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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

FAUST - Benchmark and Validation Framework [Slides]

This presentation discusses Python packages for nuclear data applications and for benchmarking. It also discusses the goals and objectives for FAUST which include providing input and output processing for different calculation codes, allowing for exchanging results between different applications and codes, running benchmarks and processing the results, automating and simplify plot and report generation, and providing a basis for developing applications useful for nuclear data evaluators. The presentation also discusses how the packages can be used both inside and outside LANL.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cylinder Occupancy and Measurement Suite

This software automatically records data from the Unattended Cylinder Verification Station, determines the state of the instrument, captures images of uranium hexafluoride shipment cylinders, and determines their weight. The code has been developed primarily for the International Atomic Energy Agency, but this type of instrument could be of interest to any facility operator in the uranium supply chain that handles uranium hexafluoride shipment cylinders (e.g. the 30B and 48Y cylinder). Operators may be interested in having this instrument confirm shipper declared measurement values upon receipt of a cylinder. They may also use it to aid in process monitoring if the quantity of material in the cylinder changes due to a processing activity.

Stewart, Scott L↗
DOE OSTI2014

TU-C-BRE-11: 3D EPID-Based in Vivo Dosimetry: A Major Step Forward Towards Optimal Quality and Safety in Radiation Oncology Practice

Purpose: To develop a 3D in vivo dosimetry method that is able to substitute pre-treatment verification in an efficient way, and to terminate treatment delivery if the online measured 3D dose distribution deviates too much from the predicted dose distribution. Methods: A back-projection algorithm has been further developed and implemented to enable automatic 3D in vivo dose verification of IMRT/VMAT treatments using a-Si EPIDs. New software tools were clinically introduced to allow automated image acquisition, to periodically inspect the record-and-verify database, and to automatically run the EPID dosimetry software. The comparison of the EPID-reconstructed and planned dose distribution is done offline to raise automatically alerts and to schedule actions when deviations are detected. Furthermore, a software package for online dose reconstruction was also developed. The RMS of the difference between the cumulative planned and reconstructed 3D dose distributions was used for triggering a halt of a linac. Results: The implementation of fully automated 3D EPID-based in vivo dosimetry was able to replace pre-treatment verification for more than 90% of the patient treatments. The process has been fully automated and integrated in our clinical workflow where over 3,500 IMRT/VMAT treatments are verified each year. By optimizing the dose reconstruction algorithm and the I/O performance, the delivered 3D dose distribution is verified in less than 200 ms per portal image, which includes the comparison between the reconstructed and planned dose distribution. In this way it was possible to generate a trigger that can stop the irradiation at less than 20 cGy after introducing large delivery errors. Conclusion: The automatic offline solution facilitated the large scale clinical implementation of 3D EPID-based in vivo dose verification of IMRT/VMAT treatments; the online approach has been successfully tested for various severe delivery errors.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

SAM Co-Development to Support Fluoride-salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor Design and Licensing (CRADA 2018-18177 Final Report)

This project aims to raise the SAM code's technical and commercial maturity level to enable the Kairos Power ("Kairos") to use SAM to support its KP-FHR design analysis and licensing application. Argonne National Laboratory ("Argonne") has actively developed and maintained SAM, a modern system-level analysis tool for advanced nonlight water reactors safety analysis. Kairos is currently actively pursuing development of an FHR design and associated technology, and consequently requires a pedigreed safety analysis tool. The purpose of this project is to increase the maturity of the SAM code for the modeling and simulation of the KP-FHR design, thus enabling its use in safety analyses that support licensing application. Argonne will primarily be responsible for software design, development, and testing; while Kairos will be responsible for software requirements, assessment of software capabilities, needs, gaps, and priorities, and development of proprietary models. The research and development activities for the joint SAM development project include: a series of identification and prioritization studies on design characteristics, event sequences, relevant phenomena, and software capabilities; SAM capability enhancements for specific KP-FHR systems and components; performing code verification and validations; integrating uncertainty quantification (UQ), model calibration, and sensitivity analysis (SA) techniques in safety analyses; and raising the software quality rigor level for commercial-grade applications.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Verification of a Multiphysics Code with Method of Manufactured Solutions

