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NASA NTRS2013

Planetary Protection Bioburden Analysis Program

This program is a Microsoft Access program that performed statistical analysis of the colony counts from assays performed on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft to determine the bioburden density, 3-sigma biodensity, and the total bioburdens required for the MSL prelaunch reports. It also contains numerous tools that report the data in various ways to simplify the reports required. The program performs all the calculations directly in the MS Access program. Prior to this development, the data was exported to large Excel files that had to be cut and pasted to provide the desired results. The program contains a main menu and a number of submenus. Analyses can be performed by using either all the assays, or only the accountable assays that will be used in the final analysis. There are three options on the first menu: either calculate using (1) the old MER (Mars Exploration Rover) statistics, (2) the MSL statistics for all the assays, or This software implements penetration limit equations for common micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) shield configurations, windows, and thermal protection systems. Allowable MMOD risk is formulated in terms of the probability of penetration (PNP) of the spacecraft pressure hull. For calculating the risk, spacecraft geometry models, mission profiles, debris environment models, and penetration limit equations for installed shielding configurations are required. Risk assessment software such as NASA's BUMPERII is used to calculate mission PNP; however, they are unsuitable for use in shield design and preliminary analysis studies. The software defines a single equation for the design and performance evaluation of common MMOD shielding configurations, windows, and thermal protection systems, along with a description of their validity range and guidelines for their application. Recommendations are based on preliminary reviews of fundamental assumptions, and accuracy in predicting experimental impact test results. The software is programmed in Visual Basic for Applications for installation as a simple add-in for Microsoft Excel. The user is directed to a graphical user interface (GUI) that requires user inputs and provides solutions directly in Microsoft Excel workbooks. This work was done by Shannon Ryan of the USRA Lunar and Planetary Institute for Johnson Space Center. Further information is contained in a TSP (see page 1). MSC- 24582-1 Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) Shield Ballistic Limit Analysis Program Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas Commercially, because it is so generic, Enigma can be used for almost any project that requires engineering visualization, model building, or animation. Models in Enigma can be exported to many other formats for use in other applications as well. Educationally, Enigma is being used to allow university students to visualize robotic algorithms in a simulation mode before using them with actual hardware. This work was done by David Shores and Sharon P. Goza of Johnson Space Center; Cheyenne McKeegan, Rick Easley, Janet Way, and Shonn Everett of MEI Technologies; Mark Manning of PTI; and Mark Guerra, Ray Kraesig, and William Leu of Tietronix Software, Inc. For further information, contact the JSC Innovation Partnerships Office at (281) 483-3809. MSC-24211-1 Spitzer Telemetry Processing System NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California The Spitzer Telemetry Processing System (SirtfTlmProc) was designed to address objectives of JPL's Multi-mission Image Processing Lab (MIPL) in processing spacecraft telemetry and distributing the resulting data to the science community. To minimize costs and maximize operability, the software design focused on automated error recovery, performance, and information management. The system processes telemetry from the Spitzer spacecraft and delivers Level 0 products to the Spitzer Science Center. SirtfTlmProc is a unique system with automated error notification and recovery, with a real-time continuous service that can go quiescent after periods of inactivity. The software can process 2 GB of telemetry and deliver Level 0 science products to the end user in four hours. It provides analysis tools so the operator can manage the system and troubleshoot problems. It automates telemetry processing in order to reduce staffing costs. This work was done by Alice Stanboli, Elmain M. Martinez, and James M. McAuley of Caltech for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, contact iaoffice @jpl.nasa.gov. This software is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Dan Broderick at Daniel.F. Broderick@jpl.nasa.gov. Refer to NPO-47803. NASA Tech Briefs, September 2013 29 This rapid response computer program predicts Orbiter Wing Leading Edge (WLE) damage caused by ice or foam impact during a Space Shuttle launch (Program "IMPACT2"). The program was developed after the Columbia accident in order to assess quickly WLE damage due to ice, foam, or metal impact (if any) during a Shuttle launch. IMPACT2 simulates an impact event in a few minutes for foam impactors, and in seconds for ice and metal impactors. The damage criterion is derived from results obtained from one sophisticated commercial program, which requires hours to carry out simulations of the same impact events. The program was designed to run much faster than the commercial program with prediction of projectile threshold velocities within 10 to 15% of commercial-program values. The mathematical model involves coupling of Orbiter wing normal modes of vibration to nonlinear or linear springmass models. IMPACT2 solves nonlinear or linear impact problems using classical normal modes of vibration of a target, and nonlinear/ linear time-domain equations for the projectile. Impact loads and stresses developed in the target are computed as functions of time. This model is novel because of its speed of execution. A typical model of foam, or other projectile characterized by material nonlinearities, impacting an RCC panel is executed in minutes instead of hours needed by the commercial programs. Target damage due to impact can be assessed quickly, provided that target vibration modes and allowable stress are known. This work was done by Robert Clark, Jr., Paul Cotter, and Constantine Michalopoulos of The Boeing Company for Johnson Space Center. For further information, contact the JSC Innovation Partnerships Office at (281) 483-3809. MSC-24988-1 Wing Leading Edge RCC Rapid Response Damage Prediction Tool (IMPACT2) Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas (3) the MSL statistics for only the accountable assays. Other options on the main menu include a data editing form and utility programs that produce various reports requested by the microbiologists and the project, and tools to generate the groupings for the final analyses. The analyses can be carried out in three ways: Each assay can be treated separately, the assays can be collectively treated for the whole zone as a group, or the assays can be collected in groups designated by the JPL Planetary Protection Manager. The latter approach was used to generate the final report because assays on the same equipment or similar equipment can be assumed to have been exposed to the same environment and cleaning. Thus, the statistics are improved by having a larger population, thereby reducing the standard deviation by the square root of N. For each method mentioned above, three reports are available. The first is a detailed report including all the data. This version was very useful in verifying the calculations. The second is a brief report that is similar to the full detailed report, but does not print out the data. The third is a grand total and summary report in which each assay requires only one line. For the first and second reports, most of the calculations are performed in the report section itself. For the third, all the calculations are performed directly in the query bound to the report. All the numerical results were verified by comparing them with Excel templates, then exporting the data from the Planetary Protection Analysis program to Excel.

