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Atomic Origins of Friction Reduction in Metal Alloys

Tribology Letters

Cheng, Shengfeng C.; Chandross, M.

We present the results of large scale molecular dynamics simulations aimed at understanding the origins of high friction coefficients in pure metals, and their concomitant reduction in alloys and composites. We utilize a series of targeted simulations to demonstrate that different slip mechanisms are active in the two systems, leading to differing frictional behavior. Specifically, we show that in pure metals, sliding occurs along the crystallographic slip planes, whereas in alloys shear is accommodated by grain boundaries. In pure metals, there is significant grain growth induced by the applied shear stress and the slip planes are commensurate contacts with high friction. However, the presence of dissimilar atoms in alloys suppresses grain growth and stabilizes grain boundaries, leading to low friction via grain boundary sliding. Graphic Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

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Simplifying and Visualizing the Ontology of Systems Engineering Models

Murdock, Jaimie M.; Carroll, Edward R.

The credibility of an engineering model is of critical importance in large-scale projects. How concerned should an engineer be when reusing someone else's model when they may not know the author or be familiar with the tools that were used to create it? In this report, the authors advance engineers' capabilities for assessing models through examination of the underlying semantic structure of a model--the ontology. This ontology defines the objects in a model, types of objects, and relationships between them. In this study, two advances in ontology simplification and visualization are discussed and are demonstrated on two systems engineering models. These advances are critical steps toward enabling engineering models to interoperate, as well as assessing models for credibility. For example, results of this research show an 80% reduction in file size and representation size, dramatically improving the throughput of graph algorithms applied to the analysis of these models. Finally, four future problems are outlined in ontology research toward establishing credible models--ontology discovery, ontology matching, ontology alignment, and model assessment.

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Multi-megabar Dynamic Strength Measurements of Ta, Au, Pt, and Ir

Journal of Dynamic Behavior of Materials

Brown, Justin L.; Davis, Jean-Paul D.; Seagle, Christopher T.

Magnetic loading was used to shocklessly compress four different metals to extreme pressures. Velocimetry monitored the behavior of the material as it was loaded to a desired peak state and then decompressed back down to lower pressures. Two distinct analysis methods, including a wave profile analysis and a novel Bayesian calibration approach, were employed to estimate quantitative strength metrics associated with the loading reversal. Specifically, we report for the first time on strength estimates for tantalum, gold, platinum, and iridium under shockless compression at strain rates of ∼ 5 × 10 5/s in the pressure range of ∼ 100–400 GPa. The magnitude of the shear stresses supported by the different metals under these extreme conditions are surprisingly similar, representing a dramatic departure from ambient conditions.

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Experimental Modal Analysis Using Phase Quantities from Phase-Based Motion Processing and Motion Magnification

Experimental Techniques

Rohe, Daniel P.; Reu, Phillip L.

Phase-based motion processing and the associated Motion Magnification that it enables has become popular not only for the striking videos that it can produce of traditionally stiff structures visualized with very large deflections, but also for its ability to pull information out of the noise floor of images so that they can be processed with more traditional optical techniques such as digital image correlation or feature tracking. While the majority of papers in the literature have utilized the Phase-based Image Processing approach as a pre-processor for more quantitative analyses, the technique itself can be used directly to extract modal parameters from an image, noting that the extracted phases are proportional to displacements in the image. Once phases are extracted, they can be fit using traditional experimental modal analysis techniques. This produces a mode “shape” where the degrees of freedom are phases instead of physical motions. These phases can be scaled to produce on-image visualizations of the mode shapes, rather than operational shapes produced by bandpass filtering. Modal filtering techniques can also be used to visualize motions from an environment on an image using the modal phases as a basis for the expansion.

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On-line Waste Library Supporting Information

Price, Laura L.

The On-Line Waste Library is a website that contains information regarding United States Department of Energy-managed high-level waste, spent nuclear fuel, and other wastes that are likely candidates for deep geologic disposal, with links to supporting documents for the data. This report provides supporting information for the data for which an already published source was not available.

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Understanding the TiH(2-x)/TiOy System at Elevated Temperature: A Literature Review

Beste, Ariana B.; Bufford, Daniel C.

