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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Online Monitoring System for Concrete Structures Affected by Alkali-Silica Reaction

This report presents a comprehensive study of developing ultrasonic wave and acoustic emission (AE) techniques for long-term monitoring of alkali-silica reaction (ASR) development in concrete. Small, medium, and full-scale concrete specimens were cast, conditioned, and monitored for various periods, from at least one year to 2.4 years. The reactive concrete specimens contain coarse or fine reactive aggregates to study the effects of different types of reactive aggregates. Confinements were also designed to simulate the 2-dimensional confinement effects of reinforcement in the shield building of nuclear power plants. The concrete specimens were stored in a environmental chamber with high humidity and high temperature to accelerate the ASR development. The ultrasonic monitoring data shows high sensitivity to ASR development and could detect cracking initiation well before visible surface cracks occurred. However, the linear ultrasonic analysis based on wave velocity is strongly affected by temperature variation. Therefore, a nonlinear ultrasonic method was proposed to measure thermally induced nonlinear acoustic responses of concrete (thermal modulation of ultrasonic wave). The measured nonlinear acoustic parameter shows a high correlation with ASR expansion across specimens with different reactive aggregates and confinement conditions. The same conclusion was obtained from nonlinear resonance tests on small concrete prisms. Compared to the linear acoustic methods, the nonlinear tests show high sensitivities to ASR damage from internal microcracking initiation at the early stage to visible cracks at the late stage of ASR. The attributes of the thermal modulation of nonlinear ultrasonic method include high sensitivity, immunity to temperature effects, and strong correlation with ASR expansion, which demonstrate great potentials of the nonlinear ultrasonic method for diagnosis of ASR damage and prediction of concrete deterioration process. Acoustic emission is a passive sensing technique for damage assessment, and access to only one surface is needed even for thick and heavily reinforced elements such as the walls utilized for nuclear shield building. Additionally, relatively few sensors are required to monitor the progression of the damage process. Results indicate that the AE data can be related to the damage rating index, which is a petrography-based means of assessing damage due to ASR in reinforced concrete. Furthermore, AE is capable of detecting ASR damage long before surface cracking is visually noticeable. Boundary conditions play in important role in the progression of ASR damage and differences in boundary conditions are reflected in the AE data. Entropy based data assessment methods provide a means to assess the damage state, and convolutional neural network based data assessment provided a means to assess the damage state in real-time. Results indicate that artificial neural network models may be used as a means to predict volumetric expansion based on AE data.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nonlinear ultrasonic technique for the characterization of microstructure in additive materials

This study employs nonlinear ultrasonic techniques to track microstructural changes in additively manufactured metals. The second harmonic generation technique based on the transmission of Rayleigh surface waves is used to measure the acoustic nonlinearity parameter, β. Stainless steel specimens are made through three procedures: traditional wrought manufacturing, laser-powder bed fusion, and laser engineered net shaping. The β parameter is measured through successive steps of an annealing heat treatment intended to decrease dislocation density. Dislocation density is known to be sensitive to manufacturing variables. In agreement with fundamental material models for the dislocation-acoustic nonlinearity relationship in the second harmonic generation, β drops in each specimen throughout the heat treatment before recrystallization. Geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) are measured from electron back-scatter diffraction as a quantitative indicator of dislocations; average GND density and β are found to have a statistical correlation coefficient of 0.852 showing the sensitivity of β to dislocations in additively manufactured metals. Moreover, β shows an excellent correlation with hardness, which is a measure of the macroscopic effect of dislocations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nonlinear Impact-Echo Test for Quantitative Evaluation of ASR Damage in Concrete

Nonlinear acoustic methods demonstrate high sensitivity for concrete damage evaluation. Among these methods, nonlinear resonance acoustic methods have been widely used in laboratory tests on small scale test samples. In this study, a nonlinear impact-echo (IE) method for concrete damage evaluation was introduced, in which the IE frequency shift was measured at different impact force levels. The nonlinear IE test and the nonlinear impact resonance acoustic spectroscopy (NIRAS) test share similarities in the experimental setup and analysis method. However, the nonlinear IE test excites a local thickness resonance mode of a member instead of the global resonance vibration. Therefore, the analyzed mode is unaffected by member boundary conditions and is applicable to large concrete structural members. To identify the fundamental IE frequencies, multiple impacts were applied along the members. Once the fundamental IE frequencies were determined, the effectiveness of the nonlinear IE method was evaluated by testing seven concrete beam specimens with varying levels of alkali-silica reaction (ASR) damage. In conclusion, the nonlinear IE test demonstrates high sensitivity to concrete damage and allows for quantitative assessment of the damage state of concrete without a baseline measurement.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Non-reciprocal transmission of microwave acoustic waves in nonlinear parity–time symmetric resonators

