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At least 217 records · Page 12

Melting/freezing points of high concentrations of AlCl 3 in a saturated chloroaluminate ionic liquid

Melting/freezing points of AlCl 3 in saturated chloroaluminate ionic liquids [molar ratio 2:1 AlCl 3 :1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride (EMIC)] are measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A critical range of temperature data (50-130 °C) for AlCl 3 dissolution and precipitation from saturated chloroaluminate ionic liquids is obtained. This range of temperature data is of significance to control phase transition of AlCl 3 in saturated chloroaluminate ionic liquids. By applying the chloroaluminate ionic liquids to electrolytes for energy storage usage, solid AlCl 3 can be partially dissolved and precipitated out during the charging/discharging cycle of energy storage equipment. Furthermore, the energy density of the electrolytes is expected to be greatly improved.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Yb-doped fiber laser mode-locked with Au nanocages/SiO{sub 2} saturable absorber

Au nanocages/SiO{sub 2} (Au-NCs/SiO{sub 2}) are prepared through a seed-mediated growth method, and the performance is investigated in an all-fiber passively mode-locked ytterbium-doped fiber laser, for the first time. Its saturating intensity and modulation depth are measured to be about 0.461 MW/cm{sup 2} and 5.3%, respectively. With the Au-NCs/SiO{sub 2} saturable absorbers (SA) film, the pulse with the pulse duration of 1.116 ns and repetition rate of 32.02 MHz was generated at 1063.14 nm, under the pump power of 342 mW. And the corresponding average output power of 4.82 mW was obtained. These results indicate that Au-NCs/SiO{sub 2} has excellent saturable absorption properties with the potential for important applications in the field of ultra-short pulse lasers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Exploring the effects of data quality, data worth, and redundancy of CO2 gas pressure and saturation data on reservoir characterization through PEST Inversion

This study examined the impacts of reservoir properties on CO2 migration after subsurface injection and evaluated the possibility of characterizing reservoir properties using CO2 monitoring data such as saturation distribution. The injection reservoir was assumed to be located 1400-1500 m below the ground surface such that CO2 remained in the supercritical state. The reservoir was assumed to contain layers with alternating conductive and resistive properties, which is analogous to actual geological formations such as the Mount Simon Sandstone unit. The CO2 injection simulation used a cylindrical grid setting in which the injection well was situated at the center of the domain, which extended up to 8000 m from the injection well. The CO2 migration was simulated using the PNNL-developed simulator STOMP-CO2e (the water-salt-CO2 module). We adopted a nonlinear parameter estimation and optimization modeling software package, PEST, for automated reservoir parameter estimation. We explored the effects of data quality, data worth, and data redundancy on the detectability of reservoir parameters using CO2 saturation monitoring data, by comparing PEST inversion results using data with different levels of noises, various numbers of monitoring wells and locations, and different data collection spacing and temporal sampling intervals. This study yielded insight into the use of CO2 saturation monitoring data for reservoir characterization and how to design the monitoring system to optimize data worth and reduce data redundancy.

Carbon sequestration↗

Fayalite Dissolution and Siderite Formation in Water-Saturated Supercritical CO2

Olivines, a significant constituent of basaltic rocks, have the potential to immobilize permanently CO2 after it is injected in the deep subsurface, due to carbonation reactions occurring between CO2 and the host rock. To investigate the reactions of fayalitic olivine with supercritical CO2 (scCO2) and formation of mineral carbonates, experiments were conducted at temperatures of 35 °C to 80 °C, 90 atm pressure and anoxic conditions. For every temperature, the dissolution of fayalite was examined both in the presence of liquid water and H2O-saturated scCO2. The experiments were conducted in a high pressure batch reactor at reaction time extending up to 85 days. The newly formed products were characterized using a comprehensive suite of bulk and surface characterization techniques X-ray diffraction, Transmission/Emission Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Focused Ion Beam, and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy. Siderite with rhombohedral morphology was formed at 35 °C, 50 °C, and 80 °C in the presence of liquid water and scCO2. In H2O-saturated scCO2, the formation of siderite was confirmed only at high temperature (80 °C). Characterization of reacted samples in H2O-saturated scCO2 with high resolution TEM indicated that siderite formation initiated inside voids created during the initial steps of fayalite dissolution. Later stages of fayalite dissolution result in the formation of siderite in layered vertical structures, columns or pyramids with a rhombus base morphology.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Geochemical and geomechanical alteration of siliciclastic reservoir rock by supercritical CO 2 -saturated brine formed during geological carbon sequestration

Geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) is a method for storing CO 2 and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. During GCS, carbon dioxide dissolves into pore water, resulting in a low-pH brine that can react with reservoir rock minerals. This work evaluates the effects of geochemical reactions on geomechanical integrity of representative siliciclastic reservoir samples obtained from the Mt. Simon formation. Rock samples were aged 4 or 8 weeks in CO 2 -saturated brine under reservoir conditions, and in N 2 -saturated brine as a control. Post-aging, CT scans revealed more extensive micro-fracture development along horizontal bedding planes at grain edges in CO 2 versus N 2 -aged samples. Digital analysis of CO 2 -aged samples showed porosity increase from 8.1% to 15.8%. Scanning electron microscopy unearthed the loss of clay cementation, greater exposure of quartz and K-feldspar grains, and apparent surface roughening (confirmed by laser profilometry) in CO 2 -aged samples, but not in N 2 -aged samples. Fracture toughness as evaluated by scratch testing was reduced by 32.1% after 4 weeks in scCO 2 -saturated brine and 69.5% after 8 weeks. The main reason for weakening appears to be detachment of clays from quartz and feldspar grain surfaces, resulting in weakening of the rock matrix. Rock weakening may alter the geomechanical stability of storage formations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Modeling of wave processes in blocky media with porous and fluid-saturated interlayers

The wave processes in blocky media are analyzed by applying different mathematical models, wherein the elastic blocks interact with each other via pliant interlayers with the complex mechanical properties. Four versions of constitutive equations are considered. In the first version, an elastic interaction between the blocks is simulated within the framework of linear elasticity theory, and the model of elastic–plastic interlayers is constructed to take into account the appearance of irreversible deformation of interlayers at short time intervals. In the second one, the effects of viscoelastic shear in the interblock interlayers are taken into the consideration using the Poynting–Thomson rheological scheme. In the third option, the model of an elastic porous material is used in the interlayers, where the pores collapse if an abrupt compressive stress is applied. In the fourth case, the model of a fluid-saturated material with open pores is examined based on Biot's equations. The collapse of pores is modeled by the generalized rheological approach, wherein the mechanical properties of a material are simulated using four rheological elements. Three of them are the traditional elastic, viscous and plastic elements, the fourth element is the so-called rigid contact, which is used to describe the behavior of materials with the different resistance to tension and compression. It was shown that the thermodynamically consistent model is provided, which means that the energy balance equation is fulfilled for an entire blocky structure, where the kinetic and potential energy of the system is the sum of the kinetic and potential energies of the blocks and interlayers. Under numerical implementation of the interlayers models, the dissipationless finite difference Ivanov's method was used. The splitting method by spatial variables in the combination with the Godunov gap decay scheme was applied in the blocks. As a result, robust and stable computational algorithms are built and tested. Using MPI technology, the parallel software was designed for the modeling of wave processes in 2D setting. The numerical results are presented, discussed and future studies are outlined. - Highlights: • We model the propagation of waves in a blocky medium with compliant interlayers. • Models of porous and fluid saturated interlayers are proposed using Biot's approach. • A parallel computational algorithm is developed for supercomputers of cluster type. • Problems of instant rotation of central and boundary blocks are solved numerically. • Wave motions are compared in the cases of elastic and fluid-saturated interlayers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Intrinsic fluctuations of the proton saturation momentum scale in high multiplicity p+p collisions

High multiplicity events in p+p collisions are studied using the theory of the Color Glass Condensate. Here, we show that intrinsic fluctuations of the proton saturation momentum scale are needed in addition to the sub-nucleonic color charge fluctuations to explain the very high multiplicity tail of distributions in p+p collisions. It is presumed that the origin of such intrinsic fluctuations is non-perturbative in nature. Classical Yang Mills simulations using the IP-Glasma model are performed to make quantitative estimations. Furthermore, we find that fluctuations as large as O(1) of the average values of the saturation momentum scale can lead to rare high multiplicity events seen in p+p data at RHIC and LHC energies. Using the available data on multiplicity distributions we try to constrain the distribution of the proton saturation momentum scale and make predictions for the multiplicity distribution in 13 TeV p+p collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Peak Ground Displacement Saturates Exactly When Expected: Implications for Earthquake Early Warning