Titanium hydride of varying TiH stoichiometry is used in pyrotechnic compositions. In order to yield consistent performance, manufacturing processes must be developed to ensure precise and reproducible material properties, including composition and morphology. Legacy synthesis protocols are not comprehensive nor are the required apparatuses still available. To guide the development of novel production procedures, this report reviews literature on relevant chemical reactions and diffusion events occurring at elevated temperature in the TiH(2-x)/TiOy system. Titanium hydride exposed to air spontaneously forms a passivating oxide layer. Upon heating, significant hydrogen release, which is accompanied by changes to the surface oxide layer, is noted by 375–400°C. At higher temperatures (above about 500°C) the oxide layer is reported to be essentially nonexistent as a result of oxide-layer dissolution processes and, potentially, oxide-layer reduction due to water formation. Based on the reviewed literature, we hypothesize that, by 500°C, the surface layer consists of an oxyhydride phase, which is a solid solution of oxygen in titanium hydride. We believe that hydrogen release from titanium hydride is controlled by the kinetics of molecular hydrogen desorption on the oxyhydride surface. No literature data is available for corresponding activation energies of the dynamic desorption process, and the equilibrium phase diagram of this three-component system remains largely unexplored as well. These gaps in knowledge might be addressed through coordinated computational modeling and experimental efforts.

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Predicting 3D Motions from Single-Camera Optical Test Data

Experimental Techniques

Rohe, Daniel P.; Witt, Bryan; Schoenherr, Tyler F.

In a typical optical test, a stereo camera pair is required to measure the three-dimensional motion of a test article; one camera typically only measures motions in the image plane of the camera, and measurements in the out-of-plane direction are missing. Finite element expansion techniques provide a path to estimate responses from a test at unmeasured degrees of freedom. Treating the case of a single camera as a measurement with unmeasured degrees of freedom, a finite element model is used to expand to the missing third dimension of the image data, allowing a full-field, three-dimensional measurement to be obtained from a set of images from a single camera. The key to this technique relies on the mapping of finite element deformations to image deformations, creating a set of mode shape images that are used to filter the response in the image into modal responses. These modal responses are then applied to the finite element model to estimate physical responses at all finite element model degrees of freedom. The mapping from finite element model to image is achieved using synthetic images produced by a rendering software. The technique is applied first to a synthetic deformation image, and then is validated using an experimental set of images.

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COVID-19, An Exercise in Data Governance at Sandia National Laboratories

Harris, Ruth A.; Jones, Tracy K.; Flores, Macario S.; Bustamante, David B.

In April of 2020, Sandia National Laboratories had an urgent need to identify and manage the data that could be used to create mobile applications, models, reports, and visualizations to assist management in safely bringing the workforce onsite during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple divisions volunteered to design and build software solutions; meanwhile, requests for new data sources, including duplicate requests, were inundating Information Technology (IT) and data owners. The Enterprise Data Governance Team was assigned to resolve obtaining and accessing new sources of data in an accelerated timeframe. Through successful collaboration with multiple stakeholders and domain owners across Sandia, the Enterprise Data Governance Team rapidly developed a centralized data strategy and solution for use in safeguarding the Sandia workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. This foundation enabled teams to successfully develop solutions, including reports for executives and management as well as the data for modeling and scientific analysis.

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Magnetized particle transport in multi-MA accelerators

Physical Review Accelerators and Beams

Bennett, Nichelle L.; Welch, Dale R.; Laity, George R.; Rose, David V.; Cuneo, M.E.

Kinetic simulations of Sandia National Laboratories' Z machine are conducted to understand particle transport in the highly magnetized environment of a multi-MA accelerator. Joule heating leads to the rapid formation of electrode surface plasmas. These plasmas are implicated in reducing accelerator efficiency by diverting current away from the load [M.R. Gomez et al., Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 20, 010401 (2017)PRABCJ2469-988810.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.20.010401, N. Bennett et al., Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 22, 120401 (2019)PRABCJ2469-988810.1103/PhysRevAccelBeams.22.120401]. The fully-relativistic, electromagnetic simulations presented in this paper show that particles emitted in a space-charge-limited manner, in the absence of plasma, are magnetically insulated. However, in the presence of plasma, particles are transported across the magnetic field in spite of being only weakly collisional. The simulated cross-gap currents are well-approximated by the Hall current in the generalized Ohm's law. The Hall conductivities are calculated using the simulated particle densities and energies, and the parameters that increase the Hall current are related to transmission line inductance. Analogous to the generalized Ohm's law, we extend the derivation of the magnetized diffusion coefficients to include the coupling of perpendicular components. These yield a Hall diffusion rate, which is equivalent to the empirical Bohm diffusion.