To push the modeling and simulation to a new level in simulating realistic problems, a common practice is to couple different single-physics codes together to simulate problems involving multiple physics. Although the method of manufactured solutions (MMS) has been shown to be a powerful tool in code verification, there has been little work on applying MMS to a multi-physics code system. Additionally, due to the scarcity of multi-physics validation data, the significance of code verification becomes more prominent as an important part in software quality assurance. With this, the application of MMS to a coupled code system, e.g. VERA-CS, has become a crucial step, which helps identify bugs affecting the order of accuracy, thus increasing the credibility and reliability of the code. In this work, we investigate the application of MMS to verify a multi-physics code system and establish a framework for this application, and we demonstrate this with a neutronics code coupled with a thermal hydraulics (TH) code. The convection module is not yet added to this work, so by TH, only conduction is considered.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

PRIME: a real-time cyber-physical systems testbed: from wide-area monitoring, protection, and control prototyping to operator training and beyond

As the power grid continues to evolve with advanced wide-area monitoring, protection, and control (WAMPAC) algorithms, there is an increasing need for realistic testbed environments with industry-grade software and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) to perform verification and validation studies. Such testbed environments serve as ideal platforms to perform WAMPAC prototyping, operator training, and also to study the impacts of different types of cyberattack scenarios on the operation of the grid. In this paper, we introduce PRIME (PNNL cybeR physIcal systeMs tEstbed): the testbed that integrates real-time transmission system simulator with commercial industry grade energy management system (EMS) software and remote hardware-in-the-loop (RHIL). PRIME is an end-to-end, modular testbed that allows high-fidelity RHIL experimentation of a power system. We present two detailed case studies (fault location and clearing in transmission system, and operator training) to showcase the capabilities of our PRIME testbed. Finally, we briefly discuss some of the potential limitations of our testbed in terms of scalability and flexibility to setup larger test systems and identify directions for future work to address those limitations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Online 3D EPID-based dose verification: Proof of concept

Purpose: Delivery errors during radiotherapy may lead to medical harm and reduced life expectancy for patients. Such serious incidents can be avoided by performing dose verification online, i.e., while the patient is being irradiated, creating the possibility of halting the linac in case of a large overdosage or underdosage. The offline EPID-based 3D in vivo dosimetry system clinically employed at our institute is in principle suited for online treatment verification, provided the system is able to complete 3D dose reconstruction and verification within 420 ms, the present acquisition time of a single EPID frame. It is the aim of this study to show that our EPID-based dosimetry system can be made fast enough to achieve online 3D in vivo dose verification. Methods: The current dose verification system was sped up in two ways. First, a new software package was developed to perform all computations that are not dependent on portal image acquisition separately, thus removing the need for doing these calculations in real time. Second, the 3D dose reconstruction algorithm was sped up via a new, multithreaded implementation. Dose verification was implemented by comparing planned with reconstructed 3D dose distributions delivered to two regions in a patient: the target volume and the nontarget volume receiving at least 10 cGy. In both volumes, the mean dose is compared, while in the nontarget volume, the near-maximum dose (D2) is compared as well. The real-time dosimetry system was tested by irradiating an anthropomorphic phantom with three VMAT plans: a 6 MV head-and-neck treatment plan, a 10 MV rectum treatment plan, and a 10 MV prostate treatment plan. In all plans, two types of serious delivery errors were introduced. The functionality of automatically halting the linac was also implemented and tested. Results: The precomputation time per treatment was ∼180 s/treatment arc, depending on gantry angle resolution. The complete processing of a single portal frame, including dose verification, took 266 ± 11 ms on a dual octocore Intel Xeon E5-2630 CPU running at 2.40 GHz. The introduced delivery errors were detected after 5–10 s irradiation time. Conclusions: A prototype online 3D dose verification tool using portal imaging has been developed and successfully tested for two different kinds of gross delivery errors. Thus, online 3D dose verification has been technologically achieved.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