The scaling of rupture properties with magnitude is of critical importance to earthquake early warning (EEW) systems that rely on source characterization using limited snapshots of waveform data. ShakeAlert, a prototype EEW system that is being developed for the western United States, provides real-time estimates of earthquake magnitude based on P-wave peak ground displacements calculated at stations triggered by the event. The algorithms used in ShakeAlert assume that the displacement measurements at each station are statistically independent and that there exists a linear and time-independent relation between log peak ground displacement and earthquake magnitude. Here we challenge this basic assumption using the largest dataset assembled for this purpose to date: a comprehensive database of more than 140,000 vertical-component waveforms from M4.5–M9 earthquakes occurring near Japan from 1997 through 2018 and recorded by the K-NET and KiK-net strong-motion networks. By analyzing the time-evolution of P-wave peak ground displacements for these earthquakes, we show that there is a break, or saturation, in the magnitude-displacement scaling that depends on the length of the measurement time window. We demonstrate that the magnitude at which this saturation occurs is well-explained by a simple and non-deterministic model of earthquake rupture growth. We then utilize the predictions of this saturation model to develop a Bayesian framework for estimating posterior uncertainties in real-time magnitude estimates.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Non-saturating quantum magnetization in Weyl semimetal TaAs

Detecting the spectroscopic signatures of relativistic quasiparticles in emergent topological materials is crucial for searching their potential applications. Magnetometry is a powerful tool for fathoming electrons in solids, by which a clear method for discerning relativistic quasiparticles has not yet been established. Adopting the probes of magnetic torque and parallel magnetization for the archetype Weyl semimetal TaAs in strong magnetic field, we observed a quasi-linear field dependent effective transverse magnetization and a non-saturating parallel magnetization when the system enters the quantum limit. Distinct from the saturating magnetic responses for non-relativistic quasiparticles, the non-saturating signals of TaAs in strong field is consistent with our newly developed magnetization calculation for a Weyl fermion system in an arbitrary angle. Our results establish a high-field thermodynamic method for detecting the magnetic response of relativistic quasiparticles in topological materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

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↗

Correction factors for saturation effects in white light and laser absorption spectroscopy for application to low pressure plasmas

In white light absorption spectroscopy, the broadening of the absorption signal due to the apparatus profile of the spectrometer may lead to an underestimation of the determined density as one measures an apparent optical depth. This is in particular true for high optical depth where saturation effects of the transmitted intensity occur. Provided that the line profile of the absorption line is known, the apparent optical depth effect can be accounted for by introducing a correction factor. The impact of the saturation and the approach of considering the effect are demonstrated for argon and indium lines in low pressure plasmas where correction factors of one order of magnitude or even higher are reached very easily. For the indium line, the hyperfine splitting has been taken into account. In laser absorption, the line profile is resolved. However, the weak but rather broad background emission of the laser diode can cause a saturation signal at the photo diode resulting also in an underestimation of the density obtained from the analysis. It is shown that this can be taken into account by fitting the theoretical line profile to the measured absorption signal which yields also a correction factor. The method is introduced and demonstrated at the example of the cesium resonance line including the hyperfine splitting. Typical correction factors around two are obtained for the cesium ground state density at conditions of a low pressure negative hydrogen ion source in which cesium is evaporated to enhance the negative ion production.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Multipactor saturation in parallel-plate waveguides

The saturation stage of a multipactor discharge is considered of interest, since it can guide towards a criterion to assess the multipactor onset. The electron cloud under multipactor regime within a parallel-plate waveguide is modeled by a thin continuous distribution of charge and the equations of motion are calculated taking into account the space charge effects. The saturation is identified by the interaction of the electron cloud with its image charge. The stability of the electron population growth is analyzed and two mechanisms of saturation to explain the steady-state multipactor for voltages near above the threshold onset are identified. The impact energy in the collision against the metal plates decreases during the electron population growth due to the attraction of the electron sheet on the image through the initial plate. When this growth remains stable till the impact energy reaches the first cross-over point, the electron surface density tends to a constant value. When the stability is broken before reaching the first cross-over point the surface charge density oscillates chaotically bounded within a certain range. In this case, an expression to calculate the maximum electron surface charge density is found whose predictions agree with the simulations when the voltage is not too high.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Demonstrating the saturation of stimulated Brillouin scattering by ion acoustic decay using fully kinetic simulations

The saturation of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) by the decay to turbulence of the ion acoustic wave (IAW) that participates in the three-wave SBS interaction is demonstrated using a quasi-noiseless one-dimensional numerical solution to the Vlasov-Maxwell system of equations. This simulation technique permits careful examination of the decay process and its role in the complex evolution of SBS. Here, the IAW decay process is shown to be an effective SBS saturation mechanism. In our example, the instantaneous plasma reflectivity saturates at ~30% and drops to ~0% as a direct consequence of IAW decay. A contrasting example where the reflectivity is controlled by dephasing due to the nonlinear frequency of the IAW is also discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Effect of q-nonextensive parameter and saturation time on electron density steepening in electron-positron-ion plasmas

