281 research outputs found
Ground-source heat pumps and underground thermal energy storage: energy for the future
We need energy for space heatingâbut in most cases not where or when energy sources are available. Energy storage, which helps match energy supply and demand, has been practised for centuries, also in Norway. Energy storage systems will increase the potential of utilising renewable
energy sources such as geothermal energy, solar heat and waste heat. The most frequently-used storage technology for heat and âcoolthâ is Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES). The ground has proved to be an ideal medium for storing heat and cold in large quantities and over several seasons or years. UTES systems in the Nordic countries are mostly used in combination with Ground-Source Heat Pumps (GSHP). Several different UTES systems have been developed
and tested. Two types of system, Aquifer (ATES) and borehole (BTES) storage, have had a general commercial breakthrough in the last decades in the Nordic countries. Today, about 15,000 GSHP systems exist in Norway extracting about 1.5 TWh heat from the ground. About 280 of the Norwegian GSHP installations are medium- to large-scale systems (> 50 kW) for commercial/public buildings and for multi-family dwellings. The two largest closed-loop GSHP systems in Europe, using boreholes as ground heat exchangers, are located in Norway
Ab initio study of reflectance anisotropy spectra of a sub-monolayer oxidized Si(100) surface
The effects of oxygen adsorption on the reflectance anisotropy spectrum (RAS)
of reconstructed Si(100):O surfaces at sub-monolayer coverage (first stages of
oxidation) have been studied by an ab initio DFT-LDA scheme within a
plane-wave, norm-conserving pseudopotential approach. Dangling bonds and the
main features of the characteristic RAS of the clean Si(100) surface are mostly
preserved after oxidation of 50% of the surface dimers, with some visible
changes: a small red shift of the first peak, and the appearance of a distinct
spectral structure at about 1.5 eV. The electronic transitions involved in the
latter have been analyzed through state-by-state and layer-by-layer
decompositions of the RAS. We suggest that new interplay between present
theoretical results and reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy experiments could
lead to further clarification of structural and kinetic details of the Si(100)
oxidation process in the sub-monolayer range.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures. To be published in Physical Rev.
Influence of the Interplanetary Convective Electric Field on the Distribution of Heavy Pickup Ions Around Mars
This study obtains a statistical representation of 2â15Â keV heavy ions outside of the Martianâinduced magnetosphere and depicts their organization by the solar wind convective electric field (ESW). The overlap in the lifetime of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Express (MEX) provides a period of nearly three years during which magnetometer data from MGS can be used to estimate the direction of ESW in order to better interpret MEX ion data. In this paper we use MGS estimates of ESW to express MEX ion measurements in MarsâSunâElectric field (MSE) coordinates. A new methodological technique used in this study is the limitation of the analysis to a particular instrument mode for which the overlap between proton contamination and plume observations is rare. This allows for confident energetic heavy ion identification outside the induced magnetosphere boundary. On the dayside, we observe high count rates of 2â15Â keV heavy ions more frequently in the +ESW hemisphere (+ZMSE) than in the âESW hemisphere, but on the nightside the reverse asymmetry was found. The results are consistent with planetary origin ions being picked up by the solar wind convective electric field. Though a field of view hole hinders quantification of plume fluxes and velocity space, this new energetic heavy ion identification technique means that Mars Express should prove useful in expanding the time period available to assess general plume loss variation with drivers.Plain Language SummaryThe location and flow direction of oxygen escaping Marsâ atmosphere is organized by a globalâscale electric field associated with the Sunâs flowing magnetic field. While the Mars Express (MEX) satellite is less well equipped than Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) to estimate exact flux values of ions accelerated by this electric field, our demonstration that MEX can see this population statistically opens a new window of time (preâMAVEN) to studies of the variability of this atmospheric escape channel.Key PointsMars Express heavy ion data outside the magnetic boundary show a statistical asymmetry consistent with other energetic plume studiesThe energetic plume is more prevalent on the dayside (i.e., XÂ >Â 0), while for XÂ <Â 0 higher count rates in the +ESW direction were not seenFor a specific instrument setting, overlap between proton contamination and the plume is rare, allowing for confident plume identificationPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142551/1/jgra53999.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142551/2/jgra53999_am.pd