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Anelasticity and Phase Transition During Ramp-Release in Tin

Journal of Dynamic Behavior of Materials

Schill, W.; Austin, R.; Brown, Justin L.; Barton, N.

This article examines the qualitative features of an anelasticity model associated with the bowing of dislocations in the presence of phase transition. A simple physically plausible mechanism is introduced to describe the interaction of anelasticity and the transformation. Varying the anelastic parameters results in strong differences in the deviatoric stress response. The model is applied to study the behavior of tin (Sn) and compared to data from ramp driven compression-release experiments. Tin exhibits a complex phase diagram within a relatively accessible range of temperature and pressures and the characterization of its phases is considered an open problem with significant scientific merit. The coupling between anelasticity, plasticity, and phase transformation contributes to release wave features traditionally associated with the phase transition effect alone suggesting the importance of accounting for the effects jointly. Posterior distributions of the plastic and anelastic parameters are computed using Bayesian-inference-based methods, further highlighting the importance of anelasticity in this regime.

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Exceedance Response Action (ERA) Level 1 Report and ERA Level 2 Action Plan

Manger, Trevor J.

This report consolidates the requirements for an Exceedance Response Action (ERA) Level 1 and ERA Level 2 Action Plan for pH. A discharger’s baseline status for any given parameter changes to Level 1 status if sampling results indicate a Numeric Action Level (NAL) exceedance for that same parameter. NAL exceedance can be either of the following: (1) Instantaneous maximum NAL exceedance: Occurs when two or more analytical results for any single parameter within a reporting year exceed the instantaneous maximum NAL (for example for pH a value less than 6 or a value greater than 9); and (2) Annual NAL exceedance: Occurs when the average of all the analytical results for a parameter within a reporting year exceeds the annual NAL. A Discharger’s Level 1 status for any given parameter changes to Level 2 status if sampling results indicate a Numeric Action Level (NAL) exceedance for the same parameter while a Discharger is in Level 1.

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Aftershock Identification Using a Paired Neural Network Applied to Constructed Data

Conley, Andrea C.; Donohoe, Brendan D.; Greene, Benjamin G.

This report is intended to detail the findings of our investigation of the applicability of machine learning to the task of aftershock identification. The ability to automatically identify nuisance aftershock events to reduce analyst workload when searching for events of interest is an important step in improving nuclear monitoring capabilities and while waveform cross - correlation methods have proven successful, they have limitations (e.g., difficulties with spike artifacts, multiple aftershocks in the same window) that machine learning may be able to overcome. Here we apply a Paired Neural Network (PNN) to a dataset consisting of real, high quality signals added to real seismic noises in order to work with controlled, labeled data and establish a baseline of the PNN's capability to identify aftershocks. We compare to waveform cross - correlation and find that the PNN performs well, outperforming waveform cross - correlation when classifying similar waveform pairs, i.e., aftershocks.

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Maybe less is more: Considering capacity factor, saturation, variability, and filtering effects of wave energy devices

Applied Energy

Coe, Ryan G.; Ahn, Seongho; Bacelli, Giorgio B.; Neary, Vincent S.; Kobos, Peter H.

While a great deal of research has been performed to quantify and characterize the wave energy resource, there are still open questions about how a wave energy developer should use this wave resource information to design a wave energy converter device to suit a specific environment or, alternatively, to assess potential deployment locations. It is natural to focus first on the impressive magnitudes of power available from ocean waves, and to be drawn to locations where mean power levels are highest. However, a number of additional factors such as intermittency and capacity factor may be influential in determining economic viability of a wave energy converter, and should therefore be considered at the resource level, so that these factors can influence device design decisions. This study examines a set of wave resource metrics aimed towards this end of bettering accounting for variability in wave energy converter design. The results show distinct regional trends that may factor into project siting and wave energy converter design. Although a definitive solution for the optimal size of a wave energy converter is beyond the reaches of this study, the evidence presented does support the idea that smaller devices with lower power ratings may merit closer consideration.

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Reconstruction of the Room D, B, G, and Q Closure Histories at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Reedlunn, Benjamin R.; Williams, Laura A.