Acoustic waves are versatile on-chip information carriers that can be used in applications such as microwave filters and transducers. Nonreciprocal devices, in which the transmission of waves is non-symmetric between two ports, are desirable for the manipulation and routing of phonons, but building acoustic non-reciprocal devices is difficult because acoustic systems typically have a linear response. Here, we report non-reciprocal transmission of microwave surface acoustic waves using a nonlinear parity–time symmetric system based on two coupled acoustic resonators in a lithium niobate platform. Furthermore, owing to the strong piezoelectricity of lithium niobate, we can tune the gain, loss and nonlinearity of the system using electric circuitry. Our approach can achieve 10 dB of non-reciprocal transmission for surface acoustic waves at a frequency of 200 MHz, and we use it to demonstrate a one-way circulation of acoustic waves in cascading non-reciprocal devices.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Collimated Beams for Cement Evaluation [Slides]

This presentation discusses how there are no commercial acoustic sources that provide a collimated beam over a frequency range of 10–250 kHz in a small package that works in different media. A recently improved acoustic source – ACCObeam, however, is much more powerful than its predecessor (which was based on nonlinear acoustics). This presentation also demonstrated imaging capabilities of the system, in both open and cased-borehole, for different induced defects (groove, detachment, fluid-filled void pocket, casing). Future R&D includes refining and enhancing the capabilities of the 3D imaging system for more realistic environments, extending investigation range beyond the wellbore casing, and identify new applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Demonstration of acoustic monitoring for structural health of microreactors: Through use of neural networks and resonant ultrasound spectroscopy

Nuclear microreactors prioritize modularity and portability and are intended to be a cost-effective technology for non-conventional nuclear markets. As such, the development of microreactors into a safe and feasible solution for energy security applications will necessitate the development of non-destructive technologies to monitor the integrity of inaccessible reactors components during operation. This demonstration applies linear and nonlinear acoustic techniques, in combination with machine learning, to detect and classify mechanical changes (stress and damage) in a test article which are broadly representative of potential operating challenges within a functioning microreactor. All necessary data has been collected for this demonstration, with minor experimental issues identified that can be addressed in follow-on work. Motivated by the expected conditions within a functioning microreactor, we have demonstrated our monitoring techniques on a core-block-like test article using an unstructured excitation source that approximates the noisy acoustic environment expected during reactor operation. At all stress states mechanically applied to the test article, a machine learning model using an artificial neural network was able to classify with 100% accuracy whether a 3D laser vibrometry point measurement was made on an intact or artificially defective test article. Further, model predictions about whether the defect interface was rough or smooth were 95% accurate, indicating the ability of acoustic techniques to recover defect characteristics. Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) was also applied to the dataset to provide further quantitative insights about material properties. RUS analysis was ultimately hampered by several minor experimental and data issues, limiting results to certain cases for this demonstration. Last, analysis using nonlinear RUS exhibited sensitivity to changing levels of applied stresses for each intact and defective state. As presented in this demonstration, acoustic monitoring exhibits sensitivity to stress changes, which are of concern due to high thermal gradients expected during startup and operation. Further, our techniques distinguish between measurements made on intact and damaged test articles.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Phased array-based nonlinear wave mixing technique: Application to lack-of-fusion porosity characterization in additively manufactured metals

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a phased array-based nonlinear wave mixing technique to characterize internal, localized microscale damage in an additively manufactured (AM) component. By using phased arrays for the generation of the incident waves, it is possible to produce a nonlinear wave mixing scanning technique without the need for immersion or changing coupling conditions. The phased arrays can be configured to generate incident waves in multiple directions that meet the resonance conditions required for nonlinear wave mixing at a variety of internal locations. This allows for the scanning of a specimen without the removal and re-coupling of the source transducers, leading to greater scanning speed and repeatability. To demonstrate the accuracy of this phased array wave mixing approach, measurements of acoustic nonlinearity in an AM component are first made with a bulk wave second harmonic generation through thickness measurement. Next, nonlinear wave mixing measurements are made with single element transducers to confirm the sensitivity of the proposed nonlinear wave mixing approach to lack-of-fusion porosity in AM metals. Finally, phased arrays are used to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear wave mixing technique in these same AM components.