A secure measurement unit for an inspection system used in nuclear arms-control verification

Verification of arms control treaties may require information barriers to protect sensitive data acquired during the verification process. These information barriers are commonly implemented in software, but must store and operate on data that are vulnerable to attack and tampering. Here, we present a new Secure Measurement Unit based on a modified pipeline SAR ADC architecture. The idea is to move the information barrier back into the digitization process so that prohibited data is never created. A prototype 65nm CMOS Secure Measurement Unit (SMU) was tested using U-235, U-238, Co-60, Cs-137 and Am-241 sources. Here, the prototype accurately digitized allowable signals while being immune to side-channel attacks on signals within preset forbidden regions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

High-resolution coupled physics solvers for analysing fine-scale nuclear reactor design problems

An integrated multi-physics simulation capability for the design and analysis of current and future nuclear reactor models is being investigated, to tightly couple neutron transport and thermal-hydraulics physics under the SHARP framework. Over several years, high-fidelity, validated mono-physics solvers with proven scalability on petascale architectures have been developed independently. Based on a unified component-based architecture, these existing codes can be coupled with a mesh-data backplane and a flexible coupling-strategy-based driver suite to produce a viable tool for analysts. The goal of the SHARP framework is to perform fully resolved coupled physics analysis of a reactor on heterogeneous geometry, in order to reduce the overall numerical uncertainty while leveraging available computational resources. Finally, the coupling methodology and software interfaces of the framework are presented, along with verification studies on two representative fast sodium-cooled reactor demonstration problems to prove the usability of the SHARP framework.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Coupled Physics Environment (CouPE) library - Design, Implementation, and Release

Over several years, high fidelity, validated mono-­physics solvers with proven scalability on peta-­scale architectures have been developed independently. Based on a unified component-­based architecture, these existing codes can be coupled with a unified mesh-­data backplane and a flexible coupling-­strategy-­based driver suite to produce a viable tool for analysts. In this report, we present details on the design decisions and developments on CouPE, an acronym that stands for Coupled Physics Environment that orchestrates a coupled physics solver through the interfaces exposed by MOAB array-­based unstructured mesh, both of which are part of SIGMA (Scalable Interfaces for Geometry and Mesh-­Based Applications) toolkit. The SIGMA toolkit contains libraries that enable scalable geometry and unstructured mesh creation and handling in a memory and computationally efficient implementation. The CouPE version being prepared for a full open-­source release along with updated documentation will contain several useful examples that will enable users to start developing their applications natively using the native MOAB mesh and couple their models to existing physics applications to analyze and solve real world problems of interest. An integrated multi-­physics simulation capability for the design and analysis of current and future nuclear reactor models is also being investigated as part of the NEAMS RPL, to tightly couple neutron transport, thermal-­hydraulics and structural mechanics physics under the SHARP framework. This report summarizes the efforts that have been invested in CouPE to bring together several existing physics applications namely PROTEUS (neutron transport code), Nek5000 (computational fluid-dynamics code) and Diablo (structural mechanics code). The goal of the SHARP framework is to perform fully resolved coupled physics analysis of a reactor on heterogeneous geometry, in order to reduce the overall numerical uncertainty while leveraging available computational resources. The design of CouPE along with motivations that led to implementation choices are also discussed. The first release of the library will be different from the current version of the code that integrates the components in SHARP and explanation on the need for forking the source base will also be provided. Enhancements in the functionality and improved user guides will be available as part of the release. CouPE v0.1 is scheduled for an open-­source release in December 2014 along with SIGMA v1.1 components that provide support for language-agnostic mesh loading, traversal and query interfaces along with scalable solution transfer of fields between different physics codes. The coupling methodology and software interfaces of the library are presented, along with verification studies on two representative fast sodium-­cooled reactor demonstration problems to prove the usability of the CouPE library.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2017