Experimental measurements of room closure in salt repositories are valuable for understanding the evolution of the underground and for validating geomechanical models. Room closure was measured during a number of experiments at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) during the 1980's and 1990's. Most rooms were excavated using a multi-pass mining sequence, where each pass necessarily destroyed some of the mining sequence closure measurement points. These destroyed points were promptly reinstalled to capture the closure after the mining pass. After the room was complete, the mining sequence closure measurement stations were supplemented with remotely read closure measurement stations. Although many aspects of these experiments were thoroughly documented, the digital copies of the closure data were inadvertently destroyed, the non-trivial process of zeroing and shifting the raw closure measurements after each mining pass was not precisely described, the various closure measurements within a given room were not directly compared on the same plot, and the measurements were collected for several years longer than previously reported. Consequently, the hand-written mining sequence closure measurements for Rooms D, B, G, and Q were located in the WIPP archives, digitized, and reanalyzed for this report. The process of reconstructing the mining sequence closure histories was documented in detail and the raw data can be found in the appendices. Within the mid-section of a given room, the reconstructed closure histories were largely consistent with other mining sequence and remotely read closure histories, which builds confidence in the experiments and suggests that plane strain is an appropriate modeling assumption. The reconstructed closure histories were also reasonably consistent with previously published results, except in one notable case: the reconstructed Room Q closure histories 30 days after excavation were about 45 % less than the corresponding closures reported in Munson's 1997 capstone paper.

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Accelerating Finite-Temperature Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory with Deep Neural Networks

Ellis, J.A.; Fielder, Lenz; Popoola, Gabriel A.; Modine, N.A.; Stephens, John A.; Thompson, Aidan P.; Rajamanickam, Sivasankaran R.

We present a numerical modeling workflow based on machine learning (ML) which reproduces the total energies produced by Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT) at finite electronic temperature to within chemical accuracy at negligible computational cost. Based on deep neural networks, our workflow yields the local density of states (LDOS) for a given atomic configuration. From the LDOS, spatially-resolved, energy-resolved, and integrated quantities can be calculated, including the DFT total free energy, which serves as the Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface for the atoms. We demonstrate the efficacy of this approach for both solid and liquid metals and compare results between independent and unified machine-learning models for solid and liquid aluminum. Our machine-learning density functional theory framework opens up the path towards multiscale materials modeling for matter under ambient and extreme conditions at a computational scale and cost that is unattainable with current algorithms.

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Regulatory Mechanisms to Enable Investments in Electric Utility Resilience

Broderick, Robert J.; Jeffers, Robert F.; Garcia, Brooke M.; Kallay, Jennifer; Napoleon, Alice; Hall, Jamie; Havumaki, Ben; Hopkins, Asa; Whited, Melissa; Woolf, Tim; Stevenson, Jen

In 2019, Sandia National Laboratories contracted Synapse Energy Economics (Synapse) to research the integration of community and electric utility resilience investment planning as part of the Designing Resilient Communities: A Consequence-Based Approach for Grid Investment (DRC) project. Synapse produced a series of reports to explore the challenges and opportunities in several key areas, including benefit-cost analysis, performance metrics, microgrids, and regulatory mechanisms to promote investments in electric system resilience. This report focuses on regulatory mechanisms to improve resilience. Regulatory mechanisms that improve resilience are approaches that electric utility regulators can use to align utility, customer, and third-party investments with regulatory, ratepayer, community, and other important stakeholder interests and priorities for resilience. Cost-of-service regulation may fail to provide utilities with adequate guidance or incentives regarding community priorities for infrastructure hardening and disaster recovery. The application of other types of regulatory mechanisms to resilience investments can help. This report: characterizes regulatory objective as they apply to resilience; identifies several regulatory mechanisms that are used or can be adapted to improve the resilience of the electric system--including performance-based regulation, integrated planning, tariffs and programs to leverage private investment, alternative lines of business for utilities, enhanced cost recovery, and securitization; provides a case study of each regulatory mechanism; summarizes findings across the case studies; and suggests how these regulatory mechanisms might be improved and applied to resilience moving forward. In this report, we assess the effectiveness of a range of utility regulatory mechanisms at evaluating and prioritizing utility investments in grid resilience. First, we characterize regulatory objectives which underly all regulatory mechanisms. We then describe seven types of regulatory mechanisms that can be used to improve resilience--including performance-based regulation, integrated planning, tariffs and programs to leverage private investment, alternative lines of business for utilities, enhanced cost recovery, and securitization--and provide a case study for each one. We summarize our findings on the extent to which these regulatory mechanisms have supported resilience to date. We conclude with suggestions on how these regulatory mechanisms might be improved and applied to resilience moving forward.