Acoustics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Measurement of third-order elastic constants using thermal modulation of ultrasonic waves

Third-order elastic constants (TOEC) play an important role in nonlinear material characterization, but measurements of TOEC are laborious with large error margins. This Letter presents the equations of wave velocity changes caused by homogeneous temperature variation and uniaxial stress in isotropic media and the expression of TOEC in terms of thermally induced velocity change and thermal strain. TOEC of an aluminum sample were experimentally determined by measuring ultrasonic wave velocity changes in the uniaxial loading test and the thermal modulation test. Experimental results showed good agreement between the two test methods. Owing to the simple test setup and high measurement sensitivity, the thermal modulation test is a potential experimental method to determine TOEC and absolute acoustic nonlinearity parameters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characterization of nonlinear ultrasonic waves behavior while interacting with poor interlayer bonds in large-scale additive manufactured materials

Over the past decades, researchers have developed several nonlinear ultrasonic techniques for quality control of materials commonly used in different applications. Owing to the superior sensitivity of nonlinear ultrasound waves to small defects such as micro-cracks, their applicability in different nondestructive testing (NDT) problems has been investigated in numerous studies. These studies utilize frequency domain analysis to detect the generation of higher harmonics because of the formation of defects in the inspected medium. Frequency domain analysis based on the Fourier transform is a significant approach used in linear systems; however, it may not perform adequately on nonlinear systems. Hence, studies on nonlinear dynamics and physics consider analyzing systems' behavior in the phase-space domain. In contrast to the frequency domain analysis, which can result in information loss, analysis in the phase-space domain retains all the information regarding a system's states. Here, we investigate the nonlinearities induced by poor interlayer bonding in polymer-based additive manufactured parts in the phase-space domain. It is convenient to characterize the nonlinearity in the phase-space domain because it provides a geometrical representation of a system's states. Two types of low quality interlayer bond are considered. The first type is simulated artificially while the second type is manufactured by reducing the bond quality during the printing process. The analysis verified that the received ultrasonic signals exhibit classical nonlinear behavior in the phase-space domain while interacting with simulated poor interlayer bonds. In addition, the results showed that the behavior of ultrasonic waves is amplitude-dependent and evolves into models that have not been previously reported. Furthermore, Largest Lyapunov Exponent (LLE) is used to quantify the behavior of nonlinear ultrasonic waves while interacting with poor interlayer bonds. Using LLE, it was observed that the divergence rate of the phase-space trajectories depends on the amplitude of the excitation. This observation quantitatively proves that nonlinear behavior of ultrasound while interacting with poor interlayer bonds can be amplitude-dependent. The results of both simulated and inherent poor interlayer bond cases showed that LLE can be used as a reliable quantitative damage-sensitive feature to detect and potentially characterize weak bonds, which are difficult to detect using conventional approaches. Additionally, the reported results in the phase-space domain provide a basis for proposing a new mathematical model for ultrasonic waves interacting with poor interlayer bonds.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Fluid and kinetic nonlinearities of near-acoustic plasma waves

Large amplitude, near-acoustic plasma waves have a temperature-dependent harmonic content and nonlinear frequency shifts. On cold plasmas, experiments show that fluid nonlinearities dominate, and the observed harmonic content is well predicted by a recent fluid analysis. In contrast, the measured nonlinear frequency shift is smaller than this theory prediction, suggesting the presence of other nonlinear effects neglected in this analysis. When the plasma is heated, kinetic effects become important, and we observe an increase in both the harmonic content and nonlinear frequency shift. Quantitative experiments on the stability of these large amplitude, near-acoustic plasma waves strongly support the idea that trapped particles reduce the amplitude threshold for instability below fluid models. Furthermore, at low temperatures, the broad characteristics of the parametric instability are determined by the frequency detuning of the pump and daughter wave and the wave-wave coupling strength, surprisingly consistent with simple cold fluid, three-wave theories. However, at higher temperatures, the pump wave becomes unstable at half the threshold pump wave amplitude, with similar exponential growth rates as for a cold plasma.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Nonlinear coupling of electromagnetic and electron acoustic waves in multi-species degenerate astrophysical plasma

Nonlinear wave-coupling is studied in a multispecies degenerate astrophysical plasma consisting of two electron species (at different temperatures): a highly degenerate main component plus a smaller classical relativistic flow immersed in a static neutralizing ion background. It is shown that the high frequency electromagnetic waves through their strong nonlinear interactions with the electron-acoustic waves [sustained by a multielectron component (degenerate) plasma surrounding a compact astrophysical object] can scatter to lower frequencies so that the radiation observed faraway will be spectrally shifted downward. It is also shown that, under definite conditions, the electromagnetic waves could settle into stationary solitonic states. It is expected that the effects of such structures may persist as detectable signatures in forms of modulated micropulses in the radiation observed far away from the accreting compact object. Both these effects will advance our abilities to interpret the radiation coming out of the compact objects.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nonlinear spectral analysis of ion acoustic solitons arising from a streaming charged object using the numerical inverse scattering transform

