Award Data

The goal of this project is the formulation a rigid, insulating, low-density wood composite, with physical and thermal properties comparable to fossil fuel derived foams. _x000D_ _x000D_ To achieve energy conservation standards mandated by certification agencies such as Passive House and LEED, high performance buildings require multiple shells of insulation – an inner shell that contains electri ...

Significant amounts of time and resources are spent generating and maintaining meshes for modeling and simulation by engineers and scientists in industry, government, and academia. Beyond mesh generation, one major problem complex multiphysics software, such as those used in nuclear energy software, currently faces is the complex transfer of quantities between meshes during high-performance simula ...

241Am-Be(α,n) radiochemical neutron sources are used for geophysical well logging serving groundwater, mining, geotechnical, environmental and research users—as well as the major Oil/Gas industries. There is an urgent need to prevent intentional or accidental diversion and/or use as a radiological dispersal device. It is difficult to track/safeguard these materials with ~9,000 active sources fo ...

One daunting challenge facing future plasma burning fusion reactors is the extreme conditions that plasma facing components are exposed to. Extreme particle and heat fluxes exceeding 10-20 MW/m2 drive traditional material surfaces out of equilibrium and induce topographical and compositional changes that can have deleterious effects on the plasma edge and, ultimately, the confinement of fusion pla ...

Advanced beam diagnostics are essential for reliable operation of high-performance accelerators and the intense beams produced by them. Non-invasive diagnostics can be used continuously with intense beams, while invasive techniques interfere with the beams and distort the beam profiles. In addition, traditional solid-based beam monitoring instrumentation produces unacceptable levels of radiation o ...

Computational fluid dynamics methods are increasingly used for high fidelity modeling of complex systems, especially nuclear power systems. For example, the phenomenon of thermal stratification in a sodium-cooled fast reactor under natural circulation conditions is resolvable with computational fluid dynamics, but not traditional system-level models. The high accuracy of computational fluid dynami ...

How to enable a decentralized approach to grid control and renewable trading that seamlessly addresses the effective distribution of power while at the same time, and presumably in much the same way, manages the distribution of new value streams to prosumers. By increasing the distribution of and creation of new value streams to consumers the levelized cost of electricity can be lowered. This will ...

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with low cost ($100/kWh) and high energy density (500 Wh/kg) are critically desired to meet the ever-increasing needs for energy. One way to achieve the goals is to enable lithium metal as the anode for lithium-ion batteries owing to its ultrahigh theoretical capacity (3,860 mAh/g) and the high negative potential (-3.04 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode). However ...

Decisions made early in the schematic design of buildings can have significant energy impacts that the architect probably did not even consider during the decision-making process. The decision-making process is probably more focused on space locations and overall look of the building than any other criteria. This proposed SBIR project hopes to insert an understanding of the energy impacts into thi ...

The Department of Energy (DOE) views the utilization of wet organic waste, such as food and beverage wastewater, to produce high value bioproducts as a strategic approach to the development of an advanced and sustainable economy. Wet organic waste treatment currently places a significant burden on producers but represents a potential 77 million metric ton per year feedstock. However, wet organic w ...