IdentiFINDER Laboratory Exercise

The identiFINDER2 is an easily portable handheld NaI gamma detector. The IAEA uses the safeguards version of the identiFINDER2 and calls it the HM-5. The HM-5 has built in software to analyze the detection signal specifically for IAEA verification applications.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Verification Problems for Smooth Step Amplitude Load Curves in DYNA3D/Paradyn

This report documents the addition of three new verification tests in the LOADCURVE directory of the DYNA3D/Paradyn Software Quality Assurance test suite. Each test consists of a single element, where the velocities of each node are specified by either the newly added smooth step tabular load curve or another load curve option. The first test assesses the initialization and interpolation of the newly inputted load curve option through tabulated abscissa-ordinate pairs of data. The second test uses the same set of abscissa-ordinate data points and applies offset and scaling parameters available within the load curve definition. The third test defines the smooth step load curve in an original input deck, and assesses its correct redefinition using a restart file. The simulation velocities are compared to their true values at discrete points in time, and each test is verified up to numerical precision. These results confirm that the smooth step load curve option is functioning correctly and as intended.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2015

SPR Hydrostatic Column Model Verification and Validation.

A Hydrostatic Column Model (HCM) was developed to help differentiate between normal "tight" well behavior and small-leak behavior under nitrogen for testing the pressure integrity of crude oil storage wells at the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This effort was motivated by steady, yet distinct, pressure behavior of a series of Big Hill caverns that have been placed under nitrogen for extended period of time. This report describes the HCM model, its functional requirements, the model structure and the verification and validation process. Different modes of operation are also described, which illustrate how the software can be used to model extended nitrogen monitoring and Mechanical Integrity Tests by predicting wellhead pressures along with nitrogen interface movements. Model verification has shown that the program runs correctly and it is implemented as intended. The cavern BH101 long term nitrogen test was used to validate the model which showed very good agreement with measured data. This supports the claim that the model is, in fact, capturing the relevant physical phenomena and can be used to make accurate predictions of both wellhead pressure and interface movements.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Verification and Validation of START: A Spent Nuclear Fuel Routing and Decision Support Tool

This is a technical presentation that does not take into account contractual limitations or obligations under the Standard Contract for Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and/or High-Level Radioactive Waste (Standard Contract) (10 CFR Part 961). For example, under the provisions of the Standard Contract, spent nuclear fuel in multi-assembly canisters is not an acceptable waste form, absent a mutually agreed to contract amendment.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Verification assessment of piston boundary conditions for Lagrangian simulation of compressible flow similarity solutions

This work is concerned with the use of similarity solutions of the compressible flow equations as benchmarks or verification test problems for finite-volume compressible flow simulation software. In practice, this effort can be complicated by the infinite spatial/temporal extent of many candidate solutions or “test problems.” Methods can be devised with the intention of ameliorating this inconsistency with the finite nature of computational simulation; the exact strategy will depend on the code and problem archetypes under investigation. For example, self-similar shock wave propagation can be represented in Lagrangian compressible flow simulations as rigid boundary-driven flow, even if no such “piston” is present in the counterpart mathematical similarity solution. The purpose of this work is to investigate in detail the methodology of representing self-similar shock wave propagation as a piston-driven flow in the context of various test problems featuring simple closed-form solutions of infinite spatial/temporal extent. The closed-form solutions allow for the derivation of similarly closed-form piston boundary conditions (BCs) for use in Lagrangian compressible flow solvers. Finally, the consequences of utilizing these BCs (as opposed to directly initializing the self-similar solution in a computational spatial grid) are investigated in terms of common code verification analysis metrics (e.g., shock strength/position errors and global convergence rates).