Observations of nonlinear coherent plasma phenomena in spacecraft and terrestrial experiments often rely on visual identification of solitary modes because nonlinear coherent modes are broadband in a Fourier transform based analysis. We implement an alternative spectral decomposition known as the inverse scattering transform and demonstrate its ability to successfully isolate nonlinear modes on the homogeneous and forced Korteweg–De Vries equation which models these nonlinear modes. We also demonstrate for the first time that this decomposition is useful when forcing is applied. This is because the stable modes generated by localized forcing are similar to the homogeneous solutions where the inverse scattering transform is a rigorous decomposition. This spectral technique is then applied to simulations of ion acoustic waves generated by a 10 mm spherical debris object interacting with the ionospheric plasma orbiting at 2000 km altitude. The algorithm is found to successfully detect the resultant solitons. This demonstrates the feasibility of using this spectral technique as a real time analysis tool for screening spacecraft data for nonlinear solitary modes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Utah FORGE Friction-Permeability-Seismicity Laboratory Experiments with Non-Linear Acoustics

Laboratory experimental data on saw-cut interface of Westerly Granite and Utah Forge granitoid rocks. Experiments include velocity-stepping and fluid pressure stepping experiments. Mechanical data from 3 ISCO pumps connected to a Temco pressure vessel measure axial, confining and fault: fluid pressure (kPa), fluid flow rate (mL/min) and volume remaining in pump (mL). Non-linear acoustic data acquired via Verasonics systems connected to PZTs inside the pressure vessel give the timeshift, amplitude and RMS amplitude of the passing P-wave.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nonlinear excitation of energetic particle driven geodesic acoustic mode by resonance overlap with Alfvén instability in ASDEX Upgrade

The Alfvén instability nonlinearly excited the energetic-particle-driven geodesic acoustic mode on the ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak, as demonstrated experimentally. The mechanism of the energetic-particle-driven geodesic acoustic mode excitation and the mode nonlinear evolution is not yet fully understood. In the present work, a first-principles simulation using the MEGA code investigated the mode properties in both the linear growth and nonlinear saturated phases. Here we show that the simulation successfully reproduced the excitation and coexistence of these two modes, and agreed with the experimental results well. Conclusive evidence showed that the resonance overlap is the excitation mechanism of the energetic-particle-driven geodesic acoustic mode. In the linear growth phase, energetic particles that satisfied different resonance conditions excited the Alfvén instability, which then caused energetic particle redistribution in phase space. These redistributed energetic particles caused resonance overlap, exciting the energetic-particle-driven geodesic acoustic mode in the nonlinear phase.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Experimental Investigation of Elastodynamic Nonlinear Response of Dry Intact, Fractured and Saturated Rock

Nonlinear elastodynamic response of fractured rocks carries crucial information on fracture features that can be exploited to forecast flow properties, friction constitutive behavior and poromechanical response. Well-controlled laboratory experiments are designed to measure the nonlinear elastodynamic response of Westerly granite in three states: dry intact, dry fractured and saturated fractured. We study the effect of fracturing and saturation in modifying the elastodynamic response of the rock. Each sample is tested at a normal stress level of 15 MPa. We measure the elastodynamic response of an intact L-shaped sample of Westerly Granite subjected to normal stress oscillations of prescribed amplitudes (0.2–1 MPa) and frequencies (0.1, 1, 10 Hz). Ultrasonic waves transmitted across the sample are used to monitor the evolution of wave velocity before, during and after dynamic stressing. Furthermore, the nonlinearity of the elastodynamic response is measured in terms of: (1) the offset in normalized wave velocity; (2) the amplitude of wave velocity fluctuation during the oscillations; and (3) recovery rate of the wave velocity post-oscillation. We observe that the three nonlinearity parameters show a similar trend. Irrespective of the parameter, the nonlinearity measures higher for sample in dry-intact condition than that for dry-fractured and the saturated-fractured sample exhibits smaller nonlinearity than the dry-fractured sample. As expected, the saturated sample exhibits less nonlinearity than the dry intact and fractured samples due to the presence of interstitial fluid and the resulting increased interface stiffness. Conversely, the dry intact rock shows a higher nonlinearity than the dry fractured. We use numerical simulations to show that the presence of fracture significantly alters the strain distribution across the bulk of the sample and only the contacting asperities are highly strained, thus resulting in a decrease in the measured elastodynamic nonlinearity.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