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SIS-AOP Cueing/Segmenting Algorithm (FOA_SIS-AOP) Using the Sandia FOA 4.0 Framework

Erteza, Ireena A.; Bray, Brian K.

For machine vision, one of the most important operations is fast and effective object cueing or segmentation. Sandia National Labs has a long history of development and implementation of very fast and effective cueing/segmentation algorithms. This report covers the history, motivation and implementation of evolving frameworks (Sandia FOA Frameworks) upon which this long legacy of successful algorithms are built. The report describes the innovative microprocessor implementation, enabling extremely fast morphological processing, combined with a novel adaptive quantization front - end and a feature - based backend that resulted in Sandia developing fast and effective cueing in a wide variety of applications, from defect detection to SAR ATR. The report covers evolution from Sandia FOA 1.0 Framework (1995) to current Sandia FOA 4.0 Framework (2021). Requirements for the cueing algorithm for SIS - AOP (FOA_SIS - AOP) that drove the Sandia FOA 4.0 Framework development are discussed, along with information on how to use the Sandia FOA Frameworks.

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TEMPI: An Interposed MPI Library with Canonical Representation of MPI Datatypes [Poster]

Pearson, Carl W.; Wu, Kun; Chung, I-Hsin; Xiong, Jinjun; Hwu, Wen-Mei

TEMPI provides a transparent non-contiguous data-handling layer compatible with various MPIs. MPI Datatypes are a powerful abstraction for allowing an MPI implementation to operate on non-contiguous data. CUDA-aware MPI implementations must also manage transfer of such data between the host system and GPU. The non-unique and recursive nature of MPI datatypes mean that providing fast GPU handling is a challenge. The same noncontiguous pattern may be described in a variety of ways, all of which should be treated equivalently by an implementation. This work introduces a novel technique to do this for strided datatypes. Methods for transferring non-contiguous data between the CPU and GPU depends on the properties of the data layout. This work shows that a simple performance model can accurately select the fastest method. Unfortunately, the combination of MPI software and system hardware available may not provide sufficient performance. The contributions of this work are deployed on OLCF Summit through an interposer library which does not require privileged access to the system to use

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Bryan Mound Abandoned Cavern 3 Stability Analysis - 2021 Review

Lord, Anna S.; Moriarty, Dylan; Sobolik, Steven R.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is moving towards employing an expanded enhanced monitoring program. In doing so it has become apparent that there is a need for a better project wide understanding of the current state of Bryan Mound abandoned Cavern 3 stability. Cavern 3 has been inaccessible since 1988 when it was plugged and abandoned and thus this comprehensive report is structured by focusing on 1) a summarization of what can be discerned from historical records prior to 1988 and 2) a presentation and discussion of our current understanding of Cavern 3 based solely on surface monitoring and geomechanical analyses. Historical literature state the cavern was deemed unsuitable for oil storage, as it could not be definitively determined if fluid pressure could be maintained in the borehole. Current surface monitoring indicates the largest surface subsidence rates are occurring above Cavern 3. The subsidence rates are linear with no evidence of acceleration. Cavern collapse could occur if there is insufficient pressure holding up the roof. Next steps are to implement a microseismic system that will lend to a better understanding of cavern stability, as well as provide an improved early warning system for loss of integrity.

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Quantum foundations of classical reversible computing

Entropy

Frank, Michael P.; Shukla, Karpur

The reversible computation paradigm aims to provide a new foundation for general classical digital computing that is capable of circumventing the thermodynamic limits to the energy efficiency of the conventional, non-reversible digital paradigm. However, to date, the essential rationale for, and analysis of, classical reversible computing (RC) has not yet been expressed in terms that leverage the modern formal methods of non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics (NEQT). In this paper, we begin developing an NEQT-based foundation for the physics of reversible computing. We use the framework of Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad dynamics (a.k.a. Lindbladians) with multiple asymptotic states, incorporating recent results from resource theory, full counting statistics and stochastic thermodynamics. Important conclusions include that, as expected: (1) Landauer’s Principle indeed sets a strict lower bound on entropy generation in traditional non-reversible architectures for deterministic computing machines when we account for the loss of correlations; and (2) implementations of the alternative reversible computation paradigm can potentially avoid such losses, and thereby circumvent the Landauer limit, potentially allowing the efficiency of future digital computing technologies to continue improving indefinitely. We also outline a research plan for identifying the fundamental minimum energy dissipation of reversible computing machines as a function of speed.