Beaudet, Robert A.↗

DOE OSTI2016

Multiscale Modeling of Accident Tolerant Fuels under the NEAMS ATF Program

The U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program has been developing computational analysis tools for nuclear fuel simulation. These codes include BISON and Marmot for investigation of fuel behavior at the continuum and microstructural scales, respectively. In 2014, NEAMS introduced what it calls High Impact Problems (HIPs) into its development plan. These HIPs are intended to make significant advancements in a particular area of nuclear power research in a short period of time (3 years or less). NEAMS has chosen an accident tolerant fuel (ATF) project, which emphasizes utilizing BISON and Marmot to model proposed materials, as its first HIP. Since the events that occurred at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy accelerated research in nuclear fuel concepts with enhanced accident tolerance as part of its Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCRD) Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC). Accident tolerant fuels are expected to perform at least as well as conventional fuel during normal conditions and provide significantly increased response time in the event of an accident. Given the many unknowns associated with proposed ATF concepts, the research and development being undertaken by AFC in this area is a challenge, particularly considering the desire to have a lead test rod or assembly in a commercial plant by 2022. With the AFC as its primary stakeholder, the NEAMS ATF HIP is developing material models (using a multi-scale approach) for multiple candidate materials. Through a variety of analyses employing these models, the ATF HIP is providing insight and support to the AFC as it strives to understand these materials and prioritize further development. Use of computational tools such as BISON and Marmot are a vital component of the AFC's strategy since experimental data will not be available broadly and quickly enough to understand the proposed materials fully by the time the AFC must make further development decisions. This summary reviews the overall approach of the NEAMS ATF HIP. First, we give an overview of the current materials chosen for investigation. We also review the overall multi-scale approach to model development. We briefly review the work underway at multiple national laboratories to develop mechanistic engineering scale models based on lower length scale insight. Note that coordinated work is also underway at multiple universities, but those efforts are not detailed here. The NEAMS ATF HIP is assisting the AFC in assessing two accident tolerant materials, uranium silicide fuel and FeCrAl cladding. A multi-scale material model development approach is being undertaken to formulate the models necessary to investigate the materials over a range of normal and off-normal scenarios. This approach includes molecular dynamics, density functional theory, mesoscale modeling, and engineering scale modeling. Sensitivity studies are underway to understand the most critical scenarios and material model input parameters. The information generated is being given to the AFC for their use in selecting promising ATF concepts. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Development of a Novel Accelerator for Neutron Transport Solution Using the Galerkin Spectral Element Methods (Final Report)

This report summarizes the results of a three-year research project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) to develop and implement advanced acceleration schemes for the DOE NEAMS neutronics code PROTEUSSN. The project team included the University of Massachusetts Lowell, The Ohio State University, University of Michigan, and Argonne National Laboratory. The PROTEUS code is a high-fidelity capable deterministic neutron transport code based on unstructured finite element meshes, which solves the steady-state and transient neutron transport problem using the 2nd-order discrete ordinate method (SN2ND), the method of characteristics (MOC), and the advanced nodal transport method (NODAL). The DSA scheme has been implemented in PROTEUS to speed up SN transport calculations. The existing DSA scheme employs a consistent finite element formulation on the same fine mesh structure as the SN solution While the use of consistent discretizations makes the DSA method effective, it does not necessarily make it efficient because the numerical solution of a discretized elliptic diffusion problem itself can be costly, particularly when the problem size becomes large. We developed a new discontinuous Galerkin (DG) discretization of the diffusion equation, called DG-DSA, which can effectively and efficiently accelerate the SN transport iterations. As compared with the previous work, the novelty of our method is that the diffusion equation is solved on a coarse-mesh grid using the DG methods, and the DG diffusion discretization incorporates local hp adaptation, i.e., local adaptation of mesh size and/or polynomial degree, based on local total cross section (or optical thickness). Therefore, the resulting number of degrees of freedom (DOF) of the DG discretization is much less than the conventional consistent DSA discretizations, and thus DG-DSA can achieve significant improvement in computational efficiency. We implemented this scheme in PROTEUS-SN. In addition, we developed a new stabilization scheme named linear prolongation CMFD (lpCMFD). A novel feature of this scheme is that the conventional flat flux ratio–based scaling approach is replaced with a linear interpolation of the scalar flux differences at the coarse-mesh cell edges between the neutron transport and CMFD calculations. Fourier convergence analysis and numerical results show that lpCMFD is unconditionally stable and more effective than other CMFD based on acceleration schemes such as pCMFD, odCMFD. We also developed a new nonlinear diffusion acceleration scheme for solving neutron transport equations. This scheme, called LR-NDA, employs a local refinement approach on the framework of CMFD by solving a local boundary value problem of the scalar flux on the coarse-mesh structure to replace the piecewise constant scalar flux obtained by CMFD. The refined flux is then used to update the scalar flux in the neutron transport source iteration. It has been demonstrated that that LR-NDA is much more effective and stable than CMFD for a wide range of optical thicknesses. LR-NDA is a local adaptive method, which means LR-NDA does not necessarily require local refinement for all the coarse-mesh cells on the problem domain, i.e., it can be used only for relatively optically thick regions where the standard CMFD scheme would encounter the convergence problem.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