The effect of q-nonextensive parameter and saturation time on the electron density steepening in electron-positron-ion plasmas is studied by particle in cell method. Phase space diagrams show that the size of the holes, and consequently, the number of trapped particles strongly depends on the q-parameter and saturation time. Furthermore, the mechanism of the instability and exchange of energy between electron-positron and electric field is explained by the profiles of the energy density. Moreover, it is found that the q-parameter, saturation time, and electron and positron velocities affect the nonlinear evolution of the electron density which leads to the steepening of its structure. The q-nonextensive parameter or degree of nonextensivity is the relation between temperature gradient and potential energy of the system. Therefore, the deviation of q-parameter from unity indicates the degree of inhomogeneity of temperature or deviation from equilibrium. Finally, using the kinetic theory, a generalized q-dispersion relation is presented for electron-positron-ion plasma systems. It is found that the simulation results in the linear regime are in good agreement with the growth rate results obtained by the kinetic theory.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Saturation scalings of toroidal ion temperature gradient turbulence

The emerging understanding of instability-driven plasma-turbulence saturation in terms of energy transfer to stable modes in the same scale range as the instability is employed to derive a saturation theory for the toroidal branch of ion temperature gradient turbulence that provides the scaling of turbulence and zonal flow levels for all physical parameters. The theory is based on the eigenmode decomposition of a nonlinear fluid model, which is subjected to a statistical closure and simplified via an ordering expansion consistent with zonal-flow catalyzed energy transfer from the unstable mode to the stable mode at large scale. Solution of the closed energy balance equations yields a turbulence level that is proportional to the ratio of the zonal flow damping rate and the inverse of the triplet correlation time of the zonal-flow catalyzed wavenumber triplet interaction. The zonal flow energy is proportional to the ratio of the growth rate and the inverse triplet correlation time. The saturation scalings are applied to the ion heat flux, showing that it has a factor proportional to the quasilinear heat flux and a correction factor that includes the inverse of the triplet correlation time and a reduction due to the stable mode.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Zonal structure effect on the nonlinear saturation of reverse shear Alfven eigenmodes

A gyrokinetic ion/fluid electron hybrid model is used to study the nonlinear evolution of reverse shear Alfven eigenmodes (RSAE) driven by energetic particles. When only the energetic particle nonlinear effects are included, the saturation amplitude of a single-n RSAE follows the trapping scaling, δB/B~(γ/ω) 2 . When the nonlinear effects of thermal ions and electrons are included, zonal structures are force generated but do not affect the saturation amplitude for γ/ω≤0.03. No spontaneous generation of zonal structures is observed, in contrast to ion-temperature-gradient-driven modes. At larger energetic particle drive, the effects of zonal structures cause a significant reduction in the RSAE saturation amplitude. The reduction is not caused by the zonal flow shearing of the RSAE, but by the force-generated n = 0 component in the thermal ion distribution function and the electron density. Finally, these n = 0 perturbations lead to nonlinear evolution of the RSAE mode structure and enhance damping.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Saturation of cross-beam energy transfer for multispeckled laser beams involving both ion and electron dynamics

The nonlinear saturation of crossed-beam energy transfer (CBET) for multispeckled laser beams crossing at arbitrary angles is examined using vector particle-in-cell simulations. CBET is found to saturate on fast (~10s of picosecond) time scales involving ion trapping and excitation of oblique forward stimulated Raman scattering (FSRS). Ion trapping reduces wave damping and speckle interaction increases wave coherence length, together enhancing energy transfer; ion acoustic wave (IAW) breakup in the direction transverse to the wavenumber increases wave damping and contributes to CBET saturation. Here, the seed beam can become unstable to oblique FSRS, which leads to beam deflection at a large angle and a frequency downshift (by the plasma frequency).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Direct prediction of nonlinear tearing mode saturation using a variational principle

It is shown that the variational principle of multi-region relaxed magnetohydrodynamics (MRxMHD) can be used to predict the stability and nonlinear saturation of tearing modes in strong guide field configurations without resolving the dynamics and without explicit dependence on the plasma resistivity. While the magnetic helicity is not a good invariant for tearing modes, we show that the saturated tearing mode can be obtained as an MRxMHD state of a priori unknown helicity by appropriately constraining the current profile. The predicted saturated island width in a tearing-unstable force-free slab equilibrium is shown to reproduce the theoretical scaling at small values of Δ' and the scaling obtained from resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations at large Δ'.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