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Life cycle of streaks in the buffer layer of wall-bounded turbulence

Physical Review Fluids

Bae, H.J.; Lee, Myoungkyu N.

Streaks in the buffer layer of wall-bounded turbulence are tracked in time to study their life cycle. Spatially and temporally resolved direct numerical simulation data are used to analyze the strong wall-parallel movements conditioned to low-speed streamwise flow. The analysis of the streaks shows that there is a clear distinction between wall-attached and detached streaks, and that the wall-attached streaks can be further categorized into streaks that are contained in the buffer layer and the ones that reach the outer region. The results reveal that streaks are born in the buffer layer, coalescing with each other to create larger streaks that are still attached to the wall. Once the streak becomes large enough, it starts to meander due to the large streamwise-to-wall-normal aspect ratio, and consequently the elongation in the streamwise direction, which makes it more difficult for the streak to be oriented strictly in the streamwise direction. While the continuous interaction of the streaks allows the superstructure to span extremely long temporal and length scales, individual streak components are relatively small and short-lived. Tall-attached streaks eventually split into wall-attached and wall-detached components. These wall-detached streaks have a strong wall-normal velocity away from the wall, similar to ejections or bursts observed in the literature. Conditionally averaging the flow fields to these split events show that the detached streak has not only a larger wall-normal velocity compared to the wall-attached counterpart, it also has a larger (less negative) streamwise velocity, similar to the velocity field at the tip of a vortex cluster.

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DPC Disposal Thermal Scoping Analysis

Hardin, Ernest H.; Jones, Philip G.; Chang, Kyung W.

This is a progress report on thermal modeling for dual-purpose canister (DPCs) direct disposal that covers several available calculation methods and addresses creep and temperature-dependent properties in a salt repository. Three modeling approaches are demonstrated: A semi-analytical calculation method that uses linear solutions with superposition and imaging, to represent a central waste package in a larger array; A finite difference model of coupled thermal creep, implemented in FLAC2D; and An integrated finite difference thermal-hydrologic modeling approach for repositories in different generic host media, implemented in PFLOTRAN. These approaches are at different levels of maturity, and future work is expected to add refinements and establish the best applications for each.

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Free energies of hydrated halide anions: High through-put computations on clusters to treat rough energy-landscapes

Molecules

Rempe, Susan R.; Gomez, Diego T.; Pratt, Lawrence R.; Rogers, David M.

With a longer-term goal of addressing the comparative behavior of the aqueous halides F-, Cl-, Br-, and I-on the basis of quasi-chemical theory (QCT), here we study structures and free energies of hydration clusters for those anions. We confirm that energetically optimal (H2O)nX clusters, with X = Cl-, Br-, and I-, exhibit surface hydration structures. Computed free energies, based on optimized surface hydration structures utilizing a harmonic approximation, typically (but not always) disagree with experimental free energies. To remedy the harmonic approximation, we utilize single-point electronic structure calculations on cluster geometries sampled from an AIMD (ab initio molecular dynamics) simulation stream. This rough-landscape procedure is broadly satisfactory and suggests unfavorable ligand crowding as the physical effect addressed. Nevertheless, this procedure can break down when n≳4, with the characteristic discrepancy resulting from a relaxed definition of clustering in the identification of (H2O)nX clusters, including ramified structures natural in physical cluster theories. With ramified structures, the central equation for the present rough-landscape approach can acquire some inconsistency. Extension of these physical cluster theories in the direction of QCT should remedy that issue, and should be the next step in this research direction.

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GMS Station SOH Monitoring Users Guide (V.1.2)

Conley, Andrea C.; Harris, James M.

The Geophysical Monitoring System (GMS) State-of-Health User Interface (SOH UI) is a web-based application that allows a user to view and acknowledge the SOH status of stations in the GMS system. The SOH UI will primarily be used by the System Controller, who monitors and controls the system and external data connections. The System Controller uses the station SOH UIs to monitor, detect, and troubleshoot problems with station data availability and quality.

