

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) sponsored a workshop to dis-cuss low-g slosh. Over a dozen different NASA centers and industry partners participated in this workshop. The main topics were to identify the state of the art regarding test data, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis resources, and GN&C models that are available for this problem. The primary intent was to determine deficiencies in the collective knowledge base and to identify priorities that should be established for proactive work in the areas of model development, validation, and model integration. Recommendations from workshop participants include establishing an online slosh modeling resource, conducting ground/flight testing, developing surrogate models, and establishing co-simulation techniques. This paper summarizes the workshop findings and recommendations for the larger community.

Lattice-Boltzmann↗
DOE OSTI2022

Towards Z-Next: The Integration of Theory, Experiments, and Computational Simulation in a Bayesian Data Assimilation Framework

Making reliable predictions in the presence of uncertainty is critical to high-consequence modeling and simulation activities, such as those encountered at Sandia National Laboratories. Surrogate or reduced-order models are often used to mitigate the expense of performing quality uncertainty analyses with high-fidelity, physics-based codes. However, phenomenological surrogate models do not always adhere to important physics and system properties. This project develops surrogate models that integrate physical theory with experimental data through a maximally-informative framework that accounts for the many uncertainties present in computational modeling problems. Correlations between relevant outputs are preserved through the use of multi-output or co-predictive surrogate models; known physical properties (specifically monotoncity) are also preserved; and unknown physics and phenomena are detected using a causal analysis. By endowing surrogate models with key properties of the physical system being studied, their predictive power is arguably enhanced, allowing for reliable simulations and analyses at a reduced computational cost.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

MOOSE ProbML: Parallelizable Probabilistic Machine Learning and Uncertainty Quantification Capabilities

The Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) is a widely used open- source finite element software for performing multiphysics multiscale simulations in a massively parallel fashion. Recently, the computational team at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has implemented Probabilistic Machine Learning (ProbML) capabilities in MOOSE—in a parallelized fashion—and enable active learning with large-scale computational models for tasks such as surrogate model development, scale bridging, forward/inverse uncertainty quantification (UQ), Bayesian optimization, etc. This presentation summarizes these developments in MOOSE along with demonstrations on several real applications relevant to nuclear energy. At the fundamental level, samplers like Monte Carlo/Latin Hypercube, variance reduction, parallelized Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) support uncertainty propagation in both forward and inverse settings. These samplers can be integrated with the Gaussian processes (GP) suite in MOOSE, which offer several variants like scalar GPs, multi-output GPs, and deep GPs, to enable active learning. These GPs can be tuned using gradient-based optimization methods like Adam and its variants or gradient-free methods like the elliptical slice sampler (a variant of MCMC adept under Gaussian settings) for more complex covariance kernels or likelihoods whose gradient computations can be cumbersome. A variety of batch acquisition functions permit parallelized evaluation of the computational model and support different learning objectives with high efficiency like Bayesian inference, global surrogate development, optimization, etc. Furthermore, libtorch integration supports training, evaluation, and re-training of neural networks and other complex machine learning models in active learning settings. The impacts of these developments are shown on several real applications: (1) nuclear fuel inverse UQ and model inadequacy assessment using the Kennedy O’Hagan framework; (2) uncertainty aware surrogate modeling for additive manufacturing to predict field quantities; (3) nuclear reactor rare events analysis; and (4) complex fluid flow prediction using a global surrogate with quantified prediction uncertainty. Finally, the outlook of MOOSE ProbML is discussed for both outer-loop and inner-loop computations in the broad view to accelerate fuels and materials qualification, address gaps in knowledge and data, and assess new reactor/fuel systems.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Deep Learning–Assisted Multiobjective Optimization of Geological CO 2 Storage Performance under Geomechanical Risks

In geological CO 2 storage, designing the optimal well control strategy for CO 2 injection to maximize CO 2 storage while minimizing the associated geomechanical risks is not trivial. This challenge arises due to pressure buildup, CO 2 plume migration, the highly nonlinear nature of geomechanical responses to rock-fluid interaction, and the high computational cost associated with coupled flow and geomechanics simulations. In this paper, we introduce a novel optimization framework to address these challenges. The optimization problem is formulated as follows: maximize total CO 2 storage while minimizing geomechanical risks by adjusting the injection schedules within bounded constraints. The geomechanical risks are primarily driven by injection-induced pressure build-up, which is characterized by ground displacement and the induced microseismicity. We used the Fourier neural operator (FNO)-based deep learning model to construct surrogate models, replacing the time-consuming coupled flow and geomechanics simulations for evaluating the aforementioned objective functions. The developed surrogate models have been incorporated into a multiobjective optimization framework through a genetic algorithm to reduce the computational burden. The proposed optimization framework reduces the computational cost from approximately 2,400 hours, when using objective function evaluations based on physics-based simulations, to around 20 minutes. A set of Pareto-optimal solutions of the proposed workflow yields nontrivial optimal decisions, reducing the microseismicity potential and the vertical displacement. This Pareto front highlights the optimal trade-offs between CO 2 storage amount, safety, and ground displacement, emphasizing the need for careful optimization and management of injection strategies to achieve a balanced outcome. The novelty of this work is twofold. First, we demonstrate the importance of incorporating the minimization of the geomechanical risks as objective functions into the CO 2 storage optimization workflow to mitigate the potential risk of induced microseismicity and ground displacement. Second, we leverage the FNO-based surrogate models to optimize a real-field CO 2 storage operation.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Surrogate construction via weight parameterization of residual neural networks

Surrogate model development is a critical step for uncertainty quantification or other sample-intensive tasks for complex computational models. Here, in this work, we develop a multi-output surrogate form using a class of neural networks (NNs) that employ shortcut connections, namely Residual NNs (ResNets). ResNets are known to regularize the surrogate learning problem and improve the efficiency and accuracy of the resulting surrogate. Inspired by the continuous, Neural ODE analogy, we augment ResNets with weight parameterization strategy with respect to ResNet depth. Weight-parameterized ResNets regularize the NN surrogate learning problem and allow better generalization with a drastically reduced number of learnable parameters. We demonstrate that weight-parameterized ResNets are more accurate and efficient than conventional feed-forward multi-layer perceptron networks. We also compare various options for parameterization of the weights as functions of ResNet depth. We demonstrate the results on both synthetic examples and a large scale earth system model of interest.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