Solar wind interaction with comet 67P: impacts of corotating interaction regions
International audienceWe present observations from the Rosetta Plasma Consortium of the effects of stormy solar wind on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Four corotating interaction regions (CIRs), where the first event has possibly merged with a coronal mass ejection, are traced from Earth via Mars (using Mars Express and Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission) to comet 67P from October to December 2014. When the comet is 3.1â2.7 AU from the Sun and the neutral outgassing rate âŒ1025â1026 sâ1, the CIRs significantly influence the cometary plasma environment at altitudes down to 10â30 km. The ionospheric low-energy (âŒ5 eV) plasma density increases significantly in all events, by a factor of >2 in events 1 and 2 but less in events 3 and 4. The spacecraft potential drops below â20 V upon impact when the flux of electrons increases. The increased density is likely caused by compression of the plasma environment, increased particle impact ionization, and possibly charge exchange processes and acceleration of mass-loaded plasma back to the comet ionosphere. During all events, the fluxes of suprathermal (âŒ10â100 eV) electrons increase significantly, suggesting that the heating mechanism of these electrons is coupled to the solar wind energy input. At impact the magnetic field strength in the coma increases by a factor of 2â5 as more interplanetary magnetic field piles up around the comet. During two CIR impact events, we observe possible plasma boundaries forming, or moving past Rosetta, as the strong solar wind compresses the cometary plasma environment. We also discuss the possibility of seeing some signatures of the ionospheric response to tail disconnection events
Ions Accelerated by Sounder-Plasma Interaction as Observed by Mars Express
The ion sensor of the Analyzer of Space Plasmas and Energetic Atoms (ASPERA-3) experiment detects accelerated ions during pulses of radio emissions from the powerful topside sounder: the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) onboard Mars Express. Accelerated ions (O+2, O+, and lighter ions) are observed in an energy range up to 800Â eV when MARSIS transmits at a frequency close to the plasma frequency. Individual observations consist of almost monoenergetic ion beams aligned with the MARSIS antenna or lying in the plane perpendicular to the antenna. The observed ion beams are often accompanied by a small decrease in the electron flux observed by the electron sensor of Analyzer of Space Plasmas and Energetic Atoms 3. Observations indicate that the voltage applied to the antenna causes charging of the spacecraft to several hundreds of volts by the electrons of the ambient plasma. Positively charged ions are accelerated when the spacecraft discharges
Dynamical brittle fractures of nanocrystalline silicon using large-scale electronic structure calculations
A hybrid scheme between large-scale electronic structure calculations is
developed and applied to nanocrystalline silicon with more than 10 atoms.
Dynamical fracture processes are simulated under external loads in the [001]
direction. We shows that the fracture propagates anisotropically on the (001)
plane and reconstructed surfaces appear with asymmetric dimers. Step structures
are formed in larger systems, which is understood as the beginning of a
crossover between nanoscale and macroscale samples.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Krylov Subspace Method for Molecular Dynamics Simulation based on Large-Scale Electronic Structure Theory
For large scale electronic structure calculation, the Krylov subspace method
is introduced to calculate the one-body density matrix instead of the
eigenstates of given Hamiltonian. This method provides an efficient way to
extract the essential character of the Hamiltonian within a limited number of
basis set. Its validation is confirmed by the convergence property of the
density matrix within the subspace. The following quantities are calculated;
energy, force, density of states, and energy spectrum. Molecular dynamics
simulation of Si(001) surface reconstruction is examined as an example, and the
results reproduce the mechanism of asymmetric surface dimer.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; corrected typos; to be published in Journal of
the Phys. Soc. of Japa
Reconstruction and thermal stability of the cubic SiC(001) surfaces
The (001) surfaces of cubic SiC were investigated with ab-initio molecular
dynamics simulations. We show that C-terminated surfaces can have different
c(2x2) and p(2x1) reconstructions, depending on preparation conditions and
thermal treatment, and we suggest experimental probes to identify the various
reconstructed geometries. Furthermore we show that Si-terminated surfaces
exhibit a p(2x1) reconstruction at T=0, whereas above room temperature they
oscillate between a dimer row and an ideal geometry below 500 K, and sample
several patterns including a c(4x2) above 500 K.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, figures 1 and 2 available in gif form at
http://irrmawww.epfl.ch/fg/sic/fig1.gif and
http://irrmawww.epfl.ch/fg/sic/fig2.gi
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