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Peridynamic model for microballistic perforation of multilayer graphene

Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics

Silling, Stewart A.; Fermen-Coker, Muge

The peridynamic theory of solid mechanics is applied to the continuum modeling of the impact of small, high-velocity silica spheres on multilayer graphene targets. The model treats the laminate as a brittle elastic membrane. The material model includes separate failure criteria for the initial rupture of the membrane and for propagating cracks. Material variability is incorporated by assigning random variations in elastic properties within Voronoi cells. The computational model is shown to reproduce the primary aspects of the response observed in experiments, including the growth of a family of radial cracks from the point of impact.

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Explosion discrimination using seismic gradiometry and spectral filtering of data

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

Poppeliers, Christian P.; Challu, Cristian; Punosevac, Predrag; Dubrawski, Artur

We present a new method to discriminate between earthquakes and buried explosions using observed seismic data. The method is different from previous seismic discrimination algorithms in two main ways. First, we use seismic spatial gradients, as well as the wave attributes estimated from them (referred to as gradiometric attributes), rather than the conventional three-component seismograms recorded on a distributed array. The primary advantage of this is that a gradiometer is only a fraction of a wavelength in aperture com¬pared with a conventional seismic array or network. Second, we use the gradiometric attributes as input data into a machine learning algorithm. The resulting discrimination algorithm uses the norms of truncated principal components obtained from the gradio- metric data to distinguish the two classes of seismic events. Using high-fidelity synthetic data, we show that the data and gradiometric attributes recorded by a single seismic gra¬diometer performs as well as a conventional distributed array at the event type discrimi¬nation task.

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Digital quantum simulation of molecular dynamics and control

Physical Review Research

Magann, Alicia B.; Grace, Matthew G.; Rabitz, Herschel A.; Sarovar, Mohan S.

Optimally-shaped electromagnetic fields have the capacity to coherently control the dynamics of quantum systems and thus offer a promising means for controlling molecular transformations relevant to chemical, biological, and materials applications. Currently, advances in this area are hindered by the prohibitive cost of the quantum dynamics simulations needed to explore the principles and possibilities of molecular control. However, the emergence of nascent quantum-computing devices suggests that efficient simulations of quantum dynamics may be on the horizon. In this article, we study how quantum computers could be employed to design optimally-shaped fields to control molecular systems. We introduce a hybrid algorithm that utilizes a quantum computer for simulating the field-induced quantum dynamics of a molecular system in polynomial time, in combination with a classical optimization approach for updating the field. Qubit encoding methods relevant for molecular control problems are described, and procedures for simulating the quantum dynamics and obtaining the simulation results are discussed. Numerical illustrations are then presented that explicitly treat paradigmatic vibrational and rotational control problems, and also consider how optimally-shaped fields could be used to elucidate the mechanisms of energy transfer in light-harvesting complexes. Resource estimates, as well as a numerical assessment of the impact of hardware noise and the prospects of near-term hardware implementations, are provided for the latter task.

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Digital Image Correlation as an Experimental Modal Analysis Capability

Experimental Techniques

Witt, Bryan; Rohe, Daniel P.

Digital image correlation (DIC) is an established test technique in several fields including quasi-static displacement measurements. Recently there has been growing interest in using DIC to measure structural dynamic response and even extract modal parameters from that information. While high-speed cameras have become more ubiquitous, there are no commercial end-to-end packages for modal analysis based on image data, particularly when combined with traditional data acquisition systems. As such, the practitioner is left to develop several key data processing capabilities, hardware interface equipment, and testing practices themselves. This work highlights several practical aspects that have been encountered while establishing DIC as a viable modal testing capability in a laboratory environment.

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Molybdenum and silver photoemission survey spectra from hard x-rays

Surface Science Spectra

Flanagan, Timothy M.; Brumbach, M.T.; Chow, Rebecca C.; Casalnuovo, D.; Rubio-Zuazo, J.; Castro, G.R.