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Development of a bayesian belief network model for the software reliability assessment of nuclear digital I and C safety systems - 206

Since the digital instrumentation and control systems are expected to play an important role for the safety systems in nuclear power plants (NPPs), the need has emerged to not only establish a basis for incorporating software behavior into digital I and C system reliability models, but also to quantify the failure probability of the software used in NPP digital protection systems. In this study, a Bayesian belief network (BBN) model is developed to quantitatively assess software reliability by estimating the number of faults in a software program considering its software development life cycle (SDLC). The model structure and parameters are established based on the information applicable to NPP safety-related systems and the evidence used to construct and quantify the BBN model was collected from three stages of expert elicitation. The software failure probability is estimated from the number of residual defects in a software program at the end of SDLC phase. As a case study, the BBN model was applied to quantify the software reliability of a typical digital protection software having the size of 50 function points and having the Medium development and validation and verification (V and V) qualities. The developed model can be applied to estimate the failure probability for both developing and deployed safety-related NPP software, and such results can be used to evaluate the quality of the digital I and C systems in addition to estimating potential reactor risk due to software failure. (authors)

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Open-source MFIX-DEM software for gas-solids flows: Part II — Validation studies

With rapid advancements in computer hardware and numerical algorithms, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been increasingly employed as a useful tool for investigating the complex hydrodynamics inherent in multiphase flows. An important step during the development of a CFD model and prior to its application is conducting careful and comprehensive verification and validation studies. Accordingly, efforts to verify and validate the open-source MFIX-DEM software, which can be used for simulating the gas–solids flow using an Eulerian reference frame for the continuum fluid and a Lagrangian discrete framework (Discrete Element Method) for the particles, have been made at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). In part I of this paper, extensive verification studies were presented and in this part, detailed validation studies of MFIX-DEM are presented. A series of test cases covering a range of gas–solids flow applications were conducted. In particular the numerical results for the random packing of a binary particle mixture, the repose angle of a sandpile formed during a side charge process, velocity, granular temperature, and voidage profiles from a bounded granular shear flow, lateral voidage and velocity profiles from a monodisperse bubbling fluidized bed, lateral velocity profiles from a spouted bed, and the dynamics of segregation of a binary mixture in a bubbling bed were compared with available experimental data, and in some instances with empirical correlations. In addition, sensitivity studies were conducted for various parameters to quantify the error in the numerical simulation.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-463: Light-Field Based Dynalog Verification

Purpose: To independently verify leaf positions in so-called dynalog files for a Varian iX linac with a Millennium 120 MLC. This verification provides a measure of confidence that the files can be used directly as part of a more extensive intensity modulated radiation therapy / volumetric modulated arc therapy QA program. Methods: Initial testing used white paper placed at the collimator plane and a standard hand-held digital camera to image the light and shadow of a static MLC field through the paper. Known markings on the paper allow for image calibration. Noise reduction was attempted with removal of ‘inherent noise’ from an open-field light image through the paper, but the method was found to be inconsequential. This is likely because the environment could not be controlled to the precision required for the sort of reproducible characterization of the quantum noise needed in order to meaningfully characterize and account for it. A multi-scale iterative edge detection algorithm was used for localizing the leaf ends. These were compared with the planned locations from the treatment console. Results: With a very basic setup, the image of the central bank A leaves 15–45, which are arguably the most important for beam modulation, differed from the planned location by [0.38±0.28] mm. Similarly, for bank B leaves 15–45 had a difference of [0.42±0.28] mm Conclusion: It should be possible to determine leaf position accurately with not much more than a modern hand-held camera and some software. This means we can have a periodic and independent verification of the dynalog file information. This is indicated by the precision already achieved using a basic setup and analysis methodology. Currently, work is being done to reduce imaging and setup errors, which will bring the leaf position error down further, and allow meaningful analysis over the full range of leaves.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