Electron emission from thick polished samples of polycrystalline molybdenum (Mo) and single crystalline 〈111〉 silver (Ag) was measured with hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Six different excitation x-ray energies were used, nominally 8.0, 11.0, 13.0, 15.0, 18.0, and 21.5 keV. Survey spectra were recorded with each excitation to a kinetic energy of at most 15 keV, often capturing the entire emission range. The Mo 1s core peak was measured. Detailed LMM Auger spectra of Mo show marked increases in intensity and altered shape when x-ray energy exceeds the Mo 1s binding energy. The Mo and Ag L-shell photoelectron peaks are measured at four x-ray energies up to 18 keV showing the transition from 2p3/2 to 2s photoionization dominance.

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Strategy for distributed controller defence: Leveraging controller roles and control support groups to maintain or regain control in cyber-adversarial power systems

IET Cyber-Physical Systems: Theory and Applications

Hossain-McKenzie, Shamina S.; Raghunath, Kaushik; Davis, Katherine; Etigowni, Sriharsha; Zonouz, Saman

Distributed controllers play a prominent role in electric power grid operation. The coordinated failure or malfunction of these controllers is a serious threat, where the resulting mechanisms and consequences are not yet well-known and planned against. If certain controllers are maliciously compromised by an adversary, they can be manipulated to drive the system to an unsafe state. The authors present a strategy for distributed controller defence (SDCD) for improved grid tolerance under conditions of distributed controller compromise. The work of the authors’ first formalises the roles that distributed controllers play and their control support groups using controllability analysis techniques. With these formally defined roles and groups, the authors then present defence strategies for maintaining or regaining system control during such an attack. A general control response framework is presented here for the compromise or failure of distributed controllers using the remaining, operational set. The SDCD approach is successfully demonstrated with a 7-bus system and the IEEE 118-bus system for single and coordinated distributed controller compromise; the results indicate that SDCD is able to significantly reduce system stress and mitigate compromise consequences.

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Quantum Foundations of Classical Reversible Computing

Entropy

Frank, Michael P.; Shukla, Karpur

The reversible computation paradigm aims to provide a new foundation for general classical digital computing that is capable of circumventing the thermodynamic limits to the energy efficiency of the conventional, non-reversible digital paradigm. However, to date, the essential rationale for, and analysis of, classical reversible computing (RC) has not yet been expressed in terms that leverage the modern formal methods of non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics (NEQT). In this paper, we begin developing an NEQT-based foundation for the physics of reversible computing. We use the framework of Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad dynamics (a.k.a. Lindbladians) with multiple asymptotic states, incorporating recent results from resource theory, full counting statistics and stochastic thermodynamics. Important conclusions include that, as expected: (1) Landauer’s Principle indeed sets a strict lower bound on entropy generation in traditional non-reversible architectures for deterministic computing machines when we account for the loss of correlations; and (2) implementations of the alternative reversible computation paradigm can potentially avoid such losses, and thereby circumvent the Landauer limit, potentially allowing the efficiency of future digital computing technologies to continue improving indefinitely. We also outline a research plan for identifying the fundamental minimum energy dissipation of reversible computing machines as a function of speed.

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Optimization-Based Fast-Frequency Estimation and Control of Low-Inertia Microgrids

IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion

Tamrakar, Ujjwol; Copp, David A.; Nguyen, Tu A.; Hansen, Timothy M.; Tonkoski, Reinaldo

The lack of inertial response from non-synchronous, inverter-based generation in microgrids makes the power system vulnerable to a large rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) and frequency excursions. Energy storage systems (ESSs) can be utilized to provide fast-frequency support to prevent such large excursions in the system. However, fast-frequency support is a power-intensive application that has a significant impact on the ESS lifetime. In this paper, a framework that allows the ESS operator to provide fast-frequency support as a service is proposed. The framework maintains the desired quality-of-service (limiting the ROCOF and frequency) while taking into account the ESS lifetime and physical limits. The framework utilizes moving horizon estimation (MHE) to estimate the frequency deviation and ROCOF from noisy phase-locked loop (PLL) measurements. These estimates are employed by a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm that computes control actions by solving a finite-horizon, online optimization problem. Additionally, this approach avoids oscillatory behavior induced by delays that are common when using low-pass filters as with traditional derivative-based (virtual inertia) controllers. MATLAB/Simulink simulations on a test system from Cordova, Alaska, show the effectiveness of the MHE-MPC approach to reduce frequency deviations and ROCOF of a low-inertia microgrid.

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Results 10301–10400 of 96,771
Results 10301–10400 of 96